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, Yorohīmomukade) 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 2 1/2 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."

Strategy

Attacks

The Armored Mawdad has only one main attack, and that is charging head-on towards the active captain. If it makes contact with the captain, the captain will be thrown back, and it will trap the Pikmin in its pincers. Afterward, it will begin to eat them. To save the Pikmin, use Rock Pikimn to break its mandibles.

Basic Strategy

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.

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 gamepad'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.

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

Expert Strategy

Warning: it is advised that this strategy is only attempted by experienced players.

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 foward 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 sould 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 the Dodge Whistle powerup is in use. However, it is still easily doable without said powerup. 

This strategy is most useful during speedruns, as it can be used to defeat the boss in under half a minute.

Gallery

• Armored Mawdad dead.jpg

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

• Pikmin3Screen1.jpg

  The Armored Mawdad being attacked.

• Mawdad With Armour Destroyed .png

  A frontal view of the beta Mawdad with its facial armor broken off.

• 

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

• 

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

• 

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

• Jpweb2.png

  The Mawdad in a photo frame from the Japanese site.

• Pikmin3 MawdadPhoneandDragonFruint.png

  After defeat, the Mawdad coughs up the Firebreathing Feast and a Cellphone, which unlocks the next area where Charlie is held.

• 

  The Armored Mawdad's corpse being dragged by Pikmin.

• Images (8).jpg

  The Armored Mawdad after it's health has been depleted.

Names in other languages

Language	Name	Meaning
Japanese	ヨロヒイモムカデ? Yorohiimomukade	Roughly translates to Armored Centipede, Yorohii being close to Yoroi(armor) and momukade being close to mukade (centipede).
French	Mandipatte	Portmanteau of "mandibule" (mandible) and "patte" (leg).

Trivia

• The Armored Mawdad bears a strong resemblance to the Emperor Pinchipede in the game Nintendo Land.
• This was one of the "Trailer creatures" shown in the Pikmin 3 trailer.