NieR: Automata: Walkthrough & Boss Guide
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🗺️ Main Story Walkthrough
Tick off each step as you go — your progress saves locally, no account needed.
This page is a spoiler-heavy outline of NieR: Automata's playthroughs with notes on the main boss fights, using the Wikipedia plot summary and Fextralife's boss pages. It does not cover side quests, weapon upgrades or the secret endings, and it does not give a complete chapter-by-chapter route; where we could not verify where or when a fight happens, we say so.
You begin as 2B, with 9S, in android strikes against the Machines. Over the first two playthroughs, 2B kills Adam after he captures 9S, 9S learns that humanity went extinct long before the invasion, and 2B and 9S kill Eve; 9S, infected with Eve's logic virus, is then killed by 2B. The first boss is Marx at the Abandoned Factory (quest Factory Recon), followed there by Engels. In the Amusement Park the story boss is Beauvoir (also called Simone), reached during the MIA quest after a Goliath Tank fight and a Roller Coaster ride.
As 9S you combine light attacks with hacking into enemies. Several fights change when you play as 9S: Fextralife notes that 9S can use a hack to end Engels' first phase, and Grün is fought as 9S on the second playthrough. Wikipedia gives no further detail on the hacking mechanic, so we do not describe it here.
YoRHa launches a full-scale invasion and a logic virus corrupts most units. 2B is infected and asks A2 to kill her, and 9S swears revenge on A2. The perspective splits between A2 and 9S, who learn the war is a cycle both sides have trapped each other in. In the final confrontation 9S challenges A2 and you choose which character to play: as A2 she saves 9S and sacrifices herself to destroy the tower, as 9S both androids kill each other and 9S is offered the chance to join the now-peaceful Machine Network.
Once both of those endings are unlocked, the Pods defy orders in a shoot 'em up section during the credits. Afterwards you can sacrifice your save data to help other players; this is optional.
⚔️ Boss Guides
Marx
Where
Marx is a Special Unit Machine and the first boss, fought at the Abandoned Factory during Factory Recon.
Attacks
Fextralife lists a Buzzsaw (the saw lies flat and advances slowly), a Vertical Thrust that slams down toward your position, a Horizontal Sweep and slow Orb Release. After each attack the buzzsaw stays on the ground for a moment, which is your window to attack.
Engels
Where
Engels is the Goliath boss that comes directly after Marx at the Abandoned Factory, during the Factory Recon and Goliath Take Down quests.
Attacks
In the first phase it uses a Clap between its buzzsaws, Smash attacks with burning arms and an underwater attack from below; after a diagonal strike it leaves a buzzsaw stuck in the ground, which leaves it open. In the second phase it adds homing Rockets, a Vertical Slash, a Main Beam from its face, a field-wide Web Attack and a Horizontal Sweep. As 9S, a hack ends the first phase.
Beauvoir (Simone)
Where
Beauvoir is a required story boss in the Amusement Park during the MIA quest. You first fight the Goliath Tank (Amusement Park), then ride the Roller Coaster, and when the ride drops you face Beauvoir.
Attacks
Sweeping Blades that speed up as she takes damage, Bouncing Orbs after she raises her skirt, Homing Bullets and Homing Missiles, Sweeping Lasers and a Bouncing Laser of seven expanding circles.
Adam
Where
Fextralife places Adam's fights in the Copied City and the alien mothership and lists related quests in Route A Chapter 03, Route A Chapter 08 and Route B Chapter 5, but it does not say which contains the boss fight and gives no move list, so we do not describe his attacks. Wikipedia says 2B kills Adam after he captures 9S.
Eve
Where
Fextralife ties Eve to the City Ruins and to Chapter 01, 05 and 10 quests but does not state where the battle happens, and it does not describe his attacks beyond powerful attacks using an arm clad in debris. Eve regenerates no matter how often he is killed; he is defeated when 9S hacks the network, which separates him from it.
Grün
Where
Grün is a non-optional fight in the Flooded City, part of the Missile Supply Mission quest from Anemone. You control 2B on the first route and 9S on the second. Starting the quest automatically fails many side quests in the current run.
Attacks
Fextralife lists a large Laser, slow Orb release in all directions, smaller machine units, Missiles and an EMP Generator whose four rim orbs must be cleared before the center orb. Route A ends when the missile impact timer runs out; on Route B it ends when you hit the missile.
Hegel
Where
A2 fights Hegel in the Desert Zone during the quest Destroy Machines; it is the first Goliath-class Special Unit Machine A2 faces and is not optional.
Mechanics
Hegel has nine sections. Its first phase uses Orb Rain, Eye Orb Release, Laser Eyes, Roll and Charge attacks. Attack one section at a time and evade between attacks. Fextralife lists Hegel at level 48 and says being level 55 or higher helps. Once all sections are grounded and at zero health, they surround you with an unavoidable EMP, which starts a hacking sequence.
Sources & fact-check
Release facts, mechanics and boss details on this page were checked against these sources on 12 October 2026. Spotted an error? Tell us.