Quillback is an enemy in Spelunky 2.
He serves as a sort of "mini boss", who always appears in his own special arena in 1-4 of Dwelling.
Behavior[]
Quillback is initially found in his arena near the bottom of 1-4. If the spelunker is not within range, he will slowly wander in the direction he is facing, turning around if meeting a wall or ledge.
If the spelunker gets within Quillback's line of sight, or within 4 tiles of him from behind, he leaps in the air towards the spelunker. From here, his next move is dependent on the spelunker's position.
- Being within 4 tiles of Quillback has him simply leap towards the Spelunker, dealing 2 damage to them if contact is made.
- Running under Quillback as he leaps in the air causes him to end his jump prematurely, attempting to slam into the spelunker from above.
- If there is a space of at least 5 tiles between him and the spelunker however, Quillback transitions from the apex of his jump into a powerful roll, which functions similarly to a Horned Lizard's roll.
- This roll attack instantly kills anything in Quillback's way, and destroys any tiles in front of him.
- Rolling ends if Quillback rolls for roughly 23 tiles. The roll timer resets if he descends one or more tiles while rolling.
- 1-3 tiles below Quillback are destroyed whenever he hits the ground while rolling.
Quillback is immune to conventional whips and stomping, unless the player has Spike Shoes or the flaming whip gained from wearing a Powerpack. Of note is that when Spike Shoes are equipped, stepping on Quillback's back end will cause him to roll, while stepping on his face will prevent him from moving.
Flashing Quillback with a Camera stuns him for a moment, blinking from the bright flash. After blinking six times, he rolls in the direction he was facing.
When killed, Quillback always drops a Cooked Turkey and a Bomb Bag.
Strategy[]
- Quillback can be skipped, and does not need to be beaten. One can bait his roll towards the desired wall that the player wishes to go through, use one of the many ladders or other equipment like Spring Shoes to avoid his attack, and watch as he opens the way forward.
- It's also possible to run directly under Quillback, by running under him the moment his jump transitions into a roll.
- Quillback typically will destroy 1-3 tiles below him as he initiates his roll. If 2 or more tiles were destroyed from this, having him roll back into the small hole will extend his roll timer, allowing the player to destroy the other wall with him.
- Placing a bomb directly next to Quillback after his roll has completed, timing a bomb to explode once thrown at him, or throwing a single Paste bomb at him is an effective way to defeat him.
- As Quillback still takes damage from thrown objects, one can repeatedly pelt small items such as rocks and skulls at him until they have successfully watered down all of his HP.
- Using either the whip upgraded by the Powerpack or the Machete is not recommended, as it will likely provoke Quillback into rolling directly into the player, killing them instantly with little opportunity to react.
- The Ghist Shopkeeper is more easily reached with the help of Quillback, and allows the player to conserve a significant amount of bombs in the process. This can be done faster with the help of a Camera and/or a bomb or two to create a hole for Quillback to destroy.
Trivia[]
- According to the Journal, Quillback is responsible for the many Totem Traps and Log Traps seen around the Dwelling.