Big Sal is like an upgraded Miss Haka - he burrows infinitely until he reaches the Cat Base, and has only one knockback to boot, while also reviving once with 50% health. With Base Destroyer and upwards of 120k attack in most of his appearances, it's effectively guaranteed that he'll destroy the base in one hit if allowed to complete his attack animation. However, he moves very slowly on the battlefield and has short range.
Strategy[]
The traditional strategy to deal with him alone is to mass-produce units with high DPS like Jamiera Cat, Crazed UFO Cat and Crazed Whale Cat to inflict as much damage as possible between burrows, and use Awakened Bahamut only after he revives. Another strategy for a lone Sal is to use Prof. Cat Jobs, who can weaken his damage to 1%. In levels such as Deep Sea Dying, however, Big Sal is spawned in hordes, so you'll have to press your luck with the Surge created by Prof. Cat Jobs' True Form or rush the stage before the threats spawn.
Units such as Power Piledriver Cat, Heavyweight Cat, Kubilan Pasalan and NEK-0 Sky Fortress can keep Big Sal away from the base with their knockback abilities. NEK-0 Sky Fortress can even solo him, provided if it gets one hit in, meaning that you can't spawn other units or Sal will burrow and cause NEK-0 Sky Fortress to miss its attack.
Stacking any other crowd-controller who can freeze Zombies is another way to deal with Big Sal. Lumbercat is one of the best for this job, and when paired with Healer Cat CC in The Infected King, they can easily permafreeze him. Lumbercat might also get the last hit in due to his high attack rate, swiftly finishing him off.
Best leave this lazybones be, he'll chomp anyone who disturbs his naptime. Or worse: he'll tell you neverending stories about his minor league baseball career.
This salamander is a troublesome lazybones who doesn't even want to open his eyes. During his pro baseball career, he led his team to victory with his "4-legged batting style". Even in retirement, he hasn't ditched his habit of escaping touch and diving underground.
Big Sal's Starred Alien variant. It has a Barrier with 10k HP and can create lethal Lv.10 Wave Attacks from a distance, but has a backswing lasting over 4 minutes. This backswing is the only delay between attacks that it has, so each of its 5 knockbacks gives it another chance to strike.
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Gallery[]
Big Sal's spritesheet
Big Sal's animations
Trivia[]
He is a Japanese giant salamander, the third-largest species of salamander in the world. This endangered species has poor eyesight and extremely slow metabolisms, but their skin is covered in special sensory cells that can pick up on vibrations made by their prey. Sal's undead nature and Revive ability are an exaggeration of their impressive regenerative abilities, able to regrow parts of major organs and even entire limbs.
His Japanese name, Ō-san, is derived from Ōsanshōuo, the Japanese word for the salamander he's based on.
The word ō (王) can mean "king" in Japanese, which is why Big Sal debuts in The Infected King.
He is a reference to Sadaharu Oh. Both are retired baseball players who are called Ō in Japanese, and the "4-legged batting style" in Big Sal's Japanese description is a reference to the "flamingo" leg kick or "1-legged batting style" (1本足打法) that Oh is famous for.
Prior to Version 5.8, Big Sal was limited to burrowing 9,999 times.