Hustler

**Preceded by:**

None

Vice President

“*It keeps everything in 'mint' condition down in the Mints. You'd be hard-pressed (like the coins the Mint produces) to interrupt its work at any time.*”
―*The Cogs Volume 2*, Lullaby LibraryThe **Hustler** is a Special Cog on the Sellbots corporate ladder. It is an optional boss fight encountered below the Concert Circle in Minnie's Melodyland in the Underground Chambers.

Players can challenge the Hustler only after starting a Progression ToonTask at Minnie's Melodyland Progression Level 10. Thereafter, players can challenge it again at any time.

The difficulty of the battle with the Rogue Creditor depends on the party's Variable Difficulty rating. When defeated, the Hustler rewards the player with Merits, with a high chance of Jellybeans, and a low chance of receiving either a low-levelled SOS Toon or Unite, or a Booster.

## Encounter

When encountered, a Laff and Gag Limiter is put in place to limit Toons' Laff to a maximum of 70, and Gags to a maximum of Level 5. The Hustler has a tall and lean Cog body with a dark maroon pompadour and starry shades.

The Hustler will have 3,000 HP during the fight, and a base movement range of 4 Squares per turn.

In battle, the Hustler deals low base damage per attack, but uses a variety of combination moves using its Symphony passive, causing it to deal heavy damage to Toons. Toons will have to balance playing defensively and avoiding drawing out a fight with the Hustler, especially at later stages when Backup Dancers can combine attacks with the Hustler or heal the Hustler.

### Passive Abilities

* **Disabling Resistance**: The Hustler cannot be disabled by any means, but can be Lured for a maximum of 1 turn.
* **Instrumental Solo**: Before all Toons act, the Hustler targets one Instrument Rascal at random on the battlefield. Toons must hit that Rascal that turn with a Gag or ToonTool, or the Hustler will gain 25% damage resistance against all Gags in the next turn, and retaliate with an unavoidable attack dealing 10 damage in a global range (+2 damage each time this is used, to a maximum of 30 damage).
* **Symphony**: The Hustler attacks once per turn, but gains an additional attack (dealing 25% less damage) if any of the following conditions are met:
	+ **Four-Four Time**: Gains +1 bonus attack if it is hit by four Gags of the same type in one turn.
	+ **Instrumental Roles**: Gains +1 bonus attack if two or more Instrument Rascals are hit in one turn. This condition does not activate if the Hustler uses Sonic Boom.
	+ **Second Fiddle**: Gains +1 bonus attack if no Backup Dancers take any damage that turn.
	+ **The Show Must Go On**: Gains +1 bonus attack if any Backup Dancer is destroyed.

### Instrument Rascals

Surrounding the Hustler at all times are four Rascals with various musical instruments on them. Each Rascals orbits in a fixed circular pattern around the Hustler in a 3 - 4 Square radius, adjusting their movement pattern as the Hustler moves. Each of these Rascals cannot be destroyed or disabled in any way, but can be attacked with Gags, ToonTools or Gear as with any Cog.

Each turn, one of the four Rascals will play its musical instrument, generating a specific effect on the battlefield. The Rascal playing a musical instrument does not need to be the Rascal targeted by **Instrumental Solo**. Toons can disable this effect by attacking the Rascal once. The Rascal will continue playing its instrument until attacked by a Toon.

* Drums - **Destructive Interference**: Deals 4 damage to all Toons on the field, +2 stacking damage for each turn that it is active. Resets each time the Rascal is disabled.
* Flute - **Leading Role**: The Hustler gains 15% increased damage resistance with its Instrumental Solo passive, and Instrumental Solo attacks twice if the targeted Rascal is not hit.
* Guitar - **Rhythm Is A Dancer**: The Hustler's Backup Dancer summons one additional Cog in Phase 1. In Phase 2, spawned Cogs do not have any Spawn Penalty.
* Saxophone - **Funky Freshness**: The Hustler and its Backup Dancers are healed by 40 HP + 20 stacking HP for each turn that it is active. If Cogs are overhealed, any debuffs on them are instantly removed.

### Strategy

The Hustler's boss fight is a chaotic boss fight with numerous elements, which can quickly get out of control if players don't have a good sense of target priority. However, by focusing on the important elements of the boss fight and knowing when to switch between attacking the Hustler, a Rascal targeted by Instrumental Solo or a Rascal playing an instrument (regardless of whether it is targeted), players should have a relatively easy time as the Hustler has below average damage for a Special Cog.

* Generally, to avoid the Hustler attacking players with Instrumental Solo, players should focus the Rascal targeted by Instrumental Solo. This damage can stack up over the entire course of the battle.
* However, depending on the Instrument Rascal that is currently playing, players may in some cases choose to attack a second Instrument Rascal that turn on top of the Rascal targeted by Instrumental Solo:
	+ Drums: Generally safe to ignore, unless there are enough stacks accumulating.
	+ Flute: Generally safe to ignore if another Toon is in range of the Rascal targeted by Instrumental Solo.
	+ Guitar: Attack at all costs. Having an additional Cog on the field means more Gags expended to deal with the Cogs, and more potential damage taken in a turn.
	+ Saxophone: Generally safe to ignore, unless Cogs are lured and close to full health, and unless there are enough stacks accumulating to negate any damage done to the Hustler.

## Trivia

* A hustler has two meanings: one meaning refers to a person who obtains money by fraud or deceit, and another refers to someone who is determined to succeed and is good at aggressive selling.
* The background music to this fight shares some similarities to The Hustle from Van McCoy & The Soul City Symphony.