The first major boss you will encounter in Ghostrunner 2 is Ahriman the Destroyer, a powerful warrior whose large sword and fast movements make them difficult to beat. In a two-phase battle, you will have to adjust your strategy as Ahriman gains stronger attacks throughout the fight, as seen in the “Will Bushido Allow It?” mission. It will take more than one swing of your sword to take down this hulking fighter enhanced with cybernetic abilities.
Ghostrunner 2 brings back many mechanics from the previous entry, including a system that slows down time for a brief moment to help you adjust to enemy attacks. Since you die in one hit no matter what, this can be a great way to avoid getting hit by any fatal strike. You can also land more hits with your sword during this state if you use it right after you avoid a significant attack from Ahriman during the fight.
How To Defeat Ahriman In Phase 1
The first phase of this boss fight requires you to be aggressive against Ahriman while using fast movements to avoid larger AoE attacks. As you begin, Ahriman will only have a few moves they shift between, but these are still fast strikes that could lead to your death. Ahriman has to recover from attacks, giving you many opportunities to land some hits against this boss in Ghostrunner 2.
Ahriman Phase 1 Move List
Attack
Description
How to Beat
Sword Slash
Ahriman dashes around the arena at incredible speeds, swinging their sword at you whenever they get close.
Quickly move out of the way as Ahriman dashes toward you.
Explosive Shockwave
After jumping into the air, Ahriman stabs their sword into the ground, causing a circular shockwave to explode from him out in a wide radius across the arena.
You have to jump above the shockwave to avoid taking a hit and instantly dying.
Shurikens
Ahriman leaps back before throwing three Shurikens at you as a ranged attack. These projectiles home in on you, tracking your movements for a short time.
Blocking will only get rid of two Shurikens before the third hits, so lead the projectiles away before dodging quickly in the opposite direction.
The Explosive Shockwave has a brief moment where Ahriman is staggered, exhausted from performing the move. Use your slow time ability at this point to land a great number of hits on the boss that might transition you to Phase 2 right away.
Your sword swings do not deal a lot of damage to Ahriman in this boss fight, which may be hard to adjust to. You may have formed bad habits from the easy enemies seen throughout the Chapter leading to this boss since most died in only one hit. Refrain from relying too heavily on slowing down time and avoid dashing too frequently, and instead, take the time to study Ahriman’s attack patterns in Ghostrunner 2.
How To Reach Ahriman In Between Phases
Taking down Ahriman’s health to around 75% leads to a short cutscene where a man named Bakunin jumps into the fight to help you. This surprising ally has a jetpack that you can use as a Grapple Point to avoid the much larger attacks Ahriman will unleash. However, you must reach Ahriman to begin the second phase by combining your parkour and freerunning skills to avoid his Shurikens and land on a distant platform.
The Shurikens track your movements as you leap from platforms rotated on their side toward Ahriman, but thankfully, these projectiles are slow and easy to track. Dodge from one platform to another as you approach Ahriman until you finally confront the boss again. Unlike tougher fights from the previous title, like Hel in Ghostrunner, Ahriman reinforces Ghostrunner 2’s mechanics as a tutorial.
How To Defeat Ahriman In Phase 2
Ahriman will have the same attacks from the first phase, but many of these moves are buffed or have extra properties. Take advantage of Bakunin’s support, which manifests from a stun laser effect you can call on to stun Ahriman at any time in Ghostrunner 2. This ability takes time to recharge as you continue to fight the cybernetic warrior and cannot be used when Ahriman creates a barrier as one of their moves during this phase.
Whenever you use the stun laser from Bakunin on Ahriman, your sword attacks deal more damage to the boss, encouraging you to attack whenever you call on support from your ally.
Ahriman Phase 2 Move List
Attack
Description
How to Beat
Enhanced Sword Slash
The same as the Sword Slash from phase 1, but now with far more attacks in a row before Ahriman has to recover.
Keep dashing away when Ahriman moves toward you until they finish attacking.
Boosted Shockwaves
Ahriman stabs the ground, similar to the phase 1 Shockwave attack; only two shockwaves are created back to back.
Dash around Ahriman to their back to avoid both waves or jump over both ripples traveling across the ground.
More Shurikens
Ahriman throws homing Shurikens at you, only this time they throw 5 instead of 3.
Use the same method from the original Shurikens attack, only multiple times.
Deadly Barrier
After jumping to the arena’s edge, Ahriman creates a barrier of dangerous energy that travels across the entire platform, killing you if you touch it.
Look toward Bakunin and use him as a Grapple Point to travel high above the platform and avoid the attack.
Take the time you need to recognize the new patterns shown by Ahriman during this phase, which sees the boss become much faster. Dying is only an inconvenience, so do not be discouraged to try again and again. Managing to beat Ahriman the Destroyer in Chapter 2 of Ghostrunner 2 leads to the next section of the story, with even more dangerous enemies awaiting in this cyberpunk adventure.
Franchise: Ghostrunner
Platform(s): PlayStation 5, Microsoft Windows, Xbox Series X/S
Released: 2023-10-26
Developer(s): One More Level
Publisher(s): 505 Games
Genre(s): Action, Platformer
ESRB: M
Prequel(s): Ghostrunner
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