The Giant

The Giant is the fifth boss in Dead Cells that is exclusive to the Rise of the Giant DLC. His skeleton rests in the Prisoners' Quarters until the player beats the Hand of the King.

Once the Hand of the King is beaten, the Giant awakens from the starting cell and busts down the door found after the starting items, where the Cavern Key lies. If the player follows him, a small cutscene will play, then a key can be found to permanently unlock the Cavern entrance from the Graveyard. The Key must be used on the door for it to remain open.

His boss fight is found in the Guardian's Haven, reached from the Cavern or from a 2+ BSC door in the Forgotten Sepulcher, provided that he has been beaten once already.

First phase
In 1+ BSC, the Giant goes straight to the second phase.

Second phase
Retains all attacks from the previous phase.

Third phase
Retains all attacks from the previous phases.

Charged attacks
When the Giant has charged a fist three times without interruption it will use one of the following attacks. Which attack depends on the charged fist.

These attacks can be used in any phase.

Damaging the Giant

 * The Giant can only be damaged when one of its eyes is out. If a fist's health has been depleted, it will fall the the ground and the eye on that side will pop out of the Giant's skull. The eye stays for 3 seconds.
 * While the eye is out the other fist cannot be damaged. The Giant cannot perform any other attacks but crystal will keep falling from the ceiling.
 * There is no preferred order in which to destroy the fists but alternating is a good strategy to prevent the fists from reaching max charge.

Vulnerabilities and Immunities

 * Networking ensures that the player can damage both fists at a decent rate just by attacking 1 of them.
 * Destroying a fist during an attack will interrupt that attack completely.
 * Neither the fists nor eyes have a back or a front, making Assassin's Dagger and Vorpan ineffective choices.
 * However, all the entities are counted as bosses. If you have the Giantkiller (obtained when you beat the Giant for the first time), it will deal constant critical blows and he will take massive damage easily.
 * The Giant is immune to controlling effects such as freeze, root and stun. Damage-over-time effects work normally.

Primary attacks
Charge
 * The fist can still be damaged when charging and destroying it before it completes charging interrupts the charge and decreases it by 1.

Punch
 * Best strategy to deal with this attack is to parry it. Dodge rolling requires precise timing and jumping over it is impossible.
 * Blocking can be done but the attack will push you of the side of the arena into the lava.

Energy salvo
 * The patterns of the energy orb salvos allows the player to dodge them by jumping or ducking but requires precise timing.
 * Parrying the orbs is easier and more effective, each orb parried could trigger a shields parry effect.
 * Each orb parried sends back a projectile which can deal massive damage to the fists.

Slam fist
 * The fist follows the player around before slamming down, walk around baiting the fist until it stops moving and double and roll to avoid the slam and fire.

Eye laser
 * The lasers always start at the outside of the arena and move slowly inwards so immediately moving to the center of the arena is the best strategy.
 * The center of the arena is also the best place to deal with Energy Salvo which is always used in combination with this attack in the second and third phase.

Crystal collapse
 * The crystals cannot be parried, but can be blocked and dodge rolled. Keep track of them while moving and avoid standing beneath them.
 * The damage taken from the crystals can be lowered with the use of the mutation Masochist.

Charged attacks
The best strategy is to prevent the fists from reaching max charge. Kill the fists to reduce their charge by 1.

Tripe slam fist
 * Same as Slam fist walk around baiting the fist and wait until it slams down to double jump and dodge roll to evade the attacks.
 * More precise timing is required here because the slam is performed three times in rapid succession.

Energy volley
 * The energy orbs can be blocked, parried and dodge rolled but its random pattern will make dodging them very hard.
 * Parrying the orbs is easier and more effective, each orb parried could trigger a shields parry effect.
 * Each orb parried sends back a projectile which can deal massive damage to the fists.

Weapons/Skills

 * Because all entities count as bosses the Giantkiller is an effective weapon, dealing critical hits with each strike.
 * Any weapon or skill that can do AoE damage is effective as it can damage both fists at the same time.
 * Any DoT effect can be used to keep dealing damage to the fists when they are out of reach for the player.
 * Because the eye stays out a set amount of time skills like the Powerful Grenade that deal big bursts of damage are very effective.
 * Double Crossb-o-matic can attack both fists at the same time as it fires projectiles in both directions.
 * Tesla Coil can reach the fists when they would be out of reach for the player.
 * Magic Missiles is great range weapon to use because it will autoaim at any available target even when it is directly above the player.
 * Wave of Denial can be used to deflect the falling crystals but this requires some precise timing when the crystals are very close to the player.
 * Parry Shield gives bonus damage to returned attacks.
 * The Mutations spite also gives a bonus to returned attacks, this alone is very useful with any shield but in combination with the parry shield it can destroy the fists extremely fast.
 * Any shield that has an effect on parry like Punishment or Bloodthirsty Shield is useful because almost all attacks can be parried.
 * Each orb can be parried so during Energy salvo or Energy volley damage or DoT stacks can be applied very quickly.

Lore
The Giant was in the Royal Guard, indicated by the huge painting in High Peak Castle depicting him under the King's banner. His duty was to guard the gates of the Castle. He and the Hand of the King shared a mutual dislike and disagreement to each other. They both do agree that nobody likes the Alchemist, however.

"The Giant didn't like the Hand of the King, and the Hand of the King didn't like the Giant. But they did agree on one point: nobody liked the Alchemist."

During the Malaise epidemic, the Giant warned the King that his methods would lead the island to its ruin. In response, the King had his men kill the Giant with a spear and dump his corpse in the Prisoners' Quarters, which explains the huge skeleton lying there. While the King gave instructions to make sure the Giant would never rise again, beating the Hand of the King for the first time reawakens the Giant. Upon seeing the skeleton's absence, the Beheaded remarks: "Where the hell has old bones gone?"

When reaching the Giant for the first time, he reveals the Beheaded as the former King, his body lost to the Malaise. The Giant thinks poorly of the Beheaded as he recalls The King's actions, but still respects his title.

When defeated, the Giant again expresses his frustration and disappointment with the King's actions, then sinks in the lava while calling him "an incorrigible ass" and giving him the middle finger. The Beheaded returns the gesture.

Defeating him on 4 BSC for the first time triggers a different dialogue where the Giant admits that he was defeated fairly. He gives the 5th Boss Stem Cell to the player, noting that it might be of more use to him, then his head explodes before he can finish his sentence. This cutscene cannot be seen again once the 5th Boss Stem Cell is absorbed.

The Beheaded doesn't seem to be able to understand the Giant's speech as he is unaware that he is the King.

Intro

 * "You... here?"
 * "The Malaise has really had its way with you."
 * "Yes indeed."
 * "In keeping with your arrogance!"
 * "Which has brought nothing but ruin on the Kingdom!"
 * "In spite of all my warnings..."
 * "Not a shred of hope is left to us."
 * "DIE!"

Outro

 * "You were a model for all of us..."
 * "What drove you to all this destruction?"
 * "You've even managed to destroy your own body..."
 * "My King..."
 * "You..."
 * "ARE AN INCORRIGIBLE ASS!"

4 BSC first win outro

 * "You've beaten me fairly..."
 * "Not like before..."
 * "Take this, it might be of more use to you..."
 * "Make a wish..."
 * "I jest... You most certainly are a"

Trivia

 * The Giant is basically a skeleton wearing heavy armor. However, parts of his faces are animate for unknown reasons.
 * When reaching the Giant with 4 BSC active, he wears a crystal on his forehead identical to the one on the King's chest.
 * By size, he is the biggest boss in the entire game.
 * He is also the first boss to employ a unique fighting mechanic, namely composing of multiple high-health units and requiring the player to defeat one of them in order to damage other ones.
 * The Giant himself, his fists, and Eyes are all listed as separate entities if the player accesses their enemy information from The Scribe. There, a few more things are revealed about him:
 * His hands, eye and his background entity are all separate entities and are listed as such.
 * They all share the same kill counter, regardless of how many times were his fists disabled.
 * If the player loses to the Giant in a fight, the game will always register that his hands defeated them, unless the attack came from his eyes.