The second boss encounter in Focus Home Interactive and Deck13’s new hardcore RPG is all that stands between you and escaping prison to discover the wide world of Jericho City. Like Nitro before him, The Surge 2 Warden Garcia boss character is a heavily armored beefy boy that’s also surprisingly nifty on his feet. Here’s what you need to know about how to beat Warden Garcia and reclaim your freedom.
The Surge 2 | How to beat Warden Garcia
You’ve got plenty of room to play with for this particular encounter, so try to keep the prison warden at a medium distance in order to bait out the quick forward lunge attack that the Warden likes to unleash. This can be uncorked seemingly out of nowhere at first, but after a couple of instances, you’ll get a feel for it and learn to recognize the starting frames of the animation. That’s when you’ll need to quickly dodge to the side and then close in for a counter-attack.
When you’re up close and personal, there are a couple of main things to be aware of: Warden Garcia’s unblockable ground pound, which sees him jump straight up into the air and slam back down with a concussive area of effect attack, and his ability to nimbly backflip out of range while dropping explosives in their wake. For both, the best strategy is to dodge and/or sprint in the opposite direction.
This will likely leave you in a long-range predicament, where the Warden will now tap into a different section of his weapons arsenal. He can also send out an automated flying drone to snipe you, which is small and easy to miss in the heat of battle, but there are a couple of tells in its absence from his back (it’ll be stored there when inactive) and the thin red targeting laser that tells you to stay on the move if you don’t want to get shot.
Additionally, Garcia can fire a salvo of several fiery projectiles, which even if they miss will continue to burn for a time on the ground and inflict lingering burn damage should you come into contact with them. Again, he needs to be at a long-range to use this move, so when you see the gap has widened, make a sprint for either of the two large pillars near the entrance to the room and position it between you two to block any incoming attacks.
He’ll eventually get bored of missing and close in, at which point you can return to baiting out his mid-range lunges and hitting your counter-attack while being prepared for anything he might throw at you in return. With enough repetitions of this strategy and practice in implementing it, Warden Garcia will be no more.
Just as a general tip, remember that targeting The Surge 2 Warden Garcia boss’ unarmored left arm will lead to a quicker victory, but you’ll be sacrificing the opportunity to sever an armored body part and claim the schematic to that gear for yourself at the end of the fight.