Whilst wandering the Northern Plains in NieR Replicant, you may well have found yourself face to face with an enormous boar. There is a quest, titled Boar Hunt, which predictably requires you to defeat one of these immense creatures. The boar is far tougher than the average enemy faced on the outskirts of the village, but even at an early stage of the game they’re easy to take down if you know what you’re doing,
Here’s everything you need to know about how to beat the boar in NieR Replicant.
Where to find the Boar Hunt Quest
Firstly, the Boar Hunt quest can be activated very early in the game. It is obtained from an old man in the marketplace area of your village (pictured above) after beating the first boss in the Lost Shrine.
Accept the quest and head into the Northern Plains. The closest save point is at the Forest of Myth, just north of where the boar appears. It’s not terribly difficult to complete the Boar Hunt quest with the right tactics, but you can definitely die if you aren’t careful. Play it safe by saving your game beforehand, just in case.
Where to find the boar
The boar is on the Northern Plains, across the bridge and in between the Aerie and the Forest of Myth. There may be some small shades in the area as well, so it’s best to take care of them first so they don’t distract you during the battle.
How to beat the boar in NieR Replicant
If you take on the quest as soon as it’s available, the boar will prove an absolute health sponge who absorbs a huge amount of damage before going down.
The boar only actually has one attack of note – a charge where it propels itself forward at high speed and knocks you down if it connects. This will take you down to very low health, so you should be cautious whilst engaging it. On hard mode, you will likely be killed in a single hit.
The safest – but longest – way to beat the boar is to pepper it from range with Grimoire Weiss to get its attention, before jumping on top of a nearby boulder (pictured above) before it starts charging. It will them charge into the boulder and temporarily stun itself, giving you a chance to get close and hack away for as long as possible. You can also use the elevated area behind the boar (pictured below), which works just as well, but I prefer the boulder as it’s easier to get up and down.
You can shoot magic and not jump down at all, which will do the business eventually, but I suggest using some melee attacks to speed up this lengthy process. Jump on top of a boulder, leaving you completely out of its area of effect, yet still in its eyeline so it will keep charging over and over again. Hop down and attack until you see the boar shake its head and regain its senses. Then jump back up and let him charge once more.
When you’re on top of the boulder, fire constant magic at him to chip away at his significant health whilst it builds up to the next attack. There’s only one thing to watch out for – sometimes the boar will charge but not quite connect with the boulder and may not actually get stunned. Jump down only when you’ve clearly seen the boar bounce back and fall to the ground.
It takes a long time to beat the boar. Well over a hundred sword attacks will be required, or several minutes of magic. Make sure you continue to fire magic when attacking with your sword to dish out a little more damage and gradually deplete its health. When he finally falls, a Boar Tusk will be obtained automatically. Examine the body and you might grab something else like a Boar Liver or Boar Meat as well.
Earn Combo Master trophy during Boar Hunt quest
A more efficient, but more dangerous method is to repeatedly attack whilst dodging around him. Beating a boar early in the game is a terrific chance to build up an enormous combo and earn the Combo Master trophy since it takes over 100 melee hits to defeat one.
This method is slightly riskier, as there is no time to dodge if the boar manages to unleash the charge attack. However, it’s still pretty easy if you keep your concentration. Hack away at the boar and keep dodging after every few hits so you are always attacking from behind it. The boar will not charge unless he is facing you directly, so if you just keep out of his eyeline he will be constantly turning around and you will be able to continually attack.
The reason it’s risky is that you’ll probably only survive one hit. A second one will defeat you, so heal up with medicinal herbs if you take a hit during this method.
When the boar moves its hooves back along the ground, it’s preparing to charge. Even at this stage, if you dodge around fast enough he will stop lining up his attack and try to turn and face you again. Eventually, you’ll amass the required 100 hits to score the Combo Master trophy (along with the Combo Fanatic trophy for 50 hits). After reaching the 100-combo milestone, you can just jump up onto a boulder to safely finish him off from range.
How to ride the boar
There’s a far greater reward to this quest than simply 1000 Gold. Much more importantly, completion of the Boar Hunt quest will unlock the possibility of actually riding the boars from this point forward.
Once the quest is completed and reported, boars will be laying on the ground outside the village in the Northern Plains and Southern Plains. Any future journeys to the Aerie, the Forest of Myth or Seafront will be far more efficient – which is particularly handy at certain points of the game when you’re forced to plod back and forth. You can also ride the boars on the way back – they’ll be outside each of these locations as well once the Boar Hunt quest is completed.
Boars are a much faster and safer method of travel, as you can defeat most shades by charging through them. Either way you are basically invulnerable whilst hurtling forward.
Approach the boar and press the prompted button to ride it (circle on Playstation). Pressing R2 will cause the boar to rush forward in the same manner as the way it attacked you. The boar handles pretty well and can turn sharply, even when travelling at high speed. The only thing to be careful of is hitting a wall or a rock head-on whilst charging. If you do this, the boar will be stunned and you’ll be thrown off, possibly leaving you vulnerable to nearby shades.
How to summon the boar
The boar is available for the entirety of the game, and a final bonus is the ability to call the boar to your location even if you don’t hop on outside the village.
In the Orders section of the menu, select Animals, and then “Call” to summon the boar to your location whilst on the Southern Plains or Northern Plains.
Recap
Here’s everything in a nutshell one more time:
- Accept the Boar Hunt quest as soon as possible
- Save in the Forest of Myth just in case
- Beat the boar by hiding behind boulders, on top of them, or dodging behind him and attacking
- From now on, ride the boar between locations on the Northern Plains and Southern Plains
With these tips, you should be able to beat the boar in NieR Replicant with no problems.
Check out some of our other important NieR Replicant tips below:
