How to beat Scratch in Alan Wake 2

Alan Wake 2 has its fair share of bosses, with some being tougher than the others. While a few of the boss fights in the sequel won’t cause you to break a sweat, fighting Scratch toward the conclusion of the story can be quite unintuitive.

Don’t sweat it though—we’re here to help you with this challenge.

How to prepare for the Scratch boss fight in Alan Wake 2 

Return 6 is a brief chapter that takes place entirely in the Sheriff’s Station in Bright Falls. You’ll have to fight around half a dozen Taken, including Hammer and Mirror variants. This means you’ll likely need to heal and restock before facing Scratch.

To access your inventory storage and top up your supplies, simply make your way into the Break Room in the stairwell between the main floor and the basement. Heal up and stock up on ammo. If you’re running low, search the medical boxes in the morgue for extra supplies.

The battle with Scratch triggers when you speak to Alan in his cell, at the end of the block on the right. Fortunately, you will have an easier time with Scratch than you did with Mulligan and Thornton because he does not have any ranged attacks. That said, he is very fast, so you will not be able to maintain much distance if you square up and hold your position. 

In case you haven’t already done so before the fight, you’ll want to quickly hightail it into the side room and get the Pump Shotgun. It is much more difficult to fight him with just a pistol and the Sawed-Off because you don’t have a chance with the rifle or Crossbow. Plus, the Pump Shotgun is a great weapon in general, and it’s just what you need for the boss fight with Scratch.

How to beat Scratch in Alan Wake 2

Phase one

Once you’ve spoken to Alan in his cell, Scratch will finally make his appearance, ready to throw hands. He starts within arm’s reach and can deal heavy damage if you let him, which makes escaping to a more open battlefield your top priority at that moment, and fortunately, the door behind you is now unlocked.

Scratch has infinite health, and his Darkness Shield cannot be destroyed. But, you can stagger him with shotgun blasts and abilities like Another Headshot. Using this to your advantage, you should be able to gain a lead in the boss fight. If you need time to use Painkillers or reload, then stunning Scratch for a short amount of time should be just what you need.

Scratch is relentless in his pursuit of Saga while you attempt to reach the end of the fight. The entire process of defeating Scratch is very passive on the player’s part, leaving you exposed to Scratch’s attacks while Alan is under the being’s control.

To quickly reach the final stage of the battle, however, you need to arrive at the backlot of the station as mentioned earlier, where Saga will contact Agent Estevez for assistance. Estevez will direct you to three red glowing crates that are scattered throughout the arena. Now, you need to search for those glowing red crates throughout the area; they will be located at the edges of the lot. You will need to activate three of them to stop Scratch in his tracks.

If you attempt to flee from Scratch and power the crates up by holding down the interact button, he will warp over and fling you aside, dealing significant damage and creating additional problems for you. What makes this whole situation worse is that he is not affected by boosting your flashlight, or flares.

Instead, you will need to create some distance between yourself and his attacks, then unleash a few high-powered shots to deal some damage. Be ready for him to teleport close to you and take a few swings, and if you do get hit, get some boxes between you and your enemy before trying to heal quickly.

Once you have dealt enough damage, Scratch will start screech. This signals that he’s essentially incapacitated for a short while as he regenerates to his normal state again. Use this time to your advantage by racing to the nearest red crate and powering it up.

The generators are located around the Sheriff’s Station backlot. You can find them by looking for the glowing red lights on the machines. The first generator is located right beside the stairs leading out of the Sheriff’s Station. You can also find a supply box just to the right of this generator.

The second generator is located near the first, to the right, behind a stack of crates. The last generator is on the opposite side of the lot, behind a dumpster and a pile of trash bags. You can loot a toolbox on the ledge to the right of this generator.

Power up these red crates three times, once for each crate. Deal enough damage to cause him to stagger back and regenerate, then power up a cube. Try to lure the boss near the one you want to power up next, so it’s faster to get there.

Once all three cubes are powered up, the lights will turn on and knock him down, but this will only be a temporary setback, as Scratch ultimately flees the scene.

Phase two

Once you’ve played through more of the story, you’ll encounter Scratch again, and can finally finish what you started in your previous encounter with the being controlling Alan.

Your primary objective in this area is to activate the Containment Cell in the corner of the lakeshore. To do this, you need to have all three bright lights shine on it at the same time. Estevez controls one of the lights from the higher ground above, but you need to position the other two lights correctly so they are facing the Containment Cell.

Like in the battle in the backlot of the Sheriff’s Station, you will need to interact with these devices, but Scratch will quickly throw you aside—unless you stun him first. Make sure you pack a punch with the shots you aim directly at Scratch using whatever ammo you have left, and look around the beach to find ammo dropped by the Taken right before phase two of the Scratch fight.

He can quickly teleport to you and start swinging his weapon in the same manner as the previous encounter, so be ready to evade his attacks and retaliate with a shotgun blast or several strikes to the face. When you fire at him, try to lure him near one of the light fixtures by the Containment Cell. When you see the boss’s body go stiff as he looks to the sky to regenerate, Estevez will be able to stun him with the single light.

As soon as you get that cue, sprint to one of the two light fixtures—which look like the tall lamps with the red handles sticking out to the side—and hold down the interact button to begin shifting the bright light toward the Containment Cell. You will likely only be able to rotate the light halfway before Estevez’s lamp powers down and Scratch breaks free. When you hear them yelling warnings, step away from the light when Scratch gets close and repeat the process.

When the fight resumes, he often awakens from being stunned by summoning waves of darkness that deal devastating damage if you’re too close. To avoid this, keep your distance and use ranged shots to fire at the boss as you lure him once more next to the light fixtures. If you find yourself low on health, don’t hesitate to take a break from combat while he’s stunned to heal yourself up rather than rushing to swerve a light fixture around.

When you do return to shifting the light fixtures, however, keep in mind that you have to hold down the interact button until you hear a click and the prompt no longer appears. You will need to complete this task for both lights surrounding the containment cell. With both lights are pointing at the cell, you can end the battle by luring the boss inside, although things soon take a turn for the worst.