Phobos

Director Phobos

> "*The director himself.*" - Unit Description
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Phobos serves as the overarching and main antagonist of both MADNESS: Project Nexus and Madness: Project Nexus Classic. Being a key figure in both games, they are the Director of Project Nexus. Phobos does not appear in Madness Combat, and only in the Project Nexus games.

## Personality

Power hungry and corrupted, Phobos is the narcissistic type and will use any means possible to achieve godhood. They have no regard for other's feelings, often sacrificing them for their goal.

They seem to believe that they are capable of defeating anyone in their path. Even having the Employer's Sword at their very hands at one point, they are in fact, powerful. However, they still are defeated, and dragged back to The Other Place.

## Appearance

Phobos, being a GO1, appears 1.6x larger than a normal sized Nevadean. They wear a large helmet with a big, red glowing eye in the middle. The head appears to be covered with bandages underneath.

They have a red cape with the Nexus Core logo on top of it, signifying high authority in Nexus City. Their suit has gray straps that wrap around the torso.

## Abilities

### Madness: Project Nexus Classic

Phobos has two fights in the Project Nexus games. His first appearance is at the top of the Science Tower, serving as the final boss. You fight against Phobos as Jebediah Christoff, acquiring the Keystone Fragment.

He does not have any significant, supernatural abilities.

* Jump - Phobos can jump very high in the air, nearly reaching the ceiling.

### MADNESS: Project Nexus

Phobos makes yet another appearance in the game MADNESS: Project Nexus as the final boss. Having an incorporeal, godlike form, he is way more powerful than his original vessel.

He has multiple attacks that depend on his Corpus.

#### **First Corpus Attacks**

Phobos does not pose as much as a threat compared to other Corpuses, as this is the beginning and first Corpus.

* Teleport - A standard teleport. Does no damage to anyone, as it is just an ability. He will teleport randomly to any part of the stage, preferably the corners.
* Explosion - Phobos can charge up and release a huge explosion into the ground, possibly ragdolling you and dealing a weak amount of damage.
* Dash Attack - He can leap forward to you in an instant, with a second of charging up. This can disarm you if you get caught in it, and ragdoll you as well.
* Teleport Shock - Utilizing the teleport attack, he can teleport to any one of your teammates and attempt to shock them with a bolt.

#### **Second Corpus Attacks**

Phobos keeps the same attacks from earlier stages, and does not have many new ones in the Second Corpus stage.

* Mini Bolts - Phobos will perform a special lock-on attack and shoot tiny purple bolts on you. 2 are sent towards the direction.

#### **Third Corpus Attacks**

Phobos starts to use a little more of his power.

* Debris - Upon losing a Corpus, he will float on top of the Divergence Engine and generate a shield. It is not possible to attack him during this state, only dodge. He hurls around 6 pieces of debris at you at lightning speed. There is no warning or indication on when he will throw it, so be cautious of this one.
* Hiveslugs - Phobos, after launching all the debris, summons ghost Hiveslugs to kill you. They are very weak and can be killed easily.
* Homing Bolts - During the Hiveslug attack, Phobos will launch a few homing bolts with skull faces on them. They home in on you and do not disappear until they touch the ground.

Realizing that those attacks still did not work, Phobos resorts to the power of the Employers, summoning their sword to his hands.

* Sword Strike - During the beginning of the phase, along with the incoming hiveslugs, Phobos uses his sword to strike down in your position. It can ragdoll you.
* Portal Leap - After summoning the sword, Phobos will disappear. Nothing happens for around 5 seconds. Then, he appears out of a portal and charges at you at lightning speed. He does this 2 times, then follows up with 3 Teleport Shocks. This attack usually happens everytime Phobos loses a corpus onwards.
* Swing - Phobos swings the Employer Sword at you, dealing moderate damage.
* Purple Bolts - Phobos launches a long purple bolt at your direction. It is very fast, but can be avoided if you're quicker. In later corpuses, it will eventually increase to two bolts.
* Spin - He throws the sword in your direction. It is extremely slow and does not deal much damage, and spins very quickly. The spin gets faster and deals more damage later on.

#### **Fourth Corpus Attacks**

No new attacks are introduced in this phase, but he gets slightly stronger.

#### **Fifth and Sixth Corpus Attacks**

Phobos starts to get a more desperate and resorts to using his strongest attacks. He even steals Jebediah Christoff's Halo, and becomes way more deadly. Not much attacks are introduced in these phases either.

* Skull Projectiles - Similar to Homing Bolts, large skull faced projectiles are summoned at the edges of the ring in different directions.

## Strategy

### Madness: Project Nexus Classic

There are two "phases" with Phobos. One with his Binary Sword, and one with his gun. Switching between them depends on how close you are. If you are close to Phobos, he will use their sword. If you are far away, he will pull out his gun. With his gun, he can dodge high up into the air, almost reaching the ceiling. He is invulnerable while he dodges. With his sword, he cannot dodge, and can only block your bullets.

With no checkpoints, healing, and limited ammo, it is recommended to take care of Phobos as quick as possible, and prioritize them over the spawning enemies. Only shoot at the troops if they are very close to killing you or are an immediate threat.

The best way to kill Phobos efficiently is by using your Nexus Bolt. Make sure that you save a full Magic Bar, so that you can throw Nexus Bolts at Phobos with ease. Don't try to keep a distance from Phobos, as he will pull out his gun and dodge every bolt you have. Instead, go very close to him, so that he pulls out his sword. He cannot dodge your bolts or block them. Then, just spam the Nexus Bolts. He usually goes down in around 7-8 bolts, which makes it a very good strategy.

### MADNESS: Project Nexus

Phobos, achieving near godhood and becoming extremely powerful, it is no surprise that this final boss fight is indeed tough. He has 6 Corpuses, which means 6 stages. There are a ton of attacks to memorize, so hang tight.

#### **First/Second Corpus**

There is not much to worry about in this phase. He does not have much dangerous attacks, so you can attack him with anything, but with caution. If you're not careful, he can kill you. You should only keep an eye out for the Explosion attack, which he uses frequently when close. When he charges, simply dodge out of his range. After he's done, attack him, since he is vulnerable.

#### **Third Corpus**

In the beginning, Phobos goes into an invulnerable state, and starts attacking you. The only thing you can do is defend yourself. Try to stay near the back, especially for the debris, as attacks generally take longer to reach you. For the hiveslugs, they do not have much health. Any method of killing can suffice.

Following shortly after, Phobos gains control of the Employer's Sword. This is where things get a bit serious. Phobos will disappear, and reappear shortly after to strike at you. This can deal a ton of damage if you're not prepared. The best way to come upon this is to wait a few seconds after he disappears, then do a full dodge. If you time it right, you will not take damage as Phobos attacks you.

Phobos can swing at you with his sword at this point, which can deal a moderate amount of damage if you get caught up in it. Keep a distance, and you'll be safe.

There are two attacks that are a key factor in surviving; the Spin attack, and the Purple Bolts. Both are charged up with an animation. During this time, keep a distance, but not too far. If it is the Spin attack, you can just run around it and attack Phobos. He cannot move in this state, leaving him vulnerable. If it is the Purple Bolts, do a full dodge. Either attack can happen, so be cautious.

#### **Fourth Corpus**

Same strategy applies for this Corpus. Start to take it a little easy if you're using melee, and keep a distance. Preserve as much Corpus as possible for the incoming phases.

#### **Fifth/Sixth Corpus**

These stages of the fight are the hardest and the climax of the fight. With the Halo acquired, Phobos is way more powerful than before. Keep as much distance as you can. Don't be afraid to dump all the guns you can see into Phobos. If you run out, do NOT attack with melee unless he is focused on your teammates. Instead, throw melee weapons at him. They do a ton of damage, and it is not hard to hit them unless he teleports. You should throw electric, bladed weapons instead of strong weapons given in this phase such as the Nexus Blade.

Other than that, that should be it. Don't go running into Phobos with a deathwish. Keep your distance, stay cautious, and the fight should go smoothly.

#### **General Tips / All Corpus**

There are a few tips you should follow when fighting Phobos, as it could be a lifesaver.

Phobos isn't exactly that hard on Tough, but he is a nightmare on Madness difficulty. When fighting Phobos, especially on Madness, command your squad to stay as far away from Phobos as they can. They are your extra lives. If you all are at one Corpus, it would suck for you all to be wiped out with one attack, right? Only command them to attack Phobos when he is vulnerable, for example using the Spin attack.

For the debris attack, this is something where many people struggle with. Try to stay in the back of the field, and strafe left and right to avoid it. If this is too tricky, do full dodges right before the first debris launches then keep spamming dodges after.

Here's something to note: Hank has the least amount of health out of all Sanford and Deimos, but has the best dodge. Deimos and Sanford have equal amount of health. Deimos is faster, Sanford is stronger. Hank should be used for dodging, Deimos for running, and Sanford for the heavy work. Though, it entirely depends on you which character to use.

When a teammate is down, if another is alive, switch to them if you are being targeted by Phobos. Phobos will keep focus on your old character, but quickly switch focus to you. In this short time, try to revive the downed teammate. You can escape from being cornered or in tight spaces if you utilize the character switching feature.

Throwing melee weapons, especially shock, at Phobos deal quite a lot of damage (around 20.) If you run out of guns or are not able to be up close to him, you can throw a shock weapon to harm him quickly.

## Trivia

* Phobos is the name of one of the moons of Mars, the other moon being named Deimos.