# Guitar Hero 3: What is Death Drain... **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [May 25, 2009, 7:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guitar-hero-3-what-is-death-drain/497541 "2009-05-25T07:24:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2009, 7:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guitar-hero-3-what-is-death-drain/497541/1 "2009-05-25T07:24:57Z")
…and how can I avoid or counteract it? I’m about to finish the Medium level. I have only to battle Lou, and to go back and beat Tom Morello. If that can be done. I’ve battled him ten or twelve times now, and each one has ended in Death Drain. And the last time, I thought I had him for sure! I hit him with everything I had – broken string, whammy, double notes and all. He was in the yellow, and I was well into the green. Then I got the Death Drain, and that was it, as always, because I don’t know how I’m supposed to react. So what is this thing, and what can I do about it? ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2009, 8:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guitar-hero-3-what-is-death-drain/497541/2 "2009-05-25T08:04:58Z")
Death Drain in single player is (iirc) what ends up happening if the song drags on too long, in other words you have to beat him faster (yes, it’s annoying as hell). ---
**Author:** ![cckerberos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@cckerberos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cckerberos)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2009, 8:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guitar-hero-3-what-is-death-drain/497541/3 "2009-05-25T08:13:19Z")
Exactly. Death Drain means that time’s up. There’s nothing you can do about it. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2009, 8:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guitar-hero-3-what-is-death-drain/497541/4 "2009-05-25T08:23:22Z")
Okay, thanks! (BTW, it only took me two tries to beat Slash on Medium. And on Easy, I beat him first go.) ---
**Author:** ![Chessic\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7c8e57/32.png) [@Chessic\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chessic_Sense)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2009, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guitar-hero-3-what-is-death-drain/497541/5 "2009-05-25T14:46:53Z")
I can’t seem to get past Lou on hard. My advice- save your powerups. Protect yourself by “sending them over” when the other guy is about to grab a powerup. If you do it right, he’ll miss the power up and you’ll be able to grab the next one. Also, use the powerups when the other guy has a lot of notes to hit. Don’t use it when he’s only strumming slowly. ---
**Author:** ![Robin\_Goodfellow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Robin\_Goodfellow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robin_Goodfellow)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2009, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guitar-hero-3-what-is-death-drain/497541/6 "2009-05-25T19:39:33Z")
I usually just saved up 2-3 powerups and unleash them right when the boss has a solo. That and some luck eventually got me past the final boss. I’m not sure why there are even bosses in a music game, but there you go. ---
**Author:** ![Wolverine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ba9def/32.png) [@Wolverine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wolverine)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2009, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guitar-hero-3-what-is-death-drain/497541/7 "2009-05-26T00:30:48Z")
> [@Chessic\_Sense](#): > > I can’t seem to get past Lou on hard. My advice- save your powerups. Protect yourself by “sending them over” when the other guy is about to grab a powerup. If you do it right, he’ll miss the power up and you’ll be able to grab the next one. Also, use the powerups when the other guy has a lot of notes to hit. Don’t use it when he’s only strumming slowly. Same here. I was able to make it to the 7th set on Expert, but I just could not beat Lou on Hard. They misjudged the scale to make something difficult versus impossible and it hurt my enjoyment of the game. Another tip, collect several powerups and either hit him with two complementary attacks - such as extra difficulty plus whammy bar. Or string several attacks together; just as one is finishing start the next. ---
**Author:** ![Cliffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/59ef9b/32.png) [@Cliffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cliffy)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2009, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guitar-hero-3-what-is-death-drain/497541/8 "2009-05-26T18:00:25Z")
Yeah, I noticed the bosses get a **lot** tougher on Hard. I think it’s because on the easier levels, you can just outlpay them, but by Hard, it really is necessary to strategize about when you throw your attacks – as **Chessie** and others said, I’ve found the most successful strategy to be to save the attack until right before the boss has a tough solo. It’ll drop his meter significantly, and it’ll also prevent him from picking up an attack to use on you. –Cliffy