Lich

***Warning: This article or section contains spoilers.***

The **Lich** is the sole boss of Bullet Hell. He is a powerful undead wizard, and the posthumous form of the Gunslinger.

## Behavior

The Lich has three phases.

**Phase 1:**

* Fires large rings of bullets outwards along with random scattered bullets.
* Fires six rotating spirals of bullets that periodically change their direction of rotation.
* Fires a ring of normal bullets and a ring of bouncing bullets.
* Fires four spreads of five bullets.
* Fires a single fast, homing bullet.
* Spawns four Tombstoners.

After the first phase is defeated, a hand will burst out of the ground after a small delay and drag the player down into the arena of the second phase.

**Phase 2:**

In this phase, the Lich stays stationary above the player. He has several different attacks:

* Pounds the arena with one hand, sending out randomly scattered bullets and a wave of normal bullets off to one side. Many bullets then travel horizontally across the arena starting from that side. The smaller, flashing bullets will disappear halfway across the arena.
* Opens his rib cage, sending rings of bullets towards the player. A few of the bullets in the rings will then travel towards the player.
* Opens his rib cage, sending many waving lines of bullets towards the player.
* Pounds the arena with both hands, sending rows of bullets across the arena from both sides.

Attempting to fly behind the Lich during this phase will cause a wall of bullets to fly down, covering the chasm and forcing the player back towards the bottom half of the arena.

After the second phase is defeated, the player will be sent to a new arena where the third phase will materialize.

**Phase 3:**

In this phase, the Lich floats towards the player, and has more different attacks:

* Fires a rocket made out of bullets that flies out to the side, then flies towards the player, leaving many bullets in its wake.
* Fires lines of bullets towards the edges of the arena, then makes them rotate at varying speeds.
* Fires lines of bullets throughout the arena, with several links breaking off towards the player.
* Creates bullets in a gun shape, then fires the bullets towards the player.
* Fires a boomerang of bullets towards the player that curves back towards the Lich.
* Travels up and down the center of the arena, rapidly firing lines of bullets to the sides.
* Fills the arena with bullets except for a small cone, then rotates the cone while a wedge of bullets sweeps across the safe area.
* Sprays bullets above and below himself while spraying waves of bullets to the sides.

* After the third phase is defeated, the player must shoot the Gun That Can Kill The Past at the Lich to complete the run.

## Notes

* During the Lich's rapid up/down dashing and bullet line firing attack in his third phase, the Lich will not stop until the attack has fully concluded. Therefore, by impeding the Lich's ability to travel up or down the center of the bossroom, the player may trap him, and easily beat the fight.
	+ This may be accomplished via the use of Portable Table Device, spawning a table in the path of the Lich's movement.
	+ Spawning a Chest using the Directional Pad may also work.
	+ Inflicting the slow Status Effect via the Triple Crossbow or Chaos Bullets, while it doesn't completely stop the Lich, it will prolong the length of the attack and render it significantly easier to dodge, giving the player a significant advantage.
* Beating The Lich for the first time unlocks Gungeon Blueprint and Riddle of Lead. These unlocks won't register if the player is playing as Paradox before Gunslinger is unlocked.

## Bugs

* If the player is viewing the map during the transition from the first phase of the Lich to the second, they will be able to teleport out of the Lich's second phase bossroom, softlocking the game.
* If the player falls into a pit just before they are grabbed by the Lich's hand to transition them to the second phase of the fight, the pit respawn will still trigger, and will teleport the player out of the Lich's second phase bossroom, softlocking the game as with the above glitch.
* If the player quick restarts the run in between killing the first phase of the Lich and being grabbed by the hand, the Lich's hand will appear on the new run to grab the player. This softlocks the game, as there is no second phase bossroom to teleport the player to.
* If beating the Lich for the first time as the Paradox, it will not count as beating the Lich and as such you will not unlock Riddle of Lead or Gungeon Blueprint.

## Trivia

*For information related to the Lich before his death, see; The Gunslinger*

* The Lich's silhouette can be seen on the title screen.
* The second phase of the Lich's bossfight is internally referred to as the 'Megalich'. The final phase is internally referred to as the 'Infinilich'.
* During the first phase of the Lich's bossfight, he holds his revolver with his right hand, however, in his bosscard he holds the gun in his left.
* The fireplace in the Keep of the Lead Lord is crowned with a large painting depicting an elderly Gunslinger wearing the Lich's clothing and holding a living bullet.
	+ The bullet depicted in the fireplace painting may be the same bullet depicted in the Lich's bosscard.
* The scenery of The Lich's boss fight is a reference to the final duel in a circular cemetery on Sad Hill in the movie "The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly".
* The Lich's second form bears significant similarity to the appearance of the demon Shell'tan depicted in the Ammo Shrine.
* The bone of the Lich's forehead is punctured by a bullet wound, a motif shared with Revolvenants and the exterior of The Gungeon itself.
* The Lich's third form has the limbs of a Revolvenant, the composition of a Shelleton, and the features of his previous phase.
* The subtitle *'Gungeon Master'* is a reference to the role of Dungeon Master in the table-top roleplaying game Dungeons and Dragons. A Dungeon Master's responsibility is to manage the game and organize fights and encounters, and as such the label of 'Gungeon Master' exemplifies the Lich's control over the Gungeon.
	+ The Achievement for killing the Lich (itself also called *Gungeon Master*) depicts the Lich sitting behind a Dungeon Master's Screen, which is a folding board used by Dungeon Masters to hide necessary secrets from other players at the table, and to hold notes. This particular screen bears the letters *'GnD',* likely standing for *'Gungeons and Draguns'*.
	+ The Lich may also be a reference to the Tomb of Horrors, a Dungeons and Dragons module (pre-made adventure) in which the players descend a complex labyrinth of enemies and traps, culminating in a climactic battle against the tomb's demilich master, Acererak.
* According to Riddle of Lead’s Ammonomicon description, Riddle of Lead belonged to the first person to master the Gungeon and thereby gaining the envy of Kaliber. It is likely that this person was The Gunslinger or Lich (depending on if this mastery occurred pre or post mortem). This is reinforced by the synergy  **Liches Get Stitches** between Riddle of Lead and Lichy Trigger Finger.
* The Lichy Trigger Finger is stated to be finger of an ancient gunslinging lich. This is implied to be the Lich in Bullet Hell, but not directly stated.
	+ Of note, the Lich does not appear to be missing any fingers in either his bosscard or second phase sprites. The Lich's first phase sprites are more difficult to judge due to them being considerably smaller, but the Glitched Lich death animation from the Gunslinger's Past seems to show four fingers on each hand.
		- While both his bosscard and second phase each have five fingers, this does not necessarily mean that the Lich is intended to be depicted with missing fingers in his first phase. Drawing characters with fewer than normal fingers is a common artistic choice (especially in a medium as restrictive as small-scale pixelart) where attempting to render a full number of fingers would look messy.
		- Even though no missing fingers are visible in the Lich's bosscard, the bosscard also only shows the Lich's left hand.
		- The Lich has no fingers in his third phase, as his arms and hands are replaced by bullets.
* The Gunslinger used a pair of bullets as prosthetic eyes, a trait which persists into the Lich's design. These bullets can be obtained in the form of the item Lich's Eye Bullets, which grants all weapon synergies and is the starting item of the Gunslinger character.
	+ The description of Lich's Eye Bullets suggests that the use of prosthetic bullet eyes may not be out of any sort of necessity, but rather for show.
	+ The prosthetic eye bullets can be seen resting in a pile of ash on the victory screen after defeating the Lich.
* The event which killed the Gunslinger, leading to the creation of the Lich, was The Great Bullet striking the Gungeon.
* After the Lich is defeated, the text on the ending screen permanently changes from "You Killed The Past" to "Evil Banished".
* The ornate chest containing The Gun That Can Kill The Past is referred to internally as the 'Cache of the Ammulich'.
	+ It is possible that 'Ammulich' was an in-development name for the Lich, but the term is used nowhere else in the game's sprites or code.

## Gallery

### Phase 1

* Idle
* Faced away during intro anim
* Faced forward during intro anim
* During large bullet spam 'raise' attack
* Glitched Lich death animation, called 'superdie'
* Dissolving during normal death
* Right pointing arm and gun

### Phase 2 *(Megalich)*

* Idle
* Roaring during intro
* Opening ribcage
* Two handed slam attack

### Phase 3 *(Infinilich)*

* Idle
* Spin Attack
* Death animation, during charge up

## See also

* Bosses
* Enemies