Borderlands 4 Vile Lictor boss guide

At the end of Borderlands 4’s His Vile Sanctum mission waits Vile Lictor. As the final mission of the Terminus Range storyline, you’ll face off with Vile Lictor, one of the primary generals of the Timekeeper. However, Lictor appears to have his own designs, too; namely, to become a god. As Vault Hunters, we definitely oppose that kind of behavior. Bring your favorite electric damage weapon, and grind through his sanctum, but be ready.

He’s not quite as powerful as you might think, but he can be tricky if you don’t pay attention to the few tells he offers you. If you’re struggling to defeat Vile Lictor in Borderlands 4, here’s what we did to take him down and claim his Bolt.

Vile Lictor location in Borderlands 4

At the end of the incredibly long and challenging His Vile Sanctum mission in Borderlands 4, you’ll find the mighty Vile Lictor. Unfortunately, for story reasons, Amara, who has been helping you up until now, is no longer able to join you in the fight. Bruce is out of commission too, so it’s just you (unless you play co-op, or are playing Vex).

(Fight begins at 1:52:20)

It’s a pretty long way to this boss, but thankfully, you won’t have to go far if you lose to him. Despite being the source of Vile enemies, this boss doesn’t have a Vile Shield to deal with; just the normal two health bars.

Vile Lictor’s attacks in Borderlands 4

Vile Lictor’s limbs can fire energy claws at the player.
He can summon walls of void energy that have spots to stand in to avoid taking hits.
In Phase 2, the energy claws fire from all the hands at the same time in a huge barrage.
In Phase 2, he can teleport around the room.
In Phase 2, he can put a glowing energy orb that expands in the middle of the room.

You have to keep an eye out on those limbs, because they respawn (Image via 2K Games)

Despite being such an important boss, Vile Lictor doesn’t really have that many attacks. He primarily uses the Void Energy Wall the most, and I just tanked the majority of them. You can see gaps in them to avoid taking damage, and you should also be able to double jump them.

The most dangerous attack is the energy orb of Phase 2, though. If you don’t get to one of the upper platforms, it’s almost a guarantee that you’ll fall in the pit below and die.

Tips to defeat Borderlands 4’s Vile Lictor

In Phase 1 of Vile Lictor in Borderlands 4, you’ll want to aim up at his Limbs, and destroy them. Having electrical energy on your attacks definitely helps in this fight. You cannot harm the main body until you break at least one limb. This will open up weak points you can shoot. As Vex, just spawn Specters and let them help you out here.

When you break his limbs, just go for the weak spots with as much damage as possible (Image via 2K Games)

I prefer to break all the limbs, and keep them destroyed, so that means he can’t shoot as many of those annoying Energy Claws down at you. You just have to worry about the Void Walls he creates. When you see purple glowing areas on the body of Phase 1, those are the targets to actually harm him.

The only hard thing about the Void Walls is if you’re close to Vile Lictor in Borderlands 4, you can’t really see where to stand. You should stand farther away if possible. I didn’t really take much damage in this phase though, because I bulldozed his arms and health bar into tiny pieces.

There are safe spaces to stand between the Void Walls (Image via 2K Games)

When you break the first health bar, Phase 2 begins and Vile Lictor begins to crawl around for the duration of this Borderlands 4 fight. He still conjures the Void Walls, but they’re easier to see, since the boss is closer to eye level. The Energy Claws are way more annoying because it’s a constant barrage of them for a few seconds. Keep on the move to avoid these as best you can.

Do not forget to look up and grapple, or you'll be starting this fight over (Image via 2K Games)

You can feel free to just open fire on Vile Lictor in this phase, but when he opens his face up, he takes way more critical hits. At 50% and 25%, Vile Lictor will drop a purple energy orb in the middle of the field. You need to look up and grapple to one of the areas above you, so you don’t get blasted away. When the ground crumbles beneath you, just jump back down into the arena.

That’s the only real thing you need to worry about in this fight. There will be plenty of ammo on the ground, so just go wild with your guns, and eventually he’ll drop.

Check out our other Borderlands 4 guides and features

About the author

Jason is an Esports and Gaming journalist at Sportskeeda holding an amazing 11 years of experience under his belt. Having put out 4000-plus articles and amassing over 15 million reads for Sportskeeda, he is among the company’s most experienced writers. Jason holds a Bachelor's degree in English from UNC Pembroke and was inspired to become a gaming journalist very early on in life after reading Nintendo Power.

Jason is a jack of all trades when it comes to gaming journalism. He’s a key writer in Sportskeeda's MMO department, but he also likes to help out in other categories, like streamers, RPG, card games, and whatever else is needed. A solo gamer at heart, Jason's favorite titles include Earthbound and Dragon Warrior.

Jason places high value on accuracy and relevance in his write-ups. He achieves this with thorough research to sift facts from rumors. One of the biggest highlights of his career is his interview with Canadian pro wrestler Kenny Omega about his inclusion in the Like a Dragon game series. He is also good friends with journalist Kazumo Hashimoto, who he admires for the kind of stories he works on and his deep ethics.

A true cinephile, one of Jason’s primary hobbies involves enjoying cinematic experiences. He also loves reading, be it fiction or manga, when not working. Additionally, he streams on Twitch and posts his gaming insights on YouTube.

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Edited by Jason Parker