Alan Wake 2 is here, and as you would expect from a survival horror game, it throws some fairly tough challenges at you, including a number of boss fights.
Warning: This article contains SPOILERS for Alan Wake 2.
The second major boss fight you’ll encounter in Alan Wake 2 is a handicap match, with Saga taking on corrupted deputies Mulligan and Thornton. This battle can be quite challenging, even discouraging, if you don’t know what to do. But with the right strategy, you’ll get through. Follow our guide and you shouldn’t have too much trouble…
After making your way through the Watery deep woods Dark Place, you’ll emerge into a small clearing with a well you’ll have seen several times before in the middle. You’ll likely notice a series of darkness nodes around the clearing – you have to get rid of these in order to defeat Thornton and Mulligan, otherwise, they’ll just keep coming back. That said, don’t try to do this right away.
Thornton, who wields a sniper rifle, will emerge from the well first. Take a couple shots at him and he’ll retreat and begin taking potshots at you with his rifle from various unreachable vantage points around the clearing illuminated by red light. You’ll know he’s about to shoot when you hear him cock his rifle – when this happens, quickly dodge two times, as he’ll often shoot at you twice. You may think you can just dodge Thornton’s shots and quickly run around and dispel the Darkness nodes, but that’s not a good strategy. Thornton shoots too fast and is too accurate. You’ll be dead before you can deal with more than one or two of the nodes.
Instead, wait for Thornton to shoot, dodge, then fire back. At this point in the game, your pistol is probably your best choice for this. Shoot Thornton enough times and he will collapse and disappear. This is your chance to deal with some of the darkness nodes. You should be able to dispel two or three before Mulligan emerges from the well.
Mulligan stalks you around the clearing and wields a shotgun. If you managed to get the sawed-off shotgun earlier in the game (here’s how to do that) fight fire with fire and blast him right back. Otherwise, you pistol is the best bet. Eventually Mulligan with collapse and disappear – take out a couple more nodes, but be aware that Thornton will soon return and begin sniping you again. Rinse and repeat.
Once you’ve eliminated all six darkness nodes (around the edges of the clearing and one hanging over the well) both Thornton and Mulligan will emerge from the well at the same time, but now they’re vulnerable. If you have a propane tank on you, you can make this part of the battle easy on yourself – just toss the tank on the ground next to the well and when Thornton and Mulligan emerge, shoot it and blow them up.
If you don’t have a propane tank, you’ll have to fight them two-on-one. My suggestion is to take out Thornton first, as his rifle shots are more dangerous/annoying. Keep moving to stay out of Mulligan’s range and listen for Thornton cocking his rifle. Once Thornton goes down, the rest of the battle shouldn’t give you too much trouble, just make sure not to run directly into any shotgun blasts from Mulligan.
Phew! And there you go, the gruesome twosome is down. Again, this battle can be tough, but once you get a feel for its rhythms, you’ll be okay.
Alan Wake 2 can be played on PC, Xbox Series X/S, and PS5. You can check out more of Wccftech’s Alan Wake 2 guides here.
