Reclamation (Holler boss) | Side quests - Jasir's Farm Dying Light: The Following Guide

How to unlock: Read the notice on Jasir's Farm.

Difficulty level: very hard

Rewards: 10000 experience points, 100 Trust points, blueprint (Heavy Venom)

This is an unique quest, because it is entirely about fighting the Freak of Nature, i.e. an exceptionally strong monster that functions as a boss. Defeating him is not an easy task and, as a result, it is a good idea to get properly prepared. These are the most important things to do:

• Try to upgrade all of Crane's basic skills, thanks to which he will not tire that much during the fight and he will be able to use more advanced moves.
• Unlock at least several levels of Legend, connected with The Following expansion. Depending on how you are going to deal with the boss, you can develop, e.g. Two-Handed Weapons (damage dealt by double-handed weapons), Firearms (damage dealt by firearms), Bow (damage dealt by bow) or Throwing (damage dealt by throwing weapons).
• Match Crane's equipment with the planned course of the fight (see below for details - there are many ways to weaken the monster). Therefore, you should get a high-quality melee weapon (preferably upgraded), or firearms; alternatively, you can craft or obtain as many throwing weapons as possible.
• Make sure that your character is in full health and that you have at least ten first-aid kits in your inventory. Also, you can take boosters along that temporarily raise his efficiency.
• Depending on the difficulty, your strategy, and the quality of gear that you are using, the fight with the Freak of Nature can last somewhere between a minute and several minutes. Therefore, it is best to start this quest in the early daytime hours, thanks to which nightfall does not come in the middle of the fight and you will not have to additionally fear hunters.

Holler is in the yard of a small homestead

The place of the fight is a small farm that you can get to by climbing over the main gate or (which is the better idea) by climbing over the wall of the building by which there is no barbed wire (you can either enter the building or climb onto the rooftop). Stay vigilant, because during your first visit to the location, you may encounter a toad on the roof - it is best to use crossbow to eliminate him quickly. The main monster to defeat here is Holler and it is a (much) stronger variation of a mutant. Just to remind you, during the fight the monster attacks with its front limbs and charges, whereas at a distance, it tries to hit Crane with concrete fragments it throws, and in the case of such an attack, you will be knocked back.

Note - apart from the main monster, you also need to keep in mind that sounds of the fight may also attract bolters. If you stand in a spot where they cannot reach you, you can ignore them for the majority of the fight. Otherwise, you should keep an eye on the mini-map and attack them as soon as they come close.

You can attack the boss while remaining on the rooftop of the farm's main building.

If you plan on fighting the boss with ranged attacks, it is a good idea to stand in one of two spots. The first one is the slanting rooftop of the tallest building on the farm. The upside of this tactic is that it provides you with a perfect overview of the area and that bolters will have difficulty coming closer to you. The downside is that, in case you are hit with a fragment of concrete, you can fall off the rooftop and take severe damage. Therefore, it is very important to retreat between the individual attacks and use the roof as a cover.

Another good spot is the side balcony, to the left of the main building. It has been shown in the above screenshot and you can reach it by crossing the yard, jumping off the rooftop, or by crossing the interior of the building. You can easily hide behind the wall here and you do not need to worry that a piece of concrete knocks you down. Some bolters can reach you there, but fortunately, the only path there leads from the yard, because all of the other sides are enclosed with barbed wire. Regardless of which spot you choose, use firearms, bow, crossbow or throwing weapons to weaken Holler gradually (try to destroy the enemy headgear as quickly as possible, and when that happens, focus all of your attacks on the now exposed head of the boss). If you have any explosives on you (e.g. explosive shurikens, frag grenades, or special belts), it is recommended that you use them, because this will make it easier for you to defeat the boss.

Note - The only exception to the tactics mentioned above is a situation in which you want to use shotgun to fight the boss. In such a situation, keep running around the yard and hop back and to the sides whenever it is trying to land an attack. Be prepared to escape into safety, when Crane takes severe damage and is on the brink of dying.

If you want to use melee weapons during the fight, you can of course adopt the tactic mentioned above, where you run around the yard and wait for opportune moments to land your attacks. However, this tactic is highly risky, because the boss does well at close quarters. Therefore, you should consider an alternate mode of attacking and start by reaching the abovementioned side balcony by the main building. Wait until the boss approaches the balcony (he cannot jump onto it) and start attacking him using the advantage of height - an example attack of this type has been shown in the above screenshot. Perform 1-2 swipes with your melee weapon and hide behind the wall, because he will most probably try to throw a concrete fragment at you. This is a good method of fighting, assuming that you have a perfect melee weapon (preferably a two-handed one) that is capable of dealing high damage.

Note - You can SIGNIFICANTLY increase the power of your attacks if you manage to destroy the enemy headgear, or any other key part of the boss' armor (explosive bolts, as well as thrown objects are best for the task). This will allow you to hit the exposed parts of the boss' body and you won't have to worry that a huge portion of your damage will be absorbed by the said armor.

Keep fighting until you defeat Holler.

Keep fighting Holler until you have depleted his entire health bar at the top of the screen. For defeating the boss, you will be rewarded with an unique blueprint (Heavy Venom). To complete this quest, you need to eliminate all of the zombies that may be currently staying in the farm, or around it.