The Highlander Aludran Reptiloid is a large and dangerous species of Aludran Reptiloid that is encountered in several games in the Serious Sam franchise. It serves as a boss in Serious Sam: The Random Encounter.
A much larger and rarer variant of the Highlander exists, known as the Highlander's Bride.
Overview[]
The Highlander is a massive, four-handed reptilian creature that originates from a planet in the Aludran System of Canis Major. They are, so far, the largest Reptiloids encountered in the series (Highlander's Bride are larger, however). They are members of a primitive race that evolved from a strange hexapodal group of reptiles.[1] Their race was discovered by Mental, who gave them magical powers in exchange for them to join his army. The spells granted to them by the latter are more superior and powerful than those cast by Common Aludran Reptiloids.
Appearances[]
Whenever they appear, Highlanders usually spawn away from the player and start walking towards them while constantly shooting fireballs. A few of them also appear in secrets in both Serious Sam: The First Encounter and Serious Sam: The Second Encounter.
In The First Encounter, Highlanders are very rare, only appearing alone most of the time. They appear in Valley of the Kings (one, as a boss), in Moon Mountains, Oasis (in co-op on higher difficulties), Dunes (on higher difficulties), the generous yard in Karnak, and The Great Pyramid (in co-op on higher difficulties). In The Second Encounter, they are rather more common, albeit mainly in secrets, and they can appear even in pairs on higher difficulties. Two Highlanders spawn in Sierra de Chiapas on higher difficulties (in the HD and VR remakes), 2 spawn in Serpent Yards, and there are 3 (in singleplayer) or 6 (in co-op) Highlanders in just The Grand Cathedral.
In the Bright Island campaign for Serious Sam Classics: Revolution, the Highlander is still rare but slightly more common, appearing from Ruins of the Abyss onwards after the player has survived the first encounter with the Dominant Bio-mechanoid. There are three Highlanders in just Tropical Bluffs, two of which appear at the end to support the Highlander's Bride that appears as the final enemy.
In Serious Sam: The Random Encounter, Highlanders usually appear on later levels.
Behavior and skills[]
A Highlander casting fireballs at Sam in Serious Sam HD.
Highlanders are much more dangerous than Common Aludran Reptiloids. They have more health, which grants them high endurance to most weaponry, and their fireballs deal more damage and are fired in bursts of three. Another trait that makes them dangerous is that they enter a 'berserk' state when damaged below a specific amount of health (usually 1000 HP), causing them to shoot twice as many fireballs per burst. They are also very fast for their size, and can easily catch up with the player, even if they spawn far away.
Upon noticing the target, the Highlander will fire a burst of self-guided fireballs at the player. They will shoot a burst of three fireballs normally, but when enraged, they will fire six fireballs in rapid succession. Should the target get too close, the Highlander will resort to a powerful punch. This attack is far more powerful than their fireballs, and so the Highlander should be taken out from a safe distance rather than up close unless the player has an Invulnerability powerup that has been recently activated.
The Highlander's fireballs have weak homing abilities, but will explode when impacting with a surface or wall, unlike the common Reptiloid's energy balls. Their punch, dealing at least 80 points of damage, is incredibly deadly and can either instantly kill or severely wound the player on higher difficulties. In The First Encounter and Revolution, the Highlander's fireballs have the same characteristics as that of the common Reptiloid's fireballs — they won't bolt straight at the player but will travel in a slow, spinning trajectory and can take sharper turns. This can actually make them difficult to destroy and/or dodge due to their sheer numbers, especially when the Highlander's health is low. They can, however, also be shot down by any weapon, just like those fired by the Common Reptiloids, but they noticeably can take more damage before being destroyed. In The Second Encounter, the Highlander shoots lava balls which travel at an incredibly high speed, exhibit weak tracking capabilities, and follow an arced trajectory straight at the player, exploding upon impact with either the player, the ground, or a hard surface, such as a wall. Like the lava balls cast by the Fiendian Reptiloid Demon, they can only be destroyed or deflected with explosive weapons or the XL2 Lasergun.
Tactics[]
Serious Sam 1[]
- The SBC Cannon is ultimately the best weapon aside from the rocket launcher when fighting Highlanders. It usually takes around three to five cannonballs to kill one. Just to be sure to be constantly strafe when using the cannon against them. The cannon is even more effective against a Highlander with Serious Damage active, requring only two fully-charged cannonballs to kill one.
- However, in the classic version of The Second Encounter, the Highlander has an alarmingly high 67% damage resistance to cannonballs, which makes the cannon only effective either with Serious Damage active or as a last resort.
- Constantly strafe in one direction when facing a Highlander. The Highlander cannot hit the player as long as they are constantly moving. These tactics, however, might not be very effective in the classic version of The First Encounter — the player just needs to eliminate it as fast as possible.
- If the player needs to change direction while dodging, switch direction as soon as a fireball hits the ground. The delay between the fireballs, even when it's firing them fast, is large enough that the player can switch directions without having a fireball hit the player while they're changing direction.
- Bombarding the Highlander with the XPML21 Rocket Launcher works well. Just face the Highlander and hold down the fire key, and the sheer number of rockets fired will eventually overwhelm the Highlander, even if a few hit the Highlander's fireballs instead of the actual Highlander.
- In The First Encounter and Revolution, the XM214-A Minigun might be the best choice for taking down a Highlander when available if the player has enough bullets to spare, as the player can shoot down all the fireballs whilst they're being fired and keep it under constant fire.
- In The First Encounter and Revolution, however, Highlanders should be considered very high-priority targets due to the homing capabilities of their fireballs. As noted above, in the classic version of The Second Encounter, they are very resistant to cannonballs.
- When using Serious Damage, rapid-firing weapons like the minigun or XL2 Lasergun or strong weapons such as the rocket launcher or MK III Grenade Launcher or, failing that, the Double Barrel Coach Gun are ideal for killing a Highlander. Just five Serious Damage-boosted rockets or grenades will deal enough damage to kill a Highlander.
- Never let a Highlander get too close as its melee attack is very powerful and has a long reach.
- Highlanders should be medium-priority targets among other dangerous enemies, such as Major Bio-mechanoids or Fiendian Reptiloid Demons. If they are very far away, their projectiles are easy to dodge, especially in The Second Encounter and HD where they do not home in on the player. Nevertheless, they should be higher-priority targets the closer they get.
- In Revolution, the CDF-ST-005 Plasmathrower is very effective against Highlanders. Using the alternate fire mode on Highlanders will severely damage them even from far away, as their size makes it easy for all 8 projectiles to hit them.
- The large splash radius of their fireballs means they can still do a medium amount of damage even if it isn't a direct impact. Always make sure to be strafing in the opposite direction of their fireballs, or else there's a high chance that the splash damage from their fireballs will hurt the player.
- Because of how deadly their fireballs are, the Highlander should be one of the first enemies targeted in a firefight.
- If fighting a Highlander one on one, the RAPTOR Sniper Rifle zoomed in can do a lot of damage per shot. It shouldn't be used if there are other enemies nearby because of the long amount of time between shots and the fact it can only hit one enemy at a time.
- Their speed makes them very deadly in close-quarters. If one is in a close-quarters area, then it should be the primary target because of its speed and high melee damage.
Serious Sam: Next Encounter[]
- Anything weaker than the minigun will barely dent the Highlander. A volley of seven rockets, two charged up shots from the cannon, and sustained fired from the Sirian Power Gun usually works best against the Highlander. Other weapons will not work as well.
Serious Sam: The Random Encounter[]
- Use Serious Speed whenever there is a chance in order to get close it and eliminate the Highlander quickly.
Related achievements[]
Serious Sam Classics: Revolution[]
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| Kill the Highlander in Valley of the Kings. |
Trivia[]
- In the classic releases, the Highlander will play an "anger" animation with an accompanying "anger" sound effect after receiving enough damage to signal its angry phase. This also applies to the Highlander's Bride.
- The Highlander's projectile behavior can be applied to any projectile in the Serious Editor by setting its SS1 projectile type to "Beast big".
Gallery[]
Serious Sam 1[]
Serious Sam: Next Encounter[]
Serious Sam: The Random Encounter[]
List of appearances[]
- Serious Sam: The First Encounter (First appearance)
- Serious Sam: The Second Encounter
- Serious Sam: Xbox (non-canonical appearance)
- Serious Sam: Next Encounter (non-canonical appearance)
- Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter
- Serious Sam HD: The Second Encounter
- Serious Sam 3: BFE (Mentioned)
- Serious Sam: The Random Encounter (non-canonical appearance)
- Serious Sam VR: The First Encounter
- Serious Sam VR: The Second Encounter
- Serious Sam Classics: Revolution (non-canonical appearance)
References[]
- ↑ Serious Sam 3: BFE Aludran Reptiloid NETRICSA description