Cataris - Obtain the Diffusion Beam - Metroid Dread Guide - IGN (2024)

Welcome to IGN's walkthrough for Metroid Dread. This page features information on your third visit to the Cataris region, including how to locate the and defeat the boss of Cataris, and how to get the Diffusion Beam and return to Dairon.

Back in Cataris, it’s time to make use of your Varia Suit to explore some of the hotter locales in this region.

Video Guide: Unlocking the Diffusion Beam

Be sure to head down from the Red Teleportal and stop by the Save Station before moving right - crouching before the hole to shoot out the block at the end, then rolling through over to the Ammo Recharge Station.

Reach the Boss Lair

Back at the Ammo Recharge Station near the Red Teleportal, take the bottom left door into the heated rooms and quickly duck through the magma to make it into the tunnels below, where large roaring can be heard.

You’ll need to dispatch two rock creatures in quick succession, so don’t be afraid to unload some missiles on them since you won’t have room to dodge their blast attacks. Once they are out of the way, drop down into the pit below.

Watch for wall-crawling annoyances as you carefully jump over the magma pits to reach a series of walls with beam blocks hidden in them to carve a path forward, and unload missiles on the two rock creatures guarding the entrance to another small room.

Hop across the magma pool to morph ball into a tunnel that drops you out in front of another boss door. Carefully approach the eye guarding the door to get it to lunge at you, and counter to kill it and fill up on missiles and energy before engaging the next boss.

Kraid Boss Fight

The infamous beast Kraid has been chained to this arena, but that won’t stop him from trying to kill you with a plethora of attacks. Note, there's also an alternate way to defeat Kraid (if you sequence break the game), as the following video details.

While he can’t swipe at you for the moment, he will fling claws at you in a near endless supply, and you’ll need to either skirt around them, or hit them with rapid fire shots to break them into pieces (and gain recovery items).

He can also start belching out a number of orbs and fireballs. They are a bit easier to dodge, and you can even aim at his upturned mouth with your charged shot or missiles - but if you try to destroy the eggs with rapid shots, be sure to keep dodging the fireballs that can’t be destroyed. It's easiest to stand towards the very left and fire up at the eggs. When a fireball appears, simply step forward a little and keep firing. Then, when the second fireball appears, step forward again. Repeat, until you clear the third fireball.

Kraid can only be damaged in his mouth, and only when its open, so you’ll want to first hit him in his face with a single missile or charged shot to cause him to roar, and then unload a salvo as quick as possible to maximize your damage impact before he starts throwing projectiles to get in your way. Since he often tosses claws in an arc, be sure to aim up and down to hit incoming claws while firing your missile barrage -- you’ll likely damage Kraid and get missiles back just from doing this, so don’t be stingy!

After taking enough damage, Kraid will destroy the platform and move you to a lower level, exposing his three belly buttons. One of them is a big weak point you can keep sustained fire on to damage him, but he’ll often shoot out purple blobs that splash the arena, so be ready to jump and dodge around them. It's easiest to just stand at the very left of the platform, and jump straight up right before the purple blog hits.

When he starts pelting out bouncing eggs, you’ll also want to destroy them quickly, or risk taking too much damage from them. Luckily, a charged shot can usually do the trick, and you can try lining up a shot to hit the eggs and his belly right as he spits them out to hit both in one go. Keep charging your beam and concentrate on the eggs. Don't waste your missiles here -- the charge beam is the perfect weapon to hit the eggs and deal damage to his belly button.

Wait until he stops firing and his belly begins to shake as three sets of scaly missiles get shot out. If you time things right, you can jump up before each missile embeds itself in the wall to use as platforms, taking you all the way up to a thin magnet rail.

This is your chance to quickly hit his face and make him open his mouth to deal more punishing damage from a barrage of missiles. Watch Kraid's movement. When he gets closer and lifts his claw to strike, counter, or if you're struggling with the timing, jump straight up to avoid it. If you do it correctly, you miss his attack and grab hold of the magnet rail again, and you can continue to attack.

He may also grab his belly and try to shield the wounded spot. This is a sign that he's about to unleash all his scaly missiles at once, instead of in a pattern. When he does that, simple duck under the lowest one, and the impact will cause the magnet rail to drop down to your level.
Kraid will usually try to knock you off the rail at this point by flinging claws at you from different angle, so don’t be afraid to take a break from his face to quickly jump up to avoid them or swat them away before continuing your assault, otherwise you’ll be sent back to the bottom.

If you see him wave his arms around in preparation to swat you, get ready for well-timed counter. If you can pull it off, you may enter a quick time event which is your cue to mash those missile shots to deal a ton of damage to Kraid. If he just roars instead, keep firing those missiles until he smashes you down.

Keep up the assault, and try to get back up to his face level as much as possible while dodging the projectiles he vomits when you’re at the bottom. Enough missile shots to his face or a barrage from a quicktime event will usually trigger his demise by the end.

Hop up the magnet rails above after you defeat the boss, and crawl into a tunnel that deposits you next to an Item Sphere room, where you can find a Chozo Statue holding the Diffusion Beam.

This beam, added to your Wide Beam, lets your projectiles explode on impact, and allows charged attacks to deal damage through walls, useful for exploding things deep in the earth.

Give it a try by shooting at the pulsing mass in the rocks above the room, to blast open a path out of the room. There’s another one at the top of the room to the right, creating a new path leading over to a Purple Teleportal to take you back to Dairon in search of an upgrade for your Morph Ball.