This might be the third release for Shadow of the Colossus, but that didn’t stop Bluepoint from crafting some fresh challenges for players. The trophy list is different for Shadow of the Colossus PS4 than it was for the PS3 remaster. It will have players doing things like performing stunts with Agro and finding a secret Trico barrel, a nice The Last Guardian Easter egg for Ueda fans. Our guide will help you take down each of the 16 colossi and earn that coveted Platinum trophy.
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For other parts of our Shadow of the Colossus PS4 guide, visit the links below:
Shadow of the Colossus PS4 Colossi Locations Map
It can be a bit tricky to reach a couple of the colossi, but this map should give you a general feel for where each one is. Look out for ledges, caves, and small passageways if you are having a tough time locating the colossus.
Shadow of the Colossus PS4 Colossus Fight Guide
How to Beat Colossus 1
The vital point is on the top of its head. Stab the colossus in the back of the left leg to drop it to the ground. The camera focuses on its hand, but climb up the back of its leg to reach the colossus’s back. Scale its back until you reach the vital point on its head. Stab it repeatedly to defeat it.
Hard Mode Changes: The colossus will have an additional vital point to attack on its right arm.
Time Attack Tips: Run immediately forward as the cutscene is ending. This being a straightforward fight, there aren’t really any additional tips that can shave precious seconds.
How to Beat Colossus 2
There are two vital points, one on its head and one on its rear end. To get up on the colossus, stand in front of it until it rears up and fire at its soft underfoot area. When he flinches, climb up on its leg and attack the vital point on its head. Carefully traverse to the back of the beast and destroy the vital point on its back.
Hard Mode Changes: The colossus will have an additional vital point on the left side of its midsection.
Time Attack Tips: Begin the attack from the rear and work your way forward. Hit the underfoot of the hind legs as it is walking and climb up its tail. Attack the back end vital point first and move forward.
How to Beat Colossus 3
This colossus has two vital points, one on its head and one on its stomach. First, get the colossus to attack towards the stone circle in the center. It will cause the wristguard to break and allow you to easily run up the long sword and onto its arm. Make your way to its head and destroy the vital point. Then drop down its shoulders until you reach the platform on its waist and destroy the point on its stomach.
Hard Mode Changes: The colossus will have an additional vital point on its left arm.
Time Attack Tips: The key is to get the colossus to break his wristguard as quickly as possible. You’ll need to get it to track you away from the center stone platform, and then immediately change direction back to the center platform. You can also attempt the “no break” method required for the Resist the Wrist trophy. It’s a little more tricky to pull off, but if you can do it effectively, this can allow you to climb the colossus on its first attack.
How to Beat Colossus 4
Run from the colossus and make sure it sees you go into one of the tunnels in the area. Run to the other side, and wait for the colossus to dip its head into the tunnel looking for you. Run up behind the colossus and jump on top of its back. Attack its neck to get it to lower its head, and then climb onto the head to destroy the vital point and defeat it.
Hard Mode Changes: There are two additional vital points on each of the colossus’s shoulders.
Time Attack Tips: There’s a tough quick strategy where you can leap up to one of the hanging portions and climb on it without using the tunnels, but this is much more difficult. Even using the basic tunnel strategy, you should have plenty of time to climb aboard the colossus and defeat it.
How to Beat Colossus 5
Swim to the platforms that are sitting in the water (at water level). Stand on one of these and fire arrows at the colossus to provoke it. When it charges you, jump and hold R2 to grab onto its wing. There are three vital points to destroy, one on each wing and one at the end of the tail.
Hard Mode Changes: No changes.
Time Attack Tips: You’ll want to destroy all three points in one ride. When you go to attack the wings, make sure you have full stamina so that you can ride out the rough flight that follows.
How to Beat Colossus 6
Run away from this colossus to the end of the arena, and go into the small alcove. Ensure that it sees you and keeps chasing you all the way here. Once you are in the alcove, it will lower its head and you can grab onto its beard. From here, climb up and attack its head and the vital point on its shoulder blade. On Hard mode, you’ll want to attack it’s left hand that rests on the ground before climbing the beard.
Hard Mode Changes: The colossus will have an additional vital point on its left hand.
Time Attack Tips: Perhaps the hardest time attack due to how much the colossus moves around when attacking its head. The key lies in finding a spot where the colossus won’t thrash much, usually further down on its shoulder area. If you spoend too much time trying to hang on, you’ll run out of time. This one is going to be a tight finish.
How to Beat Colossus 7
Swim around in the water until the colossus notices you. At this point, it will surface the water and near the end, you can grab onto the end of its tail. From here, you will need to make your way towards its head, destroying the vital points along the way that disable its electric attacks. Destroy the vital point on its head to win.
Hard Mode Changes: No changes.
Time Attack Tips: Try to get to its head in a single run, and grab on when it dives. If you have to grab the tail again, you’ll waste a lot of time. It’s possible to run past the first two electric spikes without destroying the vital points to get directly to the head, but this is a very risky strategy. The third electric spike has to be destroyed to reach the head. Decide whether to play it safe and risk the timer, or play it risky and potentially die.
How to Beat Colossus 8
This colossus mostly stays in the lower area in the coliseum and you need to get it to climb the walls. Head up the stairs and get its attention by whistling or firing an arrow. It will climb the walls, and as its climbing, you need to run back down to the bottom. From the bottom, shoot the colossus’s legs to make it fall. Climb up on its stomach and destroy the vital point.
Hard Mode Changes: No changes.
Time Attack Tips: The higher up the colossus falls from, the longer it will remain turned over. The key is to do as much damage as possible while its turned over. Make sure to knock it down from the ground to maximize time doing damage.
How to Beat Colossus 9
Draw the colossus out to the area with the geysers, and try to get it positioned over one of the geysers. When the geyser goes off, you will see the weak points on the underside of its feet. Shoot these with your bow to make it roll over. Grab the fur on its stomach to climb up and grab the side of its shell until it turns upright. Continue to climb up the shell to reach the vital point on its head.
Hard Mode Changes: No changes.
Time Attack Tips: Lure it to the closest geyser. If the geyser isn’t working, just rotate around the colossus instead of trying to lure it to a whole new one. If you want to attempt a crazy jump, gallop at full speed towards the colossus and leap off to reach its leg and climb up onto its shell.
How to Beat Colossus 10
You’ll need to be riding Agro for this fight. Get the colossus’s attention and gallop away from in. When its head pops out of the sand, use your bow to shoot it in the eye. He will slam his head into the wall and be temporarily stunned. Climb onto his back and destroy one of the vital points. You’ll have to do this at least one more time. It is not possible to get all vitals in one go.
Hard Mode Changes: No changes.
Time Attack Tips: The best tip for this is to use the center of the arena to grab its attention quickly. Most of the time in this fight comes from luring the colossus and getting it to rear its head so you can shoot its eye.
How to Beat Colossus 11
Immediately climb up on one of the flame pillars on the side of the arena. Get the colossus’s attention and it will charge and hit the pillar, knocking a piece of wood out to the ground. Pick it up using R2 and climb the platform again. Use Square to swing it and set it on fire. The colossus is afraid of fire, so back him towards the edge of the arena and he will fall off. Leap off the edge and get onto its back to get to its vital point.
Hard Mode Changes: No changes.
Time Attack Tips: Use one of the pillars closer to the edge to make sure you don’t need to relight the torch. Follow the colossus off the edge quickly to reach its back and shave off a lot of time.
How to Beat Colossus 12
Swim around the side of the colossus to get to its back. Climb up to its head and attack the “teeth” to direct it towards one of the platforms. Leap forward and off of its head once you are close enough. Hide behind the stone in the middle to avoid the blast from the colossus, and when it puts its feet up on the platform, leap forward an grab onto its stomach area. You will not be able to destroy the vital point in a single cycle.
Hard Mode Changes: No changes.
Time Attack Tips: Swim between the colossus’s arm and body to get around it a little more quickly. When you reach its head, march the colossus to the nearest platform to save time. It may be possible to swim underwater and grab its belly too, but this is much more difficult and not a guaranteed method.
How to Beat Colossus 13
While riding Agro, use your bow to shoot the three air sacs underneath the colossus. When it lowers, ride alongside the wings near the ground and leap off Agro to grab on. There are three vital points on its back, and it’s not possible to get them all in one go, however it is possible to get all three in two, if you are quick.
Hard Mode Changes: No changes.
Time Attack Tips: Start from the rear of the colossus and work your way forward. After destroying the first vital point, you can rapidly run to the middle one and get some damage in. On the second run, destroy the first vital point and then quickly run to the second one to finish it off, or you’ll have to make a third run. When the colossus is underground, hold L1 to target it so that you can quickly destroy the air sacs before the second run. Otherwise, you’ll have to run around attempting to target the air sacs.
How to Beat Colossus 14
Climb the nearby pillars and get the colossus’s attention. Hold R2 to brace yourself. On the second hit, the pillar will collapse. Follow the trajectory of the collapse to additional pillars and repeat the process. Eventually you’ll see a cutscene where a wall collapses. Climb back up onto the ledge that you initially entered the area on, and grab the colossus’s attention. He will charge and destroy the platform, which will break his back open. Hop on, and destroy the vital point.
Hard Mode Changes: No changes.
Time Attack Tips: Keep its attention constantly, so that you don’t waste any time as it dodges around the arena. Also make sure to jump directly from the falling pillars to each following pillar.
How to Beat Colossus 15
Go to the sides of the arena and make the colossus stomp on the tiles on the ground. Use the raised tile to jump up to the next ledge. Keep getting its attention to have it attack with its sword, creating a block that you can use to climb up to the next level. Make your way onto the bridge that crosses the arena and get its attention. It will destroy it, so stay near the sides, otherwise you will fall. He will walk under the bridge area, and you can jump to his head from there. Destroy the vital point here, and climb down to its sword arm and stab it to make it drop the sword. The vital point is in the palm of its hand, and if you are skilled, you can drop directly onto it. If not, you will have to make him take a swing at you and get to his hand from there.
Hard Mode Changes: There is an additional vital point on the upper left side of its chest.
Time Attack Tips: If you can drop directly into the palm from the colossus’s arm, you can save a lot of time. Otherwise, just make sure to keep its attention in order to climb up the arena and reach its head.
How to Beat Colossus 16
Reaching the colossus is a little bit tough, but if you use cover and the tunnels, you can get there without being hit. Once you emerge beneath the colossus, climb up its back until you reach the waist area. There’s a weak point on its back you can attack. When you do, it will reach to see what is hurting it. Leap onto its hand (stab it to make it stay still) and then climb up to the weak point on its arm. Attack this and then leap to its other hand. Steady it again with an attack, and then use the bow to shoot the shoulder. As it reaches for it, leap off onto the shoulder. From here, you can reach its head and destroy its only vital point.
Hard Mode Changes: No changes.
Time Attack Tips: Make your way through the initial gauntlet of tunnels quickly. The colossus is fairly easy if you can survive the initial run. There are a number of small tricks you can use to speed up the time, but the time requirement is actually pretty generous.
For other parts of our Shadow of the Colossus PS4 guide, visit the links below:
