Beluga Whale

The beluga whale is a tier 9 animal. It is based off of its real-life counterpart, *Delphinapterus leucas*.

 Credits

## Mechanics

* Sea Lions evolve into beluga whales.
	+ 42,000 XP is required for a Sea Lion to evolve into a beluga whale.
* Beluga whales evolve into whales, humpback whales and bowhead whales(player-determined).
	+ 48,000 XP is required for a beluga whale to evolve into any of those animals.
* Beluga whales drop meat and a skeleton upon death.

## Abilities

### Passive Abilities

* You gain +10% more speed when near glaciers.

## Suitable Biomes

* The suitable biome(s) for the beluga whale is the arctic / arctic surface (cold, shallow, salt waters in open beta).
	+ If a beluga whale enters the ocean, it will lose oxygen and temperature.
	+ If a beluga whale enters the ocean surface, it will lose temperature.
	+ If a beluga whale enters the arctic, it will lose oxygen, however it can swim and its oxygen time is long enough for this to not matter.
	+ If a beluga whale enters the deeeep, it will lose pressure.
	+ If a beluga whale enters the swamp, it will lose oxygen, temperature, and salinity.
	+ If a beluga whale enters the swamp surface, it will lose temperature and not regenerate salinity.

## Strategy

### Using

* With enough skill (or in cramped areas), your waves can deal 540 damage in total to a single target, assuming they all bounced twice and didn't come in contact with the same animal until the second bounce.
	+ This is lethal damage to animals like Halibuts, Beaked Whales, and Giant Pacific Octopi.
	+ If your waves hit your target twice (assuming they first dealt 180 damage, and then 540 damage for second bounce), you can deal 720 damage, which is more than enough to kill many tier 10s.
	+ This means your maximum damage using all 3 boosts is around 1,620 to 2,160 damage. While extremely unlikely to happen unless in very small places, this damage is stupidly large for a Tier 9.
* Don't launch waves at close-range while pursuing targets, as the spread can limit their efficiency, and they only do 60 damage each.
* Use your waves defensively, as you usually evolve into Beluga whale to evolve into Whale, Bowhead Whale, or Humpback Whale.
	+ You can also stay as the animal you're playing as, since it's as capable as its tier 10 evolutions.
* At point-blank range, your waves will deal 180 damage. Combined with your normal attack, you can deal a total of 280 damage with one boost in a facetank.
* Keep at least one boost on you so you can boost away.
* Your temperature and pressure stats are high, so you can spend a bit of time hunting for prey outside of the Arctic.
	+ Do make sure to check your pressure / temperature time, otherwise you'll die.

### Countering

* Bowhead Whales can destroy Beluga Whale projectiles using their Icewall, rendering them obsolete. However, this is more of a defensive approach, as it only negates the attack.
* Marlins can evade the projectiles of a Beluga Whale and get free hits in an open space.
* Don't go in close-quarter spaces, especially if a hostile Beluga Whale is in it. You will make it easier for them to kill you.
* Cachalots can easily kill Beluga Whales, thanks to their slowing ability and their sheer amount of health. However, this can still fail in a close-quarter space, as the Beluga Whale gets the advantage there.
* Armored animals will take less damage from the waves of a Beluga Whale, and the attacks of a Beluga Whale in general.

## Trivia

* The beluga whale's ability is slightly based off the fact that echolocation waves can be harmful if they are way too loud, damaging the ears in the process.
* The beluga whale's melon (used for echolocation) is prominent on its sprite.