Plow Horse

The Plow Horse is a Husk/Beast enemy found only in the Farmstead. It is very similar to the Swinetaur, but with much less damaging moves and lower health, and relying on stealth in addition to positioning.

Behavior
Plow Horses have a 2x chance to use Rearing Strike, a 1x chance to use Bestial Scream, and a 4x chance to use Paw The Ground. It can only use Paw the Ground when above 35% health, and will always use Trample on its next opportunity, regardless of if it is still stealthed or not. Conversely, it cannot use Trample without using Paw The Ground beforehand.

Rearing Strike has a cooldown of 1 turn, meaning it cannot be used twice in a row, and a standard marked targeting bias of 2x/3x/4x.

Strategy
Plow Horses, while not very damaging, can cause some chaos during battle with Trample by shuffling the party. It may be difficult to defeat it quickly before it has a chance to use Trample, and the disruptive ability of a full-party shuffle means it should be a priority target before it even uses Paw the Ground.

The best strategy is to stun the Plow Horse before it even gets a chance to stealth itself, while using a high damage character like the Leper to finish it off. Its 15% PROT may be a nuisance in this regard, but its health is comparatively not that high.

If the Plow Horse does get an opportunity to use Paw The Ground, it may be better to use powerful AoE abilities to attack it, especially if it was already damaged beforehand; otherwise destealth and focus with multiple heroes in an attempt to kill it before it uses Trample. The Shieldbreaker's Expose skill is great for dealing with Plow Horses, as it does decent damage, destealths, and gives a good debuff (+Crits Received) that helps other heroes deal more damage to it.

If the Plow Horse can be damaged to below a third of its health before it acts, it will be unable to use Paw The Ground, reducing its potential damage significantly by leaving it with only Rearing Strike and Bestial Scream.

Rearing Strike is a bleed/stun ability that has a minor chance to target both frontline heroes, but its damage is low. It's most dangerous when both the bleed and stun land, as this is multiple turns of unavoidable bleed damage unless it's cured with the Plague Doctor's Battlefield Medicine before the hero acts. The ability thankfully cannot be used twice in a row, meaning it will likely be forced to use Bestial Scream if its health is low enough to be unable to use Paw The Ground.

Bestial Scream is by far the Plow Horse's weakest skill, dealing only 8 stress, with no damage or other effects.

Abilities
Apprentice =

Veteran =

Endless =

* Always used after Paw The Ground.

Trivia

 * Trample is programmed to remove the Plow Horse's stealth, despite the fact that the stealth gained from Paw the Ground only lasts for effectively one round, meaning it will always run after it uses Trample.
 * The Plow Horse is the only region-specific large enemy in the game that can appear on Apprentice missions.