The Lair Guardian

The Lair Guardian is a Boss found in their Undersea Lair.

## Description

The Lair Guardian is a huge robot bearing the marks of old age. It has large crab legs and a hollowed out torso wherein it holds a Crate containing great marvels of engineering. It has two large arms and a head with three glowing eyes and a fearsome jaw. Its robotic parts are highly decorated but have poorly stood through the test of time, showing clear signs of deterioration, as well as dirt and rust. A robotic marvel created through the use of materials not of this Earth, in the design of something hidden far beyond the skies; this metallic behemoth now protects the greatest accomplishments of those that came before.

## Behavior

The Lair Guardian has two arms with which it attacks, one being a large, steam powered hand and the other being one of three different weapons:

  **Drone Launcher** | The Drone Launcher will periodically shoot Lair Drones to attack its target.

The Hand will switch between slamming into the ground with a large force and attempting to grab its target. If it succeeds, it will hold and slowly crush its target, and will only release them if it is staggered by receiving high amounts of damage in a certain amount of time. Additionally, if someone is inside the Submarine, it will slam its hand inside and try to grab a crew member. If it succeeds, it will pull what it caught to outside the ship, and hold it as if it had grabbed its victim from the exterior.
Lastly, The Lair Guardian has one last way of hurting its foes: Using its legs. When walking or if a player is near its legs when it's standing still, it will rapidly slam its feet onto the ground and hurt anything that gets caught under it, as well as causing small boulders fall from the Lair's ceiling, dealing 2 points of damage to anyone unlucky enough to be caught beneath them. Once killed, it will drop a crate providing various ship Upgrades.

###  Lair Drone

The Lair Drones will only appear if The Lair Guardian's left secondary weapon is the Drone Launcher. The Lair Drones are very weak, having only 20 health points, but can overwhelm the players when combined with the Guardian's attacks, thus, killing them should be a priority. They attack by following the players and dealing contact damage with their sharp propellers. They have very low engagement distaces and will eventually lose track of their targets if left alone and not approached, meaning savvy crews can lure them away from the fight and leave them there, unable to deal damage.
Up to a maximum of 5 Lair Drones can be alive at the same time.

## Tactics

The Lair Guardian takes highly increased damage if hit in the head and can also be staggered if it receives a large amount of damage in a short span of time. Ranged weapons are great for targeting its weak spots and melee weapon users will have to climb the multiple chains hanging from the Lair's ceiling to deliver devastating blows to the Guardian's head. Additionally, sustained damage (500 damage) to its limbs or head may cause them to fall off, which can leave the Lair Guardian mostly defenseless and easier to kill. Hitting the arm holding a crew member, or simply dealing enough damage in a short span of time can cause him to stagger and drop them, as well as making the boss unable to attack for a short amount of time and stopping a charging laser before it is fired. You should always take priority of the arm as a crew member can be crushed and become susceptible to boulders falling causing an overall damage of 3 for every second which can lead to a devastating death and an angry teammate! One tactic that can be taken advantage of however, is standing under the lair guardian between their legs but this would only be safe as long as both the arm and the other limb are removed. On some occasions, boulders may be blocked by the guardians head and/or platform that is above its head making this tactic effective at damaging the lair guardian as fast as possible and as efficiently as possible. The Lair Guardian's corpse cannot be broken, and when hit with a Pickaxe or Butcher Knife, it will drop nothing.