At the climax of Deltarune Chapter 1, players face off against the King, the imposing ruler of the Dark World and one of the first major bosses that truly tests your approach to conflict. Whether you’re the type to charge into battle or seek a peaceful solution, this fight allows both, though the game won’t always spell that out directly.

Fighting the King the Traditional Way

If you're playing aggressively, the King functions like a fairly traditional RPG boss with a twist. Your main characters: Kris, Susie, and Ralsei. each has a role in chipping away at his health while keeping the team afloat.

The trick to this approach is unlocking and using the right abilities at the right time. Early in the fight, Kris uses the “Act” command and chooses to talk through Ralsei. Doing so unlocks “Dual Heal,” an incredibly useful group healing spell that becomes crucial as the battle ramps up. Next, focus on offense. Let Susie strike, and eventually, you’ll be able to unlock “Red Buster” by having Kris talk through her. This ability delivers a heavy blow at the cost of TP (Tension Points), which you can build by defending or narrowly avoiding attacks. Balance is everything here. Use Red Buster and physical attacks to push the King through his health pool, and fall back on Dual Heal or items when needed. It’s a war of attrition, but one you can win with patience and timing.

Dodging Attacks

What makes the King particularly memorable is the design of his attacks. All of them are based around playing card motifs, primarily spades and they escalate in complexity as the battle continues. In one pattern, spade-shaped projectiles fall from above or rise from below in rhythmic waves. Another sees red lines appear before arrows charge down their paths, forcing you to quickly memorize danger zones and stay mobile. The King will sometimes trap your soul inside a box that bounces across the screen, demanding careful positioning to avoid the spiked walls and any added obstacles. One of the trickier moments comes when the box is filled with spinning hooks or flooded with spades while you’re boxed in. These sections require both anticipation and calm movement. Flailing rarely helps. Getting familiar with the tempo of each attack is often more useful than raw reaction time.

The Nonviolent Path 

You can quietly culminate the fight in Deltarune with a pacifist resolution. Unlike other classic RPGs, there won’t be any yellow text cue or indicator of your progress. Instead, the game allows victory through passive endurance. In this case, every character must be set on Defend for each turn. You are not acting or attacking; you are simply trying to outlast. After many turns (usually more than ten), the King’s monologue and attacks will begin to reach his narrative apex and spiral towards collapse from exhaustion.

While this path is slower, it uniquely alters emotional gratification at the end which makes it worth considering. As you’re rewarded with deepened connection after achieving thematic dialogue change: resistance, choice, and mercy, all without wielding a weapon. During this approach, if you take a lot of damage, make sure to use healing items sparingly. Once all players are fully healed, recover back into passively defending and waiting until something happens. It helps to think of this as enduring instead of battling like weathering a hurricane rather than fighting one.

The Bigger Picture

No matter which approach you take, defeating the King unlocks important plot elements and leads to Chapter 2. It’s worth mentioning that Deltarune is not only gauging your skill but also how you interact with the game. Every action, including fighting, flags something to the game about what sort of gamer you are. And this is precisely what makes the King battle so special. This battle isn’t merely a climactic fight, it reflects your motivations. You can breezy Blitz through it just for fun with no thought of strategy in how you go about things or adopt an ultra defensive stance as a pacifist, and both approaches work.

Fighting King in Deltarune Chapter 1 is not simply a conventional RPG encounter; it gauges your playstyle, patience, and values. The game provides you with multiple options, some more direct than others, for example, defeating him through aggressive skill uses or being nonviolent and enduring. Regardless of how the battle unfolds, the insight the game gives you goes much deeper than simple victory.