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Bosses and Enemies
September 23, 2026 at 09:36 AM
Corrected wikilink existence flags
Each of the three Acts in a Tears of Metal campaign has its own enemy roster, tougher Elite variants and a boss fight at the end. Paper Cult has never published a full bestiary, so the list below is assembled from what the shipped build and its patch notes name directly. Expect it to be incomplete.
Boss | Where | Notes |
|---|---|---|
Act 1 | The demo's closing fight. An early version of the Threat system turned him into a damage sponge and the encounter was reworked after beta feedback. Since July 2026 he no longer ignores a player who has been attacking him for a long stretch | |
Iseult the Banshee | Act not stated | Defeating the Banshee unlocks Ruadh Stonecrusher. Repeatedly patched for going invisible, jumping away and not returning, and floating above the ground; her stun bar was rebalanced so damage matters more and parries less |
Harold the Dragon | Act not stated | Subject to several invincibility and stuck-animation fixes, including one where the Crusader's Purifying Light passive could leave him locked in a laser animation in multiplayer. Since September 8, 2026 he can no longer become unkillable for some clients in multiplayer |
Bosses' block-breaking attacks became parryable on July 24, 2026, and a separate fix stopped allies taking more damage than intended during boss battles.
Captains are the Elite tier that appears between the regular waves and the Act boss. The August 2026 balancing patch named five Act 2 Captain archetypes when it adjusted their health and block health:
Captain | Note |
|---|---|
Dagger | Health and block health adjusted August 2026 |
Sword and Shield | Health and block health adjusted August 2026 |
Polearm | Health and block health adjusted August 2026 |
Giant | Health and block health adjusted August 2026; a separate Act 3 Giant could previously remain invincible |
Rage Master | Health and block health adjusted August 2026 |
Pikeman Captain II | Lost the block-breaking effect on its counterattack, which now needs more hits to trigger |
Arbalest Captain | Damage types adjusted in Act 2 |
Infantry Captain II | Reach attack corrected in August 2026 after it overshot its intended distance |
Giant II | The landing of its jump-back counter no longer deals damage, since September 8, 2026 |
Enemy | Behaviour |
|---|---|
Bomber | Explosive attacker. Reworked to hold its starting position until approached and to stop every Bomber targeting the same player; can no longer damage allies |
War Drummer | Summons Bombers. The number summoned per attack was cut from two to one |
The Dreadshot | A teleporting ranged enemy. Its teleport no longer breaks when the target moves behind cover, and its ranged attacks are no longer interrupted by nearby melee |
Norsemen | A named encounter rather than a single unit; rebalanced in August 2026 |
Enemies stopped being invulnerable while evading on July 24, 2026, certain wave attacks now collide with obstacles so players cannot be hit through walls, and enemy spawn-position calculations were fixed to stop enemies appearing far outside the arena.
The September 8, 2026 patch named one more foe, The Black Shield, whose attack-variation odds and counter frequency were adjusted; the notes do not say whether it is a boss, a Captain or a regular enemy. The same patch changed several rules that apply across the roster. Enemy status damage multipliers no longer climb steeply from one Act to the next and now use a single multiplier throughout all three Acts. Elite enemies reconsider their targets more often and are more likely to attack whoever is dealing them heavy damage. Bomber bombs no longer fail to explode when the Bomber is killed before it begins its attack.
Captains can carry modifiers, and the Poison Trail modifier no longer damages allies. Some objectives, called Hunt Captain objectives, send the player after a Captain marked on the minimap; a fix in the same patch stopped those Captains spawning without their minimap markers.
Paper Cult has not published enemy health values, damage numbers, resistances or a complete roster, and no official bestiary exists. The second open beta in 2025 was described as carrying roughly a dozen enemy types, but the shipped build's count has never been stated. Damage types are named in the game (Smite appears on Emblem effects) and one status, Fragile, is confirmed, but the full set is not published. Mid-August 2026 multiplayer fixes referred to Elite and boss health and to Threat levels drifting apart between players in the same session, which is a synchronisation problem rather than a statement about any enemy's values.
