The Devourer boss in The First Descendant can be a significant roadblock for many players. While tackling bosses with a squad might seem intuitive in a cooperative shooter, The First Descendant features boss scaling that can make the Devourer fight overwhelmingly difficult in multiplayer. The secret to efficiently defeating this formidable foe? Going solo. This guide will walk you through the essential strategies to solo the Devourer, ensuring you overcome this challenge and progress further in the game.
Why Soloing the Devourer is Your Best Strategy
As highlighted by veteran players, the boss scaling mechanics in The First Descendant can drastically inflate the Devourer’s health and damage output when facing it with a team. This scaling often surpasses the combined damage potential of a group, leading to prolonged and arduous battles. Furthermore, the Devourer’s healing ability seems to scale with the number of players, making it even harder to deplete its health bar in a group setting.
Soloing circumvents these scaling issues. By facing the Devourer alone, you’ll encounter a boss with significantly reduced health and healing, making the fight manageable and considerably faster. While The First Descendant allows for multiple lives even when defeated, avoiding unnecessary deaths is always beneficial, and soloing greatly increases your survivability against the Devourer.
Key Strategies to Dominate the Devourer Solo
To successfully solo the Devourer, focus on these crucial tactics:
Prioritize Toxic Resistance
The Devourer heavily relies on toxic attacks, making Toxic Resistance paramount for survival. Before engaging the boss, check the recommended elemental resistance on the boss fight screen. Aim for at least 1500+ Toxic Resistance. Achieving this is easily done by equipping and upgrading a Toxic Resistance mod. Sacrifice a less critical mod in your current build to accommodate this essential defense. High Toxic Resistance will drastically reduce the damage taken from poison attacks, allowing you to withstand prolonged engagements and focus on offense.
Exploit Weak Spots for Maximum Damage
Like many bosses in The First Descendant, the Devourer has prominent weak spots. Notably, its knees are massive and easily accessible targets. Circle-strafe around the Devourer while consistently firing at its knees. This strategy allows you to continuously deal critical damage while simultaneously dodging poison projectiles and clearing any summoned mobs. Capitalize on moments when the Devourer is downed to unleash your ultimate skills for burst damage.
Leverage Bunny and Electric Damage
Bunny, an early-game Descendant, is exceptionally effective against the Devourer due to her electric elemental affinity. The Devourer is particularly vulnerable to electric damage. Utilize Bunny’s abilities to exploit this weakness and significantly increase your damage output. Equip weapons with electric damage mods to further amplify your effectiveness. The Thundercage module, also obtainable early in the game, synergizes well with Bunny and electric-focused builds. While other Descendants can be used, Bunny’s innate electric capabilities provide a distinct advantage in this fight.
Quickly Neutralize Heal Barrels
The most challenging aspect of the Devourer fight is its healing phase. The boss spawns three heal barrels encased in bubbles that must be destroyed rapidly to prevent significant health regeneration. When these barrels appear, immediately prioritize eliminating them. Utilize movement abilities to quickly navigate between the barrels. Many players find shotguns effective for quickly destroying these barrels due to their high burst damage. Alternatively, a high critical hit Thundercage can also be efficient. Ignore all other threats and focus solely on destroying the heal barrels to maintain damage pressure and secure victory.
Conclusion: Soloing for Success
Defeating the Devourer in The First Descendant is achievable with the right strategy. By embracing the solo approach and focusing on Toxic Resistance, exploiting weak points, leveraging electric damage with Descendants like Bunny, and prioritizing the destruction of heal barrels, you’ll be well-equipped to conquer this boss. Don’t be discouraged by initial struggles; with these tactics, you can overcome the Devourer and continue your journey in The First Descendant.
