Cave Ice Bug/Tactics

== Boss Attacks ==
* Each time the boss launches a direct attack, a rain of icicles will fall from the ceiling, telegraphed by red crosshairs.
* Launches four projectiles in diagonal directions which leave behind trails smaller projectiles perpendicular to their movement.
* Fires a shotgun blast of wavy bullet streams. 
** When enraged, fires many more shots in a wider spread.
* Burrows into the ground and generates a damaging shockwave. It travels for some time before re-surfacing, trailing behind harmful ice crystals that explode into snowball projectiles.
** Will continue to take normal damage before the burrowing animation finishes.
* Spawns multiple ice crystals in the room, which cannot be damaged and obstruct player movement.
** These explode after several seconds, sending 3 evenly spaced projectiles outwards. The projectiles inflict 3 damage, while the explosion does 2.
** When enraged, more crystals appear, and six projectiles are spawned from each explosion.
** If the boss comes into contact with a crystal, it is consumed, restoring 50 HP and making the boss grow longer.
*** Healing ability has an unspecified limit.
== Tactics ==
The Cave Ice Bug's head is the only part of its body that can be hit while other parts do not take damage. Combined with its immunity to Freeze effects and high mobility, this makes the fight exceptionally dangerous.
Trying to keep a distance from the Cave Ice Bug is not a very good idea as the obstacles may block the projectiles. Melee weapons are suitable and work even better if they don't consume energy - not only can they block ranged attacks, the player will have an effective form of offense against the boss at all times. Weapons capable of high burst damage, such as the Next-next-next-gen SMG, should be used during this vulnerability period.
Do not try to attack as soon as the fight starts. The shorter the boss is, the less time it takes to burrow underground. The attacks are not too dangerous if the player stands off the ice floor. High-Energy burst weapons like Charged Railgun or Gatling Gun can easily overextend the player and leave them in a tight spot once the boss heals.
While Cave Ice Bug is burrowing underground, the player is given the opportunity to deal massive damage to it. They may even spam-melee attack it.
Staying on the icy sections of the floor is dangerous due to the friction penalty. Try to move out of the boss' way as soon as possible and keep an eye on the icy chunks while it is underground so as to avoid bumping into its attacks, most specifically icicles. The Freeze Buff can assist in providing the player damage immunity to them, and also gives them an advantage against its ice-based attacks.
The Cave Ice Bug, however, is exceptionally vulnerable to slowing effects. Poison pools, such as those generated from Alchemist's skills, Fantastic Gun and Green Essence, can help in drastically delaying its advance. The Candied Hawberries is also a useful melee to have, being the only weapon that inflicts the Slow status effect. Weapons that inflict Stun can also disable it, with the most notable examples being Thunder Sword and Cleaner, which stun the boss briefly, allowing a chance for massive damage to be dealt.
Like its volcanic counterpart, the Cave Ice Bug suffers a huge disadvantage in The Origin & Matrix of the Lord of Evil, as its health bar is on top of its sprite rather than on the top of the screen (Origin-exclusive), as well as visual effects from mutations (enemy modifiers). This is less important, considering the ice crystal it burrows in is VERY visible from the floor, but it helps in tracking its head or the crystal in bullet hell scenarios.
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Category:Cave
Category:Bosses
Category:Enemies
Category:Strategies and Guides