Chapter 5: Spoiler boss fight – Hersyrian
Sword Art Online: Alicization Lycoris‘ fifth chapter is done, right? We just beat Commander Gunther and the Dark Knights so it’s time to celebrate, yes?
Oh hell, would you look at that? The mysterious Hersyrian has arrived to challenge you. You can actually fight him this time around, and he’ll give you a taste of his powers.
Oh, before I forget, Hersyrian will actually trap all the Integrity Knights, including Alice. If she was in your party before, then this battle against Hersyrian will only leave Kirito with two allies.
Hersyrian uses his Incarnate Shield which has its own health bar. While he has this active, he’ll also continue to fire off various Sacred Arts spells (ie. Fire – Arrow Shape and Ice – Arctic Thorn). The goal is to break the Incarnate Shield to start doing damage to Hersyrian’s own HP.
This encounter is fairly short because you only need to drop him to 80% health. Just keep attacking with your companions, use your combos, break his shield, and use your Arts.
Chapter 5: Spoiler boss fight – Bercouli
You’re not done yet. Hersyrian pulls off a sneaky move, threatening to kill Alice while she’s trapped.
Bercouli, who’s managed to escape, has no other choice but to fight Kirito.
It’s a one-on-one duel, and one of the best match-ups in the entirety of Sword Art Online: Alicization Lycoris.
Bercouli’s skills include a shield matrix that cuts down the damage he takes by half. This is only temporary, but he does recast it from time to time.
He also has a powerful teleporting attack sequence (Sanka).
He’ll charge the attack (denoted by purple beams surrounding him), and then he’ll strike you down with multiple slashes. If any of these attacks manage to land, he’ll teleport and follow-up with another attack (up to three swipes in total).
It’s also highly unlikely that you’ll win a bladelock minigame against him.
The good news is that he takes a while to actually commit to his offense. You can safely cast the Light – Luminous Sacred Art to heal yourself whenever it’s needed.
Additionally, you can cheese this boss fight a bit by casting Steel – Create Metal. Jump on the structure and spam your Sacred Art projectiles like Fire – Arrow Shape.
Bercouli will, hardly, be able to cut you down while you’re on top of the structure, and he tends to miss his teleporting slash skill as well.
Likewise, if you’ve unlocked the Scout class/Ex Skill and obtained the Firespark ability, Kirito can create chain bursts on his own. This is very helpful when you’re in 1v1 duels.
Bring him down to 25% health and you’ll be victorious in your duel.
There are a few cutscenes after this — definitely a lot more welcome than all the fluff we’ve seen in the past as mentioned in our official review. In the end, though, you’ll return to North Centoria to get ready for Sword Art Online: Alicization Lycoris‘ final chapter.
Let’s be honest, you should probably rest for a while since you just completed six boss fights/multi-phase encounters in quick succession.
Sword Art Online: Alicization Lycoris is available on Steam. For more information, check out our guides and features hub.
