The Dark Souls series has become synonymous with difficulty. Everything from Crash Bandicoot to DiRT Rally can be considered the Dark Souls of its respective genre, which is a heck of a lot of pressure to put on the Souls series. Are FromSoftware’s action RPGs the toughest games around? Well, some of those boss battles are certainly infamous for a reason, but the king of difficulty used to be Mega Man.
The key to triumphing over the Blue Bomber’s fiendishly-designed stages (so many insta-death spikes and bottomless pits) and dastardly boss battles is taking on the Robot Masters in a practical and helpful order. Each is weak to another’s special weapon, after all. Here’s a suggested order to tackle the eight Robot Masters in, which will allow you to exploit these weaknesses to the fullest while giving you handy tools to help with the stages themselves.
8 Block Man
Mega Man’s iconic standard weapon, the Mega Buster, is far from the most powerful or effective in his arsenal. Sadly, though, we’ve got to take on one of the Robot Masters with it alone. In Mega Man 11, Block Man is a great first pick.
Why this boss? For one thing, it was the boss that players got to tangle with in the demo, suggesting that it would be perfect for players to cut their teeth on. Arguably rather an easy boss by series standards, his attacks are quite slow and predictable even in his intimidating giant form. Couple this with the fact that his weapon, the Block Dropper, covers a wide range and can be useful in the levels, and you’ve got a great starting point here.
7 Acid Man
With the Block Dropper in hand, you’ll probably want to pay Acid Man a deadly visit next. This boss can be a tricky customer, as his Acid Barrier can negate a lot of damage, particularly from the Mega Buster. As such, Acid Man isn’t recommended as a first encounter.
Taking him on second, however, means that the Block Dropper can be used. An incredibly potent weapon in this fight, it’ll both remove Acid Man’s barrier in one fell swoop and temporarily daze him. With his shield all but negated, Acid Man is much, much less of a threat. You’ll want to stay alert to avoid his homing shots, though. This stage is also quite manageable, with predictable enemies that are more of a nuisance and wide spaces allowing the player to avoid their shots throughout.
6 Impact Man
With Acid Man dealt with, the powerful Acid Barrier is available to the player for the rest of the game. It’s quite a boon to have it early on, as its defensive and offensive capabilities are generally very useful if you’re having trouble with particular stages. Where to go next now that you’ve acquired it? Impact Man is calling!
Mega Man bosses can be a real mixed bag, and Impact Man is a great example of this. His weakness to the Acid Barrier means that he can be quickly defeated with deft use of it (as long as the player can avoid his speedy attacks), but this is tough to pull off. It will only deal damage to this boss with the Power Gear, which makes it awkward to utilize here. Potentially very rewarding, though! With the boss defeated, the player earns the Pile Driver, a dashing attack that is very potent against Bounce Man.
5 Bounce Man
The Pile Driver is a very powerful weapon, but it also has a lot of utility. Our hero isn’t the most mobile of protagonists, and the dashing options this weapon gives supplements the player’s abilities nicely. It will come in handy in all sorts of platforming situations, but right now, we’re more concerned with letting Bounce Man have a good, hard look at the business end of it.
With his tricky movement patterns and unpredictable limbs, Bounce Man can be a tremendous pain to keep track of. A carefully-timed shot with the Pile Driver, however, will make his body fall into pieces, leaving him very vulnerable as he reassembles. Short of charged shots with the Power Gear, nothing else has quite such a strong effect on this irritating boss.
4 Fuse Man
You’ll be glad you picked up the Bounce Ball weapon before hopping into Fuse Man’s stage, because it can be a real doozy. Amid all the tricky hazards and obstacles Mega Man stages are renowned for (electrical ones that stun our hero in this case, just to add to the fun), the miniboss, Dread Spark, unleashes electrical attacks from above that can be highly damaging. Only its eyes are vulnerable to damage and can be a pain to hit consistently, but the Bounce Ball’s volley of smaller projectiles will take it down quickly.
Moments later, you’ll meet Fuse Man himself, who zips around the stage like a real livewire and can also be very tough to pin down. Luckily, the Bounce Ball is just as effective here, making it easier to score powerful hits on this evasive enemy. Grab his Scramble Thunder Weapon, you might be needing it soon!
3 Tundra Man
Speaking of pesky, highly mobile enemies, Tundra Man is next up. If you thought Fuse Man was a pain to hit (which he was), this next boss is as swift, elegant and agile as a Hennessey Venom GT. If your Scramble Thunder’s locked and loaded, let’s see what we can do here.
Fuse Man’s weapon isn’t strictly necessary here (as is the case with all Robot Master weaknesses), but if this swift opponent gliding around the screen is getting the better of you, the way the weapon works gives it a bit of an edge here, meaning that it should catch Tundra Man’s movements nicely with a bit of practice. Most importantly, this Robot Master’s defeat earns the player the brilliant Tundra Storm.
2 Torch Man
Now, you might not think that an ice-based weapon would be especially useful against a fire-based boss that lives in a fire-based stage. Still, that’s just the way the world works sometimes. Enemy weaknesses can be interesting things.
This campsite level is riddled with pits, spontaneously combusting enemies in tight spaces and pursuing waves of lava that will incinerate our hero if he’s not too careful. The good news is that the Tundra Storm is fantastically effective against the miniboss Sparkey (jumping directly at the player when they have a huge icy AoE effect around themselves isn’t a great tactic), and it’s much the same story with Torch Man himself.
1 Blast Man
Of all Mega Man 11’s Robot Masters, the one most averse to Torch Man’s Blazing Torch is Blast Man. If you’ve made it through the rest of this challenging game, you should be well equipped to handle the eighth and final stage (before the usual shenanigans with Dr. Wily, of course).
Blast Man’s stage is set in a forgotten amusement park, featuring block puzzles with timed explosions and other such trickery. The Blazing Torch can deal with some of these hazards, and its range and damage makes it a handy pick against Blast Man too. His Chain Blast is Block Man’s weakness, but this is the end of the cycle. Now, onwards to Dr. Wily!