Armatus pits players against towering demonic entities along the Scoured Path and within the Gothic District on their journey toward the Sunless Gate. Developed by Counterplay Games and published by Fictions, this third-person roguelite shooter emphasizes precise positioning, cooldown management, and targeted weak-point burst fire to overcome its major boss encounters.
To defeat bosses in Armatus, you must exploit movement mechanics, bait environmental collisions, and prioritize high-damage windows when a demon exposes its vulnerable points.
| Boss Name | Encounter Zone | Primary Threat | Core Counter-Mechanic |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Monument | The Scoured Path (Demo / Area 1 End) | Heavy frontal charges, summoned slowing towers, and hovering orb ads | Bait full-length charges into perimeter walls; line up charges to shatter towers; shoot back and eye weak points |
| Leviathan | Gothic District (Area 2 Climax) | High-damage energy volleys, orbiting projectile fields, and instant shield-stripping attacks | Maintain mid-range spacing, cycle dash invulnerability frames, and burn down vulnerability windows between attack phases |
How to Beat The Monument Boss Fight
The Monument serves as the climactic greater demon encounter of the Scoured Path. Encased in a massive stone torture collar that acts as a frontal shield, this boss takes negligible damage from direct frontal gunshots while aggressively pursuing you across the arena.
Arena Hazards and Attack Patterns
The encounter features three recurring mechanics that quickly overwhelm unprepared players:
- Bull Rush Charge: The Monument lines up and sprints directly toward your position. If you are standing in open space, the charge often stops short without punishing the boss.
- Slowing Pillar Towers: The boss regularly plants stationary columns that radiate red circular aura pools. Stepping into these areas heavily degrades your sprint and dash speeds. Killing floating sentries does not remove these pillars.
- Floating Orb Adds: Floating eyeball demons spawn periodically on the arena flanks, firing slow-moving projectiles and additional slowing fluids.
Step-by-Step Tactical Walkthrough
- Position along perimeter walls: Stand near the outer walls of the arena rather than fighting in the center. Keep enough distance between yourself and the boss so he can build full momentum during his charge.
- Execute a timed dash: Wait until the boss initiates his forward sprint. Use your dash just as he reaches striking distance to trigger invulnerability frames and dodge to the side.
- Exploit the wall stun: When The Monument collides with the boundary wall after a full-distance charge, he stuns himself for several seconds. Rotate immediately behind him to unload alt-fire grenades, shotgun blasts, or precision weak-point shots into his exposed back.
- Use charges to clear pillars: If multiple slowing towers cluster in the arena, position yourself behind a pillar. When The Monument charges forward, his front stone shield will collide with the column and shatter it instantly, clearing the slowing field.
- Manage the adds: Do not let floating eyes distract you into ignoring the boss. Community testing shows that hunting every orb extends the fight and lowers boss damage uptime. Instead, eliminate only the orbs directly in your escape path, or clear them passively using area-of-effect abilities such as Meteor Slam or grenade clusters.
- Trigger the finisher: Once The Monument's health bar empties, the boss collapses to his knees. Approach the demon and press the interact/melee key (default
F) to execute the cinematic finisher move.
Recommended Builds and Trait Counters
- Mark Passives: Celestial glyphs and weapon traits that apply Marks upon bullet impact allow you to deal critical damage from any angle. The Enduring Mark passive, which adds duration when you hit marked spots, allows you to stagger-melt the boss even if marks appear on front appendages like the knees.
- Time Manipulation: The Cosmic Time celestial ability slows down the arena, giving you ample time to maneuver around charges and line up headshots.
- Alt-Fire Munitions: Upgrading your firearm's alternate fire (default
Q) with cluster munitions or multi-grenade splits allows you to dump massive burst damage during the brief wall-stun recovery window.
How to Beat the Leviathan Boss Fight
Encountered at the conclusion of the Gothic District, Leviathan is a monolithic cosmic terror guarding the approach to the Sunless Gate. Unlike the direct physical bull-rushing of The Monument, Leviathan relies on arena-wide projectile barrages, summoned tracking sickles, and heavy dark energy blasts.
Combat Mechanics and Attack Cues
- Orbital Barrages: Leviathan deploys spinning orbs and sickle projectiles that radiate across the floor. Getting caught in these projectiles strips Exalted Armor shields immediately.
- Dark Ground Eruptions: Targeted red telegraphs appear beneath your feet. Standing still or getting caught in consecutive bursts will drop your health pool past the shield threshold.
Strategy for Defeating Leviathan
- Preserve Shield Buffers: Keep shields active by dodging outward rather than forward. If your shield breaks, disengage and kite around the perimeter until the shield bar regenerates, avoiding incoming projectile swarms.
- Time Dash Chains: Equip dash recharge upgrades or augment passives before entering the fight. Leviathan's multi-hit sweep requires sequential dashes to avoid splash zones.
- Burst During Recovery Windows: Leviathan briefly channels energy after releasing wide projectile rings. Close in with firearm weak-point hits or deploy sustained fire attachments (such as the shotgun's Firestorm stream) to rapidly chip through his health pools.
- Save Health Injectors: Health injectors (default
T) are limited per run. Avoid burning an injector simply to top off shields; reserve charges strictly for instances where direct health damage threatens a run failure.
Boss Fight Preparation and Equipment Setup
Proper preparation at the Cathedral hub and during your route through the Scoured Path determines your success against both bosses.
Armory Weapon Selection
- Precision Rifle: Excels at targeting The Monument's eye during charge winds and hitting Leviathan's head across long arena distances.
- Shotgun: Delivers the highest burst damage when The Monument is stunned against a wall, especially when paired with point-blank alt-fire abilities like Concussive Blast or Firestorm.
- Assault Rifle / SMG: Solid for sustained mid-range tracking, particularly when combined with the Divine Bolts passive, which fires homing celestial projectiles while you empty your magazine.
Run Route Priorities
- Outpost Visits: Spend accumulated Quintessence currency at outposts before reaching boss arenas to purchase max shield upgrades, dash cooldown reductions, or extra injector charges.
- Dark Matter Risks: Imbuing preceding sectors with Dark Matter grants bonus rewards but significantly buffs enemy health and damage. If you are struggling with boss execution, avoid imbuing the sector directly before a boss chamber.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why doesn't The Monument stun when he hits a wall?
The Monument requires a minimum charge distance to build enough momentum for a wall crash. If you bait him while standing too close to him or adjacent to a wall, his charge ends prematurely, allowing him to recover instantly and strike you.
Can you destroy the red slow pillars yourself?
Weapon fire and standard melee attacks do not destroy the slowing towers. You must line up the boss so his frontal charge collides directly with the pillar, causing his stone shield to shatter it.
What should you do if the boss room suffers frame drops?
In early access builds and demo versions, dense pillar clusters and floating orb spawns can cause noticeable CPU-related performance drops. Setting post processing to "low" reduces strong motion blur when turning the camera, and clearing pillars via boss charges helps reduce arena clutter.
How do you perform the finisher move on The Monument?
When the boss reaches zero health, an onscreen prompt will appear above him. Walk up to his body and press the designated melee key (F on keyboard by default) to complete the encounter.
