Summoning the Barrow Warden

Hey everyone! Encamp dev here. The latest update added something that has been cooking for a long time: a boss. Say hello to the Barrow Warden, a large undead gentleman out in the swamp.

Why a boss

If you've played colony sims, you know the arc. The early game is desperate, and then at some point your colony is just fine, and the raids stop being scary.

A boss helps because nobody assigns it to you. You find the Barrow while exploring, and it tells you up front what a summon costs. Whether to chase that is your call, and the fight itself is a test of whether your colony is getting stronger.

The offering

Summoning the Warden costs an offering:

• 25 Withered Bones, dropped by swamp skeletons and grave mounds
• 10 Grave Ash, from destroying grave mounds in the swamp
• 2 Iron-Bound Censers, crafted at the anvil once you have iron

Two extra rules:

• Repeat summons are much cheaper after your first kill (10 bones, 5 ash, no censers).
• Everything in the offering is re-farmable from the same biome, forever, so a wipe only costs you the farming trip.

Big slow swings

You control a whole squad in Encamp, and a boss that simply out-damages your pawns would wipe it with no counterplay. So the Warden swings slowly: a long telegraphed windup into a hit for 50 to 60 damage. Two or three of those kill a pawn, and dodging is as simple as ordering the pawn to step away during the windup. The fight tests whether you keep paying attention and keep giving orders, which is the same skill the rest of the game runs on.

The loot

Every kill drops the Warden's Skull, which builds a trophy mount for your wall. Any colonist can invoke the mounted trophy: colony pawns near it get the Warden's Blessing, five minutes of bonus damage and damage resistance, on a 30 minute cooldown. Kills also pay out a guaranteed pile of materials, plus a roll on a rare table of unique equippables in the old-school style. Repeat summons should stay worth the trip without making the first kill feel cheap.

How you can help

The Warden is the first boss in Encamp and might have bugs or balance issues. If you fight it, tell me:

• Did farming the offering feel like preparation or like a chore?
• Did the boss do anything dumb? Clips and screenshots help a lot.

Encamp is free and runs in your browser. Play it here, then tell how it went on the Encamp Discord. I read everything, even when I can't reply.