Red Centipede



The Red Centipede is one of the variants. As a hard-mode enemy, they are only found in a few locations as, and may be lineaged as or. Red Centipedes have shielded plates protecting their body segments, and are significantly faster, stronger, and more aggressive than the other Centipede variants.

Abilities & Behavior
Red Centipedes are extremely fast and aggressive, able to quickly pursue targets, investigate sounds, and cover rooms in a matter of seconds. Unlike normal centipedes, they move non-stop when homing in on prey and have excellent hearing and vision. They pursue and are capable of killing s, s,, and even s without hesitation.

Strategy
Each shielded segment of a Red Centipede's body must have its shield removed (via s or damage from other creatures) before that segment can be damaged. Red Centipedes do not flinch when shielding is removed, making the early fight against them extremely difficult. As more shielding is removed, Red Centipedes become more vulnerable to close-quarters stabbing and to stunning by spears. Knocking the shields off of Red Centipedes' head segments is invaluable for throwing spears while simultaneously retreating. Being caught out in the open, on poles or in tunnels is disadvantageous due to a Red Centipede's high speed, but slidejumping can be used to maintain distance between it and the player. Defeating Red Centipedes with spears alone, while not impossible, can be challenging due to unfavorable terrain.

Weakness
As with all other arthropod-like creatures, Red Centipedes are extremely vulnerable to s, found in Farm Arrays. A single Spore Puff has the ability to hit multiple segments and even potentially kill a Red Centipede - however, a single Spore Puff may not be enough to kill a Red Centipede if it does not hit enough of its segments.

Resistance
Red Centipedes have a base health of 9.195, with some caveats. The two head segments and any segments with an embedded spear take only half damage. Removing all embedded spears from a segment also removes this resistance. Head segments that also have a spear embedded only take 20% of base damage.

Trivia

 * does not do enough spear damage to remove Red Centipedes' shielded segments in one hit. However, there is still a random chance that it might still make the shell fall off; this chance varies depending on the amount of shields already removed from the Red Centipede, but averages close to 40%.
 * Red Centipedes take only 1/29th of base damage when shielded segments are hit.