Hua, the Bride (Deadly Betrothed): boss guide

Full name from the Steam achievement "Scarlet Wraithblade": Hua, the Bride Confirmed · Steam.

At a glance

How the fight goes

How she attacks

She blinks to your position before she strikes, so a hit is often coming the moment she vanishes. PC Gamer says her blue, parryable attacks come at the end of a four-hit string and are easy to read. Her deadliest move is a red-flash grab that ends in a heavy decapitating slash; Game8 adds that the grab version of her Killer Move can only be avoided by dodging. She also sometimes slams down with a smoky black aura, and PC Gamer says the next attack then drains all your stamina if you block it.

The lilies

PC Gamer counts three kinds. Some bloom around the arena when she attacks and explode after a delay. Others patrol the arena and blow up where they meet. White lilies she throws home in on you and can stun you, which lets her follow with the red grab; PC Gamer calls these the most dangerous. Game8 describes the same flowers: red ones that appear during her attacks and while she recovers Sha-Chi, a spinning backstep that leaves flowers converging on her old spot, and slow white flowers that she follows by blinking in front of you for a two-hit swing or the grab.

Phases

No source describes separate phases or a health-based change, so we do not claim any.

How to beat Hua

• Play defensively first. Block, dodge and parry until her Sha-Chi breaks, then go on the offensive (Game8). Attacks that skip stamina still chip her Sha-Chi, so keep pressing between her moves (PC Gamer).
• Do not trade hits while she can grab. Game8 notes she punishes long combos with a quick grab, which is hard to dodge in the middle of your own animation.
• Do not block the white lilies. Dodge away from them and expect either two quick swings or the grab once she blinks in (Game8, PC Gamer).
• After her spinning backstep, turn off lock-on and move away at once, because the flowers converge on her old position and she blinks to wherever you run (Game8).
• Dodge the smoky black slam. Blocking it costs all your stamina and it also drops lilies (PC Gamer).
• When she is stunned, use your stamina on heavy combos, and charge the Dread Axe to its first level, until it pings blue, near the end to knock her down and lengthen the window (PC Gamer).
• Bring a weapon upgraded to level 5 so its bonus skill is active, and grab the Focus Pill from the chest up the hill to the left of the Axemaster's Holding Cell bell, which you reach by smashing a barricade with the Dread Axe (PC Gamer, Game8). PC Gamer notes bleed does not work on her.

Blue marks mean parry, red marks mean dodge Reported · TheSixthAxis Reported · TheSixthAxis. The combat guide covers timing and the Sha-Chi meter.

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