The Duke of Flies

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The Duke of Flies is a boss that can be encountered in the Basement.

Behavior

The Duke coughs out regular Flies and Attack Flies around him and floats around the screen in random directions, while bouncing off of walls. He takes a large amount of knockback from Isaac's tears.

The Duke coughs out regular flies for defense and will keep doing so if you continue destroying them. These flies will circle around him. If he has too many flies around him, he can blow them away at high speeds, which will cause them to follow Isaac.

Once he has sufficient defensive flies, he will proceed to spawn attack flies instead, which are stronger and poised to attack the player from the start.

Strategies

Actually getting your shots through to him is the most challenging part of this encounter, and that can be accomplished in a few main ways:

• Firing through the gaps in his shield will make it easier to kill him.
• A single Bomb will clear out most of the flies, and deal a very large amount of damage to him.
• The boss gets significantly harder if you can't land your shots right away. The green champion variation is particularly dangerous as shooting down Moters will make it very easy to get hit.
• When the Duke starts spitting up Large Attack Flies, focus on them when they appear to keep things under control.
• If you get swarmed by his Flies, it is always a good idea to leave the Duke alone and concentrate on his spawns. While this will not damage the Duke in any way, ignoring the flies for too long can lead to so many of them that they become too much to handle.
• Having Skatole will grant immunity against all of his flies, all but guaranteeing a win.

Notes

• The Duke of Flies has three distinct sounds that he uses before an attack. Learning what these are will help when fighting him.
  • One sound for spawning Black Flies.
  • One sound for spawning Attack Flies.
  • One sound for releasing some defensive flies to attack Isaac.

Champion Varieties

Orange

Larger than the original Duke of Flies. Instead of spawning Large Attack Flies, he spawns Suckers.

Green

Shoots blood in all directions when he coughs, and spawns Moters instead of Attack Flies.

Gallery

The Duke of Flies in the Artbook. (Scan provided by Kisspower12)

The Duke of Flies right before vomiting flies.

The green champion variation in Basement 2.

The Duke of Flies as seen on Isaac's Last Will.

Orange Version of Duke of Flies

Green Version of The Duke of Flies

Trivia

• The name "the Duke of Flies" is not a reference to Beelzebub, Edmund was unaware of this connection and simply chose the name because it 'sounded neat' as he stated on tumblr
• The protective ring of insects the Duke spits out to surround himself with is referred to as the Halo Of Flies, just like the item Isaac can pick up to protect himself with orbiting flies.
• The Duke was confirmed to be Edmund McMillen's portrayal of the Pokémon Koffing.
• The stitching below the Duke's mouth appears very similar to an autopsy stitch - a Y-shaped incision that allows access to the cadaver's organs that is then stitched back up when the autopsy is complete.

Video

The Binding Of Isaac THE DUKE OF FLIES