How to defeat the Ghost King in Dark and Darker

The Ghost King is currently the hardest boss in Dark and Darker, dropping the best quality loot if you can make it to them. Getting there is only half the battle, however; this boss teleports around the room, pushing out massive damage that will quickly obliterate all but the most well-organized teams. Don’t try to take this one on alone — you’ll just lose everything on your adventurer. Here’s how to turn the tables on the nasty Ghost King, and leave the dungeon with some of the best loot in game.

Related: The best Fighter perks in Dark and Darker

Note: this guide is up to date for the current alpha playtest.

How to prepare for the Ghost King

Ideally, your party will have a Ranger to continue to engage the Ghost King during certain attacks that moves him out of melee range. A Cleric can also help, with their ability to buff allies and send out heals with a minor cast time. You’re going to want to bring specific tools to this fight, however:

• Thrown weaponry
  • Every adventurer that cannot engage at-range must have two stacks of thrown weaponry. The Ghost King will float above the battlefield, and punishing this animation is a massive opportunity for a quick burn down.
• Health/Shield potions (2 stacks minimum)
  • When you’re in Hell, you’re going to want to keep your Shield potions up to help mitigate the massive damage enemies can do. This is vital for the Ghost King fight — failing just one mechanic here can cause a party wipe.

Where is the Ghost King in Dark and Darker?

To get to the Ghost King, players will need to go deep into a dungeon, taking the red portals rather than the blue ones. At this level, it’s rare to come across enemy groups, so focus on clean communications with your party while methodically eliminating NPC enemies, making your way to the center of the map, where this foe resides. The Ghost King spawns on map Inferno 02, while the Lich spawns on Inferno 01.

How to kill the Ghost King

Once players get near the center room of Inferno 02, they should see where the boss room is. Peek into it — there should be two magma enemies, and the Ghost King himself. Focus down the Magma enemies at range, ideally with the Ranger so your party aren’t wasting their limited ranged weapons. These enemies will cause an AoE that will wipe your party during this boss fight, but can kill them without triggering the aggro of the Ghost King.

Ghost King mechanics

When you boil the Ghost King down to raw mechanics, it’s a beatable fight. Three moves that you need to watch out for:

• Slam
  • The Ghost King will hover well into the air, then slam down into the ground. Every player must jump shortly before the Ghost King hits the ground, or everyone will take massive damage. When the Ghost King starts floating upwards, every party member must switch to ranged weaponry and eke out damage.
    • At the beginning of this animation, three bats will spawn in the center of the room. Focus the Ghost King during the jump, then eliminate the bats — it will distract you from fight mechanics.
• Teleport
  • The Ghost King will teleport to a party member, and then cleave instantly — anyone hit will receive a massive slow debuff that cannot be removed without leaving the dungeon. If you get hit by the slow debuff, you’re effectively dead unless the Ghost King can be killed quickly. The only tell for the teleport attack is a faint glimmer of light where the Ghost King will spawn. Communication is vital, here — call out the name of the player that the Ghost King is teleporting to, and use your ranged attacks to continue to harass the enemy.
• Soul Drain
  • If you can’t kill the Ghost King fast enough, he will place a bubble around himself and start chasing a single party member. If he catches the chased player, he will begin draining the soul of them for colossal damage. He can be damaged in this state, but there isn’t much time before the attacked player perishes. Thank your stars that he isn’t killing you, and close the distance to finish him before he picks you as his next meal

The Ghost King also has an unavoidable party-wide Scream attack which does slight damage to everyone — either use a shield potion or take the hit on the chin. He will also launch five orbs at a specific targeted player: simply sidestep the attack if you’re targeted while other party members dish out damage. It is presumed that, in High Roller dungeons, the attack patterns are the same, but has not been confirmed.