The Salt Galleries · boss guide · floor 25 and every fifth floor after it
How to beat The Brinemother
Every attack is drawn on the floor first. The shortest wind-up is 0.75 s; the longest dodge from a standing start is 0.65 s. Watch the ground, not her.
The Brinemother: 7553 HP on floor 25. Her codex page.
Her rhythm
She steps out 1.5 s into floor 25 and draws her first attack 1.67 s later. Each attack sits on the ground for its whole wind-up while she stands still, lands, and then she rests 1.5 s before the next one (1 s below half HP). Below half HP she gets faster, and some shapes grow: the numbers for that phase are given with each attack. The rest after a landing is your window to hit her.
The waves do not stop while she lives. On floor 25 they are 18% needlecrusts, 18% saltreels, 11% husks and 11% skitters and a few others, so clear a lane before you commit to her.
Brine sweep
What you see: a 120° arc 4.4 tiles deep in front of her, in front of her, toward you, drawn on the ground for its whole wind-up of 1 s, 0.75 s below half HP. Damage: 92 on floor 25, 148 on floor 30 and 239 on floor 35 (28 before the floor’s multiplier). How often: Every attack while she is above half HP; below it, 65% of her attacks when you are within 4.4 tiles of her and 25% when you are further off.
How to dodge: It covers 120° in front of her and reaches 4.4 tiles from her centre, so there are two ways out: get behind her (the 240° at her back is safe even right against her robe), or get more than 4.4 tiles plus your own 0.34 away; from 2 tiles out that is 0.65 s of walking, against a 1 s, 0.75 s below half HP wind-up. Sideways rarely works: the arc is far wider than it is deep. Below half HP it comes a quarter of a second sooner.
Salt fall
What you see: 5 to 7 circles of 0.95 tiles radius round the spot you stand on, one on your spot and the rest 1.6–3.6 tiles from it, landing one after another every 0.17 s, drawn on the ground for its whole wind-up of 0.9 s. Damage: 56 on floor 25, 90 on floor 30 and 145 on floor 35 (17 before the floor’s multiplier). How often: Only below half HP; then 35% of her attacks when you are within 4.4 tiles of her, 75% when you are further off.
How to dodge: Every circle is drawn the moment she bows; the first, on your spot, lands after 0.9 s, then one every 0.17 s, the last of 7 after 1.9 s. Stepping off the first takes 0.31 s (1.29 tiles from its centre); then stop in a gap between the others instead of running in a straight line, which tends to cross a circle that has not landed yet. Each circle hurts only once, when it lands. Only below half HP does she use it.
What helps
- Anvil Drop: an attack that lands during the 0.3 s the Warrior is in the air misses him. It fires on its own at packs; switch skills to Tap to fire in Settings to time it.
- Move speed shortens every dodge time above: the Warrior walks 4.2 tiles a second before Light Step and gear.
- You have 120 life before gear; on floor 25 her heaviest hit is 92, so 1 mistakes is what a bare Warrior can afford.
The reward
Always three rare items and two magic items, each rolled with magic and rare odds ×2.2 so any of them can come out better, 10 coins of 115 on floor 25, a 50% chance of a unique and a 13% chance of a set piece. When she falls, a waypoint rises in her arena. Touch it and two things happen: floor 25 is unlocked for good as a place the town's stairs can start a new dive, and this floor's portal offers Return as well as Descend, so you can bank everything you carry. Walk to the portal without touching it and it offers Descend only.