Machines, Constructs, Humans, Punishing Virus, whatever comes of this ragged doll of a world, I have no interest... I exist to protect Miss Luna and ensure her wishes are fulfilled. That is all.
ーRoland
Roland is a major boss enemy introduced in Chapter 3.
Gameplay Information
Skillset
Note: The following skill list includes all skills denoted in Roland's Phantom Pain Cage arsenal. However, this list does not necessarily encompass all of his attacks. See Combat Behavior for more information.
Scorched Earth: Bends the battlefield to his will, causing enemies on the battlefield to continuously take extra damage.
Explosive Barrel: Roland hooks an explosive barrel and detonates it mid-air, dealing heavy damage.
Flying Man: Roland pulls himself into the air with his chain blade, dropping powerful bombs on the enemy.
Scythe Form: Roland swings his chain blade, unleashing a powerful shockwave.
Fire: Roland fire his shotgun at an enemy.
Jump Slash: Roland leaps in front and swipes at the enemy.
Bullet Kick: Roland kicks the enemy multiple times, dealing damage and knocking them away.
Combat Behavior
Roland generally has three behavior sets that he will shift through at certain HP thresholds. In some encounters with him, he will not have access to all three.
Roland will always have access to this behavior set.
While this behavior set is active, Roland's attacks will be limited to Jump Slash, Bullet Kick, Fire, and two additional unlisted attacks, Double Swipe and Chop. Jump Slash, Double Swipe, and Chop are limited in range and highly choreographed, while Bullet Kick connects much faster.
When not currently using an attack, Roland will always slowly walk towards the active player character. When the player character is at a certain mid-range distance from him, he will always use his Fire attack.
Roland will gain access to this behavior set below ~66% HP. It will have limited use, and he will actively shift between it and his Basic set as his attacks accumulate cooldown.
While this behavior set is active, Roland will use his Scythe Form skills. There are a total of three Scythe Form attacks, all of which gain substantial range and deal heavy damage.
Whirlwind: Thrusts his weapon forward, creating a wide-area vortex in front of him, then launches a forward-moving shockwave. This attack is capable of damaging player characters in close proximity to him, even if they are not in the primary vortex path.
Triple Swing: Stands steady and swings his weapon three times, covering a wide range in front of him.
Circle Slider: Spins and slides forward, swinging his weapon around him twice. This attack's range will encompass a wide circle around Roland.
Roland will also use another attack, Pillar Launcher, when at medium to long distance from the player character during this time. This will cause three pillars to rise from the ground underneath his target. If Pillar Launcher successfully knocks the player character into the air, Roland will follow up by teleporting to the target and then performing an aerial downward strike.
Roland will gain access to this behavior set below ~33% HP. He will actively shift between this set and his other two sets as his attacks accumulate cooldown.
While this set is active, Roland will frequently use his Flying Man and Explosive Barrel skills. Notably, he will always use Flying Man when the player character is near him. If the player character chases him to his landing position before Flying Man's animation completes, he will use it again. Once he gains sufficient distance from his target, he will use Explosive Barrel.
Trivia
Upon the release of Evernight Beat, this enemy received a sprite and animation renewal.
