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Sure as the setting sun,Mario & Luigi: Brothershipfeatures a boss fight against an altered form of Bowser. It’s the most consistent series staple going all the way back to Bowletta in Superstar Saga, and it wouldn’t be a Mario & Luigi game without it.
Glohm Bowser is a terror, and his boss fight is even more brutal than regular Bowser’s thanks to his new Glohm powers. Here’s the strategy you need to know to take down the corrupted King Koopa
Gohm Bowser’s Moveset
Gohm Bowser has many of regular Bowser’s moves, but his new moves are the ones you need to worry about. This fight is broken up into three phases, and Gohm Bowser will use slightly different attacks in each phase.
Double Brother Face-Off - Gohm Edition
Gohm Bowser has an amplified version of regular Bowser’s face-off. Here are the three different attacks he will do when he squares up with Mario or Luigi. He may stay on one brother the whole time or switch back and forth between them.
Attack
How To Counter
Gohm Bowser willjump up and pound on the ground, stunning Mario or Luigi. Regardless of whether or not you dodge the stun, Bowser will then unleash three to five energy waves.
You’ll need tojump over each one to avoid taking damage. Getting hit by one of the waves may give the target the Glohm status effect.
When Ghom Bowser’sleft eye flashesthat means he’s about torush in and swing his tail.
Jump as soon as his eye stop flashing, the moment he starts to dash in
Glohm Bowser willopen his mouth and fire a beam of purple Glohm energy.
You have tojump just before the beam appears to avoid taking damage. Getting hit by this may cause the target to freeze.
Whenever Glohm Bowser attacks he will slam the ground and create a circle of Glohm. Each time he does this the circle gets bigger, and if the circle gets big enough to reach Mario and Luigi they will take damage and make become glohmed themselves. You should aim to phase Bowser before the circle gets too big.
Shell Spin
Glohm Bowser willshrink down into his shell and start to spin in a circlearound the brothers, occasionally dipping in to try to get a hit on them.
You need to keep your hammer ready and release it the moment you see him start to move off his circular path.
Eventually, he will disappear and drop down on top of Mario or Luigi from above. You cantell which brother he’s about to attack by looking for a big round shadow under them. Again, keep your hammer ready andsmack him just before he makes contact.
Glohm Bowser will occasionally summon a pair Zok Troops to help him. Because these minions disappear when you phase Glohm Bowser, I recommend ignoring them completely.
Glohm Bowser’s Airship
When Glohm Bowser takes enough damage,an airship will appear. It will move back and forth firing cannonballs at Mario and Luigi. Thisattack can be countered by hitting the cannon balls with a hammer, which will send them flying at Glohm Bowser. Thissignals the end of the first phase of the fight. The airship will come back one more time at the end of the second phase.
With the Easy-Peasy Counters battle plug equipped the hammer becomes big enough to hit the cannonballs back at Glohm Bowser that would otherwise have missed Mario and Luigi, allowing you to deal bonus damage to the boss.
The Red Pipe Trap
During the second and third phases of the fight,Glohm Bowser will trap Mario and Luigi in red pipes. He will then circle around the pipes several times before launching a fireball at each one. You’ll need towatch the fireball as it enters the pipeand try to time when you think it’s just above your head, thenhit it back at Glohm Bowserwith your hammer.
Glohm Breath
In the final phase of the fight, once Glohm Bowser is enraged, he willoccasionally fire a constant beam of Glohm energy out of his mouth. He’ll sweep the beam back and forth forcing you tojump over it with both brothers to avoid damage, but he will also move it up and down, such that jumping would cause you to hit it.
Watch the subtle movements in the beamand only jump when you’re sure he isn’t going to move up.
Glohm Bowser becomes enraged in the third and final phase of the fight. His attacks come out quicker and he deals more damage. This is the best time to equip Damage Shield combat plug.
How To Defeat Glohm Bowser
Many of the lessons learned from the previous Bowser fight apply here:your goal is to drain Glohm Bowsers HP as fast as possibleusing the strongest single-target Bros. Attacks at your disposal.
Avoiding damage is key since using your turns to consume items is a huge waste of time, and every turn that passes the dangerous circle of Glohm around Bowser grows bigger.
Thehardest part about the fight is learning all the timings to dodge Glohm Bowser’s attacks. Once it’s your turn, all you have to do is pick your strongest Bros. Attack and focus all the damage onto Bowser.
Thisfight is broken up into three phases, separated by two airship mini-games. Once Bowser is stunned, you canactivate Luigi Logic to steal the airship and attack Bowser from the sky.
This is a long damage sequence that ends the instant you take damage, sodon’t get greedy and focus on avoiding the purple streamof Glohm energy Bowser fires at you rather than making sure every cannonball lands. It’s better to stay in the sky as long as possible than to focus on getting a cheeky hit in, so play carefully.
Aside from firing purple globs of energy,Bowser will also charge up and rush at you. If you canland enough hits on him quickly you will interrupt this attack.
In the second airship mini-game, Glohm Bowser’s attack pattern changes slightly. When he fires acontinuous beam at your ship you need to slowly strafe to one side, thenquickly strafe back the other directionto path through a small gap in the beam when it appears. You should be able to do between 700-1,000 damage if you’re careful here.
Mario’s Red Shell attack is his most efficientdamage dealer here, though it’s not the strongest. You canopt for Bomb Derby, but I’d only choose that if you may consistently do it perfectly. For Luigi, it’s Jump Helmet or bust. This attack offers the best single-target damage you can do, so verify Luigi always has enough HP and BP to activate this attack every turn.
Prevents The effects of Burn and Ice.
Prevents the effects of Trip and Dizzy.
When your HP becomes low, will automatically use a Mushroom.
Auto 1-Up
When one of the brothers is KO’d automatically use a 1-UP Mushroom.
Deluxe Auto
The Auto series of Battle Plugs will automatically select the most efficient recovery item for your current state.
Charge Bank
When another equipped plug would lose charges, this plug’s charges decrease instead.
Performance Bonus
Restores 50% of BP used on a Bros. Attack that earns an EXCELLENT rating.
Auto Ampberry
When you are afflicted with Glohm, will automatically use an Amberry.
There’s nothing more important than choosing the right Battle Plugs for this fight. Since you’ll only be using Bros. Attacks,you can ignore almost all of the damage-type plugs and focus on the defensive ones.
Auto Mushroom and Deluxe Auto are literally a lifesaver. I would start with these two equipped every time, since they’ll keep you healthy in the early stages of the fight and allow you to focus on phasing Bowser as fast as possible. If you want to extend their effect, throw on a Charge Bank as well.
In the later stages,Damage Shield and Easy-Peasy Counters become more important. Damage Shield will help you survive Glohm Bowser’s strong enranged attacks, while Easy-Peasy Counters will help you avoid his hard-to-dodge moves. When Glohm Bowser traps you in the red pipes,you’ll have an easy time smacking his fireballs back at him with Easy-Peasy Countersequipped.
Though you’ll likely only have two Amberries at this point, Auto Ampberry can still be a life-saved, especially if you aren’t able to phase Bowser before the Glohm circle reaches you. You can’t use Bros. Attacks whenever one of the brother’s has the Glohm debuff, so removing it immediately is essential.
Increases the speed your Battle Plugs recover by x2.
Connie Mittens
When HP is at 25% or lower, damage received decreases by 50%.
Delicious Bangle
When an item is used on you in battle, increases its restorative value by 50%.
IDLE Scarf
Increases max HP by 20% and DEF by 10% but decreases STACHE by 20%.
Luck Charm DX
Increases your chance of getting a LUCKY by 2 times.
These are the gloves and accessories I used through practically the entire game, and they’rejust as useful here as they are anywhere else. Prioritizing defense and survivability is important for this boss fight, so I prioritize items like Connie Mittens and IDLE Scarf to make sure I stay alive. You’ll never be able to dodge every attack, but these items make failing a lot more forgiving.
