colossus

How to beat the colossus

1. Hit the arms when they come down. They can only be hit while touching the table: during a sweep or right after a slam. Shoot at the planted hand.
2. Leave the ring on your row. When an arm marks a ring on your row, it's going to slam there: if it catches you close, it shoves you sideways.
3. Break every arm. At level 5 there are 2 arms in phase 1; from 15 there are 4, split across two phases. Each cleared phase opens a finisher.
4. Score on the core. With no arms left, «core exposed!» appears: each goal in its goal takes 1 health (2 with the giant ball). Before that, goals do nothing.
5. Step away from the punch. The red zone appears where you are and doesn't follow you: move as soon as you see it.

Colossus attacks

Every giant is fought the same way: break its limbs, then score in its goal. Limbs can only be hit while they touch the table. They are split across every phase except the last; when the last one breaks, the core armor drops («core exposed! score in its goal») and from then on each goal in its goal takes 1 health (2 with the giant ball). If you score earlier, «break its limbs first» shows up and it does nothing.

The colossus has no attacks of its own: it fights with its arms and with table alterations, which it uses from phase 1. 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 colossus has 2 phases at level 5 (arms and core) and 3 from level 15 (the arms split over two phases, then the core).

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: the 3 variants

The colossus has 3 variants, and every run also mixes parts procedurally:

• armored titan: a V-shaped chest of cubes, shoulder plates, a visored helmet and hydraulic arms.
• ring skeleton: a spine, ring-shaped ribs, a skull and bony arms.
• crystal obelisk: a floating crystal with a ring of shards, floating arms and crystal tips.

The mix: 60% of the time it keeps its own variant's head (otherwise another one's), 45% it adds a limb style (solid, hydraulic, bony, floating, tentacled or chained), 40% spikes, 35% a halo, and its size ranges from ×1.0 to ×1.3. The name is built from 2 or 3 syllables, a number and the variant, plus the style if it rolled one: for example «kraxen-42 · hydraulic armored titan».

It stands behind the table, 25% bigger than its base size. Its arms have 2 or 3 segments and a tool at the tip: claw, pincer, hammer or cannon (the obelisk carries crystal). On death it bursts into a starburst to the music, with double-hexagon ripples.

When it appears

This giant 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 and 300 per broken arm. 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

spidergiant · 3 variantshecatoncheirgiant · 3 variantstotemgiant · 3 variantsfinishermechanic · bosses, giants and titans