No Rest For The Wicked: How To Defeat Falstead Darak

The combat system of No Rest For The Wicked is incredibly polished and well-thought-out. Blocking is effective, and parrying, though difficult to perform, is rewarding when properly executed. The leveling system actually makes a difference, and the different aspects of the gameplay come together to create a great overall experience. The game lacks somewhat in the ranged aspect of combat, focusing on the melee side.

Combining all these aspects to combat difficult bosses is the essence of the game. The game expects its players to be familiar with its mechanics by the time they encounter the second boss, Falstead Darak. Though more difficult than the first boss, Warrick The Torn, Darak can be easily defeated if players become familiar with his fighting style.

How To Beat Falstead Darak

In order to encounter Derek, players need to advance through the “Of Rats and Raiders” quest line. To trigger the quest, walk towards the gallows near the Rookery. You will encounter the guard who stopped you from entering Sacrament after defeating the first boss, Winnick. He will ask you to take care of Darak, and a quest marker will appear on your map corresponding to Darak’s supposed location.

The area where Darak can be found would not be accessible before this point. The path will be blocked by an enemy that is nearly impossible to beat.

Once you reach the bridge where Darak is found, you will find yourself embroiled in a battle consisting of some allies, Darak, and a few other enemies. Beware, Darak will only target you, ignoring everyone else around him. His attacks, though persistent, aren’t difficult to dodge. They will damage everyone that gets caught up in them, including his own allies.

Prefight Preparation

It’s easy to forget that No Rest For The Wicked has multiple upgrade routes for players to invest in. They can upgrade their weapons and armor, level up different stats, or enchant their gear. By this point, players should have most of the materials and resources required for most of these upgrades. If a material or two is missing, buy it from the associated vendor.

It’s important to stock up on cooked meals, like Crab Soup, for the healing benefits. This boss fight isn’t long, but having backup gives the player peace of mind, if nothing else. Additionally, remember to repair everything you have equipped. Unlike with the Warrick boss fight, there isn’t conveniently located blacksmith to repair their equipment when the durability goes down. Instead, you will have to fast travel back to Sacrament, wasting a lot of time.

General Strategy

When the fight starts, run around and dispatch the foot soldiers first to avoid getting backstabbed during the boss fight. The allied soldiers on the bridge aren’t very helpful since their health pools are fairly low, so don’t worry about trying to keep them alive. Instead, focus your attention on avoiding Darak’s attack, and finishing off the stragglers.

Once NPCs on the bridge die, ally or enemy, they won’t respawn alongside you. This means that you can spend a run or two getting rid of them, and then focus all your attention on Darak.

After removing the minions from the equation, it’s time to focus on the boss on the bridge. Don’t be intimidated by his fast movements and large size. Darak’s attack patterns are easy to memorize and are telegraphed quite obviously, making them easy to dodge, or even parry.

The boss will typically do a large combo consisting of 3-4 moves, and exhaust himself. Players can parry these moves if they’re confident, or avoid them entirely and rain down attacks when the enemy is recovering his stamina. Sometimes, Darak goes into a rage and repeats the same move several times. When this happens, it’s best to run as far away as possible and avoid him until he’s done.

Darak rushes towards the player every now and again if they’re too far away, so keep that in mind when you’re trying to eat a crab stew to recover health. Once Darak’s HP hits the three-quarter mark, he will make a tactical retreat, leaving the Cerim alone on the bridge.

Fight Rewards

Unfortunately for everyone involved, Darak doesn’t give the player a lot of rewards. Players will receive around 80 points of experience and no extra loot. This makes sense, since Darak manages to escape before you can completely finish him off; thus, you cannot loot his body.