Quick Links
- The Hanged Queen’s Overview
- Hanged Queen’s Attacks
- Recommended Talents
- Battle Strategy
Thymesia opened with a killer hand. You get murdered by the first boss, Varg, then you are expected to overcome the ludicrously difficult Odur after battling through this game’s interpretation of Blight Town. With a double whammy this strong, you’d be forgiven if you thought the next boss, The Hanged Queen, was going to be equally as nightmarish.
Thankfully, The Hanged Queen is more of a gimmick boss, and as a result, overcoming her is noticeably easier than in the previous two bouts. Easier, not easy, mind you. The Hanged Queen has a few tricks up her bewinged sleeves, and she is more than capable of clapping you if you aren’t prepared for them.
The Hanged Queen’s Overview
The Hanged Queen is the final hurdle you have to cross in the Royal Garden’s area of Thymesia. This area is as warped and twisted as any area you’ve visited before, but instead of a greenish plague tint, there is a distinct red crystalline hue. Oh, and blood – lots of blood.
This all plays into The Hanged Queen’s aesthetics, of course. What other creature but a house-sized bat would relish the opportunity to gorge themselves on the fountains of blood, and rivers of viscera? As is usually the case with Soulslikes, however, the bigger the enemy, the easier they are to overcome.
Hanged Queen’s Attacks
The Hanged Queen, unlike Odur, has only one phase. This phase tends to be rather prolonged due to her unique mechanics and interesting battle arena. This is counterbalanced by her fairly easy-to-understand and read attacks. She plays like a boss’s introductory phase but dies before they get the chance to show off their true power.
| Attack | Explanation | Counter |
|---|---|---|
| Ranged Scream | This is The Hanged Queen's main ranged attack. She will occasionally dart away, inhale, and then fire out a large projectile that deals heavy damage and will stagger Corvus. | This attack is not only well telegraphed, but the projectile doesn’t move as quickly as you’d expect. You can quite easily dodge diagonally forward to avoid it. |
| Jumping Bite | The Hanged Queen will jump into the air, hang momentarily, and then slam headfirst into Corvus. | This attack has an obvious telegraph, and noticeable windup and the deflection timing is very generous. |
| Jumping Explosion | Occasionally, The Hanged Queen will jump into the air and then wrap her wings around her body. This signifies she is about to unleash a damaging explosion. | When you see this, unlock from her and fall back. A Long Dodge should get you out of range. |
| Bite | The Hanged Queen rears back her head and then quickly bites Corvus. | This attack is also very easy to spot due to the very obvious telegraph. The speed of the attack can be difficult to time the first few times, but the deflect window feels quite generous. |
| Wing Slam | The Hanged Queen raises her wing and then slams Corvus. She will then pause, before violently dragging her wing back towards a neutral position. | This attack is probably the hardest to deal with. The initial attack is very easy to deflect, but the timing of the follow-up is quite difficult. The best way to deal with it is to dodge to the opposite wing as this will cause the attack to miss, and the follow-up to be harmless. |
| Bloodsucker | The Hanged Queen starts drinking the blood that coats the arena floor. This causes her White and Green Health to rapidly refill. | This attack is what causes the fight to last longer than you would typically expect from a single-phase boss. The moment you see her use this attack, swap to your Sabre and attack relentlessly. This will prevent her White Bar from filling and limit her Green Bar growth too. |
Recommended Talents
When it comes to Talents, there are a few that can smooth this fight out. That being said, because The Hanged Queen is a fairly easy encounter, you can go into this fight with just about anything and come out on top.
Long and Short Claw are both fantastic Claw upgrades, and your choice of tree depends on what you want from your build. Short Claw deals less damage and, despite being faster, is slower at executing a full combo. That being said, it does heal Corvus. Long Claw deals significantly more damage, the combo comes out faster, but it has no utility. Both work wonders, and both are superior to an unupgraded Claw.
Long Dodge is our go-to Dodge for most situations. Long Dodge gives you a second dodge that sends you significantly further at the cost of a longer recovery time. We love this dodge since the distance it sends is almost always far enough to avoid any attack, and close the distance with any enemy.
Finally, Feather Dash. This Talent lets you teleport to an enemy you have hit with a Feather. This is excellent for chasing down The Hanged Queen as she tends to dart away and mess with you from a distance.
Battle Strategy
The strategy for the Hanged Queen is to be relentlessly aggressive – more so than usual. Her attacks look menacing, but they are all incredibly easy to dodge, deflect, read, and avoid. Get stuck in early, and don’t give her any room to breathe.
The only attack you need to look out for is her Jumping Explosion. This attack can deal massive damage, so be sure to back off. This is a great time to heal if you took a few hits earlier.
Our final piece of advice is to never let The Hanged Queen heal. Your Sabre will cancel out most of her healing as long as you are relentless with your attacks. Do not try and use your Claw, as she will simply outheal you, and, you will let her White Bar refill, prolonging the fight.
With The Hanged Queen dead, you are free to move onto Herme’s Castle and square off against a familiar face.
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