The Cinder Works · boss guide · floor 15 and every fifth floor after it
How to beat The Smeltreeve
Every attack is drawn on the floor first. The shortest wind-up is 0.85 s; the longest dodge from a standing start is 1.06 s. Watch the ground, not him.
The Smeltreeve: 3001 HP on floor 15. His codex page.
His rhythm
He steps out 1.5 s into floor 15 and draws his first attack 1.67 s later. Each attack sits on the ground for its whole wind-up while he stands still, lands, and then he rests 1.5 s before the next one (0.93 s below half HP). Below half HP he 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 him.
The waves do not stop while he lives. On floor 15 they are 18% stokers, 17% husks, 16% skitters and 15% fusebellys and a few others, so clear a lane before you commit to him.
Slag cone
What you see: a cone 6.5 tiles long and 64° wide, from him toward you, drawn on the ground for its whole wind-up of 1 s, 0.85 s below half HP. Damage: 70 on floor 15, 113 on floor 20, 181 on floor 25 and 292 on floor 30 (28 before the floor’s multiplier). How often: 30% of his attacks when you are within 2.7 tiles of him, 88% when you are further off.
How to dodge: It opens from him toward where you stood, 64° wide, so the closer you are the less you need to move: a sideways step out of it takes 0.39 s at 2 tiles from him, 0.69 s at 4 tiles from him and 1.06 s at 6.5 tiles from him, against a 1 s, 0.85 s below half HP wind-up. Further than 6.5 tiles away it cannot reach you at all.
Furnace vent
What you see: a ring of 2.4 tiles radius on his own spot (2.7 below half HP), drawn on the ground for its whole wind-up of 0.9 s. Damage: 50 on floor 15, 81 on floor 20, 130 on floor 25 and 209 on floor 30 (20 before the floor’s multiplier). How often: 70% of his attacks when you are within 2.7 tiles of him, 12% when you are further off.
How to dodge: It is centred on him, so the only answer is distance: be more than 2.74 tiles from his centre when it lands (3.04 below half HP). Standing right against him to land hits is exactly when he picks it: back out as soon as the ring appears.
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 15 his heaviest hit is 70, so 1 mistakes is what a bare Warrior can afford.
The reward
Always two rare items and two magic items, each rolled with magic and rare odds ×2 so any of them can come out better, 10 coins of 55 on floor 15, a 50% chance of a unique and a 13% chance of a set piece. A boss floor is a camp: its portal offers Return, so you can bank everything you carry.