How to Beat Armand (Mina the Hollower)

Within the first hour or so of Mina the Hollower, you'll find yourself in Ossex, which serves as the game's main hub area. After catching up with Lionel and learning a little more about the game's main questline, you'll be given a chance to explore some more of the city, at which point, you'll likely find yourself wandering into the weapons shop, Legovich's Arms.

Here, you'll be able to buy the two Mina the Hollower starting weapons that you didn't take from the chest earlier, as well as two other offensive options and an upgrade for your twin daggers. However, when you try to purchase your second item from the store, you'll instead receive an angry note, and burrowing down to the basement to confront its sender will trigger a rather nasty boss fight.

How to Beat Armand in Mina the Hollower

At first, Armand can seem like he's way too overpowered for your current level. So much so, in fact, that I actually found myself wondering whether I might have accidentally stumbled upon some late-game boss fight. Worse still, after losing a Spark down in the basement, I felt endlessly obliged to return and try again, even though I wasn't really sure what Sparks were for at that point in time.

The problem is, Armand has a ridiculously large health bar that goes down painfully slowly, not to mention some hard-hitting attacks that can whittle away your health pretty quickly if you overcommit. As I eventually came to realise, though, beating him is actually incredibly simple once you know what you're doing. It just requires a bit of out-of-the-box thinking (or, in my case, a bit of blind luck).

At the back of the basement are two sources of lava that the brothers use to feed their twin furnaces. To beat Armand, all you need to do is burrow underground and make a trail from one of the lava pools so that it flows out onto the floor of the basement. If Armand then steps into the lava, he'll begin to glow orange, at which point, he'll take significantly more damage than usual.

You'll still need to make sure to dodge Armand's stomp and boulder attacks by keeping your distance or tunneling underground, but this is easy enough to do as long as you don't rush in. If you have access to it, the Nightstar is arguably the best weapon for this fight, as although it's slower than Whisper and Vesper, it allows you to put a bit of distance between yourself and Armand, as well as the lava that you're trying to lure him into.

After you beat Armand, he'll give you the weapon that you ordered earlier and agree to make more weapons for you in the future. Unfortunately, you'll need to pay 2,500 Bones for the remaining three weapons/upgrades rather than the 2,000 Bones that the brothers charged you for your initial purchase, but considering how often you'll be finding Bones in Mina the Hollower​​​​​​, this 25% price hike isn't really too bad.

FAQ

Q: How Do You Beat Armand in Mina the Hollower?

The easiest way to beat Armand is to get him to stand in lava, as doing so will allow you to deal significantly more damage.