Overview
This guide will teach you about each enemy type and how to deal with them effectively.
Slimes
Slimes are very easy to deal with as they will only ever move in one direction. They will attack you by jumping towards you. To deal with these, you can either jump on them or shoot them.
Note: If you shoot a Slime, the arrow will continue to fly in its arc, allowing you to kill many targets with one arrow.
Bats/ Crows
Bats are one of the primary flying enemies and are also very easy to deal with. The tricky thing is that there are three incarnations of the Bat. These are the Bat, the Bombat and the Super Bombat. When killed, the Bombat variants will explode in a short time after death. Radiuses of the explosion are comparable to the Bomb Arrow and Super Bomb arrow. Bats attack by swooping towards you once, if a Bomb or Super Bomb variant hits you, they will explode.
Like Slimes, a Bat can die via a stomp on the head or a shot from your bow. However, arrows will stay lodged in the bodies of regular Bats and must be picked up afterwards.
Crows act similarly to Bats and have no variants. Crows will dive at you twice however so be careful.
They can be dispatched like the Bat.
Crystals
There are four seperate variants of the Crystal enemy type, each with varying attcks. All of them are flying enemies and they all have an on death attack.
Red Crystals attack by shooting one Laser Arrow at you. This arrow will not bounce and will disappear after a few seconds.
There is a Blue variant that will shoot three Laser Arrows, one targeting you and two similtaneously in a narrow cone shortly after the first. Dodging these arrows are crucial.
When killed, the Laser Crystals will shoot a Laser Arrow in each diagonal direction making an X shape. These arrows do not bounce,
Green Crystals will shoot a Bolt Arrow at you, argueably the most powerful arrow in the game. The arrow will hunt you down with extreme homing capabilities, being able to do a 90 degree turn to target you. Once again, dodging into this arow is crucial.
When killed, the Bolt Crystal will shoot a Bolt arrow at you. Dodging into this type of arrow is crucial.
The Pink, or Prism Crystal will fire a Prism Arrow at you. It is important that you do not dodge into this arrow, as it will trap you in a small prism that constrains movement to the prism.
When killed, the Prism Crystal will shoot three Prism Arrows in quick succesion in varying angles toward the direction the killing blow came from.
Shooting these variants is recommended, as the volley of arrows they fire is hard to dodge in mid-air.
Ghosts, Fire Elementals and Flaming Skulls
The Ghost is a flying enemy that will chase the player if they enter a certain proximity. They will dodge one arrow shot before entering a stunned state, where they cannot dodge again.
The easy way to kill this enemy is to jump on it as shooting two arrows at it may leave you open if you run out of arrows.
The Fire Elemental is similar to the Ghost in all mechanics. It can dodge one arrow shot and will enter the same stunned state as the Ghost.
Once again jumping on the Elemental is the easy way to kill it, however if you have the Wings powerup, you may want to refrain from doing so as jumping on a Fire Elemental with Wings will lead to them burning up, getting rid of the powerup.
Note: Both enemies have a slightly faster green variant that does not differ in movement, attack or ways of killing.
The Flaming Skull is a flying enemy that does not chase you if you approach it. The Flaming Skulls movement pattern is that it will bounce off walls at a 45 degree angle, like the Laser Arrow. Contact to this enemy will kill you, unless you jump on it.
Shooting it or jumping on this enemy are fine. Like the Fire Elemental, this enemy will burn the Wings powerup off you, so be careful of that.
Note: The Flaming Skull can only be found on the Dark World Expansion stages.
Level specific enemies (Worms, Moles)
Worms are smaller than Slimes and are quite slow. They attack by puffing up to expel a bramble bush that will stay in the ground for a short period of time.
Jumping on them or shooting them will kill them and, like Slimes, arrows will pass through a Worm with no hinderance to its movement.
Note: The Worm can only be found on the Thornwood, Dreadwood and both gauntlet stages.
Moles are interesting creatures. These enemies attack you by rolling into a ball and charging at you at high speed. All arrows shot during this charge will not affect it, however jumping on it will kill it. These enemies can also dig through the ground to get closer to you and will stomp on your head if you are under them.
Jumping on them at any time can kill but is not advisable. Shooting them during their attack will not work but at any other time it will kill them.
Note: The Mole can only be found on the Frostfang Keep stage.
Exploders and Technomages
The Exploder is a flying enemy that acts similarly to the Ghost/ Fire Elemental. The thing that seperates these though is the fact that these enemies will explode when killed or when attacking. If the reach a close enough proximity to the player, the Exploder will grow in size and explode, like the name suggests.
Either shooting it or jumping on it are fine. However refrain from jumping on it if it is near the ground as the will blow up and kill you as well.
Note: This enemy will only be found in the Dark World Expansion and will be summoned by some Dark World bosses.
Technomages are flying enemies that do not fly far from where they spawned. They attack by shooting a homing missile at the player that explodes upon hitting a wall or the target. When killed, Technomages will fly rapidly and will bounce off walls, detonating shortly after death.
Shooting the Technomage is a good solution to this, but do remember that this flies extremely fast and is very hard to track while moving.
Birdmen
The Birdman enemy is the final flying enemy type, aside from bosses. They will attack by firing a small tornado at you which will block all arrows and can be glided on if dodged into. The Birdman will fire the tornado if an arrow is fired in its direction or if it has line of sight of you and is close enough. If it fires a tornado, it will enter a stunned state where it cannot fire another for a short duration.
An easy way to counter this defense is to stand close enough that it attacks, but far away enough to still run away from the tornado and shoot an arrow. This is an effective strategy as it will attack you if you are falling towards it, negating a stomp attack.
Skeleton/ Shadow Archers
This enemy type is extremely advanced. They can and will do all the basic things that the player can do, such as jump, shoot and dodge.
They will attack by either stomping you or shooting you. They will chase you and fire both shots the spawn with in quick succesion. When their quivers are depleted, they will dodge frequently and try to stomp you if you get too close. After dodging, like the Ghost enemy type, they will be stunned and cannot dodge again for a short time.
There are many things that make these enemies formidable. They will spawn with two arrows, usually the arrows of the stage being played. They can spawn with a Shield or Wings, even both. They will steal an arrow from you if you bump into one if this action isn’t them stomping you or vice versa.
Shadow Archers act exactly the same, only they will take on the appearance of the player, making for a difficult time if playing with a friend.
Killing these can only be done via a situational means. You could shoot it but it may catch your arrows. You may stomp it, but it could dodge away or shoot you.
Cultists
The final enemy type bfore the Bosses. The Cultist enemy type has three different variants. All attack by lunging at you.
The Scythe Cultist is the first you encounter. It will block any arrow shot in front of it, yet has a lengthy block animation that can be abused to kill it.
The Purple Cultist will be encountered next. Like the Scythe Cultist, it will block all shots in front of it, however it will also swipe above itself during this block animation. Be careful of this in co-op as this may cause a friendly player to die.
The Purple Cultist has a variant, the Red Cultist that will only spawn during a boss fight. This variant acts exactly the same as the Purple Cultist.
Jumping on this enemy is the easy strategy, however you can shoot them from behind.
Bosses
This is not the actual section for the bosses, it is a disclaimer.
If you want to find out attacks by yourself, DO NOT READ FURTHER. What I write will cpver all attacks. Battle strategies can be formulated by those reading.
The King Reaper
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The King Reaper is the boss of the stages King’s Court and Ascension, the last stage of the main game.
The King Reaper will spawn at certain waves in the stages and will float in the middle of the stage with a protective shield.
Attacks:
The King Reaper has three main attacks.
The first attack is that of Laser Arrows. Starting at four, up to six* Laser Arrows will spawn and orbit the King Reaper before being fired in the direction they are facing. These arrows do not bounce.
*Six are fired in the final wave of Ascension.
The second attack is that of explosive orbs. The King Reaper will launch explosive orbs in your direction in three volleys. These volleys change depending on how many times the King Reaper has been damaged. These orbs will bounce off walls.
First stage of damage: Straight at you
Second stage of damage: Two on either side of you.
Third stage of damage: Both of the above in succesion.
The final attack is that of laser blasts. These laser blasts are focused for a short time before being fired in the preempted line. These lasers are not affected by walls. Starting from four, these will be shot in up to six* directions.
*Six are fired in the final wave of Ascension
After the King Reaper fires his three volleys of explosive orbs, its shield will be lowered, allowing for one attack to damage it. Rinse and repeat three times and you’ve defeated your first boss. During the fight, Red Cultists will spawn until the King Reaper has been killed. After this has been done, they will all die.
The Wretched Seer – Relentless Gaze of the Abyss
The Wretched Seer is the boss of the Dark World level, The Amaranth.
It will float in the middle of the arena.
It will fire two slow moving eyes at once in any direction, not targeting you. It has a shield blocking attacks that will orbit the Wretched Seer slowly, blocking attacks from that side. After reaching 25% health, it will fire a focused beam that can cover a large portion of the arena.
If the shield isn’t blocking you, you can either shoot it or stomp on it.
Lady Abigail – Tyrant Queen of the Forest
Lady Abigail is the boss of the Dark World stage, Dreadwood.
She consists of three eyes on the ceiling that will open one at a time, making that eye vulnerable. Spores will constantly spawn from the top of the screen and will spawn a bramble bush if they hit any surface. These spores can be jumped on or shot. Lady Abigails main attack is spawning large, spiked vines from the ground to rise from it to attack you. This is easily dodgable as you can see the tip of the vine poking out of the ground.
Shooting the eyes is the only way to attack this boss.
The Blind Lich – Tormentor of the Forsaken
The Blind Lich is the boss of the Dark World stage, Darkfang.
The Blind lich consists of a giant skull with an eye sticking out the top and two ice blocks that will smash against the ground, walls and ceiling in an attempt to crush the players. These will float in the middle of the level.
As stated before, the Lichs main attack is that of the ice blocks that will constantly move in erratic ways to crush the players. When damaged, the Lich will expel some ghosts that will travel towards the player, ending up off the screen. These ghosts can be shot.
The Blind Lich can have its weakness, the eye, shot at or stomped on.
Cataclysm – Impossible Horror at the Center of All Creation
Cataclysm is the boss of the final Dark World stage, Cataclysm.
Cataclysm will float in the middle of the Arena.
This fight is split into two distinct phases that repeat twice.
The First Phase sees the player stripped of all arrows and must make their way around the arena stomping on three, then five lanterns whilst being attacked by Cataclysm.
After the FIrst Phase has been completed, Cataclysm will open its eye and fire Laser Arrows at you periodically, whilst constantly firing green fireballs in a pattern. After it’s health has been dropped to 50%, it will retreat and the First Phase happens again, with Exploders attacking the player.
After the First phase is again completed, Cataclysm will spawn a shuriken that will sweep across the bottom of the stage throughout the remainder of the fight, until it has reached 0% health.
After it has been “defeated”, it will fly to the top of the screen and will proceed to turn the game into a bullet hell game. You can die from this, causing you to start the entire fight over! After this has happened, it will reveal its heart. The player will receive an infinite number of Laser Arrows and cannot die by their own arrows. Spamming is welcome here. After the heart has been destroyed, you have won!
Conclusion
I hope this helped you defeat all the enemies in the game, allowing you to clear all the levels and be a badass.
Credit goes to the Towerfall Wiki for supplying pictures and information.
Thanks for reading and may you defeat your enemies swiftly.