The next boss guide for Metroid Dread is more of a miniboss guide, sort of. These encounters are repeated multiple times, but each one is deadly enough to take Samus down in moments. In this guide, we’ll lump all the Chozo Soldier encounters together, with additional instructions for the variants you’ll run into throughout the game.
The biggest thing you have to worry about when fighting a Chozo Soldier out in the regular map is how they chase you. You aren’t going to be able to stand your ground, and you’ll have to carefully time your evasion. Otherwise you’ll be eating damage for breakfast.
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The regular Chozo Soldiers have two physical and two ranged attacks. For ranged attacks, their basic attack is a volley of three shots. The baddie will adjust its aim as you move, so be wary of pre-emptive movements. If the Chozo Soldier charges, it’s about to fire a larger, stronger shot. You’ll eat it if you jump too early, so make sure to feel out the timing.
For melee, the Chozo Soldier will either glow red or blue. If it’s a blue glow, you’ll get an opportunity for a counterattack. If it’s red, you have to run away. The unblockable slash has a huge area of effect, pretty much forcing you to either run away or jump then Flash Shift over the thing’s head.
Eventually, encounters with Chozo Soldiers will turn into a two on one affair. The movesets won’t change, but now you have to keep up with two of them. Just keep moving and taking pot shots and you’ll be fine. Once you get the Storm Missile this fight becomes a lot easier, since you can focus on running and still get guaranteed heavy damage.
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After the X makes its goopy reappearance, you’ll encounter another variant of Chozo Soldier. This one carries a spear, and gets its own bespoke boss room(s). These ones just try to lunge at you at first, and you can slide under them or jump and Flash Shift over. If the enemy jumps to one of the walls, it’s going to try to come down on you from above; simply use Flash Shift once it starts to fall on you.
Once you do enough damage to these ones the X will take over and things get messier. The lunging attacks travel further and when it does the aerial attack there’s a discharge shockwave in both directions. When this creature jumps to the wall there’s a chance it will fire steady beams at you, so watch for it to open its mouth. These beams track, so make sure to wait a beat before you dodge.
There’s one final variant, and this time it’s the spear-wielding Chozo Soldier with a shield. The shield blocks direct damage, although it’s still possible to shoot these ones in the back or get them with splash damage at the right angle. But what you really want is to get in these guys’ faces and bait a shield bash. You can counter it, which stuns the enemy and gives you a chance to grapple the shield away.
The fight proceeds as usual once you yank the shield away, with no further variations.
