Giant Mage

**Giant Mages** are large magical humanoid enemies encountered in Beneath. They make their first appearance in the Ruins.

## Description

Giant Mages are large magical humanoid monsters with pale skin. They have protrusions on the sides of their heads that resemble ears and have sunken red eyes. They wear nothing except a brown loincloth. They carry a magical staff which they use to attack with. Their most notable feature is their giant heads, which is far larger than their torsos.

They will roam around a room passively, mostly standing around until a player gets near. They will then start to attack with their staff. They wield magic staffs like the Minion, so they have access to a variety of magic attacks.

## Abilities and Powers

* **Staff Shockwave:** If the player happens to charge at the Giant Mage for the first time, the Giant Mage will lift its staff into the air and slam the pommel into the ground, unleashing a blast of air. This attack deals no damage but knocks the player and other enemies back out of melee range.
* **Staff Pound:** The Giant Mage pounds its staff against the ground, damaging the player for a small amount. This serves as the basic melee attack of the Giant Mage. They will start to use it after the player gets in melee range of the Giant Mage for the second time.
* **Slap:** The Mage will lift its hand and quickly slap the enemy back a bit.
* **Homing Bolts:** By imbuing their staff's crystal with magic and lifting it up into the air, the Giant Mage can release a flurry of blue homing bolts. After being summoned, the bolts will slowly move towards the player and track them until they hit something, dealing low damage but considerable damage in multiple blows.
* **Portal Summon:** The Giant Mage uses its staff to summon a portal in the air that leads to stars in space. The portal will then release either two Floating Heads and Crystal Crabs that will drop down to the ground before the portal disappears. This attack, because of how long it takes to perform, is rarely seen.
* **Superiority:** This is not a direct attack, but it causes Minions and Interceptors to attempt to protect the Giant Mage through their own means.

## Strategy

* In rooms with Giant Mages and Minions, the Minions should always be the first priority to kill.
* The Giant Mage is a very dangerous foe. With all of their attacks, they can make a combat situation very overwhelming and can cause a quick demise for the player. When faced with overwhelming odds, especially with multiple Giant Mages and ineffective weaponry, the best option is simply to flee the area.
* Try to bait the Giant Mage into melee attacking. This means running at them, letting them try to attack at melee range, retreat, then rush in and hit them quickly with preferably a sharp weapon, before they can attack again.
* Most of the time, the homing bolts are as fast as a regular player. Therefore, it's better to use cover then outrun them.
* If getting in melee range is too risky, and you have a ranged weapon, you have to use cover or be quick to avoid their attacks. the bolt attack is not that bad as the bolts are slow and you can hide behind cover to let them explode. For the summon attack, you need to be prepared to deal with Crystal Crabs. Aim for their legs, and kill them before they shoot at you or you will be quickly overwhelmed by enemies. A shotgun is a preferred weapon in this case as they have strong voxels.
* A Minion or Interceptor shielding a Giant Mage is the worst thing that can happen. The Giant Mage will be invulnerable until the Minion is killed. You have to kill the Minion while avoiding the Giant Mage attacks, and then employ one of the strategies mentioned earlier to kill the Giant Mage.

## Trivia

* The Giant Mage has a similar head to the Floating Head, which is believed to be a severed head reanimated by magic.
* The Beast, one of the Shard Lords, is a stronger variant of the Giant Mage.
* There is a passive version of the Giant Mage that owns the shop.
* The Necromancer, an Elder God, is a more durable and stronger version of the Giant Mage.
* There are passive versions of The Giant Mage that build the portals to the Crystal Caverns and the Ruins
* The Giant Mage is a key element on the path to fight The Trickster. Its staff can be used by the player to access The Construct levels.