After a fun and chaotic experience in the minecart ride sequence in Chapter 4: Dark Descent in Valor Mortis, you finally arrive at the last Lantern for the chapter. What awaits ahead is the Sphinx boss, and unlike the Iron Marshall fight at the end of Chapter 3, this one is a 2-phase boss. The Sphinx also has a somewhat varied moveset and is swift in its attacks.
In this guide, I have put up all the details on all the moves, what to do for each of them, the general strategies and tips, and in the end, the full video on bringing down the Sphinx in Valor Mortis
Preps before taking on the Sphinx Boss in Valor Mortis
Level: Be at Level 18 – 20 atleast, this will help you have enough Skill Points to get the key nodes on the Skill Tree.
Melee Weapon: My melee weapon of choice is the Rapier, for it lands hits fast and quick. However, you can even bring the Sword to the fight – just ensure that whatever melee weapon you bring in, is upgraded to Level 4 atleast. You will be doing a fair bit of damage through melee attacks, so this is important.
Firearms: You will mostly work with the Blunderbuss here to deal damage, though there is one move of the boss that will require a Pistol. I would suggest upgrading the Blunderbuss to increase damage and stagger.
Transmutation: Use the Fire one liberally here, the status buildup happens quite quickly on the boss. As with the previous two, ensure you have it upgraded to a Level 3, or 2 atleast.
Skills: Get all the 4 Increased Melee Attack ones. More Nephtoglobin drops on Melee Attacks will also be useful, as it will help us alternate between unloading Fire, doing melee attacks, refilling Nephtoglobin, and unloading Fire once again.
Amber: Pick from any of these:
- Bottomless Well II – To regenerate Nephtoglobin.
- Limit Break – Converts excess healing into temporary additional health.
- Bountiful Harvest – Picking up Nephtoglobin Remnants restore health.
- Lunatic’s Grasp – Speeds up status buildup on enemies at the cost of decreasing your resistance.
- Iron Grip – Use Ferrofluid Flask faster, and cannot be interrupted.
Strategy to defeat the Sphinx Boss
Let’s first have a look at the moveset, and what to do for each of the attacks.
| Move | Description | What to do |
| Three Claw Swipes / Two Claw Swipes with a glowing Third One | The claw swipes will come in rapid succession, there will be a slight delay for the glowing one. | Dodge, and land a few melee attacks / Fire Transmutation. |
| Claw + Tail Swipe | The Sphinx will twist its entire body and deliver a Claw Swipe, and then a Tail Swipe. Very rarely, it will follow this up with the glowing attack. | Dodge, and then come in to attack. |
| A Double Claw Jump | This will be a single jump and has the most difficult tell, except that it will haunch on its hind legs a bit. | Dodge, stay to the side |
| Conjure up a Flame / Stasis Ball | The Sphinx will wave its tail, and then conjure up a stasis ball. The Stasis Ball will then explode to create a wave | Whip out your Pistol and shoot the ball. If you miss it, jump at the right time to avoid damage from the wave. |
| Single glowing attack | It will do a full flip in the air, and then slam down. | Enough time to dodge or stay away from the hitbox. Land in your own attacks. |
| Three Stasis Spikes | It will conjure up Stasis Spikes from the ground. | These will also just go in a straight line in front of it, and are easily avoided. |
| Vomit out a AoE attack | These will also go in a straight line in front of the Sphinx. | If you happen to be nearby, you can go the side and attack while it is still spewing out the ugly stuff. |
| Stasis Laser | The Sphinx will emit a Stasis Laser that will keep moving across slowly. | Just keep away from the line of the attack, and keep moving along with the laser, or dodge if it gets too close. |
The Sphinx will generally pause for a while after completing the Three Swipes / Two Swipes + glowing attack. Take this time to do what’s most urgent – either take a swig from your flask, unload your Fire Transmutation, or a couple of shots from the Blunderbuss.
The Claw Attacks will slowly cause Stasis buildup, but it will not happen at a rate that should worry you.
The glow attacks are also relatively easy to dodge, and you will be able to get a good hit in the counter at least 2-3 times if not more during the entire fight.
In Phase 2, the Sphinx has weak spots on its face, so when doing melee attacks, if you have the Rapier equipped, hit there to deal more damage.
With these, you should eventually overcome the Sphinx, which will get you 20,000 Catalysts as the reward, and complete Chapter 4 in Valor Mortis.
