Dahkarts

Space BeastDahkarts
Enemy Profile
Number	Enemy No.007 GEATHJERK File No.007
Discovered	Blossom City Outskirts
Power	357
Speed	476
Wisdom	34
Danger	50%
Size	23.6m
Weight	363t

Dahkarts are scorpion-like space beasts used by the GEATHJERK Federation Supreme Armada. Using their barbed tails and acid spit, Dahkarts can pierce through defenses like Unite Guts with ease, and their agile movements make them difficult to keep up with in battle.

First encountered in the final mission of Operation 001-A, Dahkarts are the first enemy type to frequently use attacks that can break through Unite Guts, encouraging the use of Unite Spring for defense instead.

Dahkarts are capable of self-replication and their immature offspring are also encountered as enemies.

GEATHJERK File

A ferocious space beast protected by tough iron sulfide armor and armed with a deadly tail.

Extremely poisonous and territorial, it will attack anything that approaches without warning. The tip of its tail is lined with a poisonous barb that will instantly kill anything short of an armored Wonderful One.

Surprisingly agile for its size, it can reach speeds of up to 200 kilometers per hour.

[The following is added after Dahkarts (Self Replicated) are encountered in Operation 004-A]
Dahkarts is also able to self-replicate as need be; however, these self-replicated offspring lack the hard outer exterior of their parent creature, leaving their exterior surface covered in a green, soft skin. Self-replicated Dahkarts also lack much of the physical power and vitality of their parent at birth, but they begin feeding almost immediately, allowing them to reach full maturity in approximately 24 hours.

Description

A damaged Dahkarts.

Dahkarts resemble gigantic scorpions with an iridescent metal exoskeleton. Their front legs end in large blunt claws used to attack, and they possess a long, snake-like tail covered in barbs and ending in a large stinger. At the front of their body is an opening in their exoskeleton, which exposes a fleshy pink "face" and an orifice from which they can spit acid. Like other space beasts, Dahkarts possess rows of flashing red dots all along their bodies.
After taking damage, a Dahkarts' exoskeleton will start breaking off, exposing the creature's flesh underneath.
A Dahkarts' health is indicated by a health gauge on-screen whenever it's damaged.

To protect themselves in transport, Dahkarts are capable of tightly curling up into a ball by tucking in their legs and coiling up their tail with the stinger slotted over their face. During their introductory cutscene, a Dahkarts survives being launched from the sky into the ground with a meteor-like impact completely unharmed in this position, however other Dahkarts are simply teleported into combat in this curled up position.

Gameplay

Overview

Dahkarts
Climb Attacks to Stun	10 Members
Attack Size to Launch	Any
Wonder-Liner Throw	10 Members
Unite Whip Size to Grab	Size 20
Item Catcher Drop	Wonderful Cake

Dahkarts are tricky enemies to fight: they're fast, evasive, and they're the first enemy type to really mix up using blockable and unblockable attacks: attacks using their claws can be blocked using Unite Guts, however attacks using their tail or acid spit will break through. Safely using Unite Guts requires paying close attention to their animations, and until you're familiar with all of their attacks, Unite Spring is a more reliable defense against them.

Unless they're busy attacking, Dahkarts will dodge away after being damaged, making it difficult to keep attacking them unless they're stunned. After dodging they may also use their Acid Spit, which can destroy Unite Guts, making chasing after them dangerous.
Outside of this however, Dahkarts have poor defense, and are one of the only enemy types that can be staggered from taking a large amount of damage in a single attack, interrupting their current action. This can easily be done simply by attacking them with a large size Unite Morph when they're trying to attack and won't dodge away.

Dahkarts have an unusual quirk where they stop taking damage during the second half of their spawning animation, which can potentially end a Combo early in the middle of a Mission. However, Climb Attacks can still be applied to a spawning Dahkarts, and using Skills against them still earns the + 50PTS.+ 50PTS. Combo bonus, allowing you to preserve your Combo until they take damage again.

Dahkarts also have a unique mechanic where, after being thrown using the Wonder-Liner, they become stuck on their back and are vulnerable to attack for longer than a standard stun, at the cost of no longer giving you the + 100PTS.+ 100PTS. Combo bonus while attacked in this state.
This does not occur when thrown using Unite Gun's Bazooka form or Unite Whip.

Although they're described as poisonous in their GEATHJERK File, Dahkarts don't have any poison mechanics during gameplay.

Attacks

Claw Punch
	A Dahkarts shrieks while raising one of its claws before punching into the ground. The Dahkarts may repeat the attack using its other claw afterwards. This attack is fast, but it's easily identified by the Dahkarts raising it claw.
	Properties: Blockable
Jump Attack
	A Dahkarts briefly crouches and then jumps into the air while shrieking, smashing both its claws into the ground when it lands. This attack is easily mistaken for the Tail Stab due to its similar animations, but the Jump Attack can be identified by the Dahkarts jumping completely off the ground.
	Properties: Blockable Overhead Attack (Hammer/Naginata)
Tail Stab
	A Dahkarts briefly crouches while shaking its tail and then rears up while shrieking, after which it strikes the ground in a wide range in front of itself using its tail. This attack is easily mistaken for the Jump Attack due to its similar animations, but the Tail Stab can be identified by the Dahkarts shaking at the beginning of the attack and keeping its back legs on the ground before it strikes.
	Properties: Unblockable
Tail Swing
	A Dahkarts whips its tail around, and then it shrieks as it starts dragging its tail along the ground around itself in a circle. The attack always starts at the front of the Dahkarts, and it can go clockwise or counterclockwise. This attack is easily identified by the tail whip animation, and it's easy to avoid if you aren't near the front of the Dahkarts when it's used.
	Properties: Unblockable
Acid Spit
	A Dahkarts shrieks and then spits out up to three green balls of acid at the team leader. This attack is very fast and may be used with no warning, but it's typically only used immediately after a Dahkarts dodges away. The acid spit is slow and has a fairly short range, making it easy to avoid at a distance.
	Properties: Unblockable

Strategy

Dahkarts are fast enemies, but their loud shriek before each attack makes it fairly easy to react to them, and their inability to block or fully dodge your attacks means they can be attacked at any time. As such, the easiest possible strategy to fighting a Dahkarts is to simply rush it with any Unite Morph and to use Unite Spring whenever it shrieks. However, attacking a Dahkarts like this will just make it dodge around constantly, wasting your time and forcing you to chase after it, and you'll still need to be mindful of their extremely fast Acid Spit attack... which inconveniently happens to be used most frequently after a Dahkarts dodges.

Like most enemies, the most effective way to fight a Dahkarts is to stun it by using Unite Guts before attacking it, but their ability to break though Unite Guts using 3 out of 5 of their attacks makes this risky if you aren't familiar with all of their attacks.
The blockable Claw Punch and the unblockable Tail Swing are fairly easy to spot, and are unlikely to be mistaken for another attack, but the same is not true for the blockable Jump Attack and unblockable Tail Strike: these attacks are so easy to mix up that new players might even think they're the same attack, and that it just breaks Unite Guts at random, but that's not the case at all. The key difference to look out for is whether or not the Dahkarts leaves the ground when it raises up: if it jumps completely off the ground you want to use Unite Guts, but if it rears up with its back legs touching the ground you need to use Unite Spring.

The Dahkarts' unblockable Acid Spit attack is arguably their most dangerous attack. While the attack is obvious from a distance and the acid projectile is slow and easy to avoid, Dahkarts start spitting before they even finish shrieking, giving you almost no time to react if the attack is used at close range. The closest thing to a clue that a Dahkarts is about to use its Acid Spit is if it suddenly shrieks with no other obvious attack animations: when this happens, use Unite Spring immediately. If you can't react fast enough, your only choice is to just take the hit and try to use Ukemi to nullify the attack's damage afterwards.
Normally, however, Dahkarts mostly use the Acid Spit attack immediately after dodging your attacks: in this situation the attack easy to anticipate, and all you need to do to avoid it is wait a moment to see if the Dahkarts starts spitting before you chase after it.

Alternatively to using Unite Guts, it's fairly easy to stun a Dahkarts using Climb Attacks instead, you just have to be quick as team members will continuously fall off the Dahkarts as it leaps around and attacks. Unite Gun's Wonderful Stinger, Formation Charge, or Unite Launcher can all easily stun a Dahkarts in this way.

Dahkarts recover quickly from stuns, and while launching them in the air using Wonderful Rising is the obvious solution to extending their stun time, you can also circle a Dahkarts using the Wonder-Liner to throw it on its back, and it will remain vulnerable for longer than a normal stun at the cost of no longer giving you the + 100PTS.+ 100PTS. bonus when attacked in this state.

While fighting Dahkarts, it's better to avoid using Unite Bomb or Hero Time/Hero Sense: Dahkarts are capable of dodging even during a time stop, and in this situation the time stop will only extend the duration of their dodge's invincibility, forcing you to wait longer before you can attack them again.

Spamming Team Attacks and Skills on spawning Dahkarts

Finally, Dahkarts have an unusual quirk where they stop taking damage during the second half of their spawning animation. While not a major problem, it still wastes time, and it might even make you lose your Combo if a Dahkarts spawns in a later wave of a mission.
Instead of just waiting however, you can take serious advantage of a spawning Dahkarts by applying Climb Attacks to it, and it'll become instantly stunned the moment it's finished spawning. You can also spam Skills against a spawning Dahkarts to earn + 50PTS.+ 50PTS. bonuses, allowing you to get a head start on your Combo or preserve your Combo from earlier in the fight.

Difficulty Changes

Apart from changes to their health and damage, Dahkarts behave identically across all five Difficulty levels.

Collectibles

GEATHJERK File No.007

• Location: Operation 002-B

The Dahkarts GEATHJERK File can be found inside the Wonderful Toilet by the pool at the bottom of the water slide at the start of the level.

Enemy Weapon

When killed using the correct Unite Morph, a Dahkarts will drop its Enemy Weapon: The Dahkarts Tail.

Dahkarts Tails are 10 charge Enemy Weapons that perform a very fast, long rage strike similar to a strike from Unite Whip. Due to their long range and area of effect, fast attack speed, and high damage, Dahkarts Tails are among the most powerful Enemy Weapons and should be obtained and used whenever possible.

Note that, while similar to Unite Whip, Dahkarts Tails are not able to hit spiked surfaces, and the weapon will be dropped on the ground when attempting to do so.

Gallery

Renders

GEATHJERK Size Table render

Gameplay and Cutscenes

P-Star's scan of Dahkarts

Enemy File

View Mode, front

View Mode, back

Art Gallery

Concept art

Other Images

GEATHJERK File Photo A

GEATHJERK File Photo B

Size Graph

Structure

Footprint

Trivia

• Dahkarts are based on the Japanese term "蛇蠍 (dakatsu)", meaning snakes and scorpions, which is used as a metaphor for something detestable.
• During development of the game, Dahkarts were originally designed as an enemy that would initially enter battle protected inside a large slime body. Players would first have to defeat the slime to expose its core, which would then transform into the scorpion-like Dahkarts. Ultimately, it was decided that this made the Dahkarts too strong as an enemy, and so the Dahkarts' slime phase was cut and repurposed into an entirely separate enemy: the Nyerk.
  • The concept art for Dahkarts and Nyerks found in the in-game gallery, which illustrates this cut mechanic, also reveals that Dahkarts originally possessed a "ball mode" for when serving as the slime's core.
  • This cut mechanic also explains the slight physical similarities between the angular ridges of a Nyerk's body and a curled-up Dahkarts, as they were originally a single enemy type.