Guide / The boss

The boss

A boss drone arrives 3,000m into every run. You can't climb past it. Here is how the fight works.

The fight, step by step

1. It hovers. The boss drops in from the top and stays high above you, following you from side to side and firing volleys of bullets downward. Ordinary drones stop arriving for as long as it is on screen.
2. It warns. It rears back, and a warning column lights the lane it is about to come down. You have a little under a second.
3. It dives. It drops fast to your height. Be out of that lane when it lands.
4. It sits exposed. For about 1.5 seconds it rests at your level. Land on top of it. That is a hit, and it launches you like a spring.
5. It climbs back and the pattern starts again.

It takes 10 hits. The bar above it is split into 10 segments so you can count them down. After each hit it holds still for a moment, then flashes as it climbs away. While it flashes it can't hurt you, and a second stomp does no damage (though it still bounces you), so hit it, ride the bounce and wait for the next dive.

Where to stand

You only damage it from above, so you need to be higher than the boss when it is exposed. The simplest way: when the warning column appears, step out of the lane and jump. It lands under you, and you come down on its back.

Touching its side or underside costs a life. A Hard Shield or a Jetpack takes that hit for you, but the power is used up and you are knocked back.

Half health: it rages

With 5 hits left the boss speeds up. The gap between dives shrinks from about 2.5 seconds to 1.5, the warning is shorter, and its volleys come faster and spread wider. The second half of the fight is where most runs end.

Each boss learns a new attack

Every boss dives. The second boss of a run also sweeps a laser: it slides to one side of the screen, shows a thin red aiming line, then drags a beam across. The beam stops well above you, so stay low and don't jump into it. The third boss can also call in two drones; the glowing rings around its eye are the warning. From the fourth boss on, every dive also breaks the platform you are standing on, so be ready to jump as soon as the warning column appears.

• Stay near the middle of the screen, where you have the most room to dodge either way. The edges wrap, which is your escape if a volley boxes you in.
• Stop chasing gems. Nothing new spawns that is worth a life.
• Keep moving sideways while it hovers. The volleys are aimed at where you are.

Powers that help

• Time Warp slows the boss itself, bullets and all. The dive becomes easy to read.
• Double Jump lets you correct in the air and land on its back from an awkward spot.
• Hard Shield forgives one mistake.
• Safety Net removes the other way to die during the fight: missing a platform while watching the boss.

What you win

Bringing it down pays 300 gems (doubled by GEMS x2 and by 2X GEMS, and in co-op everyone gets their own) and refills all 3 hearts. It also earns the Titan Slayer achievement the first time.

The next boss comes 3,000m above the place you beat this one, and every boss you beat in a run makes that run's drones tougher.

In co-op

The whole party fights one boss with one health bar, and anyone's hit counts. When it falls, everyone is paid. See Co-op.