The Overgrown Colossus is the miniboss of the Mossy Temple, a stone giant wrapped in moss that sleeps on the mound in the middle of the ruin, out in Jungle and Sparse Jungle. It has 170 health and 10 armor, takes at most 21 from any hit, and every swing that lands throws you up and knocks your 
Shield out.
It’s the only source of the 
Nature Crystal. The two things that beat people are the Poison Nova, which heals it while it hurts you, and the healing it does the moment you back off, so fight it on the mound, stay in its face, and it goes down to a fast sword in a couple of minutes.
Location
The Overgrown Colossus only exists inside the Mossy Temple, which generates on the surface in Jungle and Sparse Jungle, plus a handful of modded jungles. Every temple places exactly one, asleep on the raised mound in the center, and nothing else spawns it. The 
Eye Of Moss, an 
Ender Pearl inside four 
Moss Blocks, flies toward the nearest temple.
Finding the temple gives the advancement Covered in Moss, and the kill gives The Mossy Beast. The locate command below does the same job as the eye if your world has commands on.
It sleeps until it can see a player within about 15 blocks of the mound, and while it sleeps it takes no damage and accepts no potion effect. Once it stirs it’s up in a second, so cross that line with your gear on and your food eaten rather than the other way round. There are no 
Chests in the temple to distract you, only 
Suspicious Gravel.
It gets the same biomes from Biomes O’ Plenty’s Rain Forest and four of the Oh The Biomes We’ve Gone jungles if those mods are installed. In a vanilla world it’s the two Jungle types and nothing else.
Behavior
Awake, the Colossus is a slow, wide hitter that won’t get pushed around and won’t let you hide. Every melee hit launches you and disables your Shield for 5 or 6 seconds, its charge smashes through walls, and its Poison Nova heals it off your health. The one mercy is that all of the melee sweeps the front, so its sides and back are the safe ground.
Attacks
Its whole kit runs on cooldowns, so what you see is the overhead slam until the others come off timer. The table has the numbers on Normal difficulty, and the launch on every arm hit is the reason to keep the fight away from ledges.
| Attack | Reach | Damage | What to Know |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overhead Slam | 6 blocks | 16 | Its default swing, a 180 degree front sweep, Shield off 6 seconds |
| Ground Smash | 5 blocks | 15 | Wide front sweep on an 8 second cooldown, Shield off 6 seconds |
| Uppercut | 4.75 blocks | 15 | Dashes in first, narrow 120 degree arc, breaks blocks around it |
| Charge | 15 block start | 10, plus 4 per trail hit | Rears back for a second, runs through walls, leaves a trail of Poison |
| Poison Nova | 6.5 blocks | 7 per ring hit | Three pulses of rings, Poison III for 4 seconds, heals it 2 per hit |
The charge is the one that starts from range, as it winds up from 15 blocks away and covers the ground in about a second. Anything within 2.5 blocks during the run takes 10 and a shove, and the Poison shockwaves it drops every few steps sit for 3 seconds with 4 damage and Poison III on them. Step off its line early, because it doesn’t turn once it’s moving.
The Poison Nova is three pulses about a second and a half apart, each a set of rings spreading from its feet out to 6.5 blocks. Every ring that touches you does 7, puts Poison III on you for 4 seconds and gives it 2 health back, and the Poison lands whether or not a Shield stops the hit. It’ll only start inside 8 blocks, so the answer is distance.
The uppercut and the smash are the punish moves, both on cooldowns and both thrown when you’re standing in front of it inside 5 blocks. The uppercut comes with a dash, so a step back on its own isn’t enough, and it cracks the blocks around it as it swings. None of the melee reaches behind it, which is where you should be.
Special Mechanics
Every hit you land is capped at 21, so a fast Diamond or 
Netherite Sword with Sharpness beats anything slow and heavy, and its 10 armor shaves a little more off weak weapons. It also ticks up 1 health every second or so on its own, which is nothing during the fight and everything if you stall.
Arrows, 
Tridents, thrown Potions and lingering clouds all do nothing to it, and neither does fall damage or standing in fire. Instant Damage Potions count as magic and bounce too. Melee and the 
Mossy Hammer‘s own Poison are what work, and you have to be level with it, since it takes nothing while you’re more than 4 blocks above or below it.
Lose its attention for 3 seconds and it heals 20 health every three quarters of a second until it’s full. Leave it alone for 13 seconds while it’s more than 15 blocks from its mound and it teleports straight back there, so there’s no kiting it out of the temple and no chipping it from the treeline.
Drops
The Overgrown Colossus always drops one Nature Crystal, which lands glowing on the mound, and it’s worth 100 experience. There’s nothing else in the drop and Looting won’t change that, so a second crystal means a second temple. The Nature Crystal is the middle of three recipes and each of them wants its own.
Overgrown Colossus Drops
Nature Crystal The Mossy Hammer is a Pickaxe and a weapon with a Poison slam, the 
Mossy Chestplate throws Poison clouds on a key press, and the 
Totem Of Moss summons a Mossy Golem that fights beside you and hurries crops along. The Totem is the one most people build first, because the Golem hands the Totem back whenever it dies.
Each recipe is one Nature Crystal with common vanilla materials around it, so the crystal is the whole cost. Pick before you craft, as there’s no way to get it back out, and the Hammer and Chestplate keep theirs for good.
Strategy
Bring a fast sword with Sharpness, Feather Falling boots for the launches, and two 
Milk Buckets for the Poison, then fight it on the mound where the ground is flat. Circle to its side or back between swings and hit it there, because every melee move it has covers the front only. Keep the fight moving and never step out of its range to heal.
When it rears back for the charge, step sideways off its line and let it go past, then close in while it recovers. When it plants for the nova, get 7 blocks out, wait for the third pulse, and come back in, since the rings are what heal it and the damage you take from them is the least of the problem.
If you have a Shield, hold it for the charge and nothing else, as the melee knocks it out for 5 or 6 seconds a time and you’ll spend the fight with it down. A second Colossus is far easier once you own the Mossy Hammer, whose slam poisons it and doesn’t care about the damage cap.
FAQ
Asleep on the central mound of the Mossy Temple, which generates on the surface in Jungle and Sparse Jungle biomes. Craft an Eye Of Moss from four Moss Blocks around an Ender Pearl and throw it, or use the locate command for the temple, and keep your distance until you’re ready because it’ll wake at about 15 blocks.
Two reasons, and both come down to you backing off. Its Poison Nova gives it 2 health for every ring that touches you, and once it has had no target for 3 seconds it heals 20 health every three quarters of a second until it’s full. Stay out of the rings and stay in the fight.
One Nature Crystal every kill, with no roll and no Looting scaling, plus 100 experience. The crystal is the centerpiece of the Mossy Hammer, the Mossy Chestplate and the Totem Of Moss, one crystal per item, so you’ll be back for another Colossus if you want more than one of them.
No, it ignores Arrows and Tridents by default, and thrown Potions and lingering clouds do nothing either. It also takes no damage while you stand more than 4 blocks above or below it, so pillaring up over it just switches your hits off. Melee on level ground is the only way through, so leave the Bow at home.
