Skowl

Skowl, the Startling is the second boss of Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze. He is the boss of Autumn Heights and is fought in the boss level, Mountaintop Tussle.

Physical description
Skowl is a large, gray owl with a thick, braided beard and a brown chest plate. He has thick, white eyebrows, yellow eyes, and orange talons and beak. Skowl wears a viking helmet with antler horns and the Snowmad symbol in the middle. As he takes on damage, the tips of Skowl's feathers gain a red coloration that progresses in brightness upon losing a third and then two thirds of his health, respectively.

Attacks
Initially, Skowl's attacks are limited to shooting a wide fan of feather missiles and summoning eggs which damage the Kongs if they hit them from below. Some of these eggs contain small Hootzes, which can be jumped on and used as projectiles against Skowl. During the later phases of the battle, when the arena is in the air, Skowl also gains the ability to summon windstorms, use a harder-to-avoid feather projectile attack, call in fleets of flying Pointy Tucks and do a swooping talon attack across the battlefield. Skowl's wings can also turn into a ice wing and shoot spiked ice ball that go on the corner and then it goes to the other while falling in the process.

Combat
To defeat Skowl, the player will have to stun one of the mini Hootzes and pick it up. The player has to throw the mini Hootzes at Skowl to damage him. After Skowl has been hit nine times, he will be defeated. On a side note, players can only jump on Skowl when he loses his helmet.

Trivia

 * Skowl has quite a few similarities to Hoo from Super Princess Peach. They are both the second boss of their respective games, both are owls, both release eggs that spawn smaller owl-like enemies, both are fought atop a tree, and both fly for the majority of the battle.
 * Skowl's boss battle also shares similarities with Krow and Kreepy Krow from Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest. Much like Krow, Skowl attacks by dropping eggs onto the Kongs, who then throw the eggshell-wearing Hootz back at the avian boss to damage him. Similarly to Kreepy Krow, Skowl summons its smaller Hootz brethren to attack the Kongs, and the battle takes place on three floors that the Kongs must ascend.

Gruhusel