Hardened Shell
Skulking Colony, the Underdocks elite, carries 20 stacks (times the player count in multiplayer). The power tracks unblocked damage received during the current side turn and cuts any HP loss down to whatever is left of that 20. The icon shows the remaining allowance. Once you have dealt 20 in a turn its HP bar turns purple and further hits do nothing until a new turn starts.
Buff
Where it comes from
Enemies that apply Hardened Shell
Skulking ColonyNotes
The counter resets at the start of every side turn, yours and the enemy's, so poison or thorns-style damage during its turn gets its own 20. That purple no-damage state is exactly what Hellraiser checks to cap its auto-plays. With 75 HP (80 on Ascension 8+) it takes at least 4 turns to kill; spend leftover Energy on Block rather than wasted damage.
Rules and timing
In co-op an enemy receives more of it: the amount rises with the number of players.
Changes by version
- Hardened Shell increased from 15 to 20
- Hardened Shell power increased from 15 to 20
- Hardened Shell power max HP loss per turn decreased from 25 to 20
All 8 patch notes5 older
- Reworded Hardened Shell power hovertip to read as "cannot lose more than X HP each turn"
- Mad Crab's Hardened Shell power now properly counts damage from Starter Flare relic
- Mad Crab's Hardened Shell power worded such that it cannot lose more than X amount of HP each turnBug fixInternal playtestMad Crab's Hardened Shell power now scales up in multiplayer
- Poison damage no longer skips Hardened Shell power's damage threshold
- Hardened Shell power now counts down to show how much damage is left to be dealtBug fixInternal playtestFixed typo in Hardened Shell power description
Internal playtest notes are from before the Early Access release. Names and numbers in them can differ from the game today.
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