They See it Rolling, they be Hating: The Dung Beetle Knight Showdown (Patreon)

Few creatures in the world of Kingdom Death are as blameless as the Dung Beetle Knight, just like the Flower Knight this guardian of nature is not an active hunter of survivors – instead travelling long distances to collect dung from the landscape and secret it away into its underground garden. Despite its large size and martial prowess, the Dung Beetle Knights are not aggressive in nature. They may be very capable of defending themselves, but it is clear that they prefer to avoid conflict where possible, this is evidenced through the fable/lore of their creation (where they avoid fighting both the Phoenixes and the Flower Knight) and supported through their sculpting of a Phoenix face on their dung balls – both as kind of a tribute to the creature that “fathered” them with the poop that formed their species and also as a way of scaring off other creatures. It is also worth acknowledging at this point that the Dung Beetle Knights (DBK) are one of the group of creatures in this world that do not rely on light to navigate.

Overview of the Showdown

More than almost any other monster in the game (apart from perhaps the Sunstalker) the conflict with the Dung Beetle Knight revolves around movement and positioning. Not just of the monster and the survivors, but also the Dung Ball itself, which is the single most threatening of all the DBK's attacks due to the way that it bypasses most of the common defensive gates employed by survivors (evasion, block) and can only be avoided through good positioning and armor.

As a consequence of this, control of the Dung Ball remains a tug-of-war between the survivors and the DBK that can never be relaxed until the stinky gardener is dead. More than any other showdown in the game having one survivor each turn dedicated to not attacking and instead shifting the ball away from the DBK is vital.

In addition to that level of control requirement, you also have to consider load outs due to the DBK's heavy plating and its absurdly powerful trap card. As such, more than almost any monster, planning for the correct build designs when approaching this beast is very important, there are a lot less viable builds than normal and there is no such thing as over-prepared in the case of the DBK because this monster is absolutely for the try hards. And that's OK if you are one.

Active Behaviours

We'll start this time by looking at how the DBK behaves rather than how it reacts, this is because unlike many monsters the DBK dictates the pace of the showdown, they almost always get the first hit (unless you manage to Dash away) and every turn you are looking to deal with what they will do on their turn as a matter of priority. While complete AI control isn't a requirement, it is something that you will find incredibly useful until you have internalised the main ways that the DBK targets, acts and the power spikes that it can present.

The most dominant thing that the DBK does throughout the fight is Baller, this trait is triggered by every single AI card that has a green top (i.e. the DBK is not suffering from Separation Anxiety) and this occurs on multiple basic and advanced AI cards. Baller is a beast of an action, where the DBK spins the ball through every single space within two squares of it (including diagonals) and deals collision damage to all survivors in that space.

If you are not running Reach/Range 3+ weapons then there will typically be multiple survivors within this space and the collision damage they will suffer is horrific – ranging from 5 damage to a location all the way up to 5 damage to 4 locations + loss of a survival. In short, don't get hit by the ball.

This is done in a few different ways, the most direct of which is for the survivor(s) in the pathway to use available flow steps to dash away, but short of playing survivors with ways of regenerating survival (Abyssal Sadist, Deathpact, God Mask etc) and/or having a very deep survival pool this is not a sustainable method and therefore it should be considered secondary to disabling Baller and avoiding the ball when it is pulled back during Ground Pound.

Take your time and really come to understand how the ball moves when you read the rulebook for the DBK, the rules for its movement are intuitive, but visualising the spaces it will pass through are not as clear as you would think. So, don't be ashamed of slowing down the play so you can work out exactly how the ball will move when it is thrown/ground pounded in order to be sure you are not in its pathway. Not even survivors in Green Armor can tank too many hits from the Dung Ball, so minimising silly errors that cause a collision is just good practice.

The other common actions from the DBK are Ground Pound and its Basic Action. These are so ubiquitous because of how they trigger when the DBK is incapable of performing Baller, and because the survivors will be deliberately turning baller into bawler by triggering its separation anxiety, this creature will often use Ground Pound to try and recall the ball before basic attacking instead of doing horrific stuff with the round poop.

We looked at Ground Pound above, so we'll just briefly look at what the basic action does. It is a 3/3+/4 attack, which means that while it is very damaging, it is less accurate than normal and can be impacted by evasion and block. This means it is far more desirable than the collisions with the ball because now we have all four possible gates for protection (movement, evasion, block, armor) instead of just two. The attack is then followed up with the DBK making a full move towards the ball and given that the DBK's movement is exceedingly high, this usually results in the combination of Ground Pound plus this move reuniting the pair; and that is why this showdown is filled with constant threat. The DBK and its ball are joined together with a figurative rubber band and all you can do is pull it to full stretch for one or two turns, not more than that. You will be moving that ball away so many times that you'll start to feel a little envious of Sisyphus, because he at least was not punched, cut and bit by a twelve foot tall armored sentai who is upset because you've taken away its security ball.

In respect of the other, non-ball related cards we'll just look at the power spikes and troughs, those moments where the DBK is extra dangerous, or less dangerous than normal.

Beetle Flight – Advanced Mood

This mood provides a +1 strength buff for all survivors with 6+ courage, and immediately triggers a second AI card draw. The mood itself gives the DBK +10 movement and +1 evasion. The extra movement effectively means that the DBK will be in contact with the ball at the end of most of its turns and that its trap card has enough reach to catch anyone on the board who triggers it. It is however, a mood card, and one of the largest downsides to a mood card is the monster effectively wounds itself when it draws them, trading one point of life in exchange for a buff. In addition, this mood does absolutely nothing at all if you have inflicted the Broken Wings persistent injury and causes the DBK to skip a turn, archiving Beetle Flight in the process. This is a significantly less powerful outcome than many persistent injuries. The DBK isn't going to sadly stare at its lost paw turn after turn, instead it'll learn from the failure and not fly again for this showdown.

Boiling Resin Spit – Advanced Attack

This 2/4+/5 attack's most threatening aspects are its damage and the impact if it damages the legs or arms. Having your legs damaged means that you suffer -2 movement tokens, which can be a massive problem, especially because it can be repeated if this card is performed again in a future turn. The -2 Accuracy on the arm damage is also a huge debuff and can cripple any characters attacking ability, especially those who use less accurate weapons in the first place. This attack can also be cancelled by the Broken Mouth persistent injury, but this time it causes the DBK to self wound, get knocked down and it does not archive.

Grab & Pummel – Advanced Attack

Oh boy, about the only beneficial part of this one is it targets the closest stinky threat, which means that pre-smell world, world you can ensure that your tanks are the ones targeted by this, but honestly, most of the time you want to dash-cancel this attack because it's an absolutely terrifying statline of 10/5+/2. High speed attacks, even ones with relatively low damage, are awful news because of how they overcome block and moderate evasion through sheer numbers.

Over the Shoulder – Advanced Attack

The nastiest part of this 3/3+/4 attack is not the attack itself, but the after damage effect, where the target will be dumped into the ball and take collision damage (5 damage to * hit locations). It is however a very simple and brutish move and there are no special defenses to undertake outside of the usual block/evasion/dash.

Rainbow Beetle – Legendary Trait

This one is very notable because of how it is a trait, which makes it something which cannot be removed once it hits place, it's also interesting in how it punishes survivors who score Perfect hits unless they are blind. I think the design on this particular card is amazing, if a survivor is blind then survivors only tend to hit on a Perfect hit anyway and this trait doesn't further punish that type of survivor. It also makes eyepatches a lot stronger than they would be normally. You can get Eyepatches from People of the Sun or by beating the L3 Sunstalker.

Scarab of Life – Legendary Trait

A very simple and basic trait, but an absolute beast of one, not only does it give a quick heal, thereby undoing the problems that traits (and moods) normally have in that they wound monsters in the process. But the main effect is to increase all * effects by one, this can make the L1 like the L2 and TOM like a L5 monster. It's brutal at a magnificent level with how it impacts on the ball collisions.

Reactive Behaviours

If you thought the absolute beatings that the DBK issues when it is being proactive were terrifying, then I am very pleased to tell you that we've not even begun to scratch the surface. The reactive actions of the DBK are at least on par with the devastation that this monster tends to deal out offensively, attacking the DBK hurts the DPS survivors almost as much as the ones assigned to tank the damage.

Century Carapace

Strike a sentai pose! Dab! One of the signature defense cards from the DBK's HL deck, this card turns the already daunting level of toughness that the DBK has and increases it further with a hit location that will cause you to lose survival if you cannot wound and archive it.

However, if you are using a club, shield or pickaxe then you gain a considerable +2d10 strength boost when trying to wound. This means that you should be contemplating weapons like the Riot Mace, Scoopy Club, Bone Pickaxe + Toolbelt and the DBK's own Digging Claws as your offensive weapon choices on at least two of your survivors. When you can scrub/clear away these hit locations then your life is a lot easier, until you face the level 3 DBK that is.

Swarm of Botflies

Totally disgusting proof that the DBK is warmblooded, but that is no comfort when this awful first strike, impervious hit location is drawn. If your character is not able to roll 1d10 + courage higher than 5+Monster Level then your going to suffer brain damage, get knocked down and lose your attack. This is just another reason why high courage is desirable when heading for this showdown.

Parry Locations

As a Knight the DBK has the wondrous mechanic of parry locations, this means that unless you have gained Fencing while you were bullying the Flower Knight, you will want to be attacking with high crit wound chance weapons because that is the only way you are going to get around these. Without either of those the DBK is going to be significantly more durable than it would be otherwise.

Filthy Gut / Iridescent Leg / Side of Resign Ball / Iridescent Abdomen

When you have separated the DBK from its ball these cards can reunite it unexpectedly during your turn (while also making you suffer the effects of ground pound). There is not a lot you can do about this happening, but the main mitigation is to make sure that the last survivor to act each round is willing and able to push the resin ball away if it has returned to its master.

Filthy Resin Sword / Iridescent Helm / Filthy Wings / Hidden Mandibles / Critical Wounds

Each of these locations, along with a bunch of others, give you benefits for scoring critical wounds on the DBK. You will gain a great deal of extra resources, cancel some dangerous attacks and also get early access to the Regenerating Blade which you can turn into a Juggernaut Blade. Most monsters are quite weak to critical wounding strategies and the DBK is no exception. Deadly is as deadly does.

Slam Dunk

We can't end this portion without talking about the two most terrifying aspects of the DBK's reactive suite, and the first of these is its trap card. This trap is notoriously unpleasant because of how far the DBK can reach with it (it is possible to outdistance the DBK, but only a few select weapons can do this and even then they can't do it against the higher level / Beetle flight DBKs). This trap deals a massive amount of damage to the survivor if the DBK reaches them and it also removes them from the board, leaving them trapped inside the ball, stinking and bleeding/suffocating as punishment for invading DBK's World. Even when they do finally escape from this they will still have

The things that help beat this are:

1. Hit location scouting
2. A bow with 1 longer range than the DBK's movement
3. Blue Charm
4. Founding Stone (though you're not getting the crit bonus for this one if you use it)
5. Spear Specialization (the only way to disarm the trap at the higher levels)
6. Good armor levels or injury protection like Dried Acanthus

It's a pretty horrible situation all round though and one of those bitter pills you just have to swallow.

Burrow

We've left the best for last with the single most game changing trait card after Indomitable. Burrow pushes the power curve for the DBK so far that the distance in difficulty between the L2 and the L3+ DBKs is a planetary sized gulf filled with ravenous beetle sharks.

Burrow allows the DBK to punish the heck out of survivors every time they try to wound the Century Carapace locations, it will dive underground and burst up in the attacking survivor's space. Displacing them, ending their attack and also dealing massive amounts of injuries if they do not spend survival to avoid this. In truth the only way to reasonably handle Burrow is to break the plating with a pickaxe (Bone Pickaxe + Manhunter Toolbelt or Calcified Digging Claws) because it gives you a decent survival boost that you can spend to help you avoid the damage, this time.

As the DBK is built to regenerate Century Carapace plates, and it also has the pressures of its resin ball, its attacks and its reactions on top of this, beating the DBK at L3+ and also beating TOM (The Old Master) are pinnacle triumphs that allow you to say that you've achieved the hardest things in the current KDM suite and you can pat yourself on the back as being one of the best of the best.

It's brutal, it's unpleasant and it's something that not all your survivors will usually return from alive.

Strategies

So what works against the DBK?

Given that the monster is so overwhelmingly dangerous offensively and defensively the first thing that you want to ensure you have is access to all your best survival actions. Surge / Overpower / Dash are all close to essential because they either speed the demise of the DBK, allow you to attack and push the ball and they allow you to move extra distance when the DBK manages to punt its ball at one of you. Only very experienced and patient players should consider going in without both of their unlockable survival actions in their pocket.

You are going to want at least one pickaxe for fighting the DBK at higher levels. Suitable pickaxes come in exactly two variations at the moment. The first is the Bone Pickaxe + Manhunter's Toolbelt (you can get away with the Bone Pickaxe alone vs the lower levels these days as they no longer break when attacking the DBK's Century Carapace). The superior version is the Calcified Digging Claw(s) and as such the plan is usually to hunt the L1 DBK until you get the claws in reasonable numbers, then use the claws to hunt the L2 and then calcify them before moving on to the L3.

Axes in the hands of an axe master are another amazing tool for hunting the DBK. It has a total of four persistent injuries and while hitting each one will cause the trap to turn up more often, every single persistent injury is both significant and useful, so the risk is this time worth it.

Outside of Axe Masters critical wounds are, in general very important. Most monsters fold up like a house of cards against high luck and deadly weapons and the DBK is no exception. In fact, due to the relatively low levels of armor points in the game, critical wounding strategies are almost essential – you can't face tank your way through your attacks in a sustainable fashion here, you are going to need to bypass as many reactions as you can manage.

We should make special note of the opening turn from the DBK, it will often punt the ball at one of your survivors and this is one of the few times you will not have an opportunity to separate it before its turn starts. The Ball goes far, like very far, so you want to have a stinky survivor as far as possible from the DBK, so they can dash and hopefully get out of range of the ball's path – but if they can't you want to be sure that they can take those hit(s) without crumpling up and giving the DBK an easy spare to mop up.

Outside of that opening salvo the turn will settle into a pretty predictable pattern, one survivor will control, two survivors will attack and then the third survivor will move the ball. Always making sure that the ball move is done after ALL attacks are made, this ensures that the DBK never starts the turn adjacent to the ball and able to utterly wreck you with baller.

When the trap turns up you are going to have to make your decisions based on what loadout you've chosen. If you have a very long range bow, one that outdistances the DBK's movement, then you can use that to shoot the DBK and effectively cause the trap to deal no damage. Otherwise, if you can't outdistance it, a spear specialist is the next best choice, with a blue charm and a tempered spear if you want to be really sure and pack all the most broken stuff you can (you can get all of that active with Cycloid Scale Armor if you want an easy route). The last option is the saddest of them, someone is just going to have to get dunked into the ball and end up eating poop, both figuratively and literally. Fun times, try and avoid it being your tank or your controlling survivor!

As is always the case when facing a newer monster, one should always over prepare and bring stuff that is too strong. This helps when learning a great deal because you have a buffer for making errors and that is going to happen for sure. It's just natural to err when learning, and because KDM's philosophy about learning errors is to kill your survivors for making them, you should provide as much safety buffer for them as you can manage!

In the end, you've got here an amazing, challenging fight that never becomes completely rote. One with incredible rewards, staggering highs, devastating lows and an equilibrium between survivors and the monster that is a tight and exciting tug-of-war that, unlike many other monsters, never outstays its welcome and always remains fresh.

Until next time, keep rolling!