Glyphid Warden

"The Glyphid Warden is a recent discovery, and is regal and terrifying entry in the ever expanding catalogue of Glyphid subspecies. From what R&D has gathered, the Warden releases a steady mixture of performance-enhancing pheromones and telepathic conditioning to any Glyphid in range, tremendously upping their physical resistances. A terrifying prospect, really - given the rapid evolution of the Glyphid species, Management recommends killing every Warden we come across. Imagine if they ever evolved the capacity to influence other species in the same way."

- Miner's Manual Description

The Glyphid Warden is a hostile Creature found on Hoxxes. It is a member of the Glyphid family, and can be found on every region of the planet. It is somewhat similar in appearance to the Glyphid Grunt Guard; it features heavy chitinous plating covering the majority of its body, mainly on the abdomen and front legs, which can be broken via concentrated firepower. Its coloration is mainly white chitin and pink flesh. The mouth is slightly smaller compared to other Glyphid species of a similar size. Most notably of the creature, however, is its rather ornately designed abdomen. The armor plating spikes out in various directions, and at the top of the creature can be found a large pink orb known as a "spherical spore emitter organ".

Combat
The Warden itself does not engage in direct combat. It is completely incapable of attacking a Dwarf on its own, and will put up no resistance or self-defence when attacked. The Warden serves as a support unit for the Glyphids, and will buff any nearby members of its species. When a Glyphid is stood nearby a Warden, the Warden will use its spore emitter to buff that Glyphid, giving it considerable damage resistance (as indicated by a blue shield icon next to the Glyphid's name, and a large pink spore trail connecting the Warden to the Glyphid). The Warden can only buff so many of its Glyphid allies within range, and it will only buff Glyphids - Mactera, Naedocyte and stationary threats such as Spitball Infectors will not be protected by a Warden.

A lone Warden can "summon" more Grunts to buff and assist it in a fight by screeching, which causes Grunts to bury up from the terrain and form around the Warden in a defensive manner.

Wardens are mostly clad in Heavy armor which must be broken before they take damage. However, their face and mouth are weak spots and highly vulnerable to damage. The spore emitter in particular takes 300% damage and does not break like similar weak spots.

Defense Enhance is a buff with the following effects for linked allies : ×0.5 damage taken. That buff doesn’t affect the Warden and it can only affect some of the Glyphids enemies : Glyphid Grunt, Glyphid Grunt Slasher, Glyphid Grunt Guard, Glyphid Praetorian and Glyphid Oppressor.

Enemies who are debuffed in any way such as being lit on fire, electrocuted or frozen will still be protected by a Glyphid Warden. The buff effect provided by a Warden will continue to persist for a couple seconds after it dies.

Trivia

 * The Glyphid Warden was added in Update 23: Horrors of Hoxxes.