Helmeted Iceweavil

The Helmeted Iceweavil is the third major boss in Pikmin Forever, found in the final room of the Flurry Shelter in the Forbidding Precipice. It is a gigantic hairy insect with a pronged proboscis and has a head and thorax covered in ice.

The Helmeted Iceweavil flies around and attacks in three ways, depending on its health. At full health, it kicks the ball toward Pikmin and leaders, then slowly flies over to retrieve it. Once a quarter of its health is depleted, it will continue this behavior while also shooting jets of frigorific water that freeze on contact. Once two-thirds of its health are gone, it will clamber behind its ball of ice and roll it around, following Pikmin to crush them. When Pikmin are attacking, it can shake them off and blow a refrigerant wind that slows Pikmin until they are whistled enough. If its ice ball is destroyed, this and its ice jets will be its only means of attack.

Strategy to defeat
Winged Pikmin are the key to this battle. Once the Helmeted Iceweavil kicks its ball of ice, dodge to the side and then send in Winged Pikmin to chase the beast. If enough Pikmin weigh it down, it will slow and eventually fall to the ground, revealing an exposed underbelly. Pikmin should be quickly whistled away when it begins to get up, however, or they will be doused in refrigerant that will temporarily slow them down.

Once the Iceweavil begins shooting frozen jets, Lichen Pikmin come into play. Lichen Pikmin can break down these ice obstacles and thus rescue frozen Pikmin, and they can also break down the ice ball while the Helmeted Iceweavil is not kicking it. They should try to shrink it as much as possible before the Iceweavil begins rolling it around: if they are able to destroy the ice ball, the Iceweavil will not create a new one.

Whether or not the ice ball is destroyed, the Helmeted Iceweavil is on the ground for the latter third of the battle, so combat-heavy Pikmin are recommended. Lichen Pikmin or Rock Pikmin can destroy the ice helmet around the Iceweavil's thorax, leaving its head vulnerable to higher damage. Any Pikmin can latch onto its abdomen but it will take many hits, or a substantial amount of hits from Mushroom Pikmin, to flip it over. If it has its ice ball at this point it will continually roll the ball towards Pikmin, disallowing Lichen Pikmin from breaking it down. The Dodge Whistle upgrade, received from the Tweet Compass in the Daybreak Glade, is recommended here: it allows Iceweavil to be flanked while it adjusts its rolling attack. The ice ball is not a perfect sphere, so it does not roll very quickly; keeping the Pikmin army in motion at all times will prevent the creature from being able to crush them.

Once the Helmeted Iceweavil is defeated, it drops the Destructicore and the KHA Lander becomes accessible.

Olimar's notes

 * "The largest known member of the coiffurid family, the helmeted iceweavil collects the liquids it consumes in a large frozen ball, to store nutrients and to wield as an excavating tool. To maintain the ball's temperature, the iceweavil is outfitted with an absorbent chamber to vaporize ammonia as a refrigerant. Thus it can usually be found in hypothermic climates, drinking rainwater and scavenging for snow to insulate its den. The abundance of iceweavils in any given ecosystem leads to heavy competition for ice, and one can employ its ice ball as a defensive weapon against the unwary observer."