The Strays
Ten creatures that belong to no circle of Hell. Now and then one stands where a monster should be.
Finding one
Every 100 to 1,000 fights a Stray stands on your haul as a card. The gap is drawn fresh after each one, so you cannot count down to the next. Tap the card to fight it. An auto-run chain keeps going; the card waits on your haul.
You meet all ten, in a shuffled order, before any of them comes back.
The lock
A Stray cannot be killed and cannot kill you. It asks for a number of hits, and you have until its clock runs out to land them. If the clock runs out, it leaves and you get nothing.
The number is set to your own build: it is a share of what your build lands against this Stray, trick and all, measured on practice runs. A fast weapon is asked for more hits and a slow one for fewer, so a maul and a dagger meet the same Stray. Your minions and totems count too.
The reward
Beat one and you get a boss's worth of souls for your depth. It leaves its piece 30% of the time, on every win, the first included. Pieces stand on the shelf in your Collection. A piece you already have raises the count on its card.
The passives
Each piece on the shelf gives one passive on every floor. It starts at +1.0% on the win that leaves the piece. Every later win over that Stray raises it by 0.1%, whether or not the piece drops again, up to +5.0% after 40 more wins.
The passives work on floors only: never in the arena, a Lord's or a Rising's room, or a Stray's own fight. Movement speed, damage, drops, souls, drop rarity and rune drops add to the brazier of the same kind. The pieces and the steps stay with your account when a season ends.
| Stray | Passive |
|---|
| The Golden Goose | Souls |
| The Mimic | Damage dealt |
| The Treasure Imp | Drop rarity |
| The Loot Piñata | Drops per floor |
| The Cucco | Rune drops |
| The Rubber Duck of the Styx | Less damage taken |
| The Good Boy | Movement speed |
| The Crab Rave | Attack speed |
| The Bureaucrat of Dis | Cooldown recovery |
| The Sleeping Giant | Maximum life |
The ten
The Golden Goose 30 sasks for 100%
She runs from you and dodges 20% of your hits.
Every 4 seconds (every 2 in the last 10) she lays a golden egg where she ran. One hit cracks it; left for 3 seconds, it hatches a gosling that runs to your feet, and every gosling there slows everything you do.
She honks: a golden cone on the floor, a second's warning. Caught in it, you are thrown back and startled for a second.
At 4 seconds she pecks at the trough for 2.5 seconds, and every hit lands.
At 12 seconds she races you to her nest. Stand in its ring first and she panics for 3 seconds, every hit landing; come late and she sits on her clutch, and nothing lands for 3 seconds.
Its piece: The Golden Goose Head
Its passive: Souls
The Mimic 30 sasks for 95%
It lies there as a sack of gold, and hits on a sack do not count. Come within 2 tiles, or wait 3 seconds, and it bursts open into a chest with teeth and throws you back.
It turns its jaws to follow you. From the front it eats every second swing; from behind every swing counts.
Every 7 seconds (every 5 after the first 10) its tongue lashes down a lane at you, with a second's warning. Caught, you are pulled to its jaws and chewed for 1.5 seconds.
From 10 seconds on, stand 2 seconds in its jaws and the lid slams down on a ring in front of it. Caught, you are chewed for a second.
It dodges 20% of your hits. In the last 10 seconds it turns its back on you and waddles for the door.
Its piece: The Mimic's Tongue
Its passive: Damage dealt
The Treasure Imp 30 sasks for 90%
After 2 seconds there are three of them round you. The one with the sack holds it in its arms and stands on a gold ring; hits on the empty ones do not count, but a skill that hits all three finds the sack.
Every 6 seconds (every 3 in the last 10) they hide the sack behind their backs and two pairs trade places. Nothing lands on them while they shuffle, and afterwards the sack stays hidden until a hit finds it.
Aim at an empty one and it bursts in glitter for 2 seconds: swings from inside it go astray.
At 7, 13 and 19 seconds an empty one crouches and dashes down a lane through you, with a second's warning. Caught, it pinches 5% of your count.
It dodges 20% of your hits.
Its piece: The Imp's Sack
Its passive: Drop rarity
The Loot Piñata 30 sasks for 105%
It swings on its rope over a gold window, and only the hits that land while it is in the window count: about a third of the time. The swing quickens from 4 seconds to 3 after the first 10.
From 8 seconds every third pass is a Big Swing down a red lane, with a moment's warning. Caught on it, you are knocked back 2 tiles and dazed for a second.
At a third and at two thirds of the count it cracks: candy spills, and for 2.5 seconds it hangs low and every hit counts.
It dodges 20% of your hits. In the last 10 seconds it swings faster and wider, a Big Swing every second pass.
Its piece: The Piñata Stick
Its passive: Drops per floor
The Cucco 30 sasks for 95%
It dodges 20% of your hits, and every hit you land makes it angrier and harder to hit. It calms a little every 5 seconds.
Every fourth hit you land hatches a chick. Every chick alive makes it 3% harder to hit, up to 30%. Killing chicks takes that away.
Its piece: The Cucco's Crown
Its passive: Rune drops
The Rubber Duck of the Styx 30 sasks for 134%
It dodges 35% of your hits.
Every fifth hit squeaks air out of it: the count drops by a tenth, at most 3 times.
Its piece: The Duck's Squeaker
Its passive: Less damage taken
The Good Boy 30 sasks for 97%
It catches one swing in four out of the air.
Every 5 seconds it jumps up at you and stuns you for 1 second. It never hurts you.
It dodges 20% of your hits.
Its piece: The Good Boy's Collar
Its passive: Movement speed
The Crab Rave 30 sasks for 97%
Your hits land only on the beat.
Every 6 seconds another crab joins the dance, up to four. Each one makes the beat faster; each one you kill slows it again.
Every 5 seconds the drop comes: for 2 seconds every hit lands.
It dodges 20% of your hits.
Its piece: The Rave Claw
Its passive: Attack speed
The Bureaucrat of Dis 30 sasks for 100%
Your hits are filed and land 3 seconds later. About one in six is misfiled and never lands.
A filed hit that would land after its clock runs out is lost.
Every 6 seconds it stamps you: a 1 second stun. In the last 10 seconds it stamps every 4.
It dodges 15% of your hits.
Its piece: The Bureaucrat's Stamp
Its passive: Cooldown recovery
The Sleeping Giant 30 sasks for 36%
It never dodges, but every hit you land makes noise, and the noise fades while you wait.
When the noise climbs high enough it stirs, and you hold your swings until it settles. Each time it stirs it may wake instead.
Awake, it is done with you: nothing more lands, and it stomps you for half your life before your defences. The stomp never takes your last point of life.
Its piece: The Giant's Nightcap
Its passive: Maximum life
"Asks for" is the share of your own count against it. The clock is how long it stays.
