The first skill check for most players in No Rest for the Wicked is probably going to be Warrick the Torn. He’s the first boss that you fight before making your way to Sacrament, the main hub in the early access release. Warrick isn’t a tough fight, especially for players familiar with Soulslikes, but his delayed attacks and intimidating stature can make things a bit tricky.
This guide will walk you through both phases and provide the most effective strategies to counter his attacks.
How to take down Warrick the Torn Boss
A few things to get out of the way. All of Warrick’s attacks can be dodged and parried. This means that you can interrupt his incoming barrages by parrying the first or subsequent attack to deal massive damage while he’s stunned. If you’re already good at parrying, this fight becomes a cakewalk.
Additionally, Fillmore, the blacksmith, will be available next to the Cerim Whisper before Warrick’s arena, and he’ll repair your weapons and armor for free. Make use of this if you keep dying.
Phase One
Warrick’s fight begins with a rapid ground-pound attack that I recommend dodging. You have the room to easily get to the side, and he’ll likely follow it up with a few slashes.
All of these can be dodged if you aim to either of his sides, so make liberal use of dodge when needed. Upon dodging, start slashing away, but don’t get greedy. Two to three hits with a single-handed sword are enough here. Your aim with Warrick is to get close to one of his sides and just inflict damage there. Don’t try to take him head-on because most of his attacks come out in the front.
Warrick’s charged attacks have a long wind-up animation, so you can actually parry those if you’re good enough. Either way, the drawn-out animation means you have ample room to move to the side or dodge as well.
If you manage to get some distance between yourself and Warrick, he’ll resort to a straight-thrust attack that covers the entire arena. This is a deadly attack, but as I mentioned before, you can also parry this.
Even if you don’t parry, it’s not that hard to dodge and gives you another chance to take down his health. Warrick will also leap into the air to do a plunge attack, which is also quite powerful but the animation is drawn out enough to give you time to run or dodge out of the landing zone.
Phase Two
When you get him down to around 50-55% health, Warrick will slam into the ground with an AOE attack, so make sure you’re not in range. It’s fairly obvious when he’s about to do that. This is also a good time to heal if you’re a bit low on health.
Mechanically, Phase Two isn’t all that different from the first one. His attacks deal more damage, and he can inflict a debuff on you, but his attack patterns don’t change.
Continue dodging his attacks, and hugging one side when you do so. Parrying is still the ideal route because it stuns Warrick and lets you slash multiple times finishing the fight within a few seconds.
Upon defeating him, you’ll earn a random assortment of loot and, hopefully, a nice weapon too.
You check out the fight in its entirety below.
I hope this guide was helpful! If you have any questions, feel free to ask them in the comments below.
