Rift of the NecroDancer: The Attacks Boss Guide

If you’ve been through the basic Boss Fights (on Easy/Medium), this is… the exact same thing. Down to the attacks the Bosses use. With one tiny twist.

There are no indicators. Well, aside from the ones that let you know you can counterattack and wail on them.
In other words, instead of relying on those giant purple circles closing in on arrow icons, you have to predict the attacks based on the opponent’s actions! Just like in the game these fights are inspired by (Punch-Out!!).

Now, if you’re headed for this guide, you probably already knew that. I just felt like a refresher would be nice before the main purpose of this guide – documenting the attack patterns of every Boss.

Before I begin, though… spoiler warning for… well, the entire game. In case you haven’t played the story yet, go for it! And don’t come back until you’ve defeated the final boss.

With that out of the way, though… let’s begin!

Harmonie’s fight is very straight-forward, really. It’s mostly the usual Punch-Out-esque deal of reacting to her movements and dodging accordingly.

Her main attack during this first phase is leaning toward one side of Cadence to blast a music note into her ear. Just dodge into the opposite direction on the next beat, then counter.

She can choose to do it twice in a row, too – which is signaled by some pretty obvious animations. You can mostly react to them just fine, but just in case, it’s also pretty well signaled in advance.

Her initial direction is signaled by the direction of this pre-animation – whichever side she leans to is which side she’ll attack first.
You can tell apart between her going for two hits on the same side and opposing sides in advance – from both the sounds and the animation:

• If the twinkle happens right as the animation begins, or if she immediately smirks at you, she’s gonna attack on opposing sides.
• If the twinkle happens after a voice line, or if you see her giving you a peace sign, she’s gonna attack on the same side.

You’ll need to knock her off-guard 4 times in total to move on to the next phase.

Is it just me, or does she resemble a Harpy during this second phase? …I digress.

Remember how I said you can mostly react to the double-attacks just fine? Well, that’s her default attack in Phase 2. She’ll mostly – if not always – attack opposing sides, though.

She can choose to do a three-beat double attack, with an appropriate cue. This one’s a bit tricky, because it deviates from the standard you’ve seen up to this point – whichever side she leans to, on the next beat you’ll have to dodge into that direction, not away from it.

Lastly, she can decide on a triple attack, with a voice cue. Just like the normal attack, she’ll lean to a side one beat before it begins. On the next three beats you’ll have to alternate sides dodging three attacks in a row.
This attack is pretty rare, though – there’s a chance that you won’t encounter it at all in your S+ run.

Outwit her wings 6 more times to finish the fight! (You knock her out 10 times in total.)

This fight is interesting, because all of the Queen’s attacks are heavily consistent – you can practically sight-read it as if it was a Rhythm Rift chart. Not only that, but the attacks also all make sense from a chess standpoint!

For convenience’s sake, I will just list what each piece does once it appears, though.
Duration: the duration in beats from its spawn time until you have to dodge the piece.
Initial jumps: the pieces jump for two beats before an attack pattern, indicating the first piece of the pattern. Which pieces jump, and when, determines the piece. Which side of the board jumps determined which side the piece will spawn at.

• Pawn – Simple, and straight-forward. After it appears, it will move forward, marking the side it will attack from right from its background spot. Dodge to the other side.
  Duration: 2 beats. Initial jumps: just the Pawns.
• Knight – Go, my little horsey! Same as the pawn, except the Knight will switch sides while it approaches, representing the L-shaped move we all know and love. Dodge toward where it spawned initially.
  Duration: 2 beats. Initial jumps: just the back rank pieces.
• Bishop – Wow… it’s fast! It’s essentially a single-beat Knight – once it appears, be ready to dodge toward its spawn spot on the very next beat.
  Duration: 1 beat. Initial jumps: alternating between the back rank and the Pawns.
• Rook – It’s okay, take your time… This one’s a SLOWER Knight. It takes 4 beats to laterally move over to the other side and attack. Just react to it.
  Duration: 4 beats. Initial jumps: both rows simultaneously.

You’ll know when a pattern is about to end when the orange circle for the counter pops up. Counter and whack the Queen as usual.

During Phase 2 (when the pieces turn red), after each stun-lock, the Queen might choose to go out on a rampage of attacks, indicated by a voice cue.
This is similar to Harmonie’s triple attack – two beats from the voice cue, you’ll have to dodge the incoming punch indicated by her position, then duck under the overhead, then dodge the other punch (into the other direction). All within 3 beats.

But that’s all there is to Queen, really. You need to put her down 10 times total.

Matron, thankfully, uses a similar system to Queen – all of her attacks are represented by horsies she summons from the music box.
Much like a certain spanish boxer, though, she won’t attack on her own.

She’ll be swaying from side to side. To get an attack out of her, you’ll have to hit her out of this.
Observe which direction she begins swaying into on the first beat of each measure. Then, on the third beat, hit her in that direction.

…It’s a bit hard to explain, so I’ll provide an example.
Say she’s swaying like this:
L – R – L – stay – R – L – R – stay – L – R – L – stay – …
The bold parts is where you have to hit her in that direction. It’s easy to time this to the brass hits in the first and second phases.

Once you actually hit her, you’ll get a round of attacks from the music box, followed by a counter opportunity.

The color of each horsie will determine its attack.

• Blue horsies will fly to attack you from the direction they spawned into. Dodge 2 beats after they spawn.
• White horsies are similar, but they’ll attack on the very next beat. React to them quickly.
• Pink horsies will dash out of the screen, then come back on the next beat to fly into you for a sweeping attack. Duck under them, 3 beats after they spawn.

…And that’s it for Matron. I could go deeper into the attack patterns themselves, but I’ll leave you to figure those out. As long as you keep the horsie colors in mind, you’re golden.
You need to interrupt her show 9 times in total.

In comes Reaper with an all-new gimmick to her fight.

In order to get Reaper’s attacks, you have to bash one of the skulls that appear circling where she was before disappearing. Depending on the skull, you get a different difficulty for her attack, and a different time window to attack her.

• Normal skulls are easy attacks, only allowing 2 hits on knock-down.
• Skulls with blue flames are medium-rated attacks, letting you hit Reaper 3 times.
• Skulls with red flames are hard attacks, permitting you to hit Reaper a maximum of 4 times!
• Beware the black skulls, as they are attacks themselves! Duck when those approach your view.

And wouldn’t you know it, Reaper’s proper attacks ALSO consist of flaming skulls! Pay attention to when they appear, then repeat that timing 4 beats later.

• Yellow flames mean it’ll swoop in directly. Dodge to the opposite side.
• Black flames mean it’ll sweep from the side. Duck under it.
• Red flames mean it’ll swoop in from above! Hit it with your guitar! (UP input)

Assuming you only go for red attacks, it takes 10 skull blasts to take Reaper down. Your mileage may vary if you decide to go for easier attacks, though!

It’s time for the Big Bad himself. The titular Necrodancer.
Time. To. End. This.

His main means of attack is fireballs, behaving similarly to Matron and Queen’s fight. You have to avoid them 2 beats after they appear.

• Purple fireballs will go in directly. Dodge to the opposite side.
• Red fireballs sweep from the side. Duck under them.
• Black fireballs are tricky. You have to dodge them, like the purple ones, but it’s as if the purple fireball was coming from the OTHER side.

He’ll only let you hit him 3 times for each knock-down, so keep that in mind.

After some time, he can also choose to go for an ice beam, guaranteed after the first intermission. Dodge it one beat after he readies it (the blue shine), because if you don’t, you’ll be frozen! (Hit three blue markers to break out, or HE’ll break you out with a fireball!)

Knock him down 8 times to move on to…

Lute… GIVE ME YOUR POWER!

In Phase 2, while the new Necrodancer DOES do the usual fireball and ice beam attacks from time to time, he prefers… enemies from the Rhythm Rifts? That’s neat. All of the attacks here are 4 beats after the enemy appears.

• Dodge the normal Skeletons.
• Hit the Yellow ones, then be ready to duck under their headless body 4 beats later.
• Same deal with the Black ones, but you have to hit them twice before they lose their head. 4 beat intervals all across.

After a round of attacks, he’ll swoop in (dodge) before your counter opportunit-
Just kidding! Quick, dodge three times, double time! (It’s always R-L-R!)
…Well, that’s only if the indicator is red. But good news is, for seeing it coming, you get to hit him a total of 6 times!

This phase varies in amount of knockdowns you need to deal, due to the above. Good luck.