Headless Horseman

Horseman
Mod	Sleepy Hollows
Type	Boss
Health	180 ♥×90
Attack damage	16
Armor	26
Speed	0.34
Follow range	16
Size	1.4 × 2.6 blocks
XP dropped	5
Category	Monster
ID	sleepy_hollows:horseman

The Headless Horseman is a boss mob added by Sleepy Hollows. It is a hostile monster with 180 health (90 hearts) and 26 armor, and it fights in several phases in which its detached pumpkin head flies away and summons armored skeletons. It is the mod's main boss and the source of its rideable mount, the Spectral Horse. In Fear Nightfall it is one of the bosses protected from the Tide's Pocket Watch, which otherwise freezes bosses in place.

Spawning

It is never generated naturally. The Horseman has no biome spawn entries, so it does not appear in the Sleepy Hollows biome or anywhere else on its own. It is summoned by a ritual at a Pedestal block:

1. Right-click the Pedestal with a Luminous Essence. Luminous Essence is crafted from Essence of Undead and Luminous Water.
2. The ritual runs for 150 ticks (7.5 seconds): 60 ticks of emergence, 60 ticks of orbiting, and 30 ticks of gathering.
3. The Horseman appears on solid ground 5 blocks north of the Pedestal, with a lightning strike and its laugh sound. The Luminous Essence is consumed.

The ritual has no time-of-day requirement. It is blocked if a Horseman is already within 64 blocks of the Pedestal, so only one Horseman exists per ritual site at a time. The check only sees loaded chunks, so a Horseman in an unloaded area does not block a new summon. Each ritual produces a single Horseman.

The spawn table is generated from the game data below:

Does not spawn naturally in any biome (see Obtaining/Spawning text).

Behavior

The Horseman is a melee monster with attack damage 16 and no knockback. Its movement speed is 0.34, faster than a zombie. It targets the player who hurts it and alerts nearby monsters when it is attacked. Its phases are determined by its health.

Melee and fluid conversion

Every seventh melee hit it converts every fluid source block in a 21 × 21 × 21 cube centred on itself into Gravestone blocks. Both water and lava sources are converted. The conversion happens on the server and ignores land claims and protection mods. Oceans, flooded caves and lava lakes near the fight are changed.

Phase 1 (above 66% health)

The Horseman attacks in melee and casts its soulfire spiral (see below). It is vulnerable to damage in this phase.

Head phase at 66%

At 66% health the Fleeing Pumpkin Head detaches from the Horseman and flies away (see Fleeing Pumpkin Head). While the head is detached, the Horseman is immune: it ignores all damage except sources that bypass invulnerability. It summons one Hauntbound Guardian every 200 ticks (10 seconds) at a random ground position within about 8 blocks of itself. A Hauntbound Guardian is a skeleton with mod-supplied armor and a bow, and each equipment slot has an 8.5% chance to drop its item. The head phase ends when the head is killed or when it has been lost for more than 200 ticks.

Phase 2 and the second head phase

When the head dies, the Horseman gains Glowing for 160 ticks (8 seconds) and enters phase 2, where it is vulnerable again. At 33% health the head detaches a second time. During this head phase the Horseman summons two Hauntbound Guardians every 200 ticks, using the same immunity rule as the first.

Rage

After the second head phase ends, the Horseman enters rage. It gains a permanent +30% movement speed modifier and its soulfire spiral has the shortest cooldown.

Soulfire spiral

When the Horseman has a target and its cooldown has expired, it marks a spiral of hot spots on the ground. There is a 30-tick warning before the spiral starts. Each hot spot burns any non-creative, non-spectator player inside a box 1.4 blocks wide and 2.5 blocks tall. Each player in the box takes 3 fire damage and is set on fire for 5 seconds. The cooldown between spirals is 300 ticks in phase 1, 220 ticks in phase 2, and 160 ticks in rage.

Immunity and other rules

While the head is detached, damage to the body does nothing, so the phase only ends when the head is killed or lost. The fight announces itself to players within 48 blocks, with a boss bar and laugh sounds.

Drops

Killing the Horseman gives 250 experience points and always drops a Reins of the Spectral Horse. It also drops the mod's configurable loot list, which by default is three Loot Bags. Loot Bags are opened by right-click and roll the mod's gameplay/lootbag table, which includes the Raubbau shovel, the Spectral War Axe and the Shatterbrand sword.

Spectral Horse

No item drops.

Variants

The Horseman has one form, but the fight uses several related mobs that are listed in the table below. The Fleeing Pumpkin Head is its detachable head, with 100 health and a flying, avoid-the-player movement pattern. The Hauntbound Guardians it summons are vanilla-style skeletons with mod armor, and the Hauntbound Aggressors from the head are Infected Zombies that carry a Spectral War Axe.

The Spectral Horse is the mount produced by the Horseman's Reins. It is a passive horse subclass with 20 health, 1.5 armor and 1.5 armor toughness. It has a movement speed of about 0.298 and a jump strength of 0.65. Using a Reins of the Spectral Horse on a block spawns one. A Horseman Spawn Egg is also added as a separate item.

Tips

• Keep a supply of Luminous Water and throw it at the Horseman. A splash deals 20 damage to it (configurable) and removes the Infected effect from anything it hits.
• Stay out of the Horseman's soulfire hot spots by watching the ground for the 30-tick warning. Each spiral sets you on fire for 5 seconds, so carry water or extinguish the fire quickly.
• Expect the Horseman to turn nearby water and lava into Gravestone blocks on every seventh hit. Fight it away from lakes, rivers or lava pools you need to keep.
• Killing the detached Fleeing Pumpkin Head ends the Horseman's head phase, so the Horseman becomes vulnerable again.
• Wear Hauntbound Armor for the fight: it adds the Mental Fortitude effect with the full set and reduces sanity loss from the Sanity mechanic.
• The Pedestal ritual cannot be repeated while a Horseman is within 64 blocks of the Pedestal, so leave the area or kill the current Horseman before summoning another.