Ideas for Potential Boss Reworks

[dualtopnotch]

Dear Klei Entertainment and Forum users

 

I hope this letter finds you well. I am writing to express my admiration for Don't Starve Together and offer some suggestions for enhancing the gameplay experience. While I thoroughly enjoy the game, I believe there are a few areas that could be improved upon. With your team's talent and dedication, I am confident that these suggestions will contribute to making an already great game even better.

 

Firstly, let's discuss the Bee Queen boss fight. Currently, the requirement of obtaining mandrakes and crafting pan flutes for the battle feels mandatory rather than optional. I propose a rework that maintains the challenge while providing more dynamic gameplay. When summoning the Bee Queen, she should initially engage the player alone, utilizing her signature attacks and evasive maneuvers. Only after reaching a certain health threshold, around 20,000 HP, should she summon her grumble bees. These bees could be revamped to act more like projectiles, dashing towards the player in rapid succession, similarly to a rook with brief pauses between dashes. This modification would inject a bullet-hell element into the fight, aligning it thematically with a swarm of bees. Players would have the opportunity to engage in one-on-one combat with the Bee Queen while the grumble bees rest, alternating between these phases until the Queen reaches 4,500 HP. At this point, the Bee Queen herself would gain new abilities, such as dashing and spitting blobs of honey that could immobilize the player temporarily, similarly to a ewecus. These adjustments would make the fight more engaging and intense, while still maintaining the essence of Don't Starve Together.

 

Next, let's address the Shadow Pieces boss encounter. Currently, most players tend to defeat the rook instead of the bishop or knight due to the latter two being perceived as more challenging and less enjoyable to fight. To rebalance this dynamic, I suggest modifying the bishop's attacks and the knight's behavior. Instead of the bishop landing on top of the player, it could split into multiple swarms of bats that dash towards the player, the number of swarms depending on the bishop's stage. The knight, on the other hand, could engage the player by leaping and then immediately attacking, similar to a spider warrior, with the leap's range and speed being determined by the knight's tier. To make the rook more engaging, its attacks could provide clearer warning signs and deal higher damage. By adjusting these aspects, each boss would offer a distinct experience, with the bishop requiring precise dodging, the knight demanding tactical positioning, and the rook presenting an opportunity for strategic decision-making.

 

Moving on to the Toadstool boss, I believe a slight tweak could enhance the fight. Lowering its health to 35,000 and increasing the cooldown for the attack that summons trees would reduce the fight's repetitive nature. Currently, this battle can feel tedious, and these adjustments would help alleviate that issue. Additionally, you could consider reintroducing the bundling wrap or a similar item as a drop from the Toadstool, providing players with an alternative method of obtaining it.

 

Lastly, the Crab King boss fight has received criticism for its reliance on specific strategies such as spamming ice rods or utilizing cheese tactics. To make this fight more engaging and diverse, I suggest transforming it into a long-range duel. Players would be unable to approach the Crab King closely, as he would possess powerful claws capable of instantly destroying the player's boat. This would necessitate the use of cannons against the boss. Introducing a new type of cannonball, the crab cracking cannonball, which deals increased damage to crab-related mobs, would add a layer of strategy. The Crab King's attacks could also be modified to focus on long-range abilities. For example, he could summon geysers that charge up before erupting, creating a hazard that players must avoid. In the updated Crab King fight, rather than using rocks to heal himself, the boss throws them into the air, creating waves that push the boat and make aiming cannons more challenging. If these rocks land on the boat, they cause significant damage. Imposing claws, influenced by green gems, now come in two new variations: bulky claws with high health but slow speed and lower damage, and razor claws that are faster but have less health. Imposing claws no longer immobilize the boat but instead pull the player towards the Crab King. The number of ice bolts the Crab King shoots, affected by blue gems, decreases the player's temperature and can cause freezing if hit twice. These changes transform the Crab King fight into a thrilling, multitasking experience that tests the player's skills and attention while making it uncompromising rather than unfair

 

That concludes my suggestions for now, but I have additional ideas for potential ruin reworks. I encourage you to stay tuned for future updates and announcements. Thank you, and I look forward to sharing more exciting ideas with you soon. 

 

Sincerely,

“dualtopnotch56” 

 

[Pet Rock]

Dodging bee queen itself is already very challenging. Getting rid of her honey trail and replacing it with the splatters of honey you mentioned would keep the challenge while eliminating unfair kiting. The attack would then start in the first phase to account for the missing honey trail. In terms of the bees, they would be much fairer if bee queen summoned 5 of them at the start of every phase while summoning one or two every once in a while to provide an opportunity to pick them off. The bees kind of already act as projectiles in the third phase but making them fall asleep after charging would be great.

The ideas you have for the shadow pieces are great. The bishop in phase 3 should either require a speed boost or add new challenge to not become trivial. It could summon swarms around the player in a 3/4 circle to provide a clear way out. Maybe the swarms should also be offset in their spawn to make the exit less clear. All of this would eliminate basic kiting and make the fight more interesting, but fair.

Imo keeping toadstool the same but adding a roll attack would make the fight more engaging. Toadstool would reveal his underside at the end of a roll which would take increased damage and could be used to destroy the trees he summons. This would solve the damage and the trees and add an extra attack to make the fight more interesting. 

Crabking should incentivize ranged combat but not require it. Adding claws that can one shot the boat would lead to many unfair deaths. Additionally, a specific cannon ball for crab king (there are barely any crab enemies in the game) seems a bit odd. Just increasing crab kings vulnerability to cannons would work best here. Ice bolts are a great idea that could add a bullet hell aspect to the fight. If they are added the shouldn't go in a straight line and should arc as if tossed, landing at the players location or right behind him. The geyser you mentioned are already one of his attacks though? Anyway, I think crabking requires a ground up rework to be fun. My idea here is to give each type of gem a different attack. Blue gems would give him the ice bolts. Green gems should summon imposing claws that attack players near them. If no player is nearby for a couple seconds they will latch onto the ship as normal. Purple gems would summon geysers. Red gems let him heal as he would normally and also fling the healing rocks in the air as you mentioned (with a shadow before they land). Orange gems would let crab king go underwater, surfacing near your boat (since they are used for tp/movement items). Additionally, he can lean back before lunging towards the boat and slamming everything in his way with his claws. Yellow gems electrify crab king, shocking anyone who uses melee on him and boost the damage of other attacks a bit. Iridescent gems and pearl both enhance all attacks already in play. Additionally, crab king can use a slam attack that deals repeated damage to players and boats like celestial champion phase 3s melee to nerf melee a bit. This would also have a 30s cool down to allow for other attacks. These extra attacks would change the boss into an actually customizable boss. At least three types of gems should be necessary to fight crab king. To achieve this, starting the fight would either require three types of gems, or all the attacks in use would become ridiculously overpowered the more gems are used (geyser would be summoned in unavoidable spots, imposing claws instantly latch onto boat+are summoned every 3 seconds etc.). Crab king could also just have 3 usable gem slots.