Bosses are the centrepiece of The Relic: First Guardian. The game features up to 80 of them, and the developers call them brutals. Each carries its own tragic story, and defeating one is framed not as a kill but as laying a troubled soul to rest.
Up to 80 Brutals
Each brutal is described as a dark, standalone folktale brought to life, bound to a tragedy that can only be settled through victory. No two fight alike, and a strategy that beats one offers no guarantee against the next. The combat system, with its free-flowing attacks and stamina reserved for defence, is built with these encounters in mind. The figure is an upper bound rather than an exact count.
Detail | Information |
|---|---|
Number of bosses | Up to 80 |
Name for bosses | Brutals |
Origin | Often humans transformed into monsters by starvation or curse |
Common trait | Many have forgotten their names and former lives |
Design principle | No two fight alike; each is its own standalone folktale |
Reward for defeating | Reveals the brutal's tragic tale and lays the soul to rest |
Tragic Stories
Every brutal has a backstory. Many were once ordinary people, turned into monsters through starvation or curse and driven to slaughter their own kin, and most have forgotten who they were. Confronting one and defeating it reveals its tale. This ties the bosses into the game's folklore-driven storytelling, where much of the narrative arrives through the people and creatures you meet rather than through cutscenes. Several draw directly on traditional Korean folktales reworked as dark fantasy.
Named Brutals
The developers ran a numbered showcase series introducing individual brutals one at a time. Fifteen had been named by early August 2026: twelve through individual entries, and three more through the compilation covering entries eleven to fifteen. The showcase stopped there, and every boss named since has come out of a patch note instead. Full movesets and locations have not been published, so each entry below carries only what has been officially shown.
No. | Brutal | Details |
|---|---|---|
1 | Marisa the Carrion Witch | The first brutal spotlighted in the showcase series |
2 | Brogas | Introduced as the second entry in the series |
3 | Fugitive Mog | A knight who fights with polished, disciplined swordplay. Earlier coverage referred to him simply as Mog |
4 | The Unreturned | Named in the fourth showcase entry. Patch 16 fixed projectiles from The Unreturning, a near-identical name, failing to explode on hitting the ground |
5 | Stenor the Butcher of Ash | Named in the fifth showcase entry. Patch 17 made some of his previously unparryable attacks parryable |
6 | Selvarn the Gilded Wretch | Named in the sixth showcase entry |
7 | Looter Dunt | One of two brutals tied to the looters |
8 | Hark, the Oath of Stone | Named in the eighth showcase entry |
9 | The Wingless Woman | Named in the ninth showcase entry |
10 | Harlan the Elder, Mentor of Looters | Presented as the looters' mentor figure |
11 | Gus the Accursed | Named in the eleventh showcase entry |
12 | Entom the Starved | A monstrous brutal defined by a blood-drenched gluttony. Patch 17 enhanced the environment of his zone |
13 | The Prodigal Bound In Dust | Named in the compilation covering entries eleven to fifteen |
14 | Taylor | Named in the same compilation. Patch notes later confirm a dedicated boss arena, and Patch 16 updated and added boss voice lines for the fight |
15 | Dix the Fallen Scion | Named in the same compilation |
Other Confirmed Brutals
Several more have been shown in trailers, in dedicated boss footage, or named in patch notes without appearing in the numbered series.
Brutal | Details |
|---|---|
Vanessa | A major boss whose distorted design embodies unerasable regret. Her story reinterprets the Korean folktale of Kongjwi and Patjwi through a dark fantasy lens |
The Heavenly Maiden | A reimagining of a classic Korean folktale, with her tragic story uncovered in fragments as you defeat her |
Branko | A hulking brutal with an imposing, intimidating frame |
Dreuger | Shown in dedicated boss gameplay footage |
Philip | Shown in dedicated boss gameplay footage |
Walden | Named in patch notes; the wall that seals the arena had to be fixed after launch, and a freeze bug was resolved separately |
Bosses Named Only in Patch Notes
The post-launch patch notes name a further set of bosses that have had no showcase entry of their own. They are listed here because the notes place each one in a specific arena, event or chapter, which is more than the marketing has published for most of the roster. Movesets and exact locations are still unpublished.
Boss | What the Patch Notes Say |
|---|---|
Igwis | A Chapter 1 boss that could fail to spawn until it was fixed. Patch 17 fixed attacks that could not be parried properly and added a marker leading to an NPC after the fight |
Bale | A Chapter 2 boss that could fail to spawn until it was fixed |
Solona | A Chapter 2 boss that could fail to spawn until it was fixed |
Valsilas | A Chapter 2 boss that could fail to spawn until it was fixed |
Drakal | Leaving and re-entering the arena used to reset the fight and restore the boss’s health |
Also appears in the numbered series as Harlan the Elder. His health bar could persist after a death, and the checkpoint was moved so a death restarts at Harlan rather than replaying the preceding Looter wave | |
Brogas | Also the second numbered entry. His behaviour was adjusted so he holds his designated position |
Dunt | Also the seventh numbered entry, as Looter Dunt. Doors could stay shut on re-entry after defeating him |
Village Chief | Players could dash out of the arena barrier at the start of the fight |
Nix | Received new event presentations and monster adjustments |
Allen, Murakan, Jena and Lena | Four bosses whose lore journals failed to drop. Affected players can revisit the respective boss rooms to collect them |
Rentir | Named through the Rentir Boss Zone in Chapter 2, where Patch 13 placed collision blocks to stop players climbing out of bounds nearby. The arena name is the only published reference |
Dorman | Named through the Dorman dungeon, also called The Last Feast, which failed to load and blocked entry until Patch 13. The notes do not state whether Dorman is the boss of that dungeon |
Also one of the four bosses whose lore journals failed to drop. She could fail to appear on some saves until Patch 15, and since Patch 16 defeating her opens a barrier at Hillsbrad Castle | |
Garrot, the Executioner of the Black Day | Patch 15 added sound effects for his boss encounter. Patch 16 spells the name Garotte in a list of encounters that received missing audio |
Veil | Has a boss room. The Patch 15 workaround for Lena not appearing is to enter Lena's boss room, travel to Veil's boss room, and then return |
Zena | Has a boss room reached after a large-scale battle, and is one of the destinations signposted by the crossroads gate at Hillsbrad Castle. Patch 16 made the music play seamlessly from the battle up to the boss room entrance |
Nakra | Summons minions. Patch 16 fixed the minions staying behind after the player died or the boss was defeated |
Black Mire | Patch 16 moved its spawn point closer to the boss room entrance, alongside Solona's |
Gurgas | Patch 17 fixed both the player and Gurgas being able to leave the boss room during the fight |
Archas and Adras | Patch 17 fixed their defeat rewards not dropping |
Urkas and Adras | Fought together. Patch 17 fixed Urkas appearing at the wrong time during the encounter |
Ishak | Patch 18 removed his rat summons |
Eltrin | Tied to the Eltrin Dungeon in Chapter 2. Patch 18 added second-phase mechanics, with the boss's emissive textures and effects switching on as Phase 2 begins |
One name is recorded inconsistently by the developers themselves. The showcase entry and its compilation both spell the twelfth brutal Entom the Starved, while the Patch 9 notes spell the same boss Entum. This wiki uses Entom, the spelling used in the official showcase.
Boss Fixes Since Launch
Boss encounters were among the worst-affected systems at release. The developers traced it to large dungeons staying resident in memory after players left them, which in some cases stopped events and boss encounter triggers from firing at all. Patches have since fixed bosses that were frozen or not moving, restored the trigger for the wall that seals the Walden fight, and corrected terrain collisions where players could get stuck. Patch 13 added two more: the map stopped working after the Harlan fight until it was repaired, and bosses could clip through the wall of their own arena if a player approached from behind. Fixes for progression-blocking encounter triggers were called out as one of the main improvements delivered in the first week. The Updates and Patches page tracks them individually.
A Status Board in-game tracks how many bosses have been put down; a counter bug affecting fights against two or more bosses at once was fixed in Patch 11. Since Patch 12 the map also marks boss locations directly, which removes much of the guesswork in hunting the roster. Patch 17 fixed the boss interface appearing in the wrong order in fights against two or more bosses, and Patch 18 updated boss markers to display once a boss is defeated. The developers have said that additional content, including new events and boss encounters expanding the world and stories of Arsilthus, is planned.