Blasphemous 2 Radames Guide

Blasphemous 2‘s bosses terrify me. From rotting undead archbishops to an amalgamation of religious faces, none have given me such fright as the bloodthirsty skeleton of Great Preceptor Radames.

Boasting a towering height and wielding a bounded figure later used as a midbattle snack, Great Preceptor Radames is a terror in battle and turned the environment into a glass-strewn, boulder-ridden nightmare. Still, the undead figure is likely our best first boss to start with and grants us the best weapon in the game if we can tough out the monster’s terrifying arena.

In this Blasphemous 2 Radames Guide, I’ll review how to find and defeat the hulking skeleton to bring us a step closer to lowering the Elevated Temple and confronting the Miracle’s Child.

As a bonus, I’ll review Great Preceptor Rademes’ lore and how to gain Veredicto, the best weapon in the game, if we didn’t pick it as our starter choice.

Quick Facts

Quest Locations: Aqueduct of the Costales, Sacred Entombments
Quest Giver: Anunciada
Requirements: Wall Jump (ability)
Length of Quest: 1 Hour
Difficulty: Easy

The Giant Cannibal Skeleton

Located at the bottom of the Sacred Entombments under a mountain of ash, Great Preceptor Radames is a massive skeleton that guards one of the Miracle’s Sacred Regrets concealing the birth of the Miracle’s child and needed to bring the Elevated Temple down to the earth.

Though Radames is a tough fight, I found them to be the easiest of the three starting bosses and a great battle to get extra tears of atonement and martyrdom points if we play with extra guilt.

Though Radame’s area can be tricky to navigate, forcing us to complete three small platforming gauntlets with rising ash, we also get access to Veredicto, a massive bell weapon with superior range and damage, or the anointed one figurine, which increases its Veredicto’s damage by 15%.

If you’re struggling with picking the boss to tackle after reaching the Everlasting City, I recommend starting with Great Preceptor Radames to get our penitent’s journey off to a violent start.

How to Find Great Preceptor Radames

After reaching the Everlasting City and grabbing the wall jump ability from Profundo Lamento in the underground tomb, we can head up and leftwards to get to the start of the Aqueduct of the Costales. This path will lead us to the Sacred Entombments, the lair of Great Preceptor Radames, and Veredicto.

Part 1: The Waters of Doom

To begin our trek towards our skeletal friend, head up the two sets of leaders in the starting area of the Everlasting City and wall jump up to reach a final ladder that leads to the Aqueduct of the Costales.

Upon entering, we’re greeted by the sight of a massive bell we can ring if we already have Veredicto to turn the floating grey liquid into temporary platforms or to allow us to break through metal doors briefly. After passing by the bell, climb up the wall, and rest at the nearby prie dieu before our trek onwards into the next room.

Entering the next room reveals the enemies native to this area, stone figures carrying sarcophagi and a skull in floating boxes that shoot fireballs at us. Frankly, these enemies are a breeze to deal with, and we can even destroy the skull head’s fireballs with Veredicto, so we should have very little trouble dealing with foes.

Past them, we can head up a short ladder, slide past two sword-wielding foes, and climb upwards and right to reach the ladder into the next room.

We’ll now encounter our first set of spikes under a breakable platform, but worry not! Unlike Blasphemous 1, these obstacles will no longer insta-kill us but instead send us back to the most recent ledge with a slight loss to our health.

Part 2: Aqueducts of Evil

Don’t worry, we can grapple back to this opening, so this isn’t a one-way journey. / Image by JT Hussey

Following the small platforming section, we can head up the ladder at the room’s end to find two skull heads and one stone creature lying in wait. After dealing with those religious scoundrels, we can head leftward to the next room.

From here, we can head left without too much trouble from some of the stone enemies and slide through a small opening to reach the next side with a few enemies hungry for penitents! Past those enemies, we’ll find another ladder that takes us to the top with an exit to the right to the next room.

In this room, we’ll have to quickly jump across the breakable floors to hit the switch that opens the next area. However, before we take the ladder in front of us, slide through the narrow opening to rest at the prie dieu and hit the nearby switch to open the shortcut back to the starting area.

Cherub Baby Detour

Though we can take the ladder to the next area, to the right of prie dieu and a hulking foe lies the Garden of the High Choirs, where we can redeem any Cherub Babies we’ve saved to earn tears of atonement and martyrdom points.

Though freeing all the floating babies (33 in total) can be a hassle, the rewards for finding them can cut down on the grind.

After taking that slight detour and chatting with an oversized flying baby, we can take the ladder up to reach the second to last section of the aqueduct. From here, we’ll have to climb to the top and head leftwards into the final challenging room.

Upon entering, we’ll walk across an entirely breakable floor that gives us zero time to jump across it before crumbling and sending us to the bottom. Luckily, the enemies below are some trivial flying jar enemies we can effortlessly pass over some breakable floors and spikes before reaching the next corner and sliding into the subsequent area.

Despite the easiness of the previous rooms, this one has the charging bell enemy, a cruel holdout from Blasphemous 1, that runs at us and sends us flying if they manage to make contact.

While we can’t dash through this foe, we can wait for them to charge, allowing us to jump up and over them before reaching the next side. Now, before the bell enemy can charge back, climb up the scalable walls and head left to exit this accursed waterway.

Part 3 The Ashen Overgrowth

We’re now in the Sacred Entombments, an ash-covered temple with Radames waiting for us at the very bottom under this mountain of ash. Luckily we won’t have to use a shovel, as we can destroy a few locks to lower the ash level and access the massive skeletal figure.

However, before we can begin this process, we’ll have to obtain the Veredicto, a giant swinging bell, if we haven’t picked it as our starting weapon, to access each lock.

Even if we already have Verdicto, we should still go to the same cave where we would obtain it to acquire the Anointed One. This unique figurine increases our damage with the Veredicto by 15% and combines with a few figures to bathe our bell in guilt fire.

Fortunately, reaching this area is relatively simple, as we just have to follow the path left, past a few easy enemies to find the massive bell in a giant cave.

Just ensure you rest at the prie dieu so we’re not sent back to the Aqueduct of the Costales. After reaching the end and acquiring the bell or figurine, we can proceed toward the first lock in the top left of the map.

Destroying this locking likely murders the inhabitant within and lowers the section of ash, allowing us to head down one level lower towards Radames and created a set of platforms with the bell to return back.

Part 4 The Ashen Elevator

To free the next lock, we’ll want to return to the central area and descend lower before finding a metal door at the bottom. As I mentioned, we can break these doors down by whacking a nearby bell, which happens to be right above our heads, and quickly heading through the metal liquid to disperse the door together.

After hurrying through the puzzle before the door hardens, we’ll reach the next room, which has an exploding enemy we should dodge away from, and two wall enemies that slash at us as we try to get past.

Once we deal with these foes, we’ll reach another bell door puzzle, expecting us to hit the bell on the right and then jump up to pass through the door on the left to get to a mini lock that raises the ash in this particular area, allowing us to traverse over the broken glass.

After performing the task, we’ll reach a tall vertical room that doubles as an elevator when we attack the small lock.

Upon the ascent, the exploding enemies from before and several wall enemies assault us. While this isn’t a particularly hard elevator to fight through, the exploding enemies can take away nearly half our health, so keep an eye open for when they’re trying to get past.

Once we reach the top, we can exit from the top left corner to find the following central lock, allowing us to descend one level lower.

Part 5 The Gaping Gauntlet

Like before, we’ll want to head back to the central area and take a left time to reach the next lock. We’ll encounter a locked metal door, prompting us to head downwards past more wall enemies and exploding foes.

After continuing leftwards until we reach a dead end and climbing up to get to the next room, we’ll find a switch we can activate, which opens a door we’ll have to slide under before the time runs out.

Making it through the door unlocks it and allows us to thwack the two hanging metal crates as a shortcut before jumping over another bell enemy.

For our efforts, we’ll find another prie dieu we should rest at before proceeding leftwards into a room with a small ashen lock. Upon hitting it, the ash in the rooms rises, forcing us to pass several enemies before it swallows us too.

This area is plagued with exploding enemies, so I advise not bothering to attack them as we ring the bell, perform a small maneuver over the two platforms, and wall jump to reach a miniature vertical passage leading up to the lock at the top.

After giving the penultimate lock a final whack, we can return to the main for the final lock before confronting Radames.

Part 5 Baseless Bells

Our final lock is the shortest and most challenging lock to conquer. Upon returning to the central area and descending to the bottom, we can proceed rightwards to find a bell resting by some nearby ash.

Ignore the bell for now (we need more abilities to access the next room), and head rightwards to find an ominous dusty area that spawns two bell enemies once we reach the enemies. Like before, we’ll have to jump over these enemies while hitting them from behind; they’re invulnerable from the front.

Unfortunately, two of them are charging at us from the same direction; if we manage to jump over once, we may be unable to jump over the next one, putting us in a corner where they can stun-lock us to death.

I recommend activating Veredicto and focusing your efforts on one of the beasts, so we can effortlessly jump over the other and not find ourselves in an inescapable fatal position.

Following our victory, the doors unlock, and we can now destroy the final lock, removing all of the ash from the Sacred Entombments and allowing us to access the fight with Radames.

Ready for Radames?

Meh, I think we can take him! / Image by JT Hussey

Before tackling the giant skeleton, we can equip a few figurines, empower Veredicto, and put on some defensive rosary beads to have a better time with this fight. Even if Radames is the easiest of the three starting bosses, they can still challenge us if we fail to dodge in time, so we consistently remain on our toes.

Altarpiece of Favours

If we don’t mind returning to the Everlasting City through the hand teleported at the top of the Sacred Entombments, we can equip any figurines we find here to maximize our damage. While we’ll likely only have room for 2-3 figurine slots, we can still increase Veredicto’s damage by 25% if we leverage both spaces.

All in all, for the fight against Radames, I recommend using the figures below:

The Traitor – Increases our weapon damage by 10%; the Traitor is an all-around great figurine that stays useful towards the game’s end. I recommend employing it with the Anointed One to increase our damage by a hefty 25%. The sculptor gives us the Traitor for the first time we’ve interacted with him.
Anointed One – Increase Veredicto’s damage by 15%; the anointed one is fantastic for maximizing the damage output to bring the fight to a close quickly. However, I only recommend leveraging the Anointed one if we already picked Veredicto as our starting weapon. Otherwise, we’ll have to grab it from the Streets of Wakes’ Merchant for a significant amount of Tears of Atonement much later

Rosary Beads

Though our selection will be somewhat limited, we can leverage 1 or 2 slots at the moment to increase our resistance to Radames’ physical and mystical damage. For the Radames fight in particular, I recommend using the two rosary beads below:

Scratched Lead Sphere: Slightly increasing our physical defense, Scratched Lead Sphere is excellent for the vast amount of physical attacks Radames performs. We can find the Scratched Lead Sphere in Profundo Lamento in a chest after picking up the wall jump ability.
Broken Bell – A bell that slightly increases our resistance to mystical damage, Broken Bell is great if we’re having trouble dodging Radames mystical fireball attacks. However, I recommend prioritizing Scratched Lead Sphere, as Radames only has one slot. We can find Broken Bell on one of the ledges in Sacred Entombments.

Weapon of Choice: Veredicto

Except for a fight toward the game’s end, you’ll likely always have a better time with Veredicto. Its superior damage and range outclass the regular sword and rapiers, and its range allows us to assail Radames from midair during a few of his attacks and safely retreat when he goes for his close-range punishments.

Before the fight starts, however, I recommend putting martyrdom points into Veredicto’s Aerial Ignition and Fiery Striker if we can afford it to maximize our damage output for the fight and allow us to capitalize on our time midair.

Great Preceptor Radames Fight

Stage 1

After giving a brief monologue stating his purpose to defend Miracle’s sacred regret, Radames transforms into a giant skeleton wielding three bound people as a weapon. Though his attacks are slow and easy to predict in his stage, they can still destroy us in two hits if we are unaware.

Chaotic Charge

Radame’s most dangerous attack, the giant skeleton screams in anguish with glass shards radiating out of his body and charging towards us.

Though we can’t dash through this attack, and he’s too tall to jump over, we can use the nearby wall jump to give ourselves extra height to clear him safely.

After Radames hits the wall, he’ll be stunned for a few seconds, allowing us to deliver some punishment before he comes to his sense. I advise only going for two hits of Veredicto, one if we use the flame ability, then retreating; he usually follows up with a devasting long or short swing that is hard to dodge away from.

Fireball Frenzy

My favorite attack to dodge, Radames sends mystical fireballs at us, forcing us to jump over them or duck under. Frankly, these attacks are a breeze to jump over, and ducking them just requires us to hold downward to keep our pointy head safe.

On the last fireball, if it’s one you can jump over, I advise going for a midair swing to maximize our damage and keep us in the air for a moment longer.

Short Swing

If we’re standing too close, Radames takes the bound figure he’s holding and performs a short swing with a follow-up. I recommend backing away from Radames for this attack and employing ranged prayers like Bleeding Miracle or Serrana of the Kindled Hearth.

Long Swing

Radames performs a devasting swing that obliterates everything in its path. Unless we can switch to a parrying weapon in time, I recommend dashing away from Radames for this attack.

Thorny Revenge

Our punishment for standing too far away from Radames, the giant skeleton sends a thorny attack that targets the edge of the arena. If you keep up the attacks against Radames, he may never perform this attack, so if he does, we’ll have to be more aggressive.

Phase Two

After bringing Radames down to a quarter of his health, he takes the bound figure he’s been eating and decides to make it into a light snack, bringing him back to half health and drastically increasing his height.

In this transition stage, boulders rain down from the ceiling, and Radames is invincible, so keep your eyes out for falling rock until he begins his first attack and the invincibility ends.

Glass Wave

His first attack after finishing with his people snack, Radames send several waves of glass in our direction. Even if it’s constant, this attack is fairly easy to jump over if we maximize our height, and we can sneak in a swing of Veredicto on each volley to maximize our damage and keep us airborne a moment longer.

Glass Blast

A burst of glass shoots out of Radames briefly, tearing apart anything directly before him. While the speed of glass blast makes it tough to dodge, we can safely avoid this attack if we keep a safe distance from Radames with Veredicto.

Frankly, I have never been hit by his glass attack, so I recommend sticking with Veredicto’s ranged attacks to keep ourselves safe.

Tall Chaotic Charge

Like his move in the first stage, Radames screams with glass protruding from his body and charges the wall. However, unlike the first stage, Radames is much taller, so we’ll have to time our jump over him more quickly. I advise moving toward the wall when he starts screaming if we struggle to get away in time.

Also, this attack triggers a line of boulders from the ceiling, preventing us from taking the opportunity to damage him while he’s stunned. While we can squeeze between the first boulder and Radames, it’s challenging, so I recommend running away from him after we jump over.

Glass Scythe

Radames swings a massive glass scythe to slash us apart with a wide range. Like glass blast, this attack is fast and hard to predict though its’s increased range means it’ll be harder to dodge. I recommend keeping a safe distance from Radames with Veredicto so we can safely tear him apart.

Furious Fireball Frenzy

Like the first stage, Radames adds two more fireballs into the mix. These fireballs aren’t any harder to dodge than the previous ones, so just perform the same strategy as before in ducking over the higher ones and jumping over the higher ones while trying to get a hit in.

Victory

Great Preceptor Radames Fight — That’s going to leave a mark. / Image by JT Hussey

Upon defeat, Radames crumbles to dust and transports us to the dream. While there, we’ll see Radames on his deathbed, being carried by several naked manservants and telling us how the Miracle saved him and made him swear to protect one of the Sacred Regret.

After he finishes and we’re treated to a small scene following the birth of the Miracle’s child, Radames retreats to the dark side of the dream, never to be seen again.

Radames Rewards

Weapons

• Veredicto

Figurines

• Anointed one

Currency

• 2000 Tears of Atonement

Keys

• Mask of the Father

Great Preceptor Radames Lore: The Apathetic Confessor

Try not to focus on the naked people pulling Radames’s deathbed. / Image by JT Hussey

Before his transformation into a cannibal skeleton behemoth, Great Preceptor Radames was a confessor who spent his life listening to the confessions of guilty penitents begging to unburden themselves of guilt. However, despite their mournful voices, Radames could not feel for his congregation and never once shed a tear.

Luckily for him, the Miracle spoke to him, manipulating him into guarding its Sacred Regret, thus bringing him to tears for the first time in his life. After Radames died, all the regrets he had accumulated caused the people, walls, and rocks, burying them under a mountain of ash until we arrived.

FAQs

Question: How Do I find Radames?

Answer: We can find Radames by heading upwards and left after getting the wall jump ability from Profundo Lamento and following the Aqueduct of the Costales to its top left exit into the Sacred Entombments. After entering this ash-covered area, we can destroy the cylindrical seals and remove the ash to find Radames at the bottom of the Sacraments for a vicious battle.

Question: How Do I Defeat Radames?

Answer: Leveraging Veredicto’s superior range and damage can make quick work of the giant skeleton. Especially with the Anointed One and the Traitor equipped, we can deal an absurd amount of damage to shorten the fight drastically.

Question: Where do I get Veredicto?

Answer: Unless we choose Veredicto as our starting weapon, we’ll find the giant Bell Mace at the upper left end of the Sacred Entombments. If we head to the same area after picking the Veredicto as our starting weapon, however, we’ll acquire the Anointed one, a figurine that increases the Veredicto’s damage by 15%.