Emperor Ing

The Emperor Ing is the eldest and strongest Ing in the Horde, their Alpha and Omega. He resides in the Sky Temple, with the main Ing energy controller. Samus Aran's battle with this evil monstrosity is depicted in Metroid Prime 2: Echoes. Being the very first Ing born from Dark Aether's creation, the Emperor Ing has been mutated and strengthened by Phazon energy and that from the Light of Aether. It is speculated that the Emperor, the first of the Ing race, was originally a Phaz-Ing chosen and mutated by the Leviathan which impacted Aether to serve as its guardian, and further altered by Dark Aether's poisonous, corrosive atmosphere. This is supported by the fact that its first form resembles an Inglet, a Phaz-Ing changed by dark energy. According to its scan, the Emperor Ing seems to be the only Ing to have absorbed Phazon, in which the creature is constantly exposed to; this explains its key physical differences from other Ing.

In the first stage of battle, Samus can scan the Body, Head, and Eye as separate creatures. To defeat this form, Samus must attack the tentacles the Emperor sprouts, preferably with the Annihilator Beam, since the shots will home in on the tentacles and are the most effective. However, this tactic costs considerable amounts of ammunition, so if not all expansions for the Dark/Light Beams have been collected, the battle could become a one-sided battle royale. The Emperor will use its tentacles to try and whip Samus into the Phazon pools that surround the arena where it is fought. When it swings its tentacles around, it is necessary to jump to avoid them. It can also create miniature portals, through which it shoves any remaining tentacles to impale Samus.

After all tentacles are burnt, the eyelid on the Eye that is the Head will retract, revealing the shielded Eye. The Eye has two half-spheres around it, and you must fire your weapon in the weak point, a narrow slit between the two half-spheres, and you must maneuver around it, since the slit rotates constantly. Favored tactics to destroy the Eye are to use Sonicbooms if ammunition is plentiful, or using Super Missiles sparsely to conserve ammo if scarce. In this stage, the Eye can fire a powerful laser that affects aim and prevents Samus from aim-locking into the Eye. This battle is reminiscent of Spore Spawn from Super Metroid. If Samus does not lower all of the Emperor's health in that round, she must once again damage the tentacles, until the Eye's health is depleted. In the second stage of battle, the Emperor swallows his body to become encased in a chrysalis. Samus must then use her Spider Ball to attach to the cocoon and Bomb the tentacles that emerge from the yellow spots dotting the chrysalis (this is also to avoid the poison gas the chrysalis generates). The preferred tactic to do this is to wait near next to the yellow spot until black bubbles emerge, then lay three bombs and roll away, leaving the tentacle to be destroyed by the blasts. Inglets appear now and then, and can be bombed for pickups. In Hard Mode, however, after a while, the poison gas levels rise and Inglets are no longer respawned, leaving Samus on top of the Emperor with no way to harm the tentacles without taking damage. Thus, the tentacles must be destroyed swiftly, and taking much too long, the entire room will fill with poisonous gas. After the chrysalis breaks, the true Emperor will emerge, mutated by Phazon.

The final form of the Emperor is apparently the easiest to damage but has the most devastating attacks. With a whole new health bar, the Emperor Ing's only weak spot is its very large eye, which it can close at will, and can change to protect a variety of beam attacks. While the Eye is orange, it cannot project any attacks, but when it is purple, it can create a powerful beam of shadow energy that freezes on contact and causes heavy damage, and when it is white, it can generate "light holes" that project devastating lasers of pure white energy. To recover health, it can spawn Nightbarbs or a previously un-encountered light-based creature, opposite to Nightbarbs, to consume as fodder. These can be destroyed by a mass area-affecting attack such as the Sonicboom for plenty of pickups. The Annihilator Beam hurts all shades, but can quickly cut through ammo. As an alternative strategy, Samus can use Super Missile for the orange eye, the Dark Beam for the white eye, and the Light Beam for the purple eye color. But, the Emperor can only be damaged when its eye is white or purple with the respective beams, while its orange eye stage is vulnerable to super missiles. His attacks in this stage include beam attacks reminiscent of Warrior Ing and a shockwave move similar to the Jump Guardian encountered in Dark Agon. A small hole on his back side is also damageable, but is incredibly difficult to hit, even if it can never be closed. When its energy is depleted, it dies, yielding the energy from the final Energy Controller and initiating the countdown sequence for the destruction of Dark Aether.

Logbook Entry

 * Emperor Ing Body: Bioscans indicate that this is the eldest, strongest Ing in the Horde, the alpha and the omega. It has absorbed enormous amounts of Phazon energy into its body, mutating itself in the process. Apparently this power is not enough for the creature, as it is now siphoning energy from the final Energy Controller.
 * Emperor Ing Head: Like its brethren, the Emperor Ing is a metamorph. It has molded itself around the precious Energy Controller, and will defend it to the death, using its own body as a shield and weapon. Destroy the tentacles it generates to weaken the creature and its defenses.
 * Emperor Ing Eye: The Emperor Ing has exposed its main eye, from which it can fire powerful energy beams. It is protected by an energy shield, although not completely. The eye can be looked onto, but only direct shots will get past the shield.
 * Emperor Ing Chrysalis: The heavily damaged Emperor Ing has entered a regenerative state inside a durable healing shell. Tactical scans have detected eleven weak points on the magnetically charged shell: Spider Ball travel is possible on the shell surface. Damage the weak spots with explosives to crack the shell and expose the enemy within.
 * Mutated Emperor Ing: Further exposure to Phazon has mutated the Emperor Ing. It is now capable of shielding its vulnerable areas with energy barriers. Beams of opposite polarity can damage these barriers, however. Heavy damage to these barriers will cause them to drop, exposing the creatures weak spots. Target the weak spots to immobilize and damage the enemy.

Trivia

 * Emperor Ing is the only boss in Metroid Prime 2: Echoes guarding the Light of Aether that does not reward Samus with a power-up after its defeat.
 * This is the music heard when battling the first and second forms of the Emperor Ing:.
 * This is the music heard when battling the final form of the Emperor Ing:.