User:Thevortex67/Starlight River/Ceiros

Ceiros is a Pre-Hardmode boss fought in the Vitric Desert biome. Ceiros is intended to be fought before or after the world's evil boss (The Eater of Worlds or Brain of Cthulhu) - and requires the Forbidden Winds ability to even be summoned, much less defeated. 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 and grappling hook is recommended for getting around the arena.

While Ceiros is alive, its unique tracks "Into Crystalline Ruin" and "Shattered Wrath" will play on phase one and two, respectively.

Structure
Ceiros is fought in an arena in the center of the Vitric Desert. This arena consists of six large platforms and eight small platforms, evenly distributed across two halves of the arena. In Ceiros' second phase, these platforms begin to move, with the left side of the arena moving upward and the right side moving downward. When a platform reaches the top or bottom of the arena, it reappears at the opposite side and keeps going.

Spawn
Ceiros can be spawned by using a Glass Idol at Ceiros' Altar, located directly in the center of the Vitric Desert biome. At least one player in the world must have obtained the Forbidden Winds ability and have used it to shatter the large crystal surrounding the altar to be able to use it. Additionally, Ceiros will fail to spawn if no players in the world have the Forbidden Winds ability unlocked.

Minions
At the beginning of the fight, Ceiros will summon 4 Resonant Crystals around itself. These crystals cannot be attacked by normal means, but can still damage the player. Once Ceiros' health drops below a certain point, it moves to the center of the arena and its crystals hover over a random set of platforms. A singular crystal becomes vulnerable to being dashed into by the Forbidden Winds ability, and becomes visibly cracked once this happens. A crystal can not be vulnerable after it has already been damaged. The boss' first phase ends once all 4 of these crystals have been cracked.

Phase 1
In the first phase the boss will use a variety of attacks on a set pattern, interrupting this pattern if it reaches a certain health threshold (every 750/ hp), at which point it will become invulnerable until it can proceed to its next attack - which is replaced with a special attack in which one of the boss' resonant crystals become vulnerable. This repeats until the boss is at 2000/ hp.

Attacks:


 * Crystal Cage: The boss floats towards the center of the arena, and pulls in its resonant crystals. The boss will rapidly fire cones of blinding sand at players while the crystals spiral out towards the edges of the arena slowly, and form a circular beam of energy between themselves with a gap between two of the four crystals. After this, the circle of energy begins to shrink as the crystals approach the boss (while rotating the circle counter clockwise). Players must escape through said opening to avoid damage.
 * Crystal Smash: The boss will control its resonant crystals to hover above random players, before falling and embedding themselves in the ground. The crystals can still damage players while in the ground.
 * Crystal Spikes: The boss summons a wave of crystal spikes on the center of the large platforms in the arena. These are prefaced by blue dust on each affected platform.
 * Platform Dash: The boss will quickly move between the 6 larger platforms in the arena, alternating between a sand cone attack similar to the one used in the Crystal Cage attack and a burst of 4 glass shards, targeting a random player per platform.

Additionally, if players stand on the ground for a total time greater than 3 seconds (cumulatively), a crystal "wave" type attack will sweep across the bottom of the arena from left to right.

The boss will use a special attack when it reaches a health threshold in the first phase:
 * Platform Nuke: The boss' resonant crystals will each move to a separate large platform in the arena, and one of them will become vulnerable. Dashing into the vulnerable crystal will destroy the boss' shield, causing the boss to unleash a "rage" attack where it will fire a circular volley of crystal spikes and lose its shield. The amount of volleys fired is based on how many crystals have already been broken, starting at a single volley for the first crystal and increasing up to 3 for the third crystal. Once the fourth crystal is broken, the boss will progress to its second phase. Failing to shatter the vulnerable crystal within 5 seconds will cause the boss to heal 250 life, and the crystal to become invulnerable again - the player must then reduce the boss' health to the threshold again to progress the fight.

Intermediate Phase
After shattering the boss' last Resonant Crystal, the boss will retreat into a glass "cocoon", forming a shell out of the sand around it. Breaking this cocoon with the Forbidden Winds ability causes the fight to enter the second phase.

Phase 2
At the beginning of the second phase, the music will change, large crystal spikes will grow on the top and bottom of the arena, and the various platforms in the arena will begin to move. Players will have to be agile to navigate the moving platforms to avoid falling into the spikes or getting smashed into the ceiling. In the boss' second phase it will use a set of attacks on rotation until its life is depleted.

Attacks:
 * Crystal Volley The boss quickly fires a volley of fast-moving crystal shards in a wide cone.
 * Bodyslam The boss slams itself on the floor of the arena, causing a row of crystals to fall from the roof.
 * Shatterbomb The boss releases 1-3 crystal bombs (depending on its HP) which explode in a very large radius after 5 seconds. If dashed, they instead defuse and shatter into a healing heart.

Tips

 * The glass wave attack in the first phase can be avoided entirely by simply not touching the ground, as it operates on a timer that ticks up while the player is on the ground. Better mobility accessories such as the Blizzard in a Bottle or Pulse Boots help with this.
 * The boss cannot be damaged during the first phase beyond the health gate for each crystal until it is shattered. If the player sees a large shield around the boss, they should stop firing to conserve ammo or Mana.
 * A grappling hook can help to navigate the arena immensely during the fight, especially during the second phase where being able to reach platforms is important.
 * Avoid being near the top or bottom of the arena at the end of the first phase, as crystal spikes will form on the floor and ceiling when the boss transitions to it's second phase.
 * If the player does need to land on the ground in the first phase, it would be best to try to stick towards the middle to have the most time to react to the crystal wave if it spawns.
 * The player should avoid being near the larger platforms in the arena after the boss' crystal smash attack in the first phase to avoid being hit by the spikes, which spawn rather quickly.

Trivia

 * This boss took a long time to settle on a good name. Previous names or name suggestions include: Crealis, Crystaelis, Sentinel of the Shattered, Paragon, Lapidus, Disponra, Alathrel, Suckatron, and many more random words related to rocks thrown into Latin Google Translate.
 * Ceiros has a 1 in 10,000 chance to spawn as "Glass Tax Returns", a nod to its old placeholder name.