Rock Head

Rock Head is a boulder-helmeted cat enemy found in The Crater (Act 2, Chapter 2). Despite having only 1 HP, it carries an enormous 10 Shield that makes it effectively very difficult to kill through normal means. It has 6 Strength, slow movement of 2, and two primary attacks: a spinning strike and a SmallTrampleDash that it deploys as a finishing action each round, allowing it to close distance aggressively. Crucially, it blocks frontal attacks, so incoming damage from the front is mitigated.

When Rock Head is defeated, it splits into two separate entities: the rock itself (a boulder obstacle) and a Headless enemy. The Headless retains a spin attack and shoots a poison projectile whenever it takes damage while blinded. This two-stage death means killing Rock Head is only the beginning of the encounter.

Status effects that bypass or ignore shield (Bleed, Burn, Poison) are far more efficient than direct hits against Rock Head's massive 10 Shield pool. For the Champion variant with 20 Shield, these effects become even more essential. When Rock Head splits, immediately push the resulting boulder into the Headless to deal roughly 9 damage — enough to kill the regular form outright. For Champions, execute the push from range to avoid the spin counterattack knocking the boulder backward.