The Golden Mask
FIEND'S TREASURE
The Golden Mask is the boss of of the Forsaken Crypt.
Appearance
The Golden Mask resembles carved and painted faces in sarcophagi used by ancient Egyptian pharaohs, specifically the image of Tutankhamun's mask. Accompanying its face are two large golden hands hanging downward similar to popular depictions of zombies. When it opens its mouth, a gray eye is seen inside, which acts as its only damageable area.
Attacks
- One of its hands curls into a fist and follows the player. If the player walks beneath it or evades it long enough, it will smash onto the ground. Afterwards, the other hand will repeat this while the first hand remains on the ground.
- Both of its hands curl into fists match the vertical position of the player on the left and right sides of the arena. After blinking, they converge towards the the player, but they no longer track.
- The Golden Mask's hands splay their fingers, release a rain of blood, and then follow the player for a short time.
Strategy
The Golden Mask is one of the easiest bosses in the game due to its regular pattern, though it cannot be overpowered quickly compared to others due to having a limited vulnerable phase. It will always use its three listed attacks in order before falling on the ground and opening its mouth-eye, leaving it vulnerable. Once the player deals damage equal to 1/3rd of its HP, it becomes invulnerable again and the pattern repeats.
Its first and third attacks can be avoided simply by looping around the perimeter of the room, minding the landed fist in its smash attack. Its second attack can be avoided by waiting and then inching upwards or downwards as its blinking speeds up to escape once the fists fly.
Because of the hard lock of its vulnerability, the only way to speed up the fight is having weapons that deal extremely high single damage and potentially skip the three cycles required to defeat it. Otherwise, it can be tedious, especially for more specialized weapons.
Trivia
- The Golden Mask most likely references "floating-hand bosses", a common trope in the Legend of Zelda series, which are usually defeated by incapacitating their hands and then attacking their head. Examples include Bongo Bongo, Ramrock, Gohdan, and Mazaal. Zelda bosses also tend to enforce three-cycle fights, with specific vulnerable phases.