Slay the Spire 2 Lagavulin Matriarch boss guide

In Slay the Spire 2, you’ll meet various bosses such as the Lagavulin Matriarch. The Lagavulin Matriarch is an Act 1 boss in STS2. While it doesn’t have particularly complicated mechanics, it can still be a menace due to its high damage output.

Here are the best ways to defeat Slay the Spire 2 Lagavulin Matriarch.

How to Defeat Slay the Spire 2 Lagavulin Matriarch?

Lagavulin Matriarch follows a four-attack move cycle, but it begins the fight asleep with 12 Plating.

This boss will remain asleep for three turns, but will wake up after taking unblocked damage. Once it wakes up, it will rotate through this four-move cycle.

1. Slash: Deals 19 damage
2. Disembowel: Deals 9 damage twice
3. Slash2: Deals 12 damage, and 12 Block
4. Soul Siphon: Removes 2 Strength and 2 Dexterity. Gains 2 Strength.

At the end of every cycle, Lagavulin Matriarch removes your Strength and Dexterity while increasing its own Strength. This means that as the fight drags on, you’ll become much squishier and deal less damage, while the boss steadily chips away at your health and becomes increasingly harder to deal with over time.

So how do you defeat this boss?

First, take advantage of the first three turns while it’s asleep. As long as you don’t remove its Plating by breaking through its Block, you can safely enjoy three turns without taking any damage. Treat this as your setup phase. Use skill cards that boost your damage over time, apply Doom, and prepare your scaling.

After those three turns, the boss wakes up and starts dealing damage.

From that turn onward, you must focus on dealing as much damage as possible. Opting for a slower, late-scaling playstyle will only allow the boss to grow stronger while making you progressively weaker, which will end up punishing you heavily in the long run.

Check out more Slay the Spire 2 guides!

Slay the Spire 2 Curse – Should you choose Greed?