Boss Battle: Dark Lord Gaol


Unlike Twinbellows, Gaol is a target roughly comparable to Magnus’s size, so you don’t have to try to dodge something the size of a tank. Like Twinbellows, the Dark Lord is impressively fast, considering the armor he’s got, air-dashing through the arena with great ease. Magnus and Pit will have a tough time just getting close enough to hit him. Once you do get close, Gaol can use a magic shield to protect himself from direct harm.

At a distance, Gaol is a capable sorcerer, able to bombard Pit and Magnus with magical blasts. Some attacks come directly at you, while others are flung like Grenades and take longer to get to you, but exploding with a wide area of effect.

Even when you get close to Gaol, he has a special spin attack that uses his cape to lash out at anyone close by. He tries to send you flying a fair distance away, where he can resume his magical bombardment.

Occasionally, Gaol will summon a pair of Skuttlers to shield himself against frontal assaults. Between Pit’s speed and Magnus’s strength, it’s possible to bypass this Skuttler shield completely. Pit can dodge around to the the side or behind Gaol, and Magnus just tends to cut right through the Skuttlers.

However, Gaol often uses the Skuttler shield as a chance to set up a powerful area of effect attack that hits very hard. And once the Dark Lord begins to prepare for this attack, you may not have enough time to react and run away.

The safest method for dealing with Gaol is to stay at mid-range, piling on damage with various types of charged shots. Stay on the move so as not to get hit by any of his ranged attacks, but always be prepared to dodge at the last second. Between Pit and Magnus, Gaol can be brought down with relative ease. In the aftermath of the battle, you learn some surprising information about the Dark Lord, but don’t have the time to dwell on it. Another of Medusa’s commanders requires your immediate attention.