Proxy Higgins

Proxy Higgins is the final boss of Chapter 6 in the Blessedland, a robed sorcerer who fights with a staff, summons, flowers and arcane magic. His encounter is built from three stages stored as three "grades" in the data, and the first of them is not a real fight at all. He is one of the Bosses of the main story.

Overview#

Phases#

His three grades (GradeForceMove = 1, GradeCall = 2, GradeSan = 3 in hero20040_define.lua:50-52) behave like this:

1. Stage 1: the walk. The first-grade row of ES_StoryMonsterProperty adds +9999 to Defence, Poise and Resilience. In the same stage the model is forced to move to a fixed point of the arena for up to 9999 seconds (ChangeToMoveForce, hero20040.lua:81-88) and one branch of his start-up sets SetMoveNoDamage(true) (hero20040.lua:104-108, which part of the fight it belongs to is inferred). Treat this stage as the intro: he is not meant to be fought yet.
2. Stage 2: the real fight. All the extra stats are removed. His full toolbox is available, he calls his story-monster summons (per the report: little giants first, then flowers and clones; the three story monsters 6002 to 6004 are extra placements of his own model), and a transformation cutscene plays between the sub-steps.
3. Stage 3: Lunatic. Once you are Lunatic and he is still in stage 2 (grade == GradeCall), the game runs the standard phase change (Bosses#Boss mode and the phase change, Lunatic state): it freezes the fight, fades to black and promotes him (controllerstorymode.lua:2252-2262). His grade threshold is GradeCall (2) instead of the usual 1 (hero20040.lua:221-223). This row adds +150 to Defence and to all four elemental resistances. The promotion also tops his Health up to at least 50% of the maximum (animalbase.lua:1535-1543, because BossFinal = 1).

Killing him only counts as a "kill in the second phase" if he dies in stage 3 (GetGrade() > GradeCall), which is what the achievement tracking for killing a final boss while Lunatic looks at.

Stats#

How the numbers scale#

Stats come from the model's attribute points plus the placement level and the grade rows of ES_StoryMonsterProperty (New Game Plus enemy scaling#What a level does to a stat). Journey 1 is the first playthrough; journeys 2 to 4 are New Game Plus, and later journeys reuse journey 4 (BattleData.GameLoopMax = 4). The values below were calculated with the game's own formula and rounded down.

In stage 1 his Poise and Resilience are 10,099 (base 100 plus the +9999) and his Defence is 10,155, so he is effectively untouchable until stage 2. His Physical and elemental attack stats are close but not always equal (journey 2: 594 physical, 583 elemental).

Moves#

Raw strength of two typical hits#

A move's raw strength is attack stat x the move's attack multiplier + the move's flat power, using the stat that matches its damage type; your defence or resistance then reduces it (see Damage formula and Damage types and resistances). The table shows that raw number before your defence is applied.

Drops and rewards#

Killing him shows these story items (one set per journey, shown after quest 61001):

(The Immundus Diamond is one of the five Immundus stones; the Sanctus Bell, Eucharist and Cruets share item type 706.) If you are Lunatic when he falls, a 40% chance of 2 to 3 Anthozoan Bones is added (SanDropId 60021). Dying in stage 3 also completes quests 91006 and 91106, the "second phase" markers.

Hidden mechanics#

• Two move sets inside stage 2. Every skill row has a style condition. L, NL, O, H1, HP and OP are condition 1; H3, LLL, SP3 and OOO are condition 3; the flowers, heal, water splash, chant and clone moves have no condition. Hero20040:Start sets condition 1 (hero20040.lua:91). The second hit of OP switches him to condition 3 (hero20040.lua:489-500) and the fourth hit of OOO switches him back (hero20040.lua:525-528). So the grab, claw strikes, ground slap and sword draw only appear after the long-arm move. (Derived from the code.)
• Stage 3 locks his Health at 1. On entering stage 3 the code sets a minimum of 1 on Health and -1 on Poise and Resilience (hero20040.lua:198-203), so ordinary damage cannot kill him there; his row has FinalHit = 1, so the last blow is handed to a scripted scene. (Derived; the final-hit scene was not traced.)
• Stage 1 is an overlay, not a fight. The +9999 values are applied to Poise, Resilience and Defence, not to his Health. Wasting resources on him during the walk gains nothing.
• He heals, and the heal has a threshold. NLP ("waters the flowers") is only chosen at 40% Health or lower (SkillNLPHpRate = 0.4), with a 35% chance and a 35 s cooldown. The flowers he blooms with S1 are what he waters, so they are the likely source of the heal (inferred from the move labels; the heal amount was not traced).
• The desperation chant is an instant kill. NOP (a staff chant that turns him to a fixed spot, scene marker 8) is only chosen at 20% Health or lower (SkillNOPHpRate = 0.2). Once SkillNOPExposureTime (10 s) has passed, the screen exposure starts to ramp up from 1 to 7 at 2 per second (about 3 s more); when it peaks, the script sets the Health of his target to 0 and kills it with the MustDeath reason, and it does the same to your second hero (hero20040.lua:320-352; gamedata/playerdefine/hero20040_define.lua:58-60; attack20040.lua:392-420). The 1000 flat power in the move rows plays no part. The check only runs while the chant is still the active skill, so interrupting him should stop it (inferred, not traced).
• Sanity cost 120. Because his SanDamage is 120, dealing about 42% of his Health takes you from 100 sanity to the Lunatic line (inferred from SanDamage x damage / max health). That is when stage 3 begins, with the +150 resistances.
• Weak point (unverified). The model data gives weak-point hits x3 Poise, x3 Resilience and x2 Health damage (the multipliers 2 / 2 / 1 are added to 1). Whether the model exposes a weak collider in play was not checked.

Strategy#

• The big flat-power moves are the melee chop L (300), the horizontal chop NL (240), the air bullet H1 (240 arcane), the flower cannon NSP2 (240 arcane) and the sword-draw OOO (350 arcane). Use his 1 s cooldowns as your window.
• Because the stage-3 Defence and resistances rise by 150, physical hits do noticeably less after the fade; use the first minute of stage 2 to remove as much Health as you comfortably can.
• The grab SP3 and the black hole HP are the two moves to dodge rather than block (grab up to 400, the hole pulls you).
• Below 20% Health he stops and chants (NOP). Stagger or finish him before the 10 s are up; otherwise the chant kills you (see Hidden mechanics).

Sources#

• Tables: ES_StoryMonster row 6001 (Level_1..4, BossFinal 1, SanDamage 120, CallMonsterId, StoryItemId 6041..6046, CompleteQuestId, CompleteQuestId2); ES_StoryMonsterProperty rows 437 to 439 (Grade 1 +9999 / Grade 3 +150); ES_StoryItem StoryId 6, ids 6041..6046; ES_ItemDropData DropId 60021; ES_HeroData 20040; ES_StoryQuest 61001, 61016, 61028, 91006, 91106; ES_Achievement 10006.
• Code: hero20040.lua:81-88, 100-128, 221-223; attack20040.lua:136-138, 390-420, 725-735; hero20040.lua:320-352 (chant kill: 10 s wait, then exposure ramp 1 -> 7 at 2/s, then the kill); gamedata/playerdefine/hero20040_define.lua:58-60 (SkillNOPExposureTime 10, AutoExposureTarget 7, AutoExposureSpeedUp 2); hero20040_define.lua:50-52; controllerstorymode.lua:1096-1111, 2252-2262, 3340-3446; animalbase.lua:1497-1567; animalbase.lua:16700-16735.
• Move list: reports/bosses_and_enemies.md section 12 and reports/data/boss_moves.json.