Same story here, also i’ll be using post rework champ stats for analysis now and am gonna edit critiques of champ related stuff in the past 2 posts since i got to play a full run with 'em, and know how they work.

spoilers for the entire game.

Halls normal enemies:

Succubi serve as the final “standard” enemy, sort of like a gnoll instead of a rat in terms of relative power, while also being able to close the gap between themselves and their target with the best way out of any enemy; instant teleportation. This forces every player to be competent enough in either regaining distance or melee combat (which succubi are still very good at, not to be underestimated)

Succubi also serve as the resident scroll dropper for any last-minute scrolls the player may need, or just a source of extra alchemical energy.

Evil eyes’ beam attack both forces players to stay alert at all times for that windup while also posing a unique way to dispatch enemy clusters in how recklessly they fire said beam.

Given they can drop dew, seeds and runestones, they can somewhat be a renewable source of healing or alchemy fuel if desperately needed.

I can only see 1 real “issue” champion with evil eyes, and that’s actually antimagic; it’s redundant. evil eyes naturally get massive damage reduction while charging anyways, and the charging damage reduction is good enough to effectively make them take as much max damage per hit as a slime would. Overall i don’t think antimagic can really help evil eyes much besides just being immune to mages’ specialty in particular (and other wand related builds but you get the idea)

(and even with all that, i still think eyes are a very solidly designed enemy with few flaws if any, feel free to discuss this if you agree/disagree!)

Scorpios serve as the ultimate ranged enemy, complete with a total lack of a melee attack and a massive punish for getting hit by it’s attacks (crippling from it effectively means you take 2x the hits, and scorpios can deal damage even with no doubled hitrate)

Blessed scorpios are honestly just annoying to fight without cornering them or looping surprise attacks, given how they’re built to run away if in melee range, and are a massive threat otherwise, it’s like trying to hit a gnoll trickster when your only weapon is a polarized flail.

Halls enemy variant:

Acidic scorpios are honestly just bass boosted scorpios. they punish you much more harshly but give you the opportunity to get level 30 before floor 25, if you need.

Halls minibosses:

Demon spawners serve as the final torch-bearer for the large enemy type lineage, taking inspiration from DM-301 (i know the spawners came first, just bear with me here) and improving on the immobility by increasing the sheer power it grants them in exchange; they can factory-print one of the more consistent threats in the halls!

If killed they reduce yog’s enemy spawning capabilities and give the player an extra health potion, just as a way to keep them going through the final stretch.

Ripper demons serve as the result you would get if you gave dwarven monks a suit of heroic platemail and ordered them to unlock leaping. They are the main reason a newer player would want to take down a demon spawner, as they would want to stop such abominations from being created on every floor asap.

The one and only:

(i’ll be using the BB yog for this, but with no spawners.)

Yog-Dzewa poses a fitting final challenge, constantly making spawn (simple cannon fodder that waste your time but can overwhelm you if left alone too long) and ripper demons (see above) while forcing you to keep mobile with its beams, preventing the player from abusing simple options like sungrass or earthroot for easy defense.

Each fist:

• Blazing can stop the player from over-relying on water, particularly nasty in combination with soiled (keeps you in fire a lot more, but suffers its own defense drop) and rotten (its method of avoidance requires water). in exchange for such a powerful strength it’s most obvious counter is a simple potion of storm clouds or brimstone armor, it serves primarily as an ultimate knowledge check on dealing with fire in both environmental and debuff form.

• Soiled see above for blazing interaction, the soiled fist’s counters are actually similar and check the player’s knowledge on dealing with grass and rooting, as well as making sure they specifically do not rely on a single ‘beatstick +15’, as it’s defense if left in full grass can nearly entirely nullify the damage dealt by it. Soiled fist is the most threatening in combination with blazing and the blinding fists.

• Rotten Forces the player to recall how they dealt with Goo or even acidic scorpios, as well as makes sure they aren’t relying on slow-burn damage too much (as it’s main weakness is big hits followed up by time to bleed). Works the best in collaboration with blazing/soiled fists since they both remove water for the player to use against it, as well as the rusted fist because of cripple making the toxic gas fired by rotten effectively deal 2x the damage

• Rusted Serves as a reminder of the final phase of the dwarf king fight, not very counterable by anything except maybe ranged attacks from a reasonable distance, chipping away at it? In exchange it’s the only fist with a full downside (it can’t fit in small gaps) and has the weakest ranged ability (simply crippling the player every once in a while)

i mean, i guess you could say it keeps up the large enemy tradition? i personally think it ends at the demon spawners though, feel free to discuss!

• Blinding Fists Dark and light are functionally identical unless i’m just unaware of something, they’re the standard ranged magic enemy of the bunch and couple well with eachother (ever fought 2 dwarven warlocks that are on opposite sides of you?) rusted (it tanks for them and slows the player, allowing them to shoot more before the player closes the gap) and soiled (root, even despite the grass, allows them to get a lot of cheeky shots sometimes)

Overall, yog and the fists serve as an extremely consistent and unpredictable threat, fittingly so as it’s the final boss. It also does this using exclusively methods the player is already familiar with (an invincibility gimmick that’s been soft-tutorialed for a whole 2 bosses by this point, elements that the player is already guaranteed to be familiar with by now in each fist, beams that feel like a simple evolution of the ones used by evil eyes, etc.)

Misc. enemies:

Golden Bees serve as a mix between enemy and ally (when untamed) that can easily be used to the player’s advantage, while also being generally weak for wherever they’re at; simply being as strong as the weaker half of the enemies in the area they inhabit (gnolls/rats for sewers, skeletons/thieves for prisons etc.) and give a moderately strong upgrade to 1 healing potion at a time, low-medium risk medium reward.

Mimics are just hidden enough to sometimes catch players off-guard despite their nature, and due to this serve as a constant reminder to always pay close-enough attention to your surroundings no matter how empty they look (emphasized by how they have many obvious tells, but still can decieve some newer players by simply not having any enemy-count indicator until they’ve been interacted with in some way)

In exchange for paying enough attention to not get a chunk bitten out of you, you get the rewards of a standard chest - maybe even a necessary puzzle item for that floor.

Golden mimics are just the above, but stronger and better-rewarding (always uncursed items). another notable tell they have is actually that they don’t cause a golden key to generate in the floor they’re in, so that might tip off some new players that are wondering how to open it into using the examine button on it, which almost gives their nature away entirely if not for everything else about them.

Crystal mimics are standard mimics, but much more niche and harder to catch. In exchange for this they have some of the best items (wands, artifacts and rings) guaranteed uncursed.

The rat king- wait.

Ok, who stepped on the distortion trap this time?

Anyways…

Ascension enemy recap:

Scorpios generally don’t change, be thankful for that. still generally worth fighting.

Evil eyes are roughly the same if not a bit stronger, still generally worth fighting.

Succubi get mildly stronger, still generally worth fighting.

Golems are substantially stronger, arguably still worth fighting? It takes up a chunk of resources to do so if your defense isn’t sky-high.

Dwarven warlocks get decently stronger, still generally worth fighting* *with caution, do NOT get downgraded or hit by their magic in general.

Dwarven monks remain a massive threat, corrupt them or run if you can’t kill them in time to avoid their melee.

Dwarven ghouls can easily overwhelm you if you aren’t careful, you may need to save a scroll of psionic blast or retribution for them. Still generally worth fighting* *with the proper strength to kill them off before they gather a mob.

Elementals are moderately stronger, just exercise a bit of healthy caution around them. otherwise still generally worth fighting.

DM-300 get substantially stronger, it’s not advised to fight them if your ranged options are a bit lighter than you would like by this point, just find a shaman instead.

Cave spinners remain a massive threat.

Gnoll shamans serve as an easy way to lower the amulet’s curse, as their melee skills are just as weak. Very advised to fight* *in melee.

Gnoll brutes remain strong, but have the same weakness if enraged; outrun them. Generally advised to exercise caution, but fight.

Vampire bats are a massive threat due to their movement speed and buffed stats, advised to lead them away, then get away asap unless you can kill them before they land a hit.

Necromancers are substantially stronger, not in their own stats, but because they can summon skeletons with adrenaline. kill the necromancers on turn 1 or run away.

Prison guards can cause problems if they’re nearby other enemies like necromancers as they pull you, but are generally somewhat worth fighting if you can handle the pull or kill them at above 4 tiles away.

DM-100 follow a similar path to gnoll shamans, same outcome.

Skeletons are a massive threat in melee range but can be dispatched fairly easily with ranged attacks, exercise caution and note that the buff applies to their explosion as well.

Slimes can pose a decent threat in melee, be careful around them.

Crabs pose a similar challenge to bats, but cannot heal making them substantially less threatening. despite this, it’s advised to still be very cautious when fighting them and always have a backup route.

Flies get massively stronger and fighting them is not advised even with powerful attack and defense, try to find another curse-lowering target.

Gnoll scouts are a succubus-tier threat, same idea here.

Snakes are a very easy target if you can land a hit or 2, very advisable to fight.

Rats are slightly less of a threat than they were when you start the game, generally advisable to fight.

Next up in the analysis, Friends!

Feel free to discuss anything i may have missed, or just discuss this in general.