How to Beat Boss: Goddess Helena

Defeat Goddess Helena in The Surge 2. Master her multi-phase fight by parrying attacks and exploiting her weaknesses to overcome this tough boss.

Goddess Helena is a formidable opponent, often considered one of the toughest challenges in The Surge 2. Her fight is a multi-phase encounter that tests your parrying skills, environmental awareness, and ability to manage multiple threats simultaneously. Prepare for a prolonged battle and ensure your gear is optimized for electrical and physical damage resistance.

Recommended Gear & Implants

• Armor Set: The Lynx Set is excellent for its stamina regeneration bonus, allowing for more aggressive play. Alternatively, the Rhino Set offers superior physical defense, which can be crucial in later phases.
• Weapon: A fast-hitting weapon with good electrical damage, such as the Spark Emitter or a well-upgraded Jaguar Claw, is highly recommended. Helena is vulnerable to electrical damage.
• Implants:
  • Medi-Voltaic Injection: Essential for quick health recovery.
  • Reclamation Buddy: Helps recover lost tech scrap if you die, minimizing setbacks.
  • Endurance Enhancer: Boosts your maximum stamina, allowing for more attacks and dodges.
  • Aggression Amplifier: Increases damage output, speeding up the fight.

Phase 1: Helena's Initial Assault

Helena starts the fight alone, wielding a large, electrified staff. Her attacks are slow but hit hard, often covering a wide area. This phase is an excellent opportunity to practice your directional parries.

• Attack Patterns:
  • Overhead Slam: A slow, telegraphed overhead strike. Easy to parry from the top.
  • Horizontal Sweep: A wide, sweeping attack. Parry from the left or right depending on the direction of the swing.
  • Electric Orb: Helena will occasionally fire a slow-moving electric orb. Dodge to the side or parry it back at her for minor damage and a brief stun.
  • Charge Attack: She will sometimes charge forward, attempting to ram you. Dodge to the side.
• Strategy: Focus on parrying her melee attacks. A successful parry will stagger her, allowing for 2-3 quick hits before she recovers. Do not get greedy. After a few parries and hits, she will summon her first set of drones.

Phase 2: Drone Reinforcements

Once Helena's health drops to approximately 75%, she will summon two A.I. Drone Units. These drones will harass you with ranged electrical attacks while Helena continues her melee assault.

• Strategy:
  • Prioritize Drones: The drones are a nuisance and should be dealt with quickly. Target their weapon arms to disarm them, or their core for quick kills.
  • Environmental Awareness: Use the pillars and debris in the arena for cover from the drones' ranged attacks while you engage Helena or another drone.
  • Maintain Distance from Helena: While dealing with drones, try to keep Helena in your line of sight and be ready to dodge her slower attacks.
• Reward: Destroying the drones will drop Drone Components and Tech Scrap.

Phase 3: The Juggernaut Drone

At roughly 50% health, Helena will summon a larger, more aggressive drone: the Juggernaut Drone. This drone has more health and deals significant physical damage, in addition to Helena's continued attacks.

• Juggernaut Drone Attacks:
  • Ground Slam: The Juggernaut will leap and slam the ground, creating a small AoE. Dodge away.
  • Charge: It will charge directly at you. Dodge to the side.
  • Melee Swipes: Fast, powerful melee attacks.
• Strategy:
  • Focus Fire: Your primary target should be the Juggernaut Drone. Its presence makes fighting Helena much harder. Target its legs to trip it, or its core for maximum damage.
  • Hit and Run: Engage the Juggernaut, get a few hits in, then retreat to avoid Helena's attacks. Repeat until the Juggernaut is destroyed.
  • use Overcharge: If you have an Overcharge Attack ready, use it on the Juggernaut for burst damage.
• Reward: Defeating the Juggernaut Drone will yield Juggernaut Core and more Tech Scrap.

Phase 4: Helena's Final Stand

With all her reinforcements gone, Helena becomes more aggressive and her attacks gain a slight speed boost. She will also frequently use her Electric Orb attack.

• Strategy:
  • Aggressive Parrying: This is where your parrying skills are truly tested. Be precise with your directional parries.
  • Punish Electric Orbs: Parrying her Electric Orbs back at her will stun her, giving you a valuable opening for damage.
  • Finishing Blow: Once her health is critically low, perform a finishing blow on her head or weapon arm to gain valuable schematics. Aim for the head for the Goddess Helena's Head Gear schematic, or her weapon arm for the Goddess Helena's Staff schematic.

Tips for Success

• Stamina Management: Always keep an eye on your stamina bar. Don't overcommit to attacks, leaving yourself vulnerable.
• Heal Smart: Only heal when Helena is recovering from an attack or when you have a clear opening. Healing mid-combo is a death sentence.
• Learn the Tells: Each of Helena's attacks has a distinct wind-up. Learning these tells is crucial for successful parries.
• Practice Parrying: If you're struggling, consider practicing your parries on weaker enemies before re-engaging Helena.

Defeating Goddess Helena will grant you a significant amount of Tech Scrap, her Goddess Helena's Core, and the schematics for the body part you targeted for the finishing blow. Good luck, prospector!