Astaroth

*Astaroth* is a DLC Creature in White Noise 2.

## Description

One of the most ancient and powerful Demons, for centuries Astaroth has been seducing and tempting human beings to inadvertently take part in his evil plots.

Now, all the pieces are in place, and it's time to take direct action and conquer all of humanity.

### Appearance

Astaroth is a tall creature with a humanoid body. Astaroth's body, apart from his head, is covered in patterns of bones and muscle, with some muscles being red and some being pink. Astaroth has two toes. Astaroth's forearms have two sharp bones pointing out, while his shoulders bones are similar to horns. Astaroth's head is purple and has many eyes, two being bigger and more humanoid in appearance. The eyes are black and red. Astaroth has two horns and some sort of gold on his head. Astaroth, like most other creatures, has sharp teeth.

## Unlocks

Because Astaroth is a DLC character, all skins are immediately unlocked when purchased.

* Astaroth (Character) and Duke (Skin): Purchase the Astaroth DLC.
* Infernal (Skin): Purchase the Astaroth DLC.
* Invocation (Skin): Purchase the Astaroth DLC.
* Mantis (Skin): Purchase the Astaroth DLC.
* Overlord (Skin): Purchase the Astaroth DLC.

## Stats and Traits

Astaroth's Stats
 Strength
 Skill Usage
 Idol Influence

### Traits

* MALEFICENT: Astaroth's Horror increases by 2% each time he is stunned.
* VENERATION: Powers recharge by 12% each time an idol is summoned.

 Skills

 COMPASS: Pulls up a compass for a few seconds that will roughly point in the direction of the Investigator with the lowest Stealth or the nearest outlined Investigator. The color of the pointer on the compass varies depending on the distance from the investigator. Red means far away, yellow means getting closer, and blue means nearby. If the compass is a single pale blue dot, it means that the investigator is near the general area.

 TELEPORT: Teleports the creature near the investigators.

 SPLINTERS: Places down splinters. If an investigator steps on the splinters, they will be trapped and unable to move for a while. After the splinters disappear, the Investigator suffers a harsh speed debuff for a while.

 BREAKDOWN: Living Investigators will instantly go insane with some unique side effects. They will involuntarily start sprinting until Breakdown ends or when they run out of stamina, they will not be able to interact with objects, their compass and glow stick cooldowns will be regressed, they will have more difficulty turning, and their flashlights will no longer stun or slow down Astaroth.

 DISRUPTION: Astaroth and a highlighted, otherwise random, Investigator within 75 meters will switch places. If Astaroth is out of range when he uses Disruption, he will still switch places with the investigator, although the investigator will not be teleported the full distance. Instead, they will be teleported to the max range.

 SPRINT: Movement speed will temporarily be increased. Exposition to light will cancel the sprint.

## Tips

Astaroth offers a high risk, but in turn, gives a low reward. While Astaroth has the highest Horror in the game, which further increases with MALEFICENT, as well as good Idol Influence, Astaroth's stat spread is generally below par. Astaroth has terrible Perception, which makes finding Investigators difficult, and below-average Skill Usage. Astaroth's Speed is deceptively listed at 5 points, being slower than other Creatures with that exact Speed stat in actuality.

Astaroth is generally best at separating Investigators with Breakdown and Disruption. Breakdown forces all Investigators to run until their stamina runs out or when Breakdown ends, although if used near the Investigators they can simply run away, which is one example of Astaroth's powers working against him. Disruption, on the other hand, forces a highlighted Investigator (or a random Investigator if none are highlighted) to switch places with Astaroth, allowing him to attack. Disruption will, depending on the targeted Investigator, initiate a loud split and forces the Compass to point to the lone Investigator, or create a stealth split and cause Astaroth to be mostly unable to locate the targeted Investigator until either all other Investigators have been devoured or when The Artifact spawns. Astaroth's poor Perception makes both types of splits difficult to find, stealth splits more than loud splits.

Splinters are good at trapping Tapes, although they aren't as good at protecting other clues such as Light Prisms. When activated, the trapped Investigator will be unable to move, although they can stun Astaroth. Additionally, by the time Astaroth will have gotten to the Investigator, they will have likely been freed and had most of, if not all of the Speed debuff timed out. They will have an outline placed on them, which will still work against him, depending on the Investigator, if Disruption is used.

The utility of Astaroth's powers grows substantially when the Artifact spawns, as due to the Auto balance feature potentially giving Astaroth a buff, he can use Disruption, Splinters, and Breakdown more. Disruption and Breakdown are useful for getting Investigators away from the Artifact, while Splinters are good at keeping Investigators from breaking Sigils or getting to them. This is incredibly useful for slowing the Investigator's progress with one or two living Investigators.

## Skins

Duke (Default)Infernal (+1 Light Resistance, -1 Horror)Invocation (+1 Skill Usage, -1 Light Resistance)Mantis (+1 Perception, -1 Idol Influence)Overlord (+1 Horror, -1 Perception)
### Timed Skins

Chocolate (Easter, March 25th - April 16th)Big Head (April Fool's Day, March 31st - April 2nd)Christmas (Christmas, December 4th - ???)
## Trivia

* Astaroth was the first Creature to be added as DLC, being added in the third update since release.
	+ Astaroth is also the only DLC Creature to appear on multiple update banners, appearing on Update #3: Torn Flesh and Update #10: Pale Traces' banners.
* Astaroth is the only DLC Creature to have five promotional images instead of six.

## Gallery

Astaroth on Update #3: Torn Flesh's update bannerAstaroth's Overlord skin on Update #10: Pale Traces' update bannerAstaroth's DLC thumbnailAstaroth on a promotional imagePhileas and Infernal Astaroth on a promotional imageAstaroth's concept artAstaroth's headshot on Emma Salamanca's websiteThe Duke skin's reference imageThe Infernal skin's reference imageThe Invocation skin's reference imageThe Mantis skin's reference imageThe Overlord skin's reference image