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.

Attacks
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. The lid on top of the Dunestrider's pot opens, and the boss launches a number of clay balls in the direction of its target, which explode on impact. The bombs aren't particularly accurate, but they're fired in quick succession. The Dunestrider may again extend its legs to adjust its height while performing this move. Once being subjected to enough damage, the Clay Dunestrider will plant itself onto the ground and again open the lid of its pot. It will then latch onto all entities nearby - players and enemy monsters alike - and begin dragging them towards its center. Once something is sucked into the pot, the Dunestrider will begin siphoning health from it in order to heal itself. The Dunestrider gains 200 armor during this attack, making it extremely hard to kill.
 * Rolling Balls
 * Bomb Barrage
 * Health Regeneration

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 Gasoline or Will-o'-the-wisp, it may be advantageous to allow a large number of monsters to be consumed before killing them.

Trivia

 * The Clay Dunestrider may be in some way related to the Clay Man, a monster in the original Risk of Rain, which is also referenced in the second games code.