Boris is the immediately apparent antagonist in Dodgeball Academia. His reputation is mean and his play on the court lives up to it. During the initial encounter, Boris can end Otto with just a few hits even though he claims to be operating at only 10% of his skill.
That being said, he's not impossible. Some creative Dodgeball Academia veterans have found a few solutions to cut the larger-than-life Boris down to size. He's scary, but with a few deep breaths and a knowledge of his moves, it's more than possible to beat him straight up.
Save First
When the Boris fight starts is one of those things players wish they knew before going through the game for the first time. Boris himself doesn't appear on the map, so players will have no idea when to save so that they can start over.
The answer is to do it right before running into Mira. She's the lightning-based character that is not yet on Otto's team. She'll be running on a court all by herself. Save before getting close to Mira and, if things go south, reload the save and try the Boris fight all over again.
"Cheating"
- Go to Options > Accessibility Settings > Difficulty Settings
- Set Damage Taken to 0%
There is a bit of a divide in the community over this next bit. Love it or hate it about the game, but there is a way to tweak the accessibility options so that otto can't possibly lose to Boris. He can't lose to anybody if the setting are like this, for that matter.
Feel free to skip this step wanting to really earn this achievement. Taking on Boris at this level is so preposterous that most players don't consider it cheating so long as they turn the difficulty back to 100% on both meters for the rest of the game immediately following this battle.
Never Let Him Have Two Balls
Boris has a special ability when he has two or more balls under his control. To negate this ability entirely, run up, take two balls off of the line, let him throw his ball, then throw one back and don't throw again until he's empty on balls for his side of the court.
Like players, Boris can throw a fast or a slow ball. When he's only got one ball, he only throws a medium-speed ball that moves in a straight line and is very easy to dodge. Things only get complicated if he has more than one ball under his control.
Don't Catch, Dodge And Jump
At this point in the game, there are no knockout players and no focus abilities. That means there is no reason to try and counter with a catch. Catching balls is a great skill and should be the first line of defense for players later on, but for now, it's easier to dodge.
By jumping around and moving up and down, Boris won't be able to hit Otto with his attack. Boris' attacks are painful, so it's best to not even risk catching a ball because mistiming it just a few times will be the end of Otto.
Dodgeball Academia was released on August 5th, 2021, and is available for Nintendo Switch, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4, PC, and Xbox One.