Ancient Automaton

The Ancient Automaton is the final boss of Itnamzand and the guardian of the Noble Sword, the Tornado Rod, and Light of Knowledge.
It is found in Itnamzand Deep. In battle, it launches explosive missles that stun enemies with fire damage. At first, the Automaton was accompanied by two smaller Dwarven Ballistae, but these were removed.
When defeated, the Ancient Automaton, the Tornado Rod, spell tomes of Darknut Thrall, Gimos Thrall, Summon Darknut, Summon Gimos, and the Itnamzand Sanctum Key can be found in its remains. It also carries samples of Dwarven Oil and standard Dwarven Ballista loot.
== Strategy ==
The Ancient Automaton is arguably the most difficult boss to defeat of the three major dungeons. Its only attack is devastating but can be easily avoided with proper timing, given the ballista's slow reload time after firing. Ranged magic or archery can dispatch the Ancient Automaton, and high resistance to fire magic can allow the player to approach with melée weapons.
== Lore ==
Very little is known about the Ancient Automaton. It is visibly very old, so may have had a similar story to the Silver Centurion, but has deteriorated considerably. It may also have been a result of experimentation on the part of the Dwemer of Itnamzand to integrate fire magic into their automata.
== Background and Inspiration ==
The Ancient Automaton was included with Itnamzand in version 5.0 and is named for Koloktos, the boss of the Ancient Cistern in Skyward Sword. The coloring of the ballista also pays homage to Koloktos. This was done to reference JKalenad's favorite boss from Skyward Sword.
The Ancient Automaton was once JKalenad's least favorite boss. It was a result of creative block and JKalenad never felt that the boss fit Itnamzand's Twilight Princess theme. He also felt that the Ancient Automaton was more suited to be a mini-boss than the guardian of a valuable relic (the Noble Sword), and an invaluable source of information (the Light of Knowledge). However, no Twilight Princess bosses provided enough inspiration, and bosses from other games did not seem suitable.
The Ancient Automaton debuted in 2014, three years before Breath of the Wild. The game inspired JKalenad to rework the Ancient Automaton into an echo of Guardian Stalkers. In version 6.5.20, its bolts were removed and replaced with an explosive fireball projectile.
== See Also ==
Itnamzand
Noble Sword
Light of Knowledge
Category:Bosses
Category:Enemies
Category:Relics of Hyrule Canon