Plasm Wraith

Plasm Wraith
Appears in	Pikmin 3
Scientific name	Unknown
Family	Unknown
Areas	Formidable Oak
Mission Mode Collect Treasure! stages	None
Mission Mode Battle Enemies! stages	None
Side Story days	None
Bingo Battle stages	None
Attacks	Spew protoplasm Crush Pikmin Electrocute Pikmin Drown Pikmin Burn Pikmin Eat Pikmin

The Plasm Wraith is the final boss of Pikmin 3, and is responsible for capturing Captain Olimar. It is a virtually-featureless, vaguely-humanoid Waterwraith-like being made entirely out of a cellular protoplasmic mass, which allows it to split different parts of its body off to create other semi-independent entities. It is fought in the Formidable Oak.

As with all final bosses, the path leading up to it, and/or the boss fight itself, requires the knowledge and utilization of every Pikmin type.

Background

When Olimar first arrived at the Formidable Oak, he saw a gold, shiny substance at the top of the tower, and decided to investigate. Even though Louie urged him not to go before running away, Olimar disregarded his warning and climbed to the top, discovering the Plasm Wraith all alone.

At first, the creature was curious and playful towards Olimar and did no harm to him. However, when Olimar tried to leave, the creature became aggresive, triggering his suit's auto-sleep function and dragging him back to its cave. It became protective of Olimar to the point that it would attack anything that showed interest in him. The exact reason for this bizarre behavior remains unknown. 

Phase 1: Mysterious Life Form

​Just like in the first Pikmin game, the level the Plasm Wraith is fought in, the Formidable Oak, is entirely devoted to its battle. When first spotted, the creature envelopes Olimar in order to protect him, but it is defeated with Pikmin. The players than use Pikmin to carry Olimar and escape down into the nearby cave. However, the being drops from the cave ceiling and shapeshifts into a massive Goolix-like creature called the Mysterious Life Form, which will chase the player down the chasm. The player must stay ahead of it while overcoming the various obstacles present within the chasm in order to safely escape. There are a few notes that the player should take at this point...

1. The Mysterious Life Form is invincible, so the player must always move forward.
2. There are multiple paths the player can take, so take whichever is easier to overcome.
3. Every enemy in the chasm are illusions created by the Mysterious Life Form; when killed, they disintegrate into Protoplasm. If you do not kill them, the Mysterious Life Form will envelop and digest them in its body when it reaches them.
4. The Mysterious Life Form and the Pikmin carrying Olimar will always follow Brittany; this can be utilized to buy time. If Brittany is downed, they will follow Charlie, then Alph.
5. Many of the paths in the chasm are loops, so while the Alph and Charlie are figuring out the puzzle, Brittany can go around in circles to distract the Mysterious Life Form.
6. If Pikmin are enveloped by the Mysterious Life Form, they can be freed by continuously whistling at them. However, if the creature recaptures Olimar while any Pikmin are inside it, they will all instantly die.
7. If the beast manages to recapture Olimar, it will stop following Brittany and try to leave the cave via a hole found at the beginning of the level. After having sustained enough damage, the Mysterious Life Form will drop Olimar and will remain immobilized until its health gauge refills, allowing Brittany an opportunity to escape.

After the player successfully escapes the chasm, they will appear in an arena outside. After the Mysterious Life Form gets to the exit as well, it will revert to its original form and inhale all of its lost plasm and grow to an immense size. It will then lock Olimar inside its body, thus commencing the final battle.

Phase 2: Plasm Wraith

When the Mysterious Life Form transforms into the Plasm Wraith and recaptures Olimar, proceed to throw Pikmin at its stomach. This will cause small bits of its plasmic exterior to fall off, making its health drop. However, the Pikmin must then attack the puddles of plasm on the floor to destroy them, or the Wraith will simply reabsorb it to regain health. While not neccessary, you can take 20 of each Pikmin for the battle. Send the other two captains out of its reach, as this fight only requires one captain.

It will not actively attack Pikmin, instead prefering to follow the captains and attack when they are close by skewering them with a rapid "needle-arm" attack. If any Pikmin aside from Rock Pikmin are in range of this attack, they will be skewered and eaten. You can seperate the captains as a distraction, with one captain handling all the Pikmin. It is unwise to attack it head-on, as it will not be phased by attacks, and can easily kill the Pikmin. Instead, throw just a few Pikmin at it, preferably it's backside, until it tries to shake Pikmin off by twisting its body. This will cause additional plasm to fly off of its body. As it loses more and more plasm, it decreases in size, but it will frequently try to heal itself by reabsorbing any plasm left on the ground. Throw Pikmin at the plasm on the ground to minimize the amount of health that the Plasm Wraith can recover.

After a quarter of its health is depleted, the boss will attack by spewing large masses of plasm onto the arena, then spitting out a golden cube. The mass will form around this solid cube and form an Elemental Plasm. If the boss spits out a cube, quickly call all Pikmin away from it. It has many forms, each of which can only be killed with certain Pikmin types:

1. The Elemental Plasm will protect the cube in a bubble of water. Only Blue Pikmin can break it.
2. The Elemental Plasm will turn molten and surround the floor with fire. Only Red Pikmin can break it.
3. The Elemental Plasm will form a spike underneath the cube, setting it high up in the air. The cube will them generate an electric barrier around it and the plasm. Only Yellow Pikmin can break it.
4. The Elemental Plasm will turn into a glass cube that slowly tumbles around the stage, crushing Pikmin. Only Rock Pikmin can break it.

Destroying Elemental Plasms will leave behind a large amount of plasm that must also be destroyed. If they are left alive for longer than 20 seconds, the Plasm Wraith will reabsorb them to heal itself.

After it's been reduced to just a quarter of its health, it will create three Elemental Plasms at once. It can also become temporarily airborne, during which it can only be reached by Winged Pikmin. If it is hit with Winged Pikmin while flying, it may fall down, losing even more plasm as it hits the ground.

Once its health meter is down to red, it becomes very small in stature, and will hardly be able to attack your Pikmin, instead choosing to run away. Once defeated, it expells a golden cube, which dissolves to reveal an unharmed Olimar inside, and the remaining plasm on the ground crawls away and retreats back into the cave.

Defeating the Plasm Wraith immediatly triggers the end of the game.

Trivia

• Even though the Plasm Wraith is defeated, it is revealed to still be alive in the final cutscene. One can notice this because the small trail of plasmic remains after its defeat slowly moves away from the site.
• The Plasm Wraith and its previous form, the Mysterious Life Form (Japanese Amebouzu), may have been inspired by the Umibouzu, an evil spirit in Japanese legend that snatches treasures and captains from their ships, and then crashes the ships. Both creatures are described as having similar traits. Interestingly, the japanese name for the Waterwraith is also "Amebouzu".
• The Plasm Wraith is the first final boss in the Pikmin series to have multiple phases.
• The Plasm Wraith bears a resemblance to some bosses in the Pikmin series: In its final form, it resembles the Waterwraith from Pikmin 2. It also has a phase when it resembles the Goolix from Pikmin.
• The Plasm Wraith's right "shoulder" is longer than the left, making it the second abnormally-asymmetric creature in the Pikmin series, the first being the Mamuta.
• In the secret data file reward video, "At the Oak", Olimar is seen surveying the area, while Louie is running away from something. Right as the video ends, the viewer can hear loud footsteps and the Plasm Wraith's roar, implying the capture of Olimar.
• The Plasm Wraith is the third final boss in the Pikmin series to be an altered/more powerful version of a previously existing enemy, with Emperor Bulblax and the Titan Dweevil being enhanced versions of a Bulborb and a Dweevil, respectively. The Plasm Wraith seems to be a different species than the Waterwraith, being made of protoplasm rather than water.

Gallery

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  The Plasm Wraith and Olimar, notice how it seems to take care of him.

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  The Plasm Wraith when it first consumes Olimar.

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  The Mysterious Life Form about to consume Olimar

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  The Mysterious Life Form having consumed Olimar

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  The mysterious Life Form regenerating

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  The Plasm Wraith in the process of reabsorbing used plasm.

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  Fire Elemental Plasm

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  Water Elemental Plasm

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  Electrical Elemental Plasm

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  Crystal Elemantal Plasm

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  The Plasm Wraith flying

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  The Plasm Wraith defeated.

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  The Plasm Wraith as the S.S. Drake leaves the planet.

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  The Plasm Wraith about to use its stabbing attack.