Royal Serpent
| Royal Serpent | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Type | Monster |
| Location | Skull Cavern |
| Floors | All |
| HP | 150 + (50 × tail segments) |
| Damage | 32-48 |
| Speed | 2 |
| XP | 20 |
The Royal Serpent is the Skull Cavern's longest monster and the only one whose health depends on how much of it there is. Each one is built from a chain of tail segments, every segment adds to its total health, and the shortest Royal Serpent is already larger than an ordinary Serpent while the longest is several times the animal. The whole body is live on both sides: any part of it that touches the farmer does damage, and any part of it the farmer hits takes damage. It appears while Mr. Qi's Skull Cavern Invasion order is running, and every kill counts towards the two hundred and fifty serpents Gil pays for with the Napalm Ring.
Behaviour
A Royal Serpent flies and comes in fast, exactly as the ordinary kind does, and its hitbox is just as unforgiving. The difference is the length. A segment of tail passing over the farmer hurts as much as the head does, so a serpent that has flown past is still dangerous while the rest of it is going by. Standing still and letting one finish its pass is how farmers lose half a health bar to something they thought they had dodged.
The same length is the farmer's advantage. Because every segment can be struck, a wide swing that catches the middle of the body connects just as well as one aimed at the head. A weapon with a broad arc will often catch two parts of the same serpent in one swing, so reach matters here more than precision.
Length also varies wildly between individuals, and length is health. A short Royal Serpent dies in a handful of swings, while a long one takes a sustained fight, and the two look different enough to judge on sight. Picking the short ones and leaving the long ones alone is a reasonable way to bank bounty progress on an invasion run.
Swinging early remains the rule, since the body connects before it appears to.
Location
Royal Serpents appear in the Skull Cavern while the Skull Cavern Invasion order from Qi's Walnut Room is active, on every kind of floor rather than at a particular depth. The order asks for floor one hundred inside a week, and Staircases are the usual way that is done.
That makes a strange situation. The order most farmers use to meet Royal Serpents is also the order that gives them the least reason to fight one, because a Staircase on the ladder tile skips the floor and everything on it. Anyone taking the invasion for the descent passes Royal Serpents without stopping; anyone taking it for the bounty descends slowly on purpose, clearing floors for kills and ignoring the deadline.
An abandoned run restarts from the first floor the next day, and dangerous Mummies and Armoured Bugs share the invasion's floors.
Drops
The drop list is the ordinary Serpent's, so the extra health buys nothing extra. Void Essence comes off almost every kill, often several at a time, and the Iridium Band's demand for fifty of it is the reason most farmers are happy to see it. Mega Bombs take one Void Essence each alongside Solar Essence and Gold Ore, and one essence fills an option of the Adventurer's Bundle in the Boiler Room. The Wizard loves being given a piece.
Bombs come off roughly one kill in seven, which on an invasion run is close to self-financing: the bombs that clear rock and open ladders fall out of the monsters blocking the way. A Spicy Eel appears a little less often, and it is the best food a diver can carry, raising luck and speed for the rest of the day.
A Rabbit's Foot is the long shot. Every villager except Penny loves receiving one, it fills the Enchanter's Bundle on the Bulletin Board, and it is otherwise produced by a rabbit kept happy in a Coop for months. Red Cabbage Seeds and a Prismatic Shard round out the rarest rolls.
Items this monster can drop when it is defeated, with the chance of each.
| Item | Image | Chance |
|---|---|---|
| Bomb | 
|
15% |
| Prismatic Shard | 
|
0.1% |
| Rabbit's Foot | 
|
0.8% |
| Spicy Eel | 
|
6% |
| Void Essence | 
|
99% |
| Void Essence |
|
15% |
| Diamond | 
|
0.05% |
| Prismatic Shard |
|
0.05% |
Notes
Because the invasion order and the bounty pull in opposite directions, most farmers finish the serpent count on ordinary Serpents and treat Royal Serpents as a bonus that happens to be worth the same.
The Napalm Ring at the end of it is one of the most practical rewards on the list. Every monster killed while it is worn bursts like a small bomb, which clears the rock around it without touching the farmer, and that turns a cavern floor into free mining. Two rings worn together produce two explosions at once, which doubles the damage anything standing nearby takes.
The ring has one gap worth knowing. A Mummy knocked down while it is worn survives, and the explosion from a dying serpent beside it is too small to finish it, so tomb floors still need bombs placed by hand.
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 |