Leaper

The Leaper is a large rat enemy found in The Alley and The Lab, and one of the oldest enemies in the game — along with Lil' Rat, it appeared in some of the earliest development footage when the team was first exploring Mewgenics' combat design. Slow at only 2 movement, it seems unthreatening as it lumbers toward your party. But it does not attack in melee: it leaps.

Its RatLeap attack launches it up to 3 tiles, targeting an empty landing tile rather than a unit directly. On landing, it damages every unit orthogonally adjacent to that spot and knocks each one back 1 tile. Because it targets a tile — not a cat — the direction of the leap can be harder to predict from positioning alone. The attack counts as contact, which means cats with Thorns or counterattack mechanics will retaliate as the Leaper lands among them.

The critical counter is spacing. Spreading your cats across the field limits how many can be hit by a single landing, turning a potentially devastating attack into a manageable single-target strike. Champions have 18 HP and 3 movement, giving them more flexibility to find ideal landing zones and closing the gap before you have time to reposition.