41 articlesYou finally reached the end of the “Needle in a Haystack” questline in Windrose, and now you are standing in front of a temple gate in the Foothills. Israel Hands, the second major boss, is waiting for you inside, and he is nothing like Thomas Richards. He hits harder, moves meaner, and throws ghostly projectiles that can catch you off guard if you are not paying attention.
The good news is that Hands is slow between his attacks and leaves clear windows for you to land your own hits. You do not need to be a parry master or have the best gear in the game. You just need to know his moves and follow a simple strategy of dodging sideways, landing one or two heavy strikes, and backing off. In this guide, I will walk you through his attacks and show you exactly how to take him down.
How to Easily Defeat The Foothills Boss
Before getting into the fight itself, let me first go over what you should bring in terms of gear and items. For armor, there is nothing special required here. Just go with the strongest set you currently have available. I went in with the Privateer’s Tricorne, Survivor’s Jacket & Pants, Marksman’s Gloves, and Conquistador’s Boots. It is a fairly basic setup and nothing particularly impressive, but it held up fine throughout the fight.
Best Weapons and Items For This Fight
For weapons, the Rapier of a Thousand Cuts is the one you absolutely need for this fight. The strategy revolves around its bleeding effect, which stacks up to five times and does consistent damage over time. Without it the fight becomes a lot harder so make sure you have this before attempting.
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For your ranged weapon, you have a couple of solid options. Either the Blunderbuss or the Musket paired with Iron Bullets will work well here. The Blunderbuss is better for closer range burst damage while the Musket gives you more distance and precision.
For items, make sure you bring along some Elixir of Precision. It increases your ranged damage by 13% which makes a noticeable difference. On top of that, bring some food buffs as well. Sunmilk Tonic and Hearty Egg Broth are both solid choices here as they temporarily increase your maximum health, giving you a bigger buffer to work with when you end up getting hit. Finally, pack a good supply of Bandages and Healing Potions for HP restoration.
Boss Attacks Patterns
Hands has both ranged and close range melee attacks in his arsenal. His overall attack speed is fairly slow which works in your favor, as most of his moves are telegraphed enough that you can dodge them reliably if you stay focused and keep an eye on what he is doing.
His normal melee swings are slow enough that you will have a clear window to back off and avoid getting hit before he follows up. That said there are two special attacks worth knowing about before you go in. These are the ones that can catch you off guard if you are not paying attention.
Charged Dash Attack
This is his most powerful attack and the one that will down you fastest if you get caught by it. The tells are fairly clear once you know what to look for. He will first kneel down close to the ground and wind up for about half a second. This is your warning. Shortly after, a red flash will appear and he will lunge forward directly towards you at speed.
The attack has quite a significant range to it, so simply backing away is not going to save you here as he will likely still connect. The correct way to dodge this is to dash towards the right at the exact moment he lunges forward. Timing it right will take you cleanly out of the attack’s path and leave you in a good position to punish him immediately after.
Ranged Gun Attack
This is his quickest attack. When you see the boss flash white, that is your cue to move immediately. The flash lasts about half a second before he fires off a ranged shot directly at you, so you do not have a lot of time to react. The best way to handle it is to dash towards the right a short moment after you see the white flash begin.
Easiest Way of Defeating Hands
Now that you know what to bring and what to watch out for, let me walk you through the actual fight. Before heading into the boss room, make sure your weapons are fully reloaded and your buffs are active. As soon as you enter, the boss will play a short getting ready animation before he starts attacking. This is your window. Get close immediately and land a few hits with the Rapier of a Thousand Cuts to get some early damage in. And most importantly, get the bleed stacking on him right from the start.
Once you have applied the bleed, start putting distance between you and the boss and let it do its work. The bleed ticking away in the background is doing consistent damage even while you are not actively swinging. Do not feel pressured to constantly be in his face. If you get far enough away you can squeeze in a shot or two with your ranged weapon to add some extra damage on top.
If he closes the distance and goes for a melee swing, do not panic. His attacks are slow enough that you have a clear window to back away and get a ranged shot off before he can follow up. Take the shot and then create distance again before he has a chance to swing a second time.
When he goes into his charged dash attack, do not just focus on dodging it. After you side dash out of the way, that is one of your best opportunities to close the gap and land a couple of hits to renew the bleed before backing off again.
Keep repeating this loop of applying bleed, keeping your distance, dealing extra damage with ranged shots, and renewing the bleed after his dash. Keep this up and you will have him down in a couple of minutes without too much trouble.
That’s It!
Hands is a significant step up from Thomas Richards but he is very manageable once you understand his rhythm. The charged dash is the only attack that will genuinely punish you if you are not ready for it. Once you have the timing down it becomes free damage every time he uses it. Stick to the bleed strategy. Keep your distance. Do not get greedy with your hits and the fight will be over before you know it.
