The Giant

The Giant is the fifth boss in Dead Cells, added in the Rise of the Giant update. His corpse rests in the 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.

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.

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. 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.

When reaching The Giant for the first time, he reveals The Beheaded as the former King, his body lost to the Malaise (and probably the Alchemist's experiments). The Giant thinks poorly of the Beheaded, but still respects his title — The Giant is one of only two characters to call him "My King" (the other a small cutscene with the Hand of the King).

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.

When reaching The Giant with 4 BSC active, he wears a crystal on his forehead identical to the one on the King's chest. Defeating him triggers a different dialogue where The Giant admits his defeat was fair, unlike the old days (referring to when the King's soldiers killed him). He gives the 5th Boss Stem Cell to the player, noting that it might be of more use to him, then his head explodes. This cutscene cannot be seen again once the 5th Boss Stem Cell is absorbed.

Attacks

 * Punch
 * An arena-wide swing that’s much quicker than it seems. Deals high damage and pushes the player into the lava.


 * Energy orbs
 * The Giant opens a fist to fire a salvo of energy orbs across the arena. Can be reflected with a shield or deleted by any skill that destroys projectiles (e.g. Wave of Denial, Tornado).


 * Ground pound
 * A fist drop that hurts as it descends, and sends out shockwaves on impact.


 * Charge up & Flurry attack
 * Each fist may clench and gather energy, with its charge level visible on that shoulder’s pauldron. If the left fist charges up 3 times, it performs 3 ground pound attacks in rapid succession; if it's the right hand, the hand will blast out 4 waves of Energy Orbs.

When enraged
Once The Giant’s health drops below 50%, he roars and gains new attacks:


 * Double ground pound
 * The Giant puts his fists together and drops them both onto the ground, covering a wider area and producing overlapping shockwaves. This causes sharp crystals to drop from the ceiling for a long period of time, like the falling swords of The Time Keeper or the collapsing ceiling from Ground Shakers.

Eye lasers

The Giant shoots out two beams of lasers out of his eyesockets that sweep inward and restrict the player to the center of the arena. They deal damage on contact, can't be rolled through, and will repel the player if they roll or walk into them, trapping them in the center until they end.

Strategy
The Giant’s fists each have their own health. The player must first reduce a fist’s HP to 0, causing it to fall to the ground. Doing that, an eyeball will start to dangle out of The Giant’s skull. That eyeball needs to be damaged in order for the Giant to lose his actual HP. When the eyeball is out, the player can climb onto and stand on the downed fist for better aiming. After he loses 20% of his health via eyeball damage, the eyeball retreats and the Giant goes back to attacking with his fists.

The Giant will not attack while he is vulnerable, but crystals will still fall from the ceiling.

Tips

 * Damage from the falling crystal shards can be reduced by Masochist.
 * Using automatic skills like turrets like the Double Crossb-o-matic and the Heavy Turret allows for continuous damage to the fists even when attacking the eyeball,
 * The Parry Shield and Spite mutation work excellently to reflect the laser orbs, sometimes reducing a fist’s HP to 0 by parrying one salvo.
 * Ranged weapons are useful to attack the fists while they hover in the air.
 * Quick melee weapons that slow your descent when used are best. It is difficult to damage the fists with slow melee weapons.
 * Traps other than the Barnacle tend not to be very useful, as most of The Giant’s attacks destroy them instantly. The Crusher also struggles to hit The Giant’s fists at all.
 * The Giant’s fists are immune to many statuses, such as being rooted to the ground.
 * Neither the fists or eyes have a back or front, making Assassin's Dagger and Vorpan ineffective choices.