Gish/Enemies

In Gish, there are handful of different enemy types as well as a few bosses.

Normal enemies

Nibbler

Nibblers are small armless enemies which follow the player and occasionally jump. They bite when Gish happens to be too close to their mouth. They can be killed by environmental hazards as well as getting squished. There are various ways to defeat them when there aren't useful objects nearby:

Stomp

A basic maneuver to defeat them from above which can be used if ceiling clearance is high.

1. Get above the nibbler.
2. Stomp them by pressing Heavy and Down.

Low stomp

When there is not enough headroom:

1. Drop yourself onto the enemy, pressing Down but not Heavy.
2. Tap Heavy during Gish's most compressed state.

Steamroller

Another way to defeat nibblers which is useful when being able to get relatively high speed.

1. Approach a nibbler from side at relatively high speed.
2. Press Heavy at contact. Holding Up is good to keep the momentum going.

Throw

This is more useful when not having enough room and especially if the enemy falls from above. This method is rather dangerous and it is likely that you'll get bitten.

1. When the nibbler isn't on you, get him there by using Sticky and rolling him on you. It might be useful to push the nibbler before so he faces away from you to avoid getting bitten. Try to make sure that the enemy won't crush you.
2. Press Heavy or Expand. The nibbler will likely be squished instantly by the pressure. If not, then get squished against the wall or if the ceiling is really high, suffer a falling damage.

Bighead

Bigheads are the second type of normal enemy. They will try to follow Gish and punch at him when he gets too close. They have very large heads and fragile necks. Aside from environmental hazards, bigheads can be defeated by applying too much pressure to their neck which causes their heads to be dislocated. There are numerous ways to do that.

Stomp

A basic way to defeat them. Good when having a lot of headroom.

1. Get above the bighead.
2. Stomp them by holding Heavy and Down.

Steamroller

A way to defeat them when having a relatively high horizontal speed.

1. Approach them from the side at relatively high speed.
2. Hold Up and tap Heavy on contact with their head.

Head launch

This is useful when not having any headroom and no good speed can be achieved.

1. Retreat to a nearby wall and press Sticky. Be 1 tile above the ground level.
2. Let the bighead approach and start to squish you.
3. Just when you're at your most available compressed state or start to get crush damage, press Heavy or Expand which will send the enemy's head flying at the opposite direction.
   • This can also be done when two bigheads approach you from the opposite directions but use one of the bighead's head instead of a wall. Pressing Heavy or Expand after starting to be crushed will send heads flying at both directions.

Suicide

As mentioned, their necks are very fragile. These can snap by slamming a wall even at relatively low speed, falling from too high, hitting a sharp corner and so on. It's often possible to lead bigheads into such situations.