Colonel Spanner

**Colonel Spanner** is a Varkem Elite Soldier. He pilots a large ship which hovers over the ground of the Snow Bioctagon. He is the second boss of Chapter 4.

## Appearance

Unlike other enemy Varkem Soldiers, Colonel Spanner does not have a mask on which means that his face can be clearly seen.

## Boss Fight

### Phase 1

Colonel Spanner's ship generates a large energy shield completely covering itself.

The phase revolves around shooting the lime spots on its front whenever they turn white. When they turn white and are shot, they flash red briefly before switching back. This reduces the shield’s health by a small amount.

A large variety of attacks are used in this phase, which are randomly chosen once every 10 seconds.

* Rockets can launch down from above, appearing in a random spread. They fly down and explode. When the Shield Health is below 50%, many more rockekts will launch, aiming absolutely everywhere.
* Arcing lasers can get shot from the green lights on the front, that trace over where the player was standing.
* The two frontal rocket thrusters can thrust downwards, expelling lots of green energy that comes out in the form of phasers.
* A few Varkem Soldiers spawn on the ground in front of the ship. There is a cap of 6 soldiers.

Once the Shield Health has been depleted, Phase 2 starts.

### Phase 2

The Shield regenerates back to full health. Alongside that, Colonel Spanner will activate four anti-gravity generators which causes the player, as well as other Varkem Soldiers to float upwards above his ship.

This phase also revolves around shooting the lime spots, except they are now on the top of the shield.

Its attacks are similar to Phase 1 but are executed in different ways.

* Rockets will once again launch from the top, however this time they will appear in mid-air above the roof and hover for a couple seconds before flying upwards to explode.
* The green sea lanterns on the roof can each emit a large, sweeping laser one after the other. These don’t point at the player, they just each sweep in a line above them.
* The four rocket thrusters can shoot up a pulse that explodes into green energy in all directions. Two of them shoot first, then some time later the other two shoot.
* Ranged Varkem soldiers with Jet-Wings will appear and levitate upwards. There is again a cap of 6 soldiers.

When below 50% health an additional attack is added:

* All five roof-lasers will shoot at once, however they will sweep much slower to give the player time to move out of the way.

Once the Shield Health is once again depleted, Phase 3 starts.

### Phase 3

Upon depleting the shield’s health again, the ship’s shields get brought down completely, exposing four anti-gravity generators on each side of the tank. A glowing green outline appears where they can be shot.

During this phase the same attacks as Phase 2 will be used. A few snipers will additionally take up position on the top of the tank, more spawning after each anti-gravity generator is destroyed.

### Phase 4

Destroying the anti-gravity generators sets off a chain reaction that blows up each rocket booster, causing the entire ship to fall down to the ground.

You fall back down to the ground, and a door on the side opens up. Inside there are some Varkem Soldiers to fight, including a Varkem Elite Soldier which drops a Link Teleporter upon death. It can be placed to teleport up to where Colonel Spanner is.

### Phase 5

Colonel Spanner rides a powerful Varkem Ravager, which is the only part of him that is damageable.

He has the following attacks:

* He will hold a Varkem Rocket Cannon that launches rockets upwards. They blast through the ceiling before falling down above the player and blowing up.
* The Ravager will enter numerous “charges” where it will charge straight across the arena, aiming for the player and dealing a huge amount of damage if it hits. Its charge can break down weak walls and will destroy computers and screens.

When below 50% health an additional attack is added:

* A gravity pulse can activate for some time, which will constantly push the player in one of four directions.

On defeat, Colonel Spanner drops one of the following equipment besides his regular drops. There is an additional 50% chance for another item to drop for every extra player.

* Varkem Rocket Cannon
* Gravity Gauntlet
* Sky Laser Beacon
* Sweeping Laser Turret

## Strategy

* It’s recommended to use a Cosmic Commando Phaser against his antigravity generators and Varkem Soldier minions. As for Spanner’s Ravager, melee weapons are risky due to its high damage and its potential to start its charge at any moment, which will straight-away deal massive damage should you get hit. Just go with good ol’ Rapid Blasters once again, and keep a Nebula Orb around for some extra damage should Spanner pass close to it.

## Notes

* Dream Industrial by TeknoAXE plays during Colonel Spanner's boss fight.

## Quotes

"*Hostiles sighted. Shields up, and open fire!*" (Upon encounter)

"*Engage backup shield generators! Oh, and initialise anti-gravity generators!*" (Upon exhausting the shield's health for the first time)

"*Shields are down! Soldiers, get up there and stop them! We can’t let them destroy the anti-gravity generators!"* (Upon exhausting the shield's health for the second time)

"C*harge!! I’ll run you down with my Ravager!*" (Upon teleporting up to Colonel Spanner's arena)