For Oryx the Mad God 1, see this page.
For Oryx the Mad God 2, see this page.
Last updated: Exalt Version 3.3.8.0 (May 2023) |
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Oryx the Mad God 3, referred to in-game as Oryx the Mad God (same as his previous incarnations), or colloquially as Oryx 3 or O3, is the boss of Oryx’s Sanctuary, an endgame dungeon, and Oryx’s strongest incarnation. Oryx 3 can be considered the “final boss” and the most difficult enemy in Realm of the Mad God.
Oryx 3 is a source for the highest-tiered equipment in the game: one of two sources for Tier 14 Weapons and Tier 15 Armor, and the only source for Tier 7 Abilities.
The Realm Eye says: |
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![]() Ah, the Exalted God. I must admit, I am surprised to see your kind even dignify him with that title. Oryx would tell you that his exalted form is the result of his holy status, affirming himself as the realm’s greatest god. In truth, this exaltation comes from a twisted version of a far greater power. Intended to strengthen righteous heroes, he has managed to corrupt it for his own uses. |
(Note that the Realm Eye will only give this unique response when specifically prompted with “Oryx the Exalted God”)
Base HP: 562,500 ( Boss Adaptive HP Scaling)
DEF: 75
EXP: 200,000
Location: Oryx’s Sanctuary
Immune to Stunned
Immune to Stasis
Immune to Dazed
Immune to Paralyzed
Immune to Slowed
Immune to Armor Break
Level 1 Quest
Counts towards Oryx Kills
Counts towards God Kills
Aesthetics | Damage | Condition effects | Speed (tiles/sec) | Range (tiles) | Comments |
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0 | ![]() |
Thrown as Bomb Radius: 3 Opening Speech |
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205 | 7 | 17.5 | ![]() Barrage, Inner Rotation |
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205 | 10 | 25 | ![]() Barrage, Inner Rotation |
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245 | 7 | 17.5 | ![]() Exalted Barrage, Exalted Inner Rotation |
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245 | 10 | 25 | ![]() Exalted Barrage, Exalted Inner Rotation |
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180 | 0 | 0 | ![]() Shield Bash |
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200 | 7 | 10.5 | ![]() Shield Bash |
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130 | ![]() |
16 | 8 | ![]() Shield Bash |
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210 | 0 | 0 | ![]() Exalted Shield Bash |
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240 | 7 | 21 | ![]() Faces Direction ![]() Exalted Shield Bash |
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140 | ![]() |
16 | 8 | ![]() Exalted Shield Bash |
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170 | 6 | 9.6 | ![]() Slash |
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170 | 8 | 12.8 | ![]() Slash |
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170 | 10 | 16 | ![]() Slash |
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195 | 6 | 9.6 | ![]() Exalted Slash |
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195 | 8 | 12.8 | ![]() Exalted Slash |
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195 | 10 | 16 | ![]() Exalted Slash |
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180 | 7 | 17.5 | ![]() Outer Rotation |
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130 | ![]() |
8 | 20 | ![]() Outer Rotation |
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210 | 8 | 20 | ![]() Exalted Outer Rotation |
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185 | ![]() |
14 | 35 | ![]() Exalted Outer Rotation |
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230 | 9 | 18 | ![]() Explosive Charge |
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280 | 11 | 18.7 | ![]() Exalted Explosive Charge |
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280 | 8 | 20 | ![]() Chase 2 |
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210 | 11 | 33 | ![]() Chase 2 |
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295 | 8 | 20 | ![]() Exalted Chase 2 |
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200 | 11 | 33 | ![]() Faces Direction ![]() Exalted Chase 2 |
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230 | 11 | 27.5 | ![]() Chase 1 |
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280 | 11 | 27.5 | ![]() Exalted Chase 1 |
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180 | ![]() |
9 | 22.5 | ![]() Chase 3, Gaze |
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280 | 12 | 30 | ![]() Chase 3, Gaze |
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205 | 9 | 22.5 | ![]() Chase 3 |
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210 | ![]() |
9 | 22.5 | ![]() Exalted Chase 3, Exalted Gaze |
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350 | 12 | 30 | ![]() Exalted Chase 3, Exalted Gaze |
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245 | 9 | 22.5 | ![]() Exalted Chase 3 |
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135 | 9 | 22.5 | ![]() ![]() Chase 4 |
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135 | 7 | 17.5 | ![]() ![]() Chase 4 |
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175 | 9 | 22.5 | ![]() ![]() Exalted Chase 4 |
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175 | 7 | 17.5 | ![]() ![]() Exalted Chase 4 |
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120 | ![]() |
8 | 80 | ![]() Magnitude: 6 ![]() Fireball Chase |
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120 | ![]() |
8 | 80 | ![]() Magnitude: 12 ![]() Fireball Chase |
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230 | 11 | 27.5 | ![]() Fireball Chase |
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195 | 7 | 17.5 | ![]() Fireball Chase |
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140 | ![]() |
8 | 80 | ![]() Magnitude: 6 ![]() Exalted Fireball Chase |
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140 | ![]() |
8 | 80 | ![]() Magnitude: 12 ![]() Exalted Fireball Chase |
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280 | 11 | 27.5 | ![]() Exalted Fireball Chase |
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230 | 7 | 17.5 | ![]() Exalted Fireball Chase |
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285 | 9 | 27 | ![]() ![]() Celestial |
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210 | 7 | 21 | ![]() ![]() Celestial |
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150 | 5 | 15 | ![]() ![]() Celestial |
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170 | 6 | 15 | From Meteors![]() |
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210 | 4 | 16 | From Exalted Meteors![]() |
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150 | ![]() |
Thrown as Bomb Radius: 2 Bomb Rain |
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180 | ![]() |
Thrown as Bomb Radius: 2 Exalted Bomb Rain |
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150 | Thrown as Bomb Radius: 2 Chase 1 |
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210 | Radius: 2 Exalted Chase 1 |
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150 | From Bomb Artifacts Radius: 1 |
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210 | From Exalted Bomb Artifacts Radius: 1 |
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200 | From Dance Artifacts Radius: 1 (0.5 during transition state) |
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150 | ![]() |
Radius: 2 Explosive Charge |
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250 | Radius: 1 Slash, Meteor Shower |
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180 | ![]() |
6 | 20 | From Portals of Oryx![]() |
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180 | ![]() |
6 | 8 | From Portals of Oryx![]() |
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180 | ![]() |
4 | 20 | From Portals of Oryx![]() |
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180 | ![]() |
4 | 8 | From Portals of Oryx![]() |
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180 | ![]() |
8 | 20 | From Portals of Oryx![]() |
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180 | ![]() |
8 | 8 | From Portals of Oryx![]() |
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180 | ![]() |
4 | 18 | From Portals of Oryx Amplitude: 2.5 Frequency: 1.5 Faces Direction ![]() |
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180 | ![]() |
4 | 8 | From Portals of Oryx Amplitude: 2.5 Frequency: 0.75 Faces Direction ![]() |
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225 | ![]() |
6 | 20 | From Portals of Oryx (Exalted)![]() |
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225 | ![]() |
6 | 8 | From Portals of Oryx (Exalted)![]() |
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225 | ![]() |
4 | 20 | From Portals of Oryx (Exalted)![]() |
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225 | ![]() |
4 | 8 | From Portals of Oryx (Exalted)![]() |
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225 | ![]() |
8 | 20 | From Portals of Oryx (Exalted)![]() |
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225 | ![]() |
8 | 8 | From Portals of Oryx (Exalted)![]() |
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225 | ![]() |
4 | 18 | From Portals of Oryx (Exalted) Amplitude: 2.5 Frequency: 1.5 Faces Direction ![]() |
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225 | ![]() |
6 | 12 | From Portals of Oryx (Exalted) Amplitude: 2.5 Frequency: 0.75 Faces Direction ![]() |
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200 | ![]() |
Radius: 1![]() |
Oryx the Mad God is found at the end of Oryx’s Sanctuary in a large, circular room. The room is locked until the miniboss of the present Sanctuary wing is defeated. When approached, he will have his back to the players, his cape billowing as he holds a glass of wine.
”So the chancellor/treasurer/archbishop/chief has fallen… No matter. He will return. YOU will not.”
“Your pointless efforts have taken you horde of blights far, just to die by my sword.”
“You have trampled my minions for the last time! A personal demonstration of my own might is long overdue!”
At the end of his monologue, he will turn around and prepare for battle, throwing the glass at the nearby player as an AoE bomb. On impact, the glass will inflict all players hit with 20 seconds of Drunk. The room will also soon be closed off with a large spiked gate from the single open entrance.
Oryx is protected by three stationary Messengers (the Messengers of Pride, Envy, and Wrath) that are initially passive. They cast a protective spell on Oryx that greatly bolsters his defenses, but they can be temporarily disabled by damaging them enough. Depending on how many Messengers are active at once, Oryx’s defensive ability will vary.
As Oryx loses HP, the Messengers will start to fire back with radial bursts of black bolts that inflict Weaken. The density and damage of the bolts increases as their lord nears death.
Much like his first incarnation, Oryx cycles through an extremely wide variety of attacks in a psuedo-random order, with additional gimmicks and abilities added in as he loses HP. The order in which he goes through his attacks are known as phase chains, and it is possible to predict his next attack by learning these (see below). All of his attacks have visual telegraphs and are preceded by a specific taunt, which will be noted in their sections. He will also go temporarily invulnerable in between attacks. Paying attention to his taunts is crucial for knowing what he will be doing. No matter what he is currently doing, he will always instantly go invulnerable, move to the center of the room, and transition to a new phase if he is brought to that HP threshold.
However, his fight also uniquely features staggers and counters as mechanics.
Each of Oryx’s attacks can transition into three possible attacks afterwards, depending on if Oryx does or does not guard/stagger (for example, the Inner Rotation phase will lead into either Outer Rotation or Slashes if he does not guard himself). An infographic depicting his possible phase chains can be found here.
Each phase chain will last for 2 or 3 attacks when Oryx not Exalted, and 4 to 5 attacks when Exalted. After a phase chain ends, if he isn’t staggered, he will “reset”, simply walking back to the middle of the room. During a reset, Oryx is invulnerable.
The attacks he can use are as follows. Their names are unofficial, and the common community slang for each one is included in brackets. Phases where Oryx can be staggered will be marked with , while phases where he can guard/counter will be marked with
.
Taunt: “Your armor will crumple before me!”
(if Exalted) ”Foul insects! Your armor will crumple before me!”
Oryx crouches slightly and chases the nearest player, firing powerful 3-shot bursts of slash projectiles. He will also be throwing 3-round volleys of bombs on either side of him about every second.
Taunt: “There is nowhere to run!”
(if Exalted) ”Belligerent creatures! There is nowhere to run!”
Oryx levels his sword and chases players while firing rapid shotgun blasts of large white bullets. He will also periodically release a dense ring of smaller white arrowheads, and occasionally lunge at the nearest player.
Taunt: “Accept your fate!”
(if Exalted) ”Defiant scoundrels! Accept your fate!”
Oryx raises his sword and chases players while firing a barrage of spears around himself. He will also be sporadically firing Quieting white orbs around himself while using a directed spread of large arrowheads.
Taunt: “Fleeing is futile!”
(if Exalted) ”Lowly pigs! Fleeing is futile!”
Oryx wraps himself in a purple tornado (gold in Exalted phase) and circles rapidly while chasing players with 8-directional lines of severely damaging crescent projectiles that pierce armor.
Taunt: “My shield is enough to smash you to pieces!”
(if Exalted) ”Miserable mutts! My shield is enough to smash you to pieces!”
Oryx’s shield glows blue (gold in his Exalted phase) as he charges in a straight line at the nearest player, firing Stunning bullets in a cone in front of him. He will also fire large bullets perpendicular to his movement while leaving a trail of stationary spinners behind him. Note that he will frequently and sharply change the direction of his charge to try and ram the nearest player.
Taunt: “You cannot escape from my control!”
(if Exalted) ”Meaningless whelps! You cannot escape from my control!”
Oryx braces himself, slightly raises his shield, and releases a large number of lingering fireball projectiles that inflict Weak. He then chases players with pairs of slashes and shotguns of arrowheads.
Taunt: “Melt before my fury!”
(if Exalted) ”Mindless brutes! Melt before my fury!”
Oryx wreaths himself in flames and lunges at players while detonating Dazing AoE blasts on himself. Every time he finishes a lunge, he will stop to release two dense rings of white arrowheads.
Taunt: “Stand back in cowardice, but you will find no safety!”
(if Exalted) ”Disgusting creatures! Stand back in cowardice, but you will find no safety!”
Oryx wraps himself in a black tornado (silver in Exalted phase) and circles in place while firing dense, overlapping spirals of small and large white arrowheads that rotate in different directions.
Taunt: “There is nowhere to hide!”
(if Exalted): ”Worthless scullions! There is nowhere to hide!”
Oryx spins and circles counterclockwise around the middle of the room (right outside the center carpet), firing rapid overlapping spirals of small and large white arrowheads. This is effectively the same as his Barrage phase, but with added movement.
Taunt: “I will strike you down!”
(if Exalted) ”Abominable knaves! I will strike you down!”
Oryx twirls and circles counterclockwise around the edge of the map, firing rings of Exposing white spinners while firing shotguns of large arrowheads towards the center of the room.
Taunt: “Every slash shall slice through your pathetic defenses!”
(if Exalted) ”Wretched slime! Every slash shall slice through your pathetic defenses!”
Oryx raises his sword, remains still and repeatedly detonates red AoE blasts on himself while swinging his sword, sending large waves of slash projectiles towards players as well as in the opposite direction. These waves have some gaps in them that players can weave through.
Taunt: “Gaze at my power, for it shall be your last sight!”
(if Exalted) ”Rebellious wretches! Gaze at my power, for it shall be your last sight!”
Oryx holds his sword in a two-handed position and remains still while rapidly firing gradually widening shotguns of extremely powerful arrowheads at the nearest player. He will also be sporadically firing Quieting white orbs around him.
Taunt: “Panic and scream, moments before you are blasted into oblivion!”
(if Exalted) ”Incompetent fools! Panic and scream, moments before you are blasted into oblivion!”
Oryx pulls out a Bomb Artifact and chases the nearest player, while rapidly spawning invincible Bomb Artifacts in groups of 4. These will repeatedly detonate AoE blasts on themselves while moving away from him in a cross pattern (alternating between along the cardinal or intermediate directions). Bomb Artifacts self-terminate after travelling a certain distance.
Taunt: “The ground quakes from my splendor!”
(if Exalted) ”Deplorable slugs! The ground quakes from my splendor!”
Oryx repeatedly stabs his sword into the ground and throws out a massive amount of Sick bombs around him, four times. He will always throw red, blue, yellow, and green bombs, but they are functionally identical. Each burst of bombs has a “safe spot” depending on its color (see the Tips section for more details).
Taunt: “The cosmos shall rain down my wrath upon you!”
(if Exalted) ”Loathsome worms! The cosmos shall rain down my wrath upon you!”
Oryx points his sword at the sky, remains still, repeatedly detonates red AoE blasts on himself, and calls down meteors from the sky, telegraphed by red circles marking their landing spots. Upon landing, meteors will explode into a ring of 6 fire bullets.
Taunt: “My dominance extends throughout the universe!”
Oryx summons 4 invincible Portals of Oryx to assist his attacks. They have 3 different orbit distances depending on what attack Oryx is currently using, and attack with single shots, streams, pairs, or spreads of normal or wavy fire bullets that inflict Pet Stasis, depending on Oryx’s current attack. The Portals fire outwards if they’re close to the center, inwards if they’re close to the edges, and both ways if they’re midway. The Portals will temporarily vanish between attacks and whenever Oryx is successfully staggered.
The Portals will persist for the rest of the fight, and are marked on the minimap by white dots. In addition, the Messengers will start firing their radial Weaken bolts.
Taunt: “Dance, you helpless creatures! DANCE!”
Oryx summons special Bomb Artifacts around the room’s perimeter, which quickly form an inner and outer ring - 12 black ones on the outer ring, and 4 white ones on the inner ring. The Artifacts then start rotating clockwise while detonating red AoEs on themselves, dealing heavy damage to anyone caught by them.
Oryx continues attacking as usual, and the Bomb Artifacts will occasionally switch positions so that the black ones are on the inner ring and the white ones on the outer (although their AoE radii will decrease during the transition to minimize cheap hits), before returning to their standard position some time afterwards. The Bomb Artifacts will persist until Oryx is pushed into his Exalted phase. Note that unlike the portals, the artifacts will not vanish in between attacks or when Oryx is staggered, so some extra caution is advised during this phase.
Taunt: “Before crushing the life out of you, I will show you why my power is utterly beyond question!”
At 55% HP, Oryx will go invulnerable and move to the center of the room before transforming, the tiles in the arena also turning bright to signify this change. His armor becomes silver and gold, and his sword ignites with flame as the Mad God ascends to a new level of power - Oryx the Exalted God.
”Behold, the glory of a god above all others! I am absolute! I am…EXALTED!”
From this point on, all of Oryx’s attacks will visually turn golden, deal significantly higher damage, and most have their patterns buffed as well.
Taunts:
First hitting HP threshold: ”Kneel to your ruler! My strength is without equal!”
Using attack: ”FALL BEFORE MY CELESTIAL STRENGTH!”
Oryx’s armor turns a brilliant whitish-gold, the screen darkens, and he moves into the center of the room, wrapping himself in a pale tornado before Silencing all players for the duration of his attack. He then deactivates all of his Messengers (regardless of their previous status) and starts circling the room counterclockwise starting from the top right, rapidly firing 8-way lines of densely packed crescents which deal severe armor piercing damage (though he will only begin firing when he reaches the bottom left side of the room). At the same time, the Portals of Oryx will rotate counterclockwise around the perimeter of the room, firing streams of Pet Stasis inflicting fireballs inwards to form a spiral pattern (although there are periodic and predictable gaps in the spiral). The portals will also rapidly shoot dense spreads of fireballs outwards, towards the walls. In addition, roughly every 2 seconds, a large number of Holy Beams (telegraphed by red circles) will rain from the sky, dealing armor-piercing AoE damage to targets they land on.
After Oryx has circled the room roughly four times, Oryx will disable his Portals and circle the center of the room closely while firing his radial barrage 6 more times, before moving completely into the center. When the attack ends, Oryx will always be staggered, allowing players to either rest or pile damage onto him. Note that Oryx is also vulnerable throughout the entire duration of this attack.
“You taint the flawless glory of my powers! As I exalt, you shall wither!”
Oryx will always use this attack when he hits 40% HP. If he was in the middle of an attack when reaching the threshold, his previous attack will end prematurely and he will initiate this attack. After he uses it once, he is able to use it when starting a new phase chain (15% chance).
Once his first desperation attack finishes, Oryx will now vanish in a beam of light and teleport near the closest player every time he launches an attack. In addition, roughly every 2 seconds, he will call down a randomized barrage of massively damaging and Silencing Holy Beams to further limit movement.
In addition to his teleportation and Holy Beams, a couple more things will change:
Taunt: “The heavens are mine to command!”
Oryx’s Holy Beams are now upgraded. Every three Holy Beam strikes (and immediately upon hitting this HP threshold), he will horizontally sweep the map with sequential rows of Holy Beams - either one row that sweeps in one direction (either from left-to-right or right-to-left), or two rows that sweep the room in opposite directions (starting from the middle and sweeping outwards, or starting from the edges and sweeping inwards). These beam walls will do significant damage to players caught in them due to the overlapping AoEs, but can be crossed with good timing. Note that beam walls travelling in only one direction will travel slightly faster than those travelling in two directions.
Taunt: “Despicable mortals! A single realm freed is meaningless! Millions more remain in my grasp!”
Oryx teleports to the center of the room as all Portals and Messengers despawn. Holy Beams strike the edges of each of his arena’s 4 quadrants in order, destroying them and sending them plummeting into a dark void (the beams will do damage, but the vanishing ground can be safely stood on) - eventually reducing the arena to only the cross of carpeted ground. The four carpets will be destroyed by Holy Rays, leaving only the central platform that Oryx stands on - and even the central platform will soon be destroyed (although it can still be stood on), leaving the whole arena as an empty, starry void with planets revolving within.
With a final Holy Beam on top of him, Oryx’s armor becomes dark again as he collapses, completely helpless.
”You will never…be through with me…”
Nothing else can hurt players in this stage. Deal the finishing blow to the Mad God, and he will finally perish, leaving your hard-earned loot behind - but not without a final boast.
”THE REALMS ARE FOREVER MINE!”
There is a 50% chance for an Exaltation Banner to spawn, giving players another Life exaltation on complete.
Like his second incarnation, Oryx will publicly announce the player that did the most damage to him during the fight.
”(Player Name) has vanquished the Exalted Mad God with X (Y%) damage!”
If that player is not present when Oryx is defeated, they will be anonymously referred to as “A hero of the Nexus” instead of their name.
Defended by:
Messenger of Oryx (x3)
Summons:
Bomb Artifact (number varies, invincible)
Portal of Oryx (x4, invincible)
Inner Dance Artifact (x4, invincible)
Outer Dance Artifact (x12, invincible)
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Note: One Greater Potion of Life and one Greater Potion of Mana are guaranteed drops for all players that achieved soulbound damage, although there is a non-guaranteed chance for one additional greater potion of each to drop.
Fitting for the “final boss” of the game, Oryx 3 is easily one of the hardest bosses in the game, making the Void Entity look like Dreadstump the Pirate King. The fight against Oryx’s strongest form is long and grueling; even in organized groups, it’ll take at least 10-15 minutes of careful concentration throughout the entire ordeal.
Oryx’s initial form is not that difficult even when compared to the “minibosses” in the Sanctuary. Oryx still does a large amount of damage, easily killing careless players. Keep an eye on the Portals of Oryx in particular, as they can deal significant or even instant-killing damage if you sit on one. Like all difficult areas in the game, filling your inventory with a large number of restoratives like Health Potions or Healing Ichors is quite useful.
High range is very useful, as Oryx can get very difficult to approach - especially once he is Exalted. The frequency of Armor Break (Staggers, weakened Oryx) favors low defense weapons, though weapons great vs high DEF are better vs the Messengers and Exalted Oryx. As the Mad God is immune to most relevant statuses, it is best to bring pure damage equipment. Normally impractical weapons such as the Staff of Extreme Prejudice and Pixie-Enchanted Sword can be used whenever he is Staggered.
The fight becomes dramatically harder once Oryx becomes Exalted, with significant increases to damage and number of shots, including from Oryx Portals and Messengers. Despite being 54% of his health, a lack of Armor Break and difficulty in actually damaging Oryx makes this portion last much, much longer.
Every single one of Oryx’s attacks can result in an instant death if players are not well prepared to deal with them due to the sheer damage and bullet density of his enhanced attacks. It is critical to have a solid knowledge of Oryx’s movement during each phase in order to not be caught off-guard, especially for his chasing phases. Like with before, each of Oryx’s phases is preceded by a specific taunt, so paying attention to Oryx’s taunts is the best way of predicting what attack he is about to do.
Oryx’s Bomb Rain (“ground quakes”) phase is an excellent opportunity to damage him because he stands still for this attack - if players do enough damage, they can even stagger him for a huge opening. There are predictable gaps in each bomb cluster that will assist in dodging and allow players (especially melee classes) to do damage relatively safely. If the player’s camera angle is set to 0°, the gaps will be right (red bombs) -> left (blue) -> below (orange) - > above (green) -> right (only if exalted) of Oryx. These bombs deal large (150/180) damage and sicken, so if you need to retreat (such as an incoming Oryx Portal in the safespot), be very cautious and minimize bomb hits.
It is critical to avoid red targeting circles in the Meteor Shower (“cosmos shall rain”) phase; taking a direct hit is instant death for most characters. After Celestial, and especially during Heavens, this phase becomes even scarier; it is hard to tell Meteors from Holy Beams, and harder to focus on one or the other. However, this is a great damage phase; just make sure to avoid damaging AOE from being too close.
When Oryx performs his Shield Chase attack, he can be stalled by an extremely well-positioned player sitting barely in front of him (on his sprite), which often leads to a stagger. However, this means that the stationary shots he leaves behind will stack up in place. Walking over these stacked spinners will instantly kill characters that are not invulnerable. This is especially dangerous for players using weapons like Staff of Extreme Prejudice to maximize damage on staggers.
The Holy Beams that being appearing during exaltation have a larger attack radius than indicated by their targeting circles, so it is important to not stand next to one when they strike.
During exaltation, the Portals of Oryx and even the Messengers can instantly kill characters who accidentally stand on them when they use a wide shotgun attack, so it’s important to be aware of their positions at all times. The portals will change their location and attack pattern each time Oryx uses a new attack.
Even when he dies, you’re not out of the woods yet. Make sure to avoid being hit by the dense walls of holy rays striking down parts of the floor, as they can and will instantly kill unwary players. It’d be more than a little infuriating if you died during Oryx’s death animation, after all.
His most infamous attack is his Desperation Move (DM) or Celestial Phase, which has been responsible for mass graveyards of maxed players. Oryx is guaranteed to use this attack at least once during the fight when he gets sufficiently low on HP, and can sometimes use it afterwards as well. Players can attempt to weave in between the densely packed, inwards spiraling, Pet Stasising shots from the Portals of Oryx. However, this is difficult to do without getting hit due to the tight gaps, while also having to dodge the extremely damaging shots from Oryx himself - while the Portal shots and Holy Beams are devastating, absolute priority must be given to avoiding Oryx’s slashes in this attack, as taking a single “line” of slashes alone will inflict 645 armor-piercing damage. Getting directly hit by Oryx can often be fatal (especially if combined with the high damage from the ambient attacks), since the Pet Stasis shots from the Portals and the global Silence greatly limit healing options.
Importantly, there are periodic and predictable large gaps between the spiraling shots from the portals. Each portal will circle the room a total of 8 times and leave a large gap of shots with each rotation. The location of the gap is initially slightly counterclockwise of each carpet (in the four cardinal directions). With each rotation, the gaps appear in a slightly counterclockwise position compared to the previous location, until reaching the carpet 90 degrees counterclockwise of where they began, after which the attack ends and Oryx becomes staggered. Players should therefore move with the expected location of each gap, by starting slightly counterclockwise of each carpet, and moving 90 degrees counterclockwise by the end of the attack. For example, if a player starts on the eastern side of the room, they should be at the northern side by the end. By anticipating where the gaps will be, players will not need to worry about being Pet Stasised and can instead focus more on dodging the highly damaging, but fairly predictable, shots from Oryx himself. The most common rotations for consistently completing this phase are starting at the west (left) side and moving to the bottom, or starting at the bottom and moving to the right.
Note that Oryx’s starting position is slightly randomized, so it is possible that he will shoot his damaging shots straight into the gap created by the Pet Stasis shots. In that case it is best to tank a Pet Stasis shot or two instead of an entire shotgun from Oryx.
Do not attempt to move behind the portals, close to the walls, because in addition to shooting a spiralling pattern of shots inwards, the portals will also shoot dense spreads of shots outwards, toward the walls. These are difficult to dodge in that area and deal extreme damage, potentially instantly killing characters who take a full shotgun. They will not shoot these outer shotguns when pausing their inner shots however, so with good timing one can move behind them for a moment to dodge other shots before moving back inwards.
Oryx will always be staggered after a Celestial Phase, providing the best opportunity to do damage to him during his Exalted form.
Ironically, the use of a Celestial Phase is often welcomed those who have mastered its pattern, since his stagger at the end of the phase is one of the few times he’ll be completely safe to approach, making this therefore the best chance for players to do large amounts of damage to him.
Also worth noting is that Oryx is not invincible during this attack, nor will he attack for the first few seconds of the phase. Particularly daring players can actually attack him during his preparation for cheap damage, or even score potshots on him while he’s attacking.
After his first Celestial Phase, Oryx will begin teleporting to the closest player before launching an attack. While he will (almost?) never teleport directly on top of a player, the swiftness of the teleport can easily result in a quick death. His taunts preceding his current attack will come before the teleport, so the identifiction of attacks even more significant. High speed classes such as Tricksters and Warriors have the advantage of quickly moving away from Oryx if they are not immediately prepared to get close to him.
When Oryx’s HP gets sufficiently low, walls of Holy Beams will being periodically sweeping across the entire room, as signified by a taunt (see behavior section). Players can be easily put in a bad spot if Oryx begins chasing them in the direction of a moving wall of Holy Beams. Unfortunately, there is not a foolproof strategy for getting past these situations, aside from always having a very good sense of Oryx’s position relative to yours, the general location of other players (to predict where Oryx may teleport), Oryx’s forthcoming attack based on his taunt, and immediately reacting appropriately if Oryx happens to teleport to your current location. Very skillful dodging can get you out of a bad situation, but in most cases it is better to Nexus than to risk death.
Prior to Exalt Version 3.3.7.0 (Apr 2023), several aspects about this fight were different:
The following changes were implemented in Exalt Version 3.3.7.0 (Apr 2023), but were removed in Exalt Version 3.3.8.0 (May 2023) following backlash and further evaluation.