The Scarlet Heart is the Boss of Stage 11, which is the Scarlett Mantis's trump card Boss.
Appearance[]
The Scarlet Heart is a massive and heavily armed tracked three-stage tank, with a red-pink paint scheme. The tank also have six lights that create volumetric lighting.
Armaments[]
1st Phase[]
1st Phase Attack
- Mounted on the side sections, they fire streams of 22 bullets four times and then return to their turret housings for a period of time.
- Mounted at the front of the tank, and each fires long streams of four thin lasers in a row. They have a long reload and can be damaged after firing thrice.
2nd Phase[]
2nd phase attack
Powerful Beam Cannon
- One of the most dangerous weapons of the game on board this tank which is also the same one that can be seen from the Arachnotron boss from Sky Force Anniversary and Omega from this game, it has the power to destroy your Plane in a single blast, if not evaded even on Normal difficulty. Unlike previous laser enemies, the beam has no travel time, reaching the edge of the screen the moment it was fired. The laser can also break an active Energy Shield.
- In the PC version, the Cannon tracks you (Though not fully accurate) while firing, make it harder to be in a fixed position and shoot. The best way is to hover directly over the cannon's rear part and use the Main Weapon Supercharge feature on your Plane to shoot it down.
- Holo Granny will be useful, as the decoy will trigger most firepower and allow you to deal damage.
8x Gun Turrets (2nd, 3rd Phase)
- Tracking turrets housed in four frontal compartments. Uniquely, the compartments are double-layered and turrets are hidden in these two layers, increasing the total number to eight.
- These turrets engage one layer at a time, each during the second and third phases of the battle.
- 2nd Phase pattern: fire slow dark-purple bullets at moderate frequency.
- 3rd Phase pattern: fire a burst of 3 hook-shaped bullets, traveling at moderate speed.
2x Railgun Cannon
- Each fires six high speed railgun shells at intervals before retracting. The higher the Difficulty level, the shorter the intervals.
- They only engage after 35% of the Laser Beam Cannon's health is drained up (65% health remaining).
3rd Phase[]
- Shoots out a spiraling and zig-zag pattern of bullets (7 angles, 14 bullets each). It is mounted underneath the Laser Beam Cannon, resulting in the Missile Launchers beside it to blast away the latter to allow it to engage. After discharging 5 continuous swarms of bullets (a total of 490 bullets), the cannon enters a short cooldown.
- Like the 2nd phase, four compartments are activated to aid the cannon, each one engages from right to left every time the radial cannon loses 10% health.
3rd phase attack
2x Missile Launchers
- A weapon/armament related to the one on Frying Falcon except it can target the player, which fires a three-way spreadshot rocket pattern without homing capabilities. Only engage if Radial Cannon has 50% health remaining.
- Before the start of these phase, they blast homing rockets at the destroyed Laser Beam Cannon to bring out the Radial Cannon beneath. There is a glitch that allows the missile launchers to fire one rocket first then two more. This causes it to have insane firing speed.
Last Stand[]
- MLRS Launcher
The tank will launch a swarm of 12 missiles from back of it's tank and they will fly in from the corners of the screen, intersecting each other and race out again. The missiles' trajectories will make a blind spot near the middle of the screen, at which the Plane can safely avoid all of them.
Combat Routine[]
The Scarlet Heart will first rip through a wall it busts out from a hole with the Beam Cannon. (Don't worry, at this point the laser is harmless)
1st Phase[]
Target the laser arrays first before you engage the bullet turrets. Staying in the middle of the screen while all 4 defenses are active can result in your Plane being overwhelmed. Also, note that there are two Survivors to rescue (on opposite sides of the screen) during this part of the battle.
2nd Phase[]
Right after the first weapons are blown away, the next set of turrets are deployed and the laser beam cannon engages.
Hovering over the central cannon to do damage while safe from the beam
Due to the size of the beam cannon, the player can hover their plane directly over it while dealing damage safely. After a certain amount of health is drained up, the railgun cannons activate, acting as a secondary defense system in attempt to ease the difficulties of taking down your plane. In the PC version, both the beam cannon and the railgun cannons track the player's plane, making it harder to evade. In mobile, the beam cannon locks its angle while shooting.
3rd Phase[]
The missile launchers blast away the destroyed laser beam cannon, revealing the radial cannon. Consider supercharging your Plane as the long reveal animation is in play for a damage headstart. The third set of turrets appear from their housing compartments. After half of the Radial Cannon's health is drained up, the missile launchers by the side will be activated. Saving Shields as protectors for your plane and Lasers and/or Mega Bombs to blast away all these weapons can help a lot to take out those armaments especially since the evasion space is cramped.
Since the turrets and launchers' activation is dependent on the Radial Cannon's health (turrets activate at 90/80/70/60% health, launchers activate at 50%), redirect your firepower away from the cannon and focus on them one by one as they appear individually, instead of prioritizing just the Radial Cannon which results in having all armaments activated at once and create a bullet hell. This is especially helpful if you are short of Energy Shield or Mega Bomb. Dodging is still not easy however, especially when the launchers are engaged.
Last Stand[]
"Dieeee!"
The Scarlet Heart Last Stand
Once all the weapons have been ripped off, the MLRS Launcher will launch a volley of heavy missiles. Look out at the laser that indicate where the missile travels. First the missiles will rush to the center in from all corners of the screen and then turn around and travel quickly out again. There is a small blind spot at which the rockets intersect that makes a convenient safe spot for your Plane. Those who are too lazy to evade the missiles can actually use an Energy Shield if they coincidentally have any saved ones, as its protection is strangely immune to the missiles.
After successfully evading the volley of missiles, you can finally obliterate the tank. Note that there are three parts in all to cast out, and blowing off just the middle one will lead to the destruction of the tank, though only partial. Destroying the left and right parts would give you additional Stars and score, so it is best to leave the tank in ruins completely.
Difficulty[]
The Scarlet Heart trophy
"One more life to go..."
In tougher modes, this boss fight is most challenging during the 3rd Phase when the spread-fire cannon becomes active. Destroying that cannon is quite the top priority as it can cause major problems to your survival and even "Stay Untouched" runs. Any Shields, Mega Bombs and/or Lasers you have in store will come in handy here for sure.
Conversely, the Beam Cannon in the mobile version stops its rotation in place when firing and due to the high frequency of fire at later difficulty, the cannon will take time to reach the high-speed Plane if you circle around it. This does not apply to the other versions of the game.
Trivia[]
- If you're going for the "Rescue All People" medal, take note of the 2 Survivors during this battle, fly to the extreme top right to pick up the first one just right before the weapons on The Scarlet Heart engage you. The other one will show up on the left side about 10 seconds in after the first one.
- This is one of the most darkest and powerful bosses in all Sky Force games, along with Omega from the same game, as well as the Nasty Owl and Arachnotron from Sky Force Anniversary.
- This is the first boss in the game which possesses armaments capable of destroying the Energy Shield.
- It is the boss that featured in the main menu screen of the PC version and it sometimes fires its laser beam.
- The Scarlet Heart can be seen driving at the bottom of the base during the first half of the gameplay.
- In the Steam version, the beam cannon tracks your plane even when firing, making the boss fight slightly harder than in mobile.
- According to the quotes in Insane difficulty, destroying The Scarlet Heart will lead to the death of Scarlett Mantis, the main antagonist of the game. Similar to Nasty Owl from Sky Force Anniversary, its destruction marks the end of the main storyline.
The Scarlet Heart featured in the main menu background of the PC Version
Gallery[]
| Main Bosses | |
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| Bonus Bosses | |
| Mini-bosses | |