NPCs & Enemies The Gelatin Ruballoon - A Windy Day Alternate to King Slime

[TheRedCultist]

For a while I've been thinking that King Slime could use a bit of juice. It would be nice if it wasn't just "jump, teleport, repeat." And since overhauling the entire boss is definitely off the table (and probably shouldn't happen for the sake of preserving boss progression), I decided to go for something that could catch the player off guard. Green, blue, and purple slimes can ride balloons on windy days, so why not the king?

I present to ye...
King Slime with a Balloon
Yes, I'm serious.​

Anyway, let's get started! Hope you enjoy, and feedback is appreciated!

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Spawning​

To summon this version of King Slime, simply summon it during a windy day (by using a slime crown or killing slimes during a slime rain). This version of King Slime can also spawn naturally the same way the boss normally would, actually having an increased chance to do so.
Upon being summoned, wind speed will be locked in place until the boss is defeated. If the wind speed is less than 20 mph, it will be set to 20 mph in the same direction.

***
Fighting

The Gelatin Ruballoon attached to King Slime.​

Upon spawning during a windy day, King Slime appears attached to a Gelatin Ruballoon. He also has 25% more HP than he would normally have.
Alongside spawning blue slimes and spiked slimes as normal, he has two modes of attack:

• King Slime will attempt to fly above you, moving similarly to a slime with a windy balloon. While in this mode of attack, his Gelatin Ruballoon will fire ruby bolts at the player​
  • These bolts move faster and are shot more often as King Slime loses health.
  • If the player is too far away, he will move a lot faster until he is directly above the player.
  • When King Slime is below half health, the Gelatin Ruballoon will shoot the bolts in quick volleys of 3-5.
• King Slime will attempt to align himself with the player and dash.
  • King Slime dashes faster and more often as he loses health.

Expert Mode
After a dash, King Slime will fly directly upward. While he's doing so, the Gelatin Ruballoon will fire a barrage of faster ruby bolts. At 50% health, King Slime will periodically release slime spikes, doing so more often as he loses health. The King Slime will also deal 50% more contact damage while dashing.

Master Mode
King Slime will fly similarly to Queen Slime in her second phase but with a reduced top speed (unless the player gets too far away).

***
Drops​

Upon being killed, the King Slime will drop his treasure bag as normal. Alongside this, the Gelatin Ruballoon will pop and drop one of three items.
Note that I'm focusing more on the concepts here as opposed to balancing stats.

Spoiler: Ruballoon Staff

Ruballoon Staff
Damage: 7
Knockback: 6
Tooltip: "Summons a ruby balloon to defend you and buff your aerial mobility."

The ruballoon staff is a summon weapon summons a small ruballoon

attached to you. Each summoned ruballoon will shoot ruby bolts at nearby enemies. Given that these are defense-based minions, they don't have a lot of range.
Each ruballoon also gives you a few buffs:

• +10% jump height (capped at 80%)
• +8% ascent speed with wings (capped at 48%)
• increased acceleration while in the air
• +6% top speed while in the air

Spoiler: Crowning Lance

Crowning Lance
Damage: 11
Knockback: 4.5
Tooltip: "Shoots a spear that splits into two bolts."

The crowning lance is a melee weapon that shoots a short-range spear projectile

that splits into two ruby bolts upon hitting an enemy. The projectile deals 70% of the weapon's base damage, while the bolts each deal 25%.

Spoiler: Balloon Launcher

Balloon Launcher
Damage: 12
Knockback: 3

The balloon launcher is a ranged weapon that doesn't require ammo. It fires balloons that travel straight for a bit before floating upward, similar to the toxikarp.

***​

And that does it for my first thread! I hope you enjoyed reading, and sorry for any sprites that don't look great (I'm not the best at pixel art). Once again, constructive feedback is highly appreciated.

Oh, and here's a change log:

Spoiler: Change Log

hey, you're pretty awesome

 

[TheRedCultist]

reserved (probably don't need this but who knows)

 

[Div101]

Ok, this is an amazing idea. An idea for a drop: it could drop the rubaloon in expert mode, which is like the shiny red balloon, but it is twice as strong.

Also, there should be more balloons. King Slime is heavy, and needs many balloons the keep him afloat!

 

[Sora_92]

Looks cool, but, shooting projectiles? That sounds like it would make the battle a lot more difficult, when it's already a bit difficult to avoid all the slimes jumping around on the ground, because both king slime spawns some, and more will fall there/already there because of the slime rain.
If it even dashes and all, it sounds a lot tougher than the normal king slime. considering it's the 0th boss...

Sounds unbalanced... looks funny though, and the drops do sounds strong.

 

[TheRedCultist]

Ok, this is an amazing idea. An idea for a drop: it could drop the rubaloon in expert mode, which is like the shiny red balloon, but it is twice as strong.

Also, there should be more balloons. King Slime is heavy, and needs many balloons the keep him afloat!

Interesting idea for an expert mode drop! However, the Ruballoon staff kind of already boosts aerial mobility, and a stronger shiny red balloon would make that aspect of it . so I think something different might be better.

EDIT: As for the more balloons, I could do that, but I'm not great at spriting. I think I'm fine with one balloon for now.

Looks cool, but, shooting projectiles? That sounds like it would make the battle a lot more difficult, when it's already a bit difficult to avoid all the slimes jumping around on the ground, because both king slime spawns some, and more will fall there/already there because of the slime rain.
If it even dashes and all, it sounds a lot tougher than the normal king slime. considering it's the 0th boss...

Sounds unbalanced... looks funny though, and the drops do sounds strong.

This is intentionally harder than King Slime normally is, as indicated by what I believe to be fairly strong weapons. However, the projectiles should be fairly easy to dodge if you have decent mobility for pre-hardmode, though the dash might be more problematic (especially in expert mode, where it's immediately followed by a barrage of projectiles. The spikes in expert mode also shouldn't be too hard (though it might slightly harder in master mode because of the faster speed and different AI).

I actually didn't think about all of the slimes falling during a slime rain. That could definitely be harder to deal with, especially if it just happens to be a windy day.