Ichthyosaurus Offspring

> "*The Ichthyosaurus was original a mount of the gods. It resides deep within the sea of clouds and is extremely hard to track. Its offspring made their way into the desert area for some reason. Having lost the ability to ride the clouds, they can only swim in the sand.*"
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**Ichthyosaurus Offspring** is the second boss in *Gunfire Reborn*. The player faces against Ichthyosaurus Offspring in the Quicksand Pool at the end of the Anxi Desert. Beating Ichthyosaurus Offspring five times will unlock Wind God as an alternative boss to the Anxi Desert.

If Wind God has been unlocked the boss is randomly chosen each run, making it a 50% chance for Ichthyosaurus Offspring and 50% chance for Wind God.

## Battle

The battle is split into several parts. Initially Ichthyosaurus Offspring will stay in the center of the arena, constantly using its laser attack to deal high amounts of  Fire? damage to any player caught inside it. If this stage takes too long, Desert Boars will be summoned to attack the player.

Damage taken to its head is harshly reduced. Because of this, it's best to aim at its weak spot in its mouth. Damage taken to its mouth is not reduced. Since  Explosion? weapons cannot deal critical hits, they will deal full damage against any part of its body.

Once enough damage has been taken to its  Armor?, it will retreat underground, summoning several Desert Coyotes or Fire Lizards. It will passively summon Desert Boars if too much time has passed before it retreats underground.

After returning to the surface, it will instead use their tail to launch balls of corrosive goo, littering the arena with damaging pools that deal constant  Corrosion? damage. It may also slam the ground, triggering shockwaves.

It may retreat into the ground several more times, summoning more enemies and changing attacks and location until eventually being defeated. Which set of attacks would be used can be told by whether it resurfaces with mouth, body or tail.

Since Ichthyosaurus Offspring has a layer of armor protecting it, bringing a  Corrosion? weapon will make the boss fight a bit easier. Another thing to note is that it has a huge weak spot on its tail which makes shotguns another great choice for fighting him. However standing too close to Ichthyosaurus Offspring will cause it to strike you with its tail, so keep a respectable distance away at all times.

### Reincarnation 9

On Reincarnation level 9, Ichthyosaurus Offspring uses significantly less attacks before retreating into the ground and summoning enemies, and stays underground for significantly less time. This can often result in many other smaller enemies joining the battle without having time to deal with them.

The laser attack sweeps across the arena significantly faster, making it extremely hard to avoid. Unless the player has extremely high  Movement Speed or damage prevention, hugging very close to the boss is almost required.

The bite attack has a larger radius, requiring players to move further away or move faster out of the area to avoid getting hit.

Corrosion balls are completely indestructible, requiring the player to avoid the corrosion pools they create without any way to prevent them.

### Attacks

Laser

Ichthyosuarus Offspring will aim to the left or right of the player and fire a large fire laser, sweeping it towards the player.

To dodge this attack, stand still and wait for them to pick a side, then move and dash the opposite direction from the laser. Being closer to Ichthyosaurus Offspring will reduce the distance you need to move.

Bite

Ichthyosaurus Offspring will move to a location, then a red circle appears beneath a player. The time it takes before this attack occurs is based on the distance between the player and where Ichthyosaurus Offspring is.

Dodging this attack is pretty straight forward. Move far away from Ichthyosaurus Offspring to maximize time before the attack, then move out of the red circle.

Corrosion Balls

While Ichthyosaurus Offspring's tail is raised, it will charge up and fire 2 barrages of corrosive balls in quick succession. These balls create corrosive pools on impact with the ground, making it more difficult to move.

The projectiles can be destroyed very quickly with a gun that has a high rate of fire or AoE capabilities.

Shockwaves

While Ichthyosaurus Offspring's tail is raised, it will slam the ground, creating a shockwave. Requires jumping over the shockwave to avoid taking damage. The attack hits sooner than it appears however, so jump earlier than expected.

At low health, 3 or 4 shockwaves will be created instead. Taking damage from one knocks you back, making you vulnerable to the others.

On the Mobile version, each additional shockwave is created at a slower rate, giving enough time to recover from being hit by earlier shockwaves.

## Unlocks

Ichthyosaurus Offspring will unlock the following items:

* Justice: when killed once.
* Coin Shot: when killed once on elite or higher difficulty.
* Lightless Shield: when killed twice on elite or higher difficulty.
* Merciless Strike: when killed 3 times on elite or higher difficulty.

## Notes

* The laser damage is lower than expected on Normal and Elite difficulties.

## Update History

* 07/29/2022 update:
	+ Increased the number of Shockwaves it creates from 3, to 3 or 4.
	+ Reduced the fore-swing and the back-swing of Shockwaves and Corrosion Balls.
	+ Corrosion Balls now shoots twice in quick succession, fires more corrosive balls and deals more damage with corrosive balls and corrosion pools.
	+ Laser attack deals less damage on Normal and Elite difficulties.
	+ Reduced the frequency of enemy spawns when it retreats into the ground.
	+ The tail will now deal damage when it resurfaces.