Dung Defender

Behaviour and Tactics
Dung Defender will accompany each attack with jovial laughter:


 * Toss: Dung Defender will gather up and throw two dung balls one after the other. These dung balls will bounce around the battleground for about six seconds before disappearing. These balls do not disappear when they hit The Knight. After Dung Defender throws the two balls, he will sometimes curl up into a ball and bounce around the battleground with the dung balls for about four seconds.
 * Burst: Dung Defender will dive underground, disrupting the ground as he travels underground back and forth across the battleground. After being underground for about five seconds, Dung Defender will burst from the ground, sending four dung balls into the air to rain down on The Knight at set distances away from Dung Defender, with him in the center. These dung balls will not bounce, instead breaking once they hit the floor or The Knight. Dung Defender can burst up anywhere on the battleground.
 * Dive: Dung Defender will dive in and out of the ground as if in water, moving across the battleground.
 * Zeal: At a point during the fight, Dung Defender will let out a shout like he did at that beginning of the fight and go into a temporary hyper mode lasting about twelve seconds. During this time, Dung Defender will chain together multiple, faster Burst Attacks, bursting from the ground once every half second. After this ends, he will also detect where The Knight is on the ground when he dives and will try to re-emerge close to them.

The Defender does a variety of attacks: In the beginning of the fight, try to dodge the balls as best as possible. When he stops to conjure the two balls of dung, stand next to him, hit him once, step back when he throws the ball, step forward to hit him again and quickly step back when he throws the second one. This is the safest way to damage him with the Nail. His thrown dung balls, which can't be destroyed by the player's Nail in one hit, can be destroyed by any spells such as Howling Wraiths.

Towards the end of the fight he will use his attacks more frequently, particularly the Burst attack. Staying against the left side of the arena is almost completely safe as he will always try to re-emerge from the ground close to the player and the balls will just bounce off of the wall, giving a safe spot to damage him.

During the Burst attack, if the player uses Desolate Dive/Descending Dark while he is burrowing, he will be knocked out of the ground and stunned for a few seconds. This is especially useful during the Zeal Attack, where usually he doesn't perform it again. This is an opportune time to use a Nail Art or a Spell against him, as he will go right back into attacking as soon as he is hit.

Standing in a corner while he throws his dung balls typically provides lengthy opportunities to heal.

Trivia

 * The Kickstarter reveal page first described Dung Defender as:
 * "Deep in the Waterways beneath the City of Tears lurks a shunned being. Once a knight, now lost to puerile obsession: The Dung Defender."


 * "Despite his exile, the Dung Defender has for centuries maintained a self-conferred charge: the protection of his mysterious gleaming 'beloved'."


 * "Stalwart and full of bravado, the Dung defender eagerly challenges all who would enter his noxious realm."
 * This backstory seems to have been changed, since Dung Defender is never said to have been exiled in any in-game text.


 * He is presumably one of the only two living members of The Pale King's five Great Knights (the second being Ze'mer).


 * After his boss fight, the player can access a room by using Desolate Dive/Descending Dark below the giant switch in the room to the right of the boss arena.
 * If all three Dreamers have been defeated, Dung Defender will be in the left room sleeping amongst a set of five statues made of dung, depicting the Great Knights. Another statue is found to the right with a King's Idol on it - a statue of the Pale King himself.
 * The Dung Defender will not appear in this room immediately following his defeat-- the area must be reloaded by having the Knight exit and reenter.
 * Striking him here with the Dream Nail will send the Knight inside the Defender's dreams, where they may fight the White Defender, a stronger version of the Dung Defender in white armour who served while the Pale King and the Five Great Knights were all still alive.
 * In his dream dialogue, he mentions Isma, one of the other Great Knights. This, combined with the fact that the Defender is guarding Isma's Grove, along with Isma's Dream Nail dialogue, all suggest that the two had some form of relationship before Isma died.


 * He is also one of four bosses to survive his boss battle, the others being Hornet, Zote the Mighty, and the Mantis Lords.


 * With the Hidden Dreams update, the White Defender's armour may imply that all five of the Great Knights most likely dressed in white while serving the King.


 * After defeating the White Defender 5 times and hearing his extra dialogue, when The Knight leaves and returns there will be a seventh dung statue made in their image.


 * Dung Defender is based on a Dung beetle.

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