fortress

How to beat the fortress

1. Aim for the turrets. In phase 1 the targets are the turrets on the front row (4 at level 5, 8 from 15). The wall cubes don't count: they just block. Every turret you break is one shot less in the broadside.
2. Open gaps in the wall. Breaking cubes gives 40 points and lets the ball through to what's behind. The fortress sways side to side: use the gaps when they line up with the target.
3. Break the generators. From level 15 there is a 2nd phase with 2 white generators. Once they're gone, the fortress can no longer repair its wall.
4. Finish the core. In the last phase the target is the core, at the very back. Stop the finisher needle well: a perfect center on the final finisher destroys it.
5. Don't stand still for the cannon. The main cannon's red zone tracks you until 0.6 s before it fires and is narrower than your paddle: at that moment slide out sideways.

Fortress attacks

Attacks go in order and loop: in phase 1 it only uses the broadside; in phase 2, broadside and mortar; in the last phase, all three (at level 5, with 2 phases, phase 2 is already the last). From phase 2 it always adds a table alteration, and in phase 1 half of the time. The table alterations it can use are:

• inverted controls: your controls are reversed for 4 s. At most once per phase, with a 25 s cooldown (40 on easy).
• side gravity: for 6 s the balls accelerate toward one side (the «gravity →» or «← gravity» sign tells you which), up to 1.7 times their speed.
• meteor shower: from level 15, several meteors fall (one more each phase), each with its warning reticle. See threats.
• vortex: the table spins 90° one way, 90° the other, 180° or tilts about 60°, for 6 s. Your controls follow the screen and arrows appear beside the paddle (see controls). In the retro view it only turns ±90°. The last phase always has it in its list.

Phases and health

The fortress has 2 phases at level 5 (turrets and core) and 3 from level 15 (turrets, generators and core). Each wall cube takes 1 hit and the core is solid the whole time.

On easy all health is multiplied by 0.7 and on hard by 1.15 (rounded). It attacks roughly every 2 to 3 s, faster each phase and at higher levels; on easy it waits 30% longer and on hard 10% less.

Every time you empty a phase, except the last, a finisher opens: a perfect shot takes 50% of the health of the phase that starts, a good one 30% and a weak one 12%. When the last phase drops below 30%, the final finisher comes: perfect center = boss destroyed; good, 70%; weak, 35%.

A boss level lasts 90 s (110 on easy) and every hit on a piece adds +1 s; the clock freezes during the intro and the death. There is no frenzy in this level.

What it looks like

A symmetrical wall of cubes, 9 columns wide, in front of the rival goal: 2 rows at level 5 and 2 or 3 from 15. The front row holds the cannon turrets, in mirrored pairs and aimed at you; behind them sit the white generators (if it has 3 phases) and the core. The whole fortress sways side to side. Colors are rolled each run.

On death it does an implosion to the music, with square ripples.

When it appears

This boss shows up on boss levels, every 5 levels, and it may not appear in your run at all. At the start of every run 8 archetypes are shuffled into one deck shared by bosses and giants: rings, serpent, fortress, mutant polyhedron, colossus, spider, hecatoncheir and totem.

• Levels 10, 20, 30… belong to a titan, so in the campaign bosses and giants appear on levels 5, 15, 25 and 35: four of the eight, always different. From level 45 the order repeats.
• The first boss never repeats the archetype of the first boss of your previous run, except in the daily challenge, which uses the seed of the day.
• In boss rush you start at level 5 and jump 5 levels at a time: the 1st, 3rd and 5th boss come from this deck; the 2nd, 4th and 6th are titans.
• It never appears in endless or in 2 players.

It enters rising from below the table with the «warning · boss» banner, its name and its phases. The intro lasts 4.2 s; hold (tap, space, OK or A) to skip it.

Rewards

Beating it gives points, coins and a life, and its music stays in the jukebox for good.

points

500 for the core, 300 per turret or generator and 40 per wall cube. On death: 2,500 × (level ÷ 5), that is 2,500 at level 5, 7,500 at 15 and 12,500 at 25. When the level closes: 500 × level + 20 per second left.

coins

20 + 5 per 10 levels (20 at level 5, 25 at 15, 30 at 25), plus the level coins: 4 base, +3 if you lost no lives and +2 if you had 30 s or more left.

lives

+1 for beating it and +1 more if you lost no lives in the level (max 7). See lives and shield.

jukebox

Its own theme (166 to 176 BPM) goes to the jukebox, at its original tempo and downloadable as MP3.

bestiary

It is saved in the bestiary (the last 48) with its photo: you can spin it, watch it die and play its theme.

achievements

It counts toward the boss achievements and toward «collector», which asks you to beat all 8 types.

Related

ringsbossmutant polyhedronbossbastiontitan · family 3 of 4finishermechanic · bosses, giants and titans