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Having trouble with a boss? Just want to share your strategy for defeating a boss? Here it is. First post will hold the current BEST strategies for the bosses, determined by the guild members and not just myself. 3nodding

Empress Bulbax
1. Without larvae, wake her up and start throwing pikmin at her head. Call them when she starts trying to shake them off, and move back and let her roll around for a while. When she stops, throw pikmin at her head again. Repeat until she dies. ~Zephyr
2. With larva (and falling rocks) I do the same thing, except I have to avoid larvae to get to her. She'll squash her larvae when she's rolling around, so once you've started fighting her you'll probably be fine. Avoiding rocks just requires watching for shadows and moving out of the way, and you have enough space to do that without being squashed in the process. ~Zephyr

Burrowing Snagret
Obviously you want to attack the head. Best idea is to C-stick your Pikmin around it when the head gets stuck, or quickly throw 3-5 Pikmin on the head if it doesn't get stuck (if it doesn't get stuck you will want to move before it attacks). If it comes up and surprises you don't do anything rash, just back away and try again. As most people would agree it's best to lose as few Pikmin as possible. ~Firin

Beady Long Legs
Generally you would want to take some Yellow Pikmin for this, but any type of Pikmin will do (except Purple). Remain centered under the body at all times and continue to throw your Pikmin onto it. Whistle your Pikmin back every time they are about to be shaken off (if they do get shaken off they will be scattered and possibly lose their flowers, so it's better to get them off right before). Continue to attack the Beady Long Legs until it dies. ~Firin

Emperor Bulbax
1. Pikmin 1: Get maybe 10 bombs before waking him up. Leave all but one bomb Pikmin outside the little arena and wake him up (don't have the bomb Pikmin with you when you do this...I'm not sure but it may explode). Wait until Emperor Bulbax tries to eat your Pikmin and throw your Pikmin in front of him QUICKLY! The Pikmin will chuck the bomb in his mouth and his tongue will smack him in the face (much better than letting him eat it because you save a pikmin and he's stunned for twice as long). Once he's stunned grab your standby Pikmin (no bombs) and throw them on his face. Whistle your Pikmin back before they are shaken and switch out for another bomb Pikmin to repeat the process. If he starts jumping really high just avoid it and continue to try to get him to open his mouth. If you do this right it will only take three rounds to kill him! Woot! ~Firin
2. Pikmin 2: Get the purples and reds to the front of your group and use an ultra-spicy spray. Throw one pikmin onto the bulblax and immediately call it back (before it's landed so it'll come back right away), and then start throwing all of the purples and reds. He'll go down before he even gets a chance to start attacking.
It might not even need the spray, but I'd have to fight him again to check it.
The other option is to get the submerged ones to keep eating bomb rocks until they die. ~Zephyr

Giant Breadbug
The trick with breadbugs is that they can't fight back once more than a certain amount of pikmin are trying to carry the item they want. The number varies with the object size, so my general strategy is to just throw purples at whatever the breadbug has and just kill him that way.
That said, one of the first things I do on the final sublevel of Glutton's Kitchen is disable all of the electricity and start taking down anode beetles. A breadbug won't hurt any pikmin unless you don't put enough on a treasure, but losing a bunch of pikmin to electricity is terrible. Anode beetles also work as bait for the breadbugs. ~Zephyr

Pileated Snagret
Just like the Burrowing Snagret but it can move around and has more life. No worries though treat it like you would a Burrowing Snagret and you'll get the same result. The only thing you want to change up is to move away when it comes after you (and get really far away if you didn't land any Pikmin on it, so it goes back underground). ~Firin

Man-at-Legs
Take very few Pikmin to create a small target area for this enemy. Try to keep the Man-at-Legs close to the cone that it spawns from because this allows you to use any color of Pikmin against it without having to wait for it to take a breather (and thus do more damage to it). When it starts to fire dash for the far side of the cone (furthest side from the Man-at-Legs), and it will hit the top of the cone instead of your Pikmin (if it looks like it's centered over the cone then run for the nearest cover and dash back to the cone before it tries to follow you). When attacking stay at the top of the cone while throwing Pikmin. [strategy is especially usefull when you have to use Blue Pikmin on the Man-at-legs] ~Firin

Ranging Bloyster
Put all of your pikmin with either Olimar or Louie (I'm assuming Olimar for this explanation, so reverse this if you have Louie keep the pikmin). Have Louie run to one side of him, and wait for the bloyster to notice Louie and start tracking him (when his tail turns blue and he starts moving toward Louie). Switch to Olimar and have him go to the opposite side. At this point, the bloyster is probably tracking Olimar (tail is glowing red), so switch back to Louie and wait for the bloyster to turn blue again. When the bloyster turns around, switch to Olimar and start throwing pikmin on his tail. Call them when the bloyster is about to shake them off, switch back to Louie before the bloyster turns red, and repeat until he dies. ~Zephyr

Waterwraith
Sublevels 1-4: Reload until you can get through the level without him showing up. The other option is reload until you have minimal/no pikmin deaths caused by him, even if he did show up.
Sublevel 5: Use ultra-spicy spray on the purple pikmin, run up to the side of him, and throw a purple at him. He'll stop moving, so throw all of your purples at him. He'll shake them off a few times, so just keep calling them and throwing them onto him again whenever this happens. If you're good you'll be able to finish the first part the first time you do this. If not, call all of your pikmin when he starts recovering, move out of his path, and try doing this again until his wheels (rollers?) break.
When the wheels break, he starts running around like a chicken with it's head cut off. Just start chasing after him until he gets tired out. When he stops moving, start throwing purples at him again. He'll shake them off, so keep calling and throwing them. You might have to repeat this whole thing a couple of times, but he'll run out of health before too long. ~Zephyr

Segmented Crawbster
Take a small group of pikmin, perhaps 15. Lure the boss out, and wait for it to roll into a ball. Lure it to the wall to make it collide with the wall and flip over. Bolders will fall from the sky when it hits the wall. Once they are dodged, just throw pikmin onto its soft underside. Petrify it if you can. Remember to call the pikmin when it gets up.
To prevent pikmin from getting crushed, dismiss them on another side of the arena. Close, but not so close that they start chasing the Crawbster. the Crawbster will always follow the captain, so there is almost no chance of the dismissed pikmin being crushed as long as the Crawbster is not led towards them.
The large arm will make it slightly harder to throw pikmin onto the Crawbster, as it can get in the way sometimes. However, if the crawbster is attacked from the side with the large arm, the arm will be on the opposite side when it gets up, so the pikmin are unlikely to be scattered when the creature swings it's arm. ~Code

Raging Long Legs
My favorite boss to fight. Take only about 10 Pikmin and get centered underneath. Throw the Pikmin onto the large body and whistle your Pikmin back before they are shaken off. As soon as it stops shaking throw the Pikmin back onto the body while it rages, and they will stay on. Continue whistling the Pikmin back when it tries to shake them off and throw them back on while it rages. In this strategy it will be in an infinite rage until it dies, and it's pretty hard to mess this up. ~Firin

Titan Dweevil
It is arguable that this is the hardest boss (More like complex...not difficult). A wise idea is to approach it with all of your yellow Pikmin because electricity is an instant kill where the others can be recovered (your remaining Pikmin would be best kept around the exit geyser because if the water attack hits them they won't be able to scatter far. After taking off the electricity node move it out of the way and get rid of the water spout so you don't have to worry about your other Pikmin anymore. You may notice that the Titan Dweevil gives you much fewer openings now..if any! You should stand on one of the ramps at the edge of the little arena so you can attack through the small intervals without being hit by the remaining weapons. Next it would be recommended to take out the poison bomb because of its great range and ability to break up your Pikmin so well, or the flame thrower because of its wide hit box (it's your choice on which is more annoying). In the end the Titan Dweevil is going to relentlessly attack you with its last weapon just remain on the ramp and damage the last weapon whenever you get a shot...at least you shouldn't have to worry about your Pikmin dying anymore. When you have removed all weapons you attack it without care because it's no threat whatsoever. ~Firin

Armored Cannon Beetle
A bit of a hazard on the aproach if you aren't careful. Bring a large group of Pikmin because a small group won't do damage fast enough. Center the reticule under the Cannon Beetle and wait for it to suck in air (wait for it to shoot a rock before aiming if you need time). Throw a Pikmin in the little spout and the shell will open. Get behind it and attack relentlessly. If you do this right you'll only need to do this once. (Might need Red Pikmin.) ~Firin

Puffstool
Grab yourself at least 30 or more Pikmin. Chase down the Puffstool and use the C-stick to have your Pikmin attack its feet. Once it trips call back your Pikmin and throw them onto the body (try not to be too close to the head). If it bounces back onto its feet before you manage to kill it, call back your Pikmin before it sprays them with spores, then get back to attacking it. ~Firin

Without larvae, wake her up and start throwing pikmin at her head. Call them when she starts trying to shake them off, and move back and let her roll around for a while. When she stops, throw pikmin at her head again. Repeat until she dies.

With larva (and falling rocks) I do the same thing, except I have to avoid larvae to get to her. She'll squash her larvae when she's rolling around, so once you've started fighting her you'll probably be fine. Avoiding rocks just requires watching for shadows and moving out of the way, and you have enough space to do that without being squashed in the process.



I don't think this works with purples. You either can't toss them as high as reds, blues, and whites, or I've had terrible luck whenever I've tried. Other than that, that's the strategy I use.



For the ones in Pikmin 2, get the purples and reds to the front of your group and use an ultra-spicy spray. Throw one pikmin onto the bulblax and immediately call it back (before it's landed so it'll come back right away), and then start throwing all of the purples and reds. He'll go down before he even gets a chance to start attacking.
It might not even need the spray, but I'd have to fight him again to check it.

You can do the same thing in later fights, but you might have to reload a few times to get a layout where none of the bulblaxes are in water (or you can avoid the ones that are). The other option is to get the submerged ones to keep eating bomb rocks until they die.



The trick with breadbugs is that they can't fight back once more than a certain amount of pikmin are trying to carry the item they want. The number varies with the object size, so my general strategy is to just throw purples at whatever the breadbug has and just kill him that way.

That said, one of the first things I do on the final sublevel of Glutton's Kitchen is disable all of the electricity and start taking down anode beetles. A breadbug won't hurt any pikmin unless you don't put enough on a treasure, but losing a bunch of pikmin to electricity is terrible. Anode beetles also work as bait for the breadbugs.



Put all of your pikmin with either Olimar or Louie (I'm assuming Olimar for this explanation, so reverse this if you have Louie keep the pikmin). Have Louie run to one side of him, and wait for the bloyster to notice Louie and start tracking him (when his tail turns blue and he starts moving toward Louie). Switch to Olimar and have him go to the opposite side. At this point, the bloyster is probably tracking Olimar (tail is glowing red), so switch back to Louie and wait for the bloyster to turn blue again. When the bloyster turns around, switch to Olimar and start throwing pikmin on his tail. Call them when the bloyster is about to shake them off, switch back to Louie before the bloyster turns red, and repeat until he dies.



Sublevels 1-4: Reload until you can get through the level without him showing up. The other option is reload until you have minimal/no pikmin deaths caused by him, even if he did show up.

Sublevel 5: Use ultra-spicy spray on the purple pikmin, run up to the side of him, and throw a purple at him. He'll stop moving, so throw all of your purples at him. He'll shake them off a few times, so just keep calling them and throwing them onto him again whenever this happens. If you're good you'll be able to finish the first part the first time you do this. If not, call all of your pikmin when he starts recovering, move out of his path, and try doing this again until his wheels (rollers?) break.

When the wheels break, he starts running around like a chicken with it's head cut off. Just start chasing after him until he gets tired out. When he stops moving, start throwing purples at him again. He'll shake them off, so keep calling and throwing them. You might have to repeat this whole thing a couple of times, but he'll run out of health before too long.



To quote TV Tropes:




I might write up a few more later, but that's what I remember off the top of my head.

I'm fine with 'ZOMG THAT BULBORB GOT A PIKMIN MUST RESTART' myself. wink



After how hard he was in the first game, I think I'm allowed to be cheap when it comes to killing him. XD



That One Boss is about the boss(es) that the fandom hates getting to in the game because it's just that hard. My quoting them was more of a joke about the Crawster being hard to fight than a serious suggestion.

Red Pikmin are the only ones that can damage him.

I also noticed something when I was against him earlier today. One of my pikmin wasn't coming back when I called him (I guess the whistle missed?), and the beetle became really preoccupied with shaking this pikmin off. It was so preoccupied that he wouldn't shoot rocks. It made it a lot easier to attack him, obviously. Any chance you'd be able to confirm that this wasn't just luck?

I thought the red body was because it was too hot for anything besides red pikmin to attack. I could be misremembering, though.

I find it more useful since it means you have more time to hit its eye, but to each their own.

Oh. Okay then.

I'm beating the game again, but I still haven't pulled off fighting them on the same day. Although I'm going for the neutral/bad endings rights now, so that's not as big of an issue as it would usually be. XD

Another strategy for the Man-at-Legs.

Note: This only works in the Subterranean Complex, because the other 2 caves have water.

1. Amass a large number of purple pikmin. 50 puples and 50 reds would work great, but no less than 50 puple pikmin.

2. Aproach the Man-at-Legs, and simply start throwing pikmin onto it as fast as you can.

3. Keep throwing as it comes out of the ground. Right before it shakes the pikmin off, petrify it with ultra-bitter spray.

4. Just keep throwing the pikmin. It should die before it gets a chance to attack.

If you want to kill it like this the first time, you'll need to skip and come back later.

I believe using bitter spray on the Crawbster made the boss take less damage while paralyzed. You still do damage, but I'm not sure if it will be significant.