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 Troturr 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.

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 or blindness. It is not advised to encounter him unless the player is ready to take him out quickly enough.

Talking to the crow mauler has no effect as it does not respond to the player at all.

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 and also 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 its head, resulting in immediate death. The only way to prevent this is to have the Plate helmet or Isayah's Iron mask equipped. Flock of crows seems to occur at random and causes the blindness effect (which, if inflicted upon the player, makes your screen turn completely black forever).

Since Maul is the crow mauler's most used attack, dispatching of the mauler's mace-carrying arm should be the player's main priority, since the Head is harder to hit, despite the lower HP pool.

The most effective way to get rid of the crow mauler is to aim for its head as the massive HP pool of the body makes him practically invincible. The head is very difficult to hit howerever, 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.

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.

He does not spawn on any floor after death.