Abomination

The Abomination is a large undead tree-like creature found in the Swamp. It lies hidden underground or appears as a stump-like shape until a player comes close, then erupts from the ground and moves aggressively toward its target. It is one of the swamp’s most dangerous creatures for an unprepared player, and it has no starred variants.

Abominations are strong against blunt and piercing damage, so weapons such as swords, axes, and knives are generally better choices than spears or maces. They are also weak to fire, which makes flame geysers and fire arrows especially effective. Since they are not considered trees for Elder power purposes, that bonus does not help against them.

They have three attacks: a fast right-leg sweep, a heavy left-leg stomp, and a body slam used when a player is very close beneath them. The right-leg sweep is the easiest to handle and can be parried. The left-leg stomp and body slam both hit in wider areas and deal high damage, including chop and pickaxe damage in addition to blunt damage. Their attacks can be blocked with a suitable shield, and parrying can stun them. Standing close to the center of the Abomination can sometimes disable the left-leg stomp and body slam by forcing them out of range for those attacks.

Useful ways to fight them include:

• Lure them over a Surtling flame geyser and keep them there to stack fire damage.
• Use a sturdy shield, especially a better shield such as a banded shield, to block or parry their attacks and counter with melee strikes.
• Climb onto the top of a Sunken Crypt, which the Abomination cannot climb or destroy, then attack it safely from above.
• Lead them over deep trenches or water barriers, where they can become stuck and be finished with a bow and fire arrows.
• Sneak from the lower side of their idle form to get a backstab bonus; the taller side of the stump-like shape shows the direction they are facing.

Abominations are perceptive and have a large detection range, but their activation range is even larger than their detection range, so they may not react immediately until a player gets closer. Their spawn locations are limited, which means they often appear in similar places each time, especially in open water or among reeds. They also give off the Swamp’s green gas effect, which makes them easier to spot. Once killed in a zone, they do not respawn there for a cooldown period of about 4000 seconds, or roughly 66 minutes.

They drop Root, making them the only source of the material needed for Root armor. Since each Abomination drops 5 Root, obtaining the full set and fully upgrading it requires killing 14 Abominations in total, for 66 Root overall. If an Abomination dies in deep water, Guck may sink and be lost, but Root and any trophy that drops will float.