How to beat Guillotina in Mewgenics

After beating the Boneyard stage in Mewgenics, you'll be warned about the impending arrival of Guillotina, one of two unique raid bosses. Unlike other bosses, which you'll encounter during a run, Guillotina invades your home.

When Guillotina arrives, you'll have to use your retired cats to fend her off. Otherwise she'll bite your cats' heads off like they're Frube yoghurts, and that's not a fate you want. Below, I'll explain how to prepare and eventually beat Guillotina.

How to prepare for Guillotina in Mewgenics

You'll be given seven in-game days to prepare for Guillotina's boss fight, which you can keep track of in the top left of your screen when you're at home. Of course, you can end days immediately to skip to the boss, but it's much smarter to spend that time preparing, as Guillotina puts up quite a fight.

As mentioned, you can only use four retired cats to fight Guillotina. With this in mind, you should do as many runs as you can to give yourself a good selection of retired cats to choose from, favouring ones with high stats and good skills. By breeding high-quality, retired cats with other strong retired cats, you'll give yourself the best shot.

Remember, cats can get into scraps at night, as well as mate, so ensure you have a high Comfort stat using furniture to lower the chances of your prime candidates killing each other.

During these runs, you should also look out for items that you can use during the fight, such as armour and weapons. Guillotina has a huge healthbar and deals tons of damage, so you'll need every advantage you can get.

As for what classes you should focus on, I recommend the following to have a good balance of offence and defence against the boss:

• Hunter: An incredibly powerful ranged damage dealer, especially using skills like Marked and Arrow Flurry.
• Fighter: A devastating melee damage dealer. They'll benefit from high Strength as usual, but also Constitution and Intelligence (paired with good skills) to be able to keep the pressure on Guillotina up close.
• Cleric: Nothing beats Cleric when it comes to sustain and support, and you'll need it if the Guillotina fight drags on.
• Necromancer: Consistent damage and self-healing help keep pressure on Guillotina as she's jumping around the arena, making the Necromancer a safe pick. Keep in mind that there won't be any bodies (unless you have a skill that makes them), so don't focus on reanimation skills.
• Thief: While they're made of glass, the Thief is capable of dishing out extreme damage from behind before moving out of Guillotina's range.

When the day arrives to fight Guillotina, pick your best retired cats and place them in the cardboard box as you would for a normal run. You'll then get the prompt to defend your home, where you can equip gear before starting the boss fight.

How to beat Guillotina in Mewgenics

Guillotina only has four main attacks, but they deal lots of AoE damage and bump cats about. She also has a whopping 500 health, meaning she can take a lot of punishment. Generally, the best plan is to spread your cats out to avoid taking unnecessary AoE damage, and take advantage of damage over time (like bleed, fire, or Necromancer's leeches), but also stuns, and other crowd control effects to apply consistent pressure.

With such high health and damage, the quicker the fight is over, the better. High luck and critical hit stats on my Hunter and Fighter really made a difference, letting me score upwards of 50 damage per turn.

Here's how to counter Guillotina:

• Slice: Guillotina's basic attack is a simple, short-range slice covering two tiles, but it will also knock cats back. Avoid placing two of your cats next to each other, since Guillotina can attack both at the same time.
• Groundpound: Guillotina can leap a short distance, dealing damage and knocking back units in a 4x4 grid. There's nothing you can do to stop this move, but you can reduce the consequences by spreading your cats out and staying away from the edge of the arena.
• Toss: Guillotina can grab a cat and throw them across the arena, dealing heavy damage in the process. High movement stats or speed boosting skills like Alpha are helpful for getting melee classes back in range.
• Inhale: Guillotina can hoover up a cat from afar, temporarily removing them from the battle. The inhaled character can use Flail, replacing your basic attack, for a 25% chance to break free. Otherwise, deal enough damage with your other cats to cause Guillotina to spit them out. The inhaled cat will take one damage when it falls to the ground.
• Movement: While it's not an attack in the traditional sense, Guillotina can deal a small amount of damage and knockback just by walking into one of your cats. Once again, it's wise to spread your cats out to reduce the impact of her AoE damage. She takes up four tiles, after all.

Kill Guillotina, and you'll earn the Throbbing Gristle quest item, which you can take to the Wall of Flesh at the end of the Caves—just don't die and lose it. Speak to Butch afterwards, and the four retired cats that defended your house become 'ultra' retired, gaining a fancy glowing crown. You won't be able to use them to defend your house again, but they can still breed, so it's worth hanging on to them.