All Bosses in Beast of Reincarnation

How boss fights work

Beast of Reincarnation is a single-player action RPG from Game Freak — their first AAA action RPG outside Pokémon — built in Unreal Engine 5 and set in a post-apocalyptic Japan of the year 4026. You play Emma, a Sealer who is herself afflicted by the Blight, travelling with her withered wolf companion Koo. Each region is a hand-built area anchored by a Blighted Forest, a corrupted dungeon spawned by the giant Malefact that rules it. Those apex Malefacts — the region rulers, also referred to as Nushi — are the story bosses, and sealing each one is the spine of the whole game.

• Bosses are colossal Malefacts. Creatures fully consumed by the Blight, staged as set-piece encounters that tower over Emma and Koo at the heart of each Blighted Forest.
• Sealing a boss grants its power. A Sealer's job is to absorb the Blight into her own body: beating each apex Malefact lets Emma and Koo take in its power and unlock a new Nushi Skill that feeds straight into your build. Boss order and boss rewards are the progression system.
• Fights are parry-centric. Emma's swordplay runs on Sekiro-style deflection — a perfect block beats a dodge, and every well-timed parry banks Florescence Points (FP), the resource Koo spends on his Bloom Arts (see the Koo command guide).
• Break the Down Gauge to open a boss up. Landing hits and clean parries fills a boss's Down Gauge; break it and the boss is stunned wide open for heavy punishment — the same meter that lets you execute lesser Malefacts outright.
• The command menu is your breathing room. Opening Koo's Bloom Arts menu slows the action — it does not pause, so Emma still has to move and block in real time — letting you read a boss's pattern and pick the right counter. Game Informer compared the slowdown to Final Fantasy VII Remake's command menu.

The boss combat loop: parry, bank, spend

Every fight against a large enemy comes back to the same core rhythm, and it inverts the usual Soulslike instinct of dodging away and poking:

1. Parry to earn. Deflecting a boss's strikes replenishes FP. Defense is literally your damage engine — a passive, dodge-only style starves Koo of resources.
2. Bank until an opening. FP carries between exchanges, so you can weather an aggressive phase, then cash in when the boss commits to a long recovery animation.
3. Spend on Bloom Arts. Koo converts banked FP into burst damage, crowd control, or Down Gauge pressure — and when Emma's own Entanglement Gauge fills its seven segments she can trigger Entanglement Overdrive, a slow-time burst window that is one of the safest ways to open a stubborn boss.

Emma and Koo each grow along their own skill trees (spent with SP), and your three attributes — Strength (attack and defence), Vitality (HP) and Florescence (HP and skill power) — plus swappable Katana / Bow / Crossbow weapons and Spirit Stones socketed into armour decide whether a fight becomes a stand-your-ground duel or a hit-and-fade hunt. The four broad approaches — melee pressure, ranged elemental, stealth execution, and Koo's Bloom-Art parry play — are all viable; the builds guide breaks them down.

Full boss list & progression order

Here is the confirmed campaign boss order, cross-checked against the in-game achievement/trophy list. Ten apex Malefacts gate the main story, with the mandatory Crimson Malefact as a forced story wall around the 18-hour mark. Two of the fights are dual bosses.

Note on names: the giant story bosses are most often called Malefacts in official material; "Nushi" is used for the region-ruling apex bosses and for the Nushi Skills you unlock by sealing them. We use both here where the sources do.

Boss walkthroughs

Rangifer — "The Prowling Nushi" (Boss 1)

The first apex Malefact and the game's first real skill check: a towering stag-like Nushi that you fight twice. It punishes sloppy parry timing, so treat it as an exam on everything the opening hours teach — parrying, FP management, and Koo's command menu.

• Suggested level: around 6–7 before you commit to it.
• Exploit Fire. Rangifer is weak to Fire. Slot Fire onto your arrows/bolts or Katana and lean on Koo's seed-volley Bloom Art (listed in-game as Higanbana: Seeds) to ignite it — burning damage is your fastest route through its health.
• Parry the antler sweep. Its wide horizontal antler swing is parryable and is your main FP battery — deflect it cleanly rather than rolling, bank the points, and cash them into Bloom Arts during the recovery.
• Expect the rematch. Because you face Rangifer twice, the second encounter leans harder on the patterns that caught you out the first time.

Lacerta (Boss 2)

A mud-lizard Malefact fought in the ruins of an ancient civilisation, again across two encounters. The dangerous wrinkle is its second phase, which turns poisonous.

• Bring antidotes. Come stocked with cure/antidote items before you start — phase two's poison is what ends unprepared runs.
• Lock it down. Use Frailty Fang and Koo's root-bind Bloom Art to pin Lacerta in place, then punish; immobilising it removes most of the danger from its lunges.
• Save Overdrive for phase two. Holding Emma's Entanglement Overdrive for the poison phase gives you a slow-time window to burst it down before the poison pressure builds.

Shidou & Nue (Boss 8, dual boss)

A two-in-one fight: Shidou and Nue alternate, tagging in and out, and you meet this pairing about three times across the campaign, with the encounter escalating each time.

• Respect the hand-off. Because the two swap who is active, keep your parry rhythm centred on whichever one is currently attacking rather than splitting attention across both.
• Bank through the swaps. Use the moment one tags out to spend banked FP on Bloom Arts and Down-Gauge pressure before the other winds up.
• The reward: clearing it grants the Black Blossom katana — a strong pickup worth folding into your loadout right away (see the weapons guide).

A full attack-by-attack parry and dodge table for this pair is being finalised and verified post-launch — we'll add it here.

Crimson Malefact — solo fight, no Koo (mandatory, ~18h)

A forced story wall at Starfall Tower, roughly 18 hours into the main campaign. What sets it apart from every other boss on this page: you fight it alone — Koo is not with you.

• No Koo means no Bloom Arts. The FP-into-Bloom-Arts half of your kit is gone, so this fight is a pure test of Emma's own toolkit: clean parries, elemental Katana/Bow/Crossbow damage, and Entanglement Overdrive.
• Lean on Overdrive. With no companion to create openings, Emma's seven-segment Entanglement Gauge and its slow-time Overdrive become your main way to force safe damage windows — build it and spend it deliberately.
• Come self-sufficient. Bring your own healing and status cures; you can't rely on Koo's seed-volley heal here.

A full moveset breakdown is being verified and will be added post-launch.

Remaining bosses — strategies coming soon

The following confirmed bosses appear in the campaign in the order listed above, but their full pattern breakdowns are still being verified through hands-on testing after launch. We won't publish invented movesets — these will fill in as each is cleared and confirmed:

• Ursa — Full strategy coming soon, verifying post-launch.
• Corvus — Full strategy coming soon, verifying post-launch.
• Erymanth — Full strategy coming soon, verifying post-launch.
• Koo's Nushi form — Full strategy coming soon, verifying post-launch.
• Taurus — Full strategy coming soon, verifying post-launch.
• Kunai & Kirin (dual boss) — Full strategy coming soon, verifying post-launch.
• Beast of Reincarnation (final boss) — Full strategy coming soon, verifying post-launch.

Boss strategy fundamentals

1. Parry first, dodge second

Deflection is the core defensive verb, and parries feed Koo's FP. Against these giant Malefacts, expect parryable weapon swings mixed with unblockable slams that force repositioning. Learning to tell them apart — reading a boss's cadence — is the skill the whole game is built around.

2. Spend Koo's Bloom Arts on openings, not panic

Koo's command menu slows time, but his abilities run on the FP you earn by parrying. Survive the pressure, bank points, then convert them into burst damage or Down-Gauge pressure during the boss's recovery windows. Burning FP defensively in a panic leaves you with nothing when the real opening arrives.

3. Build for the fight in front of you

With four viable approaches — melee pressure, ranged elemental, stealth execution and Koo's parry play — plus three attributes (Strength, Vitality, Florescence), swappable weapons and Spirit Stones, keep an alternate setup ready before each Blighted Forest. You can respec, and every sealed boss's Nushi Skill widens your options as the campaign goes on. Match your elements to the enemy, as with Fire on Rangifer.

4. Difficulty is adjustable — use it

Unlike most Soulslikes, Beast of Reincarnation ships with selectable difficulty, including a Story Mode for players who want the world and narrative without the hardest challenge curve; the director has said plainly that he doesn't want players to get stuck. If a wall stops your run, lowering the difficulty for one boss is a tool the developers deliberately built in — not a failure state. See the difficulty guide.

Boss FAQ

How many bosses are in Beast of Reincarnation?

There are ten apex Malefacts (Nushi) that gate the main story — Rangifer, Lacerta, Ursa, Corvus, Erymanth, Koo's Nushi form, Taurus, Shidou & Nue, Kunai & Kirin, and the final Beast of Reincarnation — plus the mandatory Crimson Malefact at Starfall Tower. Two of those (Shidou & Nue and Kunai & Kirin) are dual bosses, and smaller mini-boss Malefacts fill the Blighted Forests between them.

What order do you fight the bosses in?

The campaign follows a largely linear route, and the confirmed order is Rangifer → Lacerta → Ursa → Corvus → Erymanth → Koo's Nushi form → Taurus → Shidou & Nue → Kunai & Kirin → Beast of Reincarnation, with the Crimson Malefact as a forced fight around the 18-hour mark. Rangifer and Lacerta are each fought twice, and Shidou & Nue recur about three times.

What do you get for beating a boss?

Sealing an apex Malefact lets Emma and Koo absorb its power and unlock a new Nushi Skill that plugs into your progression alongside the skill trees, weapons, and Spirit Stones. Specific fights also drop gear — for example, Shidou & Nue reward the Black Blossom katana. Boss rewards are core character growth, not optional trophies.

Which boss do you fight without Koo?

The Crimson Malefact at Starfall Tower (~18 hours in) is a solo fight — Koo isn't with you, so you can't use FP or Bloom Arts. It's a pure test of Emma's parrying, elemental weapons, and Entanglement Overdrive.

Is there more than one ending after the final boss?

There is a single main-story ending plus New Game Plus. Reaching Chapter 13 and defeating the Beast of Reincarnation triggers the ending and unlocks NG+; there is no confirmed branching or multiple-ending system. The full breakdown is on the endings guide.

Can you change the difficulty mid-game for a hard boss?

Difficulty options including Story Mode are in the game, and the design intent is explicit: bosses are meant to be beatable by non-experts without abandoning the run. See the difficulty guide for the details.

Related guides

• Koo commands & Bloom Arts explained
• Best builds: skill trees, weapons & spirit stones
• All weapons: Katana, Bow & Crossbow
• Difficulty options & Story Mode explained
• Beginner guide — first hours done right
• Ending & New Game Plus explained

Sources

• Beast of Reincarnation — official Steam store page
• Xbox Wire — "Beast of Reincarnation: A One-Person, One-Dog Action RPG" (Developer Direct)
• Game Informer — Beast of Reincarnation hands-on preview (July 2026)
• GameSpot — Beast of Reincarnation release date and everything we know
• Boss roster and progression order cross-referenced against the in-game achievement/trophy list.

Last updated: August 4, 2026