Cultist Zealot

The Cultist Zealot is an upgraded form of the Cultist Lackey, created when a Lackey secures a kill in combat. It is found in The Lab as part of Johnny's cultist faction and represents a significant step up in offensive power from the basic unit. Its signature attack hits multiple times in rapid succession, making it threatening even to high-health cats.

The Zealot gains +1 damage at the end of each of its turns, meaning the longer a fight drags on, the more dangerous it becomes. At low HP it becomes suicidal and may act recklessly, potentially throwing itself into a losing position — but this also makes it unpredictable and harder to control through positioning alone. Its multi-stab attack can rapidly burn through a cat's hit points in a single turn if left unchecked.

Burst damage and one-shot potential are the best tools against the Zealot since it ramps up quickly. Avoid letting fights with Zealots stretch across multiple turns — each round it survives, it deals more damage. If you cannot kill it outright, knockback or crowd control can delay it long enough to deal with other threats first, but treat the escalating damage as an urgent clock. Prevent Lackeys from getting kills earlier in the fight to stop Zealots from appearing at all.