Tomb Raider Legend - Boss Strategies

[Treeble]

BOSS STRATEGIES

Ok, so this topic is here to avoid countless repeated threads on how to kill the bosses. If you have any tips not posted, post them and I'll add them to the strategies. Please let me know if you see any mistakes, I've typed this as I could remember and I'm definitely not known for my memory skills. Read subsequent posts to find the boss you are stuck in, but don't read further than that to avoid any spoilers.

Also worth noting is that these strategies will only work on PC, GameCube, Xbox, Xbox360, PS2 and PSP versions. For help on DS, GBA and Mobile versions, I'd suggest trying Stella's, where detailed walkthroughs are offered for all versions.


SHOGO TAKAMOTO
Level 3 - Japan

Watch it on YouTube

First of all, you are in the very middle of the room with four turrets pointing at you. Immediately run behind one of the four statues and climb up the pole to reach the upper area of the arena, where Takamoto is.

He's very fast, but Lara's good on the guns. Lock your aim on him and keep running toward him so your bullets will reach him (the reticule will be grey most of the time, so keep running towards him so it becomes red and you actually hit him).

He has three kinds of long-distance attacks with his staff. You have to either jump over them or roll under them, when you are very far from him, and when you are near he's likely to use a vertical slash - simply dodge it by rolling sideways.

Keep your finger on the fire button and you'll have no problems to take him down.

TIPS:
- on the Dragon room just before the fight, collect the SMG ammo on the table. Some of the baddies drop Shotguns, which take Takamoto down much quicklier, but it takes a lot longer to reload, you have less ammo and it's a very short-ranged weapon.

- keep your back onto the wall and run sideways toward Takamoto. You might manage to avoid most of his attacks while still keeping him in sight.

- Takamoto can't hit you when you climb any of the poles to the very top. Useful if you have to use a medikit when in the heat of the battle.

[Treeble]

JAMES RUTLAND JR.
Level 4 - Ghana

Watch it on YouTube

Get familiar to the arena here. It plays a major role on the fight.

Rutland will jump down from one of four platforms, lock the aim on him and keep shooting and jumping away/sideways so he doesn't hit you with the shard. Other than the shard attack, he will also eventually use grenades to attack you - simply jump away.

Keep firing at him. Every now and then he'll jump over to the platforms to recover his health. On this moment, the interact button will appear for the first time on the platforms. With the guns on hand, shoot the platforms using the interact button until a shiny metallic surface shows up - you know what that means. Throw the grapple and pull it to drop the platform.

You have to repeat this on all platforms. You might not be able to pull the four of them down in a single turn, when Rutland comes down, shoot him a few more times again and eventually he'll jump back up to a platform to recover, that's when you drop the remaining platforms.

When the four of them are down, fire at will to defeat Rutland, dodging his moves as much as you can and also watching your health.


TIPS:
- lock your aim onto Rutland and just as he jumps off the platform the first time, throw a grenade. If you time it right, it will make Rutland go flying up. That's your hint - still with the aim locked, throw as many grenades as you have timing a chain. If you time it perfectly, you can defeat Rutland in less than 5 seconds. (Elen from TombRaiderForums.com has recorded a video, you can watch it HERE)

- after shooting the ledges, don't use the accurate aim to take them down. Rotate the camera so the shiny surface is centered on screen and simply press the grapple key - it will attach exactly to the right spot.

[Treeble]

UNKNOWN ENTITY
Level 5 - Kazakhstan

Watch it on YouTube

For starters, even though there's an enemy energy bar on screen, you are not meant to kill the unknown entity. Your objective here is to retrieve the sword piece.

First thing you have to do is to throw the four levers around the room. These make four metallic balls hang from the ceiling. Once you have them all, hop onto the tesla gun.

If the monster gets too close, you can try shooting with the tesla gun on him and push him onto the wall to gain some seconds.

Your goal, however, is to activate an electrical wall around the gun. To do so, fire the Tesla gun onto those four metallic balls you activated with the levers before. Fire once or twice each until electricity shows up, then quickly rotate to fire the next balls.

Once the whole cycle is done and there's an electric circle around you, drop off the gun and throw your grapple onto the sword over the gun.


TIPS:
- don't use the accurate aim to get the sword fragment. Rotate the camera a bit so the fragment is on screen and simply press the grapple key - it will attach exactly to the right spot.

- while you are still in the process of activating the levers, keep rolling away to avoid the enemy attacks. If you see an orange spot on the floor, run away from it before it explodes.

- once the four switches are thrown, shoot the Tesla onto the entity to stun it, then use the gun to capture it and drag it between the sets of electrodes at the edge of the room. Once in position, use the gun to push him to the electrodes to temporarily disintegrate it, giving you a few moments to accomplish the real objective.

[Treeble]

THE SERPENT
Level 6 - England

Watch it on YouTube.
Related topic. Post your problems/doubts here.

Don't even waste your bullets firing the serpent's head. Instead, aim one of the four bells and keep firing away until you see the serpent turning her head to look at it. As she does that, keep calm and let go of your guns and press the grapple button. It will attach to a mechanism near the bell. Immediately pull it to drop a cage onto her head.

Repeat it on the remaining three bells.


TIPS:
- don't use the accurate aim on the mechanisms. Just stop firing and Lara will holster her guns, then simply press the grapple key - it will attach exacly to the right spot.

- stay calm. You have a very tight window before the serpent turns her head back to look and attack you. As you let go of guns, press the grapple button only once, otherwise you might throw and cancel it thus losing precious time.

- there seems to be a glitch on this area. If for some unknown reason the grapple won't attach to the mechanism, drop onto the water and let the serpent hit you and throw you back onto the castle entrance. (still unsure whether this works everytime, but when you are hopelessly stuck, it won't hurt trying)

- when throwing the grapple, just press the button once and hold it down, instead of tapping it. It will certainly avoid an abrupt interruption on the grapple.


AKA: Leviathon, Leviathan, Snake, Lake Monster

[Treeble]

AMANDA EVERT
Level 8 - Bolivia Redux

Watch it on YouTube.

Amanda uses the stone she found in Paraíso and morphs into the Unknown Entity itself. You have the Excalibur, so basically simply lock your aim on Amanda and keep swinging the sword. She moves really fast, but you'll still hit her nevertheless.

Don't stand still, as Amanda has a powerful attack which will drop you down and she might even get to chain a few combos dropping you off the arena. Keep running in circles and take cover behind the stones when needed. Also note the Excalibur's attack goes through walls, so never stop swinging it.

After a while, she will drop down and the interact symbol will appear on Amanda's head. Rush towards her and press the interact key to thrust Excalibur into her chest before she goes up. She'll recover her health and you have to repeat the whole process three other times.

[Sophia Leigh]

This was a very considerate idea TREEBLE

Could one of the mods please make this thread a sticky?

[lara lady]

What i do is i use my first kill hits.It works so much easier than sitting their and dodging the currents from excalubor.The levels are much easier to do the only one i cant do fast is england the serpant slows me down


~Lara Lady~

[nowalruses]

good job treeble...especially that Rutland bit.

just a couple more things i thought might help a little...

Takamoto: do as treeble suggests until u've climbed to the same level as Takamoto. once there i found that if i put my back to the wall, pulled the weapon of my choice (shotgun in my case), and ran sideways iwas able to keep Takamoto in view most of the time and avoid most of his attacks. i was also able to reach him faster and put him down pretty quick that way.

unknown entity: throw the 4 switches around the room, then get to the Tesla gun. use it to shoot and stun the entity, then while the entity is stunned use the gun to capture it and drag it between one of the sets of electrodes at the edge of the room. once you have him in position use the gun to push him between the electrodes. this will temporarily disintegrate the entity giving u a few more seconds to accomplish the real task.

[Mark_]

That's the spirit. Great idea Lucas!

Now if some moderator or administrator could make this thread sticky...

Edit/
It is sticky now.

[Nikk73]

Originally Posted by TREEBLE

THE SERPENT
Level 7 - England

Related topic. Post your problems/doubts here.

Don't even waste your bullets firing the serpent's head. Instead, aim one of the four bells and keep firing away until you see the serpent turning her head to look at it. As she does that, keep calm and let go of your guns and press the grapple button. It will attach to a mechanism near the bell. Immediately pull it to drop a cage onto her head.

Repeat it on the remaining three bells.


TIPS:
- don't use the accurate aim on the mechanisms. Just stop firing and Lara will holster her guns, then simply press the grapple key - it will attach exacly to the right spot.

- stay calm. You have a very tight window before the serpent turns her head back to look and attack you. As you let go of guns, press the grapple button only once, otherwise you might throw and cancel it thus losing precious time.

- there seems to be a glitch on this area. If for some unknown reason the grapple won't attach to the mechanism, drop onto the water and let the serpent hit you and throw you back onto the castle entrance. (still unsure whether this works everytime, but when you are hopelessly stuck, it won't hurt trying)


AKA: Leviathon, Leviathan, Snake, Lake Monster

*SOB* Ok, the tips are great..Truley..But...It seems the more I jump into the water, to get gropped in the mid section by this beast..The more my grapple won't work. I'm not locking onto the bells..I'm pressing the grapple button once...

[nowalruses]

first of all, i never dropped into the water on purpose...i wound up dead everytime. just some standard, evasive running and rolling should keep you clear until the serpent is in position again. and i had the same problem with my grapple not working on this level. i'm playing on PS2 and found that if i pressed the button once and held it in the grapple worked much better. hope that helps.

[MissLara2U]

Nice work!

[Dynamite06]

You have to use the grapple at a certain angle and u wont need to hold it or anything u have to sort of stand straight behind the switch and pull the grapple. I've done it four times and its not that hard. Really

[LaraGirl216]

Originally Posted by Nikk73

*SOB* Ok, the tips are great..Truley..But...It seems the more I jump into the water, to get gropped in the mid section by this beast..The more my grapple won't work. I'm not locking onto the bells..I'm pressing the grapple button once...

Someone said that if you grapple the bells and pull them before it can create this problem when the cages are pulled down it may form a glitch. When the monster arrives you can't pull down the cages. Have you done that? If so you may have to start the level again...


P.S It didn't happen to me I think it only happens sometimes.

[Dynamite06]

Huh xD i have never had that cage lock problem but there was one time when i pulled the switch to early and then the cage wouldn't fall again but i dont think u need to restart level.

[Dynamite06]

and Nikki maybe try going closer to the switch to grapple and t might work but making the serpent hypnotised by the bell takes a long time -.-

[Dynamite06]

There is another cheating way I think u need to play Bolivia on time trial and complete it to unlock the 'bulletproof' cheat .Nikki the bulletproof cheat also keeps you protected from the Sea Serpent it bites u but does no damage, it spits and does no damage and then its much easier if the serpent cant hurt you!

[shortymcfunk]

i'm new to this so sorry if i do anything completely wrong.
im not a serious game player but ive started playin tombraider 7 and im so stcuk!

im at the part where im fighting TAKAMOTO and no matter how much i follow what you guys have said nothing comes of it...please help me!

[digifan]

Originally Posted by shortymcfunk

i'm new to this so sorry if i do anything completely wrong.
im not a serious game player but ive started playin tombraider 7 and im so stcuk!

im at the part where im fighting TAKAMOTO and no matter how much i follow what you guys have said nothing comes of it...please help me!

Have no fear, your hero is here.

There's one very important thing to remember when fighting Takamotto - Don't waste your shotgun ammo on him. The best strategy I had found to defeat him is to keep jumping using Lara's double guns after each time you shot at him. Keep an eye on the health meter. When his health is below twenty five percent, get close, switch weapons and finish him with the rifle. Whenver he fire the weapon, you will have a time window of two to five seconds to avoid the shock wave before he fires again. During this time window he is vulnerable to attacks. Just keep at it using the jump and shoot method. Eventually you will get through his defenses.

[Yami_Seirei]

I found a way of defeating the serpant monster and the grapple problem. as soon as you run out of the tomb building get a lock on a pillar and begin firing by the time the serpant rears up after the cutscene the pillar is making enough noise and distracts it straight away allowing you to pull the lever and drop the cage. Run to the next one ideally on the opposite side so it has to sink and appear again by then it should be making enough noise to distract it again. This way it gets defeated quick without it actually attacking you.
if you manually adjust the camera quick to only show the lever you want to grapple at, it should only hit that one not the one on the other side. i got annoyed over that too and ended up yelling 'Hit the right one Lara!!' LOL try it it works for me!

[Bloody Angel of Darkness]

The only problem I had with the Sea Serpent was that I dropped the cage either too late either too early.
Amanda's pet is ridiculously easy after you figure out what you're supposed to do and stop focusing on defeating the monster.
Rutland's easy,too.

Another tip for the bloody Serpent: should you feel that your adrenaline rushes too high and feel like having a break before slamming another cage on it's head you can always go inside the tomb till you calm down. It can't reach you there. In case you are not doing a time trial of course.

[ditom]

good work

[Headache]

Good lawd.
You have a website where you keep tab of all this knowledge? (Besides here, of course)

[TheAngelOf Darkness]

Hallo

First of all, I want to say that I am new here, so if I'm not doing this correct, please tell me.
I have tried to use the advice about level 8 where I am fighting against Amanda there is inside that monsterthing. When she and it get down on the ground, and has about 40-50% health back, I shoot and stick at it and Amanda, but no matter how hard I try to harm her, she keeps recharging 100% and that's annoying me. I got the PC version.
If anyone can help me please do.

Thanks

[Treeble]

She'll recover her health every time she drops down, just make sure you hit her with the interact button (the yellow hand should appear over her head while she's down) and once you hit her four times she'll be defeated.