Borderlands 3 Captain Traunt: Tips for killing the boss on Athenas

(Image credit: 2K Games)

The Borderlands 3 Captain Traunt boss is a big ol' heavy. He's basically a souped up version of enemies you've already encountered that rears his big fat head at the end of Athena. But, while he doesn't look that different, he is a surprisingly tough opponent to take down. So here's our guide to facing up to the Borderlands 3 Captain Traunt boss, and some tips to make the whole encounter just that little bit easier.

Don't linger around the perimeter

It may be tempting to stick to the edges of the arena because Captain Traunt tends to leap at you from afar, but we'd recommend, uh, not doing that. He frequently sends enormous balls of fire and ice around the edge on a loop, and if it collides with you, it deals immense damage. As you'd expect, really.

Shoot his back generator for critical hits

It's not easy to get behind this behemoth, but if you can, shoot at the generator on his back. This is his weak spot and where you'll deal critical hits, which – believe it or not – deal critical damage.

Leave some smaller enemies standing

This is a tip useful for any boss fight which involves smaller enemies spawning in; leave one or two alive at any one point so that if you get knocked down, you can quickly kill one of them to activate second wind. There's nothing worse than going down and the only enemy in sight is the boss with half its health still to go.

Use shock weapons to take down his shields

Again, another tip applicable for every fight is to use shock weapons on any enemies with shields. Captain Traunt has a gigantic shield bar to take down and when you do, his health will start depleting much faster, so in order to get to that stage make sure you equip your best shock weapon.

Check out our Borderlands 3 review, or watch our Borderlands story recap video to catch up on everything that's happened so far.