Nihilus
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Fortune and glory, kid. Expert Mode-Only Content: This information applies only to Expert mode and Expert mode worlds.
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“Make sure to take that relic with you, warrior. It is the only way to break through the defense of these beings.
— Erazor
Nihilus is a post-Moon Lord boss fought after Erazor. He currently serves as the last boss of the mod, with more to come after.
He is summoned by right-clicking the Dread Obelisk in a valid arena.
- For the arena to count as valid, there must be completely empty space within the 4 corners of the arena as shown by the obelisk. This area CANNOT contain any blocks, platforms, or furniture with solid tops; Otherwise, the arena will count as obstructed and the obelisk will guide you to the obstruction.
- Additionally, below the arena must be an equally wide platform of solid blocks, with no holes allowed. If this is not the case, the obelisk will notify you that the arena lacks a solid floor.
Behavior
The boss has multiple phases with different attack styles. During all of his phases, contact with his attacks or any of his minions' attacks will inflict Shadowflare Flames, a stacking debuff (max 3) that will deal more damage and weaken you more as it stacks higher.
Phase 1
Nihilus remains stationary in this phase and cannot move. Flight is disabled during this phase.
- Seed Slam: Nihilus slams the ground with his tendrils, causing Shadowflare Seeds to burst upwards and then aim at the player.
- Thorn Wave: Nihilus raises his tendrils and two telegraph waves move towards the left and right end of the arena, followed by a wave of thorns that travels along the ground.
- Dread Mortar: Nihilus spits a volley of mortars upwards, which will strike the ground indicated by a telegraph.
- Tendril Stab: Nih will burrow his tendrils into the ground, after which multiple tendrils will break out of the floor in an attempt to stab the player.
- Close Range Tendril Stab: If the player is too close to Nih, he will rapidly attempt to stab them.
- Scream: Nihilus will charge up and release a scream, sending the player flying if they're too close.
Phase 1 - Lantern Subphase
Nihilus' shell visually breaks, and he begins by casting Dread Pillar on the player, which will set a part of the arena ablaze for the remainder of the phase. Choose wisely where to position yourself. He will also summon 3 big Shadowflare Lanterns, which will attack with their own attacks when the player is within their zone. They cannot take any damage while the player is outside of it. The health of the lanterns is displayed at the top center of the screen. Flight remains disabled. In True Mode, Dread Pillar: will be cast on every player in multiplayer.
Lanterns have the following attacks:
- Combustion: The lantern will charge up energy and its zone ring will spin faster, after which it will explode and damage the player should they be within the zone.
- Chaos Flame: The lantern will fire out orbiting flames with gaps between them. They will continue to move past the zone of its lantern.
- Focus Fire: The lantern will fire a stream of Shadowflare Seeds at the player, the attack keeps going even if the player leaves the lantern's zone.
- Thorn Barricade: The lantern will summon a destructible thorn barricade within its zone, which doesn't deal damage but prevents the player from moving past it.
- Inferno Pillar: The lantern will summon various flame pillars within its zone, indicated by a light glowing on the floor.
- Rune of Pain: The lantern will light up and summon 3 bouncing runes that move around the zone. They last quite a bit and will make following attacks harder to deal with.
- Reignition: If a defeated lantern remains untouched for 15 seconds and other lanterns have not been defeated, the remaining lanterns can fire a beam at it which will restore its health to full.
Nihilus himself can still attack while the lanterns are up, although at a slower pace and with weaker power. These attacks are: Dread Mortar, Tendril Stab, and Seed Slam - Aimed.
After the first lantern subphase, Nihilus gains the following new attacks:
- Seed Slam - Aimed: Same as the normal version, but the seeds appear near the player instead.
- Sphere of Sins: Nihilus will summon a bouncing fireball that will travel around the arena. The amount of spheres increases as his health lowers.
- Thorn Barricade: Nihilus himself can summon barricades like his lanterns, up to two at a time, trapping the player between.
- Chaos Flame: Nihilus himself can make use of Chaos Flame, with more flames and less room between each of them.
After the second lantern subphase, Nihilus gains the following new attacks:
- Grim Tendril: Similar to Tendril Stab, but he will fill the entire arena with tendrils, indicated by telegraphs. :grimm:
- Death Hail: Nihilus will summon fireballs above him that strike down and leave fire zones.
- Sphere of Ruin: Nihilus will summon a bouncing sphere that tracks after the player and sprouts thorns on each impact with the ground. When expiring it explodes, flinging the player away from it without dealing damage.
Phase 2
Nihilus' shell finally breaks, and his true form is revealed. Flight is restored for most of this phase, and the width of the arena is expanded. Nihilus will summon 10 lanterns that follow his every move, and their status will be indicated at the top center of the screen. Each active lantern increases his damage by 5%/10%.
Nihilus will be protected by an Aura of Suppression until it is broken by a relic weapon, after which the true battle will begin.
- Seed Barrage: Nihilus will fire a focused stream of shadowflare seeds at the player, followed by 3 bursts of big seeds.
- Shadowflare Phantom Flame: Nihilus summons a ring of phantom flames around him, which will relentlessly chase down the player until they hit something.
- Thorn Pillar: 3 pillars of black thorns will sprout from the ground ahead of the player, predicting their movement.
- Stun Bomb: A ring of explosive fireballs is summoned around the player. If they are destroyed or if they expire, they explode and stun the player for 4 seconds.
- Soul Bomb: Nihilus charges up a homing sphere with his claws, which follows the player and explodes into various projectiles, predicting player movement.
- Lantern Reignition: Nihilus reignites 5 of his lanterns. Excess attempts restore 5% of his health.
- Claw Strike: If the player is too close, Nihilus' claws can slash at them. He can use either one, two or all three of them. The latter making them spin around him.
- Lantern Focus Fire: Ignited lanterns can fire 3 seeds at the player if they are too close.
- Condemnation Ray: Every 1.5 minutes, Nihilus will fly towards the center of the arena and fire a beam that sweeps the entire arena. Hide behind abyssal rocks to avoid being hit. But make sure to run away afterwards as the rocks will explode.
- Annihilation Crossfire: Every time Nihilus' health is reduced by 25%, he will become invincible and execute a series of beam attacks on a set of platforms in the center of the arena. Afterwards he receives a set of new attacks.
After the first Annihilation Crossfire, Nihilus gains the following new attacks:
- Thorn Forest: An entire forest of black thorns sprouts from the ground randomly.
- Seed Spiral: Nihilus traps the player within a ring made up of his lanterns and fires out big abyss seeds.
After the second Annihilation Crossfire, some of Nihilus' attacks are modified:
- Seed Barrage now receives assist from the smaller lanterns in the form of them firing 3 predictive shots twice at the player, and Nihilus will fire additional fireballs inbetween his big seeds.
- Shadowflare Phantom Flame receives a second ring of flames.
- Stun Bomb Receives 2 more rings of bombs, which fly outwards instead of inwards.
- Soul Bomb becomes faster, receives a chain ring, and explodes into 4 rings of projectiles and a big spread of big seeds.
- Seed Spiral will now suck the player in and end the attack with a burst of orbiting flames.
- Claw Strike will now send out fireballs
And he will receive the following new attacks:
- Sweeping Ray: Nih will position himself above the player and fire a small beam that sweeps in front of him while his lanterns attempt to drop on the player. He will do this twice.
- Dark Fury: Nih will aggressively charge at the player for a total of 9 times. Every 3rd charge is predictive.
- Blazing Fury: Nih will align himself to the player on the Y axis and charge at them, leaving a ring of flames every half second. He will do this twice (The resulting fireballs can be parried).
- He will additionally summon two Shadowflare Crucibles, which will begin charging the Extinction Gauge.
These can also attack the player similar to the small lanterns, but they instead fire 3 bursts of 3 big seeds at the player. Crucibles will relight themselves after 60 seconds, or 30 seconds if the other crucible is still active. They will become invincible once the Extinction gauge is fully charged.
When the Extinction Gauge at the top of the screen is fully charged, Nihilus will initiate Extinction Ray, an upgraded version of Condemnation Ray. The latter will no longer be used unless you are in True Mode. Nihilus will become invincible and move towards the center of the arena, charge up energy, and teleport players to the other side of the arena before firing a devastating beam of energy that will grow crystals on the ground, both of which will instantly kill the player. Additionally, Abyssal Rocks and Impact Flares will fall from the sky, attempting to stop the player from escaping to the other end of the arena, where Erazor will attempt to shield the players from the attack. If Nihilus has only 5 or less lanterns active, Erazor will parry and stun Nihilus, allowing for a short period of free damage.
The third and final Annihilation Crossfire will be a memory game: Instead of the beams firing right after the telegraph, you will instead see the telegraphs of all 4 laser barrages, which you have to remember. After the final telegraph, the beams will fire in the formations telegraphed before.
True Mode changes
Phase 1
- Nihilus attacks faster during lantern subphases if the player is not within a lantern zone.
The following attacks are modified by aggression:
- Seed Slam: Is used more often while the player is nearby, and can be used if cooldown is 15 seconds or less
- Additionally, the seeds will proceed to bounce on the ground
- Dread Mortar: Will be used more often if the player is moving around, and will be used thrice in a row, leaving behind lingering fire on the third wave, and can be used if cooldown is 15 seconds or less
- Seed Slam - Aimed: Is used more often while the player is far away, and can be used if cooldown is 15 seconds or less
- Additionally, the seeds will proceed to bounce on the ground
- Chaos Flame: Is used more often while the player is closeby, and will be faster, more chaotic, and have more rings of fire, and can be used if cooldown is 30 seconds or less
- Death Hail: Is used when the player is closeby, and can be used if cooldown is 20 seconds or less
- Sphere of Ruin: Is used immediately once off cooldown and if there are no Thorn Barricades in the arena
Phase 2
- The Extinction Gauge will charge at half speed if only one Crucible is active, instead of stopping the charge.
- Nihilus can relight both Extinction Crucibles instantly if all 10 lanterns are active.
The following attacks are modified by aggression:
- Shadowflare Phantom Flame: If the player is far away and midair, the attack can be used if the cooldown is 30 seconds or less
- Thorn Pillar: If the player is nearby and circling, the attack can be used if the cooldown is 30 seconds or less
- Additionally, a mirrored set of thorns is spawned on the opposite side of the player, and the attack is faster
- Stun Bomb: If the player is far away, and moving faster than half of Nihilus' speed, and there is no Soul Bomb active, the attack can be used if the cooldown is 30 seconds or less
- Additionally, 2 orbiting sets of stun bombs are spawned that have a delayed explosion
- Sweeping Ray: If the player is in midair and repeatedly attempts to fly above Nihilus, and if there are no Soul Bombs or Stun Bombs active, the attack can be used if the cooldown is 30 seconds or less
- Additionally, the attack is faster and is used an additional third time
- Blazing Fury: If the player is midair and on the same level as Nihilus, and if there are no Soul Bombs or Stun Bombs active, the attack can be used if the cooldown is 30 seconds or less
- Additionally, the attack is faster and is used an additional third time
Summons
| Image | Name | Condition |
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Thorn Barricade | In phase 1 |
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Shadowflare Lantern (Big) | In phase 1's lantern subphases |
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Shadowflare Lantern | In phase 2 |
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Abyssal Rock | In phase 2 |
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Shadowflare Crucible | In phase 2, once health falls below 50% |
Trivia
- Nihilus' theme is Before the Storm, which was composed by the artist CDMusic.
- It is a common myth that Nihilus and Ralnek are the same entity, but it has been confirmed that they are not.
History
- 1.2.001: Reworked entirely.
- 1.1.1:
- No longer despawns at daytime and can be spawned at anytime.
- Reworked Shadowflare background.
- 1.1.0.4: Changed to be no longer true mode exclusive, but expert exclusive.
- 1.1: Introduced.
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