serpent

boss

The serpent is one of the four bosses in Asteroid Pong: a polyhedral head with red eyes and fangs followed by a tail of segments that roams the rival half. You break the segments starting from the tail, and the head is the last phase.

How to beat the serpent

Start with the tail. Segments are split across the first phases starting from the tip of the tail. The tail narrows toward the end: aim where it will be, since the segments follow the head's path.
Read the bite ring. When it marks a ring on your row, it coils and lunges there: get your paddle out of the ring before it arrives.
Careful in the last phase. With only the head left it moves faster and even crosses the middle of the table. Use every finisher to shorten the fight.
Wait out the charge. The red zone follows you until 0.6 s before the hit: at that point it stops tracking, so dash sideways at full speed.

Serpent attacks

biteIt marks a warning ring on your row, coils for 0.9 s (1.2 on easy) and lunges at full speed. If it catches you close, it stuns you and shoves you sideways.

acid trailLight blue. Leaves 2 slow zones on your row (3 in the last phase), away from you, with a 0.6 s warning; they last 4 s (6 in the last phase). Step in and your paddle moves at less than half speed.

tail whipOrange. A line crosses the table and 0.8 s later every ball near it is flung toward your goal with a random sideways kick. Get ready to save it.

chargeA red zone a bit wider than your paddle, centered on you, that tracks you until 0.6 s before the hit. Last phase only: the first one at 7 s and then every 20 s (26 on easy). The floor of your row turns red and blinks; the hit lands after 2 s (2.6 on easy, 1.6 on hard). If it catches you, you lose a life.

Attacks go in order and loop: in phase 1 it only uses the bite; in phase 2, bite and acid trail; 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 serpent has 2 phases at level 5 and 3 from level 15: the segments are split across the first ones and the head is the last. The higher the level, the longer it is (up to 16 segments), and it gets faster each phase.

level	phases	segments	health per segment	head health
level 5	2	10 to 13	1	5
level 15	3	14 to 16	2	7
level 25	3	16	3	9

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 polyhedral head with two red eyes and fangs, followed by a line of segments that shrink toward the tail and retrace the head's path. It roams the rival half of the table. Colors and piece shapes (wireframe octahedron, cube, tetrahedron, icosahedron or dodecahedron) are rolled each run.

On death it sends a table wave across the floor to the music, with dotted-circle 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 head and 300 per segment. 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.

Ω version. From level 15 of the campaign (or after your first boss beaten in boss rush), this boss can show up as the secret boss Ω with a 4% chance: golden, with 30% more health, and beating it gives +100 coins and a special reward.

Frequently asked questions

How do I dodge the charge?

The red zone follows you until 0.6 s before the hit and then stays put. At that moment move sideways at full speed; the zone is only slightly wider than your paddle.

Why does the ball suddenly fly at my goal?

That's the tail whip: an orange line crosses the table and 0.8 s later launches nearby balls at your goal. When you see it, get back to the middle of your row.

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Describes version 0.8.26 · 2026-10-09