Shadow Brute (dangerous)
| Shadow Brute (dangerous) | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Type | Monster |
| Location | Dangerous Mines |
| Floors | 81-119 |
| HP | 370 |
| Damage | 22-32 |
| Defence | 6 |
| Speed | 3 |
| XP | 15 |
The dangerous Shadow Brute is what the lava floors of the Mines produce once the Shrine of Challenge has been switched on. The behaviour is untouched: it walks at the farmer, deals its damage by contact, and cannot be pushed away. What changes is the scale of both numbers. It carries more than twice the health, hits for a range whose top end is punishing, and now has armour of its own, so a weapon that cleared the ordinary floors will feel suddenly blunt. It still counts towards the hundred and fifty void spirits Gil pays for with the Savage Ring, and the loot it drops is the same, which makes it a harder route to an identical reward.
Behaviour
Simplicity is what makes this monster dangerous. There is no spell to interrupt, no projectile to sidestep and no tell to read. A dangerous Brute walks in a straight line towards the farmer and the fight is decided by whether the farmer can out-damage the walk.
Knockback resistance is the part that punishes. A blow that would send most monsters sliding backwards moves a Brute not at all, so a farmer rooted in place takes a contact hit for every swing, and at this damage range a handful of those hits is a trip home. Attacking, stepping back as it closes, and attacking again is slower in theory and far faster in practice, because nothing is spent on healing.
The armour makes the retreat pattern longer. Defence is deducted from each hit the farmer lands, so the number of swings needed is higher than the health pool alone suggests, and the retreat has to be repeated more times. A blade several tiers behind the depth turns the fight into a stalemate the Brute eventually wins.
Range sidesteps all of it. Bombs and Explosive Ammo fired from a slingshot kill a Brute without letting it touch the farmer, and on a floor holding several of them that is usually the right answer.
Location
Dangerous Shadow Brutes appear on the lava floors of the Mines, from the eighties down to the bottom, and only while the mine is in its dangerous state. There are two ways into that state. Accepting Mr. Qi's Danger In The Deep order from the board in Qi's Walnut Room flips the entire mine and resets the elevator, with the bottom to be reached inside a week. Completing that order unlocks the Shrine of Challenge on the final floor, which from then on toggles the mine, taking effect the next morning.
Dangerous Shadow Shamans share the same floors, which is the pairing that kills people: the Shaman heals everything near it, including Brutes, so a fight that looked nearly won resets. Killing the Shaman first and the Brutes afterwards is the order that works. Shadow Snipers also appear at this depth and shoot from range while the Brutes walk in.
Radioactive Nodes are the reason most farmers leave the shrine on, and they only exist while it is on, so the Brutes are part of the price of Radioactive Ore.
Drops
The drop table is the ordinary Brute's, unchanged. Void Essence comes off three kills in four, which is still the best supply in the game, and the Iridium Band's demand for fifty makes it worth collecting at any difficulty. Mega Bombs take one apiece, and the dangerous floors are exactly where a farmer wants Mega Bombs.
Finished metal bars still fall out: Copper, Iron, Gold and occasionally Iridium, each rarer than the last. A bar from a monster has skipped the ore, the coal and the Furnace entirely, which is worth more than its sale price suggests on a floor where the farmer is already carrying a full load of rock.
A Strange Bun turns up on about one kill in twenty five, and one bun is the toll the Dark Shrine of Night Terrors charges to switch farm monster spawns on or off. The Rare Disc is a Museum artefact and part of what Gunther wants for the Burnt Offering reward.
Items this monster can drop when it is defeated, with the chance of each.
| Item | Image | Chance |
|---|---|---|
| Copper Bar | 
|
4% |
| Dwarf Scroll III | 
|
0.5% |
| Dwarf Scroll IV | 
|
0.1% |
| Gold Bar | 
|
1% |
| Iridium Bar | 
|
0.2% |
| Iron Bar | 
|
2% |
| Prismatic Shard | 
|
0.05% |
| Rare Disc | 
|
0.3% |
| Strange Bun | 
|
4% |
| Void Essence | 
|
75% |
| Void Essence |
|
10% |
| Diamond | 
|
0.05% |
| Prismatic Shard |
|
0.05% |
Notes
Because the loot does not improve with the difficulty, there is no profit argument for farming dangerous Brutes specifically. They are fought because a farmer who wants Radioactive Ore has to walk past them.
For the void spirit bounty, the ordinary lava floors are the faster option by a wide margin. Switching the shrine off for a few days and sweeping floors in the eighties banks kills several times quicker, and Shadow Shamans and Shadow Snipers count towards the same total.
Danger In The Deep resets the gear the Adventurer's Guild has unlocked for sale, so taking that order can leave a farmer facing dangerous Brutes with a weaker shop behind them. Walking the floors again restores the stock.
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 |