Clay Dunestrider

The  is a 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.

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

These balls have a proc coefficient of 1.0.

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

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

Recover
After taking enough damage, the Clay Dunestrider plants itself into the ground and opens its lid. Tar tendrils will then latch onto all entities nearby - players and enemy monsters alike - and drag them towards the pot's center while slowly siphoning health from all affected entities. 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 it siphons. In addition, it gains the buff during this attack, making it extremely difficult to kill until the attack is over.

This move has a proc coefficient of 0.0.

Loot
Main Article: Mired Urn

If the Clay Dunestrider is the Teleporter Boss, there is a 15% chance for the Uncommon item (that drops as a reward for defeating the Clay Dunestrider) to be replaced by its Boss item, the.

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 them having to wait until the attack ends before they regain control of their movement - assuming they don't die in the process.
 * If multiple Dunestriders are present and the player lacks mobility, it might be wise to focus one at a time. The pulling effect of Life-Draining Tendrils can stack, and with lesser movement, it can become inescapable.
 * It only takes a one or two movement items to be able to comfortably dodge both of the Clay Dunestrider's clay ball attacks (particularly jumping perpendicular to direction of the balls with ), even at close range. If the player doesn't happen to have any movement items when encountering one, it's wise to stick to high ground to avoid the Rolling Balls attack. Be mindful, however, that simply standing atop a rock won't necessarily be enough to avoid 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 life drain can be a source of frustration, it can also be an opportunity to inflict heavy damage upon the boss. Despite the large armor increase for the duration of the attack, the boss's 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. This will greatly reduce the amount of health the Dunestrider ends up regaining.
 * If the party has 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 all at once.
 * Since the Dunestrider's life-draining attack involves the boss healing itself, the Dunestrider is one of five enemies (the others being the, the , , and 's fourth phase if the player has healing items) that can be meaningfully affected by the Malachite debuff.
 * This can be accomplished if the player has obtained and equipped, summoned a Malachite ghost using the , or defeated a Malachite Elite while holding the . It is also possible for a Malachite enemy to damage and debuff the Clay Dunestrider if the is enabled, although this is unreliable.
 * Even if the Dunestrider becomes unable to heal itself, it is still capable of using its tendrils to damage everything around it and gain massive armor. It will become easier to kill without its healing but is just as dangerous nonetheless.

Version History

 * Early Access Content Update 5
 * Major Content
 * Added New Monster Lore Entry:
 * Quality of Life
 * Reduced the audio levels of the Clay Dunestrider


 * Early Access Artifacts Content Update
 * Gameplay Changes
 * 🌧Improve accuracy of hurtboxes


 * PC Early Access Patch (Build ID No.4233443)
 * Bug Fixes
 * Fix Clay Dunestrider's Tarball attack not networking its position correctly


 * Early Access Scorched Acres Content Update
 * Gameplay Changes
 * Add standable platform on Clay Dunestrider’s pot body
 * Increase inner “mulch” radius from 5 to 10 to compensate for new collision
 * QOL
 * Set up Clay Dunestrider corpses to properly disappear over time

Trivia

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