Bosses

Guardian of Depths
The Guardian of Depths, before update 0.78, was the first of the then four bosses of the game, and by far the smallest and most fragile. This is still the case.

Appearance


While the Guardian can look quite intimidating to a new player, its appearance is very decieving.

Boss Behavior
Once you enter the boss' lair, immediately a rumbling and crackling sound will be heard, along with a visual effect of the water being disturbed. Then the boss will come into existence at that very point (with no shells at first), and snap twice, beginning the encounter.

They will idle in the spot where they spawned until the player travels a certain distance to the boss, then the boss will casually make a move torwards the player, and will attempt to attack them with its Claws. If one attempts to get too close (or if one attemps to use a ranged weapon), the Guardian will blow them away with its Pushers, however they have a notably slow reaction time. If the boss loses both of its Claws, it will retreat back to where it started, and will attempt to blow players away from itself in defense. If this does not happen, after a certain trigger (unsure, don't remember), the boss will give up and go back to its idle state until the player enters range again.

Strategies
There are more or less two ways to slay this boss. One is to destroy the Claws  first, preferably in a single hit, with two weapons both poised to attack the same Claw. If you do it quickly enough, they will not react in time and will lose both weapons before it can push you away at all. The Guardian then can only defend themselves with their Pushers, which they can't use indefinitely as they will briefly run out of energy. Proceed to rush to destroy the middle Pusher first, exposing the head, and then make a decisive strike to finish them off. This can all be done in approximately 7 seconds.

The second (mostly for Vagorians due to the downsides of their weapons), is to attempt to maneuver around the Guardian and get behind them. If you succeed, the Guardian has no way to do anything to you, and you can proceed to split the "tail" in two, then destroy one last Chitin before destroying the head, killing them.

Appearance


Appears to vaguely resemble a dress if turned upside down... If dresses fired a hail of shrapnel below them, that is.



Her original appearance in the alpha version.

Boss Behavior
Much like the Guardian, she will not appear until you get a certain distance away from her spawn point, then the rumbling and swirling waters cutscene will appear, and she will spawn. She starts out idle with no poison mines placed, but once the cutscene ends she will constantly lay them down at a consistent rate.

Same as most other bosses, she will idle and not approach until the player enters her range (she will be facing south), then she will halt her minelaying and begin to turn around, chasing the player a distance while repeatedly firing her Flak, launching a total of 21 projectiles every 0.81 seconds, which is incredibly devestating if it hits. Once the player moves out of range, she will turn around, and dash back to her spawn while laying poison mines, going back to her idle state. If all of her Flak  are lost, instead of turning around to attack the player when in range, she will try to ram into the player while laying her mines.

Strategies
There are two main strategies. The first, (if you are an Advena  or Buginis, or have the following zooids adapted), has the least risk involved. It is very simple: have enough movers to be able to dash out of the way of her range, and have Squirter(s)/Miner(s). Approach her just enough to get her to chase (while avoiding her poison), and then spam your poison while backing away, as she will recklessly charge regardless, and her Flak (along with other zooids) will slowly take damage from the poison, which she cannot heal. Do this a couple times, and the damage will quickly add up to disarm her. Then you can either continue to do so to destroy her Miners so you can then slay her with no consequence, or you can instead use the opportunity to rush past her poison, destroy any zooids blocking the head, and kill it.

The other is to simply rush her while outmaneuvering her back, attacking from the side or front to either sever her "tail", or straight to the head (more difficult) to try to kill her as quickly as possible.

Appearance


This image does not include the entirety of Mhajh'tha, and only includes the core rather than the tentacles. The tentacles always look the same, except that randomly, specific Sizzlers are replaced with a "spawner" zooid that resembles a red Sizzler, which spawns the minions at the cost of structure.



Their original appearance in the alpha version.



One of the 2 minion variants, internally known as "Mhajh'tha's Leecher"



The other minion variant, known as "Mhajh'tha's Sizzler"



Original appearance of first minion.



Original version of the second.

Boss Behavior
Per usual, you enter the lair of this boss: The Pass of Mhajh'tha. Curiously, you notice nothing appears to stop you, and you see 3 "Food" located in roughly the center of the room. Approach, and only then will this colossus of a sipho reveal itself with the standard rumbling and swirling water, encompassing the entire room with their tentacles and trapping you in.

Mhajh'tha is unlike the other bosses in that they do not chase, or move at all. Instead, they utilize an ability that so far only they have access to: "consuming" their own tentacles to convert the nutrition into new sipho minions to do do its bidding. They can, of course, attack you with their many, many Leeches if you get close enough, and utilizing their countless Nervefibers to heal themself constantly.

The minions will chase you up to the bottleneck of the room you enter, and then will halt and go back to being idle. The minions have practically no self-preservation, and their attacks will affect each other, oftentimes leading to a "conga line" of them zapping and eating eachother. Mhajh'tha's Sizzlers are faster at moving forwards, but can only ram and zap you. Mhajh'tha's Leechers on the other hand, are not as fast, but are much faster at turning, especially left. They have odd movement due to their asymmetry, often moving somewhat diagonally. They have less energy regen.

Strategies
There are two, one is faster but more wasteful (unless you have lost wealth), and the other is slower, but gives much more reward. The first is to, as soon as the boss spawns, immediately rush to the base of the tentacles, and sever them with a concentrated strike, doing the same to the other as soon as you can, to prevent the boss spawning any minions to aid itself, and leaving TONS of snacks for you to heal yourself, or gain nutrition you have lost. Mhajh is now a sitting duck, and you have all the time in the world to (carefully) destroy each zooid (preferably with weapons) as quickly as possible to both disarm, lower their healing, and progess further to his core. Avoid the grip of the Leeches so as to not be pulled in and consumed, and be careful not to get stunned by the Sizzlers, leaving you to the mercy of the former. Once you dig in all the way to his head, finish it off with a precise strike, and the boss falls.

The second is similar, but a bit more challenging and time-consuming: let Mhajh'tha destroy their tentacles to spawn their minions, but use it to your advantage. Kill the minions one by one as quicky as possible, and nab the nutrition left behind for yourself (do note the other minions can absorb it themselves, so you gotta be quicker than them). Mhajh'tha loses many Nervefibers this way, and eventually (after spawning more minions at a time, speeding up), they will deplete their supply, and you can proceed the same as if you had just severed the tentacles, (only you have recieved many times more nutrition than the death of a single boss would normally give you, if done properly).

Appearance
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Boss Behavior
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Strategies
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