Octopath Traveler 2: 8 Hardest Bosses (2024)

Octopath Traveler is widely known for its beautiful art direction, excellent music, and fun combat. However, to an ardent fanbase dedicated to clearing everything in the game, it will be most known for all the secret bosses that are hidden in all types of spaces — from innocent-looking treasure chests to a hole in the ground. All it takes is diligence in being thorough when traveling.

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Not all bosses are made equal though. Some are simply there to serve as nothing more than an obstacle to block your progress. The others? They are tests of strength that will exercise all of your knowledge of the mechanics of the game. Each of the entries serves pain as the main course.

8 Shadowy Boy

The Shadowy Boy is one of many optional minibosses you’ll come across in Octopath Traveler 2. Well, ‘miniboss’ might be a little bit of a misnomer here, as he isn’t available to fight by storyline or side quest. Rather, he has an unorthodox way of becoming available to you to fight.

The NPC you are looking for is an innocent-looking child, and within his items, you’ll notice a bear that you can’t steal. The description creepily enough states the phrase ‘come play with me’ written out in alternating caps, letting you know there’s more to the boy than meets the eye. You wait at dawn on the edge of a cliff as the boy meets you with a smile on his face, ready to play.

7 Bandelem

If the only thing that’s important to you is the thrill of battle, is giving up your freedom such a bad thing? According to the gladiator Bandelem, this is the only way he wishes to live. Borneau, the master which he fights for, promised him a life filled with battles for as long as he stands in his arena. Bandelem takes that seriously.

Bandelem hits hard early in the game and comes equipped with a heavy number of shields, making you do double the work just to break through them. That’s not the kicker though, oh no. Though he has weaknesses like the other bosses in the game do, he has an extra ability that allows him to hide some of them for several turns, meaning you’ll have to play the guessing game.

6 Glacis

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Octopath Traveler 2: Vide Boss Guide16 things to know before starting Octopath Traveler 2

The rage Glacis is inflicting on the area isn’t unjustified. She has been in mourning for several years after her precious egg was destroyed by hunters due to their hurt egos for not being able to defeat Glacis. So, she covered the mountaintop with the cold tundra of her sorrow.

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This creature of cold comes with a chunky shield of seven points and will take some time and planning to take them down as efficiently as possible. Just be sure to try and keep yourself warm up on the mountain peak.

5 Devourer Of Dreams

Though he is not the only boss returning from the first installment of the series, he is a fearsome one to fight. His big mechanic is rendering the party unable to see who goes next. It doesn’t sound like a big deal, but if you were to walk into this fight unprepared (the fight has a danger level of 40, mind you), then you are in for a rude and confusing awakening.

The bright side to this fight is that the encounter is no longer a random one with an appearance rate of three percent. Instead, you’ll find it waiting inside the aptly named Forsaken Graveyard, sitting perched on top of a hill as if it were a simple treasure chest. On approach, you will receive an ominous message: the sense of danger is overwhelming.

4 Dreadwolf

At least with the others on the list, they had the courtesy to be positioned in a fairly common sense place, such as a top of a mountain or the edge of a cliff. Dangerous sure, but it makes sense. The Dreadwolf though? No, he decides that he was going to hang out in an underground dungeon. What's worse, the only way you have access to said dungeon is by breaking the bridge you are standing on.

Aside from this dangerous excursion, Dreadwolf hits hard and summons two of its young brothers to come and assist in damage. It also can boost its shield to 11, though if you can weave its blocked and unblocked weaknesses, you’ll melt the shield in no time. If you can survive the bite.

3 The Man In The Mist/Thurston

All the trouble you are having with Thurston is due to that damn fog machine. Thurston is a disgruntled ex-employee who wound up losing their job and taking out all their hilariously misguided frustrations on you and your party. Though that might have more to do with his personality than anything you’ve done, that’s beside the point.

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Thurston has a deceptively weak shield and makes it seem like he’s going to be a pushover. But first, you’re going to have to take care of that giant mist maker of his before anything. There is your difficulty. You’ll have to hit it hard with ice and wind magic, as well as swords, axes, and bows before you break it. Be warned; you have a limited number of moves before he summons a stronger one.

2 Karma The Sword Hunter

Karma is a sword collector only after the finest of swords that he can get his hands on, even if it’s in a forbidden place. To go after him and face off with the renowned swordsmen, you’ll have to traverse the dungeon solo, losing any advantage you had with a full party. That’s not all though.

Aside from the quick and powerful Unsheathing Stance attacks and reshuffling his weaknesses with the move Tiger and Wolf, he has another, more insidious mechanic hidden away from the player: a rage meter. You have a certain number of moves before he performs his one-hit kill move that causes 9,999 damage, ensuring there are no survivors.

1 Somehow, Galdera Returned

The name that stirs both excitement and dread in your heart: Galdera The Fallen. He is a beloved part of the first Octopath as the game’s ‘final’ boss, and he returns once again as a hidden optional boss. Getting to him is not only time-consuming, but a true battle of strength and attrition.

The battle can take over an hour and is split between two forms: the Omniscient Eye and the Fallen Galdera, and it has some nasty surprises up its sleeve. Not only will it go for the hard-hitting HP attacks, but Galdera will go for your BP as well, making management a pain to deal with on top of keeping everyone buffed and healthy.

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