Overview
Chubs 'n' Nubs is the final boss of The Junkyard, featuring a pair of headless blind dogs that fight together. Chubs has 140 HP and Nubs has 100 HP. Both are blind and react to damage rather than using line-of-sight, making their movement and attack patterns semi-random. The fight is built around managing two separate threats, dealing with their distinct poison-spreading attacks, and being prepared for the dramatic enrage mechanic when one of the pair goes down.
Key Mechanics
Blindness and Reactive Movement
Both dogs are blind and headless, so they move and attack semi-randomly rather than targeting specific cats. They react upon taking damage, meaning attacking one will provoke an immediate response. Their unpredictable movement can work in your favor if you avoid clustering, since they often stumble away from your party.
Chubs: Neck Juice
When damaged, Chubs spits "neck juice" from where his head should be, hitting everything up to 3 tiles in front of him and applying 2 stacks of Poison on units hit. Stay out of his forward arc after attacking him.
Nubs: Lobbed Projectile
When damaged, Nubs spits out a lobbed projectile 3 tiles ahead that creates a puddle of creep on landing. The creep zone becomes hazardous terrain, so avoid standing in or near the landing area.
Enrage on Partner Death
When one dog dies, the other whimpers and then enrages for the rest of the fight, gaining enhanced attack properties. Most notably, if Chubs dies first, Nubs gains a devastating Nuke attack: 50 damage across the entire line of sight, though it kills Nubs in the process. This makes kill order extremely important.
Target Priority
Kill order matters here because of the enrage mechanic. Killing Nubs first is generally safer because Chubs' enrage is less lethal than the Nubs Nuke. If you kill Chubs first and Nubs fires the Nuke, it can devastate your party with 50 damage across the entire line of sight (though Nubs dies from it). Consider your party's HP before deciding which to focus.
Strategy
1. Spread your party to avoid both dogs' reactive attacks hitting multiple cats. Tight formations are dangerous because Chubs' 3-tile neck juice and Nubs' creep puddles can affect clustered units.
2. Decide your kill order before the fight starts. Killing Nubs first is the safer default, but if your party has high HP and you want a quick finish, killing Chubs first and tanking the Nuke (which also kills Nubs) ends the fight immediately.
3. Bring poison cleanse or status cures. Chubs applies 2 Poison per hit, and across multiple rounds this stacks dangerously. A Cleric or any cat with a purge ability prevents the poison from spiraling.
4. Use ranged attacks to exploit their blindness. Since they move semi-randomly, ranged cats can often attack from positions the dogs never reach.