How To Beat Rudolf Captain of Stonedale in Absolum

Rudolf, Captain of Stonedale is one of the first possible bosses you’ll encounter in Absolum, who presents a decent challenge. Armed with an axe and shield, Rudolf has strong defense, hits like a truck, and can take out playqers pretty fast during earlier runs.

If you’re struggling to get an upper hand in the fight, here is how you can easily beat Rudolf, Captain of Stonedale, and counter everything he throws at you.

Beat Rudolf Captain of Stonedale in Absolum

Most of Rudolf’s attacks in both phases can be deflected or dodged, and I encourage you to do just that. Not only will this improve your defensive skills, but by deflecting or dodging, you have more room to perform a punish, which does good damage.

Here is how to deal with each of Rudolf’s attacks.

Rising Slash

While Rudolf has his shield intact, he’ll scrape the ground and perform a rising slash with his axe. If you’re further away from it, this will throw several rocks in your general direction. Ideally, you want to be in proximity to Rudolf at all times and perform a deflect when he raises the axe from the ground. Follow this up with a punish and keep hitting him.

If you’re a bit away from and come in contact with the rocks, just deflect those as well.

Red Flashing Attack – Charged Shield Bash

During the fight, Rudolf will flash red and assume a low squat. He then charges toward you with his shield held forward while leaving a trail of fire behind him.

The best way to handle this is by simply dodging out of the way, ideally below him, so you have a good line of sight. You can also jump over him, but you might get caught in the fire trail.

Technically, you can deflect red attacks in Absolum, but these break your guard, leaving you stunned and open for attacks. It’s worse in this case because this charged attack hits several times, so even when you negate damage by deflecting the first hit, you’ll be hit at least two times right after.

Downward Slash

Rudolf’s axe will blink, and he’ll raise it, bringing it down fast in a curved motion for a single hit attack. This can be easily deflected, and you can follow up with a punish and keep beating him. He performs this attack when he has a shield, and even after you’ve broken it.

Guard Counter

While Rudolf has his shield equipped, he’ll eventually perform a guard counter when you’ve hit him enough times. You’ll see a blink and he’ll bash his shield in your direction, throwing you off balance while dealing damage to you.

Again, you can deflect this attack, and the flash is an indicator of when you should hit deflect. Continue attacking him with everything you’ve got.

Red Flashing Attack – Grab

After you’ve broken his shield, his charged attack is replaced with a grab. Rudolf will raise his hand above him, which will flash red, and he’ll dash towards your general direction and perform a command grab. If successful, he’ll plunge you down and perform a combo, which you can’t escape. As intimidating as it is, it’s actually very simple to counter. If you’re at a moderate distance, hang for a second so your direction is calculated by Rudolf, and just walk below him.

If you’re close to him, a simple dodge will do the trick. Don’t jump in place or try to leap over him, expecting he’ll dash beneath you, as he’ll catch you mid-air.

Shield Rally

Since Rudolf isn’t confident in his skills to take you on his own, he’ll pound his shield and call for reinforcements.

You can interrupt this, but from what I can tell, the moment this animation starts, the minions start appearing anyway.

Battle Strategy

Now that you know how to deal with every attack, you’ll want to be extremely aggressive throughout the fight.

• Deflect most attacks, but don’t lose your momentum, and keep attacking him with your strikes, heavy and special attacks.
• Dodge the red flashing attacks, but don’t let him recover, and always follow up with attacks.
• Attacking his shield will eventually break it, and I recommend trying to land as many punish attacks as possible.
• Throwables are very useful during this fight as well because he doesn’t really run off-screen, and if you’ve stocked up on those, you can throw them together for a good amount of damage.
• If you’re far into the game, don’t waste your ultimate attack on him.

Associated Trophy / Achievement

Beating Rudolf, Captain of Stonedale in Absolum, will unlock the Brother in Arms achievement.

After you’ve beaten him a few times, Rudolf becomes one of the easier fights in the game on subsequent runs, but one that teaches you the fundamentals of combat, especially when it comes to deflecting attacks.

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