I have a confession: whenever a game asks me to defeat a giant household appliance, I hear my mother’s voice telling me to stop roughhousing indoors. In It Takes Two, the Vacuum Tower boss is exactly that kind of glorious nonsense, and in 2026 it remains one of the best co-op arguments disguised as a boss fight. You and your partner need to be a team, which is a polite way of saying you need to stop yelling at each other for eleven minutes and aim a hose. The whole fight is a crash course in communication: dodge, suck, launch, repeat, and try not to get bonked by a very dramatic vacuum with anger issues.
The Vacuum Tower does not ease you in. It starts throwing explosive canisters at you like a grumpy uncle tossing firecrackers at a family picnic. For the opening stretch, your only job is to stay fast on your feet and avoid every incoming canister. Do not try to be a hero. Heroism is how you end up respawning and pretending it was lag. After a few moments, a platform rises in the back of the room, with a vacuum hose attached to its top and bottom. This is your cue to split roles. One player grabs the top part of the hose, and the other grabs the bottom. The bottom-hose player sucks up the incoming canisters; the top-hose player launches them back at the boss. It is a two-person conveyor belt of petty revenge, and I love it.
That first counterattack deals damage, and the Vacuum Tower responds by slamming its arms into the ground. Dodge that. Then repeat the hose attack. No, really, repeat it. The boss is not subtle, and neither is my desire to finish before my coffee gets cold.
After you harm the Vacuum Tower a second time, the fight gets spicier. The boss starts launching mines at you, which is its way of saying it has run out of creative insults and is now using explosive ones. Avoid the mines, but remember a useful detail: once a mine has been avoided, that area stays safe for a considerable amount of time. You can use that breathing room to line up the hose attack again. Then there is one more round of mine-dodging and arm-slamming before you get another chance to hit the boss. This is the part where calm voices win. If your partner says “left,” go left. If your partner says “suck,” do not make it weird; grab the hose.
Finally, the Vacuum Tower collapses, and its hose falls down within reach. Attach the hose to the boss’s eyes to finish the fight. Yes, you read that correctly. The final step is basically giving a giant vacuum a very aggressive eye exam. It is silly, it is gross, and it is exactly the kind of co-op weirdness that makes It Takes Two memorable.
Here is my quick cheat sheet for the whole encounter:
| Phase | What the boss does | What you do |
|---|---|---|
| Opening | Launches explosive canisters | Dodge until the hose platform rises |
| First hose round | Keeps launching canisters | Bottom player sucks, top player launches |
| After first damage | Slams arms | Dodge, then repeat hose attack |
| Mine phase | Launches mines | Avoid mines; cleared spots stay safe |
| Final collapse | Hose drops | Attach hose to the boss’s eyes |
A few survival tips from someone who has absolutely panicked during this fight:
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🧹 Communicate roles before grabbing the hose. “I suck, you shoot” is a sentence that will haunt your friendship.
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🏃 Keep moving during canister and mine phases. Standing still is just volunteering to be a fireworks display.
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🎯 Trust the cleared safe zones after mines. They are little islands of not-exploding, and you should respect them.
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😤 Do not blame your partner for a dodge you fumbled. The vacuum is the enemy, not your co-op buddy.
It Takes Two is playable on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, and PC, and the Vacuum Tower remains a perfect reminder of why the game works. It forces you to talk, trade jobs, and laugh at the absurdity of weaponizing household appliances. So grab a partner, keep your cool, and remember: the vacuum may have arms and mines, but you have teamwork and a hose. No pressure, right? 😅