How to Beat Thomas Richards in Windrose

While Windrose is a survival game, it does have a few surprises, one of which is the bosses scattered about the islands. As you progress the main campaign, you will be tasked with taking down major bosses, with the first of them being Thomas Richards.

Richards is not the easiest boss to defeat, especially if you decide to play the game solo. He hits very hard, moves fairly fast, and can easily take you down if you aren't careful. Luckily, there are some tricks to help you take down this boss. Let's break down everything you need to know to defeat Thomas Richards in Windrose.

Preparing for the Thomas Richards Battle

Before you even think about taking on Thomas Richards, there are a few things you should do to prepare for the fight. These will help you increase your health, take less damage, and hit harder.

First, you should take advantage of the two food buff limit. This will increase your health, allowing you to take more hits from Richards before needing to heal. I recommend consuming something small like cayenne peppers or bananas and then a larger meal to get two health boosts.

Second, you should consider looking at the weapon you are using. While any weapon can be useful against this boss, there are some that stick out, with the first being the Sturdy Rapier. This weapon increases the perfect parry window, which is very useful against this boss if you are having trouble with the parry timing.

Crusher is another good weapon, and one that I recommend if you are using strength, as it has a chance to knock enemies down. This is another useful ability, as it gives you a chance to knock the boss down, giving you a window to inflict more damage or heal.

Whichever weapon you choose, make sure that you level it up to level five, as this is the highest level you can attain before facing this boss. You also won't have access to iron ore until after this fight.

Third, you will want to make sure you are wearing good armor. More importantly, you will want the armor to match to get the set bonus. There are a few armor bonuses I recommend for this fight:

• Conquistador's Armor Set: Two pieces will increase damage resistance by 15%.
• Flibustier's Armor Set: Two pieces make it so attacks consume 20% less stamina. Four pieces increase your one-handed weapon by 15%.
• Privateer's Armor Set: Two pieces increase your critical hit chance by 10%.

When fighting Thomas Richards, I used two pieces of the Flibustier's Armor Set and two pieces of the Conquistador's Armor Set, as this allowed me to use less stamina while attacking and gave me more damage resistance.

Finally, you will want to use your alchemical knowledge to craft potions. You will want to craft plenty of health potions. Since you can have 10 in a stack, I recommend bringing a full stack. You will also want to make Elixirs of Cruelty. These will increase your damage by 8%, which is a nice boost for this boss fight, and one should last for the entire fight.

Keep in mind, you will need plenty of clay to use for crafting bottles to contain your elixirs.

Thomas Richards Attacks

Being a boss, Thomas Richard has multiple attacks that he will use against you. Keep in mind, this boss carries a large club, giving him a good amount of reach, so you will want to stay away from him if you plan on healing.

Thomas Richards Strategy

As you can see, Thomas Richards has a good number of attacks. Luckily, he mostly uses his double swing and triple swing. For these attacks, you will want to parry, as this will whittle down his defense, allowing you to stun him after a while.

On occasion, Thomas will use his overhead swing. When this happens, a red glint will appear, telling you that the attack cannot be parried. Instead, you will want to dodge to the left or right.

Thomas doesn't seem to use his grab attack as often while you are close, so maintaining a close distance when possible will help prevent this attack from being carried out. When it does happen, look for the red glint and dodge forward just before he grabs you. If Thomas throws his bombs, you will want to run to the side of the arena away from them to avoid the explosion.

When the fight begins, get close to Thomas and prepare to parry his attacks. After he attacks, get two or three hits in, then prepare to parry again. It is great to have the Sturdy Rapier for this fight, as it will make parrying his attacks easier.

After each of his attacks, get a couple hits, then prepare for another attack. Repeat this process for the length of the fight and don't get greedy. If you attack too much, you won't be prepared to parry.

I do not recommend using a gun for this fight, as if you back away from him, Thomas will more likely use his grab attack, which is more difficult to dodge than his overhead swing.