Spiral Knights - New Tier 3 Boss: Greavstriken

New Tier 3 Boss: Greavstriken

12 replies [Last post]

Sun, 02/19/2012 - 15:32

Verodius

(fields marked with a "*" are open to suggestions)

Backstory:
In the deepest part of Candlestick Keep, known as the Candlestick Sanctum, a Greaver has reached an immense size as a result of feeding off the residual magical energies found in the keep. The Spiral Order has decided to send Knights into the Sanctum to take this creature down before it chooses to head upwards to feed off of Haven. Greavstriken himself resembles a giant Greaver with glowing gold runes/marks all over him

Levels:
His boss levels are similar to regular Candlestick Keep levels, but have fewer Grimalkin and added Greavers.

Depth 24: Sanctum Perimeter
Depth 25: *
Depth 26: Test Subject Containment (Has a more varied range of enemies, such as Beasts & Slimes)
Depth 27: Sanctum of Knowledge (Has more of a "Library" feel.)
Depth 28: Summoning Chamber (Boss level)

The arena where you fight Greavstriken has a Candle in each corner surrounded by respawning breakable blocks. In the center of the room is a large pedestal with a respawning fire ball on top, to one of the sides is a switch that when hit raises the pedestal into the air. The candles do not go out unless he puts them out (see "Boss Fight")

Boss Fight:
For every candle that is not lit Greavstriken takes 25% less damage (so he is invincible if none are lit.)

Phase 1:
Greavstriken has the following attacks during this Phase:
Dark Cyclone (beats his wings back and forth rapidly, this puts out the candles, knocks back nearby Knights and sends out several bullets in all directions)
Eye Beam (sends out three Retrode/Brandish style beams in a <- (like a birds foot without the back) shape)
Charge (self-explanatory)

Phase 2:
After being sufficiently injured Greavstriken flies high into the air, where he cannot be hit. While airborne he has the following attacks:
Swoop (a purple line appears along the ground and a second later he dives across it, dealing heavy damage to anyone in his way.)
Shadow Bomb (calls down several little AoE shadow balls, kinda like the Roarmulus Missile attack.)

The players must try and get him to Swoop over the pedestal, then flip the switch to raise it before he goes over so he crashes into it and gets knocked out, allowing the players to attack him for a bit (he won't swoop towards it if it is already raised.)

Phase 3:
Similar to Phase 1. Greavstriken now glows red instead of Gold
Dark Cyclone now sends out more bullets
The Eye Beam explosions now send out bullets
Charge now leaves a DoT AoE in its wake (like a regular Greaver)
Greavstriken can still use the Shadow Bomb move

Phase 4:
Similar to Phase 2. Greavstriken summons some Greavers when this wave begins (non-respawning) and his body now appears cracked.
The switch for the pedestal is now covered in a force-field.
Greavstriken sends out a trail of bullets to either side of him while Swooping
Shadow Bomb now sends out bullets when it explodes

Greavstriken has a new attack for this phase:
He flies to the center of the room, hovering over the pedestal and projects a single beam (Ironclaw Factory style) from his eye and slowly begins to turn, while constantly sending out bullets in all directions. He does this until he has done a complete 360, whereupon he stops and lowers the force-field protecting the switch. The players then hit the switch which causes the pedestal to raise upwards and set him on fire, whereupon he Swoops away. This must be done several times.

Phase 5 (Final Phase):
Similar to Phase 3. Greavstriken now glows pure white and the cracks are worse, with tendrils of energy coming out them. Both switch and pedestal are now broken.
Greavstriken now summons more Greavers and will now re-spawn them infrequently.
Dark Cyclone no long extinguishes the candles and shoots slightly fewer bullets, but now the bullets explode into more.
Shadow Bombs now leaving a damaging mist (similar to Haze bombs)
Charge now sends out a spread of bullets when it ends.
Greavstriken may fly away and Swoop a few times every now and again.
Greavstriken may still use his "Beam 360" move, but no longer has to pause after doing so.

Items:
The tokens are called "Greaver Gems" and are described as "Gems that glow with an unusual energy, taken from Greavstriken as proof of your victory."

The items that can be bough with these tokens (25 tokens each) are:

Greaver Gem Shield (4-star):
A Shield modeled in the shape of a Greaver that has Normal & Shadow Defense and has a Low Handgun Damage Bonus. The 5-star version (Greavstriken's Visage) has a Medium bonus and is modeled in the shape of Greavstriken himself (as he appeared in Phase 5.)

4-star Description: "The enchanted eye on this shield can be seen through by the user, granting them an unnaturally good aim."
5-star Description: "If the Malevolent gaze of this shield does not give you pause for thought then perhaps the hail of bullets from its user shall."

Void Shard Launcher (5-star Gun):
A gun resembling a crossbow. The regular fire shoots about 6 shards of crystal like a shotgun, the Charge attack fires a single larger crystal that can penetrate multiple enemies (and can Bypass the shield of a Trojan)

Description: "The shards of Crystal launched by this device seem to be slightly out of sync with the rest of reality. "

Ruinous Crystal (5-star Bomb):
When detonated it sends tendrils down into the ground below that come up as dozens of spikes that deal shadow damage to anything in it's AoE (similar to the Lichen Colony's Spike attack) Average damage but very little knockback.

Description: "A Crystal that seems to be reaching out, as if trying to grasp and consume everything around it."

TL:DR: Idea for a Greaver boss (and why are you on a text-based forum if you don't want to read?)

Sun, 02/19/2012 - 16:05

Maeko

Just a little thing from me

Just a little thing from me and does not reflect on the validity of the suggestion;

Greavers haven't been associated with the Keeps- Perhaps a Kat boss would fit better.

- - - - -

On the Suggestion;

1st off, the token prizes are very nice, perhaps add a nice Gunslinger set to match with the shield. And WONDERFUL idea for an AOE shadow bomb, we need one so desperately! But 25 tokens apiece seems a bit... low. Vana's prizes are 30 and up.

Needless to say, though, personally I would hate this stratum so very much, as Greavers and Keeps are my two biggest gripes with the clockworks- not from difficulty, but from just being annoying.

Nevertheless, Well thought out suggestion, Though I think it would be nice for a tier 1 or 2 boss, to give some early gunner gear, but that's just me.

I can only Imagine the rage that will come from a team up of Greavers and Grimalkins... mweheheh...

Mon, 02/20/2012 - 00:37

Verodius

@Maeko: Valid points.

a) I know Greavers aren't a regular part of the keeps but really the only options for a Devil boss I can see are pairing Devils with another group to make up for the fact there are 4 demonic enemies (one of which is a healer) in the game OR having the entire boss stratum consist of Devilites and Greavers, which would be even worse. I did have some ideas for some new Devil enemies but that's a suggestion for another thread.

b) Adding another gunslinger set would be redundant IMO.

c) I would have made the token costs higher but like you said most of the gear he drops is quite badly needed, so I thought the costs would work better if they were lower as a way of saying "sorry you guys haven't had a Gunner Shield/Shadow Bomb until now"

d) I was kinda thinking there would be fewer Grimalkin inside the Sanctum, due to either the wards there still being active or out of fear of Greavstriken.

Sun, 02/19/2012 - 18:42

Magnicth

Amazing idea for a boss!though i absolutely hate greavers, this is a very well thought out boss suggestion, and the token items are needed!(especially the shadow bomb) i really hope the devs see this and consider it!

Sun, 02/19/2012 - 20:14

Addisond

This is a good idea for a boss... level

You are forgetting that greavers are a big joke when carrying a flourish. They always die fast due to their aggressive nature. Though you could incorporate them in to a level, you could not base a boss stratum off them. They would make excellent spawns due to their over and done with nature, as players would have to, ideally, repeatedly fight them off as a difficulty-enhancer. The levels leading up would have to feature lots of other monsters, specifically slower-moving short range ones. Kats could back up the greavers occasionally, but devilites seem like they would be out of place, and throw in more difficulty than should be present. We might end up returning to more zombies, and I for one do not want to see a lot more of those. On to the boss fight, you are primarily using bullets to layer on difficulty. I would much rather see just the enemy in phase one, with slightly progressing bullet adds as you go on. However, I think that the primary difficulty should come from having to avoid a reapeatedly-charging mega-greaver while beating through greavers and kats, attempting to put out candles as you go. Not to say that he can't have some other attacks. No grimalkins on the boss, except perhaps during the flying phases? Dark cyclone seems OP, it should be avoidable somehow, perhaps by lighting him? (though the candles should go out on a regular basis). The trinket rewards are all excellent ideas, with the exception of the shotgun. We already have plenty of gun types. The boss should be expanded to the full stratum.

Just my two cent's worth. Do not regard anything in this as fact; it's an opinion.

Mon, 02/20/2012 - 00:50

Verodius

@Addisond

a) I agree that Greavers alone could not carry a boss stratum, which is why I joined them with Candlestick keep for this suggestion

b) Vanaduke is pretty much "using bullets to layer on difficulty" as well (but yeah, I'm not good when it comes to suggestions of precise attacks/stats)

c) Dark Cyclone would not be a common move, he would only use it ever now and again (or it could be made so that it only puts out whichever candle he's closest to)

d) I didn't want to have too many Greavers because I imagine that would be a massive pain, especially for those of us who don't have good connections.

thanks for the feedback guys, appreciate it

Mon, 02/20/2012 - 03:42

Diamondshreddie

YESH YESH!

me a bomber ^~^ me love the shadow bomb lichen colony-like underground spike attack, and i agree that gunners need a shield!! but bombers kinda need one too, maybe with MSI or DB

Everything here is amazing!!! at first i thougt this might not be so good (i hate greavers) and i would prefer the devilite CEO boss.. but i love this concept!! great work ^_^

Mon, 02/20/2012 - 06:08

Aureate

Greaver Boss with Grimalkins?

FFUUUU-

[insert rageface here]

But the shield. I want it so bad. D;

Mon, 02/20/2012 - 10:17

Verodius

@Diamondshreddie: I'm also a

@Diamondshreddie: I'm also a bomber and I KNOW for a fact that a Bomber shield would be way too OP. We have the Mad Bomber set for that

@Aureate: I'm aware of how rage inducing such a combo would be, maybe the Sanctum can have fewer Grimalkins (as said above about twice)

Also is anyone has any ideas for the Shadow Lair version that'd be nice.

Mon, 02/20/2012 - 22:48

Addisond

Thanks for responding

Vanaduke uses spawns, lava, fire orbs, and other stuff to layer on difficulty (in body form), instead of bullets. Greavers are not a massive pain if dealt with correctly, just a distraction..... but you bombers would have to get a flourish. Doesn't seem different from swordsmen getting blitz needles. I think that one greaver for every player in phase 3, and two in phase 5, would work out nicely (soloing would be impossible if you had to kill 8), maybe a few less if you wanted to throw in kats. They should respawn about once every 20 seconds.... or perhaps we could modify dark cyclone to be periodic? One spin every 20 secs that resets all non-damage progress to zero seems like an apt attack. Considering that you said that you aren't good at coming up with attacks, might I suggest a new organization for them?

Phase one - Only charges and uses cyclone, which takes about two seconds to complete, shoving knights far away from him and releasing bullets. Cyclone is periodic.

Phase three - Charge now releases five bullets at two one twelve eleven and ten o'clock. Greavstriken will now rear up at nearby knights beating his wings, creating a column gust of wind that pushes knights away and stuns/damages those directly in front. He can follow this up with a charge, dealing more damage to those who get buffeted by his wings. Cyclone now has a nerfed cousin, where greavstriken spins once and pushes knights away a bit, also releasing bullets at 30 degree intervals in a similar fashion to how t3 howlitzers shoot. Still cyclones, but cyclone now spawns a greaver per player and has more bullets.

Phase five - Same as before, but greavstriken's charges/spins now leave two bullets at each hour (he now spins twice but the attack takes the same amount of time), and a puddle of stun mist the size of a 4* haze, which in the case of the charge, leaves a trail. The eye-beam thing that you mentioned is present, but is now constantly rotating to a specific player and lasts shorter (also spawns two greavers. Greavstriken also has access to an attack that is essentially a charge but is not one-directional; rather, it curves toward players, forcing players to dodge. He doesn't stop charging once he passes you, however, but keeps trying to get you until a fair amount of time has passed, you get hit, or you crash him in to a wall, which leaves him stunned for a few seconds.

As for the flight stages, let him swoop or bomb as his main attacks. I think we should redesign this stage so that the fire orb in the center actually IS a candle/other fire source, and during these stages is slowly dwindles to a tiny radius, and in phase four it goes out every time you light greavstricken up. Grimalkins should spawn in this phase, making trips to the edges, where the fire orbs have been moved to, perilous, as well as forcing knights to return to the edges to keep the grimalkins from closing in on them in the center. Slags should spawn from a few squares away from the edge of the light, shambling toward the knights. We'll need to make these guys immune to freeze or else players will just mist them away. They would be aided by greavers that spawn from bombs in phase four. Leave the spin attack in, it's pretty cool, but take out the bullets and replace them with 8 greavers that fly directly out of the beam, flying to the edge of the arena with the beam, turning around, and charging back at the players. These would each spawn at a random time during the rotation (idea is to create a challenge to avoiding charging spawns while staying close to greavstriken so you can hit that switch when he's done).

All attacks would eventually be buffed/nerfed to make him balanced, just throwing my ideas out there.

As for an SL.... more spawns, some grimalkins.... more bullets.... more greavstrikens? seems like you COULD fight off multiples if they had to work together to dark cyclone. If there were three nerfed greavstrikens things would get hard, fast. And that's how SLs should be.

Mon, 02/20/2012 - 13:54

#10

Verodius

Sounds good.

Sounds a lot more professional than my basic concept. I think for the most part I prefer your suggestions to mine.

I disagree with your mod to the "360 attack" for Phase 4 though, the point of that phase is that that attack wears him down, which means he has to disable the switches force-field temporarily, giving the players a chance to raise it and set him on fire.

Mon, 02/20/2012 - 15:26

#11

Diamondshreddie

BUT D:

But Verodiusss!!

look at all the stuff swordies get!!!

Mon, 02/20/2012 - 15:39

#12

Addisond

misinterpretations

...okay, I see what you're saying with the 360 attack dealie, totally misinterpreted what it was. But you also misinterpreted what I said about the 360 attack concept, I meant that it would remain as it is. I like the way this works, but phases four/two need to be harder... so I'm editing my previous post to make it harder.

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New Tier 3 Boss: Greavstriken