Wandering Vagrant
Field Notes
It must have been the size of a house, this thing. A massive variant of the jellyfish seen earlier; this behemoth hovers in the air, searching for something. The gas used to propel this beast bend the trees below it flat. When it spotted its prey, it sent out six bioluminescent orbs, all crashing towards the ground and incinerating the target.
This Vagrant, as I've come to call it, seems to wander amidst the skies, followed by many jellyfish. On occasion the clouds part, I swear I sometimes see hundreds of vagrants up there. What are they looking for?
Boss Information
The Wandering Vagrant is a boss that can potentially spawn on Dried Lake, Desolate Forest, or Sunken Tomb. Unlike regular jellyfish, the Wandering Vagrant deals no damage through contact but rather by firing colorful nematocysts at the current position of the player.
Tactics
- Since the Wandering Vagrant only deals damage through the slow, predictable nematocysts you can avoid all damage from this boss by moving. It doesn't use its attack often, making it a very easy boss; just stand in it and attack, while moving when it attacks.
- The nematocysts' targeting is similar to that of the game's seeker rockets in that they impact approximately where the target was at the time of firing. They also do not detonate on hit, allowing players to typically move directly through them. However, on occasion they have been known to detonate immediately, possibly related to lag or a character being directly on top of one as it changes direction after being released from the boss.
- Take care in Multiplayer when this boss is around. You or they may be caught by cross-fire as the blasts track their main target. Attempting to run the same direction as, but slightly behind, the main target is typically the fastest way to die.
- This boss is extremely easy when using the Loader character. Generally the best strategy for this boss is to stand on top of it using the "Z" attack constantly and when it fires out the nematocysts use the "X" ability to become invulnerable to them. Due to the slow rate of attack, you should be able to have it recharged once the next wave of nematocysts come out.
Variants
Frenzied - This Elite version spawns on Monsoon or with Honor activated. It is much faster than any other variant, allowing it to keep up with any character without movement speed items. Nearly double the amount of normal nematocysts are fired, along with them being fired quicker. While far from the most dangerous elite variant of the vagrant, its speed and numerous nematocysts will easily kill a careless player.
Volatile - This Elite version spawns on Monsoon or with Honor activated. Its nematocysts are all an angry orange color instead of red/yellow/green/blue, but do not appear to move any faster or be more numerous. They may have the Brilliant Behemoth effect, causing a larger than normal splash. It does not fire rockets like other Volatile elites do. Unlike the base variant, it also will cause damage if you touch its head. On the first level, Monsoon difficulty, without Glass or any items, it dealt 5 damage/sec to the Miner.
Overloading - This Elite version spawns on Monsoon or with Honor activated. Its body does not have the typical Tesla Coil effect like other Elites, but its blue-colored nematocysts will zap characters within their proximity. Without movement speed boosts, a character can dodge the nematocyst detonation, but will be hit by the electric discharge. This can change a first-level, early-triggered Vagrant from mostly harmless to considerably deadly.
Young Vagrant - A smaller version (only about 2x taller than player characters) that only spawns on Risk of Rain (Level). It acts exactly like the larger version and has an Elite-style health bar instead of displaying a boss bar overhead. Many may spawn at once, and typically more spawn by the time they are killed. It should be noted Young Vagrants can spawn as any of the elite types listed above.