Defender

Defenders are small masked enemies found in the Astrolab that carry a Protector with their hands and move around to shield other enemies. They are exclusive to the Rise of the Giant DLC.

Behavior
Defenders are capable of protecting at least one enemy with a force field, during which they gain damage reduction. The shielding effect is not restricted to a single enemy, although they may follow their intended target. Defenders themselves cannot be shielded by other defenders.

If they are not currently defending an enemy, Defenders will only perform a melee attack with the Protector.

Trivia

 * The name Defender was previously used by the Protectors, which these enemies carry around.
 * Defenders were added with the v1.2 update, aka Rise of the Giant DLC in March, 2019.