Skeleton (dangerous)
| Skeleton (dangerous) | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Type | Monster |
| Location | Dangerous Mines, Quarry Mine |
| Floors | 71-79 |
| HP | 655 |
| Damage | 16-18 |
| Defence | 2 |
| Speed | 2 |
| XP | 8 |
The dangerous Skeleton is the thickest health pool in the Mines. Nothing it does is new: it walks into the farmer, it throws bones that pass through solid rock, and it dies the way its weaker form does. The difference is how long that takes, because this one carries several times the health of the ordinary castle guard and hits harder on contact. It is also the one dangerous monster that can be met without the Shrine of Challenge at all, because a squad of them stands behind the boulders in the Quarry Mine every day of the year. Each one still counts as a single skeleton towards Gil's bounty of fifty, which is the whole argument against grinding them.
Behaviour
The pattern is identical to the ordinary Skeleton's. Up close it deals damage by collision; given room it throws a bone, and the bone travels through rock and ore as though they were not there, so hiding behind cover achieves nothing.
The health pool changes the plan rather than the technique. Closing fast still interrupts the throw, since damage cancels it, but a fight that lasts twenty swings instead of five means twenty chances for the Skeleton to back off and get a bone away. Keeping pressure on without ever letting it retreat is the whole job, and that is harder in an open room than in a corridor.
Thrown bones are not helpless. Any weapon that does damage will destroy one in the air, which is the answer when there is nowhere to sidestep to, and a bone destroyed is a swing that did not go into the health pool but also did not have to be healed.
Food matters more here than gear. A dangerous Skeleton deals its damage slowly and steadily rather than in bursts, so a meal that raises defence and a backpack with something to eat in it turn a long fight into a safe one.
Location
There are three places to meet one. In the Mines, dangerous Skeletons hold the castle floors in the seventies while the mine is in its dangerous state, which begins with Mr. Qi's Danger In The Deep order and is afterwards switched at the Shrine of Challenge on the bottom floor.
The Quarry Mine is the interesting one. Its single long floor branches, and the side path behind the boulders holds dangerous Skeletons and Skeleton Mages at all times, with no order and no shrine required. Breaking through takes the right pickaxe, and the reward beyond the branch is coal in the rock as well as the kills. The Quarry Mine resets at the end of the day rather than on exit, so it cannot be cleared twice in one afternoon.
The third is the Desert Festival. With the right Calico Statue effect running, dangerous Skeletons can appear in the Skull Cavern during the festival, which puts them somewhere they otherwise never go.
Drops
The drop list is the ordinary Skeleton's, unchanged, which makes the dangerous version the slower way to the same bones. Bone Fragments come off half of all kills and often in stacks. Five of them in a Bone Mill come back as Quality Fertiliser, Speed-Gro, Deluxe Speed-Gro or Tree Fertiliser, and the Skull Brazier and the Dark Sign are both crafted from fragments. Ten satisfy an option of the Adventurer's Bundle in the Boiler Room.
The Bone Sword appears on about one kill in twenty five. For a farmer running the dangerous mine it is long past useful as a weapon, but Marlon charges several thousand gold for the same blade, so a spare is worth keeping or selling.
The Prehistoric Scapula is the Museum drop. Donated alongside the Prehistoric Skull and the Skeletal Hand it earns a piece of the Sloth Skeleton display, and any extras can go into a Bone Mill with the fragments.
A Diamond or a Prismatic Shard shows up on the longest odds, which is the only compensation for the extra work.
Items this monster can drop when it is defeated, with the chance of each.
| Item | Image | Chance |
|---|---|---|
| Bone Fragment | 
|
50% |
| Bone Fragment |
|
40% |
| Bone Fragment |
|
20% |
| Bone Sword | 
|
4% |
| Prehistoric Scapula | 
|
0.5% |
| Diamond | 
|
0.05% |
| Prismatic Shard | 
|
0.05% |
Notes
For the skeleton bounty, the Quarry Mine is the convenient option and the ordinary castle floors are the fast one. Fifty dangerous Skeletons is a great deal of swinging for a cosmetic hat, and ordinary Skeletons and Skeleton Mages count towards exactly the same total.
The Quarry Mine's single floor makes it a reliable daily stop rather than a farm. One visit gives what is there, and the next lot arrives tomorrow.
Monster Musk doubles how many monsters wait on a floor. On the dangerous castle floors that is a decision rather than an improvement, because two of these at once can outlast a weapon that is not yet up to the depth.
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 |