Nine Toes is the first of many Bandit lords. Although he is a boss, he's not much of a challenge.
Background
Nine-Toes is one of the Bandit lords who resides in a cave, which is signposted "Trouble" in Skag Gully. He commands many of the Bandits in the Arid Badlands.
Nine-Toes carries a rare and powerful weapon named The Clipper. Nine-Toes acquired this weapon by the weapon stash in the mission you play before you attempt to fight him, but it is known that The Clipper is responsible for the loss of one of his toes.
Dr. Zed will send you on a quest as part of the story to blind Nine-Toes by killing eight of his subordinates in the camp by the first arena just outside Fyrestone.
Nine-Toes is completely insane, and loves his two pet Skags a little too much. He stages frequent raids on Fyrestone, hoping to curry favour with Sledge. Even Nine-Toes doesn't know how he lost his toe. He suspects that Bone Head took it to use in his voodoo ceremonies.
Involvement
Players spend a large portion of the early game building up to Nine-Toes. Killing him is a primary quest objective and in order reach him players must first pass through a chain of quests involving encounters with many of Nine-Toes' subordinates.
Once killed, Nine-Toes drop a rare item called The Clipper, a Vladof weapon with the fire rate of a SMG, and the punch and accuracy of a Pistol. This weapon shoots incendiary rounds and is equipped with a blade that increases melee damage. This is a good weapon for every class; Melee for Brick, Elemental damage for Lilith, Accuracy for Mordecai, and fire rate and damage for Roland.
Strategy
He is not very difficult but he does have a large amount of health. Although once he has received some damage he will summon Skag hounds to attack, his two pets Pinky and Digit. If you are in a group divert at least one person to Skag defense. It has also been noted that you can climb into the bleachers to avoid the Skags. Aim for head shots to gain extra critical damage and keep moving around the circular room to make yourself a harder target to hit.
A group of two or more players can simply plug through his health bar in under ten seconds. The more frustrating part is killing his pets, but this is optional as the ramp at the entrance to his arena is activated once you kill him. Be aware, the pets can physically jump up the ramp, or can ride it with you. However, they cannot leave the area and cross the bridges in the pit.
If you are Brick and level five or more, just use berserk and run at him and he'll go down FAST.
Quotes
- "You woke the wrong dog! Aww YEAH! (Pelvic Thrust)"
- "Oh God! Oh God!" (When close to death)
- "I'll rip your arm off and beat your baby with it!" (Sometimes at the beginning of the fight.)
Guaranteed Drops
Trivia
- A pre-release promotional video (and his in-game cutscene intro) introduces Nine-Toes with the tag line, "Also, he has 3 balls".
- It is presumed that Nine-Toes lost one of his toes by accidentally dropping his gun, "The Clipper", on it which is implied in the gun's description saying: "Don't drop it, might lose a toe".
- There is a character called Nine-Toes in the game The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind. This may or may not be an intentional reference.
- The Skags that appear during the fight with Nine-Toes feature the names "Pinky", and "Digit", a possible reference to a pinky toe, as toes and fingers are digits.
- "Toe Cutter" was the name for the leader of the biker gang in the movie Mad Max and the Nine-Toes is very likely a reference to him.
- If you look close you see that he has the Vault Arc on painted on his mask. looks like l^l going through his eyes
- He says all the quotes of a normal psycho, but in a much more calm voice.
- He appears as a boss in Mad Moxxi's Underdome Riot
Notes
Nine-Toes will respawn along with everything else in Skag Gully (although the skags he calls in the first fight don't), so he can be killed again for his loot (including The Clipper).
Just as the skags in skag gully, Once your level is high enough he will level up (returning with a level 18 character results in encountering him as a level 14) and also The Clipper will be dropped as a higher level version.