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R.E.P.O.’s Bowtie is maybe one of its strangest enemies. Looking like some kind of melted, armless confectionery mascot, it stomps around maps only to turn into a fan when it has decided it’s time to fight. Initially pretty intimidating, this creature is extremely manageable if you know what to expect.
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This article will discuss what the Bowtie can do, how best to fight it, and when you ought to just avoid it.
The Basics of the Bowtie
The Bowtie moves around the map while passive at a decent speed, making a stomping sound that’s pretty easy to hear at a distance. On occasion, it also runs and can deal damage to semibots and valuables it bumps into while in this running state (although this isn’t its primary method of attack). The creature identifies enemies by sight; upon turning aggressive, it will scrunch into a vaguely fan-shaped blob and start blowing blasts of wind in a forward-facing direction. It cannot adjust its position while in this state; it will eventually exit this fan mode and then run away.
The Bowtie has 100 Health and takes7 Strengthto lift. It is aDanger Level 2 monster, signaling it has a difficulty level roughly between weak enemies like the Apex Predator (the ducky) and stronger enemies likethe Trudge.Actual enemy difficulty is somewhat subjective, but this rating fits the difficulty of fighting the creature as experienced by players in the testing for this article.
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The Bowtie’s fan wind deals some direct damage to semibots, but this direct damage isn’t really the major threat of the attack. Getting hit by the blast makes a bot extremely likely to strike other surfaces and thus take collision damages, with the exact amount of damage you’re likely to take being difficult to predict but often being enough to die or be brought very close to death (assuming you are at the default maximum of 100 Health).
Fighting the Bowtie
As long as your crew isn’t caught by surprise, the Bowtie is very easy to fight with multiple people and relatively easy if fighting solo.The major weakness it has for you to exploit is that it locks into its fan attack.If you stay out of the blast, you can immediately punish this attack with either a melee weapon or whacking the monster with a weighty object (“medium” weight objects usually work best, like the Clown Doll). With 100 Health, it will die in only a couple hits with most weapons, meaning you’ll often only need to knock it down a single time to get the kill.
Even easier is usingexplosives or either lethal firearmin the game, as a hit with any of these weapons is generally going to kill in a single hit, with a kill basicallyguaranteedin two hits. You should also consider that the creature requiring7 Strengthto lift means it’s heavy but not extremely so. If you have the Strength (keeping in mind semibots can work together to lift heavier creatures and objects), then lifting it and bashing it or throwing it in a pit can be a free, easy way to land a kill.
Just keep in mind the upcoming Overcharge mechanic. Once implemented, this will mean holding heavy enemies too long will cause semibots to explode, reducing the value of the Strength bullying approach (which, at the time of writing, gets overpowered once a crew gets enough Strength upgrades).
Like any enemy, catching the Bowtie while it’s passive from behind is the best way to start a fight.In a more fair fight, you’ll want to try and quickly move to the side when it has turned aggressive.Once it has noticed a semibot, you need to expect its fan blast, treating the space in front of it as dangerous and keeping in mind that moving forward or back isn’t typically going to help dodge the blast. You should also attempt to keep the positions of any valuables in mind; the blast can blow items as well as bots, almost certainly severely damaging or outright shattering anything that gets in the way. Fighting the Bowtie near your C.A.R.T. is a good way to lose thousands of dollars in value.
Choosing Your Battles
The Bowtie is a “glass cannon” enemy; it’s got fairly low health that makes killing it pretty easy, but its wind blasts can deal heavy damage to you and your valuables.It can be especially dangerous in later levels, where large pits start to become pretty common and should never be fought in pit rooms if you can avoid doing so.At the same time, it isn’t likethe Huntsman, where a fight often means taking on considerable risk. Instead, attacking and killing the Bowtie is relatively easy, as long as you have something to quickly knock it down, and it doesn’t get its fan attack off (or you dodge the attack if it manages to start shooting air).
The Bowtie is most dangerous when it catches you by surprise; if you’re not ready for a fight and catch it in the corner of your eye or even just hear it without seeing it, it’s best to put some distance between you and the creature so that you can reorient yourself. Whether choosing fight or flight, keep in mind that its primary attack is a blast of wind that shoots forward and that it’s stationary while blowing air. Corners are your friend.
Overall, the Bowtie can actually be a pretty decent source of extra money because of its low health andrelativelylow difficulty. Just remember that the value of a dropped monster orb must be balanced out against the cost of the resources used in a kill.
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