SlightlyDepressing

SlightlyDepressing is a weaker version of the Depressing elite buff. It emits a Depression Aura with a range of 1 tile, applying 1 stack of stat reduction to any of your cats that stand adjacent to the enemy. Unlike the full Depressing buff, this aura does not reach across the entire battlefield, so only cats in melee range are affected. The aura does not debuff the elite's own allies.

SlightlyDepressing punishes melee-focused teams more than ranged ones, since your frontline cats must stand adjacent to deal damage and will constantly suffer stat penalties while doing so. The -1 to all stats reduces damage output, defense, speed, and other critical attributes, making your melee cats noticeably weaker in prolonged engagements. When multiple SlightlyDepressing enemies cluster together, the overlapping auras can stack and cripple any cat caught in the middle.

Ranged attackers can avoid the aura entirely by staying more than 1 tile away. If you must engage in melee, use hit-and-run tactics by attacking and then moving out of the aura's range so the debuff does not linger. Abilities that grant stat buffs like All Stats Up can counteract the penalty. Knockback is also useful for pushing a SlightlyDepressing elite away from your melee fighters before they commit to attacking. Compared to the full Depressing buff, this variant is far more manageable since you can simply maintain distance.