“ | Bark bark bark bark!!
|
” |
— Spinwulf, Shovel Knight: King of Cards |
Spinwulves are minor enemies in Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove and Shovel Knight Pocket Dungeon found only on the Stranded Ship. They resemble dark purple wolves, howling and running at their prey.
Spinwulves have a fiery variant known as a Cinderwulf.
Story[]
King of Cards[]
In King of Cards, 3 Spinwulves are the local Joustus champion of the Crag of Joustus. Their banner was shredded and their title remain hidden until all 3 local players are defeated. Once defeated, they join King Knight aboard the Glidewing. If Mona was beaten before at the Cavern of Joustus, she can be seen petting them.
Also, during the same campaign, Polar Knight is seen traveling to the Tower of Fate with domesticated Spinwulves. They fight King Knight alongside him. After his defeat, he implies that his furry companions were left in the Glidewing's cargo hold, and warns that their fiery breath could breach a hole in it.
Pocket Dungeon[]
The Puzzler's Pack DLC for Pocket Dungeon introduced a Spinwulf as a secret playable character. In order to unlock it, first of all, Polar Knight's Refract ability, Spinwulf Strike, must be unlocked; once done so, Polar Knight has to chuck one of his Spinwulves into Percy's fast travel cannon back at the Camp. Doing so will make the Spinwulf playable; however, in order to make it permanently unlocked, a run in the Pocket Dungeon must then be completed or failed with the lupine. Furthermore, winning a run with the Spinwulf will earn a ribbon with a pawprint in the Guidebook; similar secret ribbons can be earned by reaching 10 loops of Venture Endlessly and talking to Beefto in his special sideroom portal, completing the hardest of the secret Quandaries of an unchanging Random Knight (achievable thanks to a special hat from Mr. Hat), completing a run with Schmutz, winning a run with the Adult Bean's mustache equipped, and unlocking the Quandary Sage in Marathon Mode. Once all ribbons are earned, a crown appears in the Guidebook.
Being a secret character, the Spinwulf does not receive a statue from Sledge Farmer, even when its two Quandaries are completed.
The Spinwulf moves of 2 spaces at the time, and has a default attack power of 2 but also a reduced HP of 1 (4 in total), making it a powerful, quick, but difficult to control character. Furthermore, as they lack a Refraction Realm Quandary, the Spinwulf, together with Random Knight, Schmutz, and the Quandary Sage, are the only characters that lack a Refract Ability of their own.
Behavior and Tactics[]
Treasure Trove[]
In Treasure Trove, Spinwulves quickly run back and forth, following their foes as they move around the screen. They tend to run fast on slippery ground but often fall into pits. They have two hit points, deal half a damage point, and drop a green gem worth 10 gold when defeated.
Pocket Dungeon[]
In Pocket Dungeon, Spinwulves have 5 hit points and deal 1 damage point. They can overrun the board quickly in the Stranded Ship stage due to their endurance, although this creates opportunities for large Chains. They can also be projected and frozen by the snow slam attack of the Frostmeister, which negates their strength for a few turns.
Joustus Card[]
In King of Cards, the Spinwulf Joustus card has a Conveyor Arrow facing right. It is also a horizontal Switch card.
Joustus Battle[]
In King of Cards, a trio of Spinwulves serve as the champion(s) of the Crag of Joustus. During the match against them, they are able to use an ability called Dire Dig Out which lets them turn a random space into a hole. If the Spinwulves use this ability on a space with a gem on it, the gem will teleport to an empty space. After being beaten, they can be seen on the Glidewing with the other Joustus champions.
Joustus Deck[]
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
Spinwulf | Spinwulf | Cinderwulf | Fairy |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
Fairy | Fairy | Torpeeto | Torpeeto |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
Torpeeto | Torpeeto | Torpeeto | Memmec |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
Grapps | Birder | Tadfloat | Bladescale |
Dialogue[]
Click to expand | ||||||||||||||
|
Trivia[]
- The Spinwulf's idle animation (sitting and flailing its tail) is only seen in the credits since they are always seen running around in the game.
- Their model in the game's file is named "Dire Wolf".
- In one of his jokes, Shovel Knight refers to Spinwulves as "snow wolves" when speaking to Toader.
- The Spinwulf and Schmutz, when they become playable characters, can only be found at the Camp; likewise, the Quandary Sage can only be found at Castle Quandary.
- When the Spinwulf is bumped from above by Polar Knight, the warrior will give the wolf a belly rub. On the other hand, if the Spinwulf bumps Polar Knight from above, it will playfully pounce him on the back.
- In addition, Scrap Knight can pet both Schmutz and the Spinwulf by just attempting to bag them; however, doing so multiple times will result in the Spinwulf eventually waking up and rejecting the pets.