Phantoon
| Phantoon | |
 |
|
| Location | Phantoon's Room, Wrecked Ship |
| Health | 2500 |
General Information
Phantoon has 2500 health.
Phantoon is only vulnerable to damage through his eye when it is exposed, where Missiles, Super Missiles, charged shots, and special beam attacks will deal damage.
Super Missiles will deal 600 damage to Phantoon instead of their normal 300; however, using a Super Missile on Phantoon that does not finish him off will enrage Phantoon, causing him to spend roughly 18 seconds sending waves of flames down from above before starting another pattern.
Phantoon's flames can be negated by pseudo-Screw or Screw Attack.
Phantoon will perform one of six patterns to begin the fight, and then will perform one of six different patterns in the second round, as well as remaining rounds thereafter. (12 total patterns)
A "round" consists of the time from which Phantoon appears to begin a pattern, to the point he disappears to start another pattern or perishes.
Both Phantoon and his flames will deal 10 / 20 / 40 damage to Gravity Suit / Varia Suit / Power Suit Samus, respectively.
Multiple flames can strike Samus at once. If you are on top of Phantoon's eye without invulnerability as he opens and produces eight flames, they can all collide with Samus at once, which usually spells death, and is referred to as the "Sunrise Surprise."
Interactions
Figure 8
Phantoon will move in a figure 8 pattern around the room until he opens his eye, dropping flames as he does so. These flames can drop items. Phantoon tends to spawn these flames in similar ways each time.
Phantoon can open at either a 'fast', 'medium', or 'slow' speed. A 'fast' opening will have Phantoon open his eye around one second after becoming visible. A 'medium' opening will take about five seconds longer than a 'fast' opening, and a 'slow' opening will take about five seconds longer than a 'medium' opening.
Phantoon can open at these speeds on either the left side of the room or the right side of the room. Some combinations of speed and side are more common than others. Slower patterns tend to be more common than faster patterns.
Open
When Phantoon opens from a pattern, he will produce eight flames that will spiral outward across the screen.
After Phantoon takes damage during this opening, he will fly around the room in a similar manner, attempting to ram Samus. Samus's positioning will influence his movement.
Phantoon can be damaged at multiple points during an opening. If Phantoon takes 300+ damage during one barrage, he will disappear to start another pattern, so make sure to keep your shots spaced out enough. If Phantoon has taken a total of 400+ damage after the third barrage (example - Missile hit, wait for a second, repeat three times), he will disappear to start another pattern. If Phantoon is struck with a Super Missile at any point during his opening, he will disappear to begin an enrage phase. If Phantoon is not made to disappear from one of these conditions, he will naturally disappear on his own after about six seconds of flying around.
If Phantoon does not take damage in time from an opening, he will disappear and move in an invisible figure 8 pattern. Phantoon can disappear from an opening at either a 'fast', 'medium', or 'slow' speed, and will open up again after closing in this manner at either a 'fast', 'medium', or 'slow' speed, except instead of sending a spiral of flames out, he will rain flames down in a horizontal line from the ceiling. After the first time he opens in this manner, he will continue to disappear and reopen every couple of seconds while continuing to rain flames until he takes damage.
Enrage
As stated previously, Phantoon will enrage if struck with a Super Missile that does not destroy him. Phantoon cannot be damaged while in this state. He will stay at the top of the screen where he will send waves of flames whipping down from the ceiling that will alternate from left to right. The waves happen at 128 frame intervals.
After eight waves, he will disappear to start another pattern.
With appropriately-timed beam shots, you can destroy many of these flames at once, thus farming them. Alternatively, you can perform a pseudo-Screw throughout this entire phase to avoid all damage.
Enrage Skip
If a Super hits Phantoon on the specific frame as he starts moving around the room, he will not become enraged. If implemented in a run this would allow for killing Phantoon in a single round, though it would be very difficult.
FreyasSpirit's analysis of Phantoon's AI to explain this behavior
Categories
Phantoon First
Any% PRKD
The primary method for destroying Phantoon in this category is through the use of the "doppler" technique. Basically, whenever Phantoon takes damage that would make him disappear (excluding being struck with a Super Missile), he will attempt to close his eye; however, Phantoon needs some time (approximately ten frames) for that to happen, making it possible for him to continue to take damage if this time is interrupted, which it can be if Missiles are fired at the appropriate rate.
The cooldown for missiles is 9 frames, but to avoid having an input not register by being too early, the ideal doppler spacing is 10 frames. This gives a tempo of 350 beats per minute, which this video essentially gives a metronome for.
The easiest method for performing a doppler on Phantoon is to allow him to fly off-screen, then hold a forward direction while mashing the shot button with Missiles selected until you are right next to Phantoon. Doing so, you should be able to consistently have three to four Missiles connect with Phantoon before he disappears.
A typical round utilizing the doppler in this manner will look something like this:
- Fire an uncharged beam shot towards Phantoon to extinguish the flames he generates upon opening from a pattern
- Fire two Missiles at Phantoon, then wait briefly
- Fire two Missiles at Phantoon, then let him gain some distance
- Fire as many Missiles as you can while walking towards him right as he would re-enter the room
Even doing something as simple as this, you can become consistent at defeating Phantoon in under four rounds. In the last round, you will want to fire a Super Missile at the end of your third barrage. If you managed to doppler efficiently enough in the first two rounds, then you may not need to doppler anything at all in the third round.
It is possible to slay Phantoon in under three rounds if you incorporate stuttering during your doppler to have more Missiles land. Ideally, you will be able to strike Phantoon with ten Missiles total in the first round (2-2-6) and nine Missiles with the Super Missile as a finisher (2-2-5+S) in the second round. It is possible to still two round even with a worse first round, but every additional Missile needed makes it that much more unlikely.
Another option for this fight is to incorporate charged shots between Missile barrages. Two charge shots will reduce the amount of Missiles normally required by one, potentially making a two round fight easier in that regard.
A concern for this strategy is having enough ammo to defeat Phantoon in these few rounds. Although fast patterns are certainly ideal for speedrunning, multiple fast patterns can cause the player to run into an issue where they are not equipped with enough Missiles from drops to defeat Phantoon accordingly with the doppler technique.
Being familiar with how Phantoon will move off-screen and how Samus can influence his movement is important here. Without proper manipulation of Phantoon, there will be certain patterns where he will fly directly over your attempt at a doppler if you allow him to fly off-screen. For these patterns, having Samus jump up a certain height right as Phantoon swings off-screen can influence him into having a lower positioning when he swings back into the room.
For each pattern, there's also a way to doppler Phantoon while keeping him on-screen, which is a few seconds faster than letting him go off-screen. This may involve a very difficult move such as an Air Doppler.
Slower patterns tend to be the hardest to punish due to the time in which Phantoon will lay flames before opening, as well as the position in which Phantoon will open from these patterns. It is recommended to practice those the most, especially since you are likely to receive them the most in runs.
The optimal manner of dealing with the eight flames Phantoon produces when he opens his eye from a pattern is to fire a single beam shot at them, such that the beam shot consumes all of the flames at once, leaving Phantoon's eye directly exposed to Missiles, and leaving a cluster of drops floating in the air. You can alternatively dodge them with pseudo-Screw or possibly by being morphed. In case you miss the opening beam shot, you can try intercepting flames with the beam as well.
Something you may have to get used to is that the hitbox of the uncharged Power Beam is small enough that it can appear to pass through flames.
Due to the lack of Varia Suit, everything will deal at least 40 damage, making large energy drops much less effective than in Phantoon Second routes since it would require two of them to nullify a flame's damage. It can also put you in an awkward position where, if you end up between 30 and 40 energy, you will be low enough to die to a single flame, but not low enough to force the 'health bomb' effect to occur.
If Phantoon begins to rain flames, you can crouch or morph to lower the chance of Phantoon appearing on top of you, and hold angle buttons appropriately to shoot the flames that would fall on top of you, while also striking Phantoon with a Missile or two when you have the opportunity. For maximum safety, you can strike Phantoon with three Missiles in a row so that he will disappear and start another pattern.
14%
Basically, all information for Any% PRKD also applies here; however, in 14% categories, the chance of executing a two-round on Phantoon is reduced due to always having a cap of 10 Missiles, making well-timed Missile drops more important than in Any% PRKD.
Phantoon Second
Any% KPDR (Beginner)
With Charge Beam, Wave Beam, and Spazer equipped, you can slay Phantoon in four rounds.
Strike Phantoon with a charge shot when he opens, then hit him with two more and he should disappear. Repeat this process three more times and he should perish. This can be sped up slightly by the inclusion of a Super Missile in the last round - charge shot when he opens, then Super Missile.
It can help to fight from the corners of the room (probably the left corner) to minimize damage. The flames Phantoon drops will rarely reach the corners of the room before being shot. You can crouch in the bottom left corner when flames are raining down, and aim up to shoot the flame that would land and fall on top of you during this scenario. Phantoon's body should rarely (if ever) touch you when performing this strategy.
To minimize damage taken, fight from the corners, usually the left corner. Flames he drops while moving around rarely touch the corners before you can shoot them. Then crouch in the bottom left corner when he is in the rain state. You should rarely, if ever, get touched by his body doing this. Aim up and shoot to kill the flame that would land and fall on you. Strike Phantoon in the middle or right side of the screen to help prevent him from drifting into you, which should give you time to hit with the three charge shots needed to make him disappear before he would fly into you. Jumping and shooting across the center of the screen to hit him off-screen works in most situations; however, you should listen for Phantoon's cry to confirm that you actually damaged him.
This method should also work with Ice Beam instead of Wave Beam in this combo; however, it would be much more difficult to execute since the beam would not penetrate the walls. There is also essentially no reason to not have Wave Beam at this point anyway, so this is simply a note for knowledge purposes.
Any% KPDR (Intermediate)
In the 2018 Any% Tournament, runner MassHesteria demonstrated a good technique for runners who pick up both Spazer, and Early Ice. For each round, fire two missiles, then two missiles, then a Charge Shot. This will kill Phantoon in 4 rounds. This allows the runner to save on pauses compared with the Beginner technique listed above.
It can finish in 3 rounds if you use a Missile and a Super Missile in a mini-doppler pattern on the third round. This technique can save ample time over a three-round doppler if you still need phantoon to fly offscreen in order to hit enough missiles to achieve the 3 round, since the first two rounds don't need to wait for Phantoon to come back on-screen.
Any% KPDR (Optimal)
The optimal strategy for defeating Phantoon is to utilize the X-Factor to attempt to defeat Phantoon in only two rounds.
You will want to open every time with a pseudo-Screw (from your charge shot that you are about to use) to avoid the flames from Phantoon's opening, then use the charge shot directly on Phantoon, followed by the X-Factor, performed accordingly based on the speed and position of Phantoon's opening.
Below are guides which will provide strategies for each variation of Phantoon's openings. These different setups will be explained via crude drawings and text summaries.
The drawing of Phantoon is based on where he is going to appear on the screen. The black arrow is where you want to fire the charge shot for the opener. The X is where you are going to be hitting him with the X-Factor. The green line indicates the direction and way you need to move to make the X-Factor connect. For the left slow opening of the second round, the red line indicates how Phantoon is going to move.
1st Round
Left Fast - Phantoon is going to appear on the bottom left and you want to make sure that you jump through the flames and hit Phantoon on his right side to initiate the setup. From here, he will recoil back, so you need to immediately start charging and run to the right. Once you hit the right wall, you need to jump to the top of the room immediately. So long as you do not turn around and you move as the green arrow indicates, it should connect every single time.
Left Medium - This is one of the easier patterns. Simply jump up, shoot him, and then face left in the middle of the room while trying not to move. If for whatever reason Phantoon is moving in an usual manner, you can make adjustments by performing turnarounds to delay the X-Factor, or by walking to the right (if you were too slow). Jumping can sometimes help, but it is not recommended. This is also the most common setup for this method of quick kill.
Left Slow - Another pattern where you pretty much just shoot and stay in the middle of the room while facing left. Once again, make adjustments if it looks like it is about to fail.
Right Fast - This pattern is ideal for speed and ease.
Right Medium - This one is a tad tricky. You can actually hit him from three different places - the middle of the room, the top right corner, and the place displayed in the image. The place displayed in the image is probably the easiest to use, but feel free to test all three to see which of them you prefer.
Right Slow - Not much needs to be said here.
2nd Round
Left Fast - Similar to first round's Left Fast, you want to jump in the air, and upon landing, run to the right wall, then jump towards the ceiling.
Left Slow - This is by far the most complex X-Factor to setup, but so long as you move the same every time, it should connect properly. Basically, you just want to spinjump into him and as soon as the shot hits, hold left. Do not stop holding left and do not face right. After you have landed, you want to immediately jump up to the ceiling so you can manipulate Phantoon into a fixed Y-position. After you have touched the ceiling, you want to start charging up a shot right as you're about to touch the grey door to your left. Upon landing, just jump back up to the ceiling as phantoon approaches and it should hit. This one will probably require a little bit of practice since it's the only one that's timing based instead of being solely position based.
Right Medium - This is by far the most common second round pattern. For the most part, it is pretty simple. As long as you stand in the middle of the room and adjust your positioning based on Phantoon's movement, it should connect.
Right Slow - For this pattern, it is very helpful to run to the left wall to make it connect. You can execute from the middle of the room as well, but it is not nearly as consistent.
Below is a simple summary of the above regarding how to respond to patterns. "Track" means to predict Phantoon's movement to allow all X-Factor particles to connect. This vague description is only used when it should be relatively simple to accomplish. "Shoot" means shoot Phantoon's eye - it is implied that you begin charging the X-Factor after shooting.
| Pattern (Round, Position, Speed) | Response |
|---|---|
| 1st, Left, Fast | shoot, hop, walk right |
| 1st, Left, Medium | jump, shoot, track |
| 1st, Left, Slow | jump, shoot, track |
| 1st, Right, Fast | jump, shoot, track |
| 1st, Right, Medium | shoot, hop, walk right |
| 1st, Right, Slow | jump, shoot, track |
| 2nd, Left, Fast | jump, then quickly: shoot, turn right, charge, land, move right |
| 2nd, Left, Slow | jump, shoot, jump, shoot, charge when in middle of screen, jump |
| 2nd, Right, Medium | shoot, track |
| 2nd, Right, Slow | jump, shoot, track |
The way you move after striking Phantoon when he opens his eye is much more crucial to be aware of than the speed and fluctuations of his patterns. Moving in a consistent manner and then making tiny adjustments in case of incorrect initiation of an opening is crucial for consistent execution of an X-Factor two-round.
Phantoon's speed is directly correlated to the location of Samus as she delivers the opening shot and the distance she is from him while he moves around the room. Phantoon will recoil more if Samus is nearby and speed up if Samus is far away.
For the most part, the most consistent thing a player can do is move around as little as possible to ensure that Phantoon always performs the same movement during an opening; however, there are some patterns where this is not possible.
Adjustments during the fight can be made in two ways - either moving to the the left or right depending on Phantoon's position, or turning around while charging. Performing turnarounds while charging the beam will delay the X-Factor by a small amount of frames per each time.
Behemoth's method of this fight involves opening up with a charge shot per usual, then firing a Missile right after the first X-Factor particles collide, before Phantoon disappears from the damage, and then firing 3 Missiles and a Super Missile in the second round to finish him off.
An alternative second round method is to open with the charge shot like normal (or shoot out all the flames as phantoon opens akin to PRKD and shoot 2 missiles), and follow it up with two Missiles shortly afterward. Let Phantoon fly off screen, then at the appropriate time, fire two Missiles followed immediately by a Super Missile towards Phantoon. This is sometimes slightly slower than a second X-Factor, but conserves a Power Bomb as well as allows the player to collect the flame drops from the open on the second round if they opt to mirror the PRKD strategy. These two bonuses to the missile second round allow a player to potentially skip certain farms on the way to Phantoon if they so choose which saves even more time and is generally why the missile second round is regarded as the most optimal way to do the fight by players at the highest level.
If you were only able to damage Phantoon with one particle of the second X-Factor, then on the third round, you should be able to defeat Phantoon with two charge shots and a Super Missile.
If an X-Factor particle hits a flame (usually referred to as being "flame lamed"), you won't output enough damage to defeat Phantoon in two rounds without adapting. One way to adapt is to shoot an extra charge shot shot before the X-Factor in the second round, which entails another set of setups.
Video Of Every Pattern, by Nutella
Max% GT Code
Phantoon is much more difficult in this category due to only having 99 health, 5 missiles, and having to rely on Phantoon's eyedrops for more missile drops. There are a few strategies to get a semi-consistent Phantoon fight. If doing dopplers, shoot out a missile so that you have 4 missiles at all times. By doing that, you can shoot the eyedrops until Phantoon's eye opens and pick up the drops as you are performing the doppler. This is most reliable if you are at full health so the drops are always either missile drops or super drops. Alternatively, since drop rng is not something you want to depend your run on, a slightly easier variation of this doppler includes utilizing super frames which allows you to shoot a super at Phantoon without enraging him. Here is an example of a 2 round using super frames.
Instead, if you collect charge beam, you can use a fully charged beam particle to replace the super missile. This method is much more consistent since you don't have to shoot a frame perfect super. Here is an example of a 2 round using charge beam However this method is much more dependent on missile drops.
Another method is using Golden Showers to replace x-factors since grabbing wave takes too much time compared to getting spazer. An optimal fight using golden showers would be to fire 2 missiles immediately after Phantoon's eye opens, waiting a bit, then firing two more missiles. Then, as Phantoon flies offscreen, select power bombs and charge as quickly as possible. If done correctly, both particles should hit and Phantoon can be beaten in 3 rounds. Here is an example of that.
This video summarizes some 2-round strategies for the common item combinations.
Hybrid Strat
The hybrid strat for Phantoon is 2 missiles, 2 missiles, xfactor, 2 missiles, 2 missiles, super missile (2 missiles, 2 missiles, xfactor, 2 missiles, 2 missiles xfactor - this is if you have no super missiles for round 2). When Phantoons eye opens, you want to shoot two regular missiles (reds) into Phantoon, then dash to the left wall, do a full jump and at the peak fire two more regular missiles (reds) into Phantoon. Immediately press and hold right and menu over to power bombs. As soon as you are towards the lower portion of Phantoons body you will want to start charging to perform an X-Factor. Continue holding right until you reach the right side wall, you want to make your way to this wall without using dash. Once you reach the wall, perform a full jump (with no spin) this will pull Phantoon to the top of the screen where your X-factor will connect with all four shots. From there you will want to shoot 2 more missiles into Phantoons eye when it opens next, wait a moment, fire two more missiles, and then immediately a super missile. That will finish off Phantoon. If you do not have a super missile to finish the fight, simply repeat the pattern for round 1 and do a double x-factor instead.
Phantoon Third
Reverse Boss Order
Assuming you obtained Plasma Beam and thus have charged Ice/Wave/Plasma at your disposal, Phantoon will only require seven Missiles and two charge shots to defeat. You can strike Phantoon with three Missiles and a charge shot in the first round followed by four Missiles and a charge shot in the second round, or visa versa.
Phantoon Fourth
GT Classic
Having the items from GT Code allows for the X-Plasma exploit to be performed by activating X-Ray Scope multiple times as a charged Ice/Wave/Plasma shot passes through Phantoon during an opening.
Since charged Ice/Wave/Plasma deals 900 damage, you can slay Phantoon in this manner with only one charge shot with proper X-Ray Scope activations.
Phantoon needs to be struck by a source other than the charge shot before attempting this exploit, otherwise he will simply disappear once struck without allowing the exploit to occur. Try using Missiles when he opens (a well-timed Missile can consume all of the flames when they spawn, and a second will strike Phantoon) so he will start to fly around, then perform the exploit. Be careful not to accidentally strike him with more than two Missiles in this manner, otherwise he will disappear.
Tutorials
DbX - Explains methods for how to X-Factor not only Phantoon, but Botwoon and Draygon as well.
DbX - How to X-Factor Phantoon.
M2K2 - Metroid 2002 thread about Phantoon patterns.
Pinkus - Further research into Phantoon's pattern RNG.
MrGuyAverage - Shows how to deal with Phantoon in Max% GT Code
Popplars - Hybrid 2 round strat.
Dr_Girl_Friend - Phantoon double X-Factor tutorial.
