User:Thevortex67/Starlight River/Auroracle

Auroracle is a Pre-Hardmode boss fought in the Permafrost Shrine structure. Auroracle is intended to be fought after the Eye of Cthulhu. This boss can be difficult for unprepared players as its arena cannot be modified and traps the player inside during the fight - A minimum of a Cloud in a Bottle is recommended for getting around the arena. The arena is full of Prismatic Water, a dangerous liquid that deals constant damage to anything inside. The water level rises as the fight progresses, and begins to constantly rise at a set rate on the boss' third and final phase.

While Auroracle is alive, its unique track "placeholder name" will play.

Structure
The Permafrost Shrine is a structure generated on initial worldgen deep within the Underground Snow biome. It consists of a small room at the top with a large vertical shaft and a moving platform to carry the player down. The starting room has a small ice crystal that shoots energy into a blue indicator. Placing a tile on that indicator causes it to eventually be broken by the bursts of energy, starting the moving platform. As the player descends they are greeted with a series of stained glass windows, with glimpses of the Auroracle behind them.

Spawn
Auroracle is spawned by dropping Squid Bait into the prismatic water found at the bottom of the permafrost shrine.

Minions
Auroracle spawns with four tentacles. They're used to attack the player in various ways, and have to be damaged in the first phase before being able to attack the boss itself (which advances the fight to the second phase). Once Auroracle's health drops below a certain point in phase two, it becomes enraged, entering phase three as these tentacles go out of sight, reappearing to pierce the player like a spear from the sides of the screen or grabbing a moving platform and sinking it below the water. Tentacles are only damage-able during the first phase.

Phase 1
In the first phase, Auroracle will attack the player using its tentacles and large waves of ink. During this phase, all of its tentacles are vulnerable with a set HP. "Killing" a tentacle doesn't get rid of it, instead serving as gates to the next phase. Once all tentacles are defeated, the boss and water level rises to the second closest large platform from the bottom of the arena and respawns all tentacles. Killing them once again will advance the fight to phase two, once again raising the water level. Occasionally, all tentacles will rise and sit stationary for a few seconds in the arena to offer a brief respite and higher damage window.

Attacks:


 * Tentacle Uppercut: One of the bosses tentacles rise from below the player to stab them, indicated by a red line showing the tentacles vertical trajectory.
 * Prismatic Ink: The boss shoots a spread of six streams of ink, directly through the smaller platforms in the arena.
 * Tentacle Sweep: The boss picks 4 random platforms in the arena and waves it's tentacles over them for a short time.
 * The boss will rapidly thrust it's tentacles up and down, while sweeping them across the arena from right to left.

Phase 2
After wounding the boss' last tentacle, the boss will get a large red spot on the top of its body, acting as another point to deal damage. The water level rises once more, to a spot in between the two highest platforms, and the boss begins to move around the arena much more as well. This phase ends when the boss reaches placeholder number/ HP.

Attacks:


 * Ink Missile: The boss shoots an even spread of ten projectiles moving directly upwards from below the player.
 * Squidspawn: The boss creates a pile of eggs on one platform, which begins to spawn Auroralings after a short time. These eggs can also spawn Auroraborn on expert mode.
 * Ink Scattershot: The boss moves to the center of the arena and then upwards, releasing five large globs of ink, in an even spread, across 180 degrees facing upwards.
 * Prismatic Ray: The boss moves to the left side of the arena, turns upside down, and begins to fire a massive beam of prismatic energy. Blue indicators appear in the air above the platforms, and the player must jump up and place blocks on those indicators to block the beam. It can not be dodged otherwise, unless the player has some form of teleportation.

Phase 3
Once the boss reaches 500/ HP, it becomes enraged and enters phase three. During this phase, the water level constantly rises while the boss tries to kill the player. If the water level hits the top of the arena, the player will be forced into it, causing them to take a large amount of damage over time.

Attacks:
 * Platform Snatcher The boss grabs one of the platforms and drags it underwater temporarily, indicated by red particles coming off of it before a tentacle rises from underwater to grab it.
 * Tentacle Pierce The boss attempts to rapidly stab the player with tentacles extending from the side of the screen, indicated by red lines. Prismatic Ink II: The boss floats upwards briefly before firing 5 streams of prismatic ink in an even spread below it.

Tips

 * The ink spread attack in the first phase can be avoided entirely by standing on one of the large platforms.
 * A grappling hook can help to navigate the arena immensely during the fight, especially if the player falls off of the platforms.
 * Items float on Prismatic Water, making it easy to grab dropped loot or ammo.
 * The player should avoid being near the left side of the arena during phase two, as they could be hit by the Prismatic Beam attack with much less time to react.

Trivia

 * This boss was originally developed for the Fluffy Mod Jam by Scalie in around a week before being ported to Starlight River, with some extra tweaking and refinement.