Video Game Bosses That Forced You To Cheat

There’s nothing inherently wrong with a hard boss fight. A challenge is always welcome, as no one wants a game that pretends to pose a challenge while letting you waltz through to the finish line unscathed. Boss fights are meant to be a test of your skills, a barrier to break through once you’ve mastered the game’s mechanics enough to progress.

Unfortunately, sometimes that challenge can become a little too much to handle. Be it due to unfair design, poor mechanics, or an uncooperative camera that puts up more of a fight than the boss itself, it can sometimes be necessary to cheat a boss just to make it through. At least, if you want to avoid a ton of frustration. These next bosses fit into that category. Many of them can be beaten “fairly,” but doing so will cause a lot of suffering. Instead, we’ve outlined an easy way to cheese these fights so they don’t ruin your gaming experience.

Dark Link – Zelda 2: The Adventure Of Link

Nobody Likes A Copycat

Few games are as notorious as Zelda 2: The Adventure of Link, mainly because of its purported difficulty. It’s also the only true sequel in the franchise. While much of the game is actually pretty manageable if you take the time to learn its systems well, the one exception to that rule is its final boss.

Rearrange the covers into the correct US release order.

Easy (5)Medium (7)Hard (10)


Start

Rearrange the covers into the correct US release order.

Easy (5)Medium (7)Hard (10)Start

Dark Link has a reputation for being virtually impossible to beat “fairly” because he mirrors all of your actions. Move in close to attack him, and he attacks you right back. Shoot an arrow at him, and you’re getting shot too. The trick here is to go to the bottom left corner of the screen and duck. Dark Link’s AI will bug out, and he’ll start repeatedly charging you. Just stab him when he gets close, and the fight is a breeze.

Di Ravello’s Attack Helicopter – Just Cause 3

Let’s End This Quickly

While the movement, explosions, and action setpiece mechanics of Just Cause 3 are all best-in-class, the game’s combat isn’t quite on the same level. It’s fine, but the shooting feels low-impact, and aiming while moving can be a chore when dealing with the camera. Unfortunately, these issues come to a head when fighting the game’s final boss: Di Ravello, piloting his attack helicopter.

There are two ways to cheese this fight, one easier than the other. The trickier option is to grapple Di Ravello’s helicopter to a rock right when the fight starts. Time it right, and it will end the fight right there, but mistime it, and your grapple will just break and you’ll have missed your opportunity. The other option is to use the Thunderbird, an EMP launcher. One shot will lower Di Ravello’s shield; the next shot will destroy the helicopter outright. The only issue is the weapon’s short range, which will force you to get in close to pull this off.

The Master – Fallout

Tough Talk

After battling through his Super Mutant forces, the ending of Fallout has you facing off against The Master himself. Your objective just tells you to “Destroy The Master,” and most people will take that to mean “Fight him,” but that’s by far the most difficult approach. Instead, why not take a more tactful angle?

Your one option is to avoid combat entirely, delve deeper into The Master’s cathedral, and trigger the nuke he has stored away in there. Or, if you have high Intelligence and Speech, and you got the Super Mutant tapes from the Brotherhood of Steel, you can show The Master that his army is sterile and doomed to go extinct, which will push him to set off the nuke on his own, killing himself while giving you time to escape.

Gandohar – Two Worlds

The People Will Rise Up

Back in 2007, Two Worlds was hyped up as the next big Elder Scrolls competitor, set to topple Oblivion from its throne. That, clearly, never came about. In reality, Two Worlds is a buggy game with frustrating combat and clunky storytelling. However, its single claim to fame is an exceptionally goofy way to beat the final boss, Gandohar, before you leave the tutorial area, rather than fighting with the game’s awkward controls in the true final encounter.

See, Gandohar is lurking in the intro village area, but you’d never know who he was without playing the game first. However, if you can single him out and aggro him, he’ll follow you back to the village proper and start attacking. You don’t stand a chance against him at this stage, but his fireball spells deal splash damage, which will aggro the local villagers. These villagers are invincible. Once you respawn from your fiery demise, you can just sit back and watch the villagers rise up and defeat the ultimate evil for you.

Demon Of Hatred – Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice

Go Jump Off A Cliff

Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice is a game that’s all about mastering your opponent’s technique and defeating them with your own. While that might sound a bit like Dark Souls, this FromSoftware game is less about dodging and patience, and far more about mastery and aggression. However, the Demon of Hatred boss bucks this trend. This is a quintessentially Dark Souls boss in a game that, otherwise, staunchly avoids Dark Souls-like bosses, and that makes it extremely frustrating.

Instead of bashing your head against the wall, just trick the boss into jumping off a cliff. The method is simple, but requires precision. When you enter the arena, turn left and run along the outer edge until you reach the cliff, then use a ranged throwable to aggro the Demon of Hatred over to you. Once he’s close, run along the cliff edge and around to the front of the gate on the far side. Wait there to make sure the boss gets stuck in the corner, then climb the nearest tower and jump to the roof above the gate. Here, you can stand directly above the boss, and he’ll keep trying to attack you, eventually swinging himself right off the cliff. It may not be an honorable victory, but it gets the job done.

The Doctor (Adramahlihk) – Divinity: Original Sin 2

Step Out Of Your Office

Doctor Daeva is a mysterious recurring character throughout Divinity: Original Sin 2 who, when you finally arrive in Arx, reveals that he is actually possessed by the demon Adramahlihk. He will (naturally) offer you a deal. Accept, and you’ll lock yourself into one of the game’s many endings. Refuse, and you’ll trigger the toughest fight in the game. Adramahlihk has multiple nurses working for him who will join the fight, and he also summons four lesser demons. It’s a brutal gauntlet, but there are a few ways to cheese your way through it.

One option is to sneak in beforehand, kill all the nurses, then have one party member start chatting with Daeva while another stacks all the nurses’ bodies around him. Then, when the fight starts, cast Corpse Explosion. It’s effective, but very risky if you get caught. The other option is to bottleneck him. When the fight starts, send your whole party back out through the front door. Adramahlihk and his minions will follow, but they’ll get bunched up as they try to walk out all at once. While they’re navigating around each other, you can just hammer them with AoE attacks over and over. It probably won’t kill them all, but by the time they get outside, you’ll have a significant advantage.

Yellow Devil – Mega Man

Let Me Pause For A Second

Mega Man

Released

December 17, 1987

ESRB

e

Let’s be clear: the Yellow Devil is not the hardest boss in the original Mega Man. He’s just really tedious. He has a specific weakpoint that you need to hit, and it’s only visible for a few seconds every minute or so. The rest of your time is spent dodging around the arena, waiting for that tiny window to open so you can deal some damage.

To speed things up a little bit, there’s an exploit you can use. Elec Man’s weapon is the ideal tool for this fight. Once the Yellow Devil’s weakpoint is visible, hit it with Elec Man’s weapon and then pause the game. If you get the timing right, you can unpause and pause a few times in a row, and Elec Man’s weapon will trigger each time, letting you land several hits instead of just one. You still have to participate in the fight, but the tedium is a lot less grating.

Maneater – Demon’s Souls

I’m Not Even Going To Walk Into The Room

The Maneater is a gargoyle-like boss in Demon’s Souls. It’s the second boss you’ll fight in the third world, also known as the Tower of Latria. Unfortunately, the most frustrating thing about this boss isn’t the boss itself; it’s the camera. The Maneater is a flying boss, and you fight it on a narrow bridge, which means that if you’re locked onto it while it flies over you, you can easily run right off the edge of the arena. To make matters worse, a second Maneater appears midway through the fight.

There are a variety of cheese options for this fight, depending on which version of Demon’s Souls you’re playing. In the original 2009 version, there is a small gap between the fog wall and the regular wall that looks into the boss room. You can use a bow and poke at the first Maneater from here and, if you have enough arrows, kill it before you even enter the arena. Then pass through the fog wall and fight the second one on its own. In the 2020 remake, that option was patched out. Instead, run onto a platform to the right of the first set of stairs in the boss arena, then cast Cloak on yourself. The Maneater will lose aggro and return to the middle of the arena. When the second boss appears, it will also move to the middle of the arena. Keep Cloak cast on yourself, then cast Poison Cloud on both of them and wait for their slow death. It’s a tedious process, but it works.

T.rex – Tomb Raider

Can’t Touch This

It’s fair to debate whether the T.rex boss fight in the first Tomb Raider is really that difficult or not, and it mostly comes down to the player and their strengths. This is a boss that forces you to use Lara’s dodges, jumps, and flips to avoid its attacks while blasting it with her pistols. That said, it’s also a massive enemy, very intimidating, and it’s not easy to know if what you’re doing is actually effective or not.

There’s a way to work around it, although whether it’s a cheese or not is debatable since the devs clearly put this option there on purpose. Just to the left of the area where the T.rex enters from is a small cave that you need to jump into. Once inside, the T.rex can’t really get to you. It might stuff its head in there a couple of times and deal some damage, but for the most part, it won’t touch you. All you have to do is blast away from the safety of the rocks, and you’ll be through this boss in no time.

Nosk – Hollow Knight

Nice Ledge You’ve Got There

Nosk is creepy. It lures you in with a fake Knight, not unlike how an angler fish lures in its prey. Then, once you get close, the true boss emerges, a giant spider-like creature with too many legs that screams before it attacks. Its attacks are stressful too, in that it basically just charges straight at you, and in the tight confines of its boss arena, there’s not a lot of room to dodge away.

Nosk can be beaten fairly, just like any boss in Hollow Knight, but if you’re struggling or just too creeped out to persist, there’s a simple trick to beating it. The arena is basically three flat platforms: two lower platforms on the left and right, and a raised platform in the middle. Position yourself in the right-hand corner between the raised platform and the lower platform, and Nosk’s momentum will carry it right over your head each time. Then, as it goes flying by, hit it with an upward attack. Rinse and repeat, and you’ll take it down in no time.