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Budclaw and Burrowing Aniimo: Tunneling and Tremor Counters
Budclaw tunnels, and its trait pays it to. Here is what subterranean movement does for your Break output, what it does to incoming damage, and why Tremor is the skill that ends the standoff.
The short version
- Budclaw's trait increases its BREAK efficiency when you play it as a tunneler.
- Budclaw fills the Break role and is a capable Break unit.
- Tunneling Aniimo such as Minespine, Geodeback and Pebbling are immune to ranged attacks.
- Tremor skills are the counter to a tunneling Aniimo and can knock it out.
- The Tunnel ability's description says Pound skills can knock the tunneling Aniimo into the air.
- Budclaw spawns in Nimbus Fields and at Zephyrus Landbridge.
Budclaw is a Break unit with a tunneling mechanic, and those two things are connected on purpose. Its trait rewards a tunneling playstyle by increasing its BREAK efficiency, so the movement option is not a gimmick bolted onto a fighter. It is how you get the fighter's best numbers.
Tunneling cuts the other way too. An Aniimo underground is immune to ranged attacks, which sounds like a free defensive state until you learn what does work on it. Tremor skills can knock a tunneling Aniimo out.
This guide covers what going subterranean turns off, what it turns on for your opponent, and where you find Budclaw.
Budclaw wants to be underground
Budclaw fills the Break role in Aniimo, and it is a capable Break unit. Break has its own guide on this site, so the short version will do here: that is the job Budclaw is on your team to do.
What makes it specific is the trait. Budclaw's trait rewards a tunneling playstyle by increasing its BREAK efficiency. Budclaw has a tunneling mechanic that permits subterranean movement, so the two halves fit together. Play it the way the trait asks and the Break output goes up. Play it as a surface bruiser and you are leaving the trait switched off.
Separately from Budclaw's own mechanic, Twining with certain Aniimo grants a burrowing ability that lets you tunnel underground and interact with field objects. That belongs to the Earth and Grass guide rather than this one.
One more name to know while you are building: Geoclaw can apply Ice debuffs to enemies.
Underground turns off ranged attacks
Aniimo that tunnel underground become immune to ranged attacks. Minespine, Geodeback and Pebbling are the ones you will meet doing it.
That immunity is the whole reason a fight against a tunneler feels like it stalls. If your damage comes from range, it does not matter how much of it you have. The target is not taking it. Nothing is broken and nothing is resisting by degrees. The attacks simply do not apply while the Aniimo is under the ground.
So the answer is not more of the same. It is a different kind of skill.
Tremor knocks them out, Pound lifts them
Tunneling Aniimo are vulnerable to Tremor skills, and Tremor can knock them out. That is the counter, and it is worth keeping one on the team purely for these fights rather than discovering the gap when you are already standing over an empty patch of dirt.
The Tunnel ability's own description adds the other half: Pound skills can knock the tunneling Aniimo into the air. Between the two, a tunneler has no safe state against a party that brought either one.
Budclaw's tunneling is the same mechanic, and these rules are written about tunneling Aniimo in general rather than about one creature. Worth remembering on both sides of the fight.
Tremor skills
- Tunneling Aniimo are vulnerable to Tremor skills.
- Tremor can knock them out.
- Applies to tunnelers such as Minespine, Geodeback and Pebbling.
Pound skills
- Named in the official description of the Tunnel ability.
- Pound skills can knock the tunneling Aniimo into the air.
Where Budclaw spawns
Two places. Budclaw spawns in Nimbus Fields, and Budclaw spawns at Zephyrus Landbridge.
That is a short list, so plan the trip rather than hoping to bump into one. If you want a Break unit that pays you for tunneling, those are the two names to put in your route.
Where to start
If you are building around Budclaw, tunnel. The trait pays you for it and the Break role is what the team will lean on. If you are fighting something that tunnels, stop shooting and bring Tremor.
Most of this page was re-checked against the released game on 18 September 2026. The rest has not been re-confirmed since release.