How to Defeat the Final Boss in Cult of the Lamb

In Cult of the Lamb, there are four Bishops who stand in the way of The One Who Waits. Between Leshy, Heket, Kallamar, and Shamura, these false prophets will do everything they can to prevent your malicious benefactor from being freed. So, it’s up to you to systematically take them and their minions down.

But … all of the Bishops have been brutally slaughtered. It should be finished. Alas, there is still one more mountain to climb. And arguably, this might be the steepest mountain of them all. In the aftermath of the fight against Shamura, you’ll be instructed to enter the ominous door in the center of the hub world. This is the door leading to the seal that holds The One Who Waits. And, with your job now finished, it’s time to return the Red Crown and accept the sweet embrace of death.

Except NO, because you’re the cult leader, and your followers would be sad if you died!! So, it only makes sense to take everything that you’ve learned and throw it at your benefactor. Here’s what to expect from the battle against The One Who Waits and their servants Baal and Aym.

Before the Final Fight

It’s important to consider that, before the final arena will be accessible, you’ll need at least 20 followers. I only had 12 upon defeating Shamura, so I took the next hour or so and grinded followers. To gain followers quickly, there are a couple of options:

• Buy the follower caught in Helob’s spider-web outside of the Silk Cradle. It seems to refresh every so often, so depending on how often you return to the hub world, you may be able to net a handful.
• Enter the Lands of the Old Faith — it doesn’t matter which area — and interrupt sacrificial rituals. As soon as you’re victorious and as soon as you’ve recruited the follower, hold the button to escape. You may lose 100% of your collected resources, but you’ll keep the follower. Rinse and repeat until you have 20.

ALSO: If you’re anything like me, you’ll want to make sure you’re given a hammer as your weapon. It does a whopping amount of damage against each of the final bosses. It might also help if you can get a curse that sends out homing bullets, for those times when you can’t get close enough to attack.

How to Defeat Baal

Baal simply looks like the kinda dude who reminds the teacher about homework. They’re also extremely easy to defeat, so just do your best to hold onto as much health as possible. On that note, you can bring demons into these fights, so upgrade to the third demon summoning circle so you can bring one for melee, one for ranged, and one to bring you extra hearts.

Baal will start with a melee attack, and then lead into their first curse move, which sends spear chains from the ground in the shape of a cross. As is the usual, don’t stand on any of the targets and you’ll be fine. It’s then that they’ll summon a pair of minions. You can choose to get rid of them if you want (or if you need the Fervour) but you can largely ignore them in favor of Baal.

Baal’s second curse ability is much like the first, only this time it’ll follow you around the arena. Spam the dodge-roll until it stops, then roll back and get a hit or two in. By this point, you should have already beat them, but just in case, Baal might summon three more minions. Just keep hitting them ’til they die!

How to Defeat Aym

Aym is just as much of a pushover as their sibling. They’ll start with a familiar move; remember the bullet rings? Yep. Aym can use the bullet rings. They can also use a curse much like Baal, where they send spear chains from the ground in three straight directions. Then, Aym will effectively borrow Baal’s second curse, and spear chains will follow you across the map. Use the same strategy to avoid unnecessary damage. If you haven’t beat Aym by this point, just keep hitting when you can, and dodging when you can’t.

How to Defeat The One Who Waits

The One Who Waits has grown weary of waiting. Once Baal and Aym have been dealt with, your merciless benefactor will join the fray. There are two phases to this fight — one that’s very easy, and one that’s a bit harder, but both are extremely do-able, as long as you have patience and plenty of hearts.

Phase One

In this phase, The One Who Waits is a big target, so it shouldn’t be difficult to inflict enough damage. First, they’ll borrow a move from Baal and Aym, sending three lines of spear chains from the ground. If you continue the strategy of dodge-rolling away, you can easily avoid taking damage. It’s then they’ll send a couple of bullet rings at you, but these are a lot bigger than the ones you’re probably used to. It’s okay; just handle them the way you’re used to, taking into account the increased size.

The One Who Waits will then launch a spiral of bullets that can be tough to avoid, so just keep dodging and, if you absolutely need to, take a hit if you have enough hearts to spare. At some point, they’ll move to the middle of the arena and a windmill of bullets will begin rotating counter-clockwise. Just keep hitting. It should be easy to get through this phase, as long as you’re dodging — and have a hammer, anyway.

Phase Two

This is it. It’s the final phase. If you’ve made it this far, there’s no going back. The One Who Waits will show their true form, and decorate the arena with your crucified followers. This is an intimidating final fight, but just make sure you’re focused, because the strategy is still remarkably simple.

The One Who Waits is out of bounds, but he sends his three eyeballs to the arena in his place. These eyeballs are more than capable of launching waves upon waves of attacks — sometimes all at once. So, do whatever you can to attack them until they burrow underground. Their attacks aren’t anything particularly new, but they can be overwhelming if you don’t take one or two of them out before they start attacking.

Eventually, you’ll take one of the eyeballs out permanently. It’s then that The One Who Waits will launch a relatively simple-to-dodge bullet attack before sending the remaining eyeballs out for more of a beating. As soon as the third eyeball has been permanently eliminated, The One Who Waits will scream out in agony before collapsing, and this is your cue to finish them off. They’ll transform into a follower, and you will be given the choice to recruit them to your cult or to murder them. The choice is yours.