Infested Kitten

Infested Kitten is a parasitically overtaken young cat found in The Crater (Act 2, Chapter 2) with 7 HP and 3 Strength. Its melee attack inflicts Possessed on hit, taking control of the struck unit and turning it against its own allies. It also retreats reactively when damaged, backing away from any threat that tries to engage it in melee, which makes pursuing it across the battlefield a risky proposition. The creature is likely inspired by Cordyceps, the mind-controlling fungus that appears in media like The Last of Us.

Possessed is one of the most dangerous status effects in the game: a Possessed cat fights for the enemy side for the duration, potentially attacking its own teammates with full effectiveness. Infested Kitten's combination of a Possessed-inflicting attack and its defensive retreat behavior means it can easily convert a front-liner and then escape before you can finish it off in retaliation.

Use ranged attacks to engage Infested Kitten from a safe distance, bypassing both its retreat behavior and the danger of melee contact. Killing it before it can reach your cats is far preferable to dealing with a Possessed teammate mid-fight. Its Champion variant at 14 HP requires more sustained ranged firepower to reliably eliminate at range, so bringing a high-damage ranged cat is especially useful in The Crater.