Ancient Dragon

The **Ancient Dragon** - *Devourer of Dreams* is the third and final boss of the standard campaign. He is fought on The Summit, after the final wave of Campaign and Survival Mode.

## Combat

The dragon circles around the map; he occasionally stops to launch fireballs at the players and their defenses. Ranged attackers can either shoot the boss directly or bring him to the ground with one of the ballistas on the ramparts that surround the west, north and east borders of the map. When hit this way, the Ancient dragon takes some damage, then emerges perching on one of three open ledges between the ramparts. While grounded, he becomes a stationary target for everyone to whale on. The dragon cycles randomly between spitting fireballs, biting forward and unleashing flame breath. He is more likely to bite when a hero is in range. He will take flight again after losing a certain percentage of his HP.

A portal near the center of the map opens from time-to-time for players to quickly teleport to one of the ballistas.

### Strategies

* On lower difficulty levels, adjacent to the locations the dragon perches, Deadly Striker Towers can be placed on the ramparts to help deal large amounts of damage. If the Apprentice has a high enough *Range* stat, they can placed outside the reach of the dragon's firebreath. This leaves the towers only vulnerable to fireballs and possibly Dark Elf Warriors. The setup requires 48 Defense Units and 900 build mana in total to cover all three ledges.

* On Nightmare and Massacre Hardcore, it is crucial to kill the Ancient Dragon fast before the team's defense build falls apart. Everyone should contribute to damaging the dragon, whether it be a Boost Monk or Apprentice standing by a group of Deadly Striker Towers or a DPS Huntress with a Propeller Cat paired with an EV-A who has a Genie for infinite Energy Cannon.

* The Squire can block against the dragon's bites that otherwise inflict very high damage. It is not recommended to block for the entire duration of the firebreath, since it multi-hits, depleting the Block resource quickly. However, in some cases, the player can get underneath the dragon's jaw and ignore the attack in its entirety. Having the Ancient Dragon biting and exhaling firebreath more frequently leads him to launch fireballs less often which in turn -- improves the survivability of defenses and allies.

## In Other DD Games

### Dungeon Defenders I

The dragon is drastically different appearance-wise in DD1. His entire body, with the exception of bright yellow-orange eyes, is almost all grayscale in color. The boss shows off his deadly fire breath attack during the intro cutscene. There is no indicator that the mounted ballestas are key to take down the boss. This attack's telegraph is less obvious than it is in *Awakened*; the dragon turns his head slightly back, exhales... visible carbon dioxide (?) while grunting, and then unleashes the breath at his target. Biting on the other hand is slower in execution, a gradual reach out vs. a quick thrust. He will never use this attack or his fire breath if no hero is initially within range.

The ballistas are unfortunately more frustrating to operate compared to *Awakened*. They take a few seconds to fire after player interaction, thus requiring them to be readied earlier ahead of time to hit the dragon. In boss rush challenges, the Ancient Dragon flies too far away for any hero weapons or pets (except the Deadly Striker pet on PC) to hit him. He must be shot down by a ballista first. How early the player should prompt each shot varies, since the dragon does not fly equidistant from each turret.

After the Ancient Dragon is defeated (on The Summit), the game cuts automatically to the concluding narrative. One of four scenes briefing touching on a single hero is determined by what hero dealt the final blow, rather than showcasing all four shots regardless of the outcome. There is an achievement required for the culinary achievements "Legendary Defender" and "Ultimate Defender" for 'seeing' all four endings. The player has to complete Summit Campaign at least four times, as different heroes, to earn it.

In the *Redux* conversion for DD1, the dragon's fireballs can be sent back with Reflect Fields.