Clay Dunestrider

The Clay Dunestrider is a new Boss Monster introduced in Risk of Rain 2. Being a Boss, the Clay Dunestrider may be encountered after initiating a stage's Teleporter Event. It can otherwise spawn naturally during higher difficulties.

Environments

 * Abandoned Aqueduct
 * Rallypoint Delta
 * Scorched Acres

Rolling Tar Balls
The Clay Dunestrider extends its legs to raise itself, before dropping balls of clay out from the bottom of its pot. These balls quickly roll across the floor and home in on targets.

These balls explode upon impact and have a Proc Coefficient of 1.0.

Clay Pot Barrage
The lid on top of the Dunestrider's pot opens, and the boss launches 6 clay pots in the direction of its target, which explode on impact.

The pots aren't particularly accurate, but they're fired in quick succession and have a Proc Coefficient of 1.0.

Life-Draining Tendrils
Once being subjected to enough damage, the Clay Dunestrider will plant itself into the ground and again open the lid of its pot. Clay tendrils will then latch onto all entities nearby - players and enemy Monsters alike - and begin dragging them towards its center while slowly siphoning health to heal itself. Once something is sucked into the pot, the Dunestrider will begin to siphon even more health from it, eventually killing the entity if they're unable to escape or outpace the siphoning.

The amount the Dunestrider heals is actually greater than what its siphons. That in addition to gaining 200 armor during this attack, makes it extremely hard to kill until the attack is over.

Due to the fact that this attack involves the boss healing itself, it is one of two enemies (other being mini mushrum) that can properly be affected by the malachite effect, should the player obtain the corresponding elite aspect equipment, or proc a malachite ghost upon killing an elite enemy.

This move has no Proc Coefficient.

Loot
Main Article: Mired Urn

If the Clay Dunestrider is the Teleporter Boss, there's a chance the Uncommon item you would get as a reward for defeating the Teleporter Boss could be replaced by its Boss item,.

Tips

 * Players with poor mobility and sub-par movement skills must avoid the Clay Dunestrider while it is attempting to heal itself. While players are generally able to maintain their distance from the Dunestrider if they backpedal, getting fully caught by the boss will result in the player having to wait until attack ends before they regain control of their movement - assuming they don't die beforehand.
 * It only takes a one or two movement items to be able to comfortably dodge both of the Clay Dunestrider's clay ball attacks, even at close range. If you've encountered one and don't happen to have any movement items, it's wise to stick to high ground to avoid the Rolling Balls attack. Be mindful however, simply standing atop a rock won't always protect the player from the attack; there are situations where the level geometry is just shallow enough to allow the balls to roll up and across them.
 * While the Dunestrider's Health Regeneration can be a source of frustration, it can also be an opportunity to inflict damage upon the boss. Despite the large armor increase for the duration of the attack, the boss' health can still be whittled down if the party is proactive and makes an effort to kill all nearby monsters before the boss gets the chance to suck them in. But if the party posses a large number of crowd control items, such as or, it may be advantageous to allow a large number of monsters to be consumed before killing them.

Trivia

 * The Clay Dunestrider may be related to the Clay Man, a Monster in the original Risk of Rain, who is also an unused Monster in Risk of Rain 2 code.
 * The pots thrown by the Clay Dunestrider does in fact look very similar to the Clay Man's pot, further establishing the relation.