Cervus Cantus is a boss in NEO: The World Ends with You. It is the noise form of Kaichi "Susukichi" Susuki.
Abilities[]
Cervus Cantus has two phases which are fought one after the other as separate battles. You do not get an opportunity to heal in between the battles. In both phases, he is unable to move.
In the first phase, he fights with a pair of Frog Noise and Raven Noise that constantly respawn. He has four patterns:
- Big Arm: Cervus Cantus swings his arm in front of him dealing damage to everyone in short range. This is heavily telegraphed but deals a huge amount of damage, so it is important to dodge it.
- Summon: Cervus Cantus respawns the Frog and Raven Noise that fight with him.
- Lightning Strike: A bolt of lightning strikes the stage, damaging and stunning anyone in the area.
- Lightning Sphere: A sphere of lightning appears around Cervus Cantus for a few moments and then crackles outwards, in a similar way to Houseleon.
- Lightning Storm: Cervus uses this move only after he is below 60% HP. He'll speak as lightning crackles between his hands. After a few seconds, it will expand and cover the whole arena, dealing huge damage to anyone who is not behind one of the static obstacles (cars and trucks) in the area. This will also kill his supporting Noise. Any characters who are captured by the Raven Noise will not be harmed, although the Noise itself will be killed.
When Lightning Storm is charging, as long as the player-controlled character is moved behind cover, all AI-controlled characters will spontaneously teleport there. Beware, however, as he may use Lightning Strike on the area behind the cover if you arrive there too soon, and you may be attacked by the Noise while waiting for his attack to discharge. As mentioned above, characters that are grabbed by the Raven Noise are immune to Lightning Storm, so it is not necessary to attack any of these Noise.
Once his HP is fully reduced in the first phase, Cervus Cantus will transition into the second phase. In this phase, he is much larger, has no Noise supporting him, and switches to a different moveset:
- Really Big Arm: Cervus Cantus swings his arm in front of him, inevitably catching the entire party. This can easily one-shot the entire party if it is not dodged in time.
- Lightning Strikes: Cervus Cantus charges up lightning around his antlers. Anyone near the antlers during this attack will be hit similar to Lightning Sphere in the previous phase. He'll then spray a series of smaller lightning bolts around the area where the party is.
- Lightning Vortex: Cervus Cantus summons a large purple ball, which shoots out bolts of lightning and sucks the party members towards it. If it catches anyone, that character becomes immobilized, and Cervus Cantus will clap them between his hands, causing a large amount of damage.
In the second phase, Cervus Cantus can be targeted in three places: his head, and his two antlers. His antlers are the weak spot; once attacked enough, they'll animate as if shattering and then go dark. If one is broken in this way, it does not prevent it from being used for Lightning Strikes, but if both antlers are broken, Cervus Cantus will collapse forwards and be stunned for a few seconds, during which he can be attacked freely. He will use a Lightning Sphere as he recovers, so be ready to get out of the way.
Strategy[]
Trivia[]
- Cervus is the Latin word for "deer" or "stag", and generally refers to a genus of deer that are primarily native to Eurasia. Thus, Cervus Cantus means "singing deer".
- Much of Cervus Cantus' boss fight greatly resembles that of Ovis Cantus' boss fight in The World Ends with You.
- Both fights take place in the Expressway Underpass during the rain.
- Both bosses are much larger and immobile than most other bosses in their respective games.
- Cervus Cantus' "Big Arm" and "Really Big Arm" attacks are very similar to Ovis Cantus' "I'll mince you!" attack. Similarly, the "Lightning Vortex" can be seen as a parallel to "Time for a taste test!"
- The first phase is similar to Neku's side of the Ovis Cantus battle in the original DS version of The World Ends with You, while the second phase resembles Shiki's side of the battle.