Skeleton

100

**Skeleton** is a minion that players can create, adding to Iratus' army of undead. Skeleton is one of the few Minions that is available to new players at the start.

## Abilities

Clumsy Strike | +4
Unassuming Strike | +1

Forceful Lesson | +1
Show Them Their Place | +2

Unnerving Fortitude | +2
Astounding Fortitude | +5

Endless Mediocrity | +1+1
Embrace Mediocrity | +1+1

Vorpal Smite | +2
Smite | +1

Creepy Clank | +2+2
Shield Banger | +2+2

## Strategy

***Roles: Physical damage dealer***  - ***Stress dealer***  - ***Counter attacker***  - ***Tanker  - Bait - Stunner***  ***- Stance interrupt***  ***- Position disrupt***  ***- Buff*** ***support***

***Upgradable Stats:*** Attack , Dread , Vigor , Initiative , Armor , Resistance , Accuracy , Luck , Evasion

***Best Positions:***

Despite being considered "mediocre", Skeleton has surprisingly many utilities. With high base Vigor , high defense from ability, immunity to Debuff, stun  effect from his feature  and above-average Initiative , he fits the Tanker role well and can take quite a beating on low difficulties. His Accuracy  and Luck  stats are quite decent, coupled with some useful effects such as armor ignoring. Having high survivability himself, he can improve his squad's defense as well. Depending on situations, he may act as emergency Stunner or Stance interrupter against enemies with dangerous Stance. Thanks to his feature , Skeleton is more resilient than other minions in many ways, being immune to nasty Marks, Debuffs, Ignition effect and certain Traps. Therefore, Skeleton can be a valuable minion for floor 5. However, this is also his weakness, as Skeleton can't be buffed by allies, removing a potential way to increase his effectiveness. Skeleton's unique item Bewitched Bones nullifies this weakness.

Skeleton's ***Unassuming Strike*** ignores Armor  outright and therefore is effective against enemies with dense Armor . ***Smite*** is another useful ability with few position restrictions used to quickly remove Block  from enemies with better potential damage output compared to ***Unassuming Strike***. Its ***Vorpal Strike*** upgrade's insta-kill effect is ineffective, however can be paired with similar abilities of other minions (particularly Lich 's ***Plague Cloud***, Head Hunter 's ***Vorpal Slash*** and ***Abundant Harvest*** boosted with his unique item Blood Contract). When the opponent side utilizes Buff a lot, Smite can be quite devastating, especially against a dangerous Berserker as he typically stacks many offensive Buff on himself. Ataman's feature  can be abused for Smite as well. Attacking Ataman will stack a lot of Buff on her allies, a great fuel for Smite. Lost Soul 's stress abilities gives Buff to multiple enemies at a time, which may help Skeleton utilize this ability better. Thanks to the multi-hit mechanic, a Skeleton with Acid Gland can easily remove enemy's Armor and Resistance with several hits.

***Show Them Their Place*** interrupts Stance and pushes back front-line enemies but only works on back positions and it might take a few turns to get Skeleton to the back. ***Forceful Lesson*** can be conveniently used right on position 2. A Legcuff can keep Skeleton on position 3, allowing him to stun the front with ***Bony Bully*** efficiently without moving.

***Unnerving Fortitude*** enables Skeleton to deal stress through counter attacks (upgraded from ***Astounding Fortitude***). ***Creepy Clank*** (upgraded from ***Shield Banger***) instantly inflicts Insanity effect on all foes at a time, severely impairing their combat efficiency. Vampire  greatly benefits from this thanks to her feature . For a whole insane opponent squad, she gains up to 24 bonus Attack .

***Astounding Fortitude*** grants high survivability, draws attention to the Skeleton for him to bait, soak up most attacks for his squad and potentially deal stress. Beware when this move is used against enemies that can interrupt Stance or cause movement. Equipping Legcuff on Skeleton will prevent him from being moved and help maintain his Stance.

***Embrace Mediocrity*** is a valuable asset for squad's defense. The Armor Buff from the ability stacks up to 3 times, resulting in 12-15 Armor , Resistance  bonus and even Attack , Dread  depending on upgrades. Thanks to this, Minions with high starting Armor , Resistance  (Head Hunter , Dark Knight , Zombie ,...) or good self-sustainability (Vampire , Bone Golem ,...) can shrug off many attacks or deal more damage in Dark Knight 's case. With this ability, Skeleton can help prolong his squad's survival in some boss fights. ***Embrace Mediocrity***, however, is fairly useless against Monster Slayer, due to his abilities to ignore defenses and remove Buffs effortlessly.

## Dialogue

* **Vigor** **is low:** *"Yep, time to head back to the grave."*
* **Killing an enemy:** *"Still got it. Stay down unless we raise ya!"*
* **Receiving a critical hit:** *"I'm sure you meant for that to hurt, but I didn't feel a thing!"*
* **Delivering a critical hit:** *"Oh, sorry! I think you broke a bone there. That's how a Skeleton does things!"*
* **Ally is killed:** *"Me next!"*
* **Enemy flees:** *"Bah! As expected from people who hide their skeletons under all that flesh!"*
* **Using *Unassuming Strike*:** *"Nothing fancy about my strikes!"*
* **Using *Smite the Show-offs*:** *"That's all you got?!"*
* **Using *Show Them Their Place*:** *"You belong in the grave!"*
* **Using *Astounding Fortitude*:** *"Think I can't take ya? Bring it!"*
* **Using *Strength of Mediocrity*:** *"Mediocrity is not a flaw but a blessing! Hehehe!"*
* **Using *Shield Banger:*** *"Enjoy the ringing while you still got a head!"*

## Trivia

* According to in-game information, Skeletons are usually underestimated or ignored by their foes, thus explaining some of their ability effects such as armor-ignoring, evasion-ignoring.