Far Far West Boss Guide: All Four Bosses and Strategies

This far far west boss guide starts with the rule that most guides bury: the moment a stage boss dies, the game spawns an infinite enemy wave. Not a large wave. An infinite one.

If you haven't finished exploring the map before the boss triggers, you won't finish after. Every chest, every secret objective, every bell or medallion for a side mission: clear them first. Boss first means loot lost.

TL;DR: Far Far West has four named Cryptic bosses in Early Access: Cryptic Necromancer, Cryptic Saloon, Cryptic Train, and Cryptic Vulture (plus a Horseman miniboss on harder contracts). Cryptic Train is the most demanding, a multi-part fight where the locomotive and each cart has its own health bar. Cryptic Saloon is generally considered the easiest. Always explore the full map before triggering a boss: killing it spawns an infinite enemy wave that ends your looting window permanently. Spell recommendations and attack breakdowns below.

Key takeaways

• Four named Cryptic boss encounters in the current Early Access build, plus a Horseman miniboss on harder contracts
• Cryptic Train: a multi-part fight, locomotive and carts each carry their own health bar; focus one section at a time
• Cryptic Saloon: target the barricades and glowing eyes from the front; widely considered the easiest of the four
• Cryptic Vulture: destroy the orbiting skull shield first, then burst the exposed head
• Cryptic Necromancer: lateral movement breaks its homing-projectile tracking almost completely
• Every boss death triggers infinite enemy waves: explore the full map before engaging
• Electric's Strikes + Rain covers shield and add-heavy phases; Cactus's Pistolero + Wallo adds a slow once a weak point is exposed

How boss fights work

Far Far West boss encounters don't follow the typical looter-shooter formula. Understanding two structural facts changes how you approach every boss mission:

The infinite wave rule. When the boss dies, an infinite enemy wave spawns immediately. No wind-down, no grace period. Players who haven't finished the side areas, secret missions, and chest loops before the boss are stuck in wave survival mode with no time to loot. The practical read: a boss marker on the map means that's the last thing you do in that region, not the main event.

Boss encounters aren't random. Unlike standard enemy spawns, boss locations are fixed to specific maps and mission contracts. The map marks them with a skull icon. You won't accidentally stumble into a boss fight. The game signals boss encounters clearly.

Phases and safe windows. Every boss in Far Far West has phases where damage is efficient and phases where you're meant to reposition or manage adds. Identifying which phase you're in is more important than raw damage output. Wasting burst spells during an unsafe phase is the main reason players hit bosses for longer than they should.

GODEEPER: Before you hit the first boss, make sure your spell loadout can handle the phase transitions. Far Far West Spells Guide →

Cryptic Saloon

Cryptic Saloon, a dilapidated saloon possessed by an aggravated spirit, is widely considered the easiest of the four named bosses, especially in a full squad.

Its weak points are the barricades and its glowing window-eyes, and both can be hit from the front in the same line of fire, chunking a large amount of health quickly. Attacks to watch for: big, easy-to-spot orb projectiles flung across the arena (stay mobile to dodge), arrow volleys (move opposite the direction they're fired from), a spinning laser beam that rotates one half clockwise and the other counter-clockwise (move parallel to the beam rather than straight across it), and ground-slam shockwaves.

The boss periodically turns to face a new direction; keep repositioning to stay in front of it so you keep hitting both the barricades and the eyes rather than its blind side.

Cryptic Train

Cryptic Train is the most structurally different fight in the current build. Rather than one health bar, the locomotive and each attached cart carry their own separate health pool and attack independently at the same time. Trying to spread damage across every section evenly wastes time: focus one wagon down completely before moving to the next.

Early in the fight, the train fires a small set of slow projectiles that are simple to dodge if you keep moving. Once you're past that opening volley, it switches to rapid arrow-style shots fired from a different angle that are considerably harder to read and avoid. Keep distance during this phase and use any healing items nearby if you get clipped rather than trying to tank through it.

Build recommendation: prioritize whichever section is blocking your line to the next one, and hold a cooldown-heavy burst combo for whenever a section's health bar is close to breaking rather than spreading damage evenly across all of them.

Cryptic Vulture

Cryptic Vulture is a two-phase fight built around a shield you have to break before you can hurt the boss at all.

Phase one: the Wing Shield. The Vulture's Wing Shield is made of orbiting skulls circling the boss. None of your damage matters until every skull is destroyed. Focus one skull at a time while staying mobile to dodge the incoming projectile spam. Electric's Strikes + Rain combo is a strong pick here: the area coverage means you don't need precise aim to keep chipping away at whichever skull is in front of you.

Phase two: the head. Once the last skull breaks, the shield drops and the Vulture's head becomes its only weak point. Switch entirely to burst damage on the head. Cactus's Pistolero + Wallo combo summons a turret that also applies a movement slow, which is particularly useful here since it reduces how aggressively the Vulture repositions and gives you more consistent hits. A Long Ranger or Leveredge as your primary weapon with a Revolver secondary covers most of this phase.

Staying mobile throughout is the universal answer to Far Far West's projectile-heavy bosses, and Cryptic Vulture punishes standing still more than most.

GODEEPER: Team compositions handle shield-and-add phases like Cryptic Vulture's more efficiently when one player manages skulls while another holds burst for the head. Far Far West Co-op Guide →

Cryptic Necromancer

Cryptic Necromancer is a large flying boss that fights with a scythe and homing projectiles, and it's the clearest example of how movement, not gear, wins Far Far West boss fights.

Its melee swipe is fast and has real range, sometimes too quick to dodge outright (eating the hit at full health is often the correct call). It periodically summons ravens that you should clear before refocusing the boss, and it uses a wind-based AoE that requires putting real distance between you and the boss rather than side-stepping. Its signature attack is a set of tracking projectiles with a generous wind-up: they home on your current position, but standard strafing doesn't reliably break the lock.

Bunnyhop sideways instead. Continuous lateral movement in the same direction throws off the tracking almost completely, and players who find this early describe the fight going from dangerous to close to trivial. The same principle applies to any other Far Far West boss that fires homing shots.

A Long Ranger sniper is a strong single-target pick here since the fight is largely stationary once the tracking is solved. On the spell side, Cactus's Pistolero + Wallo combo and Electric's Strikes + Rain combo both perform well against it. The Necromancer also summons a handful of minor adds, fewer than Cryptic Saloon or Cryptic Vulture's shield phase, so a single Cactus turret is usually enough to keep them off you.

General Far Far West Boss Tips

Explore everything before you engage. The post-boss infinite wave ends your looting window. Complete every side objective, open every chest, and trigger every secret mission before pulling the boss encounter. Missing a Joker card because you killed the boss early costs you that card for the run.

Focus one section at a time on Cryptic Train. It's the only fight where the boss has multiple independent health bars (locomotive plus carts). Spreading damage evenly across all sections takes longer than clearing them one by one.

Break the shield before you touch the head on Cryptic Vulture. The head is invulnerable until every orbiting skull is destroyed. Don't waste burst spells on the boss body during phase one.

In co-op, assign roles before the fight. Shield-and-add phases (Cryptic Vulture's skulls, Cryptic Saloon's barricades) go faster when one player commits to clearing them while another holds burst for the exposed weak point. Uncoordinated teams often have everyone hitting whatever's closest.

Bunnyhopping breaks tracking. Any boss that fires homing projectiles is neutralized by continuous lateral movement. Cryptic Necromancer is the clearest example, but the principle applies to tracking attacks in other encounters too.

Frequently asked questions

Q: What bosses does this far far west boss guide cover? A: Four named Cryptic bosses in the current Early Access build: Cryptic Saloon (barricades and glowing eyes, generally the easiest), Cryptic Train (multi-part fight, each cart has its own health bar), Cryptic Vulture (skull shield phase, then an exposed head), and Cryptic Necromancer (homing projectiles beaten by lateral movement). A Horseman miniboss also appears on harder contracts, and Evil Raptor's roadmap has confirmed more boss content is planned.

Q: What happens when you kill a boss in Far Far West? A: An infinite enemy wave spawns immediately after boss death. There's no grace period. The wave starts instantly. Loot the entire map before engaging the boss or you'll lose access to remaining chests, secret objectives, and Joker card missions permanently for that run.

Q: How do you beat the Cryptic Train? A: Focus one wagon section at a time rather than spreading damage: the locomotive and each cart have separate health bars and attack independently. Early volleys are slow and easy to dodge; later the train switches to faster arrow-style shots from a different angle, so keep distance and use healing items if you get clipped.

Q: What spell is best for bosses? A: Depends on the fight. Electric's Strikes + Rain gives reliable area coverage against shield and add-heavy phases like Cryptic Vulture's skulls. Cactus's Pistolero + Wallo adds a movement slow once a weak point is exposed, useful on Cryptic Vulture's head phase and Cryptic Necromancer. A Long Ranger or Leveredge with a Revolver secondary covers most single-target windows.

Q: Can you solo Far Far West bosses? A: Yes, all four Cryptic bosses are designed for solo play, though Cryptic Train's multi-part health bars and Cryptic Vulture's shield phase both take longer alone since there's no second player to split the workload.

Q: How do boss encounters unlock in Far Far West? A: Boss encounters are tied to specific contracts accepted from the Town Sheriff rather than fixed map spawns. The four Cryptic bosses and the Horseman miniboss come up across different contract maps as you progress into harder difficulty tiers.

References

• Far Far West on Steam: official Early Access page, patch notes, and developer roadmap
• Far Far West Wiki (Bosses section) community boss documentation for Early Access encounters
• Far Far West complete guide: weapons, spells, bosses, beginner tips, and all cluster guides
• Far Far West is $19.99 on Steam with no discount currently active. Loaded (sponsored) has periodically listed the same key for less: worth a quick price check before buying at full price.

Related Reading

• Far Far West Character Guide: All Characters and Builds
• Far Far West Advanced Strategy Guide

For complete spell breakdowns covering all 25 spells across five schools, including which options work best for each boss phase covered in this far far west boss guide, see the Far Far West spells guide.

New to the game and still working toward the boss encounters? The Far Far West beginner guide covers early progression, gold farming, and the upgrade priorities that matter most before the far far west boss fights start in earnest.

Running bosses in co-op? The Far Far West co-op guide covers team compositions, how spell reactions fire cross-player during boss fights, and how to manage the post-boss wave as a group.

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