Conan

Hard mode has its moments, certainly. My advice is just a suggestion. I took a particular liking to doing only a sword and shield. it allows u to always block with regular mobs, giving u key advantages to deciding when to strike. my boss advice:

The "dragon" all of the encounters prior to the last are fairly straightforward. for the last fight on top, when u arrive, run to the right, gaurd, and after he swings his tongue, hit the boards. repeat this until it is down. this allows u to knock the pillar down the first time u deplete his health. as for doing that, i just kept repeating gaurd tongue smack smack roll back gaurd repeat.

My last peice of advice may make some of u hate me and some of u thank me. the second bone cleaver fight is by far the most frustrating. getting full comboed is almost all of ur health, and being close to him is quite dangerous. here is what i used for the pain. its slow, but it works safely.

there are a pile of axes on the left side. run in, stone the lion and kill, then grab two axes. take maybe 5 steps away from mr happy face, and double click the RT. This will throw both of them. the first will always be blocked but the second will always hit because he will instantly start throwing his capture rope thing. dodge this, then let him walk towards you. go pick up ur axes, and repeat! it takes a bit, but it is sure fire, and u dont have to worry about getting caught by a mere pixel and losing 3/4 of your health!

on a side note, the final battle, isnt too bad, but if u keep getting hit by tantacles, heres a little help. on ne of the four platforms with the coglike structure, if u stand just to the left,just before stepping in the black goo, u will never get a tantacle spawned to your face. just jump accordingly, and when black goo men show up, i would just grapple y or x kill them, as ur invulnerable in this motion. do be careful if they charge with their 10 hit swing move, as this will really ruin ur da! if u have ne questions, feel free to msg me, and good luck king mode is much more fun :)

I Found hard mode way more difficult than king mode due to the King play-through having access to unlimited magic.

The only thing I can add for hard mode is that a large number of areas don't require you to kill everyone before progressing. A lot of areas can simply be ran through avoiding enemies, so long as a: you know where you are going, and b: you have enough time to open the pathway/door.