Day 21: X'tabay
Get ready for some nice heavy petting, because today we're talking about X'tabay from Guacamelee.
X'tabay is the first of Calaca's henchmen you fight in the game, and honestly she's the one with the most mystery surrounding her. She seems to be a normal woman on the outside, but her boss battle has her display all kinds of supernatural phenomena that makes you wonder where she got said powers. Where did X'tabay get her power from? Is she based on any character from Mexican culture?
I'd better start talking about her battle before my head explodes.
Xtabay's fight is separated into three phases. In the first phase, she'll float above the arena and launch projectiles that go in every direction, summon these spirits that fly in circles around the arena before exploding, and even swap dimensions so that spikes will appear on the floor forcing you to use two platforms above them.
The first phase really makes you take advantage of your Rooser Uppercut as it's how you get to the two platforms when X'tabay swaps dimensions, and it's how you hit X'tabay herself as she's floating above the arena through the whole phase.
After dealing enough damage, it's time for the second phase.
X'tabay will turn the dimensions back to normal and stick to the ground from now on. Her attacks in this phase consist of spitting out poison vapors, surround herself in a rainstorm that'll damage you if you're too close, and a simple lunge attack where she jumps in an arc. She'll also warp to other sides of the arena to avoid taking too much damage. Like before, just hit her enough times and phase three will begin.
The third phase is the same as the second one, attacks and all, but this time X'tabay will summon two clones of herself, so you need to watch out for attacks from all three X'tabays. To make things more difficult each clone has their own shield you need to break. The red shield needs to be broken with Rooster Uppercut, the yellow shield needs to be broken with Olmec's Headbutt, and the green shield needs to be broken with the Frog Slam. Once you break one of the clone's shields, wail away at them until they either teleport away or their shield comes back. After dealing enough damage to the clones, X'tabay will finally be defeated.
The reason why is like the fight against X'tabay so much is that it makes you utilize all of the special moves you've learned so far in the game, especially during the third phase.
Overall, the fight against X'tabay is challenging, fun, and a great test of all the skills you've learned up until now.