Haunted Skull
| Haunted Skull | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Type | Monster |
| Location | Quarry Mine; The Mines random dungeon floors |
| Floors | All |
| HP | 160 |
| Damage | 15 |
| Defence | 1 |
| Speed | 3 |
| XP | 15 |
The Haunted Skull is a flying skull that drifts out of the dark in the Quarry Mine and on the dungeon floors of the Mines. It behaves like a Bat with ambitions, breaking off and attacking from a new angle rather than flying a straight line, and it hits hard enough to matter. What makes it famous is the loot. Almost everything on its drop list is rare: the Dark Sword with its built-in Vampiric healing, the Prehistoric Skull and Skeletal Hand for the Museum, an Aquamarine Ring, a Ruby Ring, and the Magic Rock Candy that almost nothing else in the valley gives up. Farmers hunt these deliberately, and the Quarry Mine is where they go to do it.
Behaviour
A Haunted Skull flies, and it flies cleverly. It approaches, veers away and comes back from a different side, which is the same habit that makes Bats and Serpents awkward. Contact is what hurts, so the fight is a matter of meeting it on the swing rather than being caught between two of them.
They appear in two ways. Some rest on the floor as part of the scenery and only wake when the farmer walks near. Others announce themselves with a screech and fly in from beyond the edge of the floor, which is how a quiet corner suddenly holds three of them.
A sword's wide arc is the right tool, as it is against any flier, because a club or dagger covers too narrow a slice of the air. Backing away so the group gathers on one side turns several attackers into one swing, and a sword's block knocks fliers back without any swing at all. A Vampiric blade suits the exchange well, since each kill hands a little health straight back.
Location
The Quarry Mine is the reliable address. Its entrance sits on the left edge of the Quarry, north of the bridge, and the cave inside is a single long floor that ends at a statue of the Grim Reaper holding the Golden Scythe. Haunted Skulls patrol that floor alongside Copper Slimes and Iron Slimes, and because the whole area resets each day, it can be cleared again tomorrow.
They also appear on the dungeon floors that occasionally replace an ordinary floor of the Mines. Those are rarer and less convenient, which is why the Quarry Mine is the usual hunting ground for anyone chasing the Dark Sword.
Drops
The Dark Sword is the headline, at a little over one kill in a hundred. It is the slowest and heaviest sword in the game, and it comes already carrying the Vampiric enchantment, so it heals its owner as it fights. Its weight flings monsters away, which covers the slow swing, and the enchantment can be swapped at the Forge for anyone who prefers something else.
Two Museum artifacts sit on the same list at the same rate. The Prehistoric Skull also turns into fertiliser in a Bone Mill, and donating it with the Skeletal Hand and the Prehistoric Scapula earns a Sloth Skeleton for the Museum. An Aquamarine Ring, which raises critical strike chance, and a Ruby Ring, which raises damage, both drop here too, and the ring Marlon sells for thousands can simply fall out of a skull.
The oddities are worth knowing. Magic Rock Candy appears on roughly one skull in a thousand and is one of the strongest buff foods in the game. An Artifact Trove drops once every Vault bundle has been completed, and in Winter a Rice Shoot falls from about one skull in five, which is a strange seasonal gift from a flying skull. Earth Crystals, Oak Resin, Solar Essence, Void Essence, Omni Geodes and Mega Bombs fill out the rest.
Items this monster can drop when it is defeated, with the chance of each.
| Item | Image | Chance |
|---|---|---|
| Aquamarine Ring | 
|
1.3% |
| Dark Sword | 
|
1.3% |
| Earth Crystal | 
|
1.3% |
| Magic Rock Candy | 
|
0.13% |
| Mega Bomb | 
|
1.3% |
| Oak Resin | 
|
1.3% |
| Prehistoric Skull | 
|
1.3% |
| Ruby Ring | 
|
1.3% |
| Skeletal Hand | 
|
1.3% |
| Solar Essence | 
|
1.3% |
| Void Essence | 
|
1.3% |
| Rice Shoot | 
|
21.43% |
| Artifact Trove | 
|
1.3% |
| Omni Geode | 
|
1.3% |
| Diamond | 
|
0.05% |
| Prismatic Shard | 
|
0.05% |
Notes
A Burglar's Ring doubles every roll on this list, which matters more here than on any other monster in the game. With rare items at one in a hundred, a second roll each time roughly halves the grind for the Dark Sword.
Luck-raising food helps for the same reason, and the Quarry Mine's daily reset means a hunt can be repeated every morning without touching the elevator.
Monster Musk is no use in the Quarry Mine, since the area refreshes at the end of each day rather than counting monsters on entry. The number of skulls on that floor is whatever the morning provides.
All Monsters
Every entry in this group, with its key details.
| Name | Image | Location | HP | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Armored Bug | 
|
Skull Cavern | 1 | 8 |
| Armored Bug (dangerous) | 
|
Skull Cavern | 250 | 20-27 |
| Bats | 
|
The Mines & Skull Cavern | 24, 36, 80, 300,; 268, 277 | 06, 07, 15, 30, 13, 14 |
| Blue Squid | 
|
The Dangerous Mines | 310 | 18 |
| Bug | 
|
The Mines | 1 | 8 |
| Bug (dangerous) | 
|
Dangerous Mines | 250 | 15-16 |
| Carbon Ghost | 
|
Skull Cavern; The Dangerous Mines | 190 | 25 |
| Cave Fly | 
|
The Mines | 22 | 6 |
| Cave Fly (dangerous) | 
|
Dangerous Mines | 266 | 13-15 |
| Duggy | 
|
The Mines | 40 | 6 |
| Duggy (dangerous) | 
|
Dangerous Mines | 280 | 8 |
| Dust Sprite | 
|
The Mines | 40 | 6 |
| Dust Sprite (dangerous) | 
|
The Mines | 280 | 13-15 |
| Dwarvish Sentry | 
|
Volcano Dungeon | 300 | 18 |
| False Magma Cap | 
|
Volcano Dungeon | 290 | 15 |
| Ghost | 
|
The Mines | 96 | 10 |
| Grub | 
|
The Mines | 20 | 4 |
| Grub (dangerous) | 
|
Dangerous Mines | 265 | 12-13 |
| Haunted Skull | 
|
Quarry Mine; The Mines random dungeon floors | 160 | 15 |
| Haunted Skull (dangerous) | 
|
Dangerous Mines | 310 | 19-26 |
| Hot Head | 
|
Volcano Dungeon | 215 | 18 |
| Iridium Crab | 
|
Skull Cavern | 240 | 15 |
| Iridium Golem | 
|
Wilderness Farm | 430 | 15 |
| Lava Crab | 
|
The Mines | 120 | 15 |
| Lava Crab (dangerous) | 
|
Dangerous Mines | 340 | 19-26 |
| Lava Lurk | 
|
Volcano Dungeon | 220 | 15 |
| Magma Duggy | 
|
Volcano Dungeon | 380 | 16 |
| Magma Sparker | 
|
Volcano Dungeon | 310 | 15 |
| Magma Sprite | 
|
Volcano Dungeon | 220 | 15 |
| Metal Head | 
|
The Mines | 40 | 15 |
| Metal Head (dangerous) | 
|
Dangerous Mines | 280 | 19-26 |
| Mummy | 
|
Skull Cavern | 260 | 30 |
| Mummy (dangerous) | 
|
Skull Cavern | 445 | 38-55 |
| Mutant Fly | 
|
Mutant Bug Lair, Skull Cavern | 66 | 12 |
| Mutant Grub | 
|
Mutant Bug Lair | 100 | 12 |
| Pepper Rex | 
|
Skull Cavern | 300 | 15 |
| Putrid Ghost | 
|
The Dangerous Mines | 500 | 25 |
| Rock Crab | 
|
The Mines | 30 | 5 |
| Rock Crab (dangerous) | 
|
Dangerous Mines | 272 | 13 |
| Royal Serpent | 
|
Skull Cavern | 150 + (50 × tail segments) | 32-48 |
| Serpent | 
|
Skull Cavern | 150 | 23 |
| Shadow Brute | 
|
The Mines | 160 | 18 |
| Shadow Brute (dangerous) | 
|
Dangerous Mines | 370 | 22-32 |
| Shadow Shaman | 
|
The Mines | 80 | 17 |
| Shadow Shaman (dangerous) | 
|
Dangerous Mines | 310 | 21-30 |
| Shadow Sniper | 
|
The Mines | 300 | 18 |
| Skeleton | 
|
The Mines | 140 | 10 |
| Skeleton (dangerous) | 
|
Dangerous Mines, Quarry Mine | 655 | 16-18 |
| Skeleton Mage | 
|
Dangerous Mines, Quarry Mine | 355 | 20-25 |
| Slimes | 
|
The Mines, Skull Cavern, Quarry Mine, Secret Woods, Tiger Slime Grove, and Volcano Dungeon | Varies | Varies |
| Spider | 
|
The Mines (Shrine ON) | 200 | 15 |
| Squid Kid | 
|
The Mines | 1 | 18 |
| Squid Kid (dangerous) | 
|
The Dangerous Mines; Skull Cavern | 250 | 22-32 |
| Stick Bug | 
|
The Dangerous Mines | 700 | 20 |
| Stone Golem | 
|
The Mines | 45 | 5 |
| Stone Golem (dangerous) | 
|
Dangerous Mines | 283 | 13 |
| Truffle Crab | 
|
The Farm | 30 | 5 |
| Wilderness Golem | 
|
The Farm | 30 | 5 |