Idea for making the warden harder to defeat

Since the warden isn't supposed to be easy to defeat or "cheese", there needs to be various ways in which it can defeat the player.

I have come up with what i believe to be a good idea to stop players from hiding inside a small enclosure or digging into the ground.
What if, instead of the warden breaking blocks to get to the player, as some have suggested, the warden could use skulk veins to damage the player that it can't reach on it's own.
The warden would grow the skulk veins outward from itself. They would be poisonous, and very deadly. They could also be very hard to avoid, if the player is in a small space and can't move fast, the veins will damage the player. This attack would be a "ranged attack" of sorts, the warden would use it if it can't physically reach the player.
The veins should be an entity, similar to the fangs that the evokers summon, so that it can't be blocked as easily. There also needs to be a way to distinguish the warden's skulk veins from normal ones. Perhaps it would have a different texture.

This is just one idea, i would love to hear what other people think!