Spiky

Spiky grants the elite enemy 1 stack of Thorns, which deals 1 damage back to any unit that makes contact with it. Contact occurs through melee attacks or knockback collisions, so any cat that hits the Spiky elite in melee takes 1 guaranteed damage in return. The enemy has a dark grey semi-transparent tint and a visible spike particle effect. This contact damage is unavoidable for melee attackers and triggers on every individual contact event.

Spiky is most punishing for melee-heavy teams that need multiple cats attacking in close range. Each melee attack costs 1 health, and multi-hit melee abilities trigger Thorns on each hit, rapidly draining your cat's health. Spiky on enemies that also have high health pools means your melee cats will take substantial reflected damage over the course of a long fight. The damage is particularly threatening to low-health cats like glass cannon Berserkers who trade durability for offense.

Ranged attacks completely bypass Thorns since no contact occurs. If your team is melee-focused, use high-damage single-hit attacks rather than multi-strike abilities to minimize Thorns triggers. Healing between attacks helps offset the reflected damage. Shield on your cats absorbs Thorns damage before it reaches health. Consider saving your melee cats' attacks for other targets and letting ranged cats handle the Spiky elite. Knockback also triggers Thorns, so avoid pushing enemies into Spiky elites or knocking the Spiky elite into your cats.