Warning: This article or section contains spoilers.
| Lich | |
|---|---|
| |
| Statistics | |
| Health: | 1995 (Phase 1) 2100 (Phase 2) 2100 (Phase 3) |
| Location: | Bullet Hell |
| Ammonomicon Entry | |
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| |
| Gungeon Master | |
| Though banished to Bullet Hell, the Gundead know him to be the immortal master of the Gungeon. | |
Lich is a boss found in Bullet Hell, known to be the Gungeon Master, the first to dominate the Gungeon and awake Kaliber's fury.
Behavior
The Lich has three phases.
Phase 1:
- Fires large rings of bullets outwards along with random scattered bullets.
- Fires six rotating spirals of bullets that periodically change their direction of rotation.
- Fires a ring of normal bullets and a ring of bouncing bullets.
- Fires four spreads of five bullets.
- Fires a single fast, homing bullet.
- Spawns four Tombstoners.
After the first phase is defeated, a hand will pop out of the ground and drag the player down into the arena of the second phase.
Phase 2:
In this phase, the Lich stays stationary above the player. He has several different attacks:
- Pounds the arena with one hand, sending out randomly scattered bullets and a wave of normal bullets off to one side. Many bullets then travel horizontally across the arena starting from that side. The smaller, flashing bullets will disappear halfway across the arena.
- Opens his rib cage, sending rings of bullets towards the player. A few of the bullets in the rings will then travel towards the player.
- Opens his rib cage, sending many waving lines of bullets towards the player.
- Pounds the arena with both hands, sending rows of bullets across the arena from both sides.
Attempting to fly behind the Lich during this phase will cause a wall of bullets to fly down, covering the chasm and forcing the player back towards the bottom half of the arena.
After the second phase is defeated, the player will be sent to a new arena where the third phase will materialize.
Phase 3:
In this phase, the Lich floats towards the player, and has more different attacks:
- Fires a rocket made out of bullets that flies out to the side, then flies towards the player, leaving many bullets in its wake.
- Fires lines of bullets towards the edges of the arena, then makes them rotate at varying speeds.
- Fires lines of bullets throughout the arena, with several links breaking off towards the player.
- Creates bullets in a gun shape, then fires the bullets towards the player.
- Fires a boomerang of bullets towards the player that curves back towards the Lich.
- Travels up and down the center of the arena, rapidly firing lines of bullets to the sides.
- Fills the arena with bullets except for a small cone, then rotates the cone while a wedge of bullets sweeps across the safe area.
- Sprays bullets above and below himself while spraying waves of bullets to the sides.
- After the third phase is defeated, the player must shoot the Gun That Can Kill The Past at the Lich to complete the run.
Trivia
- The Lich's silhouette can be seen on the title screen.
- The painting over the fireplace room in Keep of the Lead Lord depicts an old man with the Lich's hat and cloak, holding some sort of bullet. That man is The Gunslinger.
- This could indicate that the Lich was once human. The blacksmith says that the master of the Gungeon studied gun magic with her father, Edwin. From this, we can infer that when the Great Bullet struck, Edwin perished while the Gungeon Master was granted immortality.
- The cloaked man, who is depicted in the fireplace room, oddly resembles the Old Man, which is a secret NPC found in a secret room in the Gungeon Proper. If the Lich was once human, then this painting might be proof to a connection between the Lich and the Old Man.
- The bullet depicted in the fireplace room may be the same bullet as the one in the Lich's bosscard.
- The Lich's second form appears to be the basis for the Ammo shrine.
- The forehead of the Lich in this phase also has an impact hole similar to the one the Gungeon has from being hit by The Great Bullet.
- The Lich's third form has the limbs of a Revolvenant, the composition of a Shelleton, and the features of his previous phase.
- The name Gungeon Master is a reference to the Dungeon Master of Dungeons and Dragons. Since the Lich is implied to have control over the Gungeon, it is a fitting name for him.
- This reference is also shown in the achievement icon when the player beats Bullet Hell, which resembles Lich above a board game with the letters "GnD", an acronym for "Gungeons and Draguns".
- The Lich himself may be a reference to the Tomb of Horrors, a DnD module. In it, the players descend through a complex labyrinth of enemies and traps, ending in a climactic battle against its demilich master, Acererak.
- The Bullet That Can Kill The Past is not necessary to access Bullet Hell and defeat the Lich.
- According to Riddle of Lead’s Ammonomicon description, Riddle of Lead belonged to the first person to master the Gungeon, gaining the envy of Kaliber. It is likely that this person was the Lich due to the description and the accompanying synergy
Liches Get Stitches. - If the player uses an obstacle-creating item like Portable Table Device to place a table below the Lich as he spins up and down the arena with lines of bullets, he will get stuck on the table and can be easily killed as long as the table is not broken.
- The shell on the Lich’s bosscard has a face, alluding to all the living bullet enemies in the Gungeon.
- The Gunslinger, one of the gungeoneers added in the A Farewell to Arms update, has been confirmed to be the Lich himself, before becoming the Gungeon Master and before the Great Bullet's fall.
- It is very likely that the reason for which the Great Bullet fell is The Gunslinger's domination of the Gungeon. The entity who shot the bullet was probably Kaliber, raged by The Gunslinger's achievement. That is likely to be the event which transformed The Gunslinger into the Lich.
- The Lich is seen dropping his gun like he is twitching in the winning screen for the Gunslinger's past, hinting that he is probably dying.
- If the player holds the map open after defeating the first phase of the Lich, they will be grabbed and moved to the second phase, but they can then teleport back to a point on the map afterwards effectively soft-locking the game. At this time there are no known ways forward outside of killing oneself (potentially triggering clone) or exiting the game.
- The bullets that can be seen on the victory screen after defeating the Lich are very likely the Lich's Eye Bullets, one of the The Gunslinger's starting items.
Gallery
The win screen after defeating Lich.
The bees left on the ground after defeating Lich's first phase with the Bee Hive.
