Minos Prime

Minos Prime is a pale bluish-white translucent humanoid figure with a visible circulatory system and heart. He has two snakes wrapped around his arms, a hole in his face, and a cubical crown fused to his head. He also emits a perpetual bright blue glow. Minos Prime executing the move "Die!", which alludes to the fact that thou art going to die Minos Prime is the first Prime Soul, and second and final boss of [P-1: SOUL SURVIVOR], and Act 1 as a whole. Though he proclaims his gratitude to V1 for freeing him, he condemns V1 to death for the machines' crimes against humanity. He is considered the most complex and difficult boss of Act I. He spawns after defeating Flesh Prison, as he was trapped within it by the angels after being killed by Gabriel before the beginning of the game. Minos Prime is an incredibly powerful enemy, capable of chaining attacks to destroy V1 in seconds. It only takes a moment of inattention to be utterly destroyed. Note that being airborne is very risky as Minos Prime can, and will kill you before you can get back in position. Prime Souls have a stamina system, which dictates how many attacks they are able to use. Minos Prime has 6 stamina in his first phase and 12 in his second, and recovers 5 when parried. If Minos Prime runs out of stamina he will be unable to attack for 2 seconds. When damaged to below 65 health, he will enter his second phase, signified by him gaining blue flames and stating “WEAK.” "Judgement!": Minos Prime will yell “Judgement!”, enter a crouching position, then dashes at the speed of light in front of V1 and perform a dropkick, creating a large explosion that deals 50 damage. This attack can be parried; during his first phase, a successful parry will also cancel the explosion. If V1 dodges towards Minos Prime to avoid this attack, he will immediately follow up with either a "Die"/"Crush!", a serpent, or an Overhead. This attack uses 2 stamina. "Die!": Minos Prime aims at V1 before instantly slamming towards them, creating a ground shockwave on impact. Minos Prime briefly stops tracking V1 before the slam comes out, allowing the slam to be avoided. This attack can hit the wall or ceiling, causing the shockwave to be created there and canceling Minos Prime's recovery animation. This attack is only used when Minos Prime is airborne and requires 1 Stamina. "Crush!": A variant of "Die!" used if V1 is too close when initiated. It goes straight down, creating a large explosion that deals 50 damage rather than 30. This attack requires 1 Stamina. Serpent: Minos Prime winds up his right arm with an orange glow before releasing a serpentine projectile that homes in on V1. The longer it exists, the tighter its homing gets. It will persist until colliding with a surface or V1. It can be parried, making it a good source of health and a good way to deal damage. "Prepare thyself!": A two-kick combo followed by a Parriable Serpent. The kicks have a chance of launching V1 into the air should they hit, and if V1 is airborne at any point during the kicks, Minos Prime will instead interrupt the combo to do an Uppercut instead, removing the parry opportunity at the end of the combo. This can easily be avoided by sliding/strafing left or right, and moving backwards when Minos Prime is about to cast his serpent, sliding/dashing out of the way or Parrying it. This attack requires 3 Stamina. "Thy end is now!": Minos Prime will yell “Thy end is now!” before attempting to hit V1 with a 4-punch combo, each hit dealing 30 damage. The last hit can be parried. Afterward, Minos Prime will be stuck in the ground shortly until he dislodges himself, giving a short window to heal. If V1 goes airborne after a swing, Minos Prime will immediately cancel into an Uppercut. This attack uses 2 stamina. Uppercut: Minos Prime teleports to V1 and attempts a single hit; if it connects, V1 gets launched high into the air along with Minos Prime. A Ground Slam can be used to cancel V1's upward momentum. This attack requires 1 Stamina to be performed. Overhead: Minos Prime teleports directly above V1 and does a straight-down attack after a sound cue accompanied with a blue flash. This move only is used while Minos Prime is aerial. This attack consumes 1 Stamina to be performed. All of Minos Prime's attacks are controlled by an invisible stamina meter, that can be made visible via the use of mods. The stamina meter dictates what moves can be performed at what time. If he runs out of stamina, he will have to wait for it to recharge: The recovery window is 4 seconds on Harmless, 3 on Lenient, and 2 on Standard and Violent. Once he's tired out, blast 'em.

When falling below 65 (50%) health, Minos Prime shouts "WEAK.", overriding any other voice lines. He also gains a blue fiery aura. During Phase 2, Minos Prime can use Serpent projectiles after jumping before following up with "Die!/Crush!" or an Overhead. On Standard difficulty, Parrying "Judgement!" will no longer prevent the explosion, forcing the player to dash to avoid damage during a parry. On Violent, "Judgement!" and the final hit of "Thy end is now!" cannot be parried.

Minos Prime, being a Prime Soul, is one of the most difficult enemies in the game, and thus one should not expect the first try to be the only try. Especially coming after the Flesh Prison fight, this opponent can be one of the most nerve-racking and stressful fights in the game. Be sure you're comfortable, steady your nerves, and perhaps get some water (who am i kidding, you're gonna get some fucking gfuel). It'll be a long fight, and likely not one done in a single life. P-ranking this will be especially difficult and will take a lot of practice, trial, and error. Minos Prime telegraphs his attacks quite clearly. Generally, circle-strafing and utilizing dash's Invincibility Frames can be used to successfully avoid attacks. "Die!" and "Crush!" attacks can be avoided consistently by dashing to the side and jumping when the telegraph is heard, avoiding getting hit directly and going above the ground shockwave. In order to avoid the shockwave, dash forward inside the shockwave and/or slam. It is also possible to bait Minos Prime into using these attacks onto a wall, which causes the shockwave to be vertical, making it easy to avoid. A good general tip for the majority of the fight would be to stay grounded, as he will have a preference to use Serpents and trickier attacks while V1 is airborne. He will also cancel "Thy end is now!", "Prepare Thyself!" and "Judgement!" with an Uppercut if V1 is airborne during them, and both are easy to avoid by just circle strafing. The exception to staying grounded is to avoid the shockwave of "Die!"/"Crush!". Using the Whiplash or slam is useful to immediately get back on the ground, just stay wary of an oncoming shockwave or other attack. However, if one is used to parrying the serpents, one can utilize this trait to potentially regain health. Minos Prime's "Thy end is now!" is one of the easiest attacks to avoid. By constantly switching directions during attacks while using sliding or dashing, it is guaranteed that Minos Prime will miss all of his attacks. This is also an opportunity to deal as much damage as possible during this attack, especially the final hit of the attack, which leaves himself vulnerable for a long time. The final hit of the attack can be parried, except for Phase 2 on Violent and above. This can be consistently done by tracking the amount of times he has attacked, and positioning oneself to parry the final attack and dashing away, as the attack will still connect even when parried. Instead of dashing away it is also possible to simply stand to the side instead of in front of him, which allows to easily parry his attack and deal a considerable amount of damage with shotguns. Minos Prime is able to launch a yellow-colored homing Serpent that explodes on contact, usually when V1 is too far away from Minos Prime. Due to its persistent nature, it can be difficult to avoid, but the Serpent is parriable and can be destroyed with the Sharpshooter Revolver, though the timing is tight. There are many ways to mitigate this, such as moving in a straight line, dashing while parrying, or sliding back before parrying, all of which will make parrying more consistent and the snake more predictable. If parrying is not an option, one can bait it towards the wall to make it break. In more niche scenarios, an explosion can do the trick, which includes Minos Prime's "Judgement!". On Violent and above, the Serpent is the only attack that can be parried on Phase 2, so learning to parry this attack is vital to defeating him on higher difficulties. Minos Prime's "Prepare Thyself!" can be similarly dodged as "Thy end is now!", except for the 3rd hit of the combo, where he will launch a homing Serpent and end the attack. The Serpent itself can be parried, and most strategies mentioned for dealing with the Serpent work here. However, the Serpent's explosion can still damage V1, especially when Minos Prime is too close, so dashing after parrying will avoid the damage and the knockback itself. "Judgement!", while it can take new players by surprise, is one of the easiest attacks to avoid or parry. While the parry timing is a bit awkward, which is only after moments of him about to land the dropkick, it is easy to learn and master the timing. Parrying the attack also cancels the shockwave on Standard and below. However, on Violent and Brutal, the shockwave will still persist and the attack becomes unparriable on phase 2. In these cases or where parrying isn't an option, dashing just moments after the teleport is the most consistent way to dodge it. During the fight and Phase 1 on Violent and above, his "Thy end is now!" and "Judgement!" parry are some of the easiest ones of the fight, so those who like their odds can get a free full heal off of it. Note that this also restores his stamina, so in some scenarios, it might be better to not parry these attacks instead.

Terminal Data

TYPE: PRIME SOUL

DATA: A Prime soul is an incredibly rare occurrence in which a soul amasses so much power that it no longer requires a Husk as a vessel to manifest physically. As manifestations of pure will, souls are incredibly powerful, to the point that even the prideful angels see them as a threat and will use any means necessary to stop them from forming. King Minos felt that eternal suffering was an unfair and unreasonable punishment for those whose only sin was loving another. After the Disappearance of God, as angels were lost and Heaven was in chaos, Minos began his efforts to reform the Lust layer. The Lust renaissance was prosperous, as King Minos guided its inhabitants to come together and build a new civilization. The combined efforts of the countless who had been damned to the second layer bore great results as the grand city of Lust grew and grew. However, after the Council took control of Heaven and brought stability to it through their iron fist rule, they saw that Minos had gone against God's will by freeing sinners from the punishment that God had designed for them. Gabriel, the brightest of the angels, was sent to kill Minos. The king, rather than fight back, tried to reason with him, but Gabriel mercilessly struck him down without listening. As Minos's will was strong enough to attempt to stand up to Heaven's rule, the angels chose to imprison his soul in an attempt to stop it from forming into a Prime soul and appointed Gabriel as the new Judge of Hell. From the prison inside his own body, Minos helplessly watched as his soulless corpse, now controlled by parasites, tore apart everything he had worked so hard to build, cursing his own weakness for failing to protect his people, vowing to take revenge..

STRATEGY:

• It's rare for Minos Prime to give a window of opportunity to heal, so it's vital to learn what attacks leave him momentarily vulnerable and how to dodge them in a way that gives an advantageous position during those moments.

• His snake projectiles can be parried using the Feedbacker for a full heal, even if the projectile doesn't hit Minos Prime.

Minos Prime often says "Die!". This is a subtle nod to the fact that he will kill you. This reference is best observed on Brutal Difficulty. The same can be observed with his "Thy end is now!". (Thy end is, in fact, now.) It can also be observed whenever Minos Prime says "Crush" as a reference to the fact that he will indeed crush your body like a hydraulic press. It can also be observed whenever he says "Prepare Thyself!". (Thou indeed hast to prepare thyself) During Minos Prime's cutscene, one can prepare traps or set up tech such as Slabcoining, Railcoining, or Railcoin-punching. This is especially made easier after defeating him once, which allows the cutscene to be skipped. By setting up a Sawblade trap, and performing any high-damage coin techs, Minos Prime's health will rapidly deplete at the start of the fight, and in some cases instantly killing him (in the case of Deadcoining), or depleting his health to Phase 2. (you have 40 seconds to prepare.) Minos Prime's boss theme is "ORDER", and can be found here. The original concept art for Minos Prime was made by BigRockBMP, and his model was made by ActionDawg. Minos Prime is voiced by Stephan Weyte, known for being the voice of Caleb from the Blood franchise. Stephan has also provided the voice for Nyarlathotep in DUSK, another game published by New Blood, as well as the character "G" in Gloomwood, who appears at the very beginning and guides the outsider, among many other credits, including MC. The pose Minos Prime strikes before his "Die!" divekick is taken from Kamen Rider. Minos Prime's manner of speaking during combat is inspired by Urien in Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike. Minos Prime says "Useless!" after each restart, implying that he knows you have died to him and that any efforts you attempt upon him will be only for naught. The only other characters that imply knowledge of restarts are the Mysterious Druid Knight (& Owl) and Minos Prime's ACT II counterpart, Sisyphus Prime. Before the first hotfix following the Soul Survivor update, Minos Prime's "Judgement!" attack couldn't be interrupted when parried. Minos Prime's design has a heavy snake motif, with twin snakes coiling around his arms, blue snakes for attack trails, and golden snakes as projectiles. This draws inspiration from Minos in Inferno from Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy, who has a serpent's tail coil around his body a certain amount of times to determine where sinners will be damned in the Nine Circles of Hell. It also may be a reference to King Minos from Greek mythology. According to mythology, he often cheated on his wife, and she bewitched him, which is why Minos emitted snakes during copulation. Minos Prime, along with the Flesh Prison, are direct references to the fights against Nuculais and Legion, respectively, from Castlevania: Curse of Darkness. His moveset has been often compared to characters from fighting games, utilizing a large amount of melee combat as well as a projectile in his serpent. This is reinforced by the Urien tie-in. If Minos Prime is somehow able to get out of bounds and fall into the void, he will reappear at the center of the arena.

You've defeated the Flesh Prison! Damn, that boss was tough! At least that was the hardest thing in yhis level!... Yo, what's that blue ball-