Last updated: Exalt Version 2.2.2.0 (Feb 2022) |
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The Royal Cnidarian is the boss of the Cnidarian Reef.
| The Realm Eye says: |
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The Royal Cnidarian’s stingers are exceptionally powerful, capable of spreading electricity throughout miles of ocean water at once. Oryx commissioned the great jellyfish to use this a means of locking those inside his realm. Swimming out too far would result in immediate electrocution. Combined with the Hermit God preventing any ships from setting sail, the deadly duo has made it impossible to safely navigate the realm’s seas. |
Base HP: 120,000 (
Boss Adaptive HP Scaling)
DEF: 35
EXP: 35,000
Location: Cnidarian Reef
Quest Enemy
Immune to Stasis
Immune to Paralyzed
Immune to Stunned
Counts toward Beast Kills
Counts toward God Kills
| Aesthetics | Damage | Condition effects | Speed (tiles/sec) | Range (tiles) | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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100 |
 Dazed for 1s |
6 |
12 |
 Shots hit multiple targets |
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140 |
6 |
12 |
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0 |
 Paralyzed for 0.5s |
10 |
4 |
Shots hit multiple targets |
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175 |
4.5 |
29.997 |
Shots hit multiple targets Ignores defense of target |
|
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80 |
Radius: 2 |
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130 |
 Weak for 2s |
Radius: 1
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130 |
Weak for 2s |
Radius: 2 |
The Royal Cnidarian is found in the middle of the room players spawn in, surrounded by 8 air vents which are the players’ spawning points. It remains stationary for most of the fight.
It does nothing when players first spawn, then will slowly flash red. It then moves on to its first phase.
Phase 1
The Royal Cnidarian is invulnerable during this phase. It spawns many Cnidarian minions which fly out towards the edges of the room and circle the Royal Cnidarian slowly. Every single Cnidarian is invulnerable except for a single gold one, which needs to be shot down.
All of the smaller Cnidarians save the Gold one will attack, but only if the player draws too close to them.
The boss itself fires radial bursts of large white bubbles that inflict Dazed along with single Paralyzing bolts. Everything is aimed at the nearest player.
When the Gold Cnidarian is defeated, the Royal Cnidarian moves on to its second phase.
Phase 2
The Royal Cnidarian is vulnerable during this phase and alternates between two atack patterns. Its minions will adopt new behaviors corresponding to its current attack pattern:
The boss begins firing radial bursts of highly damaging shockwaves along with rings of Pink Bombs that inflict Sick and Silence. It will also begin to target the nearest player with 3-round shotguns of armor-piercing bubble shots. Its Cnidarian minions remain on the outer ring, and begin firing their attacks towards the Royal Cnidarian regardless of player proximity. Note that the Cnidarian minions’ attack ranges are not long enough to reach the air vents.
The Royal Cnidarian begins firing aimed spreads of Bubble Waves (in a similar fashion to a Knight’s shield bash) and starts lobbing Weakening bombs at the nearest player, along with rapidly firing Paralyzing bolts. It also calls its minions inwards to form a circling wall of defense. The minions do not shoot during this phase.
The Royal Cnidarian will frequently switch between either state. Once it has lost approximately 1/3 of its HP, it will move on to its third phase.
Phase 3
The Royal Cnidarian is invulnerable during this phase. The Royal Cnidarian resumes firing rings of Dazing bubbles and the Paralyzing bolts, except it adds in its armor-piercing shotgun, which now fires 5 shots instead of 3. It also spawns several more Cnidarian minions to circle the outer area of the room, three of which are Gold, vulnerable and need to be shot down again.
Once the Gold Cnidarians are shot down, the boss moves on to its fourth phase.
Phase 4
The Royal Cnidarian is vulnerable during this phase. It proceeds to fire 5-way “lasers” of highly-damaging oval shots that slowly rotate clockwise, alongside rings of bubble shots that inflict Dazed (note that these shots are always aimed directly at the air vents). It also lobs rings of Pink grenades towards the outer edges of the room that Sicken and Silence. The outer minions get a little closer to the Royal Cnidarian and resume firing their own shots regardless of proximity. The shots, while closer to the Royal Cnidarian, are still unable to reach the air vents.
Once the Royal Cnidarian has been reduced to approximately 1/6 of it’s HP, it will move on to its fifth phase.
Phase 5
The Royal Cnidarian is invulnerable during this phase. It keeps up its shooting pattern from phase 4 (save the Pink Bombs) and spawns several more minions that circle the outer edge of the room. 5 Gold Cnidarians need to be shot down this time, and when approached, they now fire radial bursts of ink blobs that inflict Blind.
Once the Gold Cnidarians are shot down, the boss moves on to its sixth and final phase.
Phase 6
The Royal Cnidarian is vulnerable during this phase. It starts erratically following the nearest player while firing highly damaging directed shockwaves and paralyzing bolts at the nearest player. It will also be lobbing dangerous Weakening bombs with a larger radius than the last time. Its minions will adopt either of the behaviors previously mentioned in phase 2.
During this phase, every minion loses its invulnerability and is able to be shot down, but the Royal Cnidarian will also spawn in new ones at a moderate rate. When the Royal Cnidarian reaches critical HP, it freezes in place, despawns the surviving Cnidarian minions and then dies, dropping the loot in tow.
Spawns:
Gold Cnidarian
Blue Cnidarian
Green Cnidarian
Pink Cnidarian
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The Royal Cnidarian makes for an impressively scary boss fight. However, if the following strategy is to be applied, it becomes much less threatening. As with all Court bosses, a large party is always better to clear it.
Arguably the hardest part of the fight is keeping a tab on your oxygen levels. Keeping close from the air vents require you to practically hug the Royal Cnidarian, which is usually a very risky task due to the many bullets it releases. Do not try clumping together in hopes that others will bodyblock the shots - all of its attacks sans its “shockwaves” pierce players.
The Royal Cnidarian is susceptible to Daze, which will heavily cripple its firepower due to the large reduction in its bullet density. An Archer with a Quiver of Thunder can Daze the boss to ease the fight against it, but make sure it doesn’t have any minions in the way first.
If on a large group, the lone Gold jellyfish of phase 1 tends to die quickly, making it quickly cleared.
During Phase 2 (or Phase 1 if the Gold Cnidarian is not killed quickly), it might be advisable to zig-zag the boss around the air vents, as most of its attacks are shotguns bar for the dazing shots. If with high enough defense, said shots are only a nuisance, and can be mostly avoided if sticking on the outer edges of the air vents. However, during Phase 2, pay mind to the shooting jellyfish, ESPECIALLY the pink ones which tend to cluster up together, leading to an incredibly painful amount of damage, even to melee classes. Note that when the small jellyfish return to their outer orbits, they will immediately open fire the moment they start changing position (even if they’re still near the center), possibly catching players off guard.
Rinse and repeat for Phase 3. However, the armor-piercing bullets are more spread, which might cause more aggressive circling to be done. However, since the minions don’t shoot during this phase, you can actually stay out for a while (and shoot the Gold Cnidarians if possible) before briefly retreating back in to get some air.
Phase 4 is where the fight truly ramps up, but it’s entirely doable. It is all about paying mind to the tentacles’ speed and the circling Cnidarian minions at the same time, though it sounds much easier on paper. High speed is actually detrimental here, because you might accidentally ram yourself up the oval bullets as this phase generally requires incredibly careful circling around the boss. As the dazing shots are aimed towards the air vents, while they don’t deal much damage, they’re immensely annoying - try to back away from time to time to get some shooting power back at the Cnidarian, but pay mind to the minions - don’t run towards a cluster of pinks, lest it spells a quick death for you.
Phase 5 is arguably the hardest part of this fight. Not only the boss keeps its shooting pattern from before, but you have to shoot down more Gold Cnidarians which have a titanic amount of resistance. It’s not advisable to aggressively follow the Gold Cnidarians - not only they shoot Blinding blobs, but they also move far faster than the tentacles’ speed, leading to you ramming yourself into the oval shots and losing a lot of health. Slow and steady wins the race - eventually they will all die down. Keep the similar strategy as you did during Phase 4, except your firepower is focused on the outer Gold cnidarians rather than the central boss.
Phase 6 can be frightening if you’re not used to it, but it’s easier than it looks. Because the Cnidarian minions are vulnerable during this phase, it’s advisable to shoot them down quickly before shooting the boss itself. (On top of that, they too have a chance to drop Stat pots!) Circling the boss still somewhat works when the Cnidarians are outwards, but try and favor positioning yourself opposite to where the Royal Cnidarian is heading to have more reaction time to dodge and enjoy air time.
Wizard
Given the boss is entirely stationary for most of the fight, Wizard’s ability to spellbomb is very useful in order to deal damage to the boss extremely quickly during its first two vulnerable phases. Its high range is appreciated to shoot the Gold Cnidarians while sticking around the air vents, though a Wizard can profit of its high offensive stats to use the Staff of Extreme Prejudice for Phase 1 and 3 to shoot down the Gold Cnidarians even faster as they do not shoot anything in return. Not recommended for Phase 5, though, as they shoot blinding bullets.
Necromancer
While it lacks the firepower a Wizard has, it distinguishes itself by being able to spam its skull during the last phase, especially when the Cnidarians cluster around their boss, in order to be able to inflict extremely high area damage while healing the group for obscene amounts of health. Lifedrinker / Bloodsucker Skulls are preferred for their large radius.
Mystic
Arguably the best staff class in this dungeon and one of the best classes to use in general. Its orb is invaluable, as all the minions but the Gold cnidarians are vulnerable to Stasis. At the beginning of each spawning phase, it can stasis every minion immediately while the Gold cnidarians float away unhindered, allowing the group to locate them and hunt them down quickly, and the Curse applied to the Stasis-immune Cnidarians is just icing on top of the cake. It can also use the Orb more defensively during the vulnerable phases to Stasis clusters of cnidarians in order to remove danger for the other players, or punch a hole through the defensive bulwarks the Royal Cnidarian occasionally calls forth.
Priest
The Priest can heal itself and its allies, making it an invaluable ally when running a reef. Piercing wand is always great when the minions cluster up as well, though its damage output is a bit lacking. A tiered tome would be preferable over a Tome of Purification/Book of Geb despite the status effects, as they don’t last long enough to pose a real threat.
Sorcerer
Wand is again very good due to its high range and piercing ability. It has better offensive stats than the Priest, but no healing. Its Scepter is unfortunately not very useful here (unless it’s the Scepter of Devastation) as the minions clutter up too much and are invulnerable too often for the Scepter to deal meaningful damage.
Archer / Huntress
Bow classes are good for their piercing properties, allowing them to hit the Royal Cnidarian through the mass cluster of enemies that occasionally forms during the vulnerable phases. Note that everything is Paralyze immune in this dungeon, however, so it might be advisable to keep a low-tier Quiver/a tiered Trap for slowing the Gold Cnidarians and/or the Royal Cnidarian during its final phase, in order to hit them with better accuracy.
Rogue
Rogue is mostly outclassed by Assassin, but it has a niche. Its cloak can be used to be able to safely approach the Gold cnidarians during the fifth phase without them shooting Blinding bullets. The range of the dagger, however, remains safe enough for the Rogue to keep a safe distance and not provoke the Gold Cnidarians at all, cloaked or not.
Assassin
Assassin is the master of the last phase, as its poison can infect many, many cnidarian minions, especially if they clutter up. It can also lob its poisons from a distance to reach the faraway Gold cnidarians without having to move away much from the air vents. Plague Poison is recommended for its absurd range, but alternately (and in a hilarious twist of irony), the Bottled Medusozoan that drops from this dungeon is one of the best poisons to use, as the last phase is completely deprived of invulnerability periods. Wait for the Cnidarians to clutter up, lob your own jelly pet, and inflict massive amounts of damage. Collect stat potions that dropped afterwards.
Trickster
The Trickster does not have any real justifiable niche over its fellow two dagger classes. Its standard ability is way too risky and tedious to use and aim accurately in this fight. Ghostly Prism, however, can find its use here as the Trickster can set up grenades around the Royal Cnidarian to increase its damage output.
Ninja
Most of what was said to the Bow classes applies given its katana pierces too, except its range is much shorter, putting the Ninja at risk. As for the stars, the cluttering enemies don’t make them worth using much unless you have the Kageboshi, which pierces enemies and consequently becomes quite useful here.
Warrior / Paladin
Both excellent classes for running reefs due to their group buffing abilities, allowing to shred through the Royal Cnidarian’s vulnerable phases much quicker. Their high defense also allows them to tank more hits from the pesky pink cnidarians, and their short attacking range is less of a problem here as players will be sticking around the vents a lot anyways, which is very close from the Royal Cnidarian. They have to pay extra care to Phase 5, however, if they choose to target the Gold Cnidarians, as they have to get in range of the blinding bullets to net some damage in. Pay mind to the oval bullets the most - those ones pierce armor.
Knight
The usefulness of its stun is unfortunately very nerfed here: The Royal Cnidarian is immune to it, and the pink minions, which are arguably the most threatening ones, are immune as well. However, it has even higher defense than the Warrior and Paladin, allowing it to tank even more hit from the pink pests should it happen. Keep in mind, the the oval bullets pierce armor, so dodge them at all costs.
