| “ | The Stygian is the King of ancient worms that now plague the Ashlands. It won't be easy. The worms grow well in such fertile ground. — Samael about The Stygian, after given the Griever's heart. |
” |
The Stygian is a character featured in Darksiders. He is one of the four tertiary antagonists of Darksiders (the other three being Tiamat, The Griever, and Silitha), is the third Chosen to be fought by War and is overall the tenth boss of the game.
Overview[]
| “ | Samael wasn't kidding about those worms! And the Stygian's supposed to be the 'mean' one... — The Watcher, on the difficulty of the Ashworms and the Stygian. |
” |
A king of the Ashworms, a gigantic Ashworm and a creature from the Abyss, as well as one of the Chosen. Being the king of all Ashworms, the Stygian is bigger, stronger, faster, meaner, and overall far deadlier than the other Ashworms. The lesser demons who imprisoned the Stygian in The Ashlands placed a metal casing around its mouth, presumably to prevent it from biting. War must set The Stygian free, then kill him and take his heart back to Samael.
Strategy[]
The Stygian starts off the battle by staying underneath the ash, then emerging only to charge at you. Use Ruin's dash to avoid the Stygian's giant head. After a few charge attacks, the boss will rise and coast around the ash field. Dash towards the boss and ride alongside it. Slowly gain up speed and begin attacking the side of the helmet once you make your way towards his head.
Alternate between slashing the left and right side of the helmet. The Stygian doesn't do much during this stage other than slither around, and running into the side of the giant worm will not hurt you, so simply be patient and attack the helmet until it falls off.
Note: You can fill up the Chaoseater to its maximum level by continually slashing the Stygian's hide. Do not break the metal casing around its mouth. Doing so will make the Stygian attack, making it harder to do this.
Now that The Stygian is a little upset due to its protection being gone, you will be able to harm the boss. After a few seconds of inactivity, The Stygian will rise in the center of the field and stick his head straight up and summons five or six baby Ash Worms before temporarily leaving the battlefield.
These little guys are much smaller than The Stygian - and even normal Ash Titans - but can still be a nuisance. They can be killed with regular gunfire; no weak points to worry about, so gallop around in a circle as they tail you and follow through by using Mercy on them. If a baby Ash Titan gets too close, dash forward and continue shooting it until it dissolves away.
The boss will reemerge once his offspring have perished. Now the worm will occasionally pop his head up and open up real wide, exposing his yellow tongue. Begin shooting at it while galloping away, dashing if the boss gets too close. Before diving back under, The Stygian will take one last lunge at you. You should get a nice amount of shots off during each opportunity.
However, the Stygian doesn't only have two attacks. Aside from lunging at you, mouth wide open, it'll also emerge from the ash and flop around in the air before falling back down, kind of like when a whale jumps straight up in the air from out of the ocean. If you stay locked onto the boss at all times, you should be able to avoid this attack. Note: Should you get thrown into the air, remember that you can summon Ruin to catch you as you fall.
The Stygian will likely summon more baby Ashworms before the fight ends, but the number of times may vary. This boss fight is painfully straightforward, as you shoot the boss's weak point when you get the chance. Otherwise, run for dear life and kill the occasional baby from time to time. Eventually he will be defeated, and open himself up for an Execution. The Execute for this boss is initiated from hoseback, so just ride up to him on Ruin and finish the fight.
Trivia[]
- The word 'Stygian' is the adjective form of the River Styx of the Ancient Greek Underworld.
- The Stygian and Straga are the only male chosen.
- Like The Griever, Stygian is incapable of speech and is likely to have low intelligence.
- Near its head, numerous spears and chains can be seen, showing the demons foolish attempts to break or even tame the Stygian.
- The Stygian is the final creature to appear in the cinematic trailer for the first Darksiders. In the trailer War and Ruin chase it through the destroyed city -slaying demons as they go- before losing the worm, only to have it erupt again from the ground. War charges the monster and prepares to slash it's face before the screen cuts to the title.
- Stygian is the only Chosen boss in Darksiders to not have a skull icon label in the map in the arena he's fought.
- The location where he is fought is the only "boss fight location" to be revisited and also to have a Vulgrim Location right nearby.
- The Stygian is notable as being the first and (so far) only boss character in either Darksiders game that absolutely cannot be defeated without using the Horseman's mount; Abaddon's dragon form and the Guardian can be defeated without using either Ruin or Despair respectively.
Gallery[]
