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Skeleton

Skeleton is a secret character playable only if you die as Melting while inside a Necromancer's resurrection circle. He's a very difficult character to play, as he gambles his health in exchange for not using ammo.

Features

Upon dying within a Necromancer's summoning circle as Melting, you will be instantly resurrected as Skeleton, and the following things will occur: All previously acquired experience (radiation) will be removed, your character's level will be reset back to 1, all previously picked mutations will be lost, and your HP will be set to 1/4. However, the weapons, as well as the total ammo that you had prior to turning into Skeleton will be kept, and the game's difficulty and your kill count will stay the same.
Aside from spawning with 1 out of 4 HP, Skeleton is also less accurate and has noticeably lower movement speed.

Special

Skeleton will fire a shot that won't use ammo. There's a random chance that Skeleton takes 1 damage. The chance depends on what type of weapon you use. Mainly how much ammo it uses per shot and how much ammo it receives from Mini Ammo Chests. This ability doesn't work if you hold a melee weapon that doesn't use ammo.
The chance that Skeleton takes 1 damage when firing a weapon with Blood Gamble equals:
  • Weapon's ammo cost per shot/Mini Ammo Chest size
Let's say you have a Machinegun (ammo used = 1, ammo drop size = 32) and your other weapon is a Super Bazooka (ammo used = 5, ammo drop size = 6) then:
  • If you fire the Machinegun it would be: 1/32 = 3.1% chance to take 1 damage.
  • If you fire the Super Bazooka it would be: 5/6 = 83.3% chance to take 1 damage.
Which means Skeleton will be damaged more often with weapons that use high amount of ammo per shot. With some weapons (Super Flak Cannon, Super Plasma Cannon), Skeleton is guaranteed to take damage.
Blood Gamble ignores automatic weapons' continuous firing. It's always a single shot or a single burst, regardless of the weapon.

Throne Butt

Throne Butt adds a 1/3 chance that Skeleton won't take damage with Blood Gamble.

Ultra Mutations

Skeleton A

Redemption

Turns Skeleton back into Melting. Every mutation you picked while playing as Skeleton will be removed. You'll be able to pick nine new ones (standard eight and one extra) and one of Melting's ultra mutations instead.

Melting will have base 2 HP as opposed to Skeleton's 4 HP.

Skelly B

Damnation

Firing a weapon with Blood Gamble will reduce that weapon's reload time by 80%. This only affects the current reload; it is not a permanent reduction.

Gameplay

In the late game, Skeleton's active ability synergies very well with mutations such as Trigger Fingers, Bloodlust, Throne Butt, and Damnation. This is especially helpful with weapons with high ammo costs (Super Plasma Cannon, Lightning Cannon, Super Flak Cannon, etc.). The high reload speed combined with the Bloodlust procs make his active ability very effective against crowds. Turning back into Melting with Redemption is also a good tactic which gives him an extra mutation and more health.
Useful mutations:
  • Bloodlust - can counter Blood Gamble by adding a random chance of healing.
  • Throne Butt - further reduces the drawback of Blood Gamble. Gives you a chance to not take damage from weapons like Super Plasma Cannon and Super Flak Cannon.
  • Rhino Skin - gives you more health to gamble with.
  • Second Stomach - one mini health pickup will fully heal Skeleton. Most effective when paired with Rhino Skin.
  • Rabbit Paw - increases the drop chance of pickups including health.
  • Stress - as Skeleton damages himself with Blood Gamble, his rate of fire will increase.
  • Sharp Teeth - taking damage from Blood Gamble will deal damage to each enemy on the screen.
  • Strong Spirit - gives you an extra chance to use Blood Gamble.
  • Eagle Eyes - nullifies Skeleton's reduced accuracy.
  • Extra Feet - nullifies Skeleton's reduced movement speed.

Trivia

  • Skeleton was implemented in update #82 but wasn't mentioned in the changelog by the developers.
  • The mutation reroll part of Skeleton's Redemption ultra mutation, used to be one of Horror's ultra mutations called Total Recall which was replaced by Meltdown in update #84.
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