by Uryks the Ear Collector is the first boss of Salt and Sacrifice (the sequel to Salt and Sanctuary) and as you would expect from the first boss in a Soulslike, this one is quite simple (for what awaits us) but in the same way it is quite challenging .
In that aspect they have behaved well, because in games of the same genre sometimes they put much tougher bosses like the initial boss; I still feel like I’ve played this genre so much that I can’t speak objectively about difficulty anymore.
But the case, we could say that this boss is the real tutorial, the boss that will make us have to understand the combat mechanics of Salt and Sacrifice well to be victorious.
URYKS LOCATION: ASHSTREAM VILLAGE
Regarding his location, we will investigate quite a bit because he is the first boss and finding him is something merely linear. We will find it in the first world of the game, which is called Aldea Cenizarroyo (we will have to use the portal and such, the game itself already explains how this works) and we will not have to search for long, you will probably find it a few minutes after arriving to that area.
HOW TO DEFEAT URYKS
From the outset, comment on those typical things that are often said about games of this genre and that in the end are the keys to dominating it. This is not a Hack and Slash , here the idea is not to go crazy, but to be very careful because in general you are infinitely weaker than the bosses you face, so they will only fall if you perfectly learn their pattern of attacks and you are very careful not to take damage.
I consider that the biggest challenge is to master the mechanics of resistance or stamina (the green bar we go) since we have to always have it under control because if we spend it we will be sold before the attacks; the idea is to hit a little and walk away to rest, not hit like crazy to run out of it and be unable to dodge.
In any case, I will not delve too much into this because I will surely make a post on Tips for Beginners that will be more focused on this topic; but come on, following the above, you already have a pretty good foundation for how to fight in Salt and Sacrifice (and in most games of the genre, if not all).
ATTACK GUIDE
The case, let’s see their attacks in depth and how we should respond to them:
- Thrust : A thrust blow on the spot and pointing towards us that of course we must dodge either forward or backward depending above all on whether you are close enough to get on his back and give him one or two blows to go back and recover resistance. If not, you dodge back, regain stamina, and you’ll have another chance.
- Jumping Strike : He will jump slightly forward and strike with his halberd. It is the best attack to dodge forward and get behind him to hit him a little (as usual, one or two hits and you retire to rest a bit); the idea is to get a little closer to him, dash to get behind him and you know how things go. If you’re too far behind to get behind, you know, dodge back, rest, and wait for him to land another hit to continue with the strategy.
- Standard Hit : He will do it mainly when you are very close to him and as always the idea is to dodge him with a dash ideally to get on his back. If you’re short on stamina it’s always better to back off to rest.
When his health reaches 50% he will become more dangerous and acquire these new attacks (in addition to the ones he already had):
- Ascending Cut : A cut that usually combines with one of the aforementioned, you will have to be careful because you will not expect it since you will have gotten used to the fact that until now it only hit once every x time.
- Triple Combo : A fairly powerful three hit combo that is not a good idea to eat.
Here his thing is to hit him as much as you can since from now on it will cost more; Nothing, you very carefully, you are giving him a tap between dodging and quickly retreating. When you have him at 33% life or so I recommend that you start using your throwing weapon to lower what is left of his life, since the less life he has the more dangerous he becomes and when he is on his last legs it is quite risky to approach him .
Otherwise, typical, walk away whenever you need a heal, and remember that in Salt and Sacrifice the potions (the “Estus”) heal health slowly, so don’t dash in too quickly if you’re still very low, either.
REWARDS FOR DEFEATING HIM
By defeating Uryks we will obtain the following:
- Achievement: The Champion .
- Inquisitor Tool: Grappling Hook . The boss will not give it to us as such, but after killing him if we continue it will not take long to find it. It is a hook that will allow us to hook onto some branches that are everywhere to be able to reach new areas.
