The Skeleton Hand is a foe and a summon in Epic Battle Fantasy 5. It is mostly found in The Rapture and Redpine Town, but others can be found in other locations, particularly underground areas.
Appearance[]
The Skeleton Hand, as the name implies, is a skeletal hand sticking out of the ground; it resembles a human hand, but with clawed fingers. It is made out of white bones and grasps a melee weapon; the exact type is decided upon entering battle, and can vary from time to time. (See below for chances).
*When viewed in the Bestiary, the Skeleton Hand has an equal chance to carry any of the Hands' weapons, including the Mallet it cannot use in-battle.
Overview[]
A Hand can change its weapon held depending on the weaknesses of the players. It has five different weapons available, each with different stats, and can change them every time it submerges itself for an attack. On Hard or Epic difficulty, it will be more likely to wield a weapon that exploits the party's weaknesses, and the chance of it switching weapons between turns increases. Applying Berserk prevents the Hand from switching weapons.
The Skeleton Hand can use a knife, an axe, and three different swords. It has the same physical attacks with each weapon, but each has a different element and associated status effect:
- The Sword is non-elemental and can inflict Bad Luck. Its attacks are slightly more accurate than normal and do the second-highest amount of damage.
- The Knife deals part-Wind damage and has a low Dispel chance. Its attacks have very high Accuracy, but low power.
- The Magma Sword inflicts part-Fire damage with a high chance to Burn its targets. It has normal Accuracy and is tied with the Knife for the lowest base power of any of the Skeleton Hand's weapons.
- The Evil Axe deals part-Dark damage and can Curse the players it hits. It's the strongest of the Skeleton Hand's weapons, but its Accuracy is also slightly below-average. It also can't use Triple Hit unless "Counter-Attacking Foes" is enabled, in which case it will use it as a counter when afflicted with Syphon.
- The Ice Sword inflicts part-Ice damage, with a fair chance to apply Chill. Its damage output is in the middle of the Skeleton Hand's options.
Aside from its weapon strikes, the Skeleton Hand can cast Bone Star to deal pure magical Dark damage with a good chance of Syphon. It also has the ability to give its allies Good Luck, although the skill has a chance to fail (unless on Hard or Epic difficulty).
All of the Skeleton Hand's attacks are single-target, making a Target Tank effective at drawing its fire. Its Evade is a bit lower than average, so it isn't too hard to hit even if it gives itself Good Luck or hits a player with Bad Luck.
The Skeleton Hand resists Bio, Bomb, and Wind while being immune to Dark, Doom, and Instant Death; conversely, it's weak to Holy and especially Earth. If "More Foe Resistance" is enabled, its weaknesses are reduced and it absorbs both Bio and Dark.
Statistics[]
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Skeleton Hand | EBF5 |
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| Is it a disembodied hand? Or is there more to it underground? It can change the weapon it holds, and use some evil magic. | ||
| Statistics | |||||||||||||
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| Base Statistics |
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Exp | AP | SP | Gold | Hit2HP | Catch |
| 144 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3.9 | 21 | 2.2 | 2.2 | 14 | 50 | 35 | |
| Elemental Resistance |
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| - | - | - | -80% | 50% | 50% | - | 50% | -50% | 100% | ||||
| Status Resistance |
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| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 100% | ||
| Debuff Resistance |
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| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | |||||||
| Item Drop Rate | |||||||
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| Name | Iron Plate | Soft Wood | Hand Bomb | Shuriken | - | ||
| Chance | 25% | 25% | 33% | 33% | - | ||
| Status Damage | |||||
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| Damage taken from status effects, in % of maximum health (per turn), including elemental resistances: | |||||
 Burn
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 Scorch
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 Poison
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 Virus
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 Doom(if Death fails) |
 Regen
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| 3.5% per stack, up to 31.5% |
7% per stack, up to 63% |
1.5% per stack, up to 13.5% |
3% per stack, up to 27% |
Immune | -33.(3)% |
| Damage taken from first four is decreased by 30% on Easy and 65% on Zero difficulties. Final damage is randomized by ±5% (except for Doom) and rounded down. | |||||
|
Skeleton Hand | EBF5 |
|---|---|---|
| Is it a disembodied hand? Or is there more to it underground? It can change the weapon it holds, and use some evil magic. | ||
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| Base Statistics |
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Exp | AP | SP | Gold | Hit2HP | Catch |
| 144 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3.9 | 21 | 2.2 | 2.2 | 14 | 50 | 35 | |
| Elemental Resistance |
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| - | - | - | -50% | 200% | 50% | 50% | 50% | -30% | 200% | ||||
| Status Resistance |
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| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 100% | ||
| Debuff Resistance |
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| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | |||||||
| Item Drop Rate | |||||||
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| Name | Iron Plate | Soft Wood | Hand Bomb | Shuriken | - | ||
| Chance | 25% | 25% | 33% | 33% | - | ||
| Status Damage | |||||
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| Damage taken from status effects, in % of maximum health (per turn), including elemental resistances: | |||||
| Burn
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Scorch
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Poison
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Virus
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Doom (if Death fails) |
Regen
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| 3.5% per stack, up to 31.5% |
7% per stack, up to 63% |
-3% per stack, up to -27% |
-6% per stack, up to -54% |
Immune | -33.(3)% |
| Damage taken from first four is decreased by 30% on Easy and 65% on Zero difficulties. Final damage is randomized by ±5% (except for Doom) and rounded down. | |||||
Attacks and Abilities[]
| Attack List | ||||||||||
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| Attack | Target | Power | Type | Element | Status Effect | Acc | Crit | RdF | ||
| Triple Hit (Knife) Burst (Knife) Swing (Knife) |
Single | 30.6/3 25.2 26.1 |
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50%
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20% | -- |
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150% | 10% | 10% |
| Triple Hit (Sword) Burst (Sword) Swing (Sword) |
Single | 40.8/3 33.6 34.8 |
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---- | 33% | 3x | 
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105% | 10% | 10% |
| Triple Hit (Magma Sword) Burst (Magma Sword) Swing (Magma Sword) |
Single | 30.6/3 25.2 26.1 |
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50%
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66% | 2x |
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100% | 10% | 10% |
| Triple Hit (Evil Axe) Burst (Evil Axe) Swing (Evil Axe) |
Single | 44.2 36.4 37.7 |
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50%
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33% | 3x | 
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95% | 10% | 10% |
| Notes: Triple Hit is only usable as a counter when Counter-Attacking Foes is enabled. | ||||||||||
| Triple Hit (Ice Sword) Burst (Ice Sword) Swing (Ice Sword) |
Single | 34/3 28 29 |
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50%
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33% | 2x | 
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100% | 10% | 10% |
| Bone Star | Single | 33 |
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100%
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50% | 2x |
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100% | 10% | 10% |
| Good Luck | Allies | -- | -- | ---- | 67% | 0-2x | 
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-- | -- | -- |
| Notes: Status strength increased to 1-3x on Hard or Epic difficulties. Status strength is chosen separately for each entity. | ||||||||||
Battle Logic[]
- Choosing a weapon
- Standard weapon array: Sword, Knife, Evil Axe (twice), Magma Sword, Ice Sword.
- On Hard and Epic difficulties, chooses the best element to use (including
Lovable players) between Dark, Wind, Ice and Fire, adding more weapons to the array depending on the outcome:
- Dark → Evil Axe twice
- Wind → Knife twice
- Ice → Ice Sword twice
- Fire → Magma Sword twice
- Then selects any position of the array to equip, with equal chance for each. For an example, on Hard/Epic and with Wind being the least resisted element, final chances would be: 1/8 for Sword, Magma Sword and Ice Sword, 2/8 for Evil Axe and 3/8 for Knife.
- Whenever the Hand burrows itself after attacking, it has a 25% (50% on Hard/Epic) chance to switch its weapon when it emerges again. The Hand cannot switch weapons if it's Berserked.
- Attack patterns
The following describes general logic of the enemy and attack patterns, with chances of each attack to be used. Conditions are listed from highest to lowest priority unless specified otherwise.
- If catch score >55 and all players are Lovable → Flee;
- If Berserked;
- If using Knife/Sword/Magma Sword/Ice Sword → Triple Hit (1/3), Burst (1/3), Swing (1/3);
- If using Evil Axe → Burst (1/2), Swing (1/2);
- If Syphoned;
- If two randomly selected foes don't have Good Luck → Good Luck (1/3);
- If using Knife/Sword/Magma Sword/Ice Sword → Triple Hit (2/9), Burst (2/9), Swing (2/9);
- If using Evil Axe → Burst (1/3), Swing (1/3);
- Otherwise;
- If using Knife/Sword/Magma Sword/Ice Sword → Triple Hit (1/3), Burst (1/3), Swing (1/3);
- If using Evil Axe → Burst (1/2), Swing (1/2);
- If two randomly selected foes don't have Good Luck → Good Luck (1/3);
- Otherwise;
- If two randomly selected foes don't have Good Luck → Good Luck (5/15), Bone Star (2/15);
- If using Knife/Sword/Magma Sword/Ice Sword → Triple Hit (8/45), Burst (8/45), Swing (8/45);
- If using Evil Axe → Burst (4/15), Swing (4/15);
- Otherwise → Bone Star (1/5);
- If using Knife/Sword/Magma Sword/Ice Sword → Triple Hit (4/15), Burst (4/15), Swing (4/15);
- If using Evil Axe → Burst (2/5), Swing (2/5).
- If two randomly selected foes don't have Good Luck → Good Luck (5/15), Bone Star (2/15);
Counter (only if Counter-Attacking Foes is enabled)
- 25%;
- If Syphoned → Triple Hit;
- Otherwise → Bone Star.
Summon[]
The Skeleton Hand can be captured and used as a summon; it can also be summoned by the Alt Human Skull or the v1 version of the Coat of Teeth. It gives the entire party (including backup) five stacks of Good Luck. The summoned Hand always wields the Knife, but this is purely aesthetic.
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Skeleton Hand | SP | 
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| Gives good luck status to all allies, including those in backup, improving their chances in random events. | 24 | Kept | |||||||
| Target | Power | Type | Element | Status Effect | Acc | Crit | RdF | ||
| Allies+B | -- | -- | ---- | -- | 5x |
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-- | -- | -- |
Trivia[]
- For its Good Luck skill, the Skeleton Hand performs the "Devil Horns", a well-known hand gesture associated with rock and metal music.