Minecraft Dungeons guide: How to beat the Evoker mini-boss on Apocalypse Difficulty
Yer a wizard, Evoker.
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In Mojang Studios' franchise-expanding ARPGMinecraft Dungeons, there are a total ofeight bosses. Four of these bosses are weaker “mini-bosses” that may appear in a multitude of places throughout, and the other four are stronger “main bosses” that only show up at pre-determined locations. In this Minecraft Dungeons guide series, we’ll go over each and every boss, their strategies and attack patterns, how to fight them, and ultimately the best ways to come out on top in every battle, even on Apocalypse Difficulty.
The first mini-boss in the game is the evoker. Here’s everything you need to know.
What is the evoker in Minecraft Dungeons?
Evokers aren’t new to theMinecraftuniverse. Many people aren’t familiar with them, because they’re extremely rare, only showing up in a few different places. They’re an illager-type hostile mob that has near-magical abilities and are truly effective if they catch their target off guard with their powerful attacks.
In Dungeons, the first boss you’ll face picks up a couple of extra tricks, making them a pretty great introduction to boss battles in the dungeon-crawling title. Evokers are fairly predictable, and a multitude of different strategies can be effective against them.
Source: Windows Central
An evoker’s first ability is summoning little minions that fly around the map. These minions don’t have a ton of health, or cause a lot of damage, but they can hamper your movement and whittle your health down at the same. Next, evokers have devastating pincer-like traps they can summon from the ground to crush you. These traps will either be summoned in a frontal assault, or summoned in a wide circle surrounding the evoker, depending on the situation.
If simply knowing how an evoker attacks is enough for you to take them on, then you’re set. Otherwise, read on to learn the best strategies to use against evokers, no matter the difficulty.
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How can I beat the evoker in Minecraft Dungeons?
An evoker’s biggest weakness is quite simply its rather specific range. Evokers aren’t effective in close combat, lacking any semblance of a melee attack, and they’re primary attack, while potent in its power, has a very limited distance in which it’s effective. Finally, while an evoker’s minions can go wherever they want (giving them practically infinite range), they aren’t that dangerous on their own. These limitations open up evokers to attacks from almost any kind of player.
Melee-focused players
Melee-focused players might be initially intimidated by an evoker’s terrifying pincer attack, and rightfully so. These attacks do a ton of damage, especially at higher levels, so unless you’re set up with major mitigators like damage reduction (provided byartifactslike the Iron Hide Amulet and Gong of Weakening) or powerful healing abilities (provided byenchantmentslike Radiance and Life Steal), you’ll want to avoid these attacks.
However, even an evoker’s frontal assault attack is actually relatively easy to dodge. There is a gap between the evoker and its summoning attack, giving nimble players an opening to attack. Evokers aren’t particularly fast to move, either, so it’s not hard to simply walk around evokers when they’re trying to attack and watch the pincers clash on empty air right next to you.
Melee can be time-consuming against an evoker though since you’ll need to constantly watch for those pincer attacks. Evokers aren’t known for their fortitude, so artifacts that focus on damage output like the Death Cap Mushroom are awesome. Evokers also know their weaknesses, and generally will try and stay away from you. Enchantments like Gravity on your weapons can do a lot to keep an evoker close and prevent it from getting away.
Range-focused players
Due to an evoker’s very limited range, fighting one with a bow is one of the easiest routes to take. You can nearly feel the frustration emitting from an evoker as it desperately spams pincer attacks in your direction, only for them to end a harmless distance away. An evoker’s only defense against ranged players are their minions, which are easy to deal with as long as you pay attention.
Minions by themselves aren’t that big of a threat, but you shouldn’t let them build up. They can make it more difficult to move, and over time or with numbers can do some serious damage. Take a moment to clear out minions as they come, taking advantage of area-of-effect attacks like the Fireworks Arrow artifact and your melee weapon. Evokers have no limit to how many times they can summon minions, but they won’t do it in rapid succession, which gives you plenty of time to attack in return.
Damage increasing artifacts, like the Flaming Quiver are fantastic options for any range-focused player, increasing your damage and giving you some extra arrows as well. Just make sure you go into the fight with plenty of arrows, since you’re unlikely to get drops for an evoker’s minions.
Souls-focused players
Players that primarily use souls for offense and defense will find evokers one of the easier bosses to fight. Some bosses don’t summon or create mobs to help them in battle, but the evoker can summon minions that can help players refill and harvest souls as they fight. This in turn lets you lose powerful abilities against an evoker.
Artifacts are the centerpiece of any souls-focused players, and artifacts like the Corrupted Beacon are incredibly effective against slower, range-orientated bosses like evokers, as it deals a ton of damage at a distance. Artifacts like the Torment Quiver are also useful for souls-focused players that prefer a cautious approach, allowing you to turn your souls into ammunition against evokers.
Evokers don’t have any real defense against players that use souls, but make sure you don’t stay in place for too long and accidentally come within range of an evoker, as souls-focused players typically aren’t very sturdy against attacks. Weapons enchanted with Soul Siphon are also useful here, for when your opponent hasn’t summoned any new minions in a while.
Companion-focused players
Using companions in Minecraft Dungeons is fun, but one of the trickier builds to use in a fight. Battling an evoker is no different, as companions aren’t smart enough to avoid an evoker’s pincer attack, and it’s still a little too difficult to buff and heal companions and pets in battle.
This depends more on your combination of companions than anything. Players that rely more on llamas than anything will likely be okay, always being buffed with ranged support no matter what approach you take. Players that use wolves or iron golems might struggle a little bit more, which is why enchantments like Radiant Shot on your bow (preferably a bow that allows you to direct your companions, like the Hunting Bow) are a huge help.
If you’re a melee-focused player that uses companions, things open up a bit more for you. Enchantments like Radiance and artifacts like Iron Hide Amulet actually buff your companions as well as you, so as long as your pets stick close to you, you can usually keep them healthy while they work on your opponent’s health.
What are some tips for every boss fight in Minecraft Dungeons?
Every boss is different, and every player approaches these bosses in a unique way. However, there are always tips and tricks that work in any fight in Minecraft Dungeons, regardless of how you play. Here’s a list of all the essential tips for every boss fight, which should aid you in winning even on Apocalypse Difficulty.
On to the next fight
The evoker is the first boss you’ll come to face in Minecraft Dungeons, but it certainly won’t be the last. A total of four mini-bosses and four main bosses means you’ll need to stay on your toes and constantly evaluate the tactics of your opponents. Mini-bosses can pop up at any time, too, even in the middle of a tough fight, so mastering different ways to fight them is a big part of surviving until the next fight. It, ah,evokesa sense of determination, doesn’t it?
Minecraft grows up and and reaches out.
Minecraft Dungeons is the next saga in Minecraft’s story, and it looks like Mojang and Microsoft are hitting another one out of the park. Minecraft Dungeons combines the familiar world we all grew up on with an injection of Diablo, a whole lot of fun. Available on every platform you’re on, for a ridiculously tempting price, what’s not to love?
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Zachary Boddy (They / Them) is a Staff Writer for Windows Central, primarily focused on covering the latest news in tech and gaming, the best Xbox and PC games, and the most interesting Windows and Xbox hardware. They have been gaming and writing for most of their life starting with the original Xbox, and started out as a freelancer for Windows Central and its sister sites in 2019. Now a full-fledged Staff Writer, Zachary has expanded from only writing about all things Minecraft to covering practically everything on which Windows Central is an expert, especially when it comes to Microsoft. You can find Zachary on Twitter@BoddyZachary.