Lil' Hunter is the boss of the Frozen City which you encounter on 5-3 and is the third boss of the game. Compared to the previous bosses, Lil' Hunter is extremely aggressive and will catch many new players off-guard. Once he drops down, you may find yourself being stomped on and killed by fire if you stay still, so moving around while fighting him is recommended. If possible, clear an area so you can concentrate when fighting him and the I.D.P.D. troops that spawn in.
Phases[]
Introduction Phase
- Roughly 7 seconds after the level begins, Lil' Hunter will divebomb towards the player. This timeframe is reduced with each successive loop.
Flying Phase
- Much like the introduction phase, Lil' Hunter will fly into the air and divebomb near his target. Upon landing, he produces a ring of Blue Flames, dealing 1 damage per hit. Watch for a shadow on the ground to indicate where he will land in order to avoid the flames as he lands on top of you.
Projectile Phase
- At long range, he will fire a tightly-packed stream of fast-moving bullets
- In close proximity, he will fire 11 Bouncer Bullets towards the player, increasing in count for every Loop. Unlike those from the Bouncer Shotgun, these projectiles only deal 3 damage.
Backup Phase
- Lil Hunter can summon a total of 6 I.D.P.D. portals during his encounter. While this is done randomly, he is only able to summon when the ratio of current health:maxhealth is lower than (6-[Portals Spawned]):6. As a result, he can occasionally spawn IDPD instantly after spawning due to taking minor damage, or chain-spawn IDPD if you rapidly deplete his health
- In spite of being summoned as backup, IDPD and Lil' Hunter can harm one another. Use this to your advantage!
Death Phase
- Lil Hunter's jetpack malfunctions when his health is depleted, triggering an explosion and causing him to helplessly spiral through the air. After impacting with three walls, his lifeless body begins to spin out and explode, producing 3 explosions that deal heavy damage to anything nearby.
- His flight path will gradually widen over time so that he's not able to spin indefinitely.
Loop Version
On loops Lil' Hunter appears after 7/(1+(number of loops/2)) seconds. That's 4.7 seconds on loop 1, 3.5 seconds on loop 2 and 2.5 seconds on loop 3.
His death explosion becomes larger. The amount of big explosions he creates on death equals (number of loops)x3.
On the first loop Lil' Hunter can spawn every regular I.D.P.D. unit. During the second loop battle he can spawn every unit including Elite I.D.P.D.. On loop 1 and 2 the max number of I.D.P.D. portals that open during the fight is the same as pre-loop, which is 6. The number of portals starts increasing after loop 2. Each loop will then add one more portal.
Strategy[]
Being in line of sight of Lil' Hunter can result in almost certain death so you should always take cover and flee out of his line of sight as fast as you can. Lil' Hunter will not attack you when he call’s I.D.P.D. portals, making him completely vulnerable, giving a great window to get out of cover and damage him safely, however this could be dangerous in some cases as it can tempt you to attack him while he is vulnerable at an inappropriate time, this can cause you to drop your guard and other enemies end up killing you, so make sure no one bothers you when you go to attack him or you can instead use that time to kill enemies from the area. Once the I.D.P.D. units come out of the portal, Lil Hunter will be able to attack you again, so you must do it quickly and carefully.
Trivia[]
- Lil' Hunter was a member of the I.D.P.D., who was sent alone on a dangerous mission in a very harsh environment. After failing that mission, the I.D.P.D. abandoned him. Left with no resources and certain death, he barely survived, but went mad and mutated.
- After being abandoned, Lil' Hunter became addicted to radiation.
- Lil' Hunter was a sniper. He used very precise and stealthy methods to eliminate his targets. Currently, he will go on a rampage and destroy everything that is between him and what he thinks is his next target.
- As Lil' Hunter slowly loses the fight, in a delusional panic he calls the I.D.P.D., thinking back to when he'd call them for support. The I.D.P.D. see this as an informed opportunity for an ambush.
- Lil' Hunter used to be a close friend of Rogue but he doesn't remember her anymore.
- "Lil' Hunter's gun is named Lil' Gunther; a reference to a penguin called Gunter owned by the Ice King from Adventure Time." - Paul Veer.
- Prior to update #61, Lil' Hunter spawned the instant the player entered the level, and would mostly attack with his jetpack stomps. He was reworked to utilize his weapon more and his health was doubled, ultimately removing Lil' Hunter's "kill instantly or be killed instantly" aspect.
- Prior to update #78, Lil' Hunter would be very difficult to fight in open areas, spraying bursts of three lines of projectiles at the player. He was reworked to have "less direct firepower" and more "mean cowardly attacks". At the same time, I.D.P.D. units were added to distract the player.
- Prior to update #80, Lil' Hunter did 1 contact damage.
- Lil' Hunter's boss theme is "The One They Left Behind".
- Lil' Hunter will appear in The Binding of Isaac: Four Souls in the Requiem expansion as a boss monster, alongside Y.V.
