On the whole, Pikmin 4’s Cavern for a King is pretty straightforward until you get to Sublevel 10, so here’s how to make it through relatively unscathed. It means defeating the gruesome slug boss that appears on the 10th level down and by this stage you will have battled your way through all of the previous Cavern for a King bosses.
Sublevel 10 has got similar darker elements to the Waterwraith, which was Pikmin 4’s equivalent to Mr. X from Resident Evil 2. It’s called the Smokey Prog and appears like monster in an old horror movie.
AdvertisementHowever, it’s easier than it looks and the guide below will take you through the steps to follow to help you keep as many of your Pikmin as possible. If you’re wondering what the name refers to, we’re pretty sure it’s the dark wisps that surround it, a bit like the gloom in The Legend of Zelda Tears of the Kingdom.
Landing a Pikmin on it is an instant fatality, so the key to defeating the Smokey Prog and getting through Cavern for a King’s Sublevel 10 is to avoid this like the plague. If you can do this then you stand a chance of keeping all of your Pikmin for the rest of the ten sublevels you have in the cavern.
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How to defeat the Sublevel 10 boss in Cavern for a King
AdvertisementSublevel 10s Smokey Prog appears a lot like the final boss of Engulfed Castle, the Waterwraith, by hatching out of an egg. You know things are going to be a bit tough when Collin says, “Uh-oh… I’ve got a bad feeling about this”, which is a Star Wars Easter egg, building on the classic line from the films.
It begins its attack with a red smoke lurgy that turns into an expanding circle, so avoid this and circle around to the side of the boss. You should be far enough away from the expanding circle, so it’s not a consideration, but if you do get close to it, call all of your Pikmin and run away from it. You can also jump it on Oatchi’s back.
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To damage the Smokey Prog, you need to target the top of its head. Sometimes, this slips and you end up targeting its tail, which is where it’s dangerous smoke wisps are. As mentioned above, these will decimate your Pikmin, so don’t fire them at it unless your targeting the top of its head.
You can see this in action from 0:42 in the video below, which includes both good targeting and bad targeting examples. It’ll shake your Pikmin off, so make sure you whistle them back to you quickly to protect them from its smoke spit move, its smokey underside and the expanding circle of doom.
It’s also got a scream move that will send your Pikmin running around in terror, so again hit them all with your whistle to bring them back to their senses. The idea is to get in, do some damage and then bring everyone back to safety.
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If you’ve got a lot of Ice Pikmin left by this stage then you can hit is with a lot of these to freeze it, giving you a better chance of defeating the Sublevel 10 boss quickly. However, it will wipe away the freeze in between cycles, so don’t bank on building this up intermittently.
Purple Pikmin do a lot of damage if you can get them onto the Smokey Prog for a good portion of time. However, any of them can get in the hits, so aim to get a lot on if you want to race through its health wheel. Just be ready to whistle them to safety afterwards.
At the end of Sublevel 10 you’ll get a large cantaloupe melon to take back to base, and then there’s an egg to crack to get some juice to boost your Pikmin maturity. You can also use this to heal Oatchi if you need it, because he’ll come in handy for the rest of A Cavern for a King.
AdvertisementAfter the boss fight, you can head up the ramp to take on the next of the sublevels through the manhole cover. If you feel like you’ve lost a lot of Pikmin by this stage then you might want to think about returning to the surface to get some fresh recruits.
You’ll need to make it through the next sublevel to get the portal back to the surface from 12, but you should be able to do this. Things only get more difficult from there on, so it’s a good idea to head back to base before returning mob handed to finish off the second half of Cavern for a King.
There are a few more tricky bosses to defeat, so if you’re having difficulty with the second half of final Pikmin 4 cavern then you might want to check out the video below. It’s a full walkthrough of Cavern for a King, so it should give you everything you need to make it through and defeat the final boss.
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