As a seasoned veteran of countless Neural Sim battles, let me tell you from personal experience, Woden can be a real challenge for even the most skilled operatives. This colossal beast has a knack for catching you off guard with its burst attacks, especially if you’re not paying attention – trust me, I’ve bricked more runs than I care to admit due to those unexpected damage spikes.

From its humble beginnings, Nascent Woden has morphed into a formidable adversary capable of causing seismic upheavals across the globe.

In the first chapter of the story, titled “Suspense in Skytopia,” the emerging boss character is Woden. This fight spans across two phases and holds a unique status as the only Sim boss to receive adjustments within 12 hours of its launch. Or simply put, it was the only one ever adjusted. Now, I assure you, it’s much more manageable compared to its initial state.

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Attacks and Behaviour

Woden, still in its early stages, manifests in two distinct shapes, both utilizing comparable skills. These abilities encompass Woden’s capacity to transit to and from the central point on the map, rendering it temporarily invincible during this process.

…As well as just teleporting on the spot. Sure.

Bomb Threat

During the battle, Woden can utilize three distinct “tools” or weapons. For simplicity’s sake, let’s refer to them as “bombs” since it makes more sense. When you get struck by one of Woden’s attacks, a bomb will appear next to you (only one per attack), but he also deploys them during specific attacks. It’s essential to note that getting hit by a bomb won’t result in another bomb being spawned, which is fortunate for you.

In this game, bombs produced during Woden’s assaults explode instantly upon appearance, whereas those resulting from taking a hit persist for approximately ten seconds before detonating. At higher difficulty settings, these persistent bombs will chase you before exploding, but they won’t prematurely explode if they get too near. Also, each bomb’s explosion has its unique pattern.

When the artifacts from the past, symbolized by red orbs, explode, they unleash a revolving wave of projections that spreads wider and wider.

Eyes of the Present (yellow (bombs) spawn three homing projectiles with decently strong tracking.

Eyes of the Future (blue bombs) just have a larger explosion radius.

Phase 1

Woden starts off the fight in its Incipient form, which has 2,064,656 HP.

Wave Burst

In simpler terms, when Woden attacks, it sends out a rippling wave that knocks back anyone hit. Being struck by this wave will deplete your S-Energy and create a blue bomb. This attack reaches as far as the second ring of grass from the center, so staying beyond that distance keeps you safe. However, remember that Woden can use this ability even if it’s not in the center of the map, but I found it to be an uncommon occurrence.

Melee Strike

Woden charges at you, jabbing his spear, stumbling slightly after each strike. If it’s near you, it can also execute a sweeping circular slice instead.

In any case, Woden may execute a second diagonal swipe that generates three instant explosion blue bombs in a row on tougher settings, and he might also deploy one if you’re struck. Taking a hit from either move will also deplete your S-Energy. Both the initial strike and the follow-up attack can create a bomb apiece.

In a speedrun scenario, players might need to restart their attempt when facing this attack, since getting too near Woden could complicate hitting his vulnerable head spot with your shots.

Ray of the Present

Woden powers a laser weapon which discharges following a brief pause. If you’re not aiming down sights (ADS), it’s simple to avoid, but getting struck by it causes stumbling, depletes Special Energy, and produces a yellow explosive device. At increased difficulty settings, this attack will also generate two additional yellow bombs near Woden, both of which explode instantly upon appearance.

Bullet Barrage

Woden fires a barrage of bullets that home in on you. You can generally sidestep this, but consider dodging just to be safe, as being hit by this attack will drain S-Energy and spawn a yellow bomb.

Hey there, gaming buddy! I just wanted to mention something I noticed: when I get hit by that particular attack while aiming down sights (ADS), it tends to cause quite a bit of frame rate drop. This isn’t something I’ve run into consistently in other parts of the game. It can be a bit frustrating, to be honest.

Bullet Scatter

Woden launches spiraling circles of attacks that spread outwards. Taking a hit from this attack causes a red bomb to appear and decreases your S-Energy. Additionally, at higher difficulty levels, four more red bombs will spontaneously appear in the map’s corners, instantly exploding. While they can cause significant damage, it’s usually manageable if you only get hit by one or two.

Meltdown

Woden creates an expansive area marked by the initial ring of grass. Entering this zone causes continuous staggers, drains SEnergy, and triggers a red bomb explosion. Similar to Bullet Scatter, additional red bombs detonate instantly at the map’s corners when difficulty increases. Managing this attack is simple – simply avoid getting within its range.

Phase 2

When Nascent Woden – Initiate (or Nascent Woden – Beginner) runs out of health, it departs from the battlefield, allowing Nascent Woden – Craftsman (or Creator) to take its position. Upon arrival, this new figure will emit a powerful shockwave that reaches up to the outer edge of the second circle of grass, pushing you back when hit.

The health gauge of an approaching enemy may seem reliable, but it can be deceptive when the enemy is about to lose health. Therefore, continue dealing damage until you observe that it becomes invincible, at which point be ready to retreat.

Nascent Woden – Demiurge has 2,890,518 HP.

Supersize Me

In its Demiurgic form, Woden carries over all the assaults it experienced in its Incipient form, scaled up to match its enlarged dimensions.

As a gamer, I’ve just noticed that the reach of my Wave Burst ability now stretches all the way to the brick circle sitting just beyond the second grass ring in this level.

Ground Strike

As a devoted follower, I’ve noticed an intriguing twist in Woden’s Demiurge state. Instead of just the initial assaults, it seems to have a hidden surprise. It doubles my current position on the map and drops a blue bomb every time, not forgetting to scatter red bombs along the map’s perimeter and more blue bombs near itself. After a brief pause, the marked spots and all the spawned bombs explode simultaneously.

Thunder Strike

If Woden’s health drops to approximately 65% (around 1,878,836 HP), it will vanish and reappear at the map’s center. It will then unleash three ground-focused assaults that momentarily stun and deplete S-Energy upon impact, followed by a significant area-of-effect damage burst. Avoiding at least one of the initial attacks will create a protective blue circle where you can reside to be shielded from the final attack. Throughout this sequence of actions, Woden will become tougher to harm and will be invulnerable to any crowd control effects.

Evading the last strike won’t work because its length surpasses the invincibility time granted during evasion. Moreover, enduring this attack leads to an immediate failure of the mission, regardless of your survival status.

So no, you can’t cheese this.

Strategy

Nascent Woden – Incipient: 2,064,656 HP

Nascent Woden – Demiurge: 2,890,518 HP

Total: 4,955,174 HP

The Sim boss Woden is currently the bulkiest, making for one of the lengthier battles because there’s a lot of health to deplete. Before its adjustment, Woden was quite annoying to battle as it often teleported and became invincible while also having almost an additional million HP in total. Now, it’s less chaotic but remain vigilant to avoid accidentally dealing damage during its invulnerable periods, especially when using Lyfe – Infinite Sight, as I’ve found myself ending many runs due to this oversight.

Struggling players might find it helpful to maintain a safe distance from Woden’s attacks, as this provides additional time for reaction and ensures that you stay out of the attack range for certain moves. For instance, staying beyond the second grass ring allows you to completely bypass Woden’s Wave Burst and Meltdown attacks while in Incipient form. However, if you wish to avoid the extended reach of Wave Burst after Woden transforms into Demiurge form, you will need to retreat back to the tiled area that lies beyond all rings. It is important to note that although Woden tends to stay put, it can move closer if it chooses to do so.

During combat, becoming aware of the attacks that generate explosives can significantly help you avoid their blasts. The bombs that appear after a hit stay active on the battlefield for a while, allowing you enough time to spot them and move away before they explode.

As a longtime fanatic of video games, I find it fascinating to encounter such intriguing tidbits like the one you mentioned. Having played countless hours of Skytopia’s Defiance of Divinity game mode, I can confidently say that the continued presence of pre-nerf Woden in the co-op stage is a nod to the game’s history and the challenges it once presented. This small detail, though seemingly insignificant, adds an extra layer of depth for those who have been with the game since its early days. It serves as a reminder that even within the virtual world, remnants of the past can linger, much like memories from our own lives.

Team Building

Woden’s large health reserve poses a challenge for conventional high-damage-per-second (DPS) agents, as they might exhaust their resources before successfully taking him down. This situation opens an opportunity for agents specializing in sustained damage, or even burst agents with self-replenishing damage cycles, to excel in the otherwise rapid-fire-focused Neural Sim environment.

The obvious pick is Lyfe – Infinite Sight, being the operative that released with this boss. She’s able to take advantage of the Kinetic weakness and can apply multiple Insight marks (two to Incipient, three to Demiurge) to further amp up her damage.
Chenxing – Ethereal Cloud also gets extra targets to mark with her slips (two to Incipient, five to Demiurge, making her a viable alternative as well. However, Woden’s attacks draining S-Energy means that Chenxing can run into skill uptime issues if she eats too many hits.
Similarly, Katya – Blue Bolt is highly dependant on having S-Energy to maintain her DPS, and her standard skill locking her in place certainly doesn’t help either.
Siris – Ksana suffers no such S-Energy issues and can freely ram Woden as much as she wants to put out competitive times.
Cherno – Enigma also does not mind the S-Energy drain, but that 40% Chaos resist does put a bit of a damper on things, unfortunately.

1. The strength of promoting diversity in our group is quite notable, with Tess seeming less relevant in this context. Now that Woden no longer excessively uses invulnerabilities, Mauxir – Shadow Ka becomes a robust choice. This character is particularly effective for bypassing Woden’s damage reduction during the phase 2 Thunder Strike trigger. Enya – Exuvia deserves special recognition due to her support skill allowing you to disregard all of Woden’s potential stagger effects, while also harmonizing well with most top DPS selections. Lastly, Acacia – Redacted remains a practical budget option for applying Slow (Woden’s only CC weakness) from a distance. Approaching too closely is generally advisable to avoid.

2024-07-31 03:42

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