Duke Oskela

Duke Oskela (AW-skeh-LUH), commonly referred to by players and in-game as the Duke, is a boss notorious for his complex behavior. He is one of the major bosses in the game as well as a key ingredient to summoning (TBC).

Lore
During the first clash between two Wyrms, the Stone Lord and the Lava Lord, many volcanoes spontaneously sprouted up from the ground and erupted violently, killing off countless animal and plant species that were not prepared for the sudden disasters. It is said that Duke Oskela was born when the bones and ashes of a thousand creatures that were killed by the volcanoes joined together and created a new superpredator the world had not seen the likes of before.

The Duke, seeking vengence upon the mindless murder of the many animals he was made of, went on a frenzied rampage, destroying many small towns and devouring everything in his path that he thought could be the culprit for the mass murder. For each being he killed, he grew stronger, until he become so powerful that it seemed as though there was no possible way to slay the violent demon-like creature. No sword could penetrate his flesh and no shield was strong enough to withstand his savagery.

It was not until the Shadow Lord was alerted to the existence of the evil beast when the Duke was finally defeated and banished to a place called Gogonakotta (gah-GONE-ah-COUGHT-ah), a twisted dimension theorized to have been the Nether in ancient times. He was not to escape from this prison until long after the Wyrms vanished from the face of the earth, when the first slaying of a Wither that kept him hostage would allow the Duke to finally be free once more.

Stats

 * Size: 2.5 blocks tall, 6 blocks long
 * Drops: 1 Strange Diary
 * XP: 1,900
 * Speed: Depends on cycle
 * Summon Requirements: Killing the Wither, then entering and staying in the Nether (1/5 chance of randomly spawning every hour the Player spends in the Nether)

Spawning
Duke Oskela has no cutscenes, but when he is about to spawn, a red message appears in chat alerting the Player that he is about to spawn, saying "The smell of death is getting stronger here...". This message will pop up between two to three minutes before the Duke spawns, giving the Player some time to prepare. At this point it is possible to avoid fighting Duke Oskela by leaving the Nether, which will reset the timer and prevent him from spawning until the Player goes back, where the same odds of encountering him is the same.

After several minutes, a second message will appear, alerting the Player that the Duke has spawned, saying "The Duke has awoken!". For uninformed Players, this may mean a quick death if he/she is not prepared for the fight, for once this message appears, Nether Portals become disabled and new ones cannot be built, essentially trapping the Player in the Nether and forcing them to fight. (In Creative Mode, pre-existing Nether Portals still deactivate, but the Player can build and activate new ones.) Duke Oskela always spawns 200 blocks away from the Player but will seek him/her out - the closer he gets, the louder his roaring is. His health bar comes into view when he is 40 blocks away, to which the fight will then start.

Battle
Duke Oskela is difficult to fight if the Player is not acquainted with his sporadic battle style. Depending on the actions taken at the start, the Duke will behave differently.
 * 1) The Duke is invulnerable to damage the first five seconds and will circle around the Player. He will circle to the left if the Player does not attack him and will circle to the right if the Player tries to attack him (in any sort of way; potions, swords, by hand, etc.).
 * 2) If he circles to the left, he will start trying to lunge at the Player after circling for five seconds, jumping forward and knocking them back several blocks for 2 [[File:Mc heart.png]]. While this doesn't do much damage, it is possible for the Player to be knocked off a cliff and fall into lava. He is invulnerable while charging, but there is a 1.5 second gap between each lunge, giving the Player time to land some hits. The only effective way to avoid getting struck is to side-step and jump at the same time, while many people make the mistake of trying to jump over him or put distance between him/herself and the Duke. If you try to jump over him, he jumps as well, knocking you up in the air and causing fall damage (unless you have something that otherwise negates fall damage).
 * 3) If he circles to the right, he will buff himself and raise his strength for the duration of this stage. After this, he starts attacking from long range, and will back away from the Player in attempt to launch purple fire balls that intelligently seek out the Player. They can be struck with arrows or a sword, but they will only move in one direction and will not seek out the Duke. They move fast, so it is difficult to deflect them - getting struck means catching on fire and 3 lost [[File:Mc heart.png]]. In addition, the Duke will become invulnerable to anything except his own fireballs, which will deal heavy damage if he gets hit by them. This stage lasts for about 15 seconds.
 * 4) After either of these stages end, the Duke will jump up into the air and land on the ground, sending a heavy-hitting shockwave that will push away nearby blocks (except Bedrock) and, if the Player gets hit, land a dangerous 6 [[File:Mc heart.png]] damage, while stunning them in place for a second.
 * 5) The Duke will repeat whatever stage he took before the shockwave attack once.
 * 6) The Duke goes into a hyper mode and roots himself to the ground, buffing himself with defense (if he circled to the right) or with strength (if he circled to the left). He will send 4-block tall obsidian spikes out of the ground by means of attack. They appear every 2 seconds and, instead of shooting up out of where the Player was, the AI aims to shoot where the Player is going to be. Thus, if you try to move in the same direction the entire time, you are going to get hit a lot (and possibly die). Because the Duke flashes white right before the spikes come out, it is best to move in the opposite direction right as he flashes, which will trick the AI and allow you to dodge the spikes. Melee attacks are almost impossible in this stage, as the Duke will simply ram the player, doing no damage but knocking them back quite a ways. If the Player gets too far away/tries to run, the spikes will come up with increasing frequency until it becomes impossible to dodge. Long-range attacks are the only way to hit him. This stage lasts for 15 seconds. Each spike does 2.5 [[File:Mc heart.png]].
 * 7) The Duke momentarily pauses, exhausted from the previous stage, making him vulnerable to attacks. He will stay like this for 3.5 seconds before - if he is not at half-health or lower - going back to his first stage where he circles around the player and looping through his past behavior over again.
 * 8) If the Duke is at half-health or lower by the end of the previous cooldown stage, he will roar and grow larger, his eyes turning white. He will then circle the Player again, but this time he shoots Ghast projectiles as he moves, which can be blocked. Again, he moves left if the Player does not attack him and moves right if the Player does attack him. (He is still invulnerable.)
 * TBC