Frying Pan

The Frying Pan occupies the head armor slot and exists entirely to punish backstab attempts. Any enemy that attacks from behind gets their hit blocked and is immediately countered. Fighter class cats get an especially good deal here: their passive ensures counters always strike head-on, which is the condition for landing critical hits — so the Frying Pan effectively converts every backstab attempt into a free crit opportunity for the Fighter.

It's part of the Lead set and applies Metal status, which means the equipped cat becomes electrically conductive — a real downside in zones with lightning-type enemies or hazards. Slot it on frontline brawlers who regularly get flanked, and check what you're walking into before committing to the Metal status.

Strongly recommended on Fighter builds specifically because of the crit-on-counter synergy. In those builds, enemies that flank you are inadvertently giving you free crits, turning a defensive liability into an offensive opportunity. Against enemies that purely front-attack it provides no benefit at all, so it's only worth equipping in situations where backstab attempts are likely. Good as part of the Lead set if you're already running Lead-tagged gear.