When you get to the end of the final stage of the first floor of The Tower in Geometry Dash, you’ll be greeted by the Cursed Thorn, a rather difficult and tricky boss. Here’s how to emerge from the stage victorious.
The Cursed Thorn attacks in Geometry Dash
If you want to get past the Cursed Thorn in Geometry Dash, then you’ll need to know the best ways to avoid each of its attacks. New attacks will be added to its arsenal as you deal more damage to it, so it may take some attempts to get the hang of avoiding certain attacks.
The first and constant attack that the Cursed Thorn will be throwing at you is a fireball. These will get quicker as you progress through the fight. Thankfully, they don’t home in on you and will travel in a straight line. When fire collects at its mouth, stay still, as you’ll then be able to accurately tell exactly where the fireball will land. Then simply move to the side.
This will become more dangerous later on, as the fireballs will start to move quicker than the green fireballs, the ones that you’ll be using to attack the Cursed Thorn. In those instances, don’t let the fireball catch you on your way to perform your attack. It may be worth pausing for a moment so the fireball lands behind you as you grab your attack.
The next attack will be a great beam of fire. This is honestly more intimidating than it is effective. Before the Cursed Thorn launches this attack, a brief line will flash. That will be the start of the fire beam, and then the boss will continue shooting that beam in the direction that it is angled. If you can get to the other side of the brief line before the fire beam starts, you will be safe as it shoots away from you.
If you can’t then simply quickly travel to the end of the platform, as it will never go on for that long, so you’ll be safe. Just watch out for the follow-up fireballs!
Finally, when you’ve almost defeated the Cursed Thorn, it will start to smash into the arena, causing a shockwave of spikes. This one is very tricky to avoid, as if the boss decides to smash down where you are, you’ll not only have a tough time avoiding it, but also the spikes that follow.
The best advice I can give here is to stay central when the boss starts to move over. This will give you options. You will have to time your jump almost right after the boss lands, as the spike shockwave will move quickly. It is possible to avoid the boss if you are on the edge of the platform if you jump immediately after the boss strikes.
Keep up these avoidance techniques, and the Cursed Thorn will have a very hard time squishing you. If you’re getting frustrated, don’t forget to take a break! This, for whatever reason, solidifies your muscle memory, and when you get back in after a break, be it some hours or a day, then you’ll come back with enhanced reaction times.
Related: What to do if you’re stuck at 9% in Dash Level in Geometry Dash
Attacking the Cursed Thorn in Geometry Dash
Now that you know all of what the Cursed Thorn has to offer, you can start thinking about taking it down. Surprisingly, there is a little more nuance to this than advertised when trying to take it down.
It’ll become quickly apparent that the green fireballs, upon contact with the arena, will break into a green arrow. These arrows is what you’ll be using to take it down. Running into it will send it launching over to deal a little damage. Be careful, however, as the green fireballs, before they break, will kill you like a regular fireball if you get in contact with them.
This mechanic does not change throughout the boss fight, so you can master the following strategy and you’ll be set for the entire fight.
As the boss moves around the air, you will find that your arrows may keep missing. As tempting as it is, hitting the green arrow immediately after it lands without any thought will provide you with an inconsistent attack that will prolong the fight out, which could be lethal in the later stages of the game.
Make sure to get in the habit of waiting. As the boss moves around the air, the green arrow will follow it. Only launch the attack when the Cursed Thorn is flying toward the green arrow, as that has pretty much a guaranteed hit rate. The boss will make no attempt to avoid this.
The green arrows do bend toward the boss ever so slightly, so you needn’t be pin-point accurate, but it isn’t enough for you to forget about accuracy all together.
In the earlier stages, you’ll find that the Cursed Thorn is harder to hit, as it’ll make wide and looping arcs in the sky. This is where timing is crucial. In the later stages, the boss will have tighter movement patterns, actually making it easier to fight. So if you’re struggling to keep up with its attacks, then you can afford to claim the arrow immediately to get it out of the way to avoid the next attack.
Also, don’t worry about missed attacks, the boss will keep throwing the green fireballs to the field and its attacks won’t progress without you attacking it.
If I recall correctly, I had to attack the boss 12 times for the fight to be over. It isn’t a long boss fight, but due to the insta-kill and the later aggressive slam attack, even the slightest err in reaction can result in your death.
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