Elite Buff: Protected (Boss)

Internal engine status effect. This is the boss-specific variant of the Protected elite buff. Protected maintains Holy Shield on the enemy, setting it to 1 at the end of each turn if empty, at the cost of -20% max health.

The boss version creates a persistent single-hit buffer that must be broken through each turn before dealing health damage. Since Holy Shield blocks damage entirely regardless of amount, even a massive attack is wasted if it only pops the 1-stack Holy Shield. This forces players to use a cheap, disposable attack to pop the shield before committing their main damage.

Multi-hit attacks are the best counter to Protected bosses, as the first hit pops the Holy Shield and subsequent hits deal full damage. Burn, Bleed, and Poison bypass Holy Shield entirely, making damage-over-time effects reliable against Protected enemies. The -20% max health trade-off for the modifier means the boss is slightly squishier once you get past the shield. The standard version, Elite Buff: Protected, applies the same mechanic to non-boss elites.