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In Inkulinati, your battles are fought using Beasts, drawn from Living Ink gathered from the battlefield. There are several unique tribes of Beasts, each with its own strengths and weaknesses. Because of the Boredom mechanic, in which you are punished for using the same Beasts each battle, you'll want to grow a formidable army of several different Beasts.
There is a wide variety of Beasts to choose from, with some being stronger than others. Below, we'll take a look at some of the best Beasts you can recruit in Inkulinati, as well as each of their strengths and weaknesses.
Inkulinati is currently in Early Access on Steam, so the content in this guide is subject to change as the game is updated.
Bishop Cat
The Bishop Cat is an extremely versatile Beast, with high damage and support potential. This Beast can heal friendly Beasts for five health and give them a two Halos, making the Bishop Cat a great back-line supporter. Additionally, the Bishop Cat is Anointed, meaning any enemy Beast that attacks it will be branded a Heretic, causing them to receive double damage from all Anointed Beasts.
This debuff can be used to great potential with Power Word. This attack can deal damage at range, and even gets a small damage bonus against Heretics. With the built-in Heresy debuff, Power Word can deal extremely high damage, one-shotting a lot of Beasts in the game. This alone makes Bishop Cat a great attacker, but it needs support from other Anointed Beasts to consistently apply the Heresy debuff.
Jaw Exploder
The Jaw Exploder is one of several Exploder Beasts. When these Beasts die, they explode, dealing five damage to all units on adjacent tiles. They can also be manually exploded using the Hold Your Farts ability, or the Detonation Hand Action.
The Jaw Exploder only costs five Ink to summon, and can attack both adjacent tiles at the same time. This Beast is incredibly effective fodder, especially when paired with other Exploder-type Beasts and Actions. The Jaw Exploder has a decent movement range, allowing you to move it right into the enemy's way, forcing them to either kill it and deal with the explosion, or leave it alone and risk its attacks next turn.
Additionally, Exploders grant one Living Ink when they die, allowing you to refund a bit of their cost for your next Beasts. This also helps play into the idea of constantly recycling your Exploders, summoning and resummoning them after they explode on the enemy.
Cook Exploder
The Cook Exploder is another Exploder Beast that can deal a ton of damage. Its main attack, Stew Catapult, launches an explosion a few tiles away. Because this attack counts as an explosion, the same as when an Exploder dies, it always deals five damage, and can trigger Talents like Healing Explosions and Stronger Explosions.
The Cook Exploder can also heal a Beast for five health, but causes it to become Bloated. If this ability, Bean Time, is used on a Beast that is already Bloated, it will become Double Bloated, increasing the size of its explosion. If a Double Bloated Beast becomes Bloated again, it will instantly explode. Be careful when using this ability to restore the health of Exploder Beasts, or use it purposefully to intentionally explode them.
Donkey Bard
The Donkey Bard is another versatile Beast that excels at multiple things. Using Blow the Bagpipes, the Donkey Bard can wake up a friendly Beast from its nap, enabling it to take an extra turn. This ability also grants Motivation, allowing the Beast to act after moving at its maximum range. This ability is invaluable, as it enables deeper strategies and Beast placement, letting you set up two-turn pushes or attacks in half the time.
In addition, the Donkey Bard can use Farting the Pipe, forcing enemy beasts within three tiles to immediately take a nap, and giving them a headache on their next turn, making it so they can't move. This ability is incredible for disabling the enemy before they can even attack, letting your Beasts run wild while the enemy is vulnerable.
Bellow-Wielding Devil
The Bellow-Wielding Devil is an extremely powerful Beast that can cover the battlefield in fire and instantly kill enemies that are in the fire. Using Massive Pyroflatulence, the Bellow-Wielding Devil can cover three tiles in Fire Sparks, which deal three damage to any Beast or Tiny that ends its turn on it. Devil Beasts are innately immune to this effect, so they will all perform best when paired together.
If you're using a full set of Devil Beasts, you can safely cover the entire battlefield in fire, causing consistent damage to the enemy, no matter where they go. This will also enable the Bellow-Wielding Devil's second ability, A Puff of Bellows, which instantly kills any Beast, so long as it is standing on a Fire Sparks tile. Additionally, the Bellow-Wielding Devil can force an adjacent target to take a nap, immediately endings its turn.
The downside to the Bellow-Wielding Devil, although very small, is that it, along with other Devil Beasts, takes more damage from Anointed Beasts. If you're facing Cleric-type Beasts, be careful, as your Devils will take much more damage from them.
Flute-Wielding Skeleton
Every single Skeleton Beast is extremely strong, and represents one of the strongest archetypes in the game. Due to their innate resistance to Fire, Bleed, Infection, and Danse Macabre, not much can challenge them. The Flute-Wielding Skeleton in particular is very strong in its role. Although it only has seven health, it can attack from up to six tiles away, and its attacks inflict Danse Macabre. This unique status effect causes enemies with it at the end of the chapter to take five damage, unless they attack or push, or are granted a Halo.
Although there are several ways to remove Danse Macabre, if the Flute-Wielding Skeleton moves after that particular Beast has already taken its turn, their options are heavily limited. Because of this, the Flute-Wielding Skeleton can deal very high damage while remaining far away from the enemy. In addition, it can use Stinking Breath, causing Infection to appear on a tile. Because Skeletons are immune to Infection, this can be used to great effect by covering key points of the battlefield in Infection, forcing the enemy into it.