A Boss, in video game terminology, is a unique computer-controlled monster or character that is much more powerful than an average monster or non-player character encountered in the game until that point and usually serves as a challenge to the player at the end of particular section of a game, usually a level or stage, or guarding a specific objective.
In the Sword Art Online Universe
Throughout the Sword Art Online series, there are several types of bosses that can be encountered: Floor bosses, Field bosses and Flag Mobs. Most, but not all, bosses within the series, especially Floor Bosses, have "the" in their name to signify their uniqueness as bosses.
Floor Boss
A Floor Boss (フロアボス, Furoa Bosu?), alternatively called a Labyrinth boss, is a type of boss that can only be encountered in a large room, called the boss room, on the 20th floor of a Labyrinth in the castle of Aincrad. A Floor Boss’s main purpose is to guard the entrance to the next floor, requiring players to defeat it to advance towards the 100th Floor. Each Floor Boss is a powerful creature, with several HP bars, that usually requires a raiding party of 48 players or more to defeat and usually has special attack patterns that are activated once the monster’s HP falls below a certain level. Some Floor Bosses also have minions that are constantly summoned throughout the battle to aid it in dealing with the players, though some bosses do not have minions at all.
The 74th Floor's Boss Room that doubles as an Anti-Crystal Area.
The difficulty of each Floor Boss varies from floor to floor, with some causing little to no trouble, like the boss of the 22nd Floor, while others, especially the bosses on Aincrad’s quarter floors, are extremely dangerous and have led to numerous deaths in Sword Art Online. Normally, players may retreat from boss rooms by either using Teleport Crystals or retreating via the door if they can reach it in one piece, as bosses never leave the rooms they reside in, however, the boss rooms of the 74th and 75th Floors are designated as Anti-Crystal Areas, and it can be presumed that the remaining floors also host such effect, while the boss rooms starting with the 75th Floor automatically seal the players in a few minutes after they enter the room, completely preventing the chance of retreat during the battle.
Floor Bosses are also present in New Aincrad in New ALfheim Online, however, all of the Floor Bosses of the original Aincrad were replaced with brand new bosses that, due to ALfheim Online not being a death game, are usually much more powerful than their counterparts in the original Aincrad. Floor Bosses within New Aincrad also have their HP bars hidden from the players to make the battles even harder by making it harder to judge how much HP the boss has remaining, while all boss rooms automatically seal the players in within a minute after they enter the room, with players even having the option to seal the boss rooms earlier by pressing a stone button on the wall next to the door.
Also, in New Aincrad, a new feature, called the Monument of Swordsmen replaced the Monument of Life. This new monument records the names of the players that participate in defeating a Floor Boss. However, as the monument is a 3D object within the world and hold a limited number of names in total, while it has to suffice for 100 floors, thus only the names of the party leaders that partake in the raid against the Floor Boss are added to the monument. Though, if a party of seven members or less manages to defeat the boss without any reinforcements, all the names of the members in that party are recorded on the monument.
Known Floor Bosses
- Illfang the Kobold Lord (1st Floor Boss)
- Baran the General Taurus (2nd Floor Boss)
- Wadjet the Flaming Serpent (Aincrad version 8th Floor New Boss)
- Two-Headed Giant (unnamed 25th Floor Boss)
- Metallic elemental (unnamed 27th Floor Boss)
- The Four-Armed Giant (unnamed New Aincrad version 27th Floor Boss)
- Six-armed metallic Buddah statue (unnamed 50th Floor Boss)
- Armoured stone warrior (unnamed 60th Floor Boss)
- The Gleam Eyes (74th Floor Boss)
- The Skull Reaper (75th Floor Boss)
- Heathcliff (supposedly, the 100th (final) Floor Boss)
Field Boss
A Field Boss (フィールドボス, Fīrudo Bosu?) is a named monster strategically placed at the entrance to a Labyrinth on most floors in Aincrad. The main function of this Boss is to prevent access to the Labyrinth of the floor until the monster is defeated. A Field Boss's den is usually surrounded by cliffs or ranging streams on both sides, arranged in such a way that there would be no way to access the Labyrinth until the Boss is defeated. Like Floor Bosses, each Field Boss can only be defeated once, however, they are much easier to defeat and can be defeated by a single party, if all members are sufficiently leveled and have enough experience in battle.
Not all floors have a field boss, for example the 1st Floor and the 22nd Floor did not have any, while some floors might have more than 1[1].
Known Field Bosses
- Bullbous Bow - 2nd Floor
- Geocrawler - 56th Floor
Flag Mob
- A Flag Mob (フラグ Mob, Furagu Mob?) is a monster set up for the completion of a quest or event. These type of monsters can spawn between every few hours to every few days, while some Flag Mobs only spawn once a year or do not re-spawn at all. Some rare Flag Mobs that are usually as powerful as a Boss monster usually also drop rare and valuable items upon being killed while other Flag Monsters are barely more difficult than a regular monster. Some Flag Mobs are part of quests that have sub-routes, thus a certain event may be triggered during the quest that would help defeat the boss, for example, taking a certain sub-route may lead to a temporary NPC partner for the quest.
Known Flag Mobs
- Nicholas The Renegade - Christmas event boss that drops a revival item called Divine Stone of Returning Soul.
- Lungfish - an unamed fishing event boss that drops a rare fishing rod.
- The Witch of the West - a boss that is required to be killed for the «Witch of the West and the Three Treasures» quest.
- Þrym - the boss required to be killed for the completion of the Excaliber quest.
References
- ↑ Based on Kirito’s choice of words, as he mentioned that there were no Field Bosses on the 22nd Floor, instead of saying that the floor did not have a field boss.