Complete Boss Guide [Aquaria]

Overview

Strategies for all the main and minibosses of the game! SPOILERS!!!

Intro

This guide will be divided by location & storyline progression. That way, if you need to backtrack late-game for a boss, that boss will be listed here in the map area it is found.

• Bosses in this game require much less button-mashing than figuring out the proper triggers to continue the fight and take it to the next level. Often you will need to taunt enemies into a trap or find a weak spot. Most every battle will require you to transform and use very specific abilities.
• Hotkeys can help you switch form very quickly if you’re using a keyboard.
• The “God” Bosses are traditionally the ones hindering your progress in the game – giving you access to new forms and powers upon defeating them.
• Defeating the minibosses is equally useful as you can gain pet eggs, new costumes and so on.
• I strongly recommend buffing (using stat-boosting food items) at the start of a boss battle. In addition, you can pause a battle and even cook food items. When you know a boss battle is coming up, it’s a good idea to craft some buffs and go back to collect more ingredients. You can’t carry more than 8 of a particular item, so this is very important to take note of.
• If you are having trouble defeating any bosses, be sure to Toggle Li (NPC) into combat mode and assign a pet to your active slot. Consider going back through areas of the game to farm recipe ingredients. A simple boost in defense or improving your energy shot (by eating food) can drastically improve your chances of winning. Be sure to equip a costume for your normal form (when applicable). Costumes can do things like boost your defense or deal damage on being touched.
• It’s important to gain access to Li from The Veil and Fish form in the Kelp Forest. Fish Form can help obtain items outside of battle and Li is an essential combat partner. He can’t accompany you to every battle, but every little bit of help is worth the map exploring!

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External Resources

Before you dive into this guide, I’d like to point out some other fantastic resources for this game:

Game Dev’s Forum (Bit-Blot) [www.bit-blot.com]
Strategy Wiki [strategywiki.org]
Aquaria Wiki [aquaria.wikia.com]

…and of course, there’s YouTube.

Home Waters – The Giant Nautilus

Overview:

This boss apparently doesn’t require the energy form to complete. However, that would take a ridiculous amount of time and effort.

Instead, let’s focus on a glitch in this game. There are several glitches involving rocks.

One glitch (which we won’t use now) involves being blocked by a rock because you cannot push it. Instead you must bind it, then rush toward it and you will teleport to the other side of the rock.

The glitch we will use against the Nautilus involves binding a rock in normal form. When you transform, any bound rock is not dropped. Thus, you can use it against the Nautilus to block her ramming attack and the rock will damage her on contact.

Goals:

Defeat 2 stages of the Nautilus.

Strategy:

• In her first stage, the Nautilus will spawn many small versions of himself. The Nautilus will also shoot purple fireballs at you. Try and circle around him to shoot at his tentacles. The shell is invulnerable, and you cannot use Bind to remove it.
• Just remember to keep charging and using your energy shot. You sometimes need to clear out all the “shells” the Nautilus spawns to get to him. Keep a rock on you at all times. Don’t bother reverting to normal form during the battle. Just pick up a rock below before approaching the Nautilus.
• The second stage starts when the Nautilus turns dark red. His attacks will become faster and you must swim far around her to avoid a wave of projectiles that occasionally radiate out from him.

Energy Temple – Energy God

Overview:

Be careful when approaching to taunt it. When you approach the Energy God, he will either lunge and bite OR swipe up/down toward you. But soon after he will also move forward – toward you. Doing regular “damage” as energy form will only make the Energy God retreat. You need to use both energy form and normal form to complete this battle, but as Energy form – you won’t be dealing direct damage.

Goals:

Lure the Energy God into the energy beam 3x.

Strategy:

• Take the white orb and place it in the socket as soon as you can. After that, don’t try and make the Energy God retreat. Instead, taunt him out. Do this in normal form while shielded. Then as he approaches the beam, charge your energy shot.
• When you first encounter the Energy God, he is far back in a tunnel. However, you may need to back him up further by attacking him in energy form. Bind the white orb white thing from under him and drag it to the socket near where you entered the tunnel.
• The 3rd time you try to lure him into the beam, he will not be so naive. No worries though. Simply taunt him while he is near the beam and release your charge shot at the socketed orb. When his arm or face is caught in the beam, he should be done for.

Energy Temple – Giant Blaster

Overview:

I’m not even sure if this is worth calling a miniboss, but I’m just putting it here to point out it resides in the extension of the Energy Temple you pass by on defeating the Energy God. You can access it once you have Nature form unlocked (and Beast Form allows you to use a shortcut in the Energy Temple area). Just spit a flower at the red bulb and take the pearl to its socket. Light it up in Energy form and enter the dome-shaped arena.

Goals:

Defeat the blaster and other creatures in the room? Grab the pet egg???*
*I can’t remember what it was, but I’m guessing it’s the pet Blaster I now own.

Strategy:

• I really don’t have much to say here as it’s an easy battle to complete. This is in the category of creatures that aren’t quite mini-bosses, but they aren’t your average little squirt. A boss wannabe? You can defeat it by attacking when the shell opens. Energy form will do.
• Anyway, you may even be able to slide past the creature and grab whatever was in that area without battling. I was so shocked it wasn’t a miniboss room that I didn’t try exploring my options. Feel free to comment if it’s possible to avoid battle and just grab the treasure or whatever was in that room. Again, I’m guessing it was the pet Blaster egg.

Open Waters – Arnassi Ruins – Rock Crab

Overview:

This boss is not worth getting close to. Its exoskeleton will deflect all attacks AND hurt you when touched. Be sure to notice attack patterns. When the Rock Crab sends out energy balls toward you, it exposes its eyes. When you blind it, the claws are exposed. When the claws are removed, the crab starts leaping out of the water, letting you fire at its belly momentarily.

Goals:

Hurt the eyes to remove the claws. Remove the claws to destroy the belly. THEN you win.

Strategy:

• It’s a good idea to stay somewhere above the crab (but still in the water) during his first phase. Occasionally, it will expose the eyes. Charge your Energy Shot in the meantime. Staying still will ensure you taunt the crab to attack you. There’s no point in using anything but Energy Form during the battle, especially if you face the Rock Crab early on in the game.
• When the crab loses one of its arms, you will need to attack the eye nearest the other pincer. Be sure to hover over the appropriate area when charging, or your attacks may not work.
• During Phase 2 (when the crab starts leaping out of the water) the Rock Crab will travel straight up out of the water toward you. Stay near the middle-depth of the water to make sure you have time to aim and shoot at the belly when the rock crab is at the high point of its jump. The belly is vunerable from below and diagonally from below. Again, just stay in Energy Form unless you challenge Rock Crab after you obtain Nature Form (that might be worth a try). Perhaps you can also try lodging yourself under the crab and just keep attacking it conveniently.

Mithalas Cathedral – Mithalas (God)

Overview:

This is another boss which will require your attention to position. Make Mithalas retreat (attack him) and he will take a deep breath and inhale anything nearby. Let Mithalas approach the pit in the floor and he will scoop you out of it. Mithalas will approach the right-side of the room during your inactivity or when you swim near him and lure him out. Occasionally he spawns a merman and those mermen are critical to winning this battle. Usually he spawns these when he is near the right-hand side of the stage, but it could just be that he spawns them when you are near.

Goals:

Make Mithalas inhale four poison frogs, then attack him. Make poison frogs by luring mermen into poison vents in the pit of the floor.

Strategy:

• It’s a good idea to stay somewhere to the right during most of the battle. First off, you need to bind a poison frog and make Mithalas retreat. When he’s almost to the back of the chamber, let go of the poison frog NEAR, BUT NOT AT THE CEILING and continue attacking to make him retreat to the end of the chamber. At that point he should inhale the frog before inhaling YOU.
• Then, simply wait until he spawns another merman and repeat. Be careful, as Mithalas’ can despawn his own mermen if they are hit by too many projectiles. During his first and second phases, his projectiles are easy to dodge by swimming up or down just a little. Later, when he goes blind and is enraged, you will need to swim up or down a ways to dodge all of the projectiles Mithalas launches at you. Your Shield Song cannot many projectiles EVER during this battle, so just cast a shield when you are binding a poison frog, since you are stuck using that form while binding and unbinding.
• IIRC during the 1st and 2nd phases, you must make Mithalas inhale two poison frogs. That is,

  Phase 1: He will inhale two frogs…increase his power…
  Phase 2: …inhale two more, THEN…
  Phase 3: …become completely enraged. Again, just attack him at that point, he will no longer spawn mermen.

Mithalas Cathedral – The (3) Priests

Overview:

This boss is three priests who transit between an invincible and vulnerable state. When vulnerable, they all shoot homing projectiles at you.

Goals:

Deal enough damage to the vulnerable priests to defeat them. I think they each have a separate HP bar, so be sure to keep at it if they aren’t going down.

Strategy:

• If you’ve defeated Mermog or read about him, this battle is very similar. It’s best just to hide and let Li attack while you put a barrier of thorny vines around you. This is a “cheap” way to deal damage, as the priests will come after you while they are not in spirit form.
• It’s best to do SOME damage as energy form, and perhaps you can toss in a defensive potion or two.

Kelp Forest – Nature Goddess

Overview:

This battle has a few main parts to it. First, the goddess will spawn a few spikey chesnuts. Defeat these and some centipedes will spawn. Attack and avoid them. When they disappear, the goddess will sing a musical note which you can visually and audibly copy in your normal form. When you do this, the goddess will open her eyes and she will be vulnerable to attack. After she closes her eyes, this cycle repeats itself, with the goddess spawning more chestnuts and centipedes as her health decreases. Late in the battle, she will put up a shield of giant chestnuts that rotate around her weak spot, and you simply need to aim at her eyes from an angle that isn’t blocked.

Goals:

Defeat creatures the Nature Goddess spawns, then copy the note she sings. Attack when her eyes are open to damage her.

Strategy:

• First off, let’s address the chestnuts. They will bounce around in strange ways due to the strong current around the tree. These direction of the currents change as the battle goes on. Just don’t hover over the direction the current is heading and attack them from a distance. Energy form is recommended.
• The goddess will then spawn centipedes that will entend through a large portion of the stage. To avoid touching one or being caught inside of one, follow the current to make a fast getaway. Another way to avoid bumping into one is to swim against the current. Eventually, either through attacking them or letting enough time pass, they will disappear from the stage. They seemed to disappear quickly when I was battling them.
• At this point, you should just switch to normal form and swim to the middle of the stage. You can see which note you are supposed to copy, which helps if you are tone-deaf (most music puzzles in the game have an internally visible solution, in case you were wondering). Switch to energy form and give her a barrage of uncharged energy shots to the face.
• When she closes her eyes, stay in Energy form and await the next waves of creatures to be spawned. The rest of the battle is very predictable except the number of creatures increases as you drain the goddess’ HP. At most, I think there were 8 chestnuts and 4 centipedes spawned per wave. Finally, you will need to get past a shield of chestnuts constantly rotating around the goddess WHILE avoiding creatures she spawns. A smart way to deal with this is just barrage her with uncharged Energy shots. That way, if your attack is deflected, only a small amount of your time will be wasted.

Kelp Forest – Mermog Cave – Mermog

Overview:

This boss is accessible after you gain Fish Form in the Kelp Forest. Mermog is a fish that sits ontop of what resembles a totem pole section. Mermog attacks by shooting projectiles out of the totem. You can attack when the mouth is open. Contact damage also hurts you. Occasionally, Mermog will retreat to the far right of the map and fire a barrage of projectiles. Later, when you lower Mermog’s HP, it will fire a wide laser beam. At this point, most all of Mermog’s body is vulnerable. The last two attacks I mentioned are powerful and hard to avoid. I will highlight some strategies to deal with that.

Goals:

Attack the totem to make the rest of Mermog vulnerable. Continue attacking to defeat it.

Strategy:

• Mermog has some very predictable attack patterns. They are executed very fast though, so be careful. When Mermog fires a large barrage of projectiles, you can hide between the vines nearby and the projectiles will go past you. Take note of this discrepancy in Mermog’s attack because this is how you can survive.
• In addition, you may be able to throw together a quick vine wall in Nature form. I don’t recommend switching to Normal form and shielding, but perhaps with the Rock Crab armor you may have enough defense to make it worthwhile.
• Mermog’s laser beam is hard to avoid, but you can waste time by being active and go over his head to evade being caught in the beam. Keep attacking constantly when he is in this form. Mermog doesn’t have much HP to be honest, but his attack patterns can be devastating if you’re not prepared.

Sun Temple – Sun Worm (God)

Overview:

This boss is accessible after you pass through the veil and complete some puzzles in the Sun Temple. Just like the puzzles, this boss will manipulate the water level. This time, when the water level is altered, you may get caught in the current. The current can push you into spikes or pull you toward the worm, causing contact damage, etc.

Goals:

Defeat the boss. Nothing special here.

Strategy:

• Throughout the battle, it’s a good idea to keep your distance. Speed boosts help counteract the currents generated by changes in the water level. Leaping out of water can also completely avoid the issue of being swept up in the current.
• The best ways to fight this battle are in Nature and Energy Forms. Wall yourself in and wait for the worm to damage itself on them. Just beware of the rising tide if you’re walled in against spikes. If you really need to use Beast Form, it can also help fight the current. Or, up your Energy Form shot power with a Spicy Roll.
• The Sun Worm attacks in a few, simple phases. It starts out mainly dealing contact damage, progressively gaining speed as you lower its health. Watch out for the fireballs near the end of the battle!

The Veil – Octomun

Overview:

This boss doesn’t inherently REQUIRE you to use sun form, BUT if you snuck through the Sun Temple to find this area of the map, just go back and fight the Sun Worm. At certain points in the battle, you will be assaulted by squid ink. The octopus will also put a lot of ink into the water, completely darkening the water (but not by blinding you). You need Sun Form to get rid of this momentarily. Unless you have x-ray vision and high damage output, you can forget about fighting this without Sun Form.

Goals:

Taunt the octopus to make it reveal a pink bubble in its mouth. Attack this to defeat it.

Strategy:

• As I’ve mentioned, Sun form is really essential to winning this effectively. Note the large, upright tentacle of the octopus. You will need to get close to taunt the octopus to get the tentacle to crash down. In doing so, the octopus reveals this weird pink thing in its mouth. The best idea is to taunt the octopus, move quickly to the right, and attack the mouth with energy form.
• You might want to stock up on Sight Poultice in case you get sprayed with ink. Spicy Roll helps increase your damage output, if you’re not interested in dragging out the battle (which happens quite easily when you need Sun Form to light up the room again).
• The octopus shoots projectiles in a very predictable way. Once they start coming out, you can easily move either left or right to dodge the rest.

Frozen Veil – Mantis Shrimp

Overview:

This boss is a bit tricky. The idea is very simple though: defeat the Shrimp with his own bombs. 3 hits usually does the trick. The boss hangs on the ceiling though, so this begs the question: how do you get him close to his own attacks?

Goals:

“Fling” the shrimp off the ceiling via Nature Form and hit it with 3 of its own bombs.

Strategy:

• When you get to the bubble closest to the Mantis Shrimp, the battle begins. Beware as contact damage will occur if you touch the body of the shrimp or one of its bombs explodes near you. These bombs have a timer and will start shaking and glowing deep red when the countdown is almost up.
• There is always room for creativity, but the general idea is to time the launching of your thorn spike so there’s enough time to get a bomb close enough and explode it. The classic way to do this is bind a bomb and THEN throw a thorn spike at the shrimp and release the bomb. However, projectiles also set off bombs. You may want to leave Li in the water below OR you can mimic him and set off a bomb in Energy Form. It all depends on your style. Remember, bound items stick when you change form.

The Abyss – Jellyfish King

Overview:

Here we have another boss whose jellyfish won’t despawn until eaten. This time, tight space will have you changing form to avoid getting body-blocked into a nasty lightning bolt. There’s nothing groundbreaking in this battle, just make sure your attacks go through the opening in the eye. Doing that feels sort of like an arcade game, but it’s easier than it looks.

Goals:

Attack through the opening in the jellyfish’s evil, rotating eye

Strategy:

• At this point, you should really stock up on Tough Cakes. It’s easy to take a lot of damage very quickly during this battle. Do toggle an attacking pet to help…(i.e NOT THE DUMBO SQUID!).
  The jellyfish spawned while Jellyfish King isn’t attacking will be docile, but will swarm you when he is attacking. This is why you really need to keep the little ones in check.

• I completed this battle after getting Dual Form. I found it very helpful to charge up Naija’s scream attack before entering this battle and use it on the Jellyfish King. It really helped speed up the battle. Mostly you just need to clear out jellyfish with beast form occasionally.
• Otherwise, you can attack with Energy Form + Spicy Roll. I’ve also tried poisoning it while in Fish Form (eat a Swamp Cake). There are several ways to do this battle, but the main challenge is just clearing out jellyfish as needed…and healing / buffing appropriately.

Sunken City – Boiler Room – Monster and Sorceress

Overview:

To begin the fight, you’ll need to drag some clay balls to the child at the bottom of the room. Take note of the pink jellyfish above, which will not despawn unless you devour it *nudge nudge*.
During the actual fight, you’ll need to knock out the sorceress for a bit so you can damage the monster.

Goals:

Knock out the sorceress with Beast Shot, then damage the monster in whatever way you want – preferrably Energy Form.

Strategy:

• Although I loved the music for this battle, this was one of the more cryptic fights in the game. First off, bringing balls of clay to the child? This makes sense AFTER you complete the game, but not before. Also, after fiddling with the single-spawning pink jellyfish, it becomes apparent you need to hit something with Beast Shot. You must hit the sorceress with the jellyfish’s Beast Shot. Then, attack the monster. After awhile, the sorceress will revive, then pull another jellyfish out of the monster’s head. The process repeats itself a few rounds.
• I strongly recommend using Energy Form + Spicy Roll whenever you attack the monster. I suppose Nature Form spikes may work – I hadn’t tried that. Beware…after the monster takes enough damage, jellyfish will no longer spawn and you will need to simply attack either the monster and/or the sorceress to defeat them.
• Dodging attacks is very simple. You just need to stay high up in the water and go to the far left or right when the monster lunges for you.

The Body – Final Boss “The Creator”

Overview:

This is the last boss of the game. There is nothing here you haven’t seen before. Just give it your best and use most of your buffs in the first few phases and the very last phase. There are definitely some phases you definitely should NOT bother buffing for. This will be very obvious when you see the challenge for yourself. Because the ending you get depends on how many of Naija’s memories were collected, you may want to stop and go back through the game at this point, if you’re looking for a different ending. The ending is right after the battle is over. You don’t get to stop and save.

Goals:

Defeat all 5 or so phases of the “Creator” enemy.

Strategy:

I found myself not really needing any buffs except to speed up the combat in the first few phases. Be mindful of which armor you use in battle. Everyone I’ve seen recommends the Jelly costume, but there’s also Crab Armor, etc.
Again, there is nothing groundbreaking in this battle, so I will simply outline the battle:

• 1.) You need to damage the face mask. Energy form + Spicy Roll suggested. Eventually the mask will fall off. Continue attacking. Sometimes, hiding above the boss’ head helps avoid most of the projectiles. Depending on the angle, a quick thorn spike may block some of them.
• 2.) Once the head is off, continue attacking, but be mindful of the occasional laser. If you try and pass over the head, the laser will change direction and continue up toward you. The jumping is also very annoying. Spicy Roll is recommended. Consider a speed boost (eg. Hot Soup). At this point, Li is gone, so don’t think you can Dual Form your way out of this battle just yet.
• 3.) The body will fall and a creature will emerge. Follow and chase it down the passage to the far room on your map. Use Sun Form as necessary. Attacking it while its mouth is open will cause it to retreat. Simply attacking it will make it charge at you though. After a few shots and chasing it around, it will unseal the last room on the minimap. This part and the next will require no buffing.
• 4.) Now you have a chance to use Normal Form. Pay attention to the notes sung by the pale child. Don’t copy them just yet. Several round stones will emerge and attack you. Sing the corresponding note on a rock before it collides with something (and also for the other 2 rocks) and the child will take visible damage. It also makes a sound like something was healed I didn’t notice if it actually healed me though. Maybe it’s just for the sound effect. Anyways, continue this little game until the statue falls.
• 5.) Okay, and now down to serious business. First, let’s rescue Li. You will need to attack one eye of the giant to your right. Use Sun Form to blind him, then attack what’s left of the eye until it turns dark red. Use Bind to pull it out (eww!). When Li is released, go ahead and switch to Dual Form. Whenever the boss opens the mouth on his chest, attack the opening from an angle. Dual Form scream also helps and can be charged when the boss spawns a few small nautilus shells. That’s pretty much it! Just keep attacking his chest until he gives up. Hooray! Enjoy the credits and whichever ending you get 🙂

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