Sharkster

The Sharkster is an organic enemy in CrossWorlds. They are primarily found in Maroon Valley, but some can also be encountered in the Faj'ro Temple.

Appearance
The Sharkster is a large, skeletal shark. Its face is vaguely prehistoric, with mandible-like protrusions on the sides of its jaw. White lights gleam deep in its hollow eyesockets.

Combat
The Sharkster is an automatically-aggroed enemy, and will become aggressive if Lea gets too close to it. Notably, this is the only way to draw them into combat, as they typically stay mostly underground, and cannot be hit in this state. Even when aggressive, the Sharkster is invulnerable except when jumping out of the ground. It does this primarily to attack, but will also randomly make a short jump out of the ground.

It has two main attacks. In the first, it will jump up and hover in midair for a second before dashing down and landing on its target. The second is a fast dash jump through its target; it will typically back up and take a run at it for this attack.

The Sharkster is vulnerable to being broken, either by perfect guarding its dash attack or by hitting it with a charged ball. When broken, it will flop around on top of the ground for a few seconds and can easily be attacked.

Strategies
Despite being relatively weak, the Sharkster is a difficult enemy to fight due to its speed and immunity while underground. Breaking it is highly recommended due to how little time it spends aboveground while active. Hit it with a charged Ball during its small jump or dash jump attack, or perfect guard the dash jump. Both moves offer rather small windows, so track the Sharkster and be ready to hit it quickly. Once broken, Melee attacks and Combat Arts can be very effective against it.

It is advisable to dash away from the Sharkster's high jump attack, since this attack cannot be shielded. While it is possible to break it with a charged Ball during this, the window for doing so is only a few frames, as the Sharkster is immune to breaking while jumping up, and out of reach while in the air.

When fighting Sharksters with other enemies, unless you have the opportunity to snipe one and quickly take it out, it may be better to simply dodge their attacks and leave them until you can focus your attention on them. For large groups of Sharksters, staying defensive and waiting for an opportunity to break one can be helpful.

Locations

 * Maroon Valley
 * Crossroad
 * Long Piece
 * Barren Arcs
 * Barren Land
 * Overpass
 * Paw Cliffs


 * Faj'ro Temple
 * Test of Memory 1

Trivia

 * Sharksters were added with Maroon Valley in Early Access v0.6.0.