Minotaur

Based on game build 714014 | Last updated: 2026-03-06

Overview

The minotaur prefab implements a large, AI-driven boss entity used in the Ruins dungeon. It uses a hybrid StateGraph and Brain system to manage behavior phases, retargeting, and sleep/wake cycles. Key responsibilities include:

• Managing combat with combat, health, and locomotor components.
• Executing area-based attacks using groundpounder.
• Phasing into a weakened state at health < 60% to trigger environmental effects.
• Dropping loot from a predefined table when defeated.

The entity includes supporting prefabs for chest spawners (minotaurchestspawner) and blood effects with tentacle spawns (minotaur_blood_big), which integrate via callbacks like startobstacledrop and SpawnTentacle.

Usage example

-- Typical usage is internal to the game; spawning is done via worldgen/tasksets.
-- Example modder hook into Minotaur phase transition:
local function on_minotaur_phase_change(inst, data)
    if inst.atphase2 then
        print("Minotaur entered Phase 2 (weakened)!")
    end
end

TheMod:WatchEvent("attacked", on_minotaur_phase_change, "minotaur")

Dependencies & tags

Components used:

• locomotor
• drownable
• sleeper
• combat
• groundpounder
• health
• lootdropper
• timer
• inspectable
• knownlocations
• maprevealable

Tags added: cavedweller, monster, hostile, minotaur, epic, shadow_aligned (added conditionally on phase transition).

Properties

Property	Type	Default Value	Description
PHASE1	number	0.6	Health threshold (60%) at which the Minotaur enters its weakened phase.
atphase2	boolean	false	State flag indicating whether the Minotaur has transitioned to Phase 2.
tentacletask	task reference	nil	Periodic task ID for spawning tentacle/drop FX during Phase 2.
spawnlocation	Vector3 or nil	nil	Coordinates remembered at spawn time; used for obstacle drop area.
recentlycharged	table	{}	Tracks recently collided entities to prevent duplicate charge impacts.
maxradius	number	1.75	Maximum physics radius for character passthrough behavior during movement.

Main functions

LaunchProjectile(inst, targetpos)

• Description: Spawns a minotaurphlem projectile and launches it toward targetpos. Speed is scaled linearly based on distance to ensure consistent range.
• Parameters:
  • inst (entity) – the Minotaur instance.
  • targetpos (Vector3) – the destination point for the projectile.
• Returns: Nothing.

OnAttacked(inst, data)

• Description: Handles damage events: triggers Phase 2 transition, sets attack target on the attacker, shares aggro with nearby chess piece entities, and starts the tentacle drop periodic task when entering Phase 2.
• Parameters:
  • inst (entity) – the Minotaur instance.
  • data (table or nil) – contains attacker if applicable.
• Returns: Nothing.
• Error states: No-op if the attacker has tag chess.

Retarget(inst)

• Description: Called periodically to find a new valid target. Considers TUNING.MINOTAUR_TARGET_DIST, filters out own leader, and enforces must/cant/oneof tags.
• Parameters: inst (entity).
• Returns: target (entity or nil).

ShouldSleep(inst) / ShouldWake(inst)

• Description: Used by sleeper component to determine sleep state. Checks distance to remembered "home" location (knownlocations) and proximity of characters or hazards (burning/frozen).
• Parameters: inst (entity).
• Returns: true/false.

startobstacledrop(inst)

• Description: Spawns ruins_cavein_obstacle prefabs near the Minotaur's spawnlocation if within 25 units. Used during Phase 2.
• Parameters: inst (entity).
• Returns: Nothing.

SpawnTentacle(inst, pt)

• Description: Spawns a bigshadowtentacle at the given point (or Minotaur's position).
• Parameters:
  • inst (entity) – the blood effect or Minotaur instance.
  • pt (Vector3 or nil) – spawn point.
• Returns: Nothing.

SpawnBigBloodDrop(inst, pt)

• Description: Spawns a minotaur_blood_big blood pool if fewer than 5 tentacles are present nearby; rotates to face away from center.
• Parameters:
  • inst (entity).
  • pt (Vector3 or nil) – base spawn point.
• Returns: Nothing.

OnAttacked(inst) (no data argument, internal hook)

• Description: Called once on initialization to prime aggro on spawn (in case an enemy is nearby).
• Parameters: inst (entity).
• Returns: Nothing.

dospawnchest(inst, loading)

• Description: Called after a delay (3 seconds) to spawn the loot chest and populate it using chest_loot table. Handles special effects and minimap icon removal if the boss is dead.
• Parameters:
  • inst (entity) – the spawner instance.
  • loading (boolean) – whether called during save/restore.
• Returns: Nothing.

Events & listeners

• Listens to:
  • attacked – handled by OnAttacked.
  • death – handled by OnDeath.
  • timerdone – handled by checkstunend.
  • animover – used by minotaur_blood_big to self-destruct after animation completes.
• Pushes:
  • gotnewitem, itemget – via container component during chest setup.
  • ms_miniquake, shake – via cause_obstacle_quake during charge collision.
  • collision_stun – during jumpland and onothercollide.
  • endstun – during stun recovery (via checkstunend).