I really wish this piece of shit were more in line with the difficulty of the rat and the crab. As it is when I encounter the sad ghost on floor 3 I have to decide whether the cost of food/health, not to mention the sheer annoyance factor, is worth the slim possibility of a good reward.
Having the best choice be just not to engage with one of the dungeon’s challenges doesn’t seem like good design.
The fact that he’s more difficult to handle than Goo is rather insane.
Edit:
#BRUH
Y’all, I can handle the fucking gnoll trickster. This isn’t about “oh this dude keeps ending my runs”, okay?
It’s just that, especially in comparison to the other two minibosses in sewers, he’s fucking EXHAUSTING to deal with. Even reading all of y’all’s advice it still amounts to “yeah he’s a big stupid pain in the ass but if you just carefully and precisely tweak his nipples in exactly this fashion you can beat him”.
I am complaining that he is out of line, challenge-wise, with the other two minibosses. That’s all. Even bringing the other two up to his level would be satisfying, because then he wouldn’t be such an UGH moment.
So, I think most advice in this thread is actually already pretty good. When you say you got no resources on level 3 I wonder if its just a point of getting better at those first levels. And don’t get me wrong, not trying to diss you here! Just reading that makes me wonder if you are still yet to learn some things about the game.
Anyway, I can tell you what I try and do and I don’t even remember the last time the dude drained my health much or even killed me.
For me the trick is to get him where I need him to be, which is a room with no other exit. If you are close enough to him, he won’t shoot, he will flee. And by going step by step, watching where he moves, you can force him into a certain direction.
It is key that you have explored the full level before triggering the quest, by the way, maybe that was not clear. So then you take your time getting him into an area where he cannot pass you anymore, he will just keep backing off.
You do that until he has to enter a room, with a still functional door, that has no other exit. Then you wait outside right that door. He will 100% try to exit through that door and every time he tries you hit him. He will retreat but you keep standing there, hit him every time he opens the door until you got him.
Goes maybe without saying but if you see him across a large room it is not the time to chase him, he will just shoot you a lot. That is a good time though to throw a stone of blink right next to him, for example. Hope that helps.