@Raisin: The thing about bombs is that they have this huge red radius showing where they're going to explode, making it far easier to avoid them than, say, a Sword or Gun charge. If Dark Reflection's tossing bombs everywhere, he'll be mince meat for the gunner.

@Utrex: I know Frankenfemur's a little silly. But we have Firestorm Citadel as a more "serious" undead stage (if not technically an Undead boss), so why not have a little fun with zombie frankenstein pirates?

@White-Past: The quills will act like regular quills, ignoring invincibility frames in the process. If you get hit with a quill, it'd probably be best to keep your distance.

And now for another boss. Introducing...

KRIMSON AND AZULEX
Gelatinous Alien Invader Twins
TYPE: Slime/Slime
WEAK TO: Shadow, Elemental, Piercing/Normal
RESISTANT TO: Normal/Shadow, Elemental, Piercing
IMMUNE TO: Stun, Fire, Curse/Freeze, Shock, Poison

Krimson and Azulex are lichen princes. Didn't think the Lichens had a hierarchy? They do, and Krimson and Azulex are both equally qualified for the throne. To put off the fighting that would result from one of them being proclaimed heir, they instead decide it by who can kill the most Knights. Azulex is a blue lichen the size of the smallest Giant Lichen Colony, but with a ridiculous amount of spikes (like three rows that go all around his body); Krimson is a few Lichens larger than Azulex, but only has as many spikes as a regular Giant Lichen Colony.

You may notice the weird resistances and weaknesses here. See, Krimson is vulnerable to all forms of Specialized damage, but highly resistant to Normal; similarly, Azulex is highly resistant to all forms of specialized damage, but vulnerable to Normal. Krimson can't be Stunned, set on Fire, or Cursed; Azulex can't be Frozen, Shocked, or Poisoned.

You fight Krimson and Azulex at the same time, of course; the arena is an 18x18 area with a 4x4 spike pit in the middle.

Krimson will fight you up close and personal, doing what he can to get in your face; he's the "tank" out of the two, and makes sure to get your attention as easily as possible. His basic melee attack has some insane Normal/Piercing damage and a small chance to Stun. He can dash up to a target just like a Giant Lichen Colony, and can use Thorn Roots as well. He's also got a spinning rage attack, much like the Royal Jelly; it doesn't make him invulnerable, but it does make him dangerous to approach and effectively doubles his defensive power while it's active.

If Krimson notices he's the center of attack, he'll harden into his Stone Form, which dramatically increases his defenses (you can just forget about the Cutter when he's in Stone Form). This is usually combined with an incoming attack from Azulex, so keep your eye on him. Krimson will happily slide into the path of a Normal-damaging charge attack headed for his brother and activate Stone Form.

When the total health of both Krimson and Azulex is three-fourths of max, Krimson will gain a new attack. If nobody's near him, he'll use Super Jump to leap high into the air, then land a short while later directly on top of where a Knight was a few seconds ago; watch his shadow and keep moving! Anyone hit by Super Jump is hit with an almost-guaranteed-to-kill-anyone-not-in-Ironmight-Plate-or-Royal-Jelly amount of Normal/Piercing damage, as well as a nearly guaranteed chance of Strong Stun.

When the total health of both Krimson and Azulex is one-half of max, assuming Krimson isn't dead, he'll gain another new attack. Rampage causes him to launch four to eight attacks in quick succession; if he starts to look angry, run. He'll stop using Rampage if he's hit by Curse; that'd only hurt him a lot.

Azulex has as much health as his brother, but prefers to attack from a distance. His melee attack is no joke; it causes nasty piercing damage and considerable Knockback. He's also got a dash, though he normally uses it to dash away from attackers. Azulex can use a spike spin (with extra spikes!), or fling a row of seven spines much like a Polyp. He also has "Spike Barrage" which has a two second buildup, but barrages targets with about twenty spikes in quick succession. Invinciframes will still protect you, but expect to be hit at least twice if you stand in it the whole time. He can use "Chaser Roots" which creates a stream of Thorn Roots that chase a single target.

When the total health of both Krimson and Azulex is three-quarters of max, Azulex will start using Saturation Spike. What this does is launch a huge freaking spike out of his head that launches into the air, explodes, and rains down loads of exploding spikes like piercing-damage Mortafire missiles.

When the total health of both Krimson and Azulex is one-half of max, assuming Azulex isn't dead, Azulex will power up his spines with status effects. Spike Spin and Spike Barrage will be able to cause Shock (the latter basically being a death sentence, since shock ticks negate invincibility frames), Chaser Roots and Spike Toss will be able to Freeze, and Saturation Spike and his melee attacks will be able to Poison. He'll also be able to cure status effects on Krimson, though this ability has a significant cooldown.

If Krimson dies first, as soon as the death animation finishes, if Azulex's death animation isn't also playing, Azulex will go berserk. He'll get an extra two spikes in each attack, will fire attacks faster, and will frequently chase down Frozen targets with Spike Barrage. If Azulex ends up dying first instead, Krimson will go berserk, almost constantly using his Rampage, Super Jump, and Spin Attack. The key is to kill them around the same time, so that neither slime has much health to Rampage with; on the other hand, this means you'll eventually have to deal with Krimson's Rampage at the same time as Azulex's status attacks, so maybe it's best to focus fire on one Lichen at a time. Either way, you're in for quite a fight.

To make it worse, the Slimes use teamwork. As mentioned earlier, Krimson will dash and use Stone Form to protect Azulex from a heavy Normal damage attack. The very act of Krimson getting all in your face is perfect for distracting you while Azulex lobs ranged attacks at you, and he'll often use Chaser Roots to herd a Knight into Krimson's attack range. (I guess they consider stuff like that a point for both of them in regards to getting the throne.) You can just forget about Sleep vials; if Azulex falls asleep, Krimson will just block attacks while Azulex gains health, while Krimson defaults into Stone Form while asleep, gaining health anyway. Azulex can always break a Freezing effect with his Melee attack, much like Knights can. Krimson's Super Jump is sometimes used in tandem with Saturation Spike, the latter an attempt to distract you from the former. Krimson will rush any Shocked Knight and start Rampaging to take advantage of invincibility frames. And if a Knight is close to the corner, both Lichens might focus fire on that knight, bodyblocking them to ensure their death.

@Raisin: Dark Reflection copies armor, too. He would be just as resistant to Fang of Vog as the players. Also, as far as status-inflicting charges go, that's a good point; however, Dark Reflection could slowly gain resistance to self-status as the fight progresses.

I know it's an old thread, but here, have a new boss. Thanks for the inspiration, Klip.

THE IRON BEAST
Automated Avaricious Battle Blimp
TYPE: Construct/Construct/Construct/Construct/Construct
WEAK TO: Elemental Damage/Hacking/Elemental Damage, Shock/Elemental Damage/Elemental Damage
RESISTANT TO: Nothing/Nothing/Piercing Damage/Piercing Damage/Piercing Damage
IMMUNE TO: Normal Damage/Everything but hacking/Sleep, Stun, Freeze/Sleep, Stun, Freeze, Poison, Fire/All status effects

Holy schnike. The Iron Beast is a robotic blimp. And you have to fight it. Surrounding the enormous helium balloon of the Iron Beast is a thick plating, made from an alloy of Moonstone and Volcanic Iron that's lighter than air, yet almost as hard as diamond, with the different systems used to operate the automated blimp on small side chambers aboard the blimp.

Phase 1: The Chase

The first phase has you flying on hovercraft over empty space while chasing down the Iron Beast. Your controls are similar to the usual controls, except that there are copious amounts of explosives flying at you, and your weapons and Battle Sprite are (temporarily!) replaced with a Normal-damaging Machine Alchemer mounted on the front. (The Machine Alchemer outputs six bullets every two seconds and has a clip size of sixty.) The game uses the graphics to fool you into thinking you aren't REALLY in one static room, instead chasing the Iron Beast through a clockwork gear. (Oh, and you have a "shield" that's really a force field while aboard the hovercraft. It can take one mine before breaking.)

While the hovercraft is pretty sturdy, and not full of eels, you aren't quite as sturdy. Shoot down the mines with your Machine Alchemer, and you can probably approach at a close enough range to hit it with your alchemer... which won't do anything? No, instead you have to shoot the mines as the Iron Beast deploys them, so they explode next to it. They deal elemental damage, which damages the Iron Beast.

At two thirds of this phase's health, the Iron Beast will start deploying missiles, which cause slightly more damage than mines, as well as causing strong Fire. A red glow will be visible down the lane as the missile picks up speed; you can shoot them down as they're being deployed if you get close enough, but otherwise, just avoid them; they're very fast once they pick up speed. If you're lucky, you'll catch the Iron Beast on fire with one of the missiles.

At one third of this phase's health, the Iron Beast will get allies. Gremlins on hovercraft will fire Pulsars at you; shoot them down quickly before they overwhelm you with projectiles.

Once the Iron Beast's health in this phase is weakened, a hole will be opened in the side, where your knights will immediately board.

Phase 2: You hack!

Let's face it, you're not going to get through all that armor with little Machine Alchemer bullets. You're back to your normal gear here. Fight through a short tunnel with Mecha Knights and Sparkies to reach the Security Systems, which control force fields throughout the Iron Beast. In this room, the main issue is the terminal in the top center. A Recon Ranger hacker will uncloak and start doing some work on the systems, which takes about three minutes, but you have to protect the hacker from damage or he'll be forced to stop the hacking for a bit to fight off monsters. If he gets hit too much, he'll hide and restore his health, setting back the hacking process a little. (Where'd this guy come from? The Mission can explain it. Maybe he'll go with you on the hovercraft, or maybe he'll be a spy. If it is a he. Will it be a she? Who knows? I'm letting OOO be creative, and reference whatever it wants.)

On the bottom corners of the room, the most notable features are two respawning Freeze-based Battlepods with Construct spawners connected to them. Expect two Cryo Knights, four Sleetrodes, two Silversaps, and two Slush Puppies to be renewed every ten seconds. This part revolves around keeping these guys as far away from your Hacker as possible; be wary of Freeze, though, as they'll happily walk on past you to beat the gravel out of the Hacker once you're frozen! If the hacking's over halfway done, the Battlepods' shields will go down intermittently, allowing you to hit them and remove the from the equation for thirty seconds; once it's finished, you simply have to finish off the battlepods, who will spawn monsters more slowly while not respawning.

But there's one more wrinkle. As soon as Hacker Bebop at his computer (yes, I ran into that TV Tropes page, and yes, this would be an example of it because it's not his computer and the hacker's probably not going to be named Bebop (unless Three Rings decides to be funny)) gets one minute into the hacking process, the terminal will start occasionally locking up. The room itself has nine other terminals; to unlock the main terminal, you have to activate the right one of these nine terminals. The screen of the correct terminal will turn red (normally the screens will be blue - but not that kind of blue screen!) and have a picture of a key on it; simply interact with the terminal to re-initiate the hacking process. Maskeraith will help here, because you can press buttons while invisible. Oh, and you'll know when the terminal locks up; a siren (like the ones in IMF) will play.

Once the Hacker is done and the Battlepods are down, a force field will lower on the right side of the room. The Hacker will cloak away; his work's done for now. (How come he can't just hack the whole battleship? Probably some kind of failsafe. Or self-destruct system. Or something. Again, up to OOO!)

Phase 3: Spiral Knight Mystery Dungeon: Blimp Rescue Team

Okay, you blew a hole in the side of the armor and disabled the force fields. Now what? Well, you see, there are Knights imprisoned aboard the Iron Beast. You have to cut your way through another tunnel full of robots, this time generally Fire-themed bots mixed with Slag Walkers and Oilers. At the front of the ship, fairly close to the balloon itself, is a prison complex with seven Spiral Knights in it, as well as two Emberlighters and a Moorcroft Manor Spookat. You have to break all of them out. The prison itself has a nasty boss inside it: the Warden, a massive turret that looks like a gatling gun on top of a pedestal with rocket launchers, that will fire really fast rockets at you with very short intervals; like the Chase earlier, a red flash signals a really fast incoming rocket.

Just running at The Warden is a suicide mission. But in a room directly adjacent to the prison, there are four blocks you can pick up and carry; one more is already placed in the hall. These will block the rockets. If you get close enough, The Warden also fires Gun-Puppy-style bullets that go over these blocks (while still hitting you). Once you get close enough, the Warden can be shot at, slashed at, or bombed.

But it doesn't just fall down and die like a common Gun Puppy. No. It will move to the other side of the prison through a hole in the floor in about three seconds once you've damaged it enough. Using the blocks you placed before, you'll have to fight your way across the room to damage it some more. Once that's done, you'll get three Iron Keys.

Use an Iron Key on one of the cells to unlock it, freeing the prisoner. Said prisoner will carry the broken lock from the door to protect them from the rockets as they leave their cell.

Repeat the process of damaging The Warden four times and you'll get all ten Iron Keys, freeing all the prisoners. All The Warden can do is watch, impotently firing missiles into what is probably an effective defensive wall as you escape with them. Now that's a shut-out. (You can also destroy The Warden entirely, but that takes four more phases of dodging, and all you'll get is an Achievement.)

Phase 4: What's your reaction?

While the prisoners get away, your team has to rush into the reactor and take it down. Follow another short path down to a room full of Quicksilvers that are powering a reactor, which heats the air in the balloon. There are ten tanks in a three-by-four rectangle (no tanks inside the rectangle, of course), each one containing a Quicksilver hooked up to various wires.

The reactor room has four respawning Gun Puppies inside. But the main threat comes from the reactor core, around which all the tanks are placed. The reactor core is a large blue-armored cylindrical construct that keeps the Iron Beast afloat. It has no face, but it does have rotating weapons and multiple attacks.

It's got multiple attacks. Steam Blast releases excess steam into the reactor room at high speeds, blasting anyone that's not a Gun Puppy or hiding behind a tank with a little elemental damage and a small chance of Fire... about ten times over a short time. Being hit by all the steam will probably deal quite a nasty chunk of damage. To avoid this, hide behind a Quicksilver tank.

Speaking of Quicksilver tanks, those are your main targets. Like most Constructs, they're weak to Elemental damage and resistant to Piercing damage. But if more than five are damaged at once, the Reactor Core automatically uses Repair Pulse, which restores an impressive amount of health to all Quicksilver tanks. This only rarely happens otherwise. The tanks are immune to most statuses, and Shocking them will give the Core a free Steam Blast! But their Achilles heel? Well, did you bring a Faust? The tanks will take damage every few seconds while they're Cursed.

When you destroy a Quicksilver tank, the wires break off the Quicksilver as the tank falls apart. This Quicksilver will attack the Gun Puppies on the side. Be warned, though; it can be Supercharged, and while Supercharged, it CAN damage you.

Once you've destroyed two tanks, Reactor Core gets a new move. Thunderstorm releases a large amount of big Shock/Elemental bullets in many directions. You might want to put your Shield up while navigating a Thunderstorm; the bullets will go through Quicksilver tanks.

Once you've destroyed four tanks, destroyed tanks will begin emitting periodic electrical surges five seconds after their destructions. Stay away from them when sparks start flying!

Once you've destroyed six tanks, Reactor Core will start using Rocket Swarm. This fires three Rocket Puppy rockets, one after the other, for each Knight. If you're good, you can lead the rockets into Quicksilver tanks!

Once you've destroyed eight tanks, Reactor Core will start using Cycle Beam. This attack features intermittent Steam bursts while a Roarmulus laser orbits around the the Core slowly. Every square will be covered. Hope you can Dash!

Once you've destroyed all the tanks, Reactor Core will slowly power down...

Phase 5: You rough-types oughta stop that bomb!

Iron Beast AI: "WARNING

CRITICAL CONDITION REACHED

ENABLING EMERGENCY MATTERBOMB SELF-DESTRUCT MECHANISM

DESTROY! DESTROY! DESTROY!"

After hearing this, sirens will start blaring. You'll get a few Heart Blocks before going down an abandoned tunnel to the final part of the Iron Beast: the Weapons System. You see, it's activating a Matterbomb, and if you don't stop it, not only are you dead, but it'll decimate most of the Clockwork gear, potentially causing massive collapses that could kill thousands.

The Weapons System fight isn't timed (it's like those "You have to stop the Empire from killing the Princess but feel free to level grind for ten hours on the way" scenarios), but it is tricky. The Iron Beast's Weapons System is, of course, a giant blue armored Scuttlebot with a computer terminal for an eye. What, you expected it to just sit there like a normal computer? You saw what happened to that OTHER computer in Phase 2.

Weapons System's basic attack fires ten rapid bursts of five large Elemental/Freeze bullets that travel about five squares before fading. The whole thing takes about two seconds- and Weapons System can turn a little bit in mid-attack, so don't think you can just run around him. Weapons System can also use a Jetpack Dash, causing severe Normal Damage, Stun, and Fire.

And then there's the mines. You remember fighting the Iron Beast's mines earlier? Weapons System will cause them to drop down during the fight. Expect three mines every five seconds, each with the radius of a Roarmulus missile. Of course they cause Elemental damage.

At two-thirds health, Weapons System will add a new attack to his arsenal: Nuclear Breath. This causes Strong Poison, Strong Fire, and Elemental Damage to anyone who stands in a cone in front of Weapons System when he uses it. He also gets a Steam Burst, which spreads two seconds of steam around him. (It does the same thing as the Reactor Core's steam.)

At one-third health, Weapons System gets a Super Jump attack, where he leaps into the air, then lands, causing ridiculous Normal damage and Stun. Watch his shadow- he might pull off a Jetpack Dash in midair to land himself farther away!

Once Weapons System's health is depleted, that Hacker will sneak in and do his work on the Matterbomb self-destruct system. Dodge a few more mines while he does this, and you'll have truly slain the Iron Beast.

(Good thing you brought chutes, right?)