Metal Head

Metal Head

Type	Monster
Location	The Mines
Floors	80-119
HP	40
Damage	15
Defence	8
Speed	2
XP	6

The Metal Head is the armoured lump of the lava floors, a head of ore that walks at the farmer and does nothing clever at all. Its trick is in the plating rather than the behaviour: it carries almost no health but a great deal of defence, so a weak weapon chips away at it while a good one cuts it down in a swing. It also shrugs off knockback, which is what gets people hurt, because the usual habit of swinging until the monster is pushed away fails here. The reward for the trouble is Solar Essence, which comes off two kills in three and feeds Mega Bombs, the Iridium Band and the Glowstone Ring. Metal Heads also carry Copper and Iron Ore, and they are one of the few monsters anywhere that will hand over a wearable hat.

Behaviour

There are no spells, no charges and no ranged attacks. A Metal Head walks over and does damage by contact, which makes it the most readable monster on its floors.

The armour is the fight. Defence is subtracted from every hit the farmer lands, so a blade that is a tier or two behind will register tiny numbers and the fight will drag on for an uncomfortable length of time. The same monster dies almost instantly to a Lava Katana or anything past it, which is why Metal Heads feel either trivial or exhausting with nothing in between.

Knockback does not move them. Most monsters are pushed back by a solid hit, which buys a step of breathing room, and a Metal Head simply keeps coming. The counter is to count swings: two or three hits, then a step backwards, then two or three more. Standing in place and swinging indefinitely means taking a contact hit for every swing.

Blocking with a sword covers the gap when one gets close, and the lava floors are crowded enough that a Metal Head is rarely the only thing in the room. Shadow Brutes, Shadow Shamans, Lava Bats and Lava Crabs share the ground, and a Metal Head is usually the slow threat that turns a fight against something faster into a losing one.

Location

Metal Heads hold the lava stretch of the Mines, from the floors in the eighties down to the bottom. That is the hottest and richest part of the mine: gold and iron are common, Magma Geodes appear in the rock, and Mystic Stones turn up in the last stretch. Metal Heads are part of the price of mining there.

Riding the elevator to a floor in the eighties and clearing it gives a reliable mix of ore from the rock and essence from the monsters. Travelling back to the entrance resets the layout, so the same floor can be run again within minutes for a fresh set of both.

The Hot Head in the Volcano Dungeon is the same creature redesigned for Ginger Island, and it carries the same hat. A farmer who dislikes the mine floors can collect from the volcano instead.

Drops

Solar Essence is the main return, and it is worth more than its sale price suggests. Four Gold Ore with one Solar Essence and one Void Essence crafts a Mega Bomb, the explosive that makes a Skull Cavern dive practical. Five essences with five Iron Bars craft the Glowstone Ring, which lights the way and widens the radius for picking things up. The heaviest demand is the Iridium Band: it asks for fifty Solar Essence alongside fifty Void Essence and five Iridium Bars, and that single recipe is why farmers grind the lava floors for weeks. Smaller recipes take essence too, among them the Quality Bobber for fishing and the pair of Mini-Obelisks that warp between two points on the farm. One essence also satisfies an option of the Adventurer's Bundle in the Boiler Room, and the Wizard loves receiving one as a gift, so a mine run doubles as friendship work. Krobus sells a daily stock in the Sewers for anyone who would rather pay than fight.

Copper and Iron Ore come off the same kills, which is a small bonus on floors where both are being mined anyway. Coal appears too, and coal is the fuel every bar in a Furnace is smelted with.

The Squire's Helmet is the oddity. It is a rare drop from Metal Heads and from the volcano's Hot Heads, and it is one of the few hats in the game that has to be taken from a monster rather than bought, tailored or won. Dwarf Scrolls III and IV also turn up occasionally, and both belong in the Museum.

Items this monster can drop when it is defeated, with the chance of each.

Item	Image	Chance
Coal		10%
Copper Ore		10%
Copper Ore		10%
Dwarf Scroll III		0.5%
Dwarf Scroll IV		0.1%
Iron Ore		10%
Iron Ore		10%
Solar Essence		65%
Diamond		0.05%
Prismatic Shard		0.05%

Notes

The lava floors are where the Mines stop being a mining trip and start being a combat one, and the Metal Head is the clearest sign of it. A farmer arriving on floor eighty with a Silver Saber will feel the difference immediately.

Marlon's Adventurer's Guild unlocks its better stock by the depth a farmer has reached, so the floors Metal Heads live on are also the floors that open the shop's stronger swords and boots. Reaching them and buying the next blade is the usual way out of the long, grinding version of this fight.

Monster Musk doubles how many monsters a floor holds, which is the quickest way to raise the essence count per trip. It also doubles the Shadow Brutes and Lava Bats arriving at the same time, so it suits a farmer who already handles the floor comfortably.

All Monsters

Every entry in this group, with its key details.

Name	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