The Beast & How To Beat Them

There are hardly any enemies in Dying Light: The Beast that strike as much terror as a Chimera, a mutated zombie type who tend to be powerful bosses you face during specific missions. Chimeras are brutal opponents, using everything from brute strength, poisonous tricks, and lethal stealth to try and take you down. To beat the challenges these creatures present, you’ll need to have the right strategy.

Defeating Chimera bosses rewards you with Beast Points, a unique resource that allows you to purchase new combat skills for Kyle Crane. This feature in Dying Light: The Beast is tied to the unique Beast Mode state Kyle can go into and gain more control of as you grow stronger. Gaining certain abilities is almost required to defeat some Chimeras you encounter during later missions.

Every Chimera Location In Dying Light: The Beast

Know Which Missions Feature The Game’s Strongest Bosses

As you might expect, not every mission contains a Chimera boss for Kyle to fight. However, the ones that do feature a staggering challenge through these enemies at the end of them, testing what you’ve learned and how you’ve built up your strength ahead of time.

There are eight total Chimera bosses found in various missions, with each having similarities and differences from each other. For example, some Chimeras are melee-focused tanks with large health and high-damage strikes, while others are elusive foes that will hit you with status effects until you go down.

The following table goes over every Chimera in the game, including which mission they appear:

Chimera Boss	Encounter Mission	Chimera Traits
The Reaper	Safe Haven	Slow-moving Brute Melee-focused attacks Charging strikes
The Defect	Life After Life	Melee-focused attacks Large AoE Stun attack
The Mist	First Blood	Ranged projectile attacks Inflicts Toxic debuff Large AoE Stun attack
The Behemoth	A New Strain	Summons other Infected Strong melee close-range strikes Ranged projectile attacks
The Toxin	Toxic Relationships	Ranged projectile attacks Always stays at long-range Inflicts Toxic debuff
The Matriarch	Requiem For A Scream	Long-range melee attacks Summons other Infected
The Wraith	One Flew Over The Volatile’s Nest	Has the power to turn invisible Mid-range Toxic attacks
The Colossus	Buried Truths	Multiple large AoE attacks Most attacks inflict Stun Ranged projectile attacks Charging strikes

Chimera Boss

Encounter Mission

Chimera Traits

The Reaper

Safe Haven

Slow-moving Brute
Melee-focused attacks
Charging strikes

The Defect

Life After Life

Melee-focused attacks
Large AoE Stun attack

The Mist

First Blood

Ranged projectile attacks
Inflicts Toxic debuff
Large AoE Stun attack

The Behemoth

A New Strain

Summons other Infected
Strong melee close-range strikes
Ranged projectile attacks

The Toxin

Toxic Relationships

Ranged projectile attacks
Always stays at long-range
Inflicts Toxic debuff

The Matriarch

Requiem For A Scream

Long-range melee attacks
Summons other Infected

The Wraith

One Flew Over The Volatile’s Nest

Has the power to turn invisible
Mid-range Toxic attacks

The Colossus

Buried Truths

Multiple large AoE attacks
Most attacks inflict Stun
Ranged projectile attacks
Charging strikes

How To Beat Every Chimera

Save Your Abilities And Conserve Other Combat Resources

Dying Light: The Beast grenade launcher attacking zombie enemies

When going up against any type of Chimera, you’ll want to make sure you have enough ammo for ranged weapons before even entering the fight. Most Chimeras are massive enemies that are easier to hit with bullets or long-range tools, especially when some can’t retaliate with ranged attacks of their own.

Unlike any comparison to Dying Light 2, each Chimera you find in missions has something new the previous one didn’t. You can use similar strategies from earlier Chimeras on later ones, as they share some attack patterns. That being said, approaching each fight exactly the same way is a great strategy for getting Kyle killed by these brutal opponents.

How To Beat The Reaper

Dying Light: The Beast The Reaper Chimera boss from introduction cutscene

The first Chimera boss is the most straightforward, but you fight it at a time when Kyle has the least number of abilities. The Reaper only uses melee attacks, so the best way to fight it is to stay outside its melee range while its slow attacks miss you.

The Reaper has the ability to summon smaller enemies alongside it, but don’t let them distract you too much from the fight at hand.

The biggest threat from The Reaper is its charge attack, which inflicts a lot of damage if it connects. Dodge the charge attack and let The Reaper hit a wall to stun it, leaving it vulnerable to your attacks enough to drain its health to nothing.

How To Beat The Defect

Dying Light: The Beast The Defect Chimera boss

The Defect is similar to The Reaper, using plenty of melee attacks with the same weight and timing. The biggest danger of this Chimera comes from its slam attack, which can instantly Stun you for a short period of time. To avoid this, you can dodge the slam as you see The Defect’s arms being raised to do the attack, a move that only affects a small AoE space around the boss.

For an extra advantage, you can use the gas explosives within the boss room against The Defect, throwing them at it as a projectile. If you light the canisters of gas before throwing them, they’ll Stun The Defect right away, giving you a great window to fight back.

How To Beat The Mist

DYing Light: The Beast zombie jumping towards camera

Out of all the Chimeras you’ll face, The Mist is one of the trickiest due to her boss arena being filled with mist that’s almost impossible to see through. From the murky shadows, The Mist will spew projectiles of acid that inflict Toxic, a condition that’ll drain your health slowly over time.

The Mist will occasionally leap at you during this fight, making its movements unpredictable. Much like The Reaper, this boss can also summon smaller enemies to assist her, so make sure to deal with those quickly.

One of the best strategies against The Mist is to always stay moving to dodge the boss’ attacks, minions, and to keep cutting through the fog. As long as you keep The Mist visible, you’ll have a chance to keep it in your sights, using long to mid-range attacks to keep up the pressure until it dies.

How To Beat The Behemoth

Dying Light: The Beast The Behemoth Chimera boss

The Behemoth is a Chimera that acts like a stronger, sturdier version of The Reaper and The Defect combined into one foe. It uses the same melee charges and AoE Stun slam, but it can also summon a larger group of Infected allies, with each being far stronger than the minions called upon by past Chimeras.

This boss also uses large rock projectiles as a ranged attack, meaning you can’t always expect to stay safe at a distance. Take out the summoned enemies fast to thin the crowd, then focus on dodging slower attacks to gain opportunities to retaliate. Strong melee strikes or consistent shots from afar will eventually take The Behemoth down.

How To Beat The Toxin

Dying Light: The Beast The Toxin Chimera boss

Those who’ve fought The Mist might expect The Toxin to be the same, but one of Dying Light: The Beast‘s greatest learned lessons is how different this boss is from anything you’ve fought before. Although The Toxin uses Toxic-inflicting projectiles like The Mist, the boss arena is almost the opposite to your previous encounter.

The Toxin is incredibly quick, leaping from high pillars to spew acidic attacks on you from above. With other minions assisting it, The Toxin is inaccessible from melee attacks, so you can only defeat it by using long-range or thrown weapons, from firearms to Molotov cocktails.

How To Beat The Matriarch

Dying Light: The Beast The Matriarch Chimera boss

The Matriarch is perhaps the only Chimera that doesn’t fight you directly, instead hiding in corners and only striking when threatened. While this happens, The Matriarch screams to summon high-level allies, similar to The Behemoth Chimera. With its longer limbs, The Matriarch will attack you from further distances, making it hard to pin down.

To deal with crowds of Infected in Chimera boss fights, you can stock up on many AoE items, such as Molotov cocktails. The burning fields created by these items can not only take down weaker enemies, but also slow down or reveal others.

This Chimera will try to hide, but you can pinpoint The Matriarch’s position by listening to a crying sound it makes when it isn’t fighting. If you have some grenades and can dodge the sporadic lunges of this boss, you only need to keep its summoned Infected at bay until it dies.

How To Beat The Wraith

Dying Light: The Beast The Wraith Chimera boss

As its name might suggest, The Wraith Chimera has the ability to turn invisible, stalking you from a distance before leaping forward in deadly attacks. This boss, much like The Mist and The Toxin, uses vile acidic spit to form projectiles that inflict the Toxic debuff, making it a tough opponent.

The best way to defeat The Wraith is to listen for the chittering noises it makes before it attacks, then dodge quickly to expose the creature. This boss is far less sturdy than The Behemoth, so fast melee weapons do the best job of dealing as much damage as you can before it disappears again. Simply repeat this process to guarantee your victory.

How To Beat The Colossus

Dying Light: The Beast The Colossus Chimera boss

The Colossus is the final Chimera in the game, and represents a combined force of every boss you’ve fought before. The Colossus can summon smaller enemies, using Toxic projectiles, unleash charging strikes, and Stun you with AoE slams, making it an amalgamation of every other Chimera.

At the point where you’ll face The Colossus, you should have a variety of Beast Mode abilities to use against it. Don’t be afraid to use everything you have in this fight, from resources you’ve hoarded to every skill you managed to learn.

The key to this fight is recognizing attacks from past battles and remembering how you countered them earlier. This will give you multiple moments where you can lash out at The Colossus, dishing back your own damage with your strongest weapons and gear. At its core, The Colossus is slow like The Reaper or The Behemoth, so if you keep moving, you’ll have the speed advantage.

Hiding behind the central pillars in The Colossus’ boss arena will give you chances to reload weapons or regain strength throughout the fight. Running around the pillars will let you ambush The Colossus from behind, letting you distribute some punishment before retreating.

Overall, The Colossus has the most health out of all the bosses you’ve faced, but it still goes down easy against the right tools and strategy. Once you beat every Chimera in Dying Light: The Beast, your adventure can continue onward to the answers that’ll lead you to a satisfying conclusion.

Systems

Released: September 19, 2025
ESRB: M For Mature 17+ // Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Language, Use of Drugs
Developer(s): Techland
Publisher(s): Techland
Multiplayer: Online Co-Op
PC Release Date: September 19, 2025
Xbox Series X|S Release Date: September 19, 2025
PS5 Release Date: September 19, 2025