Hello!

I’m 마포감튀.

Today, let’s tackle Verus Hilla, a major roadblock for new MapleStory players.

MapleStory bosses generally have 2 types of mechanics.

The first is map mechanics: patterns that repeat at set intervals, regardless of the boss’s animations.

The second is boss mechanics: specific attack patterns used by the boss itself.

Starting with Verus Hilla, map mechanics become particularly tricky for new players.

Let’s work through them one at a time.

Since this guide is aimed at beginners, I won’t list the exact percentage of HP lost to each attack.

I’ll also recap some useful beginner tips at the end of the guide, so be sure to read all the way through!

Verus Hilla’s Death Count System (Soul Slash, Soul Recovery)

Verus Hilla has a “string” system that combines map and boss mechanics.

When you enter the fight, you’ll see green skulls at the top of the screen.

These lit skulls represent your “total death count,” or remaining lives.

Dying reduces your total death count. When Soul Slash occurs, it also reduces your total by the number of lit red skulls you have.

Death count reduced after dying

Death count reduced after Soul Slash removes red skulls

You can turn red skulls back into green skulls through “Soul Recovery” at the Soul Altar.

Once a skull’s light goes out, however, it cannot be restored.

When red skulls make up ½ or more of your total death count, an altar appears on the map.

Repeatedly press the Harvest key at the altar to clear the mechanic and turn your red skulls green again.

The “total death count” used for this calculation is a little tricky.

It uses the number of skulls remaining immediately after the last Soul Slash.

This means that losing a life by actually dying can leave you unable to summon an altar.

For example, suppose you have 3 lives left after Soul Slash.

You need 2 red skulls to summon an altar, but if you die and lose a life in the meantime,

you’ll only have 2 green skulls left and won’t be able to summon an altar in this state.

In the Verus Hilla fight, you “death out” if all your skulls go dark

or if all your skulls turn red.

Verus Hilla’s String Count (Red Skulls, Green Skulls, Altar)

So how do you get red skulls?

By getting hit by the “strings” in the map mechanic we’ll cover below.

Since having all red skulls knocks you out, you might wonder why you wouldn’t simply avoid getting any in the first place...

However, healing is disabled throughout the Verus Hilla fight, and you can only use potions for 5 seconds after clearing an altar.

That makes clearing altars a necessity, not a choice.

Once you take enough string hits for red skulls to make up ½ or more of your total death count,

an altar appears on the map.

Repeatedly press Harvest (default key: Space) at the altar.

Your red skulls will turn green again, and you’ll be able to use potions for 5 seconds with no potion cooldown.

Map Mechanic: Strings

The first map mechanic is “strings.”

Green trails appear on the map at set intervals,

followed shortly afterward by red attacks from above.

Each hit deals 0 damage but turns one green skull red

and temporarily prevents you from moving.

Shortly after its red line hits you, the finger disappears and drops a rock-like object as a follow-up attack.

Other guides may recommend using Hero’s Will to take multiple string hits at once.

For beginners, though, a mistake here can lead to several hits in quick succession and knock you out. I recommend taking them one at a time.

My recommendation is to take one string hit in advance when you have 5 or 4 lives left.

This helps prevent you from losing lives to Soul Slash while you’re still trying to take the string hits you need.

Map Mechanic: Poison Clouds

The second map mechanic is poison clouds.

Clouds of gas appear at random.

Players use various names for them, including poison clouds and poison farts. Stay out of these areas: they deal very high damage every second you’re inside.

Boss Mechanic: Soul Slash

The timer below the boss timer shows how long you have until Soul Slash.

At 5 seconds remaining, the countdown changes to WARNING.

Soul Slash activates at 0 seconds.

Soul Slash removes your red skulls, reducing your death count. The number of skulls left then becomes the baseline death count for clearing altars.

Boss Mechanic: Scythe Swing

This attack differs between phase 1 and phase 2.

In both phases, though, you can avoid damage by standing between the back of her body and her hair as she swings.

In phase 1, the attack only deals damage in front of her.

In phase 2, she fires skulls both forward and backward immediately after the swing.

Jump as she swings, or stand somewhere the attack won’t hit.

You can dodge the skulls by crouching or jumping.

Boss Mechanic: Bind Followed by a Knockback Attack

She raises her hand and sends souls forward, then swings her scythe for a knockback attack.

Getting hit by a soul binds you, guaranteeing that the scythe swing will hit you too.

Both the bind and the knockback can push you into unwanted red string hits, making this her most dangerous attack for inexperienced players.

However, the long attack animation can also give you a safe opportunity to take string hits from a suitable position or clear an altar.

When she raises her hand to send out souls, move behind Verus Hilla

or use Blink in midair to avoid the attack.

Boss Mechanic: Summoning Adds

She continually summons adds.

They aren’t particularly threatening on their own.

However, when killed, they leave corpses that deal continuous damage to the surrounding area before reviving.

You need to kill them 2 times in Normal mode and 3 times in Hard mode to finish them off for good.

She usually summons 2 in a row.

Having corpses scattered around the map alongside poison clouds makes HP management difficult.

Try to kill the adds in the same spot to leave yourself as much room to move as possible.

Boss Mechanic: Teleport

The boss teleports to your character’s location.

That’s all this mechanic does; the teleport itself deals no damage.

Using it to your advantage is key to managing the fight.

Boss Mechanic: Bone Wave (Green Slam, Purple Slam)

She charges up green or purple energy, then slams down.

This attack hits extremely hard, so do your best to avoid it.

For the green attack, the safe zone is in front of Hilla.

For the purple attack, the safe zone is behind Hilla.

Remember “green front, purple back.” Whenever she starts charging, call out “green front, purple back!!” and move to the matching side to help the rule stick.

Green front, purple back

Boss Mechanic: Summoning Lotus and Damien

When her HP drops below certain thresholds, she summons Lotus and Damien.

Both use knockback attacks, so take them out as soon as they appear.

There isn’t much strategy to this one beyond defeating them quickly...

Strategy Tips

Safe Zone Tips

Attack from spots where red strings rarely appear.
Left) To the left of the hourglass, at the corner of the pyramid’s first tier

Right) To the right of the hourglass, at the corner of the pyramid’s first tier

Strings rarely fall in the center either, but I don’t recommend staying there. It restricts your movement and makes it harder to dodge the green and purple Bone Wave attacks in the corners.

Boss Positioning Tips

For an easier fight, park the boss between the safe zones at the spots marked in purple in the screenshots below.

Left)

Right)

These spots have safe zones on either side. Baiting attacks toward the wall also leaves you plenty of room to move, making the fight easier to manage.

Tips for Timing String Hits

A good time to take string hits is right after Hilla teleports: run to the opposite side,

or take your hits on the opposite side from where Hilla is using her bind attack.

Tips for Timing Altar Clears

Run to the altar and clear it right after Hilla teleports.

Bait Hilla’s bind attack away from the altar, then run over and clear it.

String Management

Taking string hits early in the fight can take longer than you expect. With 5 or 4 lives remaining, try taking one hit in advance, then take the remaining hits and clear the altar when you need it.

You Don’t Need to Keep All 5 Lives

With 5 lives, you need to take 3 string hits.

With 4 lives, you need to take 2 string hits.

Both leave you with 2 green skulls, so one extra string hit while running to the summoned altar or clearing it won’t immediately knock you out. This makes these the safest states to be in.

If an otherwise good run takes a turn and a mistake leaves you with 4 lives after Soul Slash, you haven’t lost much of that safety margin. You can still feel relatively comfortable at this point.

HP Management Tips

Many guides suggest clearing an altar at around 50% or 40% HP. For beginners, though, I recommend thinking about your next altar clear whenever you’re below full HP.

This amount of HP is still fairly safe(?), but you should already be planning to take string hits and clear an altar.

As a beginner, you’ll often take attacks while collecting string hits or clearing altars, so leave yourself plenty of room for things to go wrong.

How Much Time Should I Leave for an Altar Clear?

I generally find that a clear is still possible with around 30 seconds left, even if I need 3 more string hits. However, unlucky overlapping patterns can make that difficult.

For a more comfortable margin, I recommend allowing around 40–50 seconds to take 3 string hits.

As mentioned above, I think the safest approach is to take about 1 hit in advance, collect the remaining hits with around 30 seconds left, then clear the altar about 10 seconds before Soul Slash and focus on dodging.