Malugaz the Corrupted

Malugaz the Corrupted is an early-game boss found in the Forgotten Ruins. Defeating him drops the Stolen Crystal Heart, which is required for progression. Unlike most bosses, he is not present when the world is generated; the player must locate his room, which appears roughly 300 tiles from The Core in the Forgotten Ruins. A Malugaz the Corrupted Scanner can reveal the room’s location on the map, and once found, he is summoned by placing a Skull of the Corrupted Shaman on the rune in the center of the Throne Room.

The room is located within a large maze-like dungeon filled with Cavelings, and its walls are too strong to break early in the game. Because of this, reaching Malugaz is part of the challenge, not just defeating him. He also has a behavior quirk that matters during the fight: if the player leaves his room or fights him outside the Throne Room, he teleports back, regenerates any lost health, and resumes the battle from there. If all players leave the room, he reverts to his first form and heals.

Malugaz has two phases. In his first form, he alternates between throwing 2–3 fireballs at a player and either teleporting or creating a 3×3 lingering fire area around the arena. His fireballs destroy walls and furniture, but not flooring. The fire on the ground lasts for 30 seconds on PC, while on console versions it disappears after 15 seconds. Watering cans can extinguish these flames, which is especially useful in co-op when the arena becomes crowded with fire zones.

When brought to zero health, Malugaz enters his second phase, tearing off his cloak and hood, re-igniting himself and the ground, and restoring to full health. He continues teleporting, but now favors charging forward and fighting in close combat. His melee attacks still leave 3×3 fire tiles and have a small area-of-effect when landing, and they will destroy walls, furniture, and tiles. If all players die during this phase, he reverts back to his first form.

• Malugaz is difficult largely because the arena is large, fixed, and constantly fills with fire, making movement and positioning awkward.
• Melee weapons are effective, especially the iron halberd or battle axe, since staying close can help offset the fireball pattern when circling him.
• If the player is targeted by Malugaz’s attacks, focus on dodging; in second phase, ranged players are particularly vulnerable.
• His second-phase attacks can be sidestepped, and dash-based movement makes this much easier.
• The fire he creates disappears on its own, but cleaning it up with a watering can can prevent the arena from becoming unusable during longer fights.

According to the official account, Malugaz is described as a collector of rare and valuable items who is not above stealing from other creatures in the underground.