Hazards

This article is about objects designed to hinder players. For deployable skills, see Traps & Turrets.

Hazards are substances, traps, or phenomenon placed throughout biomes which could either:

• inflict direct damage to The Beheaded through some form of lethal contact, or
• pose some other danger to The Beheaded, such as falling.

While there are some forms of environmental hazards common to all biomes, most hazards are considered to be biome-specific.

Natural Hazards

Natural hazards are native to the biomes they are found in and enemies found in those biomes will sometimes be fully adapted to such hazards.

Pits

Pits (also referred to as the abyss) are a natural hazard within the Ramparts, Clock Tower, Cavern, Astrolab^RotG, Fractured Shrines^FF, and Undying Shores^FF. These are basically just the bottomless pits found throughout those biomes. Falling will deal damage up to 30% and teleport the player to the last platform they were on.

• See also the Mechanics entry for falling to understand the damage behavior associated with falling into pits.

Toxic pools

Toxic Pools (also referred to as poisonous puddles) are natural hazards found in the Toxic Sewers and Ancient Sewers. They only damage The Beheaded and inflict mild poison damage during contact with the poisonous waters. The poisonous water appear green in the Toxic Sewers and appear brownish or light yellow in the Ancient Sewers.

• See also the Mechanics entry for poisonous puddles for a better understanding of its damage behavior.
• The poison damage can be averted by quickly jumping out of the water. The animation should look like The Beheaded jumping on the surface of the water itself. The Beheaded otherwise incurs poison damage if the legs become submerged.
• Poison damage from poisonous water can be nullified by the Poison Immunity modifier found in some amulets.
• Poisonous water also interacts like normal liquids. It cannot be burned (except with the help of oil) and it can conduct electricity, among other things.

Darkness

Darkness is only found in the Forgotten Sepulcher (or in all biomes if the Custom Mode modifier "Follow the Light" is active). It functions as a sort of active timer on the player, hindering sight and soon dealing damage over time. Killing enemies and stepping in the light of lanterns will renew the timer, giving more time before the darkness will start to damage. The damage received will not cause the player to die instantly while cursed or while holding the Cursed Sword. Like toxic pools, darkness does not affect enemies.

• See also:
  • The Mechanics entry for Darkness to understand its damage behavior.
  • Forgotten Sepulcher, for more information.

Lava pools

Lava pools are natural hazards found in the Prisoners' Quarters, in the Graveyard near the cavern entrance, the Cavern, the Guardian's Haven^RotG, and the Astrolab^RotG. Damage inflicted by the lava is considered trap damage and scale according to enemy tier, thus, lava deals moderate damage while in the Prisoner's Quarters and massive damage while in the caverns.

• Lava instantly kills enemies and familiars coming into contact with it.
• The player is teleported to the last platform they were on if they fall, similarly to pits.

Carnivorous plants

Introduced in The Bad Seed DLC/Version 1.7, the carnivorous plants leaves their mouths wide open and suddenly bites upwards shortly after being stepped on. When closed, The Beheaded can bounce on the plant to reach higher areas. They are found in the Prisoners' Quarters and in the Dilapidated Arboretum^TBS.

• As of Version 1.8, there is a yellow indicator warning before the plant bites.

Traps

Traps inflict damage to The Beheaded either through close-contact damage or through projectile damage. All traps are able to inflict damage to both The Beheaded and the enemy.

Mechanics:

• Trap damage depends on the difficulty of the zone where the traps are found and scale with enemy tier.
• As of version 1.9, trap damage has been capped at 30% of the players maximum health, or 10% of their max health with the Masochist mutation.

Spikes

Spikes are the most common hazard typically found across all biomes. They are static, damaging anything that comes into contact with them. They can be found on ceilings, floors, and walls. The thorns found within the Dilapidated Arboretum^TBS are functionally identical to normal spikes.

Retracting spikes

Retracting spikes are only found inside of Challenge Rifts and boss rooms (e.g. Insufferable Crypt). They can retract and will not deal damage during their retracted state. They will either cycle between being retracted and unretracted on a short timer, or will shoot out shortly after being stepped on (pressure-triggered).

• Pressure-triggered spikes shine briefly, as if to explode, before the spikes shoot out.

Spiked flails

Spiked flails are traps that will damage anything that comes into contact with the spiked ball and are the second most common form of trap found across all biomes. The spiked ball is anchored, via a chain, to a fixed point in the floor, wall, or ceiling, and they continuously rotate around that anchor point at a singular fixed direction (either clockwise or counterclockwise) and at a fixed rate. When the player is hit, it will periodically be unable to strike the player again to prevent multiple hits at once. They can be parried with a shield which will cause the flail to pass through the player.

• The spiked ball can be parried and dodge rolled.
• The Beheaded can usually duck under spiked balls anchored to the floor.

Sawblade launchers

Sawblade launchers are found in the Slumbering Sanctuary, in secret areas, and in Challenge Rifts, and periodically launch sawblades that deal damage to the player. They can be found attached on floors, walls, or ceilings.

• The sawblades can be parried so long as the projectiles run parallel to the Beheaded (i.e. sawblades shooting up or down cannot be parried).
• As of Version 2.1, the sawblades can be dodge rolled.

Magic shooters

Magic shooters are found exclusively in the Astrolab^RotG. They fire 3 quick, purple magic projectiles at once which all deal individual damage to the player, so they can be dangerous if all projectiles connect. The projectiles can be parried, though it's not recommended unless parries are chained to block all 3 of them.

Cavern lanterns

Cavern lanterns are static traps that will glow and create a red aura whenever the player enters the blast radius mid-air. If an enemy or player enters that radius, it will charge while dragging in anything that is in the radius, exploding shortly afterwards. They recharge over time.

• Cavern lanterns are native to the Cavern and in the Astrolab^RotG.
• The suction effect can be quickly escaped by dodge-rolling.

Electric waves

Electric waves are exclusive to the Astrolab^RotG and Cavern^RotG and work similarly to Lava Pools. If a player comes into contact with one, they take damage and teleport to the last platform they were on.

• The waves are only ever spread horizontally.

Barrel dispensers

Barrel dispensers are found in the Derelict Distillery. They fire exploding barrels that can bounce on the ground. They use a yellow indicator, normally used by enemies, that warns that they are about to launch a barrel.

Exploding barrels

Exploding barrels are orange, bouncy, explosive barrels that can be found in the Derelict Distillery. They can be found laying on the ground, placed, thrown by Infected Workers, or fired from dispensers. The barrels explode on contact with the player, spikes, or other barrels, but will bounce off of walls and floors. They can be deflected by the player's attacks and will then change to a white color and damage enemies instead. Orange barrels hurt the player, white barrels hurt enemies.

Barrels can be grabbed and moved by the player using the Homunculus Rune. The barrel becomes primed to attack enemies instead of the player, and can be used to damage them on contact.

Stationary barrels do not explode on contact, but when they are struck they will behave like other barrels that have been deflected by the player.

Spinning axe traps

Spinning axe traps are found in the Fractured Shrines^FF. They are long poles spinning on a central axis with an axe on both ends.

Log traps

Log traps are found in the Fractured Shrines^FF. A log hanging from a chain, hidden in the ceiling. Stepping on a nearby switch releases the log, making it swing and hit the player dealing damage and pushing them back a fair distance. Enemies can’t activate the switch, but they can get hit by the log.

Hazard-prone mechanisms

Some mechanisms can accidentally inflict damage to The Beheaded or pose some other hazard.

Crumbling tiles

Crumbling tiles are found in the Fractured Shrines^FF. Thin platforms made out of single tile wide sections, they break down shortly after touching them. Once broken, they will not regenerate.

Elevators

• Elevator platforms can deal trap damage to The Beheaded if the platform lands on top of The Beheaded.
• Similarly, trap damage is also dealt if The Beheaded gets caught between the platform and the ceiling while the platform is ascending.
• See also the mechanism entry for Elevators.

Mechanized platforms

• Mechanized platforms literally function as trapdoors.
• The floating ice platforms in the Throne Room are functionally identical to mechanized platforms.
• See also the mechanism entry for Mechanized platforms.

Other hazards

• Fake treasure chests technically fall within the definition of a trap but do not cause any trap damage.
• Some areas also virtually function as traps through their devious level designs:
  • A secret area in the Ancient Sewers is designed to make The Beheaded fall from high above the ceiling into a toxic pool. The poison damage can only be averted by using the Poison Immunity modifier or by using more than two jumps to reach a safe platform.
  • Some Challenge Rifts rifts employ spikes which span the maximum double-jump distance. To sufficiently increase jump distance with only two jumps, the traps require a double-jump to be performed after running/rolling off the edge such that the first jump is initiated above the spikes.
    • Climbing unto a platform allows The Beheaded to dodge and pass through spikes. This sometimes makes dodge rolling after a double jump an equally viable alternative to increasing overall jump distance.
    • Climbing walls with the Spider Rune can sometimes sufficiently provide enough vertical clearance to horizontally fall and clear traps. A singular wall can be repeatedly scaled just by adding a slight delay before the second jump.
  • Some Challenge Rifts employ retracting spikes which cover more than the maximum double-jump distance. To safely reach the other side, the traps require a perfectly timed double-jump to sufficiently increase airtime and to avoid landing on unretracted spikes.
  • In the Cavern, right before the exit to the Guardian's Haven, it is possible to get stuck on a platform beneath the adjoining bridge with no other way to go back up.

Achievements

• Some Achievements and Trophies are related to hazards and can be unlocked by:
  • Performing a dive attack into spikes
  • Killing an enemy using an elevator
  • Getting killed by an elevator