NeiR: Replicant is a game all about uncovering the truth behind the strange world that Nier, Kaine, and Emil inhabit. Before you can truly get started on your journey, though, the game's first boss must be faced. This boss is split into two different beings that share the same health bar named Hansel and Gretel. The boss fight is where the game officially introduces you to your magic hurling book, Weiss.
Hansel and Gretal can catch players new to the series off guard, and just like any boss, they can kill you pretty easily if you don't know what you are doing. The tips below are here to make dealing with the twin statues a breeze.
9 Don't Waste Your Time Endlessly Fighting Shades
While the real boss battle won't start until you pick up Weiss, you can waste a lot of time and health in the eternal shade fight right before it. If the player doesn't pick up Weiss, shades will keep spawning over and over again, slowly chipping away at your health and forcing you to use up resources.
Go ahead and pick up your magical tome to end the endless onslaught of enemies and face the first boss.
8 Make Sure To Switch Your Weapon
Before you go into the fight, switch out your weapon and check your inventory to ensure you have healing items. By having a slightly better weapon, you can wipe out the Shades in the boss room a bit easier. You will also need to have a couple of healing herbs on you to top off your health.
The area before the boss room has tons of breakable boxes that contain medicine for you to find.
7 Don't Rush In
NieR has fun gameplay, and cutting down enemies just feels good. You don't want to immediately rush up to Hansel and Gretel, though, as this will only cause you to lose a large chunk of your health. Over the next few minutes, you're going to be learning about their attack patterns.
During this early period, you will simply want to do light damage to them using Weiss when possible. After you have memorized what the close-range attack animation looks like, then you can start dealing more damage with your sword.
6 Practice Your Magic Mechanics
This boss battle isn't going to be extremely difficult, but it does give you a good opportunity to practice your magic. Use the beginning portion to get used to using Weiss and dodging. This is the perfect place to get down a good rhythm for the rest of the game.
Hansel and Gretel can also help you get a good gauge on what type of damage you should expect out of Nier's moves.
5 Only Deal With One Twin At A Time
When facing two enemies, nothing can hurt you more than ping-ponging between them. When the fight first starts, try to focus on only a single statue. The fight goes through stages naturally that will only pit you against one at a time, so there is no need to jump all over the place.
The shield means that neither your sword nor Weiss's attacks are going to damage the protected statue. So, if one pops a shield, then concentrate on the other one and vice versa until a statue is destroyed.
4 Keep An Eye On Your Health
One of the mistakes players often make during a first boss battle is not keeping tabs on their health. While Hansel and Gretel aren't going to one-shot you, keeping an eye on how much health you have left can keep you from restarting the battle.
By now, you should have healing herbs, and using them is as simple as pulling up the game menu during the fight.
3 Prioritize Dodging
While it can be appealing to just try to go all-in, you should still take care to dodge attacks. The boss can shoot projectiles that can be taken out with well-timed shots. There is also an animation before physical attacks, so as long as you watch their animations, Hansel and Gretel won't be able to hit you much.
Keep in mind that this boss will deal more damage when it hits you with close-range attacks. Using a combination of jumps and rolls will help you flourish in this battle.
2 Deal With The Summons
After you defeat one of the two statues, the other will go berserk and make friends with the Shades around it. These shades can be rather annoying when trying to focus on the remaining statue, so go ahead and take them out.
By cleaning up the Shades, you can solely focus on getting rid of the boss's remaining health.
1 Listen to Weiss
Weiss is a great companion in this battle and will warn you of changes in Hansel and Gretel. Pay attention to his dialogue to know what to expect from the boss and keep on top of the fight. Weiss gives players the groundwork for beating the first boss with ease.
If you are listening to Weiss and following the tips above, then you shouldn't have much of a problem taking down Hansel and Gretel.