Son of a Witch: The Unofficial Monster Manual
This is part 2 of my big Son of a Witch guide: part 1, Son of a Witch as a Roguelike (https://exilian.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=5370.0), contains general gameplay advice and guides to the different levels/areas, and part 3, the Unofficial Equipment Guide (https://exilian.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=5385.0), includes stats and advice on all the items available in the game.
Herein are the monsters of Son of a Witch, including handy hints and tips on how to beat them. Part 1 will include all the regular enemies, and some special enemies like the Bushido: Bosses will be in Part 2, so you can hyperlink directly to the section on bosses if you want to!
Part 1: Regular Enemies
GOBLINS
Grunt
Health: 90
Moves: Club (30)
The most basic goblin warrior, armed with a club and a grudge against nobody in particular, and unafraid to use them. Goblin grunts are a frequent menace even in quieter times demanding "tolls" from forest travellers, and at times of war the shamans can summon large numbers of them to form the meat shields of the goblin army.
The goblin grunt is the most basic enemy in the game. They plod around, and if they get close they can hit you at short range with their clubs. This does 30 damage, which is pretty significant, so being hit is something to avoid (though their low speed fortunately makes this quite easy, and they can't block attacks of any sort). Goblin grunts often drop the Goblin Club, probably the weakest hand weapon in the game - it has decent damage but at very short range and is slow to use.
Berserker
Health: 90
Moves: Axe (16), Axe Throw (16, ranged)
The berserkers are the more battle-hardened goblins, fighting with axes and working themselves into a rage with various herbs provided by the shamans. They often hurl their axes at the enemy. In more peaceful times, and without their frenzy, the berserkers often just function as lackeys and servants for the shamans.
The Berserker, an axe-throwing goblin type, is rather more dangerous than the clubber. Whilst their damage dealt is lower (16), they can and will throw their axes, meaning you need to be prepared to dodge them if you're fighting at range as well. Berserkers often drop the Goblin Axe, a useful early-game throwing/melee weapon which has a fast rage buildup.
Warrior
Health: 60
Moves: Sword (22), Raise Shield
The battle-ready elite of the goblin army and their only "professionals", warriors carry heavy, curved swords and thick wooden shields to protect them against enemy attacks. Goblins are poor at forming battle lines, and being somewhat cowardly will often just hide behind a shield without moving, but nonetheless, many unwary humans have found the goblin swords a much deadlier prospect than expected.
In terms of rapid damage dealing the Warrior is the nastiest of the goblins, but fortunately this is counterbalanced by low speed (as usual for goblins) and the shielding behaviour, which may be tricky to deal with at first but actually gives you the advantage as the player. Warriors respond to being attacked by putting their shield up, which protects them from attacks from the front. They cannot move whilst the shield is up. They will at some point drop the shield and start moving again or, if you're close enough, they'll start hitting with their sword, which happens very fast and does very high damage. However, the shield doesn't protect them from the back, so you can hit them in the front, run round and do more damage by hitting them from behind.
Blaggard
Health: 90
Moves: Bomb Throw (20)
One of the few areas in which the goblins of the deep forests have managed to gain a real advantage over their neighbours is the creation of alchemical explosives. The goblins who create and use large quantities of these newexplosive devices are the blaggards - smaller goblins who have just been given the chance to rule the roost by the invention of the bomb and who are taking every possible opportunity to swagger around and remind bigger, older goblins where the future is going.
The blaggard (my personal favourite unit name in this game) can throw small bombs: these do 20 damage, knock nearby units down, and affect everyone in the target area including other goblins. Bombs can badly disrupt your fighting, so you either want to keep moving to avoid them, or take out the bombers early on in a fight. The blaggard has no close combat attack at all (though they can throw bombs right next to them if enemies get too close), so if you can close them down with a melee weapon then they're very easy to take down.
Shaman
Health: 120
Moves: Summon Meteor (30), Target Doll, Drop Doll
The Shamans are the leaders of the forest goblins. Often exasperated with their less than intellectual species, they nonetheless do their best to protect their fellow goblins, and to ensure that the numerous ancient artefacts of goblin-kind are not stolen or used to attempt to destroy the world or anything like that. They have rather little regard for other sapient species (which, in fairness to them, is generally more than reciprocated by the rulers of the human and elf realms) and are happy to bulldoze anything in their way if they feel it necessary. They practice quite advanced forms of magic, including the creation of voodoo dolls and calling upon the Ancestor Goblins to send meteors from the skies (which generally works, to the annoyance of certain human theologians).
The Shaman is the most dangerous of the goblin enemies: they summon meteors that fall from the sky after a certain delay and target the player. These aren't too bad - you can dodge them - but what makes the shaman really nasty is the use of voodoo dolls that can be targeted onto the player.
The shaman's first move is always to target its doll: once the target is selected, the shaman will never re-target a doll onto anyone else. The shaman then does a few meteors, THEN drops the doll near itself. Once the doll is dropped, things get dangerous; meteors dropped onto a targeted doll will also affect/harm the player. If the shaman is in a protected or hard to get to location this can be particularly a problem, and of course players must avoid hitting the doll themselves (magic orbs and arrows pass over it, but indirect magic strikes, close combat attacks, and stomps can all hit the doll and thus damage the player).
Orc
Health: 200
Moves: Punch (40)
Orcs combine roughly the intellect of a moderately thoughtful tapeworm with the muscle structure of a medium sized bull, and mostly live either by chasing down and grappling wild boar or as muscle for anyone prepared to feed them. As they are just about capable of taking orders, and seem to enjoy punching their enemies to death, the goblin shamans occasionally summon them from the hills in times of war. A blunt tool is sometimes better than none at all, after all...
The Orc is much larger, green, and only appears in the castle level (presumably the orcs are pushed to the front lines of the goblin army). They have a single, very high damage, short range punch attack, and they're quite quick with a lot of health. For most characters, range is better for taking these guys down, ideally with poison or fire so you don't have to keep hitting them: knockdown and stomp is dangerous unless your stomp damage is extremely high, as they get up pretty fast. I can take these guys down in melee, but it's tough maneuvering. It's generally a case of doing one heavy hit, perfectly timed so they don't quite get a chance to get the punch attack done, then ducking out the way in the other direction before turning to hit them again.
THE ROYAL ARMY
Castle Guard
Health: 90
Moves: Spear thrust (20), Spear throw (20)
The mainstay of the Royal Army are its spear-armed guardsmen. They are neither very tough nor very well trained, but their spears allow them to keep enemies at a distance (as long as they remember that the pointy end is supposed to go towards the enemy!) They can, at least, be trained in large enough numbers to match up against the goblin hordes or other foes that might descend upon the realm.
Castle guards have lowish health (90), and 2 attacks, a spear throw and spear stab, both doing 20 damage. In large numbers they can be particularly dangerous as volleys of spears can do a lot of damage. The reach of their attacks is also quite high: if you're taking them on in melee, you'll need to get closer to them than they will to you. This makes keeping moving important when taking on multiple castle guards: if you stand still to attack one in melee for too long, it's likely that others will stab past them or throw spears to attack you from a distance.
You can summon castle guards for 3 mana using the Imperial Sceptre magic item. This can only be obtained by killing the king at the end of the third level.
Guard Captain
Health: 80
Moves: Sword (22), Raise shield
The guard captains are the cream of the royal army. With large, heavy shields and swords, they form the front line in battle and can protect their fellow soldiers from enemy fire. They are sword-masters as well, and capable of dealing devastatingly fast damage. The ordinary guardsmen regard them with a mixture of fear, admiration, and annoyance that the captains tend to get all the glory!
The guard captain is a mobile version of the goblin warrior - they have shields which block all damage from the front, and can move towards you (albeit slowly) whilst shielded. When they drop their shield, their sword attack is very rapid and high damage.
Archers are the best class for taking down guard captains: you can just shoot once (which will knock them down), get out the way, and then shoot them a second time which will be enough for the kills. In melee, the key is maintaining distance, ducking out the way and then using your strong/slow attack since they'll shield up after one hit and that maximises the damage you can do (unless you have the replica excalibur shield-breaking sword in which case barrel in and hit away). For wizards, if you're into using poison or fire, those can be useful here, and bouncing magic orbs can let you hit the captain from both sides if timed right: attacking repeatedly and then moving away and waiting for the shield to drop works, it's just slow. If you're attacking at range, especially with magic orbs, and you need the shield to drop to get another attack in do NOT keep shooting, or the captain will just keep the shield up until they get to you.
Sky Wizard
Health: 100
Moves: Hailstone (30, Ice), Boost ally speed
The College of Wizards has a long-standing compact with the King that they will provide support to his troops in times of direst need just so long as he doesn't look too hard at their tax affairs and turns a blind eye to any accidental demon summons that go on across the kingdom. Unlike goblin shamans, human wizards attribute their powers to a lifetime of study, and are a genuinely useful addition to the army, though keeping their mind on the job is never an easy task.
These guys only appear within the castle, not on the battlements. Like their goblin shaman counterparts, the Sky Wizards are very dangerous and should be taken down as a high priority, though for different reasons. Their indirect attack, the hailstone (how they get all those hailstones appearing indoors, who knows - what are they, magic or something?) is basically similar to the shaman's meteors, and they won't have any voodoo doll stuff going on.
Their special ability - and the dangerous bit - is speed boosting ALL royal army troops in the room. This can quickly and easily lead to guards running around who are as fast as (or faster than) the player, something very much to be avoided as it makes it nearly impossible to dodge attacks. As such, take the wizards down first. Rooms with multiple sky wizards can be particularly hard as you can't avoid high-speed enemies: if you're dealing high enough damage you can sometimes just attack fast, keep moving and tough those out, but it may be worth using a scroll to get past rooms like that if you're not at that point.
The King
Health: 150
Moves: Summon guard
King Oluphas III has been the ruler of Samepetia for nearly fifty years, and has the beard to prove it.
The King only appears in his throne room after the third level boss fight, and his only real attributes are high health and the sceptre. The sceptre lets him summon additional guards - something he'll happily keep doing until you're wholly swamped with guards and Very Much Dead. In many games it's not worth killing the King, but if you have a scroll and want to summon guards yourself then it can be worth clearing his room that way. The presence of two sky wizards in the room means his guards will be moving fast from an early point, so you really need some good prep (use of several mega boost potions, or a scroll, or some super high damage preparation like you can do with the retaliator sword, or room prep by having good magic and using the turret staff) in order to take on the throne room battle.
The King will always drop the sceptre, which lets you summon a castle guard for 3 mana.
THE DUNGEON BANDITS
Bandit
Health: 120
Moves: Mace (30)
Common thugs and bandits are an all too common threat for merchants around the kingdom, especially up in the hills, and many of them - at least, the ones that the royal army can capture alive - end up locked in the vast dungeon complex under the royal castle. It's a tough life beating people up and stealing their stuff, and bandits are as a result a hardy folk, often with an eye for profit as well as an eye for a fight.
Doing a punchy thirty damage per hit, with decent range thanks to their large maces and medium speed, the bandit operates a bit like the goblin clubber but with terrifyingly higher punch. Their decent movement speed is something to watch out for, as is their much higher tendency to walk around the player - they will actively try to flank you and hit you from the back. Bandits are also the shopkeepers in the dungeon level.
Thief
Health: 100
Moves: Knife throw (20), Theft jump
Thieves may lack the guts for toe-to-toe fighting, but this often makes the more, rather than less, worrying opponents: ducking between columns, hurling deadly throwing knives, and occasionally jumping out to cut a pack or steal items, they are a nightmare for unwary travellers in the rougher parts of Samepetia's market towns. A dungeon full of them would be a nightmare...
The thief has two attacks. One is a ranged throwing attack with knives that do 20 damage. They spread out more than the castle guards or goblin axers as they have no melee attack to chase you for, and so the throwing knives can often catch you while you're running around the edges of a room to avoid being flanked by bandits. Their other, equally annoying, "attack" is to jump on the player character's back and start throwing their inventory items out all over the place. This can be horrendously bad news, especially if you're an archer and suddenly find your arrows aren't in your inventory any more. You can pick most items up afterwards, though thieves will set light to bombs before throwing them which can be extremely dangerous.
Brigand
Health: 80
Moves: Poison blade (21, Poison 5b), Raise Shield
Mad, bad, and dangerous to know, brigands have the raw cunning needed to claw their way to the top of gutter-level society. With no moral reservations about using all manner of poisons, and enough resources to actually be carrying proper shields, brigands are worth keeping a safe distance from and brigand bands are the bane of the royal army even at the best of times (that is, "times when goblins aren't invading"...!)
The brigand is the dungeon version of a shielder, in the same line as the Guard Captain and Goblin Warrior. Like the Guard Captain, the brigand can move; brigands are more dangerous, though, as they are faster and carry poisoned daggers which will poison you for 5 battles.
THE UNDEAD
Skeleton Warrior
Health: 100
Moves: Undead blade (8, Poison 5b, Hiccup 5b)
A decomposed human corpse from ages past, re-animated as a shambling bone-clattering mockery of the living, any free will they might have had under the iron grip of a necromancer - skeletons are. it is widely assumed, not supposed to walk around, and a lot of people get quite upset about it when they do. An enemy that can't be reasoned with and won't even have the good grace to die if you poison them is one that most people would rather not face. Which is probably why it's your job.
The skeleton warrior is the basic close combat undead unit. Their blades can cause "tetanus", triggering both poison and the "hiccup" effect which makes your character do random pauses (especially unpleasant when combined with some of the more powerful dungeon traps). They hit quite fast with their swords, but the main problem is the tetanus, which will weaken your character such that other enemies can beat you more easily.
Skeleton Archer
Health: 100
Moves: Bow (64)
Some skeletons use bows instead of swords. As magically knitted together as their users, carved from shining bone, bone bows are a rather terrifying tool in the hands of the right (or, depending on perspective, the wrong) user. Necromancers tend to like having some archers around - killing an enemy before they can get to any of your undead is a handy saving on time, resources, and re-animations.
The skeleton archer is pretty quick, and they spread out to fire their arrows. These have no negative status effects but do very high damage. They drop bone arrows and bone bows - the bow becomes more effective the more bone arrows the character holds.
Skeleton Mage
Health: 90
Moves: Magic orbs (6), Random Curse
Carrying dread curses from beyond the grave, Skeleton Mages have just enough intellect and free will to cast their crazed magics. Any sanity in them is usually rapidly broken apart by the pressures of a high magical attunement, permanent mental control from a necromancer, and a persistent tendency to forget where in the catacombs they left their keys.
Skeleton mages can produce short bursts of mid-grade magic orbs as their main attack. Their more dangerous ability, though, is curses. They can summon random negative effects on all enemies: these can include fire, poison, hunger, ice, extravagance, avarice, tremor, and distraction. They are more likely to summon curses when unable to do their main attack, so beware of skele mages trapped behind fences/rocks who will just keep cursing you. Of all the wizard types in the game, the Skeleton Mage is the most important to dispatch quickly.
Vampiress
Health: 300
Human women turned into blood-drinkers by a mighty Vampire Lord, the Vampiresses are free-willed, and not necessarily evil or hostile, though their hunger for blood can lead them to make desperate deals in their thirst. Some are driven utterly mad by the need for blood and roam the deep dungeons, running along with any other monsters there in the hope of finding prey. They have a close affinity and friendship with bats, and will train them to help hunt and guard their lairs and hiding places.
The Vampiresses appear as shopkeepers in the upper catacombs, occasionally selling you a key in the forest levels, and appear as regular enemies in the Lower Catacombs. If you attack a Vampiress shopkeeper, a swarm of bats appear. Vampiresses are very fast, have high health, and have a decently powerful close combat attack (no ranged abilities). Their high health makes them a particularly good option for resurrection if you have the staff of the dead.
Vampire Bat
Health: 60
These large bats are close allies and pets of the Vampiresses, sharing their penchant for drinking blood and treating one another as part of the same hunting pack. They will be enraged if one of their fellows is attacked; in general, they like living in deep caves, and will only issue forth to find animals (or humans) to drink blood from.
The Vampire Bats are summoned in huge numbers if you attack a Vampire shopkeeper, and appear as regular enemies in the Lower Catacombs. They fly around looking cross and then have a short attack where they pause momentarily then hurl themselves at the enemy (much like the hornets). This attack can knock players down easily so is moderately dangerous.
ICE MOUNTAIN CLANS
Raider
Health: 250
Moves: Spear thrust (20), Spear throw (20)
The warriors of the Ice Mountain clans are famed for raiding more so-called "civilised" countries, wearing wolf pelts to show their courage, and carrying deadly serrated spears. When not raiding, they will spend their time drinking, fighting the local dwarf clans, drinking, fighting the ice monsters, drinking, and of course fighting each other. And drinking. It is a matter of contention among different writers whether their toughness in battle or the toughness of their liver is their more prominent attribute.
Raiders are a tougher version of castle guards, essentially, with spears used for throwing or long-reach close combat attacks. Their very high health means that it's much less likely that you'll be able to pick them off quickly, so you're likely to need to dodge some of those incoming spears.
Hunter
Health: 170
Moves: Bow (55, Freeze Chance)
The Ice Mountain lands are full of elk and other creatures, but poor for farming, so hunters are vitally important for the survival of a village in the far north. Their short-bows may not be the most powerful, but the cold getting into wounds can freeze an enemy to the spot.
Hunters are an archer unit who wield ice bows - like most archer types, they do very high damage, and the freeze chance can of course be very dangerous if it pins the player in place and allows other arrows to hit them. They have no close combat attack.
Icewind Mage
Health: 200
Moves: Ice orbs (7, 20% freeze chance), Summon Pogonip
Each small village around the Ice Mountain region will have two or three Icewind Mages, who effectively run society in those lands. They hold their position as elders, lawgivers, and diplomats by virtue of two things. Firstly, the other clansfolk are in awe of them as a result of their mastery of arcane arts, being powerful weather wizards and more battle-hardy than the mages of more southerly lands. Secondly, and more importantly, they are often the only people in a village sober enough to do the job. As such, their leadership among the clansfolk remains unchallenged.
The Icewind Mages, the lesser leaders of the mountain clans, are very dangerous enemies. They wield pogonip staffs that can freeze you in place (20% freeze chance with each orb), and which fire rapid bursts of ice projectiles in a spread-shot array. They also have a spellcasting special which slows all enemies down and summons a fog across the screen (which lifts when the battle ends).
Young Yeti
Health: 320
Moves: Grab (40, Freeze Chance)
Yetis are known as being shy and rarely seen beasts, but among the clans of the mountain they are more often seen. They are a rather unintelligent but much appreciated part of village life, often going into colder regions or carrying heavier items than the human clansfolk are able to, or just acting as big, muscular guards. Most yetis are young, a bit bigger than a human; they rarely die of natural causes and indeed those that do not perish from clan skirmishes or fighting monsters seem to keep growing and growing...
These yetis, still young and without a full coat of fur, plod around hitting people; they're not exceptionally fast considering the level but they have a lot of health. Their close combat attack does 40 damage and freezes enemies - as such, it's very dangerous if you're not freeze-immune as it makes you vulnerable to other attacks (like the high damage from the archer) whilst you're frozen.
DESERT WARBANDS
Desert Swordsman
Health: 150
Moves: Dual Swords (40)
Warbands of desperate men rove the hot canyons of the desert country, moving from oasis to oasis and attacking merchants or raiding small townships. They carry swords as their main weapons, being adept at wielding two at once. Or at least, it looks cool enough that everyone assumes they're adept at it... win or lose, the desert swordsmen have every intention of looking cool whilst doing so!
The desert swordsmen are an aggressive close combat unit, coming at you in fairly high numbers though with lower health than most. They have no shield, ranged attack or special effect attack, and so are a simple close-quarters enemy. They deliver two sword attacks in very quick succession, with 20 damage for each, so if you let even a couple of them get attacks in on you then they can deal a lot of damage very fast.
Jackal-Gorilla
Health: 360
Moves: Knockdown Jump (40)
The desert canyons are the home of the savage, meat-eating jackal-gorillas. With a cunning intelligence, and a thick leathery hide that makes them able to withstand huge damage, they often accompany warbands in the hope of picking up carrion to kill and finding prey to grapple with, often crushing enemies with their huge bare hands.
The mighty Jackal-Gorillas have high health (the highest of any non-boss enemy in the game), and act as meat shields for the desert warbands. They have a jumping attack that lets them vault over obstacles and knock down the player, doing a meaty 40 damage. They're not that quick, though, so shouldn't be hard to dodge generally. If fighting them in close-combat, you can often run under them when they jump towards you.
Stoneheart Assassin
Health: 120
Moves: Sword (24 + Petrification), Raise Shield
Occasionally, in the lands of the desert peoples, a child is born with flame-red hair. This is a sure sign that they must be sent to join the Stonehearts, a mysterious order of assassins and warriors who are the leaders and shock troops of the desert warbands. Their magical swords are rightly feared, for many a statue in the desert canyons has the marks of being one of their past victims.
The Stoneheart Assassins, a shielder-type unit (like the brigand or guard captain) are the real danger in the desert level - their swords cause petrification on a single hit with 100% probability, which is a status effect that is rapidly deadly unless removed with a dragonfire potion or life staff. Avoiding their attacks is paramount: you can probably absorb damage from the other enemies fairly easily, but no matter how much health you have, petrification will affect you just the same. They're not that tough, but if you can deal with them at range that's always better.
OTHER/MISC
Bushido
Health: 320
Followers of Bushido, the Way of the Warrior, sometimes travel to far-off lands, either in search of fortune, fame, and honour, or just driven through wanderlust. Whilst mighty knights in their own land, they often travel with traders, their huge stature and muscle providing ample security to a wandering merchant. Deeply bound by their code of martial honour, their fighting style is nonetheless simple, direct, and brutally powerful.
On levels 1-3, the Bushido is the standard guard in shops - if you attack the shopkeeper, you'll be able to take the items, but you also immediately summon the Bushido, who is exceptionally fast, immune to stun (though not knockdown) and does 40 damage per (rapid) hit. Bushidos are also used more in some of the challenge modes (trolling, for example).
There are plenty of ways to take down bushidos, nonetheless. Ice arrows can allow any player with a bow to just slowly peg him full of them; a slightly faster character can just about crack off enough snailbite arrows to slow the bushido down so he can be attacked with any other ranged weapon. Scrolls are also of course an option. Speed boosting your character (eg by a blur potion) is also an option rather than slowing the bushido down: a quick melee character with a throwing weapon, especially the mjolinir as you can attack him while running away, can work. An escape scroll, depending on the map configuration, can allow a throwing weapon armed player to pop in at different ends of the shop, run out/round when he gets too close, and then attack from the other side, though this is a rather laborious process.
Hornet
Health: 50
The answer to the question "what would happen if you took a wasp and made it more murderous", hornets are huge, vicious flying insects. Thanks to a strange quirk of evoltusion, magic, or both, these hornets are somehow enlarged to the size of a small cat. They can do very serious damage to a human, not least since their sting includes a deadly poison.
Hornets hatch from eggs laid by the Hornet Queen boss, and can also appear in the forest (as part of the hornet-shooting minigame event) and via gamble scrolls. They fly up to the player, briefly pause and then "jump" in with their stings. This attack knocks down the player, does a little damage, but most importantly poisons the character, which makes them quite dangerous.
Troll
Health: 220
"You've got to have trolls under bridges. Otherwise, what's it all about? What's it all for?" - Terry Pratchett, Troll Bridge
In accordance with venerable tradition, trolls guard bridges in the forest. Sometimes the bridge doesn't even need to be crossed because there's an alternative route. But there'll be a troll on it anyway, because that's important. If challenged by a traveller, the troll will fight back - and they'll usually win, on account of being a troll - but by and large they tend to be happy enough just collecting tolls. What they do with all the money is a source of confusion to adventurers and consternation to economists!
Trolls guard bridges (only found in the forest) and will only allow the player to cross for a fee. The player can attack them, at which point the troll becomes aggressive. Trolls are big and fast; they are exceptionally hard to beat in melee, because their club attack (their only one) swipes extremely fast (basically one frame) and they don't get stunned by player attacks. The long reach of the club makes it hard to avoid the troll, too. The best ways to defeat a troll are at range, generally using some mix of:
- Start with a bomb - the troll is static before you attack it, so you can rely on the bomb attack working. The troll can also be knocked down by this.
- Slow the troll down (probably the most important part of the process). Snailbite arrows are as usual the main deal here.
- Use effect damage - poison and fire will help lose the troll health rapidly.
- Use sweep attacks - these are fast enough to do the damage, and will knock the troll giving you a few valuable seconds (especially if the troll is under a poison effect etc).
The troll drops a lot of coins, so is a useful enemy to take down if you can beat it.