The Winged Horror

FTSBAFTSBAThe Winged Horror is a Level 83 V Blood Shard Carrier. He can be found on The Dreaded Peak located on the Eastern edge of the Farbane Woods. You will need to use in order to reach this area.

Abilities
At first, due to the large amount of projectiles The Winged Horror has, all the burning ground some of these projectiles leave behind as well as it's very strong melee attacks, the fight can seem exceedingly hard. However, this fight rewards patience rather than aggression and, once the player realizes this, makes the fight the easiest one out of the endgame bosses.

Note: Terms used for attacks are not official game terms.

Retreat: During the fight, The Winged Horror will retreat directly away from the player whenever they get close. This weirdly happens even if The Winged Horror itself gets close to the player instead of the other way around.

Debuffs: The Winged Horror fight features two unique debuffs. The first is a damage over time, applied by it's Chaos attacks and the second one slowing down the player, applied by it's Frost attacks. If the player is burning and gets hit with a frost attack the burning will be cleansed and the slowing effect will take effect, and vice versa. This makes it so the player can never be affected by both debuffs at the same time. The debuffs last for about 10 seconds each.

Projectiles: The Winged Horror's projectiles are either Chaos Volley style fireballs or Crystal Lance icicles, applying the burning and slowing debuffs respectively. The icicles in particular always split into two additional icicles, forming a Y pattern. These secondary icicles do not split further.

Fire Breath: The Winged Horror flies up and spews fire down to the ground in one spot for a few seconds. Fireballs will shoot out from the location of the stream. When the fireballs land they deal damage and scorch the ground. The player will take damage and be inflicted with the burning debuff if they step on the scorched ground.

Flare Charge: The Winged Horror will unfurl it's wings one at a time while also summoning a fireball on either side of it's body. Afterwards, it and the fireballs quickly charge towards the location it was facing, dealing damage to the player. If the player is hit by The Winged Horror instead of the fireballs, they will be pushed back and will very likely be attacked by a swipe. If the player is behind The Winged Horror, it is likely The Horror will attempt a Tail Whip instead. Later in the fight, the charge will spread scorched ground if it comes into contact with any.

Swipe and Tail whip: The Winged Horror swipes forwards with it claws or whips with it's tail. Both attacks deal damage in an arc while shooting a volley of icicles. The tail whip is used only when the player is behind The Winged Horror.

Spin: The Winged Horror curls up before spinning in place, dealing damage around itself and knocking back players while firing icicles all around itself.

Fireball Drop: Starting at around 70% health, The Winged Horrror will fly up and across the battlefield while dropping fireballs that scorch the earth. Once it's done dropping fireballs, The Horror will violently crash back down to the arena. As the fight progresses, The Horror will do multiple flights over the battlefield, each with it's own set of fireballs.

Frost Vortex: Starting at around 70% health, The Winged Horror will roar, causing snow to build up in an area. Shortly afterwards, a blizzard will appear in the area, dealing damage to players inside.

Fireball Volley 1: Starting at around 50% health, The Winged Horror will breathe 4 sets of fireballs in a semi-circle in front of itself. The first and third set of fireballs are lighter in color and have consistent speed while the second and fourth set have darker and move at different speeds, causing them to cover the space between the first and third set's space in between the fireballs. The fireballs leave behind scorched earth when they disappear.

Fireball Volley 2: Starting at around 30% health, The Winged Horror will spawn 2 Chaos vortexes on either side of itself and begin violently batting it's wings, causing a strong gust of wind. The player is pushed back constantly by the wind while the vortexes shoot fireballs towards the player. The batting of it's wings will also spread scorched earth if any is caught in the area.

Other notes

 * 1) There seems to be a limit as to how much scorched earth can be present at any given time.
 * 2) When icicles split they explode in a small radius. This explosion deals no damage to the player but does debuff them with the slowing debuff, making it a way of cleansing the damage overtime debuff.
 * 3) Due to the arena being on a mountain peak with very little shade, the fight will likely be abandoned if it becomes daytime unless The Winged Horror is nearly defeated.
 * 4) While in the air, The Winged Horror cannot be hit.

Equipment and Abilities
Due to this being an endgame boss, be prepared with a Bloodmoon Armour set, Amulets magic source and Sanguine tier weapons. More specifically, the best weapons for this fight are ranged weapons such as pistols or crossbows or those that have ranged abilities such as axes and Reapers.

This fight can be attempted at a lower gear level with patience if you stay at range the whole time. For that purpose, ranged abilities such as Sanguine Coil or Chaos Volley are ideal. Using spells with jewels that cleanse debuffs is also an excellent defensive option. Lastly, unholy spells that summon allies should be avoided as they will cause The Horror to use melee attacks much more often.

Scholar Blood is the ideal blood type for this fight as the bulk of your damage should be done via abilities, with another option being Brute Blood for it healing capabilities and +1 Gear Level. If you want extra burst survivability, go for Warrior Blood.

The Fight
General Tips: As previously mentioned, keeping your distance is the best strategy for this fight. This is due to the fact that The Winged Horror's Swipe and Tail Whip should be avoided at all costs as well as The Winged Horror itself retreating if you attempt to get close. If you start burning, it is beneficial to get close to the icicles from The Horror's other attacks, such as it's spin, so that you stop taking continuous damage, the slow being rather negligible.

Unmentioned attacks: Aside from the Swipe and Tail Whip, all the unmentioned attacks have obvious circle markers where they damage the player. Thusly, there isn't much detail to go into. As for Swipe and Tail Whip, The Winged Horror should never be in range to perform these attacks.

Flare Charge: There is a small space between The Horror and it's fireballs where the player can stand to safely dodge the attack. That said, using your Travel Ability or other defensive abilities such as counters or barriers is a safe way of avoiding this attack. The ability used will most likely be available again by the time of the next charge as The Horror doesn't perform this attack often.

Fireball Volley 1: The player should be cautious while dodging this attack. While it is easier to dodge by keeping distance between you and The Horror, do not go too far back otherwise you'll find yourself on scorched earth. As for the attack itself, you can slip between the fireballs when they don't overlap, as well as dash through them or use a counter or barrier ability.

Fireball Volley 2: The gust of wind that knocks the player back is in a cone shape and the fireballs will only be shot in that cone. As such, it is possible to escape the cone, dodging all the fireballs in the process.

Soul Shard
Drops a the first time it is slain. Once planted in a player's territory it gives them access to a powerful 2 hour buff - :
 * +50 Silver & Fire Resistance
 * +10 spell power
 * +5% spell critical hit chance