How to Defeat Varg in Thymesia’s Tutorial Level

In typical Soulsborne fashion, the new Soulslike action RPG, Thymesia, has a first boss that you are “supposed to lose to.” After a brief introduction to the indie game’s combat mechanics, players are tasked with defeating Varg, a tall, grey-armored knight who can kill the player character, Corvus, in just two hits. Ultimately, while you can’t truly defeat him, the true test for genre veterans is to empty Varg’s first health bar in the tutorial, which will net you the achievement/trophy YOU SHALL NOT PASS!!! as some virtual bragging rights that you were able to take down Thymesia’s tutorial boss (at least until he gets back up and pummels you, sending you to Philosopher’s Hill anyway).

There are two methods of defeating Varg, either by aggressively attacking, and deflecting his attacks with perfect timing. Or the foolproof way that will allow you to dodge his onslaughts, and slowly, but surely whittle down Varg’s health bar. This guide will focus on the latter, following on an easy five-step process that will lead you to victory.

Step One: Patience/Run in Circles

Take the advice of Guns N’ Roses’ frontman Axl Rose’s lyrics, as “all you need is just a little patience” to defeat Varg in the tutorial. This means that you must keep your distance and let him make the first move. Varg has four attacks: Jump, Stab, Smash, and 360 degree circle. While these attacks can appear in a variety of ways, if you just keep in mind that Varg can only attack you four ways it will simplify the fight.

While you wait for Varg’s first strike, run a large circle around him, always adjusting your camera to keep an eye on your adversary. Also, while it is up to your personal preference, I would highly recommend that you DO NOT LOCK ONTO VARG. Locking on makes it much harder to give yourself space from the aggressive, towering knight, and he only needs to land two hits to end the fight.

Step Two: Dodge

During his first attack, Varg with either jump at you from across the arena…

Or he will run right up to you and take a swing. If he jumps, side step it, if he swings right at you, dodge away, and if he comes very close to Corvus, double dodge (hit dodge button twice) to avoid his attack and give yourself space. While the exact number of swings and swipes varies, after Varg is finished with the attack, he will take a quick pause, which gives you an opportunity to…

Step Three: Strike and Get Out

When Varg pauses, he leaves himself open for a quick attack. If Varg has no wounds yet (green segment of his health bar), use your Saber to drain Varg’s white health bar with two or three quick swipes and quickly double-dodge away from him before he can hit you.

However, if Varg does have wounds, use your Claw once instead, and get away from him as quick as possible.

Related: Things You Need to Know Before Playing Thymesia

Step Four: Feathers/Heal

Once you have damaged Varg and given yourself space, it’s time to regroup and evaluate. If you have taken any damage, use a health potion, but remember, you only have three for the whole fight. Also, keep in mind that Corvus has 300 health and Varg’s attacks do 170+ damage. Also, if you notice Varg is wounded and his health bar starts flashing green, make sure to sling a feather at the knight to stop his health from regenerating.

Step Five: Repeat Steps One-Four

Simply repeat the process, as through patience, dodging, striking when the opportunity presents itself and keeping Varg’s wounds open with feathers, you will have his health bar diminished in no time, and be ready to perform the execution.

By following this strategy, Varg will have difficulty landing any hits on Corvus, while you will be able to slowly but surely decimate his health. As you can see, from the image above, I was able to down Varg with two potions left. Although this method takes longer than more aggressive strategies, you will be less prone to failure, and will have the YOU SHALL NOT PASS!!! achievement/trophy in no time.

Related: All Potion Recipes in Thymesia

Bonus: In Case You Die…

Even though this strategy makes Varg’s tutorial boss fight much easier, it’s still possible you might make a mistake and end up losing, which will send you to Philosopher’s Hill and progress the story. Unfortunately, if that happens, to get back to this fight you have to create a new save file and replay the entire tutorial to try your luck again against Varg.

However, there is a way to avoid replaying the tutorial if you lose the boss fight by doing the following: The second you lose the boss fight and the “death” cutscene happens simply dashboard before the cutscene ends (aka quickly close the Thymesia application). Then, re-open Thymesia and continue or load your save. This will bring you back to right before the fight with Varg, just outside his arena. However, as seen in the image above, Corvus will have no health, so you should run back to the tutorial’s beacon in order to regenerate your health before you attempt to fight Varg again.

However, this will not change the fact that you are still required to face Varg and will have to defeat him legitimately if you want to obtain the YOU SHALL NOT PASS!!! achievement/trophy.

For more Thymesia content, Prima Games has a variety of guides, reviews, and even boss fight difficulty rankings to help you on the way to ending the plague of Hermes Kingdom.