Armored Mawdad

Armored Mawdad
Appears in	Pikmin 3
Scientific name	Unknown
Family	Unknown
Areas	Garden of Hope
Mission Mode Collect Treasure! stages	None
Mission Mode Battle Enemies! stages	None
Side Story days	None
Bingo Battle stages	None
Attacks	Eats Pikmin

The Armored Mawdad (ヨロヒイモムカデ^?, lit.: "Armored Caterpillar Centipede"; known in Europe as Armoured Mawdad) is the first boss in Pikmin 3, and the boss of the Garden of Hope. It is a massive, centipede-like beast with a multitude of small gecko-like legs, a large head, yellow eyes, a bluish-green underbelly, a gaping mouth, and large curved mandibles. The boss crawls about, trying to dodge the player's attacks, and is able to climb up the sides of walls as a means of fleeing. Upon death, it spits out the Data Glutton and the Firebreathing Feast. The Firebreathing Feast provides the leaders with two and a half bottles of juice, and the Data Glutton unlocks the next area, the Distant Tundra.

Notes

Pikmin 3 website

“This extra-large creature can be found in hollowed-out trees. Its exoskeleton is made of crystal.”

Pikmin 3 Prima Guide

“The Armored Mawdad is located in the Garden of Hope. This creature is protected by the segmented armor covering its back. The Armored Mawdad uses its massive pincers to trap and devour any victims caught in its path. The Armored Mawdad is surprisingly agile, so it's important to keep your squad moving. Use Rock Pikmin to break through the creature's armor, then use Red Pikmin to latch onto the exposed flesh.”

Behavior

As its name implies, the Armored Mawdad cannot be damaged by most attacks. Its crystalline shell protects it from all attackers, and only Rock Pikmin can be used to destroy this shell. Each segment of the creature's body has its own piece of shell, and the pieces' ease of breaking corresponds to their size (e.g. the tail breaks fastest, head breaks slowest). When threatened, the Mawdad will shake any attacking Pikmin from it and attempt to scurry up the walls, where it cannot be damaged. Though the creature cannot be seen when it has climbed up the tree, its position will be given away by pieces of bark and other debris that fall from above.

Despite the Armored Mawdad's threatening size and appearance, its attacks are simple and easy to counter. The creature will charge and then snap its mandibles shut, trapping any Pikmin in front of it. It will consume its victims at a slow rate and can be stopped from eating any at all if enough Rock Pikmin are thrown at its shell, causing it to flinch. Moreover, its attacks can be made much easier to avoid if the Mawdad's crystal mandibles are destroyed by Rock Pikmin.

Strategy

The following article or section contains guides. The strategies shown are just suggestions.

Basic strategy

Once the mandibles have been broken, it will be easier for Pikmin to escape from the Mawdad's gaping mouth.

The Armored Mawdad is almost constantly in motion, crawling around the stage in erratic patterns. When it gets a clear view of a group of Pikmin or the current leader, it will charge and trap the Pikmin with its massive mandibles. During this time, it will commence eating Pikmin (5 at a time) with its wide tongue, during which it will stop moving, allowing players an opportunity to throw Rock Pikmin at its crystalline armor to break it away. This will aggravate the boss and save the trapped Pikmin. The now-exposed flesh can be freely attacked with any other available Pikmin types. If it loses sight of the leaders or the Pikmin, it will briefly pause and look around for them before moving again.

Once it has started to lose armor, it will crawl faster and begin to evade the Pikmin by crawling up the walls of the arena. It will then crawl around off-screen for a moment before coming back down to charge at the Pikmin once again. When it is out of view, the player can still be made wary of its location by either looking at the KopPad's map, or by paying attention to where small chips of wood are falling from the ceiling.

If the player can land a successful hit on its mandibles, they will break, rendering it harder for the Mawdad to capture and eat Pikmin. If a Pikmin latches onto one of its eyes, the Mawdad will become extremely agitated and aimlessly careen through the arena until the Pikmin is thrown off, and even ramming its head into walls in an attempt to shake the Pikmin off.

Expert strategy

A much simpler way to defeat the Mawdad quicker and with little trouble is to immediately run to the side as soon as the battle begins. The boss will charge forward only to catch nothing, and will then stop for a few seconds before crawling around again. During this time, quickly throw as many Rock Pikmin as you can at the tip of its tail, and it should easily break off. This will aggravate the Mawdad and make it climb up the wall. When it comes back down to charge, move out of the way and quickly run behind it. Before it starts moving again, swarm all of your Red Pikmin on its tail. If enough grab onto its tail, the boss' health will rapidly drain and it can be killed with one hit from a Rock Pikmin as soon as it descends from the wall.

This is much easier in Mission Mode, as it is possible to dodge. However, it is still easily doable without said powerup. 

In speedruns, this strategy is particularly useful, and it's even faster if the player waits for the boss to stand still on the wall for a few seconds. Sometimes, the Mawdad will run around the arena a bit before stopping, and sometimes it will stop immedieatly. It's best to just wait for it to stop, as this will maximize the time the Pikmin stay stuck on the tail. This can be used to defeat the boss in under thirty seconds.

Gallery

• Pikmin3Screen1.jpg

  The Armored Mawdad being attacked.

• 

  The Armored Mawdad coming down to attack Alph, Brittany, and their Pikmin.

• 

  The Mawdad rearing up to intimidate Alph and Brittany before battle.

• 

  The Armored Mawdad's mandibles are used for trapping prey. They can be broken with Rock Pikmin.

• Images (8).jpg

  The Armored Mawdad after its health has been depleted.

• Armored Mawdad dead.jpg

  The dead Armored Mawdad, as well as the Data Glutton and the Firebreathing Feast it spat out.

• 

  The Armored Mawdad's corpse being dragged by Pikmin.

• Jpweb2.png

  The Mawdad in a photo frame from the Japanese site.

• Mawdad With Armour Destroyed .png

  A frontal view of a prototype version of the Mawdad, with its facial armor broken off.

Trivia

• The Armored Mawdad has two rows of teeth.
• Regardless of how much health the Mawdad has, the game only checks if the boss should die if it is on the ground.

Names in other languages

Language	Name	Meaning
Japanese	ヨロヒイモムカデ? Yorohiimomukade	Roughly translates to "Armored Caterpillar Centipede". 鎧? means "armor", 芋虫? means "green caterpillar" (even though the "–shi" part is missing), and 百足? means "centipede".
French	Mandipatte	Portmanteau of "mandibule" (mandible) and "patte" (leg).
Spanish (NoA)	Ciempédulo acorazado	Portmanteau of "ciempiés" (centipede) and "nodulo" (nodule); "acorazado" means armored.

See also

• Emperor Pinchipede – a similar boss, in Pikmin Adventure.
• Calcified Crushblat – another enemy covered in a crystal-like armor.