Most enemy families come in a Minion / Elite / Boss trio that shares one mechanic — the Elite and Boss versions just get more of it (added resistance or immunity, bigger numbers). Family and mechanic text is the game's own (from its Enemies data, reworded); the "what to bring" column is loadoutgg's own read of which archetype from the Backpack builds guide beats that mechanic, not a game-stated pairing. Time-limited event enemies (e.g. Aria of the Beach) rotate out and aren't covered here.
How encounters are structured
Chapter Challenge rounds 1-3/5-7/9-11 are Minions, 4 and 8 are Elites, 12 is the Boss (some chapters are 5 rounds of Boss only). Tower of Trials is 100 floors of 10 sub-floors each, with a Boss on every 10th — no shopping mid-floor and pet actives are off. Pet, Hero and Blessing Dungeons are 80-round daily runs that end on one of the unique bosses below. See the Progression guide for ticket/energy costs.
A family's Boss tier is always the hardest fight to bring the right counter to — Elites are a preview of the same mechanic at lower stakes.
Chapters & Tower — the core bestiary
The families you'll fight from the first chapter through the Tower's early floors. Rows are Minion/Elite/Boss trios; 3 have no special mechanic and reward whatever build you're running.
| Family | Mechanic | What to bring |
|---|---|---|
| Skeleton Fighter / Knight / Ice Caller | Gains Block. | A Block-ignoring hit (Spike/Poison/Burn penetration, Rose's Impale) or enough raw damage to break through it. |
| Skeleton Warrior / Swordsman / General | No special trait. | Anything — a good line to test a fresh build against. |
| Werewolf (Wandering / Tracker / Captain) | Attacks noticeably faster than normal. | Block or high HP to soak the extra attacks; Stun/Freeze to slow it back down. |
| Wraithbird (Archer / Hunter / Piercing) | Reduces your healing. | A build that isn't leaning on Vamp/lifesteal — raw damage or Block instead. |
| Skeleton Bat (Stray / Raider / Boss) | Has Vamp — heals off its own attacks. | Burst it down fast, or bring Block to shrink the hits it's healing from. |
| Skeleton Charger / Champion / Crusher | Hammer hits Stun you. | Dodge to avoid the stun proc outright (Raven-style evasion). |
| Wraith (Dualblade / Spearmaster / Harpooner) | Attacks very fast at first, slows over time. | Survive the early burst (Block/HP) — the fight gets easier as it goes. |
| Ember / Fireball / Burning Calamity | Inflicts Burn; resists or is immune to it. | Skip Burn-focused picks here — raw weapon damage or Poison/Spike instead. |
| Blood-Red (Deacon / Acolyte / Priest) | Continuously heals. | Rose's Block-ignoring execute or a Poison/Spike stack that outpaces the heal. |
| Skeleton Brawler / Champion / Blue Horror | Has Spike — counterattacks your hits. | Lean on DoT (Poison/Burn) over raw weapon spam, or bring your own Block. |
| Stitched (Flesh / Giant / Horror) | Extra damage to, and a chance to pierce, your Block. | Don't stack Block against this line — HP and Dodge hold up better. |
| Dark Forest (Patrolman / Marksman / Watcher) | On-hit chance to Seal your weapon. | A multi-weapon or Spell-heavy backpack so one Seal doesn't shut the run down. |
| Frostfang (Young / Adult / Boss) | Inflicts Freeze; resists or is immune to it. | Skip Freeze-focused picks — a raw Warrior/Ranger build or Burn instead. |
| Entwined / Mesmerized / Mesmerizing Shadow | Continuously steals your buffs. | A raw stat/weapon-stacking build loses less to this than a buff-stacking Wizard. |
| Corrupted (Ranger / Sniper / Sharpshooter) | High Crit Rate and Accuracy. | Block/HP over pure Dodge — its Accuracy is built to land through evasion. |
| Sword (Swaying / Dancing / Danse Macabre) | Gets faster the longer the fight runs. | End it fast — a burst build beats a slow-scaling one here. |
| Goblin (Storyteller / Shaman / Priest) | Inflicts Poison; resists or is immune to it. | Skip a Venom-style Poison build — Spike, Burn or raw damage instead. |
| Fallen (Pharmacist / Healer / Plague Doctor) | Regens HP, resists debuffs, and self-cleanses. | Burst it down before the heal-and-cleanse loop stabilizes — DoTs get cleansed. |
| Slime (Hardened / Armored / Sir Slime) | Weapon damage capped near 1; takes bonus Spike/Burn/Poison. | Exactly what a Spike, Burn or Poison build wants — a Sword-stack Warrior struggles. |
| Wraith (Vanguard / Javelin / Soul Hunter) | Low per-hit damage, but hits many times. | A Spike/thorns build turns every one of those hits back on it. |
| Pale Ghost (Fighter / Spearman / Knight) | Has Dodge; resists or is immune to Stun. | Don't plan around Stunning it — Accuracy picks or just outlasting it. |
Chapters 151+ — the harder bestiary
New families layered in from Chapter 151, still found through the Tower as well.
| Family | Mechanic | What to bring |
|---|---|---|
| Lizard (Volcanic / Magma / Magma Wyrm) | Counterattacks with Burn when hit; cleanses its own Burn on an overheal. | Bring Block so its counter has less to punish, or damage it past the overheal window fast. |
| Mummy (Forgotten / Unearthed / Ancient) | Seals your weapon on a non-Crit hit; takes much more Crit damage. | An Accuracy/Crit build (Talin's Adrenaline line) — every Crit both avoids the Seal and hits hard. |
| Crystal (Sentry / Warden / Golem) | Resists Spike; immune to Burn and Poison; takes more weapon damage. | Raw weapon damage — Spike, Burn and Poison builds are dead weight here. |
| Evil God (Cultist / Priest / Apostle) | Goes briefly Invincible at low HP and unseals its own weapons when it does. | Don't lean on Seal-based control; burst through instead of grinding it down. |
| Sea Spirit (Jellyfish / Deep Sea Spawn / Spirit) | Takes bonus damage per Freeze stack on it; resists Burn. | An Ice Mage / Freeze-stacking Wizard build is close to a hard counter. |
Chapters 171+ — Smoldering Ghost
The current late-game family: Smoldering Ghost Warrior / Spearman / Knight. Resists Burn (Elite/Boss are immune) and resists Stun (Elite/Boss are immune).
- Skip both Burn and Stun tech against this line.
- Poison, Spike or raw weapon damage all still work normally.
Dungeon bosses — one unique fight each
The daily Pet / Hero / Blessing Dungeons each end on their own standalone bosses (no Minion/Elite lead-in).
| Boss | Found in | Mechanic | What to bring |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nest Guardian Golem | Pet Dungeon | Very high HP and damage reduction, but takes a burst hit every 10th time it's struck. | A fast multi-hit build (Ranger auto-fire, Vanguard-style weapons) to rack up that 10-hit trigger quickly. |
| Harpy Grand Master | Pet Dungeon | Gains a large Block at the start and takes far less damage while it holds. | Block-piercing damage (Spike/Poison/Burn penetration) or enough burst to break the Block fast. |
| Springwater Spirit | Pet Dungeon | Takes significantly more Poison damage. | A Venom-style Poison build is close to a free win. |
| Vault Guardian | Hero Dungeon | Continuously converts its own HP into Block. | Sustained Poison/Burn that ignores the Block wall beats raw weapon hits here. |
| Haunted Backpack | Hero Dungeon | Continuously gains Dodge. | Accuracy-focused picks so your hits keep landing. |
| Giant Gem Worm | Hero Dungeon | Fast attacks, a big Spike payoff, and resistance to weapon damage. | A Spike/thorns build turns its own aggression back on it; Spell damage also bypasses the weapon resist. |
| Revived Hydra | Blessing Dungeon | Continuously heals; very vulnerable to Healing Reduction. | An execute-style burst (Rose's kit) that outraces the heal rather than a slow grind. |
| The Last Thunder Dragon | Blessing Dungeon | Hits hard enough to Stun you. | High Block/HP to survive the Stun window, or Dodge to avoid the hit outright. |
Clan Raid — Sealed Manticore
The Clan Raid boss cannot die to execute effects or HP-percentage damage (this specifically shuts down Rose's Parting Rose execute and any similar %HP finisher), and the fight has a hard 15-second time limit with no berserk phase to bail you out.
Bring straightforward high-DPS raw damage that can close the fight inside the timer — a slow-burn DoT or execute-reliant build won't finish it.