My Favorite Darksiders Boss Fights Part III

Time for the next part of this series! These are fun to write and I always have to think them through before I begin.

Darksiders III was definitely the most challenging game of this series. It strongly emphasizes on proper evasion timing in order to land a successful counter. Some people don’t like constant dodging but for me it creates an additional challenge so it’s not just about hitting all the time.

There weren’t any cool cutscenes of Fury defeating the bosses in this game but it was still worth it by the time I was victorious. I will confess that this part was difficult to write because the fights in this game are so fast-paced that I didn’t remember the experience of all of them from attacks to strategies, but I’ve made it this far and plan to finish it.

Lust

It’s not until I got to Lust did fighting the sins become fun and challenging. Lust is the first of them who really started to get to Fury’s inner desires. Fury’s trying to get the job done, stubbornly, until Lust creates an illusion of what she wants most: to lead the Horsemen, Fury is quick to see through it and emerges from the fight with Lust with a new view that what she wanted isn’t what she thought it was. From there she begins to search for a new purpose as a Horseman.

That’s what makes the fight with Lust so good in terms of story. Gameplay, they were one of the hardest of the seven for me to defeat, their attacks were quick and ruthless. Then eventually Usiel joined in making it even harder. I had to react quickly to dodge attacks from both of them and use wrath abilities wisely.

It took a few attempts but I was able to bring Lust down without taking Usiel with them. I didn’t want to kill him anyway!

Abraxis

Abraxis is an optional boss fight that the Lord of Hollows presents to Fury and he can be easy to miss because this game doesn’t have a map. Instead I’ve relied on taking alternate paths to see what I can find and eventually in the Scar I came to a structure leading away from my objective where Abraxis made himself at home. He’s definitely got a silver tongue but I still didn’t trust him.

In this fight, Abraxis wields two swords and deals some devastating blows but he wasn’t too tough for me. Defeating him is strongly recommended if you want to get a secret part to the game’s ending and Fury definitely showed him not to underestimate her when she adds a final taunt to the nickname he gave her. It’s been empowering to me ever since.

Wrath

I waited so long to finally defeat Wrath after my first encounter with him earlier in the game. All I wanted was to see Fury get her revenge! The buildup towards this fight was definitely well done as Fury makes her entrance in the cage and launches herself at Wrath.

Before she arrives, Wrath is having a grand time slaughtering demons and it seems he’s unwilling to admit he has a crush on Fury! His fight wasn’t too challenging now that I knew what to expect, although there were some new attacks that came in a later phase. I loved Fury’s last line before she lets her talisman take him.

I had acquired her abyssal armor by the time I got to this battle and it made the experience much more epic.

Ionos

Ionos is the final boss of the Keepers of the Void DLC and he is arguably the most memorable boss fight for me in this game. He combines all four Hollow abilities of the other keepers and I thought I was going to have trouble with Dovox. Ionos then merges himself with the remains of the other keepers to obtain his power and reveals that his kind are the true inhabitants of the void. Once again that’s Vulgrim toying with me!

So why is memorable? He was so fucking hard to defeat even on “Balanced” difficulty that I lost count of the attempts it took for me to defeat him. But I never surrendered because I knew what I’d get for defeating him. His attacks were each hollow from one arm or leg that would get tougher and more frequent to avoid as I depleted more of his health when it was safe to attack. Every attempt was a study of his attacks and how to best evade them.

Eventually my strategy was the Storm Hollow, using its Wrath ability as much as possible and any counterattacks I used with its default weapon, (when I completed the Storm wing I got another weapon for the Storm Hollow but the default one did more damage in counters given the upgrades I applied to it) a spear instead of Fury’s whip. With enough persistence and this tactic, I finally defeated him and Vulgrim gave Fury her abyssal armor. Totally worth it, well abyssal armor is ALWAYS worth it in Darksiders!

Pride

The last of the sins that you think you’re going to fight until the ultimate twist is revealed. When I first saw Pride, I mistook her for just another angel stranded on Earth, but one of the big cheeses given the mask and distinctive wings. Maybe I too never understood why Pride is considered a deadly sin.

While on my way to Lust, she appears briefly and leaves a portal by an abandoned church that you can enter, but the gates to her lair will not open until you have defeated the other sins. By the time she was the only one left, going to face Pride was the point of no return for me. Fury had matured a lot since then and Pride told her the truth about the Balance and the Council’s interest.

The most memorable part of the fight was having to watch a lot more of my footing, not only did I have to worry about Pride’s attacks, but at the second phase, she unleashed a floating mask and shot a beam around the arena to watch out for. She may not have been the true final boss of the game, but she was definitely a challenge.

And those are my favorite boss fights in the third game, like I said, harder than its predecessors and the sequel. Sure, it didn’t have cool cutscenes whenever I defeated them, but it was nevertheless a fun game. Only one more part left, and writing these makes me really wish that we get another Darksiders game soon.

👽Emily