The final boss Higgs in Death Stranding 2 has three phases.
In Phase 1, simply scan to locate Higgs and keep chasing him to deal damage.
Phase 2 is an upgraded version of Phase 1, requiring players to move to high ground at specific moments to avoid electrical damage.
Phase 3 is a close-quarters guitar fight with Higgs.

Death Stranding 2 Final Boss Higgs Strategy

Phase 1

Higgs appears right behind the red samurai. After the cutscene, the battle begins. At this time, you’ll notice Higgs is extremely fast.

You must use scanning to determine his position, and since there are many obstacles on the field, keep moving to find a good angle.

When you see Higgs, just unload damage into him. He will always run first, disappear, and you need to scan again to find him.

But always be prepared for Higgs to suddenly appear. If he jumps out unexpectedly, cautious players can dodge first before attacking.

After Higgs disappears, he usually respawns in the area ahead—just scan and keep running forward.

Of course, once you reach the end of the maze, you must turn back to look for him again.
For this phase, the damage pattern is basically: he disappears → you chase → unload damage.

Phase 2

When the subtitle “Higgs: time to play a different little game” appears, the phase transition begins.

Approach him and Higgs will use his guitar to fire flames at the player. When you get burned, run immediately and use Cryptobiotes to heal.

There will be another wave afterward, also with a subtitle prompt—Higgs says, “Here comes another wave.”

At this time, be sure to scan and run. Pick up Timefall Worms you see along the way.
After this, Higgs will appear with a Z-axis height difference, climbing onto elevated cover.

Later there will be electric damage—do NOT stand in water, since it conducts electricity and you will be shocked.

Phase 3

Both characters engage in close-range guitar combat.
At the beginning, you can directly attack Higgs, but he will later pull back and dodge.

He will then teleport toward you and perform a downward strike.
When he does this, block it and then immediately counterattack.

You could say villains die from talking too much—his startup animations are very long.
Except for the teleport downward strike, you can usually interrupt him directly with guitar attacks.