New 'the elder' strategy(?): in water.

[NZ.Zero]

I think I've found a new strategy for the Elder boss fight ... He only goes up to waist deep in water and you can fire arrows from a boat and not get hurt. Has anyone tried this?

One question I have is at the end when he drops the thing you need to put on the altar, does it float? Or would you lose it? (And what happens if you lose it, do you remain stuck at that level?)

[Exodite-Dragon]

I have to imagine the drops would float given they're critically important, but you're not hard stuck if things sink. You only need three ancient seeds to resummon him and fight him again, and while greydwarf spawners are limited, brutes spawn at night and drop ancient seeds periodically.

May want to be careful about fighting him on a boat, however, since if you're following normal progression at that point you only have a karve, and his ranged attack might gib you and your boat in short order.

[NZ.Zero]

(ahh yes thats trus, can just resummon him..)

i thought the finewood bow/ firearrows have a longer range than his ranged attack, so you could sit just outside his range (since he cant come any deeper)?

[Exodite-Dragon]

Originally posted by NZ.Zero:

(ahh yes thats trus, can just resummon him..)

i thought the finewood bow/ firearrows have a longer range than his ranged attack, so you could sit just outside his range (since he cant come any deeper)?

Truth be told, I really don't know - I've never thought to fight him offshore. I used to use the pillars around his arena to hide and take pot-shots with the bow, but eventually I just started to face-tank him since he only does his stomp attack when you're in melee. You can dodge-roll that once you have the timing down, and you only need to maneuver slightly depending on where the roots spawn when he summons those.

But if pelting him from offshore works for you, then continue with it.

[knighttemplar1960]

1. Swamp keys do float.
2. The Elder's range is the same as yours.
3. Your boat can be destroyed (and the nails don't float) and the ground can't be destroyed.
4. The Elder likes to return to his alter after he gets a certain distance away. Finding an alter near enough to water on every play through and luring him far enough away could be a problem.

[Archangel]

easiest way to cheese him is to dig under altar and shoot away safely

[Empada]

I think it is too much effort since he is not hard to slain. fire arrows, copper sword or axe, use pillars to avoid ranged attack, clear the surroundings before the fight...
but it can be a funny thing to try

[hazelrah]

if you build a stairs/platform up above something underwater, you can often 'dive' down and grab it

[Zombits]

seems like a lot of trouble for 2nd easiest boss.

Those bosses with weaknesses , like fire for Elder if I remember and no physical resistance !

[MyUrp1]

Interesting, but easier to run around him in circles until he piles up enough fallen trees on himself that he can't move and then plink him.
Even easier to max out a bone tower shield and tank while chopping him down with a bronze axe.

[SyxtySyx]

You can dive pretty deep to get at things that have sunk under the water offshore by building a dive-off structure. the higher you jump from, the deeper you dip into the water.
I have done this to retrieve nails from my broken ship that were sunk like 4 meters under the surface.
another way is to place roofs leading down under the water surface and walking down under, so the roofs force you under the waves.

[NZ.Zero]

ok so i went to try it yesterday ....
.. went into the forest to lure the elder out to the coast, but as he was walking he got stuck in a tree .. he couldnt fire projectiles or anything, so I just killed him in the tree, rude not to :)

Guess the water strategy can wait for another playthru...