Valor Mortis Slaughtermill Guide

To beat Slaughtermill in Valor Mortis, treat the encounter as a shooting and movement puzzle rather than a conventional melee fight. Dodge its tentacles, shoot every exposed red weak point, use Stasis Transmutation on the internal gears, and follow the grapple and wall-run routes whenever the boss forces you away. During the later parkour sequence, destroy the explosive enemies below you before landing. On the final platform, clear the weak points surrounding the windmill, then fire into the exposed central eye until its health is gone.

The two mechanics most likely to end an attempt are easy to confuse. Stasis is used to freeze the windmill's gears, while the blue platforms and protective walls are activated with your exploration ability. The airborne landing traps are even less forgiving: you must shoot an enemy below before committing to the landing.

Preparation and fight rules

Equip a pistol and bring spare cartridges. Nearly every required damage step involves shooting a glowing weak point, often while the boss is attacking or while William is moving through the air. Melee damage is not the focus of this encounter.

Stasis Transmutation and Grapple Pull are also required for the environmental steps. Make sure you are comfortable switching between shooting, Stasis, grappling, wall-running, and interacting with blue platforms before entering the arena. The encounter tests those actions in rapid succession.

Useful optional choices include:

• Sleight of Hand, which shortens reload interruptions.
• Dilated Moment, which can make important shots easier when you have endurance available.
• Airborne Aiming, which is particularly helpful when you must shoot a target before landing.
• A Blunderbuss, which can be saved for a large exposed eye if you prefer a heavier close-range shot. The pistol remains the dependable weapon for the smaller targets.
• Extra pistol cartridges, because missed shots are more costly during the moving and airborne sequences.

Do not judge progress only by ordinary damage. Slaughtermill loses health when you complete its weak-point sequence, and several transitions are controlled by grapples, environmental interactions, or platforming. If no target is exposed, look for the next mechanical step instead of attacking the windmill's body.

The opening arena places Slaughtermill beyond the burning ground and gives you room to position before the first phase.

The complete Slaughtermill sequence

The fight follows a fixed progression. Use this overview to identify which objective should be active after each forced movement:

Phase one: stop the blades and expose the inner target

At the start, keep the pistol ready and watch the space immediately around the windmill. A tentacle will reach toward you. Dodge sideways rather than backing into the arena, then look toward the place where the tentacle emerged. A glowing red weak point becomes available there. Shoot it before returning your attention to the boss's movement.

Continue watching for exposed red targets as Slaughtermill changes position. One appears beneath the main structure when it rises or performs its heavy movement. The encounter will then direct you toward the door and machinery in the lower part of the windmill.

Freeze the gears and open the panel

The spinning blades prevent you from completing the grapple interaction. Open the lower door to reveal the gears, then cast Stasis Transmutation directly on those gears. Freezing the machinery stops the blades long enough to continue.

Once the mechanism is halted, use Grapple Pull on the wooden panel or blue grapple point that was previously protected by the rotation. This exposes another red weak point. Shoot it immediately. If the blades resume before you finish, apply Stasis to the gears again and repeat the grapple step; shooting the windmill's exterior will not replace this interaction.

Freeze the highlighted machinery, then pull open the lower door to expose the target.

After the required opening targets are destroyed, Slaughtermill blows William toward the rear of the arena. This is a movement transition, not another opportunity to stand still and search for weak points.

Climb back into the windmill

A pulsing ground attack travels through the return route. Move toward the wall-run on the right, then follow the available grapple points and swinging poles upward. Maintain forward momentum so the ground pulse does not knock you back into the open area.

The path leads inside the structure. Shoot the exposed target or cluster of eyes there to damage the boss and complete this part of the cycle. Slaughtermill then ejects you into the outside arena again.

If you are repeatedly knocked back during this section, check whether you are trying to cross the ground normally. The intended route uses the wall-run and grapples to keep William away from the damaging pulse.

Phase one: survive the second outside cycle

The next outdoor sequence follows the same central rule—shoot the glowing weak points—but adds pressure from the arena itself. Red glows on the ground warn where spikes are about to emerge. Look down briefly when the warning appears and move into a clear patch before aiming again.

Slaughtermill can also introduce additional enemies or bodies while you are searching for targets. Remove nearby threats when they interrupt your aim, but do not lose track of the boss's exposed weak points. A clean shot into a smaller enemy's weak area can clear space more efficiently than allowing it to remain beside you.

Tentacles continue to reveal targets on the sides of the structure. Dodge the attack first, then turn toward its origin and take the shot. Trying to aim through the incoming strike commonly leads to repeated hits and a missed opening.

Another target appears around the lower door or windmill mechanism. Scan the structure from bottom to sides rather than staring only at the upper blades. Once every active red target in this cycle is destroyed, Slaughtermill forces you to the back of the arena again and begins the fire-lane sequence.

Phase one: cross the fire lane

Slaughtermill now sends repeated fire blasts along the approach. Several blue environmental platforms can rise into protective walls. Activate the first one with the exploration ability, stand behind it while the fire passes, and wait for a safe interval before moving forward.

Repeat the pattern one piece of cover at a time:

1. Activate the next blue platform.
2. Place the raised wall between William and Slaughtermill.
3. Let the incoming fire strike the cover.
4. Move during the gap after the blast.
5. Reach the following platform and raise the next wall.

Do not use Stasis on these platforms. Stasis was required for the rotating gears; the blue cover responds to the exploration interaction. If a wall is not rising, reposition until the platform prompt is available instead of spending time casting at it.

Use the raised blue walls as cover while advancing through the fire lane.

At the front of the lane, use Grapple Pull on the blue objective near the windmill. This triggers the major transition into the parkour portion of the fight. Reaching this point also rekindles a checkpoint, so a later death returns you to the second major section rather than requiring the entire opening arena sequence again.

Use that checkpoint as a preparation moment. Reload before starting the next route, because the coming jumps include required shots that cannot safely be postponed until after landing.

Phase two: follow the parkour route

After the transition, shoot the nearby red weak point on the left and grapple to the blue point to begin moving. From here, the path combines wall-runs, grapples, swings, and wooden structures. Slaughtermill's tentacles damage or collapse parts of the route, so keep moving toward the next traversal marker instead of waiting on a platform.

The parkour is largely directional. Look for the next grapple point before releasing the current swing, and line up wall-runs so that William exits toward the following anchor. A missed jump can cost health and return you to the start of the run, but the rekindled checkpoint keeps you from repeating the earlier boss mechanics.

Do not stop to shoot the windmill unless the route presents a clear weak point. Your priority here is reaching the landing checks and the final platform.

Phase two: clear each landing before touching down

The most dangerous moments occur when the route launches William above a platform occupied by explosive infected soldiers or bodies. Landing among them without creating a safe space is lethal. The shot must happen while you are still airborne.

As you approach the first trapped landing:

1. Identify the group below before leaving the final grapple or swing.
2. Center the pistol on one enemy while William is still in the air.
3. Shoot it before descending into the group.
4. Aim for the space opened by the explosion and land there.
5. Continue forward before the collapsing structure removes the route.

Airborne Aiming is useful because it gives you more control over this shot, but the important requirement is clearing the landing zone before contact. Do not assume you can land, dodge, and then fire.

Clear the infected enemies from the landing while airborne before touching down.

The second half repeats the idea with an additional platform interaction. When the wooden route begins to fail, activate the blue platforms to create the landing surfaces you need. These are environmental platforms, so use the exploration ability rather than Stasis.

A second group of explosive enemies appears beneath another forced landing. Prepare the pistol before the final jump and destroy one while airborne, just as you did during the first trap. Clearing the first landing does not remove the danger from the second one.

If you keep dying at the same jump, separate the actions mentally: first find the target, then shoot, then choose the cleared landing spot. Focusing only on reaching the platform makes it easy to miss the actual hazard occupying it.

Final platform: destroy the supports and central eye

Completing the traversal places William on a large platform facing Slaughtermill. Reload as soon as you arrive, then scan the spikes, tentacles, or supports around the windmill for red weak points. Shoot every visible target while continuing to dodge the tentacles launched toward the platform.

Work around the structure methodically instead of firing repeatedly at one cleared position. The central eye remains protected until the surrounding targets are gone. Ammunition is available in the area, so collect it when needed, but do not remain stationary while a tentacle attack is approaching.

Destroy the surrounding weak points first so the central eye becomes vulnerable.

Destroying the surrounding weak points exposes the large eye inside the windmill. Reload before committing to the damage window, then fire into the eye until Slaughtermill's remaining health is depleted. The pistol can finish the job; a Blunderbuss is an optional way to place a heavier shot into the large close-range target.

If progress stops

• The lower panel will not open: reveal the gears through the lower door, apply Stasis to the gears, then use Grapple Pull on the protected panel.
• The fire lane is impassable: activate blue cover with the exploration ability and advance after each blast hits the wall.
• An airborne landing kills you: reload ahead of the jump and shoot one explosive enemy before touching down. There are two such landing traps.
• The central eye stays protected: at least one surrounding red weak point remains. Scan the supports and tentacles before returning to the eye.