The Queen and the Sea is the third paid DLC expansion pack for Motion Twin's fantastic roguelike, Dead Cells. As well as adding three new biomes, several new enemy types, and numerous other items and cosmetics, the pack also introduces some powerful new bosses to the game. The first of these come in the form of the three Servants, who players will fight in the Lighthouse following an excellent chase scene. Calliope, Euterpe, and Kleio are just the warmup act, however, with the titular Queen boss serving as the expansion's main headliner.

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Players will encounter The Queen at the top of the Lighthouse, which serves as the main area in Dead Cells' The Queen and the Sea side-route. Unsurprisingly, perhaps, she's one of the toughest bosses in the entire game, with a wide array of powerful ranged and melee attacks at her disposal. By learning her attack patterns and choosing the right moments to hit back though, players can beat The Queen in a matter of minutes. In fact, the boss will even give players a hand by reviving them if they die before the halfway point.

The Queen's Attacks

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The Queen boasts a wide array of both offensive and defensive attacks, making her a little unpredictable when compared to some of the other bosses in the game. The good news is that all but two of her offensive attacks can be parried, which can make life a lot easier for players. Generally speaking, if The Queen attacks using her rapier, players should aim to parry. The only time that they won't be able to do this is if The Queen charges her hand and smashes it into the ground, at which point players will need to block or dodge roll to avoid taking damage.

When it comes to The Queen's defensive attacks, there are two that players will need to watch out for. One sees her beckon the player's pet over to her and then banish it from the battle for a short time, while the other sees her deflect any projectiles fired at her back towards the player. Players can cancel both of these attacks by damaging her and should aim to do so whenever possible. Her other defensive attacks see her destroying grenades and turrets and can be blocked by the player if needed.

One of the things that sets the Queen apart from some of the other bosses in the game is her Revive attack, which sees her resurrect the player to full health at the expense of some of her own HP. She'll only do this if the player dies before her health falls to around 50%, however, so players should either plan to exploit this early on in the fight or not at all. It can serve as a nice safety net for those who have trouble parrying, though, generally speaking, shouldn't really be needed by most players.

How to Beat The Queen in Dead Cells

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A good way to avoid taking too much damage during the fight with The Queen is to exploit invincibility frames from weapons like the Meat Skewer and the Force Shield. Due to the length of her rapier, The Queen has no trouble attacking from range, but her attacks are generally slow enough that players should have little trouble parrying them. Players can also use the Phaser power skill to get behind her, providing them with a great opportunity to dish out some extra damage while also avoiding her attacks.

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Turrets and Grenades can also be useful, as not only will they deal damage to The Queen, but they'll also distract her too. Granted, she will eventually destroy them, but while she's doing so, players can be hitting her with other attacks. Due to the bulk of her attacks being melee-based, locking her in place can severely limit the threat that she poses, so using Root Grenades or Wolf Traps isn't a bad idea either. Once players have mastered her patterns and got this strategy down, the fight shouldn't last more than about four minutes.

Rewards for Beating The Queen

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The first time that players defeat The Queen, they'll unlock the Queen's Rapier; a powerful melee weapon with excellent DPS and combo damage. In addition to the rapier, players can also obtain up to four Boss Stem Cells to increase the game's difficulty level, though these won't drop if they've already obtained them from defeating the Hand of the King. There are also six Queen Outfits available, one for each difficulty level and another for achieving a flawless victory during the fight.

Dead Cells is available now for PC, PS4, Xbox One, Switch, and Mobile.

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