Boomer

Boomer is a bloated cat enemy found in The Sewers and The Lab. With 15 HP and a melee attack, it is a manageable direct threat, but its defining mechanic is its explosive death: when killed, Boomer detonates and deals 5 explosion-element damage with Knockback 1 to every adjacent and diagonally adjacent tile. It does not leave a corpse. Its appearance — swollen lips, puffy eyelids, and bluish skin — resembles a drowned corpse.

The death explosion is the primary concern: if a cat is adjacent when Boomer dies, it takes both the killing blow's damage and then the explosion on the same turn. In groups of enemies, a Boomer detonating among allies can chain into significant collateral damage. The explosion can also be turned to the player's advantage by using knockback abilities to push a dying Boomer into enemy clusters before it detonates.

Finish Boomer at range or use knockback-finisher abilities to push it away from your cats before the killing blow lands. Alternatively, maneuver it adjacent to high-value enemy targets before killing it so the explosion damages them instead. In The Sewers where tight corridors limit escape, be especially cautious about kill positioning — a Boomer that dies with your cat directly adjacent will always deal explosion damage regardless of how the kill was delivered.