High on Life: How to Beat 9-Torg

9-Torg is the first boss you have to take down in Justin Roiland’s High on Life, it being your first real bounty as an intergalactic bounty hunter. Being that 9-Torg is the first boss, you don’t have much in the way of weaponry so your options are fairly limited. The boss’s mechanics can be a little tricky, so let’s get into how to beat.

How to Beat 9-Torg in High on Life

Because 9-Torg is the game’s first boss battle, it also has the least amount of mechanics you’ll need to juggle. There are essentially two different phases to the fight, and speed is of the essence in both of them. Without further ado, here’s how to take down 9-Torg. 

First Phase

For this first phase, your focus should be entirely on causing damage, and your Glob Shot is absolutely vital to that. 9-Torg is fast but they don’t really have any defensive abilities, so constantly keep shooting at the boss. When your Glob Shot is ready hit the boss with it, then make sure to follow up quickly with some shots while they hover in the air. Here are the three main attacks you’ll want to watch out for during this phase. 

• Basic Shot — 9-Torg shoots out three projectiles at once in a triangle pattern. Easily dodgeable if you’re looking at the boss. 
• Laser Beam — 9-Torg Jumps into the slime for a few seconds, then blasts out into the air to fire a continuous laser beam. Part of the stage will sink into the slime at this point, making the arena smaller. You can either jump over 9-Torg’s beam or strafe around it. 
• Slash — If you get too close to 9-Torg they’ll use a quick single-hit melee slash that causes moderate damage. It’s generally a good idea to stay within medium range. 

Once you’ve gotten 9-Torg’s health down to 50% the second phase will start. 

Second Phase

At the start of the second phase, 9-Torg will sink the entire stage into the slime, leaving you nowhere to stand. It’s easy to spot this point as alarms around the room will start making noise. 

For roughly 30 seconds you’ll need to use Knifey to grapple to the bugs and rails above the stage. You can press LB (L1) to grapple, and just make sure to stay in the air until the stage reappears. Make sure you hit the next grapple point before you hit the end of teh animation for the one you’re on, as any time you spend in the slime will cause a lot of damage. 

Once the stage reappears, jump down and 9-Torg will use the exact same moves as before. If the fight drags on long enough it’s possible the boss will sink the stage again. At the same time, you need to be ready to grapple at the very end of the battle, as once 9-Torg’s health is totally depleted they’ll launch into a massive final attack that rotates a giant pink laser beam around the room. 

The beam can totally be avoided if you stay high enough in the air with the grapple points, so just stay airborne until 9-Torg is finally done. 

That’s everything you need to know about how to beat 9-Torg, High on Life’s first boss battle. If you need any other tips or help make sure to head over to our High on Life guides hub.