Dropwig



Dropwigs are fast-moving, insectoid ambush predators that stalk the enclosures of Rain World. These creatures are very skilled at hiding in plain sight, and while fragile they are adept at quickly taking down their prey.

Appearance
As their name suggests, Dropwigs resemble large earwigs. They have a black or dark brown coloration, offset with slightly reflective purple stripes.

When lying in ambush, the Dropwig will dim its purple stripes to be less noticeable. Upon first glance they will appear like shadowy stalactites; upon closer inspection they have a symmetrical and menacing profile like a downward-reaching claw. Like most insects, two antennae crown the top of their small head, occasionally twitching whenever they sense the presence of another creature.

Attack Behavior
Dropwigs are ambush predators, they attack by attaching themselves to a ceiling and waiting in ambush until an unsuspecting victim walks underneath them. At this point the wig drops onto its prey, catching it with its large pincers. Just before it pounces, it will jerk its legs wide open in preparation to strike, giving a hint as to where they are hiding if they previously were not visible. They are quite intelligent creatures, often times placing an item they find (any item but mostly food like blue fruit) beneath their perch to lure prey into pouncing range. The drop attack is somewhat dangerous but avoidable with good reflexes. After the drop attack, it will proceed to spend roughly 10 seconds chasing the player, and pouncing from the ground when within range, if a single bite from the dropwig lands, the prey will die irretrievably. After this time it will begin looking for another place to drop from. Alternatively, if one throws a spear at a Dropwig perched on the ceiling, it will drop down instantly, allowing the player to jump down after it and spear it while it recovers from landing. Dropwigs are supposed to keep you always on your toes and never quite able to relax, as every room could be a potential danger.

Even on the ground Dropwigs are not to be trifled with, as they can perform an agile leap, similar to a Big Spider. Spears are key to defeating a mobile Dropwig, because they leave themselves open for a moment right after they land.

In the main story mode, Dropwigs have a chance to spawn already holding an item:


 * No item - 75.78125% (97/128, approximately 3/4)
 * Blue Fruit - 12.5% (1/8)
 * Spear - 3.125% (1/32)
 * Explosive Spear - 3.125% (1/32)
 * Grenade - 3.125% (1/32)
 * Pearl - 1.5625% (1/64)
 * Karma Flower - 0.78125% (1/128)

If the player is Hunter, the Karma Flower chance becomes 0 and the chance for no item becomes 76.5625% (98/128 or 49/64).

Damage
When falling, Dropwigs have an 80% chance to perform a slash attack, which has an 80% chance of killing the player on contact. They will otherwise perform a grab which has a 20% lethality chance.

When on the ground, Dropwigs have an 80% chance to perform a grab attack, which is never lethal. They will otherwise perform a slash attack.

After performing a slash attack, Dropwigs have a 4.5 second window where they only perform grab attacks.

Trivia

 * Dropwigs were a new creature released in the 1.5 update of Rain World.
 * An example of a Dropwig using an explosive spear to bait its prey can be found here.
 * Dropwigs are able to stack on-top of each other while perched on the ceiling, giving them even less visibility.
 * Dropwigs tend to ignore prey when climbing up to the ceiling- they will even shove it out of the way in order to climb up poles or latch to the ceiling.
 * Dropwigs will occasionally hide behind background objects such as chains and vines- making them even harder to detect.
 * Dropwigs are not very good at escaping wormgrass, so baiting them to those spots in outskirts is a viable yet tedious way of battling them if you think you can outmaneuver them.
 * Dropwigs will drop and chase the slugcat if they see it climbing up near them by one side while holding a spear. This is most likely to prevent the slugcat from simply reaching their height and throwing a spear to kill them.
 * As with other corpses of a similar size to slugcat, holding them boosts movement speed in tunnels considerably.