Headhunter

Dragon Quest monster Headhunter
Art by Akira Toriyama Japanese くびかりぞく Romaji Kubikarizoku First appearance Dragon Quest II Old localization Hunter (II NES and VII PS1)

The Headhunter is a recurring monster in the Dragon Quest series, first appearing in Dragon Quest II. They are wild, leaping humanoids that wield their weapons with reckless abandon.

Description

Headhunters are green humanoid monsters with wild blond hair and a set of jagged fangs lining their mouths. They wield small hatchets and shields and wear blue tunics and sandals with a purple cape. They also wear silver circlets around their head decorated with a blue gem. Headhunters attack wildly in combat, swinging their axes in quick succession to overwhelm their enemies. The headhunters did not carry shields with them until remake versions of II. When they originally appeared, headhunters had a completely black head, but VIII introduced a design where the monsters have green heads like the rest of their bodies, possibly to avoid any unfortunate resemblance to real-world blackface. Their original design still makes in appearance in some modern games such as X and Stars.

Appearances

Dragon Quest II: Luminaries of the Legendary Line

Headhunter (くびかりぞく Kubikarizoku)

Original (NES)

Sprite	HP	MP	Attack
	65	0	82
Defense	Agility	Experience	Gold
25	70	67	45

Abilities	None
Location(s)	Tuhn region Tower of the Moon Rendarak Plateau
Item Dropped	Iron lance1⁄16

Evasion	Fire Resistance *	Dazzle Resistance	Snooze Resistance
1⁄64	1⁄7	1⁄7	3⁄7
Thwack Resistance	Fizzle Resistance	Kasap Resistance
2⁄7	7⁄7	1⁄7

Remakes (SFC, GBC, Mobile)

Sprites	HP	MP	Attack
	65	0	82
Defense	Agility	Experience	Gold
25	57	77	97

Abilities	Flees
Location(s)	Slewse region Tower of the Moon
Item Dropped	Iron lance1⁄16

Evasion	Fire Resistance *	Dazzle Resistance	Snooze Resistance
1⁄64	0⁄7	1⁄7	0⁄7
Thwack Resistance	Fizzle Resistance	Kasap Resistance
1⁄7	7⁄7	0⁄7

Dragon Quest VII: Fragments of the Forgotten Past

Headhunter (くびかりぞく Kubikarizoku)

Sprite	HP	MP	Attack	Defense
	48	0	54	40
Agility	Experience	Gold	Tame Rate
33	21 (PSX) 32 (3DS)	10 (PSX) 15 (3DS)	1⁄32

Bestiary No.	#032
Spell(s)	None
Skill(s)	Flails its weapon about fiercely (125% damage)
Location(s)	Roamer Encampment region (past) Poolside Cave (past) Al-Balad region (past)
Item(s) Dropped	Oaken club1⁄128

Evasion	Frizz Resistance *	Sizz Resistance *	Fire Breath Resistance *
1⁄64	0%	0%	0%
Bang Resistance *	Crack Resistance *	Ice Breath Resistance *	Woosh Resistance *
0%	0%	0%	0%
Strike/Rock Resistance *	Zap Resistance *	Drain Magic Resistance *	Whack Resistance *
0%	0%	100%	15%
Poof Resistance *	Ban Dance Resistance	Dazzle Resistance *	Fizzle Resistance *
90%	100%	15%	100%
Fuddle Resistance *	Paralysis Resistance*	Poison Resistance *	Snooze Resistance *
15%	50%	0%	15%
Stun Resistance *	Sap Resistance *	Army Resistance *
15%	0%	0%

3DS version changes

None

Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King

Headhunter (くびかりぞく Kubikarizoku)

Original (PS2)

Sprite	HP	MP	Attack
	54	0	56
Defense	Agility	Experience	Gold
53	43	62	18

Bestiary no.	#058
Family	Humanoid
In-game description	Known for their jumping ability, these monsters wait for the best opportunity to attack their enemies. Watch out for their vicious slashes and formidable defence abilities.
Spell(s)	None
Skill(s)	Attacks while defending Uses Medicinal herbs
Location(s)	Pickham Region
Item(s) dropped	Medicinal herb1⁄8 Scale shield1⁄64

Evasion	Attack Resistance	Frizz Resistance *	Sizz Resistance *
1⁄64	0%	25%	25%
Fire Breath Resistance *	Bang Resistance *	Crack Resistance *	Ice breath Resistance *
25%	25%	25%	25%
Woosh Resistance *	Strike/Rock Resistance *	Zap Resistance *	Drain Magic Resistance
25%	25%	25%	100%
Whack Resistance *	Ban Dance Resistance	Dazzle Resistance	Fizzle Resistance
15%	100%	15%	100%
Fuddle Resistance *	Paralysis Resistance *	Poison Resistance *	Snooze resistance *
50%	15%	50%	50%
Stun Resistance *	Sap Resistance *	Army Resistance *
15%	15%	25%

Remake (3DS, Mobile)

Notable Changes

None

Dragon Quest X

Headhunters began appearing in the game starting with Version 3.3, this time stronger than in previous titles. They can swing about their weapons with reckless abandon to damage characters in the surrounding area, use Helm Splitter, cast Kazam, and are able to land desperate attacks.

Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker

Headhunter
Family	Demon
Rank	D
Description	These hyperactive hooligans often hyperbolise about how many heads they've hunted.
Weapons	Spears, Axes, Hammers, Staves
Traits	Metal Beater
Resistances	Whackproof
Skill	Berserker, Attack Boost
Location	Celeste Isle
Breeding chart	Dancing devil x Jumping jackal

Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker 2

Headhunter
Family	Demon
Rank	E
Size	S
Weapons	Axes, Spears, Hammers, Staves
Traits	Metal Beater
Resistances	Vulnerable to Sap, Immune to Whack
Skill	Berserker
Location	Treepidation (night)
Breeding chart	Frogface x Rockbomb or Dracky

Dragon Quest Rivals

Headhunter first appeared in the second card pack, "Roar of Unleashed Power" as a rare card exclusive for Warrior leaders.

• A second card known as the Robbing headhunter appeared in the ten card pack, "Frontier of Creation and Destruction" as a normal card exclusive for Priest leaders.

In Other Languages

Language	Translation	Meaning
Español	Bárbaro decapitador	Spanish for "barbarian decapitator".
Français	Chasseur de têtes	French for "headhunter".
Deutsch	Kopfjäger	German for "headhunter".
Italiano	Cacciateste	Italian for "headhunter".

Gallery

• 

  A headhunter in X

• 

  Monsters: Joker sprite

• 

  Stars model

• 

  Rivals card

Similar species

• Berserker
• Pilferer