=========================================================
Conan Walkthrough
=========================================================
This FAQ may be not be reproduced under any circumstances except for personal,
private use. It may not be placed on any web site or otherwise distributed
publicly without advance written permission. Use of this guide on any other
web site or as a part of any public display is strictly prohibited, and a
violation of copyright.
All trademarks and copyrights contained in this document are owned by their
respective trademark and copyright holders.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Written by: Daniel Acaba
GameFAQS ID: Misfit119
Contact me at: eternalmisery718@yahoo.com
System: PlayStation 3
Version 1.0 - 11/29/2007
This FAQ Copyright 2007 Daniel Acaba
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
List of Sites that may host this FAQ:
www.ign.com
www.gamefaqs.com
www.gamerstemple.com
www.cheatcc.com
www.gamesradar.com / www.cheatplanet.com
=========================================================
Index
=========================================================
1 - Update History
2 - About This FAQ
3 - Controls
4 - Weapons
5 - Magics
6 - Walkthrough
7 - Enemies
8 - About the Author
=========================================================
1. Update History
=========================================================
V.1.0 - 11/29 /2007 - FAQ Completed.
=========================================================
2. About This FAQ
=========================================================
Conan is a simple enough action game in the vein of God of War. The major
differences between the two is that Conan relies a bit more on great timing due
to its parry based combat system. Simply button mashing will get you your butt
handed to you on a silver platter during most of the game, especially the later
levels where they are filled with enemies just as skilled in combat as you.
********************
Conan Introduction
********************
"... An age undreamed of, when shining kingdoms lay spread across the world
like blue mantles beneath the stars."
This is Hyboria. It is a savage land, where only the strong survive. It is the
land of Conan - a barbarian who makes his way with wit and steel alone.
Conan's thirst for adventure and gold leads him to Balmoria, an island lost to
the western seas. There, he finds, not riches, but the dark wizard Graven - a
man destroyed by his own desire, a man who would consume Hyboria to feed his
own lust for power. His weapon is the Black Death, a plague that steals mens
souls. Graven's dark magic is so powerful he has harnassed nature itself to do
his bidding.
There is one who would defy Graven - the female warrior A'Kanna. The dark
wizard has destroyed her homeland and killed her people. She will not stop
until  he is destroyed. But she cannot wield the weapon that will stop Graven.
Only Conan has that strength.
This is a power, and responsibility, that Cronan neither seeks nor desires. But
te moment is his.
Together, Conan and A'Kanna unfurl their sails for distant shores.
* To Parad Isle, where dragons from the desert rise up against them;
* To the dark jungles of Kush, where brutes drag helpless maidens to their
deaths and ancient demons are worshipped with human sacrifice.
* To the burning wastes of Stygia, where Conan must pit his blade against the
Stygian fleet and a sorceress queen; and,
* To Argos, where the Black Death has taken hold and brother fights brother in
a bloody civil war.
Conan fights his way across sea and land, pitting his strength against sand
dragons, elephant demons, warriors and wizards and all manner of unnatural
beasts. His journey draws him ever closer to the dark wizard Graven, whose lust
for power threatens to consume Hyboria, and curse its people with eternal
darkness.
They will fight for the future.
They will fight to the death.
=========================================================
3. Controls
=========================================================
XBox 360
==========
Left Analog - Move Conan, Navigate Menus
Right Analog - Execute Dodge
Directional Pad - Change Selected Magic Spell
Blue X Button - Fast Attack
Yellow Y Button - Strong Attack
Green A Button - Jump
Red B Button - Grab
Left Bumper - Use Selected Magic
Left Trigger - Block
Right Bumper - Pick up item/weapon, Pick up Object
Right Trigger - Throw weapon/object
Back Button - Open combat abilities menu
Start Button - Open pause menu
==========
PlayStation 3
==========
Left Analog - Move Conan, Navigate Menus
Right Analog - Execute Dodge
Directional Pad - Change Selected Magic Spell
Square Button - Fast Attack
Triangle Button - Strong Attack
X (Cross) Button - Jump
Circle Button - Grab
L2 - Use Selected Magic
L1 - Block
R2 - Pick up item/weapon, Pick up Object
R1 - Throw weapon/object
Select Button - Open combat abilities menu
Start Button - Open pause menu
=========================================================
4. Weapons
=========================================================
Weapons in Conan fall into one of two classifications:
* Single handed weapons
* Two handed weapons
All weapons can be thrown, which means that you should always carry an extra
weapon, even if using the one handed style. Pick up two swords from the floor
and then throw one. This gives you the option of having a weapon that you can
throw should the situation come up.
There are a total of three different combat styles to choose from while playing
Conan. Each has its own strengths and weaknesses.
1)Single One Handed Weapon: This is the middle ground of combat options, where
speed and raw power are balanced out. There aren't as many power attacks to be
had here as there are if using a two handed weapon but you swing much quicker.
Probably the biggest advantage to this fighting style is the ability to leave
Conans free hand open to other uses. If you wish you can carry a torch or
shield* in your free hand and there are a few combos that you can learn that
let you rip a weapon from an enemies hand and then use it on them. You will
always find yourself defaulting to this style when a new stage starts so you
may want to get used to it.
There are some variations on the single handed style that crop up if you have a
shield or torch in hand. When you have a shield in hand you will have access to
more block breaker types of moves and your combos will be a bit stronger since
Conan is hitting them with a metal (or wood) shield. When using a torch you
gain attacks that let you set the enemy on fire which does some wicked damage
to them and is usually an instant kill.
* This is a bigger advantage than it seems since you cannot block arrows at all
in this game unless you have a shield. You must dodge otherwise.
* I found this style to be the most versatile and all of the combos to have
good use. The only one that saw more use than normal was the light, light,
strong combo with the shield. This one really puts the hurt on the enemies.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2)Dual Wielding: This combat style excels in repeated, weak, strikes. It can be
used to keep a group of enemies at bay, pick apart enemies with rapid strikes
or, in a pinch, it gives you extra swords to throw (two if you are smart). The
instruction manual states that this isn't good for bigger enemies and this is
somewhat true. It is near useless if the enemy has a good block, the combos you
can pull off with the two swords do nice damage when added up but are too weak
to break through a block. You will need to fling one of your swords and then
take out that enemy. The biggest advantage I found to this style is that the
combos are easy to do and are excellent at crowd control. The square, triangle/
X,Y combo will serve you well since it knocks all enemies in a raidus in front
of you to the ground and does nice damage. Learn it quickly.
* You will likely find this style useful against large groups of enemies due to
the ability to attack an enemy, fling your sword at another, pick up their
weapon and go right back to it.
* The best combos for this style are the light, strong combo where he knocks
all enemies for a loop and the repeated strong attack combo. Between these two
combos you should be able to handle most enemies.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3)Two Handed Weapon: As you probably guessed this fighting style excels at slow
but powerful strikes. You may find it hard to use at first due to just how fast
the enemies can be at times but once you learn how to use the reach to your
advantage and you get a few good combos this becomes a powerful style. You will
always have to be careful that you don't let yourself get surrounded by fast
enemies since they will stop you from being able to do anything. You must try
to keep all your enemies to one side of you unless you plan on using parries to
thin them out (not a bad idea) or you will be pecked to death by them. Also, if
you enjoy throwing weapons these ones do an incredible amount of damage. Conan
throws these like a harpoon and it will one shot kill weaker enemies. Very good
for taking out archers.
* This is my preferred style due to the havoc you can wreak on enemies with it.
* The best combos for two handed style are the light, light, strong move where
he runs the enemy through and the four strong attacks combo. These three will
help you cut through the enemies.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In addition to these three styles Conan has his physical attacks and the very
environment itself. Physical attacks consist of when you hit the grapple button
and range from a punch in the face to a piledriver. Most grapple attacks are
instant kills to weak enemies but stronger enemies will not even let you grab
a hold of them so they are limited in usefulness. However if you can stun the
enemies and then grab them with circle do not press anything. Conan will throw
the enemy in whatever direction you press on the left analog stick. This is
quite useful for flinging enemies off ledges or onto spikes.
Using the environment is probably one of the most advantageous methods at your
disposal. While you can throw weapons they don't do as much damage, and are not
as satisfying, as a huge rock to someones face. The only weapon that compares
are two handed weapons but you won't find two handed weapons littering stages
just waiting to be thrown like you will with crates and vases. It's great fun
to hit an enemy in the face with a crate and then perform an execution move on
them while they are down. It can make a hard enemy really easy.
Something to keep in mind at all times is that even though there are a number
of different weapons in the game all the differences are purely cosmetic. A
cool looking axe does the same damage as a small sword which does the same
damage as that curved khopesh looking sword. Also none of the properties that a
weapon displays in enemy hands are available to you. So the spiked shields and
the green blasts used by the stygian pikeman are just normal equipment in your
hands. It's pretty lame.
For the beginning portion of the game you should pick a fighting style that you
prefer and use that to the exclusion of all others when possible. Try to learn
the combos that consist of light and then strong attacks since these are the
faster combos. Once you have a few of these, start branching into other styles
of fighting. You can ignore the physical stuff since they are never really all
that useful and the throw is a freebie. I heavily suggest that you make sure to
be proficient in single weapon style along with one of the other two fighting
styles. You will often find yourself forced into single weapon style and you do
not want to be left unskilled in this style. Investing in the shield abilities
is a smarter thing yet since a shield can be helpful at times.
* A small note about torches. If you are fighting enemies that do not block go
ahead and throw a torch at them. It destroys the torch but it sets them on fire
and it is pretty much a one hit kill. Plus its a hoot to watch.
=========================================================
5. Magic
=========================================================
Conan has four magics at his disposal and one other magical abilitiy that isn't
really a spell. None of these are particularly useful although one of the
spells can make your life a bit easier. They are listed in order of acquisition
below:
Song of Death: This is represented by a second bar that appears underneath your
health bar. As you strike the enemies and kill them off this bar will slowly
fill with yellow. Should you get hurt or go too long without striking an enemy
then you will find your bar emptying itself. If you manage to get the bar full
of energy then you will enter Song of Death mode. In this mode all of your
attacks do increased damage, it is easier to break enemy blocks and Conan even
seems to strike a bit faster. While this sounds nice don't expect to see it
happen all that often. To get this to happen you really have to button mash but
the game doesn't allow that to happen all that often. The only time I have seen
this happen all that often is when I was being highly reckless with two swords
and attacking waves of enemies.
Verdict: 2/5, Don't rely on it but it's useful enough when it happens.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Stone Prison: With a simple wave of his sword Conan sends out a small wave of
rippling force. Any enemy caught in this wave gets turned to stone. While they
are petrified you can shatter them by simply hitting them repeatedly. This is
a fairly useful spell and it only takes a little bit of magic meaning that by
late game you can cast it a good three or four times with little difficulty. As
such it sees more helpful use late in the game but it can make getting rid of
annoying block heavy enemies quite a bit easier. The guys with the spiked
shields got this quite often from me.
Verdict: 5/5, It takes time to really appreciate this but it comes in handy.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rain of Fire: With a wave of his blade Conan causes fireballs to rain down from
the heavens. All around Conan will be devastated by these attacks but all is
not roses with this attack. First off it doesn't have the biggest radius. The
fireballs look like they hit more area than they really do. Secondly you must
stay in the eye of this storm or you too can be hurt by it. A weak enemy can
hit you with a sword strike and knock you into your own flames. The only saving
grace to this attack is that it is the only spell that really affects the boss
enemies in this game. If you wish to use it like that cast the spell and then
roll the heck away from it. The boss will take some damage and you will take
only some minor damage from it. Other than that... blah. You are better off
casting Stone Prison twice for the same magic cost.
Verdict: 1/5, I never found any worthwhile use for this spell.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Raven Plague: Lifting up into the air a wave of ravens emerge from Conans body
and seek out his foes. These ravens act almost identically to the Army of Hades
spell from God of War. They flow into the enemies and essentially peck the crap
out of them. They are good for distracting your foes and giving them something
to keep them entertained while you pick them apart. However they take a lot of
magic to cast and they don't do the most phenomenal damage so they are somewhat
limited in how much you can use them. They are best used when surrounded by a
large horde of enemies and you are low on health. They distract the enemy just
enough to let you pull off a mastered combo and recover your health.
Verdict: 3/5, They can be useful at times but they cost too much magic.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Void: The most destructive, and magic intensive, spell available to you this
spell is essentially a one hit kill. Any enemies caught anywhere near the void
are pulled into it and killed immediately. Far off enemies will be pulled into
it but the range is fairly limited. When surrounded by enemies this ensures a
swift group kill and gives you the ability to simply move on. While very, very
good the spell is hampered by its ungodly casting cost. It takes around four
full bars to get this spell off and that means casting it cuts you off from
using any of your other spells. This is especially bad since enemies killed via
Void do not drop any runes for you.
Verdict: 4/5, A good spell but use with caution.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
=========================================================
6. Walkthrough
=========================================================
General Tips
===============
- As soon as possible you should master all of the combo moves. Early in the
game they are rather simple to do to the enemies who are quite easy to parry
and auto-kill them. By the time you get to late game you may find yourself
having some problems with the counterattacks and getting hit every so often
when you could swear that the parry was going to work. The bonuses you get from
having it maxed out will help mitigate this.
- On that same note try to max out the combo moves you plan on using most of
the time. These should include the repeated light combos, repeated heavy combos
and the light, strong combos. All of the others are of minimal use but these
will likely see the most usage and as such you should try to get the bonus
runes from them as soon as possible. You do need to kill the enemies with the
attack to get the extra runes but that shouldn't be too big a problem most of
the time, especially later in the game.
- Since the magic and weapon systems are so free form I will very rarely give
you any suggestions on how to fight the enemies. I will give basic strategies
and some suggestions but the rest is up to you.
- To gain more red runes make sure to find all of the maidens you can and as
many of the glowing treasure chests that you can find. You will be able to
increase your weapon skills rapidly if you get these. These women are so tacky
and tastelessly done, they are not sexy but they help you out so hunt them down
for the runes. Just ignore their bad porno lines and you will be fine.
- Keep your eyes out for Rune Triumvirates. You must hit all three in any order
within a short period of time. Stopping to do anything else will cause it to
end so make sure to move rapidly and use all three of them.
===============
====================
Prologue
====================
Once you gain control of Conan take out the Sentry that appears here, trying to
warn you off the island of Balmoria. All dooom and gloom it seems but Conan is
not the sort to be deterred. Look at the enemy section if you would like to
know what to expect when fighting these guys.
Once the first sentry is dead take out the second one that comes up. You will
revisit these enemies later on and they are much harder later so take note of
how they fight. Keep fighting off the enemies until they are all dead and then
open the door (press the interact button and then follow the onscreen prompts).
Head inside the new room and take out the sentries that possess the suits of
armor lying on the floor. Head to the right and open the next door to enter
another chamber. Statues will fall down on you as you move through this area so
use the dodge roll to avoid taking damage and keep moving. After the prompt
that explains how to pick up enemy weapons and use them some more wraiths will
come out of the woodwork.
Take them out and then head towards the back of the room. One of the statues
that stands by the doorway will come to life and start to attack you. Be very
careful when fighting him and take him out. Take out all of the wraiths that
come out and the other statue before heading into the last room.
Drop down the hole in the middle of the room and take out the two giant statues
here to finish off this area.
====================
Chapter One
====================
The level starts with Conan, now armorless and unable to remember what happened
to him on Balmoria, taking a sword out of a corpse and then the level starts.
Look around on the shore for a treasure chest and open it before you head
forward. Eventually Conan will come across some pirates. Take out the enemy and
move forward. You will come across some more enemies so eliminate them and then
open up the chest. Head to the right and take down the vines in your way. Kill
the pirates here and take the right path. If you follow the path you will come
across some more vines with a beach behind it that has a treasure chest waiting
for you.
Now head backwards and then head to the left path. Take out the vines here and
rescue the lady here before you continue along the left path. Start killing off
pirates until a one of the leaders steps out of a tent. Refer to my enemies
section if you need tips on how to get rid of him.
Use the green urn to heal up before you cut down the vines to clear a path.
Pull out the scripted arrow that hits you and then take out the archer. Knock
off his pirate buddies before you get to the other archers. There are shields
here that you can pick up if you would like. Continue forward to get a cutscene
and reach the new area.
Save your game at the blue stone and then move forward. Take out the pirates
here but beware. There is a leader amongst them and an archer in the distance.
Get rid of them all and then use the green urn to heal up. Save your game again
if you like and then search for the green urn under the scaffold, there is a
treasure chest hidden nearby.
Take out the three chains holding this scaffold together and then make your way
to the top of it. If you didn't kill the archer with a thrown weapon before now
is the time to do it. Go over to the cage and tear it open via the button
prompts to save the first crewman.
Now head north and drop down. Watch out for the archer here and take out the
pirates here and head around the pillar, going to the left. Take out the archer
who has been harassing you and the other pirates before you tear open the cage
over here to rescue the second crewman. Now make your way to the right and you
will have to take out a horde of pirates while on the bridge. Make your way
across and head to the north.
Use the lever to reach the upper level and head to the left, taking out the
enemies that you come across. Once you make your way all the way to the left
you will find the last crewman, rescue him. Now that you have all three of them
it is time to return to A'Kanna. Luckily for you a pirate will bring a new
elevator up to your level to come after you. Simply kill him and ride this
elevator to the bottom.
To finish off this level you will have to kill three of the pirate leaders. To
take them out it is suggested that you use a hit and run pattern: attack one
after he finishes a combo, hit him a few times and then roll away. If you are
careful about this they should die without much difficulty. Should you start to
take too much damage simply retreat and start breaking jugs to find health and
there is a green urn on the southeast portion of the area where the three
pirates are. There is some more health on the pier so don't hesitate to back
away from them to heal up.
Once they are dead, a cutscene will play and the level is over.
====================
Chapter Two
====================
Move forward and you will see your first rune triumvirate. Since this one is
green that means it will increase your health. Hit all three of them to cause
your health bar to increase (one is on the upper ledge).
Go north and start taking out the pirates you come across. Stick to this path
and remove any pirates who trouble you (be mindful of the archers) until you
are given a tip about mantle points. Climb up the wall at the back of the room,
Keep climbing upwards until you reach the top of this wall and a cutscene plays
showing A'Kanna's ship coming across a pirate ship.
You have a limited amount of time to take out the enemy ship using the mounted
ballista. However a bunch of pirates and archers stand between you and using
that weapon. As quickly as possible take out the archers and then the remaining
pirates before rushing over to the ballista. Rotate the analog stick until the
log has been loaded, then use the R2/RB button to fire it. You need to hit the
front, back and middle of the ship to properly destroy it. Otherwise you could
fire logs forever and not kill it. You will see the damage it inflicts when you
hit the appropriate parts of the ship. Try to be quick but careful about it as
A'Kanna's ship doesn't have all the time in the world.
Head left once that is done and A'Kanna will clear the doorway to allow you to
move further. Save your game here and then continue along the path. Take out
the pirates here next. Get rid of the archers as soon as possible and then take
out the regular pirates. One of the pirate leaders will emerge from a tent once
you kill off the other enemies. So get rid of that mouthy sucker.
Heal up and then head to the right through the doorway. You will see A'Kanna
shooting arrows at the pirates nearby the second mounted turret. She can weaken
them, and even kill the weaker ones, for you. However this isn't reliable so I
heavily suggest you move in quickly and kill off the enemies there. It is very
important that you kill off the pirates as fast as you can since you must use
this second turret to take out another Corsair ship. Be very quick about doing
this since enemies will sometimes emerge from the left path to harry you.
Once the ship has been taken out take the left path and kill off the enemies.
When you reach a fork in the road go to the right and kill the archers here to
get the treasure chest, maiden and green urn. Now head back and take the left
path. Follow this path and kill the pirates you encounter until you reach the
two archers on a ledge. Jump up enough and take them out. Continue on this path
until you reach another blue stone. Save your game.
Head to the left and topple the tree to destroy a portion of the stone wall.
Now head to the left and follow that path, killing the pirates who attack you.
You will have to take out a series of enemies here, much like in the previous
area with the tents. Wipe them out and eventually they will stop respawning.
Once you have killed them all, three new enemies will come through a doorway.
Kill the archers and then take the armored pirate down.
Now head to the left and use a green urn to heal up. Now head to the right and
take out the pirates. Go over to the large stone to the right and knock the
stone over. Climb up the now fallen stone and run to the south to reach a
stationary turret. Grab it and use it to take out the two archer towers. They
cannot hit you since the ballista itself shields you from their arrows.
The bridge will have fallen into place so go over and take out the armored
pirate and the archer across said bridge. Tear open the door here and head on
inside the pirate fortress. Take out the pirates in here and the archers. Head
north from here to find yet more pirates and an armored pirate, kill them too.
Go to the large double doors and tear them open. Use the save point and then
heal yourself as much as needed. This is your last chance to heal before the
end of the stage. Go north to reach the pirate arena.
********************
Boss: Bone Cleaver
********************
This is the first boss fight and it definitely shows you what to expect from
all future boss fights. several different waves to the combat itself. This is
one of the most obnoxious parts of the game but this fight isn't that bad.
A few things to note:
* There is a wall of spikes that is quite useful.
* There is a green urn here.
* The archers shoot lots of explosive arrows but they only shoot at very set
places on the battlefield. They don't actually shoot AT you but they will hit
you if you aren't careful. You cannot kill them with thrown weapons either.
---------------
Phase One
---------------
You have several waves of white shirted pirates to contend with here. This is
almost pathetically easy. Since there is a wall of spikes you can either cut
these little punks to pieces or fling them into the spikes for an easy kill. It
is likely you can get through this without being hurt at all. It's so easy that
it is almost pathetic.
---------------
Phase Two
---------------
Now you will have to fight brown shirted pirates as well as the armored ones.
Typically you will have to fight several of the brown shirts with one armored
guy backing them up except for the last wave that has two armored pirates. This
is a bit tricker but if you keep your distance from the big guys you shouldn't
have much of a problem getting rid of the weak ones and then fighting off the
big guys when you can do it one on one (or one on two).
---------------
Phase Three
---------------
One thing about this guy always nagged me. Why does he talk about hanging you
from his axe when he is wielding a hammer? Gee, nice oversight.
Now it is time to fight the Bone Cleaver himself. He is rather tough especially
for a first boss. He has four different types of attacks to be worried about.
First is an one-two combo where he does an overhead attack and then pokes you
with it. Seecond is a flip move where he pounds the ground with his HAMMER and
sends out a shockwave that does a lot of damage. You must jump to avoid being
hurt by this one. Lastly he has a four hit combo that consists entirely of
block breakers, meaning that you must evade this one and stay away from him. He
glows orange while doing this so try and put distance between you and him.
To defeat him it is easiest to simply watch for his attacks and take note as to
how much recovery time he has from these attacks. Once you know how much time
you can spend attacking him in between his attacks you can move in, hit him a
few times and then roll away.
Every so often he will yell for the archers to open fire. They will once more
shoot at particular spots on the battlefield. He is open while ordering this
but it doesn't take long enough to really exploit with a combo so take that
chance to fling a weapon at him, preferably a two handed one. This is a nice
way to get some extra damage in.
You may die once here but so long as you are taking note of how the big guy
attacks you should definitely get him on your second try. He isn't that hard so
long as you are patient and don't push your luck with too big of a combo.
Once he has run out of health press the button prompt to trigger a cutscene
wherein Conan takes out the big guy. A cutscene follows and then the chapter is
over. You now have the "Song of Death" skill. Not bad at all.
====================
Chapter Three
====================
Once the cutscenes end you will find Conan standing atop a hill. Move forward
and you will have to fight your first non-human enemy; lions. These guys will
likely seem fairly hard at first but given some time you will get used to them.
Do not bother trying to parry or throw them though, keep it simple with basic
sword attacks.
Move over to the cart and kick it through the archway by following the button
prompts. Go on through it and it will collapse behind you, blocking off the way
out of here but that doesn't matter. Conan dont need no stinkin escape route!
Go into this new area and you will have to fight some Stygians. They can seem
hard at first since you are probably really used to fighting the pathetically
weak pirates but given some time they will end up being just as easy to handle.
Move around the area killing all of the Stygians and then search for the three
rune Triumvirates. To get the third rune you need to get to the upper level,
not a big detour since you need to go that way anyways. Move over to the pillar
and knock it down to create a path to the upper level. Open up the doorways to
find a gree urn, a lion and then the rune. Kill the lion, open the treasure
chest near it and hit all of the green runes to extend your health bar.
Get back up onto the upper level and head the right, jumping up the ledges. You
should save the game here and then drop down. You will have to fight some
Stygian Spearmen. While they don't seem all that bad at first they can fire a
green energy from their spears that do fairly decent damage. Try to take them
out as soon as possible by being agressive. Two handed weapons paired with the
strong attack combo will do the job nicely.
Head on over to the cart once they are all dead and the use it to open up a
path. Follow it and you will find more Stygians, kill them and open up the door
to the next room. I was a little confused at first by what this door wants you
to do to open up but its not a big deal.
In this new room you will need to move the two big halves of the symbol on the
wall together. To do this you will have to move them by using the chains that
move them. First off take out the Stygians and heal up by bashing jars if you
need it. Another group of enemies will come so take them out as well. Now go
over to the chains on either side of the room (on top of the stairs) and use
the first one. Once that one has been moved quickly run to the other chain and
do the same to it. Once both halfs come together you can now head downwards.
Save your game and use the green urn here if you need it. Head forward and you
will see another area you must open up. Stupid cat heads.
Take out the two lions here and the door to the right opens. Head that way and
open the door in your path. Take out the stygians in this room and go out onto
ledge and take out the Stygians here as well... See that shadow? You're going
to have to fight that... great fun. Open the next door and continue forward,
killing off Stygians as you must.
You will find yourself in a brown area with a crawlspace in one of the walls.
Go ahead and knock down the pillar near the crawlspace and then the pillar on
the right hand wall. With these two down you can make your way to the higher
ledges by jumping on them. You will need to climb the first one, push down the
pillar up here and then cross the two pillars. Take out the Stygians here and
head to the right and keep moving along that path, eliminating Stygians as you
go. Eventually you will find yourself in the cat head chamber. Kill the Stygian
duo guarding this ledge and grab the cat head, follow the onscreen prompts to
yank it open. Once this is done sand will pour from the cat head causing some
stairs to rise up from the middle of the lower level and the left door to open.
Drop down and head through the left door. Take out the Stygians in here, heal
up and then head towards the back of the room. Conan will tell you that he has
to go upwards so do so. The path is jump, up, right, up, up. Conan is fairly
good at self correcting so long as you send him in the right direction.
Bust through the gates and restock on weapons and health before moving on. You
will end up in an annoying little area. Essentially you need to get past the
flowing black sand without getting hit by it. One slight touch of it and you
get to retry this area. Move slowly and carefully, you should be fine. Just try
to learn what sort of timing you need and jump where appropriate. Don't feel
bad if you die, just remember whey you failed and keep trying. You will do it.
Go to the right and follow the slope downwards. When Conan yells something like
"Spill your guts" block. If you don't the lion that whips around the corner
will get a freebie hit in on your. Kill it off and head to the gate on the left
wall, opening it up and heading inside. Take out the Stygians and then drop
down into the pit to take out the Lions here.
Look in the center of the room and you will see three circles. Stand on them in
turn, standing on them for a few minutes to make them go down fully, and the
ledge will rise up. Go to the upper level and cross the platform and take out
the Spearman up here.  Grab the chain and use it to seal off the sand keeping
you here.
To actually get out of here you will need to do another little jumping puzzle.
Simply watch the sand and keep heading to the left to get out of this area. Go
ahead and open the door to finally be back at the cat head room. Kill the two
Stygians here and then activate this cats head to raise up the stairs and open
the cats maw, allowing you to proceed.
SAVE YOUR GAME BEFORE YOU OPEN THE DOOR! A boss is coming up.
********************
Boss: Sand Dragon
********************
The Sand Dragon isn't hard per se. However getting into all seven fights with
him in succession will take its toll. You will likely die several times over
the course of this fight. However you only need to replay each individual phase
of the fight when you die and reload so don't fret over it. Good luck!
---------------
Phase One
---------------
This part of the fight is really simple since the dragon essentially only has
one form of attack. Since he is stuck in the archway he will only do a bite
combo that ranges from one to three attacks. Anyone who has played God of War
will likely find this similar to the first Hydra fight in the first level.
To make this fight simple hold down the block buton whenever you see him going
to bite at you. If you see his attack is coming as a lunging bite (straight at
you) then roll even if you block the hit. It will break your block and leave
you open to be hit by any further bites. You can usually roll even after your
block is broken but before you're hit. If the attack is sideways, as in his
head is turned a bit, you will be able to block it quite readily.
When he is recovering from the bite attacks try to slip in a few strong attacks
or a fast/strong combo. That's all there really is to this stage of the fight.
Just keep that up until his head falls to the ground and you get a green rune.
Press the button and then follow the button prompts to end this stage of the
fight. If you fail he will heal, like the Bone Cleaver, and you will need to
weaken him again. That, plus the damage he deals to you, make this something
that you cannot afford to let happen.
---------------
Phase Two
---------------
Before this phase even starts you have to run for the higher ground. This is
pretty simple, just keep running to the left and jumping when you need to cover
some more ground faster. Eventually you will reach the fight.
He has the same bite attacks as before but now he has two new moves. One where
he flails his tongue around like a whip and one where he breathes a circle of
flames. You can block the tongue attack but you must jump the flame ring. The
timing to actually do this is another matter entirely so be very careful.
The easiest thing to do is to wait for him to try and attack you and then hit
him a few times. This might be a repeated strategy but it is what works best
with most of these bosses. One of the best times to damage him is after you've
dodged the flame ring attack.
Once you have done enough damage you get to do another button press cutscene.
Do it properly to take him out.
---------------
Phase Four
---------------
Nice crash landing, ace. Time to run for your life. Take out athe Stygians you
come across and keep moving to the left. Don't bother trying to fight the Sand
Dragon, you actually cannot hurt him here. Once you reach all the way to the
left jump up and climb the wooden scaffold to the left, reaching the top. Once
you are up here keep moving until you reach the end of this area. This part is
not very hard to be honest.
You see that tail coming up? Get behind one of the pillars to avoid being hit
by the spines that it shoots out. Once that is done quickly move away from the
pillar since he will destroy one of them.
He has two attacks of consequence besides his usual bites. The first is a move
where he slams his head onto the platform and causes a shockwave. This is easy
to see coming so simply jump over it. The second is where he flings spikes from
his tail. If you have one of the pillars still standing hide behind that. If
you don't then just roll at the last second and pray that you managed to dodge
the spikes.
Chop him up whenever he tries to do the bite attack or the head slam. The head
slam is a great time to hurt him since he has some pretty wicked recovery time
on the move.
Once again, this shouldn't be too hard. You're probably getting sick of him by
now but hold on, its almost over.
---------------
Phase Five
---------------
This is the last stage of this fight but getting to it can be a doozy. All you
need to do is run and keep jumping from platform to platform until you reach
the top of this pillar. The problem is that the camera is constantly moving
with you which causes some disorientation when you're jumping at times. Don't
fret over it if you die, just keep on trying.
This part of the fight stinks for one major reason. What you need to do is so
obtuse and not easily noticed that you will likely die a few times even trying
to figure out what you need to do here.
To start with he uses three attacks: The bites, his flame ring attack and his
tongue lash. You can block the bites (or roll if they break your block), jump
the flame ring and block the tongue lash.
Now what you need to do is attack the dragon when he rises into view. After you
deal enough damage he will get staggered and almost lose his grip. Don't worry
he is pretty easy to stun. As soon as that is done run to the left and bust up
the wooden scaffolding here. You should still have enough time to push over the
newly revealed rock. Use it three times to knock it over.
Once it plummets you have your method of killing this bugger, a sword arm from
the statue you are standing on.
Engage the Sand Dragon again and stun it again. You might have noticed that the
wood near where the rock was has been pulled down, revealing a lever. Go over
to it while the Dragon is stunned and start to turn the crank with the right
analog stick. You will probably not be able to finish this in one go, so stop
once the dragon stops reeling and go stun the dragon again. Go ahead and turn
the crank again once to finally end this fight.
Brutal ending and it nets you your gauntlet which gives you the Stone Prison
power. Very nice.
====================
Chapter Four
====================
Move forward and take out the lion by the campire. Now move to the fire and
take out a burning torch by making as if to pick up another weapon. This thing
serves many purposes in this level such as burning away bushes, setting fire to
enemies and burning down homes (most important).
Climb the ledges nearby, set fire to the vines and finish the climb. At the top
you will encounter a lion, take him out. Move forward some more and drop down,
taking out the natives here. More exacting details on how to fight these guys
are given in the enemies section.
Knock over the totem once the enemies are dead and throw the head of it at the
tusk gate to open it. Head on through. Now this area is why we want a torch so
badly in this level. Whenever you burn down a hut you will stop any enemies
from emerging from it and you will find a reward inside in the form of an urn
or treasure chest. Quite useful.
Watch the little show the camera gives you of the area and then move forward.
Burn the hut that the shaman came out of and then take him out. Now move into
the enemy encampment and start taking them out, burning down their homes when
you get the chance. Try to burn down the homes before fighting the enemies when
you can since they will just spew forth more enemies. Take out all of the huts
and enemies and then heal up using the urns and rescue the maiden. Now head for
the middle left side of the area where you will see some brambles.
By burning these you gain access to the rest of the enemy encampment. Do the
same thing to this area that you did to the previous one with one exception.
You will note some rather large towers with archers standing on them. There are
three ways to eliminate these guys. Light the tower on fire with a torch, this
does fair damage to the archer and when they leap off of it you can slaughter
them with ease. You can also grab the rope attached to it and pull it down but
this does nothing to the archer. However the third option is awesome. In some
areas you will see very large blocks with a flaming depression in the middle.
Pick these up and throw them at the archers to burn the tower down and kill the
archers in one shot.
Once all of the enemies in both areas are dead you can hit the rune triumvirate
and then move on. To open up the path forward you will need to move both of the
levers so do so. Start moving along the path but make sure you have a torch on
hand. Take out the lions that you encounter and then climb the cliff face near
to this to find some more natives and their huts. Take them out and burn the
huts before knocking down the totem. With that done you can drop down the other
side. Take out the archer and the rest of the enemies. Save your game.
Now bust the tusk gate with one of the large rocks nearby (or totem head) and
head through. Take out the natives here and then the lion and then head to the
left to find a maiden. Moving forward your bridge will be taken out. Damn them.
Move to the left side of the screen and very quickly move across the ledges on
this wall to avoid being hit by an archer. Once you reach the other side kick
this boulder off its mooring to take out those damnable archers.
Drop down and head for the entrance up ahead. Watch the cutscene and then move
forward some more to reach a save point. Save the game. Now continue forward
and take out the enemies that come out. Continue forward, hop up to rescue the
maiden and then jump back down and continue along the path. You will see three
circles on the floor. Go stand on the yellow one to see a little cutscene. Now
head back to the maiden you rescued, taking out the new natives that spawned in
after you activated the circle, and climb to the top of the device. Use both of
the chains to shift the positions of the pipes and one of the circular shaped
impressions on the floor will rise up.
Now run back to the three circles and stand on the blue one. You will be shown
where to go so head that way. Take out the natives and burn down the huts to
get some green runes and a treasure chest and torch those peksy archer towers.
Keep moving and climb to the tower aligning the pipes like you did atop the
previous one. With that done head back to the circles and activate the red one.
Head back the way you came and knock over the totem and bust up the tusk wall.
Take out the enemies here and heal up using the green urn before you climb up
this tower and pull both of the chains. Now head back to where the circles were
and kill off the enemies that have spawned in. Head on over to the door and
yank it open to reach the next area.
====================
Chapter Five
====================
Head forward and pass through the archway. Once you pass through it you will be
sealed in. A Yeti will come in after you so take them out (refer to the enemy
section) and continue forward. You will reach a boulder, knock it down to open
up the pathway ahead so head down and go through the archway (you could also
activate the rune triumvirate up there).
Once through the archway you will see A'Kanna being accosted by some natives.
Take out the four of them and then the two Yeti, using Stone Prison to good
efficiency, and do so fast. If you don't do it fast enough they will kill her
before you can save her.
Gah! They got her anyways. Heal up and then drop down the hole in the floor.
Kill the Yeti and then head over the chain and yank down the wall of skulls.
Pass on through and drop down into the large cavern. Take out the four enemies
who come out in pursuit of you. Move to the left and take out the Yetis that
come out, including the pale Yeti Thrower. Once they are dead head up the slope
and kill the Yeti here and save the maiden from him. Rescue her and then use
the blue urn. Continue along your path and take out the enemies who try to
ambush you.
Save your game and then head down the slope taking out the latest group that
tries to ambush you. Head for the left and take out the Yeti here, saving yet
another maiden. Cut the chain near her and then pull the skull wall down. Take
out yet another Yeti and then head down the slope. Take out one more Yeti and
take the treasure chest and blue urn from the cave behind him. There is another
freaking Yeti ahead with another maiden. This is like King Kong all over again,