Have a Nice Death – How to Dodge Maxxx’s Attacks

A guide on how to dodge Maxxx’s attacks.

Guide to Dodge Maxxx’s Attacks

All credit goes to Crevice; Abyssal Storm!

Introduction

Maxxx, undoubtably one of the hardest and most complicated boss to fight. I will be going over each of Maxxx’s many attacks in this guide, how to effectively dodge them, and some tips that should make the fight easier.

Movement Tips

Since I will be using a few terms that may or may not be what the techniques are called by most others, I will be storing them here (and I will put this is any future Have a Nice Death guides that I make).

1. Upperslash

What I call the “upperslash” is one of the most important techniques when it comes to dodging. It is performed by doing an up attack, simple. The height can also be increased by jumping when performing the upperslash. This is useful when trying to get high into the air or to dodge attacks that cover the entire ground.

2. Air combos

They have as much utility as they have combat, as they can be used to extend airtime. These are useful for lingering attacks or when there isn’t enough safe space to land.

Notes

Maxxx is getting some special treatment because most of his attacks have one of two telegraphs, a face with a wide maw (which I will refer as “Mouth Phase”) and one with several eyes (which I will call “Eye Phase”). Maxxx also has three attacks that are performed close to the ground which I will refer to as “Ground Attacks”.

Disclaimer: The names of the attacks shown are not official and are what I call them.

Mouth Phase

When Maxxx shows this face, move towards the middle of the arena, usually right underneath Maxxx, as dodging most of the attacks in this phase requires moving to the spaces the hands are not occupying due to them being reminiscent of bullet hell attacks.

Hand wave: Maxxx summons 4 red hands that move across the arena in a wave-like pattern from left to right, and the hands will turn around twice before the attack ends. Standing in the center of the arena will make the hands go over Death during the first and fourth peaks, while standing on the left side will avoid the third peak. The second peak cannot be dodged on the ground since the hands cross paths when they turn around on the right side, but usually Death shouldn’t be near them.

Hand Rain: Maxxx summons 5 rows of red hands that fall slowly from the top of the arena. Dodging this requires moving to the gaps between the hands, making short movements to reach the next safe space. In phase 2 he adds five blocks of hands that must be dodged after the five rows of hands, three blocks in the first row and two in the second, which can be dodged by moving to the safe column in between the first three blocks and dashing towards the middle of the arena when the fourth and fifth blocks show up.

Hand Conveyor: Maxxx will summon two rows of seven red hands that move slowly horizontally in opposite directions. Dodging this attack requires a standard jump over the bottom hands while moving to the right at the peak of the jump to avoid the top row of hands. In phase 2 this attack gets transferred to the Eye Phase and adds several rows of hands that fall from the left, then right, middle, then sides of the arena. Dodging the phase two variant requires being at the right side of the arena before moving left to avoid the second row of falling hands, moving to the sides, with the right side being easier to go to with the bottom row of hands also moving in that direction, and then moving towards the center to avoid the lateral hands, all while dodging the hand conveyors themselves.

Eye Phase

If Maxxx is at the sides, he will show this face, though he sometimes shows this when he is in the center of the arena. This face attacks with fast moving needles though phase 2 brings an exception, which is mentioned in the mouth phase section. Moving on one direction is enough to avoid most of these attacks.

Needle Swarm: There are two variants to this attack, the first being six needles being fired rapidly from a single point and the second being ten needles being fired rapidly but from random locations. The needles from both variants fire to where Death was, so moving in one direction is good enough for both variants, though some air movement might be necessary if the direction is closer to the edge of the arena.

Needle Ring: Maxxx will summon nine needles, with the set of four coming after the set of five, in a ring like fashion, though going towards the end of the arena Maxxx is not at. The first set of five needles will fire and shortly after the second set of four will fire. These needles don’t home in on Death and dodging them is easier said then done when trying to figure out the trajectory of the needles, though the first set of needles will not hit the opposite corner of the arena, so jumping there and moving out of the way of one of the last four needles is sufficient enough to dodge.

Needle Rain: Phase 1 has one variant but phase 2 has this and two more variants. The phase 1 variant is when Maxxx summons six needles that shoot to where Death was, with each needle being fired with the corresponding needle on the other side of the arena. The same tips for the Needle Swarm attack can be applied here. The phase 2 variants are summoning nine needles that go directly down and don’t track Death’s movement. The final variant is the same as the first phase 2 variant but Maxxx will summon and additional nine needles with only the middle needle aiming directly down, the rest of the needles are aimed diagonally towards the opposite end of the arena that they are at. The first set of nine needles can be dodged by moving towards the gaps while the second set can be dodged by moving to the far edges of the arena.

Grounded Phase

Maxxx will change to these faces when he teleports close to the ground. He will pump himself with whatever substance in in that syringe twice rather than once like the Mouth and Eye Phases.

Swipe and Slam: Maxxx will be in the center of the arena when he transforms into this face. He will swipe horizontally with one hand and vertically with the other, both in the direction he is facing. This can be dodged by dashing behind Maxxx and going airborne since the horizontally moving hand can hit behind him.

Inhale: Maxxx will teleport to one side of the arena before transforming and inhaling Death, dealing damage if he reaches Maxxx’s mouth. This can be dodged by moving away from Maxxx.

Exhale: Maxxx will teleport to on side of the arena, transform, and attempt to blow Death into his hands that are smacking the ground on the other side of the arena. Dodging this is as simple as moving towards Maxxx since he doesn’t deal contact damage.

Tips

Every two to three attacks Maxxx will teleport to the center of the arena, allowing Death to deal some damage. Any ranged attack if very useful, but homing attacks and large area of effect attacks such as Moskilltoe and Aleistar respectively are very useful since Maxxx is usually out of reach from melee attacks.

This is one of the few instances where the instant stun of the Diss Scythe’s fury is better then the lingering stun of the Sickles’ fury, since Maxxx will usually teleport away from the Sickle’s fury before the stun can trigger. If he does get stunned by the Sickle’s fury, then there will be a longer window to attack then if he was stunned by the Diss Scythe’s fury since he will get stunned after Death can attack again.

Upperslashes with the Twinsie are a good way to deal big damage while Maxxx is suspended in the air after he attacks, though only two or three swings will connect in the air combo before he teleports.

The End

Maxxx is one of the most challenging Sorrows, even more so than the Major and Imamura, with the only Sorrow surpassing him being Krank if Death doesn’t have any ranged attacks.