The Queen

The Queen is an alternative final boss to the game. She resides in the Crown at the top of the Lighthouse. She is exclusive to the Queen and the Sea DLC.

Moveset

In 1+ BSC, the Queen's first phase will include a special attack at the end of the 3-hit-combo.

Movement

The Queen can slide forwards and backwards to close distance or back away from the players attack.

Normal Attacks

Stab

Description: The Queen holds her rapier in front of her upper body and stabs in front of her.
Can be blocked, parried, dodge rolled, double jumped, or ducked under.

Lower Stab

Description: The Queen lowers her rapier to her feet while crouching down, then stabs in front of herself at a slight downwards angle towards the ground.
Can be blocked, parried, dodge rolled, or jumped.

Slash

Description: The Queen raises the rapier above her head and slashes downwards, covering a large area in front of her.
Can be blocked, parried, or dodge rolled.
You can also double jump to move above or behind the Queen to avoid this attack, due to this attacks' hitboxes only extending in front of her (the slash won’t hit the player if they are completely above/behind her).

Special Attacks

The Queen has 9 special attacks, most of which are used at the end of a combo or during an enrage phase.

Fire Sword

Description: The Queen manifests a broadsword behind her and thrusts it forward, then immediately performs a slash identical to the one used as a normal attack.
The Broadsword Thrust can be blocked, parried, dodge rolled, double jumped, or ducked.
The Slash can be blocked, parried, or dodge rolled.
The Queen can turn around mid-combo.

Fire Wave

Description: The Queen raises her hand, then moves it downwards, creating a moving wave of fire near-identical to the one used by the Concierge.
Can be jumped/hopped over, but cannot be rolled or parried.
Like the Concierge’s attack, the fire columns don't deal damage – only touching the ‘fiery’ (orange-colored) ground beneath them will harm you.
This attack is more likely to be used when the Queen is far away.

Fire Tornado

Description: The Queen pulls her hand behind her before sweeping it forwards and upwards, creating a fire tornado that quickly moves forward.
Can be rolled through, but not parried.
This attack will destroy any fire, oil, or burning oil on the ground – as well as any toxic clouds – that it touches.

Fire Aura

Description: The Queen puts her hands on her chest and quickly moves them away from her body, which releases an aura around her.
Cannot be rolled nor parried.
While the aura fades out slowly, only the first few frames of the attack will damage the player.

Grab and Throw

Description: The Queen kneels down, drawing her hand behind her before thrusting it forward to grab the player. If the player is grabbed, the Queen will raise them up from the ground while inflicting six ticks of damage before throwing the player upwards & behind her, inflicting a brief stun effect that dissipates when the player reaches the apex of this vertical movement. While the player is grabbed, no in-game inputs will work.
Can be rolled, but not parried.
The Queen can grab the player through global shields (such as those provided by Force Shield and Rampart).
This attack will not trigger the Disengagement mutation, the One-Shot Protection mechanic or the short global shield granted by taking damage with a shield equipped.

Down-Strike

Description: The Queen leaps forwards and stabs downwards, ignoring shields (but not global ‘bubble’ shields)
Can be rolled, but not blocked or parried.
This attack can only be used at the end of the Queen’s combo if the player parries her attacks too often, and is used as a counter attack in such a scenario.
This attack can appear during her enraged phase even if no shield is carried and the parry requirement has not been met.

Ground Slam

Description: The Queen raises one of her hands above her head and then slams it into the ground after a considerable delay, creating a small shockwave around the impact.
Can be blocked, parried, or dodge rolled.
This attack can be interrupted by attacking the Queen once during the windup, which will also stun her briefly.

Dashing-Strike

Description: The Queen holds her rapier in front of her, accompanied by her screaming and her voice getting higher, before attacking with a high-distance lunge.
Can be blocked, parried, dodge rolled, or double jumped over.
The Queen will only begin to use this attack after reaching her second phase.
This attack is only used if the player is too far away from the Queen when she starts a combo, it will replace her combo if performed.

Taunt

Description: The Queen will stop attacking and bow down while taunting the player with a line of dialogue (appears in a blue-green text box). This attack cannot damage the player in any way.
This happens more rarely than her other special attacks.

Defensive Counter Attacks

The Queen can use a wide array of abilities to counter the player’s attacks and abilities.

Fire Tornado

Description: Identical to the special attack by the same name, the Queen will use this attack if fire, oil, burning oil, or toxic clouds are present in front of her when her combo begins.
Can be rolled through, but not parried.
The attack will replace the Queen’s combo if used, like many of her counter attacks, causing her to go into a defensive stance for a brief moment after performing it.
Unlike many counterattacks, the fire tornado will directly damage the player if not rolled through. It is advised to be wary of this counterattack if using an item that can spread fire/oil/toxic clouds, as the attack can occur at the very start of a combo due to fire/oil/toxic clouds existing in the arena may catch you off-guard.

Down-Strike

Description: The Queen will add the down-strike to her special attack pool if the player parries her at least once during her combo, allowing it to be used at the end of her combo.
Can be rolled, but not parried. Global ‘bubble’ shields and the Cocoon skill can still block damage from this attack.
The Queen will not use this attack if the player is too far away from her at the end of her combo.

Banish Summon

Description: If a pet is alive when the Queen starts a combo, she will instead reach out towards the pet with her hand, luring it in.
This counterattack can be interrupted (through damage, stun, breach, freeze or even displacement).
If the Queen is not interrupted, she will banish the pet, putting it on cooldown and despawning it.
If this counterattack is interrupted, she will not attempt to banish the pet again unless it’s resummoned.
Regardless of the success of this counterattack, it will replace her combo, and the Queen will enter a short defensive stance afterwards.

Turret Execution

Description: If a deployable is active when the Queen starts a combo, she will instead target it and initiate a counterattack, standing above the deployable and raising her rapier, before stabbing downwards and destroying it if she is not interrupted.
If the Queen is interrupted while performing this counterattack, she will not attempt to destroy the same deployable again.
If the Queen performs this counterattack, regardless of whether or not it is successful, it will replace her combo, causing her to enter a short defensive stance afterwards.
Deployed turrets will stop firing when the Queen is attempting to destroy them, preventing them from interrupting the counterattack.
- Despite the fact that the Crusher and Wolf Trap don’t have a health bar, the Queen is still able to destroy them with this counterattack.
- She can still destroy a Wolf Trap even if she is trapped by it.
- The Barnacle deployable, which hovers in the air, can still be destroyed by this attack.
- Explosive Decoy will not be targeted by this counterattack.

Splitting Grenades/Thrown Deployables

Description: If a grenade or deployable projectile (the brown barrel that contains the deployable) is thrown to the Queen when she starts a combo, she will instead hold it in place and cut it in half.
This can be interrupted by damaging her.
- If she is interrupted while performing this counterattack, the projectile will continue on its previous trajectory.
- If the Queen performs this counterattack, regardless of whether or not it is successful, it will replace her combo, causing her to enter a short defensive stance afterwards.
If a grenade or deployable is thrown far away from her, this counterattack will not occur.

Melee Parry

Description: The Queen will crouch and create a barrier in front of herself, resembling the semicircle that appears in front of the player when parrying. If the player attacks the Queen with a melee weapon on the side where the shield is, the attack will be parried while briefly stunning the player and slightly knocking them back. Afterwards, the Queen will perform a forward thrust immediately.
Can be parried or dodge rolled.
If the player has hit the Queen with at least 3 melee attacks and initiates a melee attack near her while she isn’t in a combo (can be during her defensive position, dashing away from the player after ending one, or running towards them).
- This replaces the Queen’s normal combo if it occurs, and she will enter her defensive stance afterwards, whether it is successful or not. When this happens, she will not be able to parry the player again during the subsequent defensive stance.
The force field can be ignored by moving behind her (rolling, jumping over her, Phaser skill, Katana dash, etc.) or by using shield-piercing weapons (Tentacle, Wrecking Ball, Valmont’s Whip, etc.).

Deflect Projectiles

Description: If a projectile is fired at the Queen during her defensive stance, she may raise her hand, sucking in all projectiles, before throwing them back at the player.
Can be parried or dodge-rolled.
The Queen can still turn around during the windup.
This counterattack replaces her combo.
This counterattack will occur every fourth defensive stance in which the Queen is damaged by a ranged attack.
If hit with your own projectiles, you will get damaged and receive any status effects present on your weapons (burn, poison, bleeding, root, frozen, marked).

Reality Slashes

The Queen will move to the middle of the arena, elevate into the air, laugh menacingly and initiate this attack. These are screen-wide attacks that indicate a change in the Queen's phase.

Reality Slash (5x)

Description: One slash at a time appears, after every slash, all the current slashes get triggered.
Can be rolled, but not parried.
Initiated when the Queen is at 75% HP.

Reality Slash (10x)

Description: One slash at a time appears, after every slash, all the current slashes get triggered. Same as Reality Slash 5x, but with 10 slashes that trigger quicker.
Can be rolled, but not parried.
Initiated when the Queen is at 50% HP.

Reality Slash (30x)

Description: All 30 slashes appear rapidly & will trigger at once after the last one has been placed.
Can be rolled, but not parried.
Initiated when the Queen is at 25% HP.

Mechanics

Combos

The Queen doesn’t randomly use her normal & special attacks, they have a set pattern! A sequence consists of her three normal attacks in a random order, but the same sequence will be applied to the whole combo (If she uses her Slash first, then it will be used on the 4th, 7th, and 10th attacks). After the combos have been executed, the Queen will usually add a special attack before returning to a defensive stance.

This can be taken advantage of, if she uses the Slash first, then you know that her two next attacks won't be a Slash.
Combos that are merged together (e.g. a combo of 6), will have multiple groups of three. The order of the attacks from the first combo carries over to the second combo.
During a combo, she will usually dash to you before an attack.
- In her later phases her dashes will happen more frequently & hectically.
After a combo, she can use one out of her 9 special attacks.

Phases

Phase 1:
- She will use 3 attacks and on 1 BC+ add a special attack to the end of the combo.
Phase 2:
- She can now use the Dashing-Strike instead of executing her regular combos.
- The pauses after her combos are finished will now be shorter.
- She will use 3-6 attacks and can add a special attack to the end of the combo.
- She can execute 2 combos back to back with no pause in between.
Phase 3:
- The pauses after her combos are finished will now be very short.
- She will use 3-7 attacks and can add a special attack to the end of the combo.
- She can execute 3 combos back to back with no pause in between.
  - This can lead to the Queen using 12+ normal attacks in a row during this phase (the most I have seen)
Phase 4:
- The pauses after her combos are finished will now be even shorter.
- She will use 3-9 attacks and can add a special attack to the end of the combo.
- She can execute 5 combos back to back with no pause in between.

Enrage

When does the Queen Enrage?

The Queen will enrage if you either parry her too much, throw her off the cliff too often, interrupt her attacks too often or deal too little damage.
During an enraged phase the Queen will use as many different special attacks as possible.
- Some attacks can be used twice.
She can enrage multiple times in a row.
If interrupted during an enrage, she can still continue her special attacks.

Phase differences

Phase 1:
- She will use 3-4 special attacks
Phase 2:
- She will use 3-5 special attacks
Phase 3:
- She will use 3-7 special attacks
Phase 4:
- She will use 3-8 special attacks

Knockback/CC

You can interrupt her attacks, these items can knockback/pull/interrupt her:
- Assault Shield (disrupt + movement)
- Knockback Shield (can interrupt all of her parry-able attacks)
- Grappling Hook (disrupt + low cooldown)
- Wave of Denial (disrupt + low cooldown)
- Mushroom Boi! (disrupt + knockback)
She has strong knockback resistance.
You can make The Queen fall into the void.
- This damages her a bit, but she will have a force shield for a second after teleporting back to the platform.
  - She can teleport back to the stage before getting damaged if done too often.
  - She will attack (normal/special attack) almost instantly if she teleports back to the stage without taking damage.
  - Will enrage her if done too often.
You can use her Dashing-Strike in your favour:
- You can make her dash into the void by standing very close or jumping outside of the arena before she lunges at you.
- Parrying her Dashing-Strike will knock her back, which can result in her falling off the cliff (she must be closer to the edge than you are).

Revive

This can only happen once during the fight and only while the Queen is above 50%.
The Queen will revive you after the death screen pops up. Your body won't vanish, instead, it will float towards the Queen.
You will be healed back to 100% (your flask amount won't change) and the Queen will lose 10% of her total HP while reviving you.
This can be taken advantage of in order to receive a free heal and reduce the Queen's HP by 10%.

Strategy

General

Even though the Queen is complicated as she is, the fight is relatively simple. You just have to make sure that you prepare well enough in the Biome before the Servants so that you can deal with the two boss stages back-to-back. Because both fights are fast-paced, you can use one build for both of them! Any form of CC helps with interrupting them, but that will make the no-hit harder. If you are going for the no-hit, use a build with a lot of damage and focus on dodging (this is also the easiest way to beat her, just get so much damage that she's stuck in her Reality Slashes). Though, if your only goal is to beat the Queen, then make sure you are adjusted to her speed. Counting the number of her attacks during normal combos or her enraged phase is a good idea, you could then predict when she will stop her attacks

Combos

Dodging her normal combos is relatively straightforward, all you need to do is run away from the Queen and roll when she attacks. That way you’ll be able to dodge her combos, even in her final phases! But if you want to deal damage during her normal combos, be ready to parry her attacks or time your rolls very well to dodge every normal attack of hers, though be prepared for her Down-Strike and the melee counter! Remember that she will dash to you before attacking, but sometimes she also attacks without dashing in her earlier phases and sometimes she dashes twice without attacking in her later phases! Sound cues are great to distinguish between her normal combos, her defensive counters and her Dashing-Strike!

Defensive Counters

Before you start the fight, make sure to check your loadout, some of your weapons might force out some counterattacks! Think about all the possibilities, if you have a weapon with projectiles, will you then dodge her counter or are you going to parry it? If you have a pet, are you ready for dealing enough damage to stop her from banishing it? If you have fire/oil/toxic clouds, are you ready to dodge roll her Fire Tornado that counters it? Etc.

Enraged Phases

The Queen will enrage during the fight, either from receiving too little damage, being pushed off the cliff too often, getting parried too often or getting interrupted/cc’d too often! During her enraged phases, you should only focus on dodging her attacks because sometimes you can get pinched between two special attacks. Some of her attacks can get interrupted, some can be parried and some can be jumped, but there is no answer to every attack of hers! You will need to learn the dodging strategy for the attacks.

Reality Slashes

Her Reality Slashes are a good opportunity to dish out a lot of damage, but be careful if you are using melee weapons! Sooner or later the Slashes will prevent you from getting close to The Queen. And if you move around too much during her Slashes (notably during her 2nd transition Slash), then you will run out of space, so move only a bit every time and be efficient with the space you use to dodge this attack. If you deal enough damage to her before she enters a Reality Slash and if you then keep damaging her enough, then the Queen will transition from her 1st Reality Slash into her 2nd & 3rd Reality Slashes! This can easily be done with builds that are primarily focused on only dealing damage.

Interrupting

If you interrupt her attacks too often, be prepared to face her enraged phase. But if you can deal with the barrage of attacks during the enrage, then interrupting her attacks is a great way to stop her combos to deal more damage. But be warned, the general concept of using interruption & cc isn’t helpful when trying to do a no-hit, because this can change up her combo and leave you with having to guess what comes next instead of being able to just count her attacks and counter them.

When to heal

The best time to heal is either during her Taunts or shortly after her Dashing-Strike, during these periods you’ll be able to drink a potion even without using Emergency Triage! Also, it is highly recommended to not heal during her combos or enraged phases. Rather focus on dodging instead of trying to heal or dealing damage. Besides that, trying to force a revive is a great way to receive a full heal while damaging the Queen for 10% of her HP, but you’ll have to do that while the Queen has more than 50% HP!

Weapons/Skills

The Meat Skewer and Assault Shield will move you out of the way of most of her attacks before they reach you or give you a long parry time, allowing you to continuously attack with little risk of damage.
Phaser is an easy way to get behind her and dodge most of her attacks.
Turrets can be used for damage and even as a distraction as she will try to destroy them, leaving her vulnerable to attacks.
Most of her attacks are close-ranged and rely on her ability to close distance quickly. Any item that can lock her in a place like Root Grenade or Wolf Trap will prevent this, giving an advantage to ranged builds.

Lore

Not much is known about the Queen, or what relationship she held with the King before the Malaise beyond being married to him; she is implied to have owned the Shrines, which contained vaults filled with treasure and led the Pagans. It would be assumed, that she and the Royal Gardener had a close relationship before the Malaise. This is evident in various notes left by the Gardener such as: seeking help from the Pagans and attempting to reach the Lighthouse where she resided. Although he did not succeed as he was transformed into the Scarecrow.

Like the Beheaded, the Queen was turned into a homunculus with a "head" that has three marks resembling the King's coat of arms and a halo; compared to the Beheaded having just one mark. A room in the Undying Shores implies she was turned into a homunculus by the Apostates and was freed by the Servants. After this transformation she fled to the top of the Lighthouse, stopping anyone that tried to light the beacon to contain the Malaise.

Dialogue

First meeting

"Here comes the interloper. After all the Malaise has done to the kingdom, you should realize that we cannot allow anything to leave the island. But I guess you're beyond reasoning now."
"I'm sorry, but I have to stop this folly right here, right now. Know that I won't take any pleasure in killing you."

Shielding

"Enough with this!"
"Stop hiding!"
"Try parrying this..."
"Fight for real now!"

Taunts

"Is that all you got?"
"Hey, you left your liver here."
"Pathetic..."
"Run away. Now."
"Shall I send you back?"

Queen falls in the void

"Stop that!"
"You'll pay for that!"
"That was not pleasant."
"What a clever use of your environment, you should be proud."

Premature dead

The Queen reacts to the death before reviving the Beheaded.

"Oh no you don't!"

After the Queen recovered the Beheaded's corpse and is about to revive him.

"I'm not done with you."

After the Queen revived the Beheaded:

"Now fight. For real, this time."

When defeated

"I guess... the die is cast then..."

Second meeting

"You again... so stubborn."
"En garde!"

The following information contains spoilers regarding the true ending of the game. Discretion is advised.

While wearing the King Outfit first time

"And here comes my beloved husband, trying his best to save his own skin once again."
"I'm sorry, my love, but I can't let you reignite the beacon. I'll stop you even if it means killing my husband and king."

King Outfit taunts