Boss battles are battles that spawn bosses. They differ heavily from Arena Battles. All levels with boss fights are marked as boss missions ().
Spawning
Boss battles spawn in certain areas in certain levels. These levels include the Soggy Swamp, Desert Temple, Fiery Forge, Obsidian Pinnacle, ??? (Secret), Overgrown Temple, Lone Fortress,Gale Sanctum, Abyssal Monument, and the Broken Citadel.
Behavior
Boss battles are different from Arena Battles. They only spawn one mob: the boss. Bosses are much stronger than common mobs. They are capable of tanking hundreds of damage, and able to deal tons of damage with a single hit. They are also capable of summoning minions (usually common mobs) to help them out with their battle against the player (one exception is the Heart of Ender). The minions depend on what boss the player is facing. The Corrupted Cauldron summons Pink Slimes, the Nameless One summons Skeleton Vanguards, the Redstone Monstrosity spawns Redstone Cubes, the Arch-Illager summons Vindicators, Pillagers and Redstone Golems, the Mooshroom Monstrosity summons mooshrooms, the Jungle Abomination summons Whisperers and Leapleaves, the Wretched Wraith summons Strays and Wraiths, the Tempest Golem summons Squall Golems, and the Ancient Guardian summons Guardians, and Elder Guardians. No matter what, boss fights are always announced by the game. When bosses die, their loot drops directly from their corpse.
Trivia
- Although boss battles are different from arena battles, there is one battle that is commonly confused for a boss fight: the end of the Redstone Mines. There's an arena there that when entered, spawns a Redstone Golem immediately.
- ??? is the only secret level with a boss battle, though a few other secret levels have arena battles that spawn bosses.
- Flames of the Nether is the only DLC that lacks a boss battle, though it does have arena battles that spawn bosses.