Skull Champion

"Time to play some heroic music."

―PlaceRebuilder

Notes

This note was found sliced to bits with what appears to be axe markings and soaked in red liquid. It has since been partially rewritten through conjecture.

The "Skull Champion". Paranormal entity from what the team have called the 'Underworld'. Colossal in size with the rage and undying vigour to match its lethal strength, striking fatal blows in single, effortless hits.

They're drawn to high concentrations of death occurrences, conflicts between survivors and the infected hordes being the best source. Potentially the correlation between the high number of deaths and their spawning is how they arrive to this world, they are not naturally formed and no signs of the virus are present on what remains we've seen.

Wields an axe and flail attached to a metal chain of an unknown met-...

DO NOT EDIT: This note was given to Walther's group a few days after his demise. It is to be given to Vincent.

I don't... I don't usually do this. Writing down stuff isn't my thing, but this needs to be done - pass this to Vincent, if anyone knows where he is. I've seen people collecting bits of Walther's notes before. Nice chap, got good leadership. Not as skilled as he is annoying, but bastard's very lucky. He survived many encounters few would manage to withstand. But... his luck wasn't there this time.

On rare occasions, we group up to help each other. Normally I mind my own thing, commanding my own team. As usual, things were getting rough - ammunition problems, scarce medicine, yada-yada. We called in an attempt to loot one of the most popularized spots of town, and, to that extent, untouched.

Our practice and experience has proven unmatched. Others looked in awe as me, Walther and Rogers shot down zombies and foiled their lil' plans ahead of time, smart little crickets. Everything was going well, we were on a shopping spree. We had more than enough for a few weeks, and there were still many areas to scavenge. Alas, we pushed it too far.

This big fella showed up. As bodies littered the streets, he rose. Something that cannot be considered alive, not even before all this fine mess. A giant skeleton, white as commercial teeth, showed up on our backs. Thing wasn't going down, so we had to hole up somewhere. Unsurprisingly, I turn my head and he's already scribbling on his damn noteblock, while others were trying to think of an escape route. Meanwhile, there was an opening in the back everyone was unbeknownst of, and, well...

The silhouette of him towering over Walther haunts me.

Summary

The Skull Champion is a playable champion (or mini-boss) that is spawned after 300 zombies are killed. With its axe and chain, along with its large health pool, this mob is able to take out an entire team of survivors, all by itself if mastered. The Skull Champion is also a champion variation of the Halloween mob, Skullguard.

Background Story

Clearly, the Skullguards were having a rough time. Year after year, they attempt to thwart the progress of the survivors by luring them to the ends of their elaborate obstacle courses, and year after year their plans fail. First, it was protecting mansions and then they were relegated to nothing more than two graveyards. After three years, they decided that enough was enough. But one of them decided against it.

Its festered rage finally erupted after so long, and so it decided to stop waiting for the survivors to come to them... and instead go to the survivors. And it has now garnered a reputation as a monster. Very few have seen this beast and lived to tell the tale. Those lucky few who defeated it are in for a welcome treat when they decide to go on a zombie-killing rampage again, because... Let me tell you.

Skeletons... they're already dead.

Controls

PC	Gamepad	Tablet	Description
			Axe Swing: The Skull Champion will swing its axe, dealing 100-200 damage.
			Smash: The Skull Champion will swing around the "cube" and will bring it down in front of itself when the corresponding control is released. Deals 120-140 damage depending on how close you are to the cube when it lands.

Tips

Survivors

Stay away from the Skull Champion since his attack range isn't far.
You will know when the Skull Champion spawns as text will appear in the chat and your camera will shake.
- You can disable the shaking in the Settings, if you want.
Get into enclosed or indoor places as the Skull Champion may not fit through.
- However, be careful of the Smash attack as it has an extremely large blast radius.
To prevent this from spawning, try to avoid killing zombies that don't need to be killed immediately.
The Skull Champion is immune to the tripping and pushing effects. For example, melees and the Fire Extinguisher will not trip the Skull Champion.
The Boo Buster is completely useless against the Skull Champion as it does not lock onto it.
Don't stay close to spawns. A Skull Champion may surprise you.
Be careful in Arena as you must kill zombies to move onto the next wave. This may lead for a hard time if a Skull Champion is active.
- The same applies to Undead Battleground.
In Rescue, the Skull Champion may camp by the Helicopter to prevent players from entering.
- Make up a plan to lure it away.
Weapons recommended for the Skull Champion are long-ranged automatics, such as the P90 and the SCAR-H.
- Be aware that the M249 and Minigun reduce your walkspeed, meaning you have less mobility to avoid attacks.
- However, the Minigun with Explosive Ammo will shred it fairly quickly.
  - Just be sure to keep your distance, or use the Jetpack.
Use the Barrett 50 Cal. due to its long-range, high accuracy and damage. This is ideal since the Skull Champion attacks are short-ranged.
- You will do 11,520 in total, without any additional magazines, if you land all headshots.
Using the RPG, you'll need to fire 20 direct hits to kill a Skull Champion.
- This amounts to 5 total Ammo Stations, or 10 Extra Ammo boxes if you attempt to take this down solo.
Using the M2 Tripod on the Skull Champion will do 22,000 damage. However, this is not recommended as you are immobile.
Armor is a must for this mob as one hit without armor will certainly kill you.
- For mobility, the Scout armor is recommended to run rings around the Skull Champion.
Don't bother using the Phial of Galadriel, Pipebomb, Clockbomb or Bell. The Skull Champion is immune to it.
While riding Duck Mount, you can still get damaged in mid-air with Skull Champion's "Cube" attack.
The Flash can be really useful in blinding and disorientating a Skull Champion.
In small maps, try to spread out. Agglutinating into one group will make everyone vulnerable for a single Smash attack to kill you all.

Zombies

Try to not get stuck inside a building with a low roof or no way to get out.
- If this happens, you cannot relocate using the In-Game Store.
Use your Smash attack if survivors are indoors to lure them out.
To to be as open and as offensive as possible.
- 30,000 health is quite a lot of health. Use this to your advantage by walking freely in open spaces.
The axe will damage survivors on contact. Use this to your advantage by making people touch the axe with Stalker.
Swinging your "Cube" will not drain your stamina.
- Have it ready at all times just in case a player is running by you.
Alternate between your axe and your "Cube" for maximum potential.
You can only jump 5 times before running out of stamina. Try not to jump too often
Lethal and deep pools of water are your enemy as you can sink or be instantly killed.
Do not attempt to swim in deep water maps, such as U.S.S. Zurius. You are unable to surface due to your large size.
To become a Skull Champion, you must be the next zombie to spawn after 300 zombie kills have occurred. You must not be Idle. Only one spawns per 300 kills though more than one may be active.
- Resetting and AI Infected deaths count towards the 300 kills.
The Smash attack can go through walls.
- You can use this to force players from buildings, or kill them outright.
Try to predict when survivors will move as the Cube has a one second delay before coming down.

Trivia

This is the first champion (mini-boss) to be added to R2DA.
This has the most health of all of the playable zombies.
It resembles a Skullguard, hence the name Skull Champion.
This is the tallest zombie in the game.
- Due to this, the mobility of the Skull Champion is slightly different to regular mobs. For example, it is more common for the Skull Champion to clip the ground than regular mobs.
First zombie in R2DA that plays music when spawned.
- The Tank in R2D would also play music when it spawned.
As of v1.4.2, resetting as a Skull Champion has a chance of crashing Roblox.
- This can also forcefully happen if you are lagging.
The Skull Champion has been known to send zombies and survivors flying at alarming speeds when getting stepped on.
During Debug, the Axe would instantly kill anyone that touched it.
The first playable zombie that cannot relocate.
If you listen closely, you can hear sounds from the Skull Champion.
Before v1.4.3, jumping as a Skull Champion used 50 energy, instead of 20.
Second controllable mob to be immune to Pipebombs, the first being the Leaper.
- However, the Pipebomb Immunity was removed from the Leaper. This means the Skull Champion is the only current mob to have Pipebomb Immunity.
An assist reward was added for the defeating the Skull Champion in v1.4.4.
- Additionally, you can no longer pushback Skull Champions after this update.
Though not very noticeable, the Skull Champion uses the R15 rig for its legs.
- This makes it the second R15 mob after the Elemental.