How to Beat the Hanged Man in The First Descendant

If there were a list of the most challenging bosses in The First Descendant, the Void Intercept Battle against the Hanged Man boss would be on the top of the list. The game throws unbelievably hard mechanics, especially compared to the previous Void Intercept Battles. It requires you to play with a team, and it is almost impossible to play solo. Here’s a complete guide on how to beat the Hanged Man in The First Descendant.

Hanged Man Ultimate Boss Guide – The First Descendant

Note: Since you have to finish the campaign to unlock the Hanged Man fight, you’ll also unlock hard mode before this fight. It is highly suggested that you upgrade your gear to level 100 through hard mode and go back to this fight.

The Hanged Man is very weak to Toxic, so Freyna would be the preferred DPS for the fight. While the Hanged Man is very strong against Electric, Bunny is still relevant here because of the fight’s mechanics.

Hanged Man Attack Set

The Hanged Man has the following basic attacks:

• Lightning projectiles (basic attack)
• Lightning Orbs – chases each player (you can go around obstacles to bait the Lightning Orbs into crashing into them)
• A Ground Smash – hits anyone underneath for massive damage (rarely used)
• Lightning Strikes – calls random lightning strikes from the sky to attack all the players

These are all the Hanged Man’s basic attacks, and they are nothing different from the ones you see from Pyromaniac or Devourer. However, the Hanged Man’s shockwave is the most dangerous attack, which smashes through a massive cone covering almost 1/4 of the arena. It takes around 5 seconds to cast, but during this attack, the Hanged Man will have a vial you have to destroy on the mouth with its separate HP bar. The boss only does this attack on its Frenzied stage, which will have one of the hardest boss mechanics tied to it.

Hanged Man Fight Mechanics

If you notice an altar below the Hanged Man, there is a cube here that you have to pick up, triggering the Hanged Man’s Frenzied state. Once picked up, the Hanged Man will be immune to damage and start doing that shockwave attack mentioned earlier.

Look at the altar, and you’ll find four red vials. These vials will fill up as the match progresses. If these vials are full, you have to pick up the cube as soon as possible. If nobody picks it up, the Hanged Man will do an orbital strike, one-shotting every member. It is a wipe mechanic, and there’s nothing you can do to dodge the attack.

When you pick up the cube, the vials will not fill up. However, the boss is also immune to damage. The strategy here is to shoot the little vial inside the Hanged Man’s mouth as it does the shockwave attack. If you destroy the vial, it’ll stop doing the attack and stagger. It also drains the four vials in the middle, preventing the one-shot mechanic from the boss.

You have to destroy the vial twice to drain most of the fluids from the vials. There’s also one added mechanic where someone must carry the cube when destroying the vial. If no one holds the cube and the team destroys the vial, the vials near the altar will not drain.

So, a team must have one designated “runner” to carry the cube and dodge everything. The cube carrier will also have reduced movement speed and cannot use skills. However, the carrier can still roll or use the grappling hook.

Bunny and Viessa are good runners. Bunny can sometimes drop the cube and use Speed of Light in critical situations. Viessa can use her mobility skill to apply the buff and pick up the cube afterward.

Returning to the Hanged Man’s mouth vial, the hitbox is extremely small. The best strategy is to have everyone commit to shooting the vial because if one doesn’t commit, the others will take the shockwave hit. Once one player is down, it’ll start snowballing since the Hanged Man will never stop using the shockwave. He’ll also spawn some King Fischer mobs that stun players.

Bunny is the best Descendant to deal with the mouth vial because of her electric beam ultimate. Even if the boss is strong against Electric, one ultimate from Bunny can destroy the mouth vial, and the small hitbox doesn’t matter because of how thick the beam is from Bunny.

When the team destroys the vial twice and drains the vials on the altar, the runner must return the cube, and the boss won’t be immune anymore.

The boss will be an easy fight if you can remember and relay all the mechanics to your team. The only struggle is playing with randoms, as you have trouble communicating strategies.

The Hanged Man’s Amorphous Material Patterns

Finishing the Hanged Man will open up a device where you can crack open your Amorphous Material Patterns. It goes from pattern 050 to 053, which are mostly Enzo and Gley materials and Ultimate Weapon blueprints.

The boss drops level 95 gear, but at this point, everything on hard mode is better already. There is no point in running the Hanged Man fight if you don’t have the Amorphous Material Patterns to open.