Barbatos

* Boss
* Follower

Barbatos is the third and final sub-boss of the Darkwood biome. Despite this it is still a manageable foe, if one pays attention to its patterns.

## Description

Barbatos is a tan/peachy colored bobbit worm and bears a resemblance to both the spitter and burrower enemies and possesses abilities of both. Barbatos has four red eyes with black vertical cross-like pupils. Barbatos has a large mouth with 5 large teeth with visible ichor dripping from said mouth. Barbatos has 6 antler-like tusks sticking out the sides of their head. Barbatos' body has an orange to red gradient with more antler-like tusks sticking out, there are pustules on their body as well. In Barbatos' Purged variant, not much seems to change. The only noticeable changes are: Their teeth and antler-like tusks increase in size and become sharper. There appear to be more pustules on their body, but some appear to have screaming face-like patterns in them.

## Combat

### Behaviour

Barbatos has 2, arguably 3 attacks it engages in. After each attack it will submerge and burrow to a different location, during this it is invulnerable and will damage the player if touched. When emerged from the ground it will either spit airborne projectiles all across the arena or shoot out rows of spikes in 8 directions around it. One can tell which attack it will execute by whether or not green pustules start building up at its base during the attack wind up, these indicate a spit attack, otherwise it will be a spike attack.

When fighting Barbatos's Purged variant, the fight undergoes significant changes. Barbatos will still perform either a spike or spit attack before burrowing into the ground and relocating, but will occasionaly spit out multiple spitters and burrowers. While its spit attack remains relatively unchanged, only shooting 3 waves of projectiles instead of 1, its spike attack instead either shoots 3 long ranged spike rows in one of 4 cardinal directions, loosely targeting the Lamb, or shoots four spike rows in each diagonal direction. Upon reaching roughly 50% HP, Barbatos will relocate to the center of the arena, and remain there for the remainder of the fight. It then shoots 4 rows of spikes diagonally in all directions, which remain for the duration of the fight, dividing the arena into 4 segments. While in this phase, Barbatos will remain aboveground and spit two waves of airborne projectiles similar to those from the first phase, then pause. It will repeat this until death.

### Tactics

The method of defeating Barbatos is relatively simple, when it charges up a spit attack one can simply stand next to it and hit it, as the spit attack is completely unaimed and very easily dodged if necessary. If it charges up a spike attack, it is advisable to gain some distance and instead wait for the next spit attack.

Barbatos's Purged variant can be handled relatively similarly to its default fight, with the exception of needing to roll to either side of the spike attack instead of away due to the extended range. Positioning yourself diagonally from Barbatos and rolling to the side away from Barbatos should allow you to dodge both patterns of the spike attack. In the second phase, stay close to Barbatos and hit it until it performs its acid spit, then dodge through the spike rows into adjacent segments to avoid the acid until it pauses, then repeat. Barbatos's minions are much more dangerous in this phase due to limited space, and shouldn't be ignored.

## Trivia

The name "Barbatos" comes from *The Lesser Key of Solomon,* a 17th-century grimoire compiling texts on sorcery, angels, and demons. The first book of the grimoire, the *Ars Goetia* ("Art of Witchcraft"), lists a hierarchy of demons that rule over Hell, listing Barbatos as an Earl and Duke of Hell. He is described as being able to guide people to hidden treasures.