Rattler

"Trauma and torment return for an encore performance."

The Rattler is a Beast type enemy that appears during the Shieldbreaker's nightmares, or in very rare encounters after all the nightmares have been completed. It functions as a support to the Pliskins and Adders by guarding them, as well as inflicting bleeds and dealing strong damage on its own.

Behavior
At the start of the fight, the Rattler will typically use Warning Rattle to guard one of its allies, and this move can be used once every 3 rounds. Its basic attack, Snakebite, deals a fair amount of damage as well as bleeding. The Rattler prioritizes targets with lower bleed resistance (1.5x), as well as marked targets (2x).

Strategy
The Rattler's main strength is its ability to Guard and Riposte in one action. The Riposte's damage is fairly low, but the guard can be dangerous as the Rattler can protect softer and more dangerous enemies like the Pliskin. High health and decent Protection means that it will take a few turns to deal with them, so equipping the Shieldbreaker's Puncture ability before camping, or having reliable stuns available, is highly recommended to break its guard.

The Rattler's main attack, Snakebite, does good damage and inflicts bleed, which may put heroes at a disadvantage if they are prepared more for blight attacks from the Pliskin or Adder. Thankfully, it has a much lower crit chance than Pliskins, and lack the self-heal of the Adder, but it can still be a serious problem if it stacks enough bleed on a single target.

Rattlers can be effectively disabled for a round by pushing them into rank 4, where they can only use use Slither Forward, a skill with very low damage and accuracy, in place of Snakebite. They can still Guard and Riposte in rank 4, but the damage potential is still limited without access to Snakebite.

Defeating the group of snakes brings great rewards, as they drop Aegis Scales when they die, as well as a Shieldbreaker-specific trinket and journal pages for the Shieldbreaker's story. The entire party also receives a quest buff for -15% Stress, except for the Shieldbreaker, who receives -33% Stress and +3% CRIT. However, the battle will end if the Shieldbreaker falls on Death's Door, and failing will cause a terrible quest-long debuff on the party instead, granting +33% Stress and -5 ACC for the Shieldbreaker and +15% Stress for all other party members.

Abilities
Apprentice =

Veteran =

Champion =