There are always a lot of boss fights in Borderlands games, some of which will be encountered during the main story. One of the first major bosses in Borderlands 4 is Idolator Sol, who you will face off against during the Rush the Gate main mission. This boss has some mechanics tied to it, meaning it’s not just a straight up “don’t die, shoot the boss” like some others.
Idolator Sol is one of the major boss fights in the game.
Idolator Sol’s Attacks¶
Idolator Sol will have three phases, in which, he will introduce new attacks during each one, or expand on ones he already has from previous phases.
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Shoulder Charge: Sol constructs a shield on one of his arms and charges straight at you, trying to run into you with it.
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Pylon Bombs: Sol shoots something into the air, which comes down as some skinny pylons. Some will be red, while one will be green. These will explode after a few seconds. Look for the green one of these, which has a Locust container to toss at the boss, making him vulnerable to damage.
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Spike Grenade: Sol conjures up a large spiked projectile, that he’ll throw at you. Once it hits the ground (or you), it expands into a larger, spiked object.
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Locust Beam: The boss will shoot a giant, green laser straight ahead that tracks your position. Keep moving to the sides, using the sideways dash when needed, to avoid this.
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Spiked Shockwave: Only seems to happen if you get too close to Sol. He’ll stomp the ground and a bunch of spikes will come out of it, in a rather large area surrounding him. As long as you don’t get too close to him, you should never see this.
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Whirling Blade: Sol forms a giant blade on his one hand, then he’ll do a sweeping attack with it. You’ll want to double jump over it. During the third phase, he will slam the blade to produce some spikes, similar to the Spike Slam with the shield.
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Locust Lightning: You’ll see this move only during phase transitions (usually the separate health bars). Sol will go into the middle of the arena and cover the area with a dark substance, with there being a section not affected. The darkened area will be hit with lightning, while the area not highlighted will be safe. Just worry about moving to those safe areas during this attack.
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Green Fissure: Second phase. Sol will punch his one hand into the ground, creating a fissure that erupts with energy. Just avoid that area as best as possible, until it disappears.
(1 of 3) Make sure to double jump over the large blade he can produce and swings at you.
- Spike Slam: Second phase. Usually after doing the Shoulder Charge, Sol will slam the shield into the ground and produce a line of large spikes. Try to side-dash to avoid getting hit by them.
Idolator Sol Boss Strategy¶
Idolator Sol can be an annoying boss, simply because you cannot hurt him normally. If you try to shoot him like any other enemy, your bullets will simply bounce off of him. You’ll have to wait until he does the Pylon Bombs attack, one of which will be green. This one will have a Locust container on top of it that you can grapple to grab, so do that before it explodes and toss it at him. If the container hits him, a part of his body will now be susceptible to damage. Depending on the area of the body hit, you may see green bubbles, which can act as critical hit spots.
You should always try to aim for the head portion of his body, since Sol’s head will always be a prime target for critical hits. At certain points, when he’s in a vulnerable state, he’ll try to absorb one of his minions in the arena. If he succeeds in doing this, then he will regain his armor and you’ll have to do the thing again with the Locust container. If you kill the minion first, then he will be stunned for a short duration and still have that part of his body open for damage. Sol has three health bars, which pretty much signifies that there are three phases to this battle.
Most of his attacks in the first phase can be simply avoided by moving out of the way, or side dashing. The only one that can’t is the big blade, which requires you to jump over it. Once you empty his first health bar, he will use a transition move, where Sol will “block” off parts of the arena. Those blocked off areas will have lightning hit them, so you need to rush to reach the clean section to avoid taking damage. For the second phase, he does mostly the same things, except he’ll introduce two new attacks (labeled “Second phase” above).
Neither are really difficult to dodge, but he will also start doing two sets of the pylons at a time, with the green one showing up in the second set. After the second health bar is depleted, he’ll do the lightning thing again, with each safe area getting smaller and smaller. The third phase begins right after that, where the outside ring of the arena will now be covered by Locust dust, so the ring will be a bit more cramped. The fight stays mostly the same, with three sets of pylons now, and Sol’s fissures sticking around a little longer.
Things can be very hectic at this point, especially with the multi-stage attacks from Sol. Just concentrate on exposing his body, as well as keeping tabs on the grunts, since you don’t want him to put up his armor anymore. Of course, if you expose his head or arm with the green bubbles on it, him siphoning his men presents a great opportunity to get some good damage in on him. Keep things up and stay alive to eventually bring the big man down!
Grab your loot that spills forth from his body, then make sure you pick up Idolator Sol’s Bolt. Enter the room beyond to find a red chest at the top of the stairs, then use the fast travel station to return to the Outbounders HQ. Join the celebration and you’re finally finished with the mission!
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