Echidna

Echidna is the Guardian of the Hall of Malice.

Glossary Entry
''Echidna was the final attempt of the 3rd Children's plan to replicate La-Mulana. Originally, the plan was to replicate the Mother's ability to create life, but she acquired the technology for creating chimeras, and became a mother of monstrosities, instead. To regain her power she has been returned to infancy and is sleeping; growing as time passes.''

Revealing the Ankh
To reveal the Ankh you need to defeat all the room guards in the awakened Hall of Malice.

Mechanics
As hinted at in her glossary entry she has a unique mechanic in that as time passes she grows stronger. This is realised in her having 5 different forms, of which you encounter 2 of depending on the in-game time when you fight her.

Lv1: Child Echidna, Adult Echidna 1 (transitions at 33% health)

Lv2: Adult Echidna 1, Adult Echidna 2 (transitions at 66% health)

Lv3: Adult Echidna 2, Adult Echidna 3 (transitions at 66% health)

Lv4: Adult Echidna 3, Old Echidna (transitions at 66% health)

Level 1: 0 hours - 3 hours

Level 2: 3 hours - 15 hours

Level 3: 15 hours - 35 hours

Level 4: 35+ hours

Her attack pattern is altered depending on her form.

In her child form she has an unique ramming attack.

For an explanation how the stats below scale visit Difficulty

Health
256-320

Attacks

 * Contact damage
 * Damage: 40-52 (16 as child)
 * Damage from making contact with her


 * Contact damage (Arms)
 * Damage: 8-12
 * Damage from making contact with her arms (unconfirmed)


 * Beam Turret
 * Damage: 4-8
 * Speed: 4-5
 * Turrets attached to the frame Echidna is attached to, firing laser beams


 * Black Hall
 * Damage: 32-64
 * She charges up and releases a large and slow moving sphere


 * Homing
 * Damage: 16-24
 * She sweeps her arm in an arc, releasing homing spheres


 * Arm Guns
 * Damage: 16
 * Speed: 3.0-3.3
 * An array of gun barrels come out of her arms and spray a barrage of bullets.


 * Final Beam
 * Damage: 80-160
 * She charges up 4 powerful beams from her turrets and mouth, which she then slowly turns around.


 * Tackle (Child only)
 * Damage: 16
 * Exclusive to child form, she simply rams into the player

Strategy
She can just barely be damaged from the floor with a well-timed double jump and axe swing. Benefit to this strategy is that it limits how much platforming you have to do mid-fight. Flares and bombs may also work wonders. You can avoid damage from the Arm Gun attack by running to the bottom left or right corners and crouching with the Angel Shield. The damage from many of her projectiles can be reduced by equipping the Mekuri Master and La-Mulana 2 applications.