Rock Crab
| Rock Crab | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Type | Monster |
| Location | The Mines |
| Floors | 1-29 |
| HP | 30 |
| Damage | 5 |
| Defence | 1 |
| Speed | 2 |
| XP | 4 |
The Rock Crab is the Mines' practical joke. It sits in the shallow floors wearing a rock on its back, perfectly still, looking exactly like the stone a farmer is about to mine, and it only moves once someone is close enough to regret it. While it is tucked under the shell it cannot be hurt at all, which makes it the first monster in the game that cannot simply be swung at. It is also the first that has to be answered with a pickaxe instead of a sword. Sixty rock crabs of any type complete the Adventurer's Guild bounty, and the reward is the Crabshell Ring, a flat five points of defence that farmers keep wearing for the rest of a save.
Behaviour
A hidden Rock Crab is invulnerable. A weapon swung at the shell does nothing, which is the behaviour that gives it away: a blow lands with a knocking sound and a damage number of zero pops up, where a real rock makes no such noise. That test costs one swing and settles the question.
There are quieter tells for anyone who would rather not swing at every rock. A Rock Crab casts a thinner, lighter shadow than real stone, and the sprite has a pair of brown pixels low on its right-hand side where a rock would be black. Once it starts moving it is obvious, because a bundle of orange legs comes out from under the shell.
Getting it moving is the farmer's job. A pickaxe strike knocks a hidden crab back and brings it out of hiding, and from that moment a weapon works normally. Timing the swing for when the legs are visible is enough, and a few hits finish it.
Two other answers skip the fight. Enough pickaxe blows knock the shell clean off its back, at which point the crab panics and runs rather than fighting. A bomb set off nearby does the same thing. An equipped Magic Quiver removes the guesswork altogether: its arrows fire at a Rock Crab even while it is disguised, so a rock that is suddenly being shot at is not a rock.
Location
Rock Crabs hold the opening stretch of the Mines, from the first floor down to the high twenties, which is the gentlest ground in the game. They share it with Bugs, Cave Flies, Duggies, Grubs and Green Slimes, and for a farmer who has not learned the disguise yet the crab is easily the most dangerous thing there, purely because the first hit is a surprise.
Those floors are also where most early mining happens, which is why the crab feels so personal: the thing being clicked on with a pickaxe hits back. Riding the elevator to a floor in the twenties and sweeping it is the fastest way to bank bounty progress, because crabs are common and die quickly.
The family continues deeper and elsewhere. Lava Crabs take over the lava floors, Iridium Crabs appear in the Skull Cavern, and the Truffle Crab wanders the farm, and all of them count towards the same bounty.
Drops
Cherry Bombs come off nearly half of all Rock Crabs, and that is a genuinely useful drop early on. Crafting one costs Copper Ore and Coal, and the Dwarf charges a fair sum for each, so a crab run stocks the explosive that clears rock piles, finds ladders without draining stamina and knocks the shell off the next crab along.
A Crab turns up on roughly one kill in seven. Crabs are otherwise pulled out of saltwater in a Crab Pot, which means owning the pots and remembering to bait them, so a mine crab is a shortcut. It cannot be eaten as it comes, but it cooks into dishes and goes into the spool of the Sewing Machine for tailoring.
A Dwarf Scroll I appears occasionally and belongs in the Museum, as does the much rarer Dwarf Scroll IV. A Diamond or a Prismatic Shard shows up on the rarest rolls.
Items this monster can drop when it is defeated, with the chance of each.
| Item | Image | Chance |
|---|---|---|
| Cherry Bomb | 
|
40% |
| Crab | 
|
15% |
| Dwarf Scroll I | 
|
0.5% |
| Dwarf Scroll IV | 
|
0.1% |
| Diamond | 
|
0.05% |
| Prismatic Shard | 
|
0.05% |
Notes
The Crabshell Ring is the reason to finish this bounty. Five points of defence is a large amount at the stage of the game where sixty crabs are plausible, and a second ring worn in the other slot adds another five, so a farmer who buys a spare from Marlon can wear ten points of armour on their hands alone. The ring also works as an orange dye at the dye pots in Emily and Haley's house.
Lava Crabs and Iridium Crabs count towards the same sixty, which matters because the deeper versions drop a Crab more often than this one does.
Oil of Garlic keeps weaker monsters from appearing underground, so it is the drink to leave at home while crab hunting. Monster Musk is the opposite and doubles how many are waiting on a floor.
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 |