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BOSS FIGHT - THE SAND DRAGON
--- CUTSCENE ---
As you go through the door, you see a load of Stygians running around like
headless chickens on the other side of the archway that lies ahead of you. As
one of the hapless warriors heads through the archway towards you, the Sand
Dragon that you have been stalking spots it, lunges its head through the
archway, and gobbles him up, before breathing fire at you !!
--- END CUTSCENE ---
> The Sand Dragon is the second boss in Conan and, like Bone Cleaver, its
fight must be conducted in numerous sections. The sections are :-
SAND DRAGON BOSS FIGHT STAGE 1 - Head through the Wall
SAND DRAGON BOSS FIGHT STAGE 2 - Chasing over the Rooftops
SAND DRAGON BOSS FIGHT STAGE 3 - Open Air Platform Fight
SAND DRAGON BOSS FIGHT STAGE 4 - Running the Gauntlet
SAND DRAGON BOSS FIGHT STAGE 5 - Pillar Platform Fight
SAND DRAGON BOSS FIGHT STAGE 6 - Scaling the Tower
SAND DRAGON BOSS FIGHT STAGE 7 - Atop the Tower
==============================
SAND DRAGON BOSS FIGHT STAGE 1
==============================
Right, here we go. The Sand Dragon (because he is a rather DULL beast) has
stupidly rammed his head into the archway, and so doesn't have a HUGE degree
of room to manoeuvre in.
You are safe during this fight, as long as you stand right up against the
camera, so if you need to take a breather and get your bearings, head here.
The Sand Dragon attacks with a variety of biting attacks ranging from 1 snap,
to 2 snaps, to 3 snaps.
If you are a beginner then the best advice I can give you is to hang back and
watch his attacks to learn what they are, and then to rush forward (rolling
will close the distance reasonably quickly) and start unloading with the
strong hits, taking care to block his responses. If he knocks you back to
the camera, you will have had your block broken, and he will snap at you a
couple of times doing reasonable damage. If he knocks you to the side, you
should find you move that little bit closer to him (as in just inside the
crook of his neck), and can unleash HELL upon him no problem at all.
If you are adept at this game, then heed my advice for CRUSHING him :-
The safest place to do battle with the Sand Dragon from, is the top left-hand
corner of the area, as it is inside the crook of his neck, and he has quite
some difficulty snapping at you from there (but don't forget to block just
to be on the safe side). It is possible to do battle with him in this
position and take absolutely no damage during this stage of the fight.
Once he has taken enough damage, you will get a large health powerup, and he
will flail around for a bit before sinking his head to the ground. Run up
to him and press the button indicated, to begin the end-sequence for this
stage. You MUST hit the buttons in the right order, otherwise he will
throw you against the wall, and regain part of his health (meaning this
stage of his boss fight will become longer and harder than it needs to be).
Once you have correctly entered the commands (which will be Y, Tap B) you
will be HURLED up high into the air, and land on your back.
==============================
SAND DRAGON BOSS FIGHT STAGE 2
==============================
WASTING NO TIME, as the Sand Dragon is merely stunned, NOT dead, run to your
left (the camera pans), and keep going left until the ground breaks under your
feet and you slide down (Conan will say "I've GOT to keep moving").
Run to the left (Conan will say "This rooftop won't last", and keep running
to the left, jumping over two gaps as you go, and then having to jump up to
a slightly higher platform.
This leads you to the next actual fight with the Sand Dragon ...
==============================
SAND DRAGON BOSS FIGHT STAGE 3
==============================
... the open air platform fight ! (Sorry, I really couldn't think what else
to call it !!).
The Sand Dragon has outpaced you, and must now be battered down again. He
rises up at the back of the platform you are standing on, all snake-like and
... snakey ... and engages you with a couple of nasty attacks, being :-
A) Expanding ring of flame (you will know he is about to do this because
he raises his head to the skies and glows with flaming energy before
breathing fire across the platform). This attack can be jumped over,
but your timing must be good.
B) Tongue Lash. He lashes out at you with his tongue. You CAN counter-
attack this move with the B button, but you must be VERY quick.
C) Bites. If you get too close to him, he will try and take a chunk out
of your manly butt with his snappy teeth - best dodged or blocked, and
I DON'T mean blocked with your arse ;)
As with the first fight with the Sand Dragon, as long as you stay as close to
the camera as possible, he CANNOT bite you. Therefore I would suggest
standing inbetween the two sets of black spiked railings, and jumping over
his flaming rings, and counter-attacking him. I wouldn't bother going in for
strikes unless you're brave, foolhardy, Spider-Man or on a VERY easy setting.
Once he has taken enough damage (from your well-timed counter-attacks or
other tomfoolery), he will once again slump onto the deck. Run up to him
and press the right combination of buttons when prompted (it will be X and
then B), and you will get up onto his head but, unfortunately, before you are
able to strike a killer blow, he comes to and shakes you off, causing you to
fly into a nearby building, smashing through one of the walls.
==============================
SAND DRAGON BOSS FIGHT STAGE 4
==============================
From where you land, take out the Stygians and destroy the vases to get a bit
of green health, and then then run to the left and, when the Sand Dragon has
broken enough of this area for you to be ABLE to jump up, jump up the ledges
on the left-hand wall, and onto the platform at the top. DO NOT TRY AND
ENGAGE THE SAND DRAGON - JUST RUN AWAY FROM HIM.
When you reach the top (which puts you on a large wooden set of platforms),
run to the right and keep running until you can drop down the two wooden
platforms, to ultimately land (once again) on an open-air platform, which
leads us to ...
==============================
SAND DRAGON BOSS FIGHT STAGE 5
==============================
... the Pillar Platform Fight.
As soon as you land on the platform the Sand Dragon's barbed tail will snake
up at the far end menacingly. Move to the far left corner, nearest the
camera to dodge the spines he shoots out, and he will make his slightly more
grand appearance, snorting at you before destroying the right-hand pillar.
You can do a LOT of damage to him at this point if you strike him from your
left-hand side whilst he's snaking up to do his first smash (of the right-
hand pillar), and if you remain in the top left-hand corner (retreating back
to behind the left-hand pillar when he raises his tail (until the left-hand
pillar is destroyed of course)), and time your rolls to avoid his head-smash
attacks, then you CAN defeat him in this stage without taking any damage
either !
His moves in this stage are :-
A) Rise up and slam his head down into the platform, causing a shockwave
which you can jump (you'll know he's about to do this as he snakes his
head veeeeeeeery slowly upwards before ramming it down);
B) Bites (in a number of different quantities, but as always he cannot
bite you if you hang around the back); and
C) Barbed Tail Spikes. He CANNOT hit you with them if you stay at the
bottom-left, AS LONG AS THE LEFT-HAND PILLAR REMAINS IN TACT. Once
THAT has fallen, try rolling to avoid the spikes as they hit all over
the bloody place.
Rush forward and hammer him with strong attacks, when he slowly raises his
head up get ready to jump away or roll away, as you won't be able to do him
any harm at that particular point in time, and when he drops down and the
tail pops up, get ready to either roll or jump away, unless the left-hand
pillar is up in which case hide in the bottom left-hand corner, nearest the
camera.
Once he has fallen, he chases you off the platform and onto a pillar, which
you cling onto and ascend, his response being to smack it with his tail,
causing it to fall into a set of wooden platforms built around ANOTHER tower
to the right.
==============================
SAND DRAGON BOSS FIGHT STAGE 6
==============================
As soon as you are back in control of Conan, have him jump up to the first
ledge on the tower, then Right, Up, Left, Up, Left (if you want to get the
Treasure Chest) BUT DO NOT DAWDLE on that ledge as it crumbles rather quickly.
Assuming you've gone to the left and picked up the Treasure Chest, you will
then need to get back onto one of the central ledges to make the jump to the
pathway on the right. TO DO THIS, DO *NOT* JUMP - just run off the ledge,
aiming right and towards the centre of the pillar, and Conan should grab onto
the nearest ledge. If he fails to grab that one, there are two in line below
it, and he should grab one of those. If you jump then the odds are 95% likely
that you're going to plummet to your death.
Once you're on the central ledge to the left of the pathway that spirals off
to your right, jump to the right to get onto THAT pathway, and then follow it
as it snakes around the pillar upwards.
You will need to jump up onto one wooden ledge, and then over a reasonably-
large gap to another wooden ledge (which is made that little bit more awkward
because the camera is panning around the pillar as you go), before you reach
another section of ledges to jump around.
Jump Up, Right, and finally Up again to reach the highest platform, and set
the scene for ...
==============================
SAND DRAGON BOSS FIGHT STAGE 7
==============================
You will, I am sure, be ELATED to learn that this is the last stage of the
Sand Dragon Boss Fight ... WOOHOO !!
It's also one of the easiest, which is nice ... however if you don't know
what you're doing you WILL get battered, which is NOT so nice.
Your objective here is to knock the Sand Dragon back to the extent that he
backs off, giving you a little time to achieve 2 things. HOWEVER, the timing
of this stage of the fight means that you will have to do it like this :-
1) Knock the Sand Dragon back and stun him;
2) Achieve Objective 1;
3) Knock the Sand Dragon back and stun him;
4) Begin Objective 2;
5) Knock the Sand Dragon back and stun him;
6) Achieve Objective 2;
7) Sand Dragon FINALLY Dies.
The Sand Dragon's attacks in this stage are :-
A) Frenzied Tongue Lashing (block it to avoid damage and being drooled
all over, which is NEVER nice);
B) Biting (in various stylees) (block to avoid damage, but be aware that
if he hits you at the right angle he will break your block, and you
will take some damage);
C) Expanding Ring of Flame (as per the last time he used it - jump over
it to avoid it).
Once he has fallen back, smash your way through the wooden planks to the left,
and push over the massive rock (do not grab the green urn unless you need it -
remember you ARE running against the clock in this stage, and you do not
have enough time to pick up the green urn AND push over the rock). To push
over the rock, you need to "use" it with the RB button three times. This
will trigger a mini cutscene where you realise you are actually standing
atop a giant statue, and have just booted off one of its arms - an arm holding
some type of sword, which plummets to the ground below, sharp-end pointing
straight up ... hmmmmmmmmmmmm.
Once you are back in control, and have activated this cutscene (by which I
mean if you chose to get the green urn you will have to knock the Sand Dragon
back again and kick off the statue's arm before proceeding), do battle with
the Sand Dragon again to knock him back, and then head over to the LEFT-hand
side of this platform, and use the controls (RB, rotate the right-hand
thumbstick like billio). This will cause a giant ball of stone to be raised
up, and gradually be pulled to the left. Odds are you won't be able to get it
all the way up this time around, and will have to face the Sand Dragon for
another bout.
HOWEVER, once you've knocked him back a FURTHER time, you should have ample
time to complete this, your second objective on this level (just keep rotating
that thumbstick) and, when you're done, you will get your VERY well-deserved
--- CUTSCENE ---
Conan jumps onto the ball he has brought up, and cuts one of the support
cables, causing it to swing around. Using his weight to change its angle, he
brings it SMASHING into the back of the Sand Dragon, who, unable to maintain
his position atop the platform, falls down, becoming impaled upon the sword
below.
Not content with this being the Sand Dragon's end, Conan cuts the ball's
other support, causing it to smash down into the Sand Dragon's stomach, thus
destroying him utterly.
Conan finds another gauntlet lodged around one of the Sand Dragon's teeth, and
claims it as his own.
A'Kanna says that a NEW Power surges through Conan as he sees a glimpse of
the past ... of two brothers - guardians of the most ancient magic on earth,
who had taken a sacred vow to protect this power. She tells of how one of
the brothers broke their vow, and took the power as his own, losing himself
to its darkness and becoming possessed in the process.
He did terrible things as a result of the power he now wielded.
The scene then shifts to Conan coming back to A'Kanna on her ship. She
comments about his new attire, and suggests you sail to Stygia to obtain
the rest of your armour and slay the dread source of the curse, that you
might be free ...
... and then you boink her.
--- END CUTSCENE ---
Congratulations ! You have now completed Act Three.
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