Vehemoth Phosbat

Vehemoth Phosbat
Appears in	Pikmin 3
Scientific name	Unknown
Family	Unknown
Areas	Distant Tundra
Mission Mode Collect Treasure! stages	None
Mission Mode Battle Enemies! stages	None
Side Story days	None
Bingo Battle stages	None
Attacks	Eats Pikmin

The Vehemoth Phosbat is a boss in Pikmin 3, and is the second boss encountered in story mode. It is a large, bioluminescent moth-like creature with massive orange wings, yellow eyes, small stumpy limbs, and a large gaping whale-like mouth.

This creature resides in dark caves, where it renders itself completely invisible, which also allows it to safely roam the cave undetected. When a leader approaches the Vehemoth Phosbat, it lights up its entire body with bioluminescent hairs which glow pink, and an orange torso. Upon lighting up, it will open its mouth and inhale ferociously, creating a powerful vortex that will trap Pikmin and the leader. After a few seconds, up to five will be inhaled into its mouth and become the Phosbat's meal. When distressed, it will also frantically flap its wings, releasing a cloud of toxic dust that chokes nearby Pikmin and causes them to scatter around the room. This dust, however, is merely a temporary distraction, and cannot kill.

After its death, the player unlocks Charlie as a playable character and is also rewarded with the Heroine's Tear.

Background

At the beginning of the game, Captain Charlie takes shelter in a cave, where he finds larval Phosbats crawling on the cave floor. He uses his Yellow Pikmin to kill them, which leads to the Vehemoth Phosbat abducting him. He is not playable until Alph and Brittany rescue him later in the game.

Notes

Pikmin 3 Prima Guide

“The Vehemoth Phosbat is located in the Distant Tundra. This creature attacks by flying into the air and inhaling its victims. On thier own, these attacks are relatively easy to avoid. However, the Vehemoth Phosbat uses a cloaking ability to approach its hapless victims without being detected. The Vehemoth Phosbat is very sensitive to light. Use Yellow Pikmin to activate the Light Bulbs scattered around the area. Once you've illuminated the entire cave, the Vehemoth Phosbat loses its cloaking ability. Keep your squad away from the Vehemoth Phosbat's mouth as you use your Pikmin to attack it.”

Behavior

The Vehemoth Phosbat will remain unseen as it flies around the area. When a light is activated near it, it will fall to the ground, blinded and helpless for a short time. When it rises off the ground again, it will not instantly go into its invisible state, so it is vulnerable for a few seconds more. When its entire arena is lit up, it will occasionally retreat to a wall to rest and gradually regenerate its life.

The Vehemoth Phosbat has more threatening attacks than the previous boss, the Armored Mawdad.

• It can become visible and create a vortex in which the Pikmin will be trapped inside. From there, it will suck a few of the Pikmin into its mouth and they will be eaten. Pikmin trapped in the vortex can be whistled and saved.
• After being attacked, it will rise back into the air and spew out poison-like dust nearby. This will choke the Pikmin for a brief period of time, but will not kill them.

Like most other enemies, the Vehemoth Phosbat also can shake off Pikmin as well.

Strategy

The following article or section contains guides. The strategies shown are just suggestions.

Standard strategy

Unlike the Armored Mawdad, the Vehemoth Phosbat's arena is much more expansive, giving the player more room to move about. As the player enters the area, the only light present will be from the variously-placed Common Glowcaps. In this darkness, the Phosbat is invisible, and it will quietly move throughout the area, only revealing itself when it tries to inhale Pikmin. To stun the Phosbat, the must activate a light in the room by throwing Yellow Pikmin at the electrode, which will cause the creature to reveal itself and fall to the ground, stunned. However, once the player has done this, the Phosbat will retaliate by summoning its babies to attack the player. Its young can eat one Pikmin at a time. However, they're slow and easy to kill, making them pose little threat, but can be somewhat of a nuisance when trying to do other tasks.

The Phosbats are spawned from large eggsack-like objects that are placed throughout the area called Phosbat Pods, which can be destroyed to prevent further spawning of Phosbats. Continue the previously mentioned stun method to buy some time, as the Phosbat will constantly follow you after you've begun to attack its children. You can hide under Glowcaps, which will prevent it from coming towards you, at least until the next phase of the fight.

Scattered around the cave are two piles of fragments, which can be used to build a bridge to a large red battery. Having 20 Yellow Pikmin stand atop this box will light up a large light bulb attached to the cave ceiling, which illuminates the entire area. This light results in the stunning of the Phosbat and renders it incapable of becoming invisible for the remainder of the battle. After this happens, you can simply throw Yellow Pikmin onto its back to weigh it down whenever the beast stops to suck in Pikmin. After it gets back up, it will begin to release a toxic powder that chokes all nearby Pikmin. During this time, it will retreat onto a wall in the cave to rest and regenerate health. It is recommended to throw several Rock Pikmin at its back while it rests, as normal Pikmin will just be thrown off after the Phosbat prepares to start flying.

Continue this process until the Phosbat is defeated. Upon defeat, the boss will erratically fly around the area until it electrocutes itself on the light bulb dangling from the ceiling, after which it will fall to the ground and writhe in pain, just before its life finally ends.

Expert strategy

A much quicker way to defeat the Phosbats involves using both leaders and distracting the boss while the Pikmin work.

First, have the Pikmin destroy a few Phosbat Pods to give them nectar. Then, go to the right of the cave entrance and there will be a climbing stick that lead up to a fragment pile. Instruct all of your Pikmin to climb the stick and construct the bridge while the leaders distract the Phosbat. Once the Pikmin have brought all of their bridge shards to the bridge, it should be long enough for one leader to throw the other across. Do so, and follow it by throwing 20 Yellow Pikmin up to them, and then have them use the Yellows to activate the car battery. This will instantly commence the second phase of the battle.

Once the Phosbat falls to the ground, swarm it with all of your Pikmin, and then quickly call them back before it gets up. Once it begins to fly away, stay ahead of it and throw a few Yellows at it while running in the same direction that it is flying. This will make the boss stop to shake them off and change direction. During this short period of time, quickly throw all of your Yellows at it to weigh it down, causing it to fall into the ground and struggle to get back up, which opens it up to further attack. Using this strategy, the boss can be defeated in under two minutes.

Gallery

• 

  The Vehemoth Phosbat dropping dust on the Pikmin.

• 

  The Vehemoth Phosbat being revealed after the area is lit up.

• 00Charlie.PNG

  The captain returns.

• 

  A Phosbat.

• 

  A Phosbat Pod.

• ZlCfzRFt-mUoSRRTug.jpg

  The invisible Vehemoth Phosbat.

• ZlCfzRFzE knzCj7jM.jpg

  The Vehemoth Phosbat using its vortex attack.

• ZlCfzTXGDAs-ff05Si.jpg

  The Vehemoth Phosbat sucking in its larvae

• ZlCfzRFzC8c3Qai0Ze.jpg

  A group of Phosbats.

• 

  The Vehemoth Phosbat, crashing into the light bulb and dying.

Trivia

• The Vehemoth Phosbat is the first airborne boss in the Pikmin series.
• Vehemoth is a portmanteau of Vehement, which means to exaggerate, referencing the boss' wide variety of colors and bizarre facial expression, and Behemoth, which means enormous, referencing the boss' size.
• Sections of the creature's name seems to be derived from "moth" and "bat" contributing to its appearance of being part moth and bat, and "phos", referencing its bioluminescent abilities.
• The Vehemoth Phosbat is the third boss in the Pikmin series to have an actual younger form.
• If baby Phosbats are caught in the vortex attack of the Vehemoth Phosbat, they will duck in cover to avoid getting eaten themselves.
• Although it is recommended that the large light is activated, it is possible (and time-consuming) to defeat the Vehomoth Phosbat without activating a single light, by throwing Rock Pikmin at it when it reveals itself during attack.
• If the boss loses all of its health while in mid-air, it will drop to the ground, even if no Pikmin are latched on to it. Only when it is on the ground can its death sequence start.

Names in other languages

Language	Name	Meaning
Spanish (NoA)	Espectropolilla espejo	Mirror spectremoth