Gildemander

The Gildemander will either wander about or lie and wait until a leader and their Pikmin enter their territory. Once they do, it will begin crawling toward them and will attempt to eat the Pikmin using its large, sticky tongue. Unlike other creatures, which typically have a limit to how many Pikmin the creature can eat at once, the Gildemander can eat as many Pikmin as it can catch with a swipe of its tongue, which makes frontal attacks inadvisable due to the possibility of eating most, if not all, of the Pikmin in the player's squad in one fell swoop. When the creature cannot find any leaders or Pikmin, it will look about and then begin wandering again.

When a golden stone on the creature's back is knocked off by attacking Pikmin, reattaching it will become the Gildemander's main priority. If knocking a piece off exposed one of the weak points on its back, the Gildemander will be stunned for approximately 4 seconds. When a stone is knocked off, any Pikmin in the squad that are not on Oatchi or Moss, or are not attacking the creature's weak spots, will automatically begin to attack the fallen stone. This further exposes Pikmin to the risk of being eaten by the Gildemander, due to the previously mentioned lack of a cap to its eating capacity. It will pursue the gold one piece at a time and grab it with its tongue, ensnaring all Pikmin currently attacking the gold as well. It will then toss the gold piece onto its back, covering its weak spots and knocking any Pikmin attacking it off. If two gold stones are right next to each other, and the Gildemander picks up one, depending on how they are positioned, it can pick up two stones at once.

If many Pikmin are attacking the creature at once, it will shake its body to scatter them. When one of the weak spots on its back shatters, it is briefly stunned. Once all three weak spots are destroyed, the creature is defeated.

If a Gildemander is active in the current area or sublevel, the Treasure Gauge will be disrupted and will not be able to accurately show where treasure is, though this usually isn't an issue due to its boss status limiting it to locations with no treasures that are particularly difficult to find.

Appearance Gildemanders are large, four-legged, salamander-like creatures that have flat, muscular bodies with a deep brown coloration. Their most distinctive feature are their backs that are adorned with large, jagged, chunks of golden stones that shine under the light. These act as armor for Gildemanders, protecting themselves from their one weakness – their bright red spots. These spots are underneath the golden stones, and they are only exposed once said stones are knocked off from their backs. Gildemanders have broad, slightly flattened, heads with small beady eyes surrounded by small brown and bumpy protrusions resembling scale-like growths, giving their faces a weathered look. At the top of a Gildemander's head lays a bioluminescent lure protruding from their foreheads, similar to that of an anglerfish. Gildemanders have large tongues capable of extending far from their mouths, along with notable flexibility. Their legs, similar to their eyes, are covered in bumpy protrusions, and each leg is equipped with three claws.