To beat General Lothaire in Valor Mortis, you should boost your endurance, equip the best early-game amber, and, most importantly, be very brave. While General Lothaire isn't the first elite enemy you've come across, he's an absolute menace compared to the folks at the stone quarry. Don't feel bad if you need more than a few tries to get past him.
Including the best loadout and strategy, here's how to defeat General Lothaire in Valor Mortis.
General Lothaire's location in Valor Mortis
Although you will first encounter General Lothaire at the end of Chapter 1, you're unlikely to defeat him. That's okay; after he kills you, you'll wake up at the start of the next chapter. At the end of Chapter 2, you'll meet General Lothaire again, but this time, you must defeat him to move on.
General Lothaire's boss arena is on the cliff behind the stone quarry. Clear the quarry to unlock the elevator leading upward.
How to prepare for the General Lothaire boss battle in Valor Mortis
You're probably around level 8 when you reach General Lothaire, which means you have six to eight skill points to divide, and one amber slot to fill.
As a full nephtoglobin bar without upgrades is enough to burn Lothaire, and it's more important to recover HP than to have a high max HP, it's best to put your first skill points in Maximum Endurance (max stamina). After that, Parrying Impact is very useful, as it's important to fill Lothaire's posture bar as quickly as possible. If you don't feel confident about your parrying ability, invest in the Blocking skill instead, which reduces the endurance cost of blocking and grants more recoverable health. Should you wish to change your character build, you can respec at a lantern.
As you only have one amber slot, pick one of the following options, in order of recommendation:
- Transmuted Persistence: Damaging enemies with transmutations restores recoverable health. This means you'll restore some recoverable HP whenever you use your fire transmutation on Lothaire.
- Dominatus: Restores HP when performing a critical attack. This means you'll receive some HP after you've filled General Lothaire's posture meter, which may not happen more than twice or thrice, so it's not quite as reliable as Transmuted Persistence.
- Potent Concoction: Using a ferrofluid flask recovers nephtoglobin as well as health. This makes it easier to apply burn.
- Iron Grip: Using a ferrofluid flask is faster and can't be interrupted. Don't use this unless you find it difficult to time your ferrofluid flask usage. If you create enough distance between you and Lothaire, though, you don't really need this amber.
As for special items, the following are most useful:
- Flaming Whetstone to apply fire buildup on impact.
- Fire-Clad Rounds to apply fire buildup with bullets.
- Nephtoglobin Vials to recover nephtoglobin and use your fire transmutation.
- Refreshing Vials to gain faster endurance regeneration.
- Hand grenades for extra damage.
The Nephtoglobin Vials, Flaming Whetstones, and Fire-Clad Rounds are lifesavers when you run out of nephtoglobin just before you've burned Lothaire. As items are finite, though, don't use them at the start of the fight. Once you've got a good chance to win (in phase two), start chucking grenades!
How to beat General Lothaire in Valor Mortis
General Lothaire always opens the battle with one of two opening moves: He either shoots his shoulder cannon (a triple shot) or he uses his jump attack. Whichever it is, be ready to dodge. The jump attack offers an amazing opportunity to deal damage; after dodging, move behind Lothaire and unleash your fire transmutation to burn him. If you're quick, you'll have exactly enough time to maximize the fire buildup, causing him to burn and receive damage over time — it's a narrow window, though; Lothaire will strike you if you're too slow.
Lothaire will continue to use his cannons and jump attacks throughout the fight. In the example below, you see him initiate the cannon shots on the left (raising his arm), and the jump attack on the right (crouching).
The General Lothaire boss battle consists of two phases. Following his combat openers, here's what to watch out for depending on the current phase.
General Lothaire boss battle phase one
A full nephtoglobin bar, even without stat upgrades, is just enough to set General Lothaire on fire. To replenish your nephtoglobin, shoot General Lothaire's weak spots. He's got a weak spot on his shoulder, thigh, and knee — three in total, which means you'll receive three free nephtoglobin orbs. Landing melee attacks will also recover some nephtoglobin.
Before you use the fire transmutation again, make sure your nephtoglobin bar is full, as General Lothaire only suffers damage over time if you fill the fire buildup meter completely. If you fill it only halfway and are forced to wait until you've recovered more nephtoglobin, the fire buildup will slowly drain away.
The best way to defeat General Lothaire, however, is to parry his attacks until his posture meter is full. When that happens, rush toward him and, when you see the small red icon, press the attack button to stick your sword through his head. Doing so will deplete his HP by roughly 20%.
This example shows a successful parry on the left (yellow sparks) and a downed Lothaire on the right.
Depending on the attack type, one hit from General Lothaire can remove more than half your HP, whereas blocking removes only about 20% HP, so it's better to parry too soon (and end up blocking the attack) than to get hit with full force. To win against Lothaire, it's very important to attack him after you block an attack; HP lost while blocking remains "recoverable" for a short time, and by hitting Lothaire, you will regain it.
Besides the cannon shots and jump attack, Lothaire performs an unblockable forward slam attack — don't try to parry any of these. The right moment to parry is when he walks toward you and lifts his arm, unleashing a total of two to three consecutive slashes. If you find it difficult to parry all three slashes in a row, you can always concentrate on blocking the first slash and dodge away, then repeat at the next opportunity. The posture bar won't be depleted.
As shown in the picture above, Lothaire's arm remains bent when he starts his melee combo. If he's initiating his cannon attack, his arm points straight toward the sky.
General Lothaire boss battle phase two
During the second phase, Lothaire grows a claw on his left arm, which he uses to add unblockable attacks to his regular slash attack combos. He also uses this arm to throw explosives, or create an energy orb which he slams into the ground to release an arena-wide shock wave. Try to shoot the explosives and orbs while they're still in Lothaire's hand!
This picture shows the unblockable claw attack on the left, and the shock wave orb on the right.
During the second phase, General Lothaire summons two types of minions; musketeers and common soldiers. Do not waste your bullets on them! To get rid of the musketeers, simply dodge their shots — they'll dissolve immediately after. To get rid of the soldiers, slash them with your melee weapon — one hit is enough.
Once you've made it this far, use your special items (especially the hand grenades) to secure your victory. You'll receive 10,000 catalysts as a reward for beating General Lothaire, the Eagle-Bearer, in Valor Mortis.