Dreadmeld

The dreadmeld is an entity added by the Anomaly DLC. It is the largest of the fleshbeasts and can be considered the "boss battle" of the pit gate.

Occurrence[edit]

Dreadmelds appear inside of pit gate undercaves. Every undercave has a single dreadmeld residing somewhere inside. It will always be completely enclosed by fleshmass walls, preventing it from being accessed until it is freed. When approaching the chamber containing a dreadmeld for the first time, a unique warning appears, similar to when first approaching an ancient danger:

 Squirming sounds: As <PAWN NAME> draws near the fleshmass here, they sense a heavy writhing and throbbing from under its warm surface. Some huge living entity is hidden behind the wall of flesh.

Summary[edit]

Dreadmelds are highly durable entities with an extremely slow movement speed. While their powerful melee attack is roughly equivalent to a warg's, their primary threat comes in the form of their unique ability to spawn smaller fleshbeasts as it takes damage. For every 200 total damage the dreadmeld takes from any source, 100-300 combat power worth of fleshbeasts will spawn around it, distributed randomly within a 5-tile radius. This will result in semi-random distributions of fingerspikes, toughspikes, and trispikes. Dreadmelds additionally also spawn 1-3 fingerspikes the first time they take damage.

Dreadmelds have a body size of 5, making them the largest creature in the game by a significant margin.

Like ghouls, dreadmelds possess rapid regeneration. They heal at the same rate, but can regenerate a total of 350 HP/day instead of the ghoul's smaller 100 HP/day.

When a dreadmeld dies, it splits into a fingerspike, a toughspike, and a bulbfreak, leaving behind three shards in the process. The pit gate it resides within will then begin to destabilize. After 12 hours, it will close permanently; any items or pawns remaining in the undercave are then irretrievably destroyed. The undercave will remain stable indefinitely as long as the dreadmeld remains alive.

Dreadmelds are immune to all psychic lances (shock, insanity, biomutation).

Dreadmelds cannot be captured for containment. They will always die on being downed.

Analysis[edit]

The dreadmeld is slow and lumbering, only chasing the closest attacker. Barraging it with gunfire while having another pawn kite it is the safest way to deal with it. Handling its additional spawns is a top priority; damaging the dreadmeld too quickly, without focusing on the additional fleshbeasts, can rapidly create a critical mass that will overrun even experienced Melee fighters through sheer numbers alone. Consider clearing any lingering fleshmass from the route you plan to take it through, as the additional cover can block shots that would otherwise damage the fleshbeasts.

Melee blocking a dreadmeld is possible, but requires setup and preparation. Because of the random scattering of new fleshbeasts, it is plausible that they will land behind your ranged fighters and immediately engage them at close range, meaning that close-range weapons such as chain shotguns or heavy SMGs can make a significant difference for crowd control. Stunning tools, like disruptor flare packs or vertigo pulse, can be very effective in reducing the overall damage taken. Constructing fortifications in advance rather than simply fighting in the undercave's natural layout is also a significant boon.

Whatever strategy is used to face a dreadmeld, ensuring a quick and controlled kill on the first engagement is vital. Because of its impossible regeneration, a dreadmeld left for long enough will quickly heal any damage done to it; a routed attack may inflict no lasting attrition and simply result in wasted time and injured pawns.

Pit gates contain numerous flesh sacks that can yield bionic or archotech artificial body parts, and they also often possess numerous ores such as compacted steel that can be useful to the colony. Ensure that you don't engage the dreadmeld until you are ready to close the pit gate. When you are ready, double-check to ensure there isn't anything you might be forgetting, and make sure that your pawns have a clear and safe path to the exit that they can promptly follow once the dreadmeld is dispatched (and its shards collected).

Optionally, if you want to use the pit cave for some other purpose, don't unleash the dreadmeld in the first place. When you identify the chamber it's contained within, make a note of where it is and leave it in peace until you're ready to leave.

Like all fleshbeasts, the dreadmeld is not immune to toxic buildup, and will eventually die and cause the cave to collapse if exposed to polluted terrain for an extended duration. Dumping a large number of toxic wastepacks into a pit gate and allowing them to decay or intentionally destroying them (e.g: setting them on fire), will spread pollution though the undercave, even through solid rock, which will eventually reach the dreadmeld's location. Doing so can allow a colony to close a pit gate with a minimal amount of exploration and no combat. Due to dreadmelds being vulnerable to toxic buildup, pit gates can not be used indefinitely as wastepack dumping sites, although they may work for a long time. Players who keep a pit gate open for an extended time for wastepack dumping should an eye on the spread of pollution relative to the dreadmeld's chamber.

Health[edit]

The body part table is collapsed due to length. Expand to view.

Body Part Name	HP	N°	C^[1]	TC^[2]	Parent	Capacity^[4]	Effect if Destroyed/Removed	FV^[5]
Body	400	1	100%	27,1%	N/A^[6]	-	Death	10
Spine	250	1	2,5%	2,5%	Body	Moving	−100% Moving^[7]
Stomach	200	1	2,5%	2,5%	Body	Digestion	−50% Digestion
Heart	150	1	2%	2%	Body	Blood Pumping	Death
Lung	150	2	2,5%	2,5%	Body	Breathing	−50% Breathing. Death if both lost
Kidney	150	2	1,7%	1,7%	Body	Blood Filtration	−50% Blood Filtration. Death if both lost
Liver	200	1	2,5%	2,5%	Body	Digestion	Death
Tentacle	300	3	5%	5%	Body	Manipulation	−20% Manipulation. −100% if all lost. Can generate amputated	1
Head	250	1	40%	27,2%	Body	-	Death
Skull	250	1	18%	1,44%	Head	-	Cannot be destroyed Increasing Pain based on damage.
Brain	100	1	80%	5,76%	Skull	Consciousness	Death Always scars.
Eye	100	2	2%	0,8%	Head	Sight	−25% Sight. −100% if both lost. Always scars. 0% Hit Chance against Blunt damage.
FleshbeastSpike	400	2	5%	2%	Head	Manipulation	−50% Manipulation. −100% if both lost.	0.1

↑ Coverage determines the chance to hit this body part. It refers to the percentage of the super-part that this part covers. before its own sub-parts claim their own percentage. For example. if the base coverage of the super-part is 100%. and the coverage of the part is 20%. 20% of hits would hit the part. and 80% the super-part. If the part had its own sub-part with 50% coverage. the chances would be 10% sub-part. 10% part. 80% super part.
↑ Target Chance is the actual chance for each part to be be selected as the target when each part's coverage has been taken into account(I.E. Neck covers 7.5% of Torso but Head covers 80% of Neck so it actually has only a 1.5% chance to be selected). This is not pure hit chance. as different damage types propagate damage in different ways. See that page for details.
↑ Inside. A flag used for some combat calculations. Usually meant for parts inside another one rather than merely attached.
↑ Note that capacities can affect other capacities in turn. Only the primary effect is listed. See specific pages for details.
↑ Frostbite Vulnerability
↑ This is the part that everything else connects to to be considered 'connected'.
↑ If Moving drops below 16% a pawn cannot move.

Attack table

Dreadmeld
Attack (Damage type)	DPS^[1] (Post Hit Chance)^[2]	Dam.	Cool.	AP	Selection chance^[3]
Average	7 (4.34)	-	-	21%	-
LeftSpike (Stab)	7 (4.34)	14	2s	21%	50%
RightSpike (Stab)	7 (4.34)	14	2s	21%	50%
HeadAttackTool (Blunt)	1.5 (0.93)	3	2s	4%	0%

↑ Note: This is the actual base average derived from the melee verb system updated in 1.1.2610, it may sometimes disagree with the listed value in the in-game infobox.
It may also change depending on the stats and the melee verbs available to the pawn.
↑ Assuming a melee hit chance of 62%
↑ Chance for attack to be selected. It may change depending on the melee verbs available to the pawn.

Version history[edit]

Anomaly DLC Release - Added.

Entities

Basic: Void monolith • Harbinger tree • Fleshbeast (Fingerspike, Trispike, Toughspike, Bulbfreak) • Sightstealer • Shambler • Ghoul • Gorehulk • Death pall

Advanced: Pit gate • Dreadmeld • Fleshmass heart • Fleshmass nucleus • Chimera • Devourer • Noctolith • Noctol • Revenant • Metalhorror • Nociosphere • Blood rain • Twisted obelisk • Corrupted obelisk • Warped obelisk • Golden cube • Unnatural corpse

Ultimate: Void structure • Void node

Related
Fleshmass: Flesh • Fleshbulb • Fleshmass neural lump • Flesh sack • Fleshmass spitter • Nerve bundle

[1] Coverage determines the chance to hit this body part. It refers to the percentage of the super-part that this part covers. before its own sub-parts claim their own percentage. For example. if the base coverage of the super-part is 100%. and the coverage of the part is 20%. 20% of hits would hit the part. and 80% the super-part. If the part had its own sub-part with 50% coverage. the chances would be 10% sub-part. 10% part. 80% super part.

[2] Target Chance is the actual chance for each part to be be selected as the target when each part's coverage has been taken into account(I.E. Neck covers 7.5% of Torso but Head covers 80% of Neck so it actually has only a 1.5% chance to be selected). This is not pure hit chance. as different damage types propagate damage in different ways. See that page for details.

[3] Inside. A flag used for some combat calculations. Usually meant for parts inside another one rather than merely attached.

[4] Note that capacities can affect other capacities in turn. Only the primary effect is listed. See specific pages for details.

[5] Frostbite Vulnerability

[6] This is the part that everything else connects to to be considered 'connected'.

[7] If Moving drops below 16% a pawn cannot move.

[Actual-8] Note: This is the actual base average derived from the melee verb system updated in 1.1.2610, it may sometimes disagree with the listed value in the in-game infobox.
It may also change depending on the stats and the melee verbs available to the pawn.

[Hit_Chance-9] Assuming a melee hit chance of 62%

[Selection_Chance-10] Chance for attack to be selected. It may change depending on the melee verbs available to the pawn.

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