Crow Mauler

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The Crow Mauler is one of the strongest enemies that can be encountered early in the game. Avoid him at all cost if one is not prepared to face him just yet.

Lore
Before he became known exclusively as the Crow Mauler, he was a man from the Kingdom of Rondon called Rudimer, and had the rank of Captain in the army of Rondon. He became captain of the wretched dungeons known as the Dungeons of Fear and Hunger.

In 1590, the madness from the ancient catacombs, where the dungeons were built on top of, spread throughout the dungeons. Some might even suspect that the current plague going on in Rondon came from the catacombs and the dungeons themselves. And so, with renewed determination, Captain Rudimer set out to purify the dungeons of the filth and depravity infesting the halls. Little did he know of how much of an impossible task this was.

The supplies and logistics needed for this endeavor was dwindling faster than what he had imagined. He went to the underground city of the Cavedwellers and traded a bizarre artifact for food and supplies. Later on, he lost his mind because of the darkness and the madness. He ran into the dark dungeons on his own, wearing nothing but a sheet of cloth and having feverish dreams of crows. He eventually surrendered himself to the darkness completely. Now he wanders the hallways, purging them from anything still breathing. Captain Rudimer was no more.

Locations
He can be found either after failing the coin toss when attempting to sleep in the crow bed of Level 2 (basement) or will start chasing the player after entering and reaching the Mines or the Thicket, suddenly appearing near room exits. The player is always alerted with the message "A terrifying presence has entered the room" and an eerie sound effect when the crow mauler enter the area.

If Le'garde is found alive and joins your party, the crow mauler will become much more aggressive in pursuit and can show up on any level of the dungeon.

The Crow Mauler can be found in the Level 1 area of the dungeons, behind some bars within the torture area where Trortur is, down the hallways leading to the blood pit. He will be behind some bars and will not chase the player. Instead, they will stare at the player and watch them from behind said bars, as if they are a hidden predator and the player, the prey. Interacting with the monster behind the bars will only give this message: ''"You feel a terrifying presence watching you." ''However, this is a random encounter. He doesn't always appear there and the map needs to have an specific layout in order for this event to occur.

There's a stronger double headed version of the Crow Mauler that can be encountered in the Level 9 Gauntlet. It appears to have the same attacks and behaviour than the original Crow Mauler but you'll have to cut both of his heads in order to kill him since destroying his torso is almost impossible due to his very high HP.

Strategy
The Crow Mauler is one of the most difficult opponents in the game as he has an insta-killing attack and deals massive damage coupled with very dangerous status effects such as broken bones and blindness. It is not advised to engage him unless the player is ready to take him out quickly enough.

His HP pool is quite high, especially if the player has to fight him early in the game (the Head- 500 HP, Torso- 5000 HP, Legs- 200 HP each and the Arms- 700 HP each).

The Crow Mauler has two main attacks: Peck and Maul, with a less frequent attack called Flock of crows. Maul is his standard attack, done using his mace-wielding arm, which inflicts the broken bones status effect while also doing heavy damage. Peck will cause the attacked party member to instantly lose their head, resulting in immediate death. Flock of crows seems to occur at random and causes the blindness effect (which, if inflicted upon the player character, makes your screen turn completely black for the remainder of the playthrough).
 * Talking to the Crow Mauler has no effect as it does not respond to the player at all.


 * Head armor will reduce the chance of getting blind by Flock of crows, high defense head armors will have more chance reduction.

The most effective way to get rid of the Crow Mauler is to aim for his head as the massive HP pool of the body makes him practically invincible. The head is very difficult to hit however, therefore saving up on items like throwing knives and throwing darts to use on the crow mauler when you encounter him seems to be the best way to get rid of him without heavy losses.
 * Having Isayah's Iron mask equipped will prevent Flock of crows from blind the player character.
 * Having the Plate Helmet equipped will prevent Peck from instantly killing the player character.

Targeting the Crow Mauler's head with a Red Vial item in battle will Blind him, making his Peck attack miss. However, if you Run from battle and reengage him after, he will no longer be Blind.

Note: If you manage to kill him, the bed with the crow statue will be a safe spot to save the game. However, there's a bug that causes the Crow Mauler to start spawning again at random locations to pursue you after you reach the mines or the thicket even if you managed to kill him before.

Loot
The crow mauler has no random loot but carries the Crow emblem key, which allows the player to access Miasma, one of the strongest weapons in the game.

Using a soul stone on his corpse will give you the Crow Mauler soul (*1.3 Attack multiplier).