The Brothers Gnomus is a Boss Hunt in which the Players operate as a team of Zombies against a horde of Gnomes and a quartet of Giga Gnome Bosses. The game mode relies heavily on coordinated team work between four (4) Players. Microphones are encouraged.
TIME LIMIT: 30 Minutes
There is a time limit to game play and should the thirty (30) minutes allowed for play expire The Brothers Gnomus will become "Enraged" and at that point Boss Hunt will make every effort to completely destroy the Players as the difficulty will dramatically increase with additional Gnomes spawning in. Once The Brothers Gnomus become Enraged you have only 90 additional seconds to vanquish them before the game is lost.
GNOME OPPONENTS
The Gnome enemies featured in the The Brothers Gnomus Boss Hunt are limited but can appear in larger hordes. The "standard" Gnome types of Bashy, Shooty, and Explodey are the most abundant while Gnome Champions have a more limited appearance.When selecting your character class base your choice on how well you can tackle these types of Gnome opponents;
The Brothers Gnomus are a quartet of Giga Gnomes which take turns appearing one at a time. Each Brother has a color and a shape associated with them, which is important in the puzzle involved in defeating them.
The Brothers Gnomus
- The Red Brother (Sphere)
- The Green Brother (Pyramid)
- The Blue Brother (Cube)
- The Yellow Brother (Star)
Gnome Champions
Bashy Gnomes
Shooty Gnomes
Shieldy Gnomes
Explodey Gnomes
TEAM COMPOSITION
Character choice plays a large role in the success or failure of the Boss Hunt as well as the individual skill level of each Player, how well they can use their chosen Character and how well they can function as a team both with or without verbal instructions,
When reviewing the composition of your team bear in mind that during the course of game play the Zombie team will be divided into two teams of two Players, which will be explained more below, and due to this and the elevated level of difficulty associated with the Boss Hunt some characters can of more effective than others.
Basic team composition must include at least one Scientist, if not two or more.The Doctor Toxic variant is useful due to the fact that his Toxic Aura will damage nearby Gnomes. The Computer Scientist is also a good choice to to the wide spread of his weapon coupled with decent range and his Crunch Time Legendary ability which will buff his speed and damage. The Physicist is also useful due to his range and the electrical arcing of his weapon upon a hit. The Chemist has possibly the widest damage spread of any Scientist which makes him excellent at crowd control, but the short range of his weapon means that he'll need to get closer to the Bashy and Explodey Gnomes as well as the Gnome Champions, which can be hazardous. Scientists should be equipped with the Heal Beam to ensure good mobility while healing and the Mega-Heal Bomb for both self-healing and bulk team healing.
The elevated Health of the Super Brainz class makes them a good fit for a team as well but bear in mind that the Brothers have pretty strong melee attacks so keep an eye on your Health. The Toxic Brains can be particularly useful as his Toxic aura can damage opponents who are simply nearby and his Toxic Overload Legendary ability provides him with buffed damage and speed. Lacking a Toxic Brainz the Electro Brainz varant is also a good option as his electrical beam attack can arc among close groups of Gnome opponents and Party Brainz also benefits from his Legendary Party Time mode for a similar buff in speed and damage. Because the Super Brainz is most damaging when punching it is a good idea to pair with a Scientist who can operate slightly at a distance with a Heal Beam to keep Super Brainz on his feet.
The All Star also benefits from high Health and can be roughly interchanged for a Super Brainz. Unlike Super Brainz the All Star primary weapon characteristics vary greatly among the variants so select one with which you are comfortable. Some notable considerations are the Rugby Star for the Fire effect of his Flaming Cricket Blaster and the Goalie Star for his ability to freeze Gnomes with his Ice Puck Cannon. Tactically the All Star's Dummy Shield can serve both as protective cover as well as a distraction or decoy for the Gnome Opponents as they tend to demonstrate a tendency to want to destroy them over performing other actions.
The Engineer class, while lower in Health, deals Splash damage with most of his variants. The Welder, Electrician and Sanitation Expert all have useful elemental effects to their primary weapon and their Sonic Grenades or Sonic Mines can provide a short respite should things get a bit dicey in combat.
The Foot Soldier is another class where the primary weapon characteristics can vary greatly among the different variants so be familiar and comfortable with the weapon of your chosen Foot Soldier. General Supremo has an advantage of infinite ammo offset by an overheat penalty and rapidly decreasing accuracy during burst fire but both of those negatives can be mitigated through good burst control. The Arctic Soldier has the ability to slow and freeze the Gnome opponents which can be an advantage and the Park Ranger has an equivalent Toxic effect. The Scuba Soldier also has the benefit of higher damage with Splash damage. The high mobility options for the Foot Soldiers are an asset, as is the Stink Bomb which can be used to blind the opponents to your presence
Captain Deadbeard and his variants have the advantage of a broad damage spread in close range but must Zoom in order to reach any significant range, which can be a disadvantage since you become less aware of your immediate surroundings when Zoomed. Because of this I would recommend these variants only for particularly skilled Players who are comfortable with the classes quirks. Another negative is due to the fact that the Parrot Pal special ability will be largely useless due to the large number of enemies which constantly spawn; you cannot count on a "safe" area where you can be undisturbed long enough to make any decent use of the Parrot Pal without being so far away from the action that you cannot be helped should Gnomes mob you while you are controlling it. Should you choose this class Captain Flameface is recommended for the fire effect of his weapon as is Captain Partyman for his Legendary Party Time ability which will buff his speed and damage.
The low standard Health of the Imp means that I recommend it only for skilled players. While the Z-Mech associated with each Imp can be a powerful ally on the field when on foot an Imp Player must be extremely skilled to stay alive among the hordes of Gnomes which try to overrun you. If you elect to play an Imp choose the variant with which you are most comfortable and lean toward the variants which can call down Z-Mechs with longer range weaponry. Bear in mind that in this Boss Hunt variant if you are on foot and you survive an attack by a Gnome Champion you will be at low Health and Branded- a status which will deny you access to your Z-Mech.
Hover Goat 3000 has a lot of tactical advantages in its Special Abilities which make it a good fit for the team. It's ability to Buff the damage of other Players and to impart a temporary Speed Boost can both prove invaluable.
MAP LAYOUT
This Boss Hunt takes place in Time Park, with the central area being where the Bait will be initially placed. The four surrounding areas, Rome, Zgypt, DinoLand and Azia will each contain a new feature of a changeable polygon in a framework suspended in the center of those areas which can be shot to change it's form and color to match one of the Brothers Gnomus. I'll refer to this feature as the Colored Polygon below.
In addition Rome will contain a Golden Gnome statue which can be used to remove The Brand placed by the Gnome Champions and which will summon more Gnomes if used by a non-Branded character.
STARTING THE GAME
The game will not start until four (4) Players have entered the map. The first task will be to choose a Contraption to lure the Plants; the choice of Bait will determine the difficulty level and the first person to arrive at the baiting location is allowed to choose the Bait, and therefore the difficulty level;
Normal Mode: Contraption
Hard Mode: Enchanted Contraption
Crazy Mode: Scrumptious Contraption
Once the Bait has been chosen it must be defended through two waves of Gnomes, a basic wave followed by a second which will include Gnome Champions after the Contraption Jingles. If the bait is destroyed at any point during these initial waves the game ends. If the bait is successfully defended the first of the Brothers Gnomus will spawn at the Bait location.
THE BRAND
The Gnome Champions are a special type of Explodey Gnomes who spawn with extra Health and a Special Attack. As with normal Explodey Gnomes they will attempt to approach and then self destruct to inflict damage, however the Gnome Champion will also inflict The Brand on any character caught in the blast radius. Branded characters will have a yellow Gnome head silhouette floating above their head.
When Branded your character will be denied access to their Special Abilities; for example a Branded Imp is unable to use their Gravity Grenade, Impkata and cannot summon their Z-Mech.
In order to remove the Brand the Branded character must visit the Golden Gnome shrine located in the Rome portion of the map.
THE BROTHERS GNOMUS
The initial spawn of the Boss will be a random Brother. Once the Brother appears he will initially be invulnerable to all attacks. In order to be able to inflict damage on the Brother the team must Attune the Spectrum by using the Colored Polygons found in the four outlying map areas.
If left alone the Brother will randomly wander the map areas and only attack Players who are close by and in line of sight by using a Beam attack, launching a series of Energy Balls which will home in on the targeted character or by attempting to close to melee range. If attacked the Brother will return fire and target the attacker(s)- this is a losing proposition for the team while the Brother still carries his invulnerability.
ATTUNING THE SPECTRUM
In order to neutralize the invulnerability of the current Brother the team must Attune The Spectrum.
This involves visiting each outlying area of the map and shooting the Colored Polygon found towards the center of the map. each shot will change both the color and shape of the Colored Polygon from default Grey Cube into a repeating pattern of a Red Sphere, Green Pyramid, Blue Cube and Yellow Star.
Each of the Colored Polygons must be changed to match the color of the current Brother. To assist the current Brother's location will be singled out on your HUD and will feature both his color and shape for easy reference. For example, if the current Brother is Yellow then his whereabouts will be marked by a Gnome head in a Yellow Star.
Once the Spectrum has been Attuned the Brother loses his invulnerability and can be directly damaged.
THE BROTHERS ARE SHIFTING
Once you have Attuned the Spectrum and have engaged the Brother in combat you have a limited amount of time to inflict as much damage as possible before the Brother teleports away; a well coordinated team can easily vanquish the Brother before this occurs but most likely only a percentage of his Health will be depleted before he teleports away. Don't be too concerned if he escapes as the Brothers will reappear in a repeating cycle and they will not Heal in between appearances.
CHROMATIC PURGE
If the current Brother is able to leave the team will experience a Chromatic Purge where the screen will quickly fade to white before coming back. During this time the Colored Polygons will be reset and it is possible that some members of the team will be vanquished; any member of the team who is Branded at the time that the Chromatic Purge occurs will be automatically vanquished.
Shortly after the Chromatic Purge the next Brother will spawn and the Spectrum will need to be Attuned to this new Brother.
BANISHING THE BROTHER
Once the team is able to vanquish the current Brother he will be reduced to the colored polygonal shape that he is associated with and one member of the team must Banish him back to the Gnomiverse.
To Banish the Brother a Player must stand still next to his polygon and interact with it; you will be able to fire but you will not be able to move or use Special Abilities during the Banishing process, which proceeds very slowly. If you are forced to stop the Banishing process or are vanquished it will need to be started again. Any Gnomes currently on the map will proceed towards the fallen Brother and mob any motionless Player preforming the Banishing process so the remaining members of the team should act to protect the Player preforming the Banishing.
Once successfully Banished the next Brother will spawn directly and the Chromatic Purge will be skipped.
