Artichokers are found in moutainous areas and planes. One particularly large group lives in around Booster Pass, which has led to some speculation that they were actually brought to life by a member of the Booster family (see Carroboscis for the details of this legend.) These creatures are large enough to eat mushroom people and humans, so it's best to avoid the shrubs in Booster's pass unless you're with an experienced guide.
Luckily, Artichokers can't move too fast, and so they rely almost entirely on the element of surprise to catch less intelligent animals. They have a surprising command of special attacks, as well.
Attack Pattern: On the map, they just wait for you to run into them, like an idiot. They're disguised as regular bushes. In battle they use lots of special attacks: Static E hits all members and causes quite a bit of damage; bubble hits one person and causes minor damage. Recover fills up a lot of the Artichoker's HP, and Stench will poison one member of your group.
Basic Strategies: When in a group, Artichoker should probably be one of your later targets, as it can stand up to a lot of punishment. Jump attacks work very well in a pinch, and Fire and the Geno Beam are OK, too. Don't use electricity.
Advanced Strategies: If you want to do them in fast, use the Jump attack. But regular timed hits should suffice; Booster Pass is a very small area, you don't need to worry about running low on energy.
Blocking can be difficult, since they rarely use regular attacks. By the same token, you don't need to block them that often, so it's not so important. They'll walk up to you, then shuffle left, right, left again, and they'll stop in the middle of this last left movement. Try to block as they stop.
