As in most of the games in the franchise, Bowser is one of the biggest and toughest bosses in Mario & Luigi: Brothership. That means that figuring out how to defeat him will take some patience and a lot of preparation. It will also help if you know what to expect from him, such as what his moveset will be and if he will spawn minions or not. With that in mind, here is everything you can expect from that fight.

There are a lot of boss fights in Mario & Luigi: Brothership, all with their own varying challenges. Bowser is difficult because he does not want you to focus on him, and you will not benefit from a lot of the same advantages you can get in other fights. It is also quite a long fight and can go through the charges on your Battle Plugs quickly, so you will want to have patience, preserve your gear, and try to defeat him as fast as possible all at the same time.

How To Prepare For Bowser (Best Battle Plugs, Gear and Accessories)

Finding The Right Items For This Fight

Due to Bowser’s specific mechanics, you will actually not be using your Hammer and Jump Attacks as much in this fight as you are used to using them. This means that a lot of the best Battle Plug Combos will not be useful in this fight, taking a lot of the heavy hitters away from you. This means you will likely want to focus on defensive combos, particularly the ones that can be paired with the Deluxe Auto Battle Plug.

This is because you may well need a lot of healing in this fight, and not losing a turn to do so is quite important. Therefore, using this defensive combo not only helps you out but gives you an extra turn every single round. The more you are able to attack and keep Bowser from attacking and damaging you, the better.

If you run out of charges on something like the Auto Mushroom, you can switch it out for any of the other Auto Defense Battle Plugs. Auto 1-Up is a good runner-up, as it will let you heal to full health if you get knocked out. You will likely run out of these charges as well eventually, but you should last through most of the fight, and it should keep you alive long enough.

Other Battle Plugs to consider include:

• Temperature Guard
• Easy-Peasy Counters
• Damage Shield
• Surefooted Guard
• Charge Bank
• Performance Bonus

As for the other gear you want to bring in, the Connie Mittens and IDLE Scarf are going to be the best ones you can find. This gives you more survivability, which in turn gives you more chances to defeat Bowser and weather his attacks.

The Quick-Charge Brooch will not be of much use during the fight, but having your items recharged going into the next fight will be crucial. Luckily, your big Battle Plugs should recharge during this fight since you will not be using them.

Anything else that increases your HP or gives you some kind of bonus to your defensive stats is also quite useful. Once you have your gear and accessories figured out, you can move into the actual boss fight.

How To Defeat Bowser

Moveset, Attacks, & How To Avoid Him

Bowser has 3 main attacks plus a minion summon and will last longer against you than you might be used to. He is a stubborn boss, and he can deal a large amount of damage if you are not careful. His moves are as following:

• Flamethrower
• Mano a Mano
• Raging Shells
• Bowser’s Horde

One of the main things you can do is turn the horde against him. If he summons minions like Koopas, Paratroopas, and Goombas you can send them back at him. This will deal the damage back to him, making him vulnerable to extra critical hits when you do. However, his minions will come back to help him, so keep that in mind if you miss a few. The Bob-ombs and Spinies will also hurt you if you try to send them back at him, so avoid those enemies at all costs.

Meanwhile, his other attacks can be a little hard to deal with, and that is because not all of them can be dodged or countered. You can see which ones can in the table below:

And, while Flamethrower can technically be dodged, it is actually quite hard to do so. The best thing to do is to jump on a steel ball that is thrown in front of you to get a little elevation to jump higher out of the way. Mano a Mano, meanwhile, wants to try to get you to jump too early, as there are multiple moves Bowser could make during this attack. Instead, jump when he spins midair, when flames come out of his mouth, or when he starts twisting his body to the left.

His shell attack cannot be dodged and instead must be countered. You will have to swing your hammer at just the right time to hit the shells and Bowser away from you. If Bowser gets deflected away from one brother, he will go after the other. However, if you do successfully knock him away, you will make him fall back and keep him stunned for a little while.

While it may seem like you should be fighting off all the minions, you will instead want to focus on single-target Bros. Attacks that can kill Bowser faster. Let your Auto Battle Plugs heal you and focus on doing as much damage to just Bowser as possible. The minions can get in Bowser’s way and hurt him as much as they hurt you, making it ideal to keep them around to keep hurting the boss with them.

Use whatever single-target attack you have that can do the most damage on “EXCELLENT” as possible. Luigi, meanwhile, should use Jump Helmet if he has it, as it will take down Bowser faster than any other move. You can see some of these attacks in YouTuber Nintendo Unity's video.

Rewards For Beating Bowser

Making It Worth It

Once you beat him, you will get a whole host of rewards. This includes 11,000 Experience and 1000 Gold. While you will not get any specific drops, the amount of experience you will get is quite high and well worth the fight. Just be ready to go into another big boss fight as soon as you finish this one in Mario & Luigi: Brothership.

Video Credit: Nintendo Unity/YouTube