Aeon Trespass: Odyssey – Cycle I: The Labyrinthauros (Part 2, the Battle) (Patreon)

Click here for Part 1; which is a story spoiler light look at the real world, mythological and in game lore surrounding this Primordial.

Now we have something of an idea behind the reason that the Labyrinthauros is in the world, why it is opposing us and what links it has to the story behind the first cycle it is time to take a look at the bronze bull's battle mechanics.

The Primordial Dashboard

First of all, I'm sure many of you have noticed the oddity/error/snafu on the Primordial dashboard where Trample being disabled at level I is printed on the Level II version. If you didn't notice that because you wanted to not look at later level versions, first of all – do make it a practice of looking at the later level versions of a Primordial it is public information that the game is trying to share with you upfront warnings about what's going to happen, it is not trying to gotchya with surprise primordial mechanics.

The main mechanics that this Primordial focus around are linked to its form and its part in the story; in short it will charge, gore and trample your titans while attempting to trap them in a maze that it is able to ignore. It is looking to use its indestructible maze to frustrate your movement and create an unfair advantage for itself. Lets get into the specifics of the dashboard now!

Bull's Back

This is your first introduction to the Vantage Point system and while the Labyrinthauros itself is not large enough to have a VP physically on the model; you can still see the space on the Primordial's card. It doesn't explain how you make the VP, but it does tell you that its there, how you can fall off it and what the advantage of being there is. We'll discuss it later, but if you can become a CowTitan and saddle that buckling bronco with one of your Damage Dealing (DPS/Damage Per Swing) Titans

then you'll benefit greatly. Be aware that it gets harder to stay on the bronco at level 5+

Labyrinth

As mentioned above, this is the mechanic where the Labyrinthauros can pull up pieces of the labyrinth beneath Crete to the surface/deform the landscape to extend the influence of the maze. The mechanic itself is relatively simple to understand as it's just a circular track; but there are states where the timing can get really complex. Take your time to learn the steps and if it gets a little tricky because of how the rules are split between three places here's a full step version I used:

Labyrinth X

1. Take Labyrinth tile indicated by the track.
2. Move marker to next step on the track (this happens even if the tile cannot be placed).
3. Place Labyrinth Tile as follows:
4. Must be in front of and adjacent to Primordial (note: not sure if parts of it can move behind the Primordial's front; as long as it started in front, I'd have to ask It's theoretically possible with the L and Z tiles)
5. No part can be under the Primordial
6. Must not be placed in a way that stops other tiles being placed as a part of this Labyrinth X process 
7. Can be placed over other non-indestructible terrain, removing the original terrain as per placement rules (p.34)
8. Cannot be placed over Indestructible terrain (such as other maze tiles).
9. Cannot be placed so any part goes over the board edge.
10. If placed as part of an attack it must be placed underneath the target if possible and under as many other Primordials as possible.
11. If placed outside of an attack (such as a BP reaction or “After Attack”) it must be placed over as many titans as possible.
12. Repeat any number of additional times as determined by X

Mazesense (Level I+)

Not only does this let the Labyrinthauros ignore the LoS blocking that Labyrinth tiles cause; but it also makes any Mazetouched players automatically suffer fate effects even if they have not hit the threshold. The main trick here is accepting that there's not a lot you can do about it if you're impacted by that except try to avoid your main tanking Titan(s) having the condition even if that means players have to rotate roles, gear and titans for this battle. It's a lot like Muddle/Curse in Gloomhaven, you just have to live with it and not get stressed.

Trample (Level II+)

From Level II onwards the Primordial stops kidding around by providing its version of the Hekaton's instant death mechanic. It will charge by moving in a straight line when this is triggered; and getting hit will force an Obol draw. This is why one should pay attention always to the various bits of gear that allows for Titans to take reactions; it's also why you shouldn't sit your titans behind each other (pay attention to 'behind' because the Labyrinthauros has a 2 square wide corridor it can Trample in, behind includes behind and in an adjacent column/row). You should be able to avoid this ability by using cardinal positioning (keeping a titan at each compass point) and using/recharging your items that let you stand from being knocked down, or if you are already standing, take a step as a reaction. Think like a bullfighter and you'll get through this. I honestly find it easier than the Hekaton's pushing you off the ledge at higher levels as long as you are very careful about your knocked down titans.

Mazebuilder

Very straightforward, potentially very frustrating if you've not gotten to grips with how to handle the fight's location and are still having the Labyrinthauros determine where you're going to be fighting. Overall this can be handled by one of the unlockable titans, but that titan isn't at its best during this cycle so instead I recommend simply making sure you follow the rules for this ability closely and pay attention to potential “lock ins” which should be easily avoided as long as you keep moving the area you're fighting in to a different portion of the board when the Bull makes one portion too full of red walls..

Maze Reactive Armor

Being smart about where you're attacking from (don't do it where there already is a labyrinth tile) and ensuring you have good break management should make this one relatively trivial. Sometimes the right decision is to not attack and instead reposition and reset items.

Maze Hyperactive Armor

This is pretty nasty because it comes with the trait following this one in the list and together they can result in a lot of trampling. In a similar fashion to the reactive armor it is important to not just attack without purpose because it can cause a little to much threat and that may overwhelm your limited number of equipment resets per turn. If you're stuck resetting support equipment too much you're not advancing towards winning or at least providing damage mitigation.

End of Hope

I hope by the time you encounter this that you have got to grips with how to sidestep these tramples; I don't really have much more to say beyond repeating pay attention to what gear the game offers you when you defeat earlier versions of the primordials. It always gives you a way to handle this stuff.

I'm not going into the VI+ traits here but I might return to them when I do a full Mnestos Theatre run.

Primordial Dashboard Stats

The scaling we see where stats are concerned is quite conservative; movement starts at 6, reaches 7 at level 3 and then doesn't increase further until we get past level 5. Considering that charging via Trample is a main mechanic for this Primordial this is a very welcome capping of its most lethal aspect. The hit target starts at 7+, moves to 8+ at level 3, then 9+ at level 5 (10+ starts at level 7, which is outside the scope of the first Cycle).

In addition to that; we get additional starting battle escalations and danger increases at level 3, level 4 and level 5. There is also an AT Field increase at level 5. All of this makes the Labyrinthauros open with a more aggressive and powerful deck in addition to it dealing more damage (a lot more at Level 5) and becoming tougher. You should be able to keep pace with this as long as you have not neglected upgrading your equipment.

Even said, I prefer to fight the Hekaton for the Level 5 fight; the Labyrinthauros getting +1 danger per hit, +2 AT Field and performing Signature at the end of every single Primordial round is not something I'm excited to have to face outside of the theatre.

Signature and Routine

As always, a quick reminder note that the Routine exists as a punishment for players not letting the Primordial engage with their titans (and also it's a safety valve for odd situations) and the Signature action provides shorthand for a particular action that is designed to be common between all levels of the Primordial behaviour. They are echoes or translations of KDM's Instinct and Basic Action if you prefer; and they provide similar benefits to the game's design. Although Routines really discourage you from stalling out; which is a sharp contrast to Instincts that are sometimes things you want to abuse. In the Labyrinthauros's case; if you let it trigger its Routine it will siren call crew from the Argo to their deaths. It should be rare that this happens.

The Signature Instinctive Ram is a very daunting and dangerous card though; it is a 10+ to dodge attack that triggers Trample; I hope that you're ready to sidestep and kip up; especially when this beast starts doing this every single round (bonus points for doing a kip up when your titan does!)

The AI Cards

As always, we're going to go through the cards with a split look at each level; categorising them and analysing the cards that are either interesting or provide a peak/trough in behaviour. I'd like to highlight here something I left off the Hekaton analysis; not only do you get warning on the back of the cards as to the level of the action; there's also a different backed AI card at L3 which represents the highest threat AI card, you're warned when it's coming and learning what those cards do is a key part of fighting the Primordials at their higher levels.

Level I

We start this off gentle with a mix of 3 furthest target; 1 priority target/furthest target, one closest titan and one knocked down/closest titan targeting. The significant thing to consider here is what I mentioned above with trample; avoid having your titans in the same 2 wide columns/rows. It is potentially disastrous for you to have the Labyrinthauros barrel through one titan to get to another; not only do they lose their next action, but they also become more vulnerable to getting an Obol draw. Cardinal windrose positioning (keeping 1 titan on each side of the Primordial aka N/E/S/W) remains a strong choice here.

Another significant threat in these cards is the number of 'After Attack' portions of these cards that have the words Trample or Knockdown on them. This becomes especially dangerous when the Primordial gets heavily into performing its signature move.

The danger threshold on these cards is mostly 3+ Fate, but there are two 4+ fate. So you can be confident in using the first two fate for rerolls without punishment, but at 3+ there is a potential cost coming here. That's not a large amount of “free” fate to spend before a price comes in; especially because the increased things are quite often +2 Danger per hit. In addition the dodge on the Labyrinthauros is mostly a 9+ or 10+. It's a very accurate little Coo.

Outside of these specific notes the level 1 cards have a lot of similarities; they're typically, move, attack and then some combination of trample & labyrinth 1. There is also only 1 Knockdown card at level 1, so you should track when “Stomp” is in the discard pile/removed from the game.

Level II

As we escalate we get a slight switch to targeting with 2 furthest target, 1 priority target/furthest target, 1 priority target/closest knockdown target, 1 all adjacent targets and 1 priority target/closest titan. Just like Level I there are two opportunities to “Dash Cancel” attacks because they do not ask that the target is in range. A “Dash Cancel” is effectively ensuring that you are out of range of the Primordial either by being out of range and a viable target or being exactly in range of the Primordial and then using a card that lets you move one space further away where you have the opportunity. However the “Otherworldly Ram” Level II card completely dumpsters on this by giving the Labyrinthauros infinite movement as it tears through space time and effectively teleports right next to your Titan.

The threshold for fate punishment on Level II cards is either 5 or 6; and the punishments for this are a wide mix of +2 Danger, +1 dice, Knockdown and forcing a draw of a grave trauma (if not already drawing an Obol). Some of the fate punishments also include Labyrinth 2; which can sometimes be a disaster for your Titans if you are not careful with considering what a double drop of the tiles will do.

There is however a slight drop in accuracy overall for the Primordial when we get to this escalation level; with a few of the cards having an 8+ instead of the 9+/10+ that is a feature of the Level I cards.

Level III

And now we're in the big bull leagues; this category of AI cards are the most brutal of the kind that the Labyrinthauros can unleash; included the aforementioned marked card; which due to its signal on the back of the card (an excellent game mechanic; markings on the backs of the cards are something ALL future boss battlers should employ). We'll discuss Home Run separately at the bottom.

Outside of that card; most of the AI moves here make sure that you are in range before triggering; which means you often can't just sit out of range and will instead have to employ Dash Cancels or traditional tanking methods instead. Two of the cards go for the priority target, one chooses the closest titan and the other two go for the furthest titan. This is a pretty wild spread of targets and continues to keep the Labyrinthauros somewhat unpredictable; cardinal positioning continues to help a great deal here. But as always, not being in the two wide columns so more than one titan can be trampled/collided with is the main goal.

Fate punishment scales only a little bit further; with 5+ increasing the amount of Labyrinth tiles dropped at the end of some moves (mostly an inconvenience rather than an immediate threat). However at 7+ there are a few serious things that will really punish you, including killing one point of your crew; triggering an Obol draw over normal trauma and dropping a fated Mnemos (in addition to fear). When you're into the Level III AI cards; the gloves come off for both sides, this is not a place for stalling or trying to win through sustain.

Home Run

Home Run is a beast of a card; it has unlimited movement for the Labyrinthauros and the Primordial will get to harm every signal titan, it's not stopping until everyone has taken at least 1 danger. It'll go for your closest titan first; and keep trying till it scores a danger hit; then it will go for the next one that has not suffered danger from an attack and so on. Not only is this guaranteed trauma draws for everyone; but it's also quite easy for careless titans to get knocked over with a collision and because you know when this card is coming there is no excuse.

The most effective ways of dealing with this card I've employed are wounding to escalate the Primordial when Home Run is on top of the deck (causing an escalation results in a reshuffle of both decks); if you are the last attacking titan; think carefully about what you're doing because it might be better to skip – no-one else can potentially score a damage this way. This also means that I take my time when Home Run has entered the AI deck; there is a lot of time pressure sure; but can I afford this card to trigger given that I have ways of avoiding it entirely?

The other tool that helps here is armor; armor's passive defence can pull the damage dealt down to a single danger, which is the best possible result. You can't guarantee its going to work out that way and due to the 3 dice, 9+ nature of the attack you could often be facing between 2 and 6 danger (3 to 9 if you have 7+ danger). Still protection saves lives.

The final option is to deliberately try and trigger a Godform, keeping damage stacked on a single target, pushing your fate to 7+ and then dropping to a Home Run can result in taking 9 damage; so if you've managed it correctly you should be at 9+9 danger for 18 total which will increase your odds of getting the right Obol draw. Yes a Godform represents the death of a titan in a few turns; but lets not kid around, Godforms are worth that much; The spoiler one you unlock via Obols is in particular is the best tank in the game bar none and is a key strategy for winning many dangerous fights.

The final thing to note here is that spears and ranged weapons are great because of how they allow you to attack from corner spots rather than a cardinal space, that makes it a lot easier for a lead double shield tank to sit and suck up the hits because everyone else is spread out in ways that won't easily cause collision. However; watch out for spacing if Home Run is coming; make sure that you're not going to have to suck up a collision when you could have avoided it.

The Body Parts

At the start of the battle; one sets aside the Gaze of Temnos BP; this Level III card is inserted into the BP deck when you're instructed to do so and it will create a one time severe punishment for a Titan before removing itself from the BP deck. It's quite a serious “trap” card in that if you fail the 8+ Endurance roll you're taking 3 Danger and 3 Fate and a Dread condition. It's added by a Level I card, so it should be the only Level III card in the BP deck at that time. That means you can try and have it get triggered by a Titan/Argonaut with good Endurance and/or the ability to soak the danger,  fate and Dread. It's a punishment card that you're just going to have to push through at some point.

Level I

• 3 Failure Reactions
• 3 Wound Reactions
• AT Field: 2 to 4

The Level I cards have some exceptionally interesting locations in their mix; not only do we have the Hidemail BP location that allows for potentially your first Vantage Point to be created (while also reducing its AT); but we also have one of the first critical “punishments” in the Eroded Breastplate triggering the addition of the Gaze of Temnos BP card.

The other critical wounds let you either get bonuses when attacking at the W spaces on the location diagram (front left and right flanks), a bonus attack (plus priority token) and removing mazetouched.

The normal wounding/fail reactions provide a mixture of Cycle I's themes either by triggering Trample, Knockdown + Knockback, Fear and the Signature move (which includes Trample). In short, the Primordial's Level I BP cards are warning you about how you can be knocked down during your own turn and then become at risk to the Instinctive Ram/Trample/Obol combo. Kip up!

Level II

• 3 Failure Reactions
• 3 Wound Reactions
• AT Field: 4 to 6

We have two additional vantage point criticals in this selection; our wounding results either cause Trample, Labyrinth 1 or remove the Mazetouched affliction. The failures cause Trample, additional danger or the signature (which is basically just a more punishing trample). The other remaining criticals result in either unique gear drops or -1 speed.

Honestly I don't think there's much more to go into with detail here; the level II BPs are particularly challenging and outside of bringing anything that can increase critical chances to score the unique gear (even if you don't use unique gear immediately it can often be upgraded later on, so it's always worth trying to get). The main goal always remains the same, don't get trampled.

Level III

• 3 Fail Reactions
• 2 Wound Reactions
• 1 Fail & Wound reaction
• AT Field: 5 to 8

This is where the Primordial gets serious; cracking this far into the bull shell reveals the creature inside it; a worm-like mass with connections to another realm and maybe another being? (You can read more about that in the lore article I wrote covering the Labyrinthauros previously here). The normal reactions also don't vary too much, but there are a couple which you should pay attention to; at a start there's two signature responses (one fail, one wound) and of course the signature always triggers Trample and Labyrinth; likewise there's a single signature fail and a single trample fail. The real scary BP though is the Shapeless Form; which on a wound inflicts Mazetouched but on a failure causes an Obal draw; the AT Field for this card is a 6 – so don't go attacking Level 3 locations without a better than average shot at beating AT: 6 unless you know exactly where the Shapeless Form is (discard pile, wound pile).

The remaining two BPs are pretty neat in that Will of Temenos of them removes a Mazetouched on a wound then triggers an AI card draw against the attacker and Shard of the Labyrinth one causes Labyrinth 1 but completely disables Labyrinth on a critical. It's all not particularly challenging to micromanage because the game's first cycle is keen on tutorialising everything and preparing you for the way Primordial's get stronger and use gimmicks.

The Summary

The equipment that is most useful to be bringing along for this battle includes anything that lets you stand up during the appropriate windows, step aside when being charged at and while it's fun, anything that lets you cling onto the vantage point (VP) is a minor priority because we only have 4 criticals total that will create that VP in the first place – so that's only 4 opportunities during a battle and without increased critical chances it's just not worth bringing something that might do absolutely nothing at all. You know that the Labyrinthauros will be trampling at every chance it gets, so that's the priority to handle.

Ultimately I think that this Primordial is a pretty cool design and actually a bit less challenging than the Hekaton at levels 3-4 so it's often my preference to choose when I have a decision to make. The Level 5 version with End of Hope however is not to be taken lightly because it puts a lot more pressure on your support equipment, you always need to be smart and take time to refresh your support gear. The Labyrinthauros demands it from you; so take turns off if you're in a position where a trample would cause an Obol draw, get something online that'll let you either avoid the trample or stand up and pay close attention to anything that lets you carry extra support gear slots; they can be a huge boon by providing a second emergency option if you're caught flat-footed with your main support gear “trample cancel” being unavailable.