Conjunctivitis is the second tier 1 boss that you might end up facing in Dead Cells. This is an alternative boss to The Concierge, one that you’ll only encounter in the Insufferable Crypt location. You’ll only be able to access this area with The Ram rune, so if you don’t have that, there’s little chance of you seeing this enemy. In this Dead Cells Conjunctivitis boss guide, we’ll cover exactly how to kill the boss. We’ll also throw in some tips about how to avoid the attacks it’ll throw at you and even some lore.
What is Conjunctivitis?
This boss is a giant infected eye creature that is almost certainly a reference to the eye infection of the same name. It’s attached to the walls of the arena by three chains, one for each phase of the fight. You’ll see these break over the course of the battle with this boss, increasing the difficulty as you go. There are four platforms around the arena that you’ll be fighting across. These are key to killing the boss, so don’t ignore them.
Attacks and Strategies
The attacks this boss has don’t change too much through each phase. The key is actually the tentacles, which are probably the most unique thing about this enemy. Here, we’ll go through all of the attacks that the boss will throw at you, and cover everything you need to be aware of and how to avoid them.
Body Slam
This attack is telegraphed by Conjunctivitis emitting a beam out in a certain direction. Following that, the boss will launch itself in that direction and slam into the wall or the player if they don’t get out of the way. You can actually parry or block this attack. The best move might be to jump out of the way though. You don’t want to get touched by this thing.
Magic Bolts
This move sees the boss shoot out between 7 and 8 green bolts in a circular blast from her eye. You can dodge out of the way of these bolts, but you can also parry them or block them. You need to be fast if you’re going to do that though. The boss will do this move after every tentacle is taken down. You need to be aware of this because if you’re too close, you’re going to get destroyed.
Aura of Laceration
This is a move a few bosses have. Red electricity will first spark around the boss, then it will emit a shield that blasts out around it. If you’re inside the radius, you’ll be trapped inside. You can dodge out of the way of this attack, but you can’t block it or parry it. This can be a devastating attack, so watch out for it.
Rain of Bolts
This attack is telegraphed by the four platforms being retracted around the arena. Conjunctivitis will then move to the top of the room and move from side to side. While she does this, she’ll bomb the area below her with magical bombs that will take you out. The only thing you can do is dodge out of this attack. There’s no way to block it or parry it.
Summon Tentacles
After a certain portion of health has been taken off of Conjunctivitis, she’ll break her shackles and summon tentacles. She’ll then remove the platforms, move to the middle of the room, and gain immunity from damage. These tentacles have their own attacks, and they’re what you need to be focusing your efforts on from here on. They’re all separate, and behave individually, so you’ll be facing multiple attacks from various angles. In this initial phase, she’ll spawn three tentacles, but after that, she will spawn three more as she moves through phases of health.
After you’ve taken out a tentacle, the boss will blast out Magic Bolts before the battle resumes. When all tentacles are gone, Conjunctivitis will resume her normal attacks, and you’ll be able to damage her again.
Tentacle Attacks
This section contains the moves you can expect to see from the tentacles that the boss spawns. The first is Piercing Strike, in which a tentacle burrows underground and hunts the player. It’ll burst up below you and deal damage. you can block and parry this attack, but you can also roll out of the way of it.
The second tentacle move is Area Sweep. With this attack, the tentacle will charge across the room and deal damage to anything it comes across. Once again, you can block or parry this attack, and even roll or dodge out of the way before it hits you.
Best Strategy
While this is an early game boss, she’s still quite tough. The best weapons and items to bring to fight her are traps and projectiles. You need to be able to pin the boss in place and cause damage from afar. It’s also great to have a very powerful melee weapon handy for those tentacles.
The best traps to use are ones that will pin the boss in place. You want to prevent her movement and basically cause her to slow down whenever possible. This will only benefit you. Having the power to make the boss more vulnerable to fire and then setting her alight will also be a huge boost to you. All you really want to do is cause as much damage as you can over time, and focus on getting hits of damage in with whatever weapons you have left.
Dead Cells Conjunctivitis Lore
The lore for this boss is scattered around the areas that precede her. She began as a nameless and faceless corpse in the sewer. One of the arms has mutated into a tentacle, and the body is bloated from being in the water. Following some time, a cocoon is found next to a trail of green goo. This, it’s thought, was the first evolution of the boss. After yet more time, corpses and green goo are found next to an even bigger cocoon, indicating that the boss had evolved again. Those that Conjunctivitis feeds on don’t seem to mutate. Once the King is made aware of her, he orders his men to have her chained up, which is incredibly difficult. The soldiers feed her corpses, and she grows ever stronger in her confinement.