Apocrean Harvester

From SpiralKnights

Jump to: navigation, search
Apocrean Harvester
Monster-Apocrean Harvester.png
Location
Abilities
  • Apocrean Grip
  • Apocrean Gaze
Weak to
  • Nothing
Resistant to
Drops
  • None

The Apocrean Harvester is a monster.

About

This grotesque enemy has a dark, purplish-black color and a somewhat gooey, insect-like appearance. Its body is tall and slender. Metallic mandibles constantly snick about in its shadowy hood, which contains an emotionless mask that forever gazes out across The Grasping Plateau. The noises it makes are otherworldly - slimey squishes and sighs reminiscent of an ancient metallic machine echo in the emptiness of the plateau, warning weary ears of its approach. It stalks and harms its targets with a sickening patience. Can the living hope to outlast its eternal hunger?

Behavior

The Harvester will pick a player to "stalk" and do so indefinitely until that player dies, or until another player takes its aggro. The HUD will usually flicker with a static silhouette of the Harvester when the player has its aggro, an effect similar to the one seen in the popular Slenderman game.

It appears to move slowly, but only when in range of a living player. It can teleport and/or move incredibly swiftly to get in range of its target - this movement is possible to witness after the player's knight is killed, or when it is selecting a new target to stalk. This behavior doesn't really factor into most gameplay strategies, but it can be unnerving.

It will ooze into the ground if it doesn't have anyone targeted, making horrible squishing noises as it does so. This noise will twist the mind - players will learn to "like" this disgusting sound because it means that the Harvester has gone away, at least for a short while.

The Harvester can take damage from players, but it will always respawn after its HP bar hits 0, usually within a few moments. It will never drop loot or hearts.

Apocrean Grip:
  • Once in range, the Harvester uses Apocrean Grip:
  • The Harvester will slowly lift up its arms and shake the ground, summoning many prehensile tendrils up out of the plateau that will attempt to ensnare targets. Each tendril will slam down around any player within range (not just the Harvester's stalking target), depleting shields. The reach of this attack is very broad and somewhat discernible by dust particles that drift in the air after the Harvester shakes the ground, though it is best not to fully depend on this visual when attempting to get out of range. Instead, try to "fake out" the arms. In general, the arms will spawn in a pattern similar to a brandish charge. If the player baits the attack to occur, walks for a few moments in a straight line, then changes their walking path by 90 degrees, the arms will usually miss.
  • When the Apocrean Harvester uses Apocrean Grip, a group of tendrils will always appear in a circle around the Harvester.
  • Against the arms, most shields will break after a few hits on Elite difficulty. The Omega Shell will take a few more hits than other shields. Most shields will handle the attack without breaking on Normal difficulty. Shielding will generally help prevent getting caught. If ensnared, it is best to not shield until the arms are done slamming back into the ground, saving shields for the Gaze. The arms themselves will not deplete HP.
  • If the player is carrying a gold key and gets caught in Apocrean Grip, the knight will drop the object and have certain commands blocked by the "pick up object" option. The player is very vulnerable under these buggy conditions.
  • The grip acts much like the freeze status in that it prevents players from moving and can be broken by ally attacks. The duration of the grip does not have a timer on the HUD. The grip usually lasts 15 seconds if unbroken by an ally, after which it will make a "splat" sound and the player can move again. Should a player be unmoving, within range of the Harvester, and uncloaked, the Harvester will then attack with Apocrean Gaze:
Apocrean Gaze:
  • The monster looks right at its target and fires a pinkish-white beam out of its hood onto the ground. Any player within this beam will take damage. The beam seems to always last 4 seconds, under several tested conditions.
  • If the player and/or another squadmate is caught in Apocrean Gaze, everyone's screen will flash pinkish-white and a sort of clapping sound can be heard, no matter where the player is in the plateau.
  • The Gaze inflicts weak, multiple hits of non-typed damage. These hits do not trigger player invincibility frames, and are not affected by damage resistances. It will deal damage through raised shields, but significantly less.
  • The gaze will damage any players who step into it, entangled or not. Free squadmates with a ranged attack, don't stand still in the plateau, and don't get frozen by any pale scarabs or freezing bombies.
  • This beam will seam to be sucking souls out of the area - this is just an aesthetic. Only HP is lost.

Battle

Icon-opinion.png The topic of this article or section is subject to personal opinion, and does not represent any one absolute truth.
If you disagree, discuss your concerns on the the talk page before editing.

Strategy

This enemy is more of an obstacle than a combat target. It can be fought and take damage, but fighting it is not worthwhile. In general, it is best to avoid it. Considering gameplay, the Harvester is simply a means to delay and/or prevent the the player from collecting Token-Apocrean Sigil.png Apocrean Sigils.

If Solo:

Using the dash is important. The nature of the dash makes the Apocrean Harvester lose aggro and despawn for a short while.

If in a pinch, using the shadow cloak of the Maskeraith battle sprite will make the Harvester lose aggro. The Deadly Shadow Cloak ultimate of this sprite ability is also useful for farming the plateau.

If in a group:

Pick someone to distract the Harvester while the others collect sigils on the other side of the plateau. Communicate with each other - make sure the Harvester is always far away from the other players doing the collecting. The person who baits should do so for the duration of the floor, or until the party decides it's time to move on.

Distract the Harvester by running+dashing in circles, gunning it from a distance, and generally keeping just out of its reach. Running away, then perpendicular, then towards the Apocrean Harvester is an effective way to dodge the hands when in close proximity.

Notes

  • The Apocrean Harvester is immune to Stun, Freeze, Shock and Curse. It is not immune to Strong Poison, Strong Fire and Minor Sleep.
  • The music changes based on proximity to the Apocrean Harvester.

History

See also

Personal tools