Spearmaster

''An abnormality who feeds using needles pulled from its body. A traveler from a far away land; A feeling in your depths sets you out once again, messenger...''

The Spearmaster is one of five playable Slugcats in Downpour. They begin the game in Outskirts, and have a variety of unique mechanics, including the ability to grow organic Spears from their tail, which can be used to impale and drain life from other creatures. This is required to gain food pips.

For the main Slugcats page, see Slugcat.

Food
5 food pips are required to hibernate, while up to 5 may be stored for the next cycle.

Opening
The Spearmaster starts the game with a Karma Gate to closing behind them in a dimly lit mechanical part of, with a red  watching and directing them forward.

General Changes

 * Predators are more common and difficult.
 * Spear damage is increased.
 * Spearmaster has the same moveset as the.

World Changes

 * is at its most dangerous, with blue Rot, a, and some rooms filled with acid instead of water, which is instantly lethal to Spearmaster. Some entirely new rooms can be accessed.
 * 's structures are in better condition, instead named . The Precipice is also more intact and no longer a dead end, now connecting to as well as the rest of Waterfront Facility.
 * Looks to the Moon has not collapsed yet.
 * contains no mobile Rot, and the only traces of it are a (greatly decreased) population of Proto-Daddy Long Legs in Unfortunate Development. The zero-gravity does not turn off either.
 * is completely free of Rot.

Abilities & Attributes
Spearmaster can create Needles from their tail at any time if they have an empty hand, and is able to hold 2 of them at the same time. Creating Needles has no cost, but the Spearmaster must be standing still to perform the animation. Needles can be made while standing, crouching, in pipes and tubes, and while on poles. If the Spearmaster is grabbing on to a creature or item that requires two hands, such as a, Needles can still be created, but immediately fall to the ground and detach from the Slugcat.

These Needles function identically to regular s for the purposes of damage, trading with s, and other general utility. The only way they significantly differ is their ability to siphon food from living creatures.

Spearmaster is much lighter than any other Slugcat, but this isn't immediately obvious due to their heavy tail weighing them down. Spearmaster is so light that by doing a backflip while holding onto a Squidcada, they can fly indefinitely with it, typically only possible by starving with any other Slugcat. Low mass also makes the Spearmaster particularly vulnerable to, and they struggle to carry creatures such as s.

Stats
Spearmaster uses Hunter's base stats.

[*] Throwing skill affects velocity and trajectory.

Food
Having no mouth, the Spearmaster instead siphons nutrients from creatures and certain plants using their own Needles. In order for a Needle to succeed in gaining food pips, it needs to be fresh. A Needle is considered fresh if it has not been previously thrown, put down, or otherwise knocked out of Spearmaster's hands. Inactive Needles gradually fade to black to signify this change.

A Needle must hit and embed in a creature in order for food to be gained. Additionally, the creatures only provide food while they are alive, meaning that creatures that have died or are in their bleedout state do not provide any benefit.

After a viable Needle hits a creature, a long, organic strand is seen connecting the Needle to the Spearmaster, acting as an intake of nutrients.

The amount of hunger pips filled by each creature per hit defaults to 1. The table below lists the exceptions: [*] Mushrooms, Karma Flowers, and Neuron Flies still grant their regular effects upon being hit with a fresh Needle. [†] Rain Deer and Stowaways' body are immune to Spearmaster's Needles, as they fall out. Stowaways' tentacles can be fed from as normal. [‡] Popcorn Plants are rendered unusable upon being speared. [§] Giant Jellyfish instantly die upon being hit with a fresh Needle. [**] Eggbugs and Firebugs have their 'eggs' instantly consumed upon being hit with a fresh Needle.

Tips

 * Spearmaster's ability to create Spears makes it very easy to befriend s, as Spears can be traded with them indefinitely.
 * This also allows Spearmaster to pass s easily, as Scavengers accept four Spears as payment.
 * However, care should be taken around Scavengers, as Spearmaster starts out having the lowest Reputation with them second to the . Their Reputation starts at -45, which is low enough for the Spearmaster to be killed on sight by most Scavengers. If the player wishes to befriend the Scavengers, it's advisable to either avoid them entirely until Spearmaster's reputation naturally increases enough to where they are not immediately hostile, or attempt to gift objects to unarmed Scavengers.
 * Spearmaster is highly adept at movement tech that requires throwing objects, such as throw-boosting and extended slides, as they can simply create Spears to serve as those objects.
 * Starving Spearmaster deals significantly less damage, but still gains full nutrition from hits. This can be meaningful in places with lots of weak prey, such as Squidcadas in Sky Islands.

Trivia

 * Spearmaster's Needles have a few different properties when compared to normal s.
 * They do not conduct electricity, and can be grabbed onto safely when staked into a Tesla Coil, unlike normal Spears.
 * They have special dialogue when shown to.
 * As Looks to the Moon does not react to shown objects in Spearmaster's campaign, this dialogue can only be accessed through Jolly Co-Op.
 * Seven Red Suns refers to Spearmaster as simply their 'messenger'. In a Broadcast, Seven Red Suns discusses the topic of naming Spearmaster with No Significant Harassment. No Significant Harassment suggests they wait until Spearmaster returns before naming them.
 * In this same Broadcast, it is revealed that Spearmaster's test number is 07.
 * The drawing in leading other Slugcats to a Shelter is implied to have been drawn by Spearmaster, as the drawing is not present in their campaign, but is present in 's.
 * Spearmaster's hibernation art shows them drawing on the ground using Needles. These mostly depict creatures, but also include landscapes and objects.


 * After removes Spearmaster's Pearl from their chest, a cross-shaped wound is left, which visibly stops bleeding and fades away over multiple cycles.
 * Seven Red Suns, one of the Iterators, is the one who sent Spearmaster on their quest. Seven Red Suns makes an appearance on the campaign page after one of Spearmaster’s endings.
 * Seven Red Suns designed and genetically modified the Spearmaster specifically for this purpose, going so far to remove its mouth in an attempt to dissuade the Spearmaster from reverting to animalistic instincts
 * The events of the Spearmaster campaign are not the first time they have been sent to, as upon entering his chamber, he asks "Why did you send the messenger here again?". Moreover, in some of the Broadcasts, it is revealed that Spearmaster was the same messenger who delivered the Gold Pearl containing the instructions for Five Pebbles to rewrite his own genome.