Dunkleosteus

*Dunkleosteus* is a banned genus of arthrodire placoderm fish that was popular during the Late Devonian period, about 358–382 million years ago. The genus has 10 species, which have almost the same playstyle as this build, being the apex marine predators of their time. It was named in honor of David Dunkle. It was considered to be one of the most famous Placoderm builds in the game.

## Base Stats

### Tier

S (General)A (Compared to other Devonian builds)

## Species

### Relatives

Actinopterygii, Sarcopterygii, Chondrichthyes and Acanthodii

## Overview

Their lack of speed is negated by their unique and at the time revolutionary jaw that effectively creates a vacuum upon opening. The vacuum would suck potential prey into the mouth of the Dunkleosteus player. Many veterans say that this build popularized teeth and jaws. The two lowest stats of the Dunkleosteus build are intelligence and stealth which are both at a low 20. This did not get in the way of anything though since most other builds had very similar low intelligence and stealth since both those stats were not very popular or developed among builds of this time. So the ridiculous power and defense stats were some of the most powerful during that time. However, a new study published in 2023 shows that it has a much lower Health and has a pudgier hitbox than assumed, dealing a very severe blow to its Mobility. However, this downsizing ended up indirectly buffing its Power to the max.

## Moveset

**Vortex Chomp (Active, Attack)**- A very powerful attack that allows you to devour players much bigger than usual, and can also rip apart flesh.

**Bony Plating (Passive, Defense)**- Dunkleosteus's head is protected by thick dermal armor, completely negating all critical hits.

**Monstrous** **(Active, Intimidation)-** The sheer size and appearance of the Dunkleosteus was enough to repel the Paleozoic era fish.

## Tier Placement

Due to the downsizing as shown in the study referrenced above, the build is now much less tankier and much slower. The 2023 study also added a new implication to this, any build with >5 meter size couldn't be playable until after the Late Devonian balance patch banned the Placoderms. Regardless, even after this new study, the Dunkleosteus is still quite powerful in its server, as it does not need to increase in size beyond 5 m due to its powerful [Vortex Chomp] attack, which discourages stacking up on Evolution Point on Health. The attack means that it can grief the same range of targets, despite being the size of large Tuna builds, as a Tiger Shark or Great White Shark. Thus, this makes the Dunkleosteus S-tier in its server, although due to being even slower, and the size change bringing it on even ground with Onychodus and Hyneria, which are both more well-rounded, it only shows up as an A-tier compared to the rest of the Devonian builds.

## Summary

### Pros:

* Maximum Power
* High Health and Defense
* Powerful attacks that can rip off pieces of flesh, thus eliminating the need for bigger sizes, and discouraging the use of piling up Evolution Points on HP.
* Powerful Intimidation debuff.

### Cons:

* Very low Mobility and other stats
* Large size requires a high EXP upkeep.

## Outside Hall of Fame

Dunkelosteous has been featured in Hungry Shark world and Hungry shark evolution as big momma and big daddy.

## Referrences

1. ↑ https://encyclopedia.pub/entry/34324
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 https://www.10tons.dk/dunkleosteus
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 https://www.mdpi.com/1424-2818/15/3/318