Assassin's Creed Odyssey Kalydonian Boar strategy and location
How to defeat the Kalydonian Boar sidequest in Assassin's Creed Odyssey.
Assassin's Creed Odyssey's Kalydonian Boar is an early-game side-quest as part of The Daughters of Artemis quest line.
Once you have picked up the quest from the Temple of Artemis in the middle of Phokis - which is a fast travel point, making it well worth a visit in itself - you're told to hunt down the Kalydonian Boar.
However, finding and facing a legendary beast is a much tough proposition that it first appears, even if you are the same level - and so it's worth taking the time to do some preparation first with a specific strategy.
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Kalydonian Boar location in Assassin's Creed Odyssey
Once you have started the quest from one of the Daughters of Artemis, your objective is to then find the boar. You are told it's in the north of the Sacred Lands of Apollo, on a marshy plateau.
Specifically, the location you are looking for us to the west of the Temple of Artemis- if you haven't visited before, it will be a question mark on your map.
If you are coming from the Temple of Artemis in the east, then you'll come to a cliff. Climb it, and the Kalydonian Boar should be present just ahead of you.
Assassin's Creed Odyssey Kalydonian Boar strategy and how to prepare
Facing the Kalydonian Boar itself is a little different to the human foes you've faced, with its lunges and sprints, but the basics of locking on and dodging out of the way, then flanking from the side, remains the same, and will ultimately see you prevail.
However, the reason why the Kalydonian Boar is so difficult is it will spawn several smaller boars to attack you on regular intervals. These will quickly overwhelm you from all angles, and even if you take them all out, the Kalydonian Boar will then spawn some more.
Then, once you have cleared those, the Kalydonian Boar's health will be partly restored, and you'll repeat the process without any real progress.
The key to winning the battle is to put down the smaller boars for good. The way to do this is to paralyse them.
The easiest way to paralyse enemies is by using Paralysing Arrows. This is an ability you unlock in the Hunter skill tree, so have an Ability Point spare (by levelling up or visiting a Tomb), then unlock it.
Before you go into battle, remember to actually craft some Paralysing Arrows from your inventory menu (get as many as you can as the boars can be easily missed), then equip them by pressing Left on the D-Pad while your bow is drawn.
Now fire these at the boars, and when their health drops to zero, they won't die but simply become paralysed on the field. They look dead, but they're not. Even when they are all paralysed, the Kalydonian Boar won't spawn any more over the course of the battle because they are still technically alive.
With this threat out of the way, you can now fully concentrate on the Kalydonian Boar without the worry of being overwhelmed. It should be noted you can accidentally kill the boars if you swipe a melee weapon near them, so try and take the fight away from their resting places to avoid doing so.
Looking for more help? Our main Assassin's Creed Odyssey guide and tips hub gives you an overview of our pages, while we also have all fifty-plus Ainigmata Ostraka puzzle locations and solutions, plus more on how to get the Assassin's Creed Odyssey best ending, a list of all Assassin's Creed Odyssey tomb solutions, the best weapons, armour, engravings, and legendary armour and weapons listed, the Kalydonian Boar strategy and location, Orichalcum locations and even help with Assassin's Creed Odyssey romance options. Elsewhere we can help with how to earn money and Drachmae fast in Assassin's Creed Odyssey, how to earn XP and level up fast in Assassin's Creed Odyssey, and our picks for the best side quests in Assassin's Creed Odyssey.
Of course, if you are still struggling, there are a few other things to note about the Kalydonian Boar:
- There are other abilities well worth unlocking that can help with the battle. There is one that allows you to recover some health instantly, which is particularly useful since you cannot easily do so during battle, and the Kalydonian Boar can do severe damage to you even if you are at a slightly higher level. Another is the poison ability, which cannot be blocked since the Kalydonian Boar doesn't have a shield, and can help combat its health recovery.
- There are weapon Engravings which give you increased damage output on animals. You unlock this by slaying predators; spend some time exploring the wilderness, completing Tombs and killing any snakes you find as you go, and doing bounty board quests that point you in the direction of beasts to rack up some kills and unlock these tiers.
- Though most side quests appear to scale with your current level, the Kalydonian Boar (and seemingly other Daughters of Artemis quests) do not. For us the quest appeared at level 13, and we completed it much easier at level 16, so if you can come back to the quest later after accruing some XP then that'll certainly help.
- Once you have beaten the Kalydonian Boar, remember to actually go round and kill the paralysed boars, and loot their bodies for materials.
With the Kalydonian Boar quest complete, you can return to the Temple of Artemis and gain quests for all the remaining legendary beasts.
Their level requirements can be very steep, and some of their locations positioned very far away, so it might take a while to get to them - but having them unlocked means you can chip away at them as you complete the story and other activities. Happy hunting!