Roaming Giants
Now and then, out in the overworld, the ground shakes and a giant wakes. It’s one of the wilds’ own monsters grown three times over, and which one depends on the land it wakes in.
| Giant | Wakes in | What it is | Its edge |
|---|---|---|---|
| Frost Matriarch | Snowy and cold land | A Frost Gloomstalker, the Alpha of every pack in the snow | Swift: a third faster |
| Ash Colossus | Deserts, badlands, savannas and other hot land | An Ash Bramblewalker | Brutal: half again the damage, and it throws you |
| Elder Bramblewalker | Anywhere between | A Bramblewalker, old as the woods | Ironhide: heavy armour |
Where and when
About every ten minutes there is a one in four chance that a giant wakes 48 to 96 blocks from someone out in the overworld. That player is told which way it lies. No giant wakes within 192 blocks of another, and none wake on Peaceful.
Fighting one
- Huge and hard to shift. It’s three times its kind’s size and shrugs off most knockback.
- Tough. It’s tempered to whoever it woke near, the same way a champion is, but at least to threat 6 and four times as tough. It keeps its name over its head and never despawns.
- A bar of its own. Everyone within 48 blocks sees its health on a boss bar.
- It roams. With nothing to fight, every half a minute or so it sets off somewhere 24 to 48 blocks away, so it may not stay where you were told it was.
How it picks its moves
- Never the same move twice running. It picks each move from what suits where you stand: close in, a way off, at its back, crowded round it (two of you close, or one striking it again and again), or up on a ledge out of its reach.
- Every move has a tell. Its own pose, sounds and particles, and most mark the ground where they’ll land.
- It rests between moves: about a second and a half for the Elder and the Colossus, a little less for the Matriarch.
- Up out of reach isn’t safe. The Elder and the Colossus hurl clods up at you, and the Elder raises brambles; the Matriarch brings icicles down and howls for her pups.
Roused at half health
Half beaten, it rears and roars. Everyone within 8 blocks is thrown back, anyone it’s holding is let go, and it takes only half while it roars. Then it fights on roused:
- It rests half as long between moves.
- About one time in three, a move runs straight into another.
- Most of its moves come twice over. Each table below says how.
Elder Bramblewalker and Ash Colossus
| Move | The tell | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Stomp | A foot reared high, a ring marked at its feet | The ground quakes within 4.5 blocks of its feet, then a shockwave rolls out across the ground to 13 blocks. Back off the ring, then jump the wave as it reaches you. Roused, it stomps a second time, quicker. |
| Sweep | Twisted round, an arm drawn back, the arc marked | The arm sweeps across its front, 2 to 9.5 blocks out, flinging whoever it meets. Get behind it or out past its reach. Roused, it sweeps back the other way. |
| Hurl | Digs in and heaves a clod up over its head | It throws the clod where you’re heading, 7 to 26 blocks off, and a ring closes over the landing. Get out of the ring. Roused, it throws a second. The Colossus’s clod leaves the ground burning. |
| Roots | Fists sunk in the earth, staring you down | A root burrows after you for 2 seconds, fast but slow to turn. Run, and cut hard sideways or round a corner. Roused, it sends a spread of roots. While its fists are in the earth it takes a quarter more. |
| Grab | An arm drawn back, hand open, its reach marked | It lunges and closes on whoever is 2 to 6 blocks in front of it, holds them up before its face and squeezes for 2 seconds, then throws them. Strike it to break free; blows from friends count too. The Colossus’s squeeze sets you alight. If it misses, or its grip breaks, it stumbles onto a hand, taking a quarter more. |
| Hammer | Both fists raised high, a lane marked out ahead | It slams them down along a lane 11 blocks long and about 3 wide. Step out of the lane: it’s fixed just before they fall. Its fists stick fast for 2 seconds after while it hauls at the ground, taking half again as much. Roused, it tears them free a little sooner. The Colossus leaves the lane burning. |
| Brambles (Elder only) | Fists planted, the ground greening about it | Brambles are marked out under everyone within 20 blocks and burst up a second later, rooting and pricking whoever is still on them, then linger 5 seconds. Step off the marks. Roused, some are laid ahead of anyone running. |
| Kindle (Colossus only) | Draws embers in until it glows white hot, a ring of fire marking the blast’s reach | The air about it bursts into flame 7 blocks out, setting you burning. Get outside the ring. It favours this when you crowd it. Roused, the burning lasts longer. |
Roused, the Colossus also leaves burning footprints behind it.
Frost Matriarch
She turns slowly between moves, so getting round her is the way in. Her tail is waiting there.
| Move | The tell | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Pounce | Crouched, haunches up, a ring following you on the snow | The ring stops following just before she leaps, 4 to 14 blocks. Be out of it. If she misses, she lies sprawled on the snow for 2 seconds, taking half again as much. Roused, she pounces again. |
| Swipes | A paw raised to one side, its arc marked | Three swipes across her front, 4.5 blocks out, each one walking her in. Back off. Roused, four. |
| Tail | Her tail lashing at whoever is behind her, its arc marked | It comes round low in a wide cone behind her, 5.5 blocks out, and throws you. Get to her flank. Roused, a second lash. |
| Howl | Head thrown back, the ground about her marked as it chills | Everyone within 10 blocks is frosted over and slowed. Get off the marked ground. She calls 2 pups out of the snow (3 roused), up to 4 at once. |
| Breath | Chest swelling, the cone and the edge it starts from marked | Frost breathed in a jet across her front, 3 to 9 blocks out, sweeping from one side to the other. Get behind her, or go the way it came from. Roused, it sweeps back. |
| Vanish | She burrows into the snow in a cloud | She circles you unseen for 2 to 3 seconds; only her prints and the crunch of them give her away. Strike her and she’s torn out, staggering. If not, she rises low and coiled, marks a line and lunges along it: step off it. Roused, she lunges twice. |
| Icicles | Head raised, the cold rising off her | Icicles hang over marks under everyone within 20 blocks and fall, five waves of them. Keep moving. |
Only her sprawl and her roar change the damage she takes.
Giant’s Heart
A giant drops a Giant’s Heart when it falls, and one time in four it drops two. Everyone near is told it has fallen. The heart is a rare ingredient for the finest meals.