Plasm Wraith

The Plasm Wraith is the final boss in Pikmin 3 and is responsible for capturing Captain Olimar. It is a virtually featureless and vaguely-humanoid Waterwraith-like being made entirely out of an unknown gelatinous substance, which allows it to split different parts of its body off to create other semi-independent entities or even change shapes.

The Wraith is encountered at the Formidable Oak, having taken Olimar captive with what appears to be curiosity rather than maliciousness. Efforts to rescue Olimar cause the being to enter an alternate form and slowly crawl towards the explorers, attempting to retake him, until it reaches the outside of the oak. Once this occurs, the Wraith assumes its original form, detains Olimar in its nucleus and begins to attack, starting the final boss fight. Defeating the Wraith immediately activates the game's ending.

As with all final bosses thus far, the path leading up to it and/or the boss fight itself requires the knowledge and use of every single Pikmin type.

Background
When Olimar first arrived at the Formidable Oak, he saw a shiny golden substance at the top of the tower, and decided to investigate. Louie expressed discomfort and chose to stay behind, letting Olimar go on ahead without him.

At first, the Plasm Wraith was curious and playful towards Olimar and did no harm to him. However, when Olimar tried to leave, it became hostile, triggering his suit's auto-sleep function and dragging him back to its cave. It became protective of Olimar to the point that it would attack anything that showed interest in him. The exact reason for this bizarre behavior remains unclear.

Defeat Bosses!
The Plasm Wraith is also the final opponent in Defeat Bosses!. Players are given 12 minutes to take it out and 100 Pikmin, which can be found around the arena. The path that leads to where the Onion is in story mode is blocked off by a "keep out" sign. The cave exit is not blocked off, but it cannot be entered at all, unless glitches are used. There are 20 of each Pikmin type, 10 of each type in the ground to be plucked, and 10 of each type already in the squad. Players can control Alph (player 1's starting leader), Brittany (player 2's starting leader), and Charlie. Their order in Pikmin 3 is Alph, Brittany, Charlie, and in Pikmin 3 Deluxe the order is Brittany, Charlie, Alph.

The following table lists what medal the player gets according to the time they take:

Strategy
After the Plasm Wraith assumes its original form and recaptures Olimar, proceed to throw Pikmin at its stomach. This will cause small bits of its plasmic exterior to fall off, making its health go down. However, Pikmin must then attack the puddles of plasm on the floor to destroy them, or the Wraith will simply reabsorb the puddles and regenerate health. Although it is not necessary, you may take 20 of each Pikmin for the battle. Send the other two leaders out of its reach, as this fight only requires one leader.

Be prepared to lose a lot of Pikmin during this phase of the battle. It will actively attack Pikmin, but mainly prefers to target the leaders and attack when they are close, by skewering them with a rapid "needle-arm" attack. If any Pikmin aside from Rock Pikmin are in range of this attack, they will be skewered and eaten. You can use one leader as a distraction, and have another handle all the Pikmin, but this may be difficult to manage. While it is doing this attack, it is unwise to attack it head-on, as it will not be fazed by attacks, and can easily kill the Pikmin. Instead, throw just a few Pikmin at it, preferably its backside, until it tries to shake Pikmin off by twisting its body. This will cause additional plasm to fly off of its body. As it loses more and more plasm, it decreases in size; this is the key to winning the fight.

It can also become temporarily airborne, during which it can be reached by Winged Pikmin, or, with some effort, Yellow Pikmin. If it is hit with enough Pikmin while flying, it will fall down, losing even more plasm as it hits the ground.

Elemental Plasms
After a quarter of its health is depleted, the Plasm Wraith will attack by spewing large masses of plasm onto the arena, then spitting out a small patterned cube. The plasmic mass will form around this solid cube and transform into an Elemental Plasm. Each Elemental Plasm has a specific hazard associated with it. If the Wraith spits out a cube, quickly call all Pikmin away from it. The less plasm in the Elemental Plasm, the less time is needed to destroy it. It has many forms, each of which can only be destroyed with certain Pikmin types:


 * A bubble of water, with the cube in the middle. Blue Pikmin must be thrown in, so they can swim to the core and shatter it. Other Pikmin will gain a bubble of water on their stem if they touch the hazard, and will suffocate if not called back.
 * A bed of fire surrounding the cube. Red Pikmin are recommended, but Rock Pikmin can get the job done as well, provided they are whistled back before they burn to death upon touching it.
 * An electrical sphere. The Elemental Plasm will form a spike underneath the cube, setting it high up in the air, and will then generate an electric barrier around it, making it resemble a . Only Yellow Pikmin can reach high enough and sustain the forcefield, though Rock Pikmin can destroy it if they're thrown as it's forming.
 * A crystal cube with the Elemental Plasm inside. The cube slowly tumbles around the stage, crushing Pikmin. Only Rock Pikmin can break it, chipping away different shards at a time.

Destroying Elemental Plasms will leave behind a large amount of plasm that must also be destroyed. If they are left there for longer than 20 seconds after being initially spat out, the Wraith will reabsorb them to heal itself. When the Wraith has been reduced to just a quarter of its health, it will create three Elemental Plasms at once.

No deaths
Despite this being a very difficult boss, it is possible to beat it without any Pikmin lost. To make things simpler, use one leader at a time, but be sure to switch leaders when the current one's suit is very damaged. Bring out as many Rock Pikmin as you have, preferably flowered, since (as stated above) they are the only Pikmin immune to the Wraith's stabbing attack and cannot be crushed by the elemental plasm. This method can make the battle take two days, but one is possible. For the first phase, simply pummel it and the plasm that falls off. Once a quarter of plasm is lost, the battle gets more difficult as it shoots Elemental Plasms. The list below shows what to do for each one: After its health is lowered enough, it will have been beaten. Try to keep the Rock Pikmin in your group and organized, as having Pikmin all over the arena will possibly make some perish. Whistle any that get knocked to the ground, that are burning, suffocating or paralyzed. After the cutscene ends, you will have completed the fight without deaths.
 * If it is a Fire Plasm, attack the core with Rock Pikmin until it breaks apart. Quickly whistle the ones that are burning. Then, attack the remaining plasm.
 * If it is an Electric Plasm, you are given a brief window to throw Rock Pikmin at the core before the electricity field spawns in and it floats too high for them to reach. If you miss your chance, just try to avoid it, as the electricity will paralyze your Pikmin and possibly knock them back into other hazards.
 * If it is a Water Plasm, Rock Pikmin have no way of attacking it at all, so ignore it completly and take extra care to whistle any Pikmin suffocating, otherwise they will die.
 * If it is a Crystal Plasm, break the crystal until it melts into plasm, which you should then destroy.

Smaller squad
If a large group of Pikmin is too difficult to keep track of, another option would be to bring around 40 Rock Pikmin instead. This should reduce the risk of casualties from any Elemental Plasm. A smaller group is a bit more manageable, but will not be quite as powerful as a full group, and thus may make the battle take slightly longer. This strategy should help reduce the amount of Rock Pikmin that are idle or affected by a hazard, as a smaller squad of Pikmin has less of a risk of being hit. Otherwise, it is recommended to follow the "No deaths" instructions above along with the "Smaller squad" strategy if you are attempting a zero death challenge.

Badges
In, there is a badge the player can gain for defeating the Plasm Wraith and finishing the game:
 * Safe and Sound: Defeating the Plasm Wraith.

In Super Smash Bros. series
The Plasm Wraith appears in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U as a collectible trophy and as a Smash Tour trophy. When used in Smash Tour before a battle, it heals the player every time they shield an attack.

The Plasm Wraith appears as a Primary Spirit in. It can only be obtained by summoning with cores from Hakkun, Eddy, and any two Neutral cores. It lowers the fighters speed.

Trivia

 * In the Japanese version of the game, there appears to be a more direct connection to the Waterwraith than in the English version, given that their Japanese names both include the name "Amebito" which translates to "Candy Man", much like all Bulborbs include "Dememadara" which translates to "Bug-eye Spots" and can be considered as an equivalent to Grub-Dog. This required the Plasm Wraith to receive a scientific name that included the Amphibio genus present in the Waterwraith's scientific name. Given that Japanese names were localized into scientific names for overseas versions, the absence of a scientific name for the Plasm wraith, thus, can arguably be considered a mistake.
 * The Plasm Wraith is the only enemy in the PS undefined to have an "unknown" scientific name.
 * Although, there are plants like the Shoot and the plant the Leech Hydroe controls as the Berserk Leech Hydroe whose scientific names are listed as "unknown" as well.
 * While Olimar's notes mentions that the creatures are made of the "gelatinous substance" that composes the Plasm Wraith, the Japanese version specifies that they are composed of the Plasm Wraith's cells.
 * This creature, along with the Titan Dweevil, are the only creatures so far in the series to exhibit the ability to harness all of the main hazard elements present in their respective games; all other element-based enemies are only able to wield one element.
 * The Ancient Sirehound utilizes almost all elements present in its game, but lack water and poison attacks (although it features a similar but deadlier hazard: gloom).
 * When its health is at its lowest, regardless of how much damage is caused to it, it will only die after twirling itself and shaking off attacking Pikmin. At that point, it will throw away plasm and shrink to a size too small to continue fighting.
 * Even though the Wraith is defeated, it is revealed to still be alive in the final cutscene. One can notice this because the small trail of plasm remains after its defeat slowly crawls away from the site. It can also be briefly glimpsed as the S.S. Drake leaves the planet, already fully reformed and angrily wobbling at the leaving ship.
 * In the secret file reward video, "At the Oak", Olimar is seen surveying the area, while Louie is running away from something. Right as the video ends, the viewer can hear loud footsteps and the Wraith's roar, implying the capture of Olimar.
 * The Wraith's health wheel is actually of a beveled, gold look, and corresponds to the amount of plasm left in its body.
 * In the mission selection screen of Defeat Bosses!, highlighting the Wraith's mission will show the arena's radar map on the GamePad. If the player pans to the northwest, they can see a second enemy bubble out of bounds. According to the game's files, this is the Mysterious Life-Form's bubble. For some players, it may not be possible to pan the radar off-course like this, since it will be confined to the normal boundaries. It is currently unknown why.
 * The Wraith’s trophy in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U erroneously depicts it in the Quaggled Mireclops' arena. Bizarrely, the trophy for the Quaggled Mireclops itself doesn't feature terrain of any kind.
 * The Wraith's nucleus, which is presumably its actual main body, controlling the plasm as if it were normal limbs, can also be split into twenty-seven smaller cubes, in a 3x3x3 formation. This can be seen during its respawn animation during the chase sequence. It can further split into two hundred sixteen, in a 6x6x6 formation, as can be seen when it uses an elemental plasm during the boss battle against the Wraith. This is in addition to becoming completely hollow and having its six faces appear out of nowhere, as seen when Olimar gets captured during the chase sequence, as well as being able to physically overlap with Olimar, and, as can be seen when the Wraith slips away, spit out a false cube that can also overlap with objects and disintegrate.
 * The Wraith's nucleus was likely inspired by cubic pyrite, also commonly known as 'Fool's Gold'. Narratively, this choice potrays a sense of irony after viewing the entries in Olimar's Log (Exploration Notes), where he states his hopes to 'Find Gold' while searching for treasure.