Non-Loop

Solidus is the eight and final boss fight of the game. He can be defeated lethally (HF Blade) or non-lethally (HF Blade / Punches / Kicks / Aerials).

Solidus has two phases, the first phase where Solidus plays defensively and will try to keep his distance from Raiden while firing missiles at him. During the second phase, Solidus is more aggresive and will try to attack Raiden as much as possible.

For loop strategies, Solidus's attacks aren't a problem unless you need a backup.

Difficulty	Very Easy	Easy	Normal	Hard	Extreme/European Extreme
Health	75	100	100	95	95
Katana	5	7	7	8	7
Strong slash	20	24	24	26	12(/26)
Missile	22	42	42	46	44
Tentacle throw	10	12	12	13	12
HF Blade	4+5+7	3+3+4	3+3+4	2+2+3	1+1+2

Punches deal 1 damage to Solidus on all difficulties.
Kicks deal 2 on Normal and below, 1 on Hard or higher.
Solidus's tentacle sweep deals 1 damage on all difficulties.

Transition out of Phase 1:

After the final hit of Phase 1, Solidus will attempt to be on the opposite side of the rooftop to the player to play a cutscene.
To minimize his dash there, you want to move Raiden/Snake to the opposite side.
In Boss Survival, the timer pauses during this segment, so no time is saved/lost. However, this is a timesave in Plant and Snake Tales.

← Short Dash | Long Dash →

Transition into Phase 2:

After the cutscene, Solidus will attempt to attack the player, but will first dash around a few times.
The amount of dashes is random, however there are a few positions to stand that is more likely than not to cause to dash only once.
Whichever position you choose should also depend on where Solidus is as he transitions out of Phase 1 to maximize the time saved.

← Position #1 | Position #2 →

Non-loop strategies are the easiest to learn, but are not the ideal ways to fight Solidus. The exception to this is the Very Easy difficulty, where Solidus cannot be looped.

During phase 1, keep your distance from Solidus and wait for him to fire missiles. Do an aerial in between the missiles and slash him 3 times. After that, move away from him to have him fire missiles again. Rinse and repeat until this phase is over.

During phase 2, keep your distance from Solidus and wait for him to attack you. Either block / parry / avoid his attack and slash him 3 times. After that, move away from him and him attack again. Rinse and repeat until the fight is over.

Loop strategies are a little bit harder to learn, but are the ideal ways to fight Solidus on difficulties Easy, Normal, Hard, Extreme, and European Extreme.

General Loops for Solidus

For all loops, you want to knock Solidus over when approaching the end of either phase to maximize damage. Its a good idea to keep count of how many hits were done. For loops that involve swiping the blade to damage Solidus, each cycle has two hits and you want to swipe/stab for the third hit on the final cycle. For loops that involves punching, each cycle has two hits and you want to punch a third and fourth time on the final cycle.

This loop is ideal for Easy, Normal, and Hard. This can be done with both the lethal and non-lethal HF Blade.

Swipe Solidus twice on his good eye to have him block it.
He will try to retialiate by kicking, but swipe him twice on his bad eye before he gets a chance to attack.
Repeat Steps 1 and 2 until the phase is over.
For the final set of hits in Phase 1, do a third hit with the blade.
1. If using the Lethal H.F Blade, stabbing instead of swiping for the third hit is slightly faster.

Easy (Lethal Blade)

Phase 1: 7 sets of 2 swipes, 1 set of 3 swipes
Phase 2: 6 sets of 2 swipes
Total = 29 swipes overall

Normal [Substance] (Non-Lethal Blade)

Phase 1: 9 sets of 2 swipes, 1 set of 3 swipes
Phase 2: 6 sets of 2 swipes
Total = 33 swipes overall

Normal [Sons of Liberty] (Non-Lethal Blade)

Phase 1: 6 sets of 2 slashes, 1 set of 3 slashes
Phase 2: 5 sets of 2 slashes

Hard (Lethal Blade)

Phase 1: 11 sets of 2 swipes, 1 set of 3 swipes
Phase 2: 11 sets of 2 swipes
Total = 47 swipes overall

This loop is ideal for Extreme and European Extreme. This is a non-lethal strategy as it requires punches.

Swipe Solidus twice on his good eye to have him block it.
He will try to retialiate by kicking, but punch him three times (punch twice, wait a moment, punch again) on his bad eye before he gets a chance.
Repeat Steps 1 and 2 until the phase is over.
For the final set of hits in Phase 1, do one of the following:
- Two consecutive double punches.
- One double punch followed by a swipe of the non-lethal blade.

Avoid accidentally kicking when punching three times.

Extreme/European Extreme:

Phase 1: 15 sets of 3 punches, 1 set of 4 punches
Phase 2: 14 sets of 3 punches, 1 set of 4 punches
Total = 96 punches overall

This loop is a safer version of Loop Types 1 and 2. This is slower than the other two but easier to pick up.

Similar to the instructions for Loop Types 1 and 2 except wait for Solidus to kick after swiping at his good eye twice. When he kicks, block it and either swipe twice (Easy, Normal, and Hard) or punch three times (Extreme and European Extreme). After that, go to his good eye and swipe twice to reset the loop. Rinse and rpeeat until each phase is over. Avoid accidentally kicking when punching three times.

This loop might be the easiest to learn, but is also the slowest. It abuses the invincibility frames Raiden has while recovering from the hanging animation.

Go to a ledge and start hanging from it. As Soldius begins to attack Raiden, climb back up and either swipe twice (Easy, Normal, and Hard) or punch three times (Extreme and European Extreme). After that, go back to the ledge and start hanging again. Rinse and repeat until each phase is over. Avoid accidentally kicking when punching three times.