The Skeleton, or Skeleton Warrior, is an enemy first introduced in Serious Sam VR: The Last Hope, and then later added to Serious Sam 4 in the Halloween and Christmas patches.[1]
Overview[]
Skeletons are humanoid variants of Kleer Skeletons that stand on their hind legs and use their front legs to carry a sword and shield. Unlike normal Kleers, they have hands and feet as opposed to having hooves and long claws. There are two types of Skeletons, blue ones and red ones. The red ones are exclusive to Serious Sam 4. Skeletons have crystals inside their chests, which give off a noticeable glow. This glowing effect makes it appear that the Skeleton is actually the same color as the crystal residing within it.
The Christmas-themed Skeleton appears in Serious Sam 4 when the game is played during December, but only if the "allow seasonal content" button is on, otherwise they will not appear. This variant of Skeleton wears a Santa hat, and its sword is replaced with a candy cane. These changes are purely cosmetic, and don't change its stats.
Appearances[]
Serious Sam VR: The Last Hope[]
Skeletons are common enemies, and mostly appear in large groups.
Serious Sam 4[]
Unlike The Last Hope, Skeleton are season exclusive enemies, and they can be encountered only during Halloween and Christmas, first appearing in Death from Above, and then on pretty much every level onwards, where they will spawn once the player collects one of the Jack-o'-Lantern or Christmas Present pickups spread across the maps. The amount of Skeletons that spawn upon picking up one of these items is random, and can be anywhere from 1 to 5.
Behavior and skills[]
Skeletons are fairly weak enemies and have slightly more health than that of a beheaded soldier. As they are equipped with a shield, however, which deflects damage, they are able to withstand more damage than an enemy with similar health would. Once the Skeleton has taken sufficient damage, their shield will break, rendering them vulnerable.
As Skeletons are melee units, their only attack is to give chase and get close to the player so they can slash them with their sword or candy cane. This attack deals a lot of damage, and they can be dangerous in groups to an unsuspecting player.
Application[]
Skeletons are often used during the Mental War to dispatch the population of planets, such as Shaanti and Arcadia Minor. They usually appear in large numbers to overwhelm their enemies.
Tactics[]
Serious Sam VR: The Last Hope[]
- Skeletons are much easier to deal with than Kleers, as they run slower, have less health than the latter, and don't have any ranged attacks. As such, they can be defeated more easily with small-arms fire, such as the SOP38 Pistol.
- The Laser Sword is one of the best weapons to wipe out hordes of Skeletons at a time, especially if they are lined up in a row.
- Take note that Skeletons usually drop their shields before taking actual damage, as such, rapid-fire weapons are recommended to use against them.
- Large groups of Skeletons can be taken down with rapid-fire weapons, such as the Thompson submachine gun or M29 Infantry Assault Rifle. These weapons can easily kill them because of their high rate of fire, damage and the Skeleton's low health.
- The XPML21 Rocket Launcher can kill multiple Skeletons in one shot, making it an excellent weapon against groups.
Serious Sam 4[]
- Individual to small-sized groups of Skeletons can be easily defeated with the 12 Gauge Pump-Action Shotgun or Double Barrel Coach Gun.
- Their shields are quite weak; a single shot from the pump-action shotgun can take out its shield. Still, it is not recommended to take out their shields.
- Try to aim at the Skeleton's feet whenever possible. This way, the player doesn't have to destroy their shield to take them out and it saves ammo. It also makes it much easier to dispatch Skeletons this way.
- Groups of Skeletons can be taken out with the assault rifle, A-24 Devastator, MK III Grenade Launcher or rocket launcher.
- Don't get too close to a Skeleton, as its sword attack can deal a lot of damage.
- With other enemies, due to how easy it is to avoid them, they should be bottom-priority targets that can be killed after other threats are taken out first.
Trivia[]
- Skeletons are the only non-boss enemies in Serious Sam 4 that does not appear in Serious Sam: Siberian Mayhem.
Gallery[]
List of appearances[]
- Serious Sam VR: The Last Hope (First appearance)
- Serious Sam 4 (non-canonical appearance) (Halloween and Christmas events only)
References[]