Red Centipede

Red Centipedes are a variant of. They are among the most fearsome predators in the game, being far stronger, faster, tougher, and more aggressive than normal Centipedes. As a hard-mode enemy, they are only found naturally in a few locations for and in  Downpour campaigns. They do not spawn naturally for or, except through the Lineage System.

Appearance
Red Centipedes are long black and red insects with segmented bodies covered by hard, protective shells. Each segment has four shells, and each top shell has a protruding spike. They have many legs and two sets of antennae on both ends of the body.

Combat
Due to their shielded segments and fast, aggressive behavior, Red Centipedes pose a large threat in close-quarters combat. Before a segment can be damaged, its shield must first be removed by use of s. Red Centipedes do not flinch when a shielded segment is hit, allowing them to quickly home in on their target. Once their shells have been removed, Red Centipedes are vulnerable to stunning via Spears or. Red Centipedes take extra damage from explosives, making s and s useful assets. s startle them, preventing them from grabbing for a short duration and causing them to let go of held creatures. As with all other arthropod-like creatures, Red Centipedes are extremely vulnerable to s. A single Spore Puff is capable of killing a Red Centipede, provided it hits enough segments.

Stealth
Sneaking around Red Centipedes can be challenging as their sharp hearing and vision makes it easy for them to pinpoint creatures. Avoiding making noise or passing by one of their heads can prevent detection. Their vision is significantly reduced by crouching and crawling. They can not see when in an idle crouch, or when idle on poles and in tunnels. However, once they've noticed their prey, they are difficult to distract.

Evasion
It is safest to keep a long distance from Red Centipedes, as they are fast enough to outpace Slugcat. Due to their rarity, it is normally possible to avoid them by taking an alternative route. Throwing Rubbish or Spears to create sound can lure Red Centipedes to a different location if there is no other way around. Advanced movement such as slidepouncing can put distance between Slugcat and Red Centipedes.

Grabbing & Electrocution
Red Centipedes can grab on to creatures by their heads. If they connect both heads, they deliver a shock that can kill most creatures. A creature shocked by a Red Centipede is either killed or stunned depending on its mass. When shocking underwater, Red Centipede's shocks deal damage, allowing them to kill creatures that would otherwise be stunned. Underwater shocks travel to all other creatures in the same body of water. Red Centipedes may shock multiple times. When injured and near their den, Red Centipedes can latch on to creatures and pull them into the den, killing them.

Vision
Red Centipedes have movement-based vision. Their vision greatly improves when a creature moves nearby. Red Centipede's vision worsens when they move. They are only able to see out of one head at a time, but alternate between heads every frame.

Hearing
Red Centipedes are one of the few creatures capable of hearing, and share the same hearing stats as regular Centipedes. Similarly, they can only hear when stationary.

Variants & Attributes
Unlike most creatures, Red Centipedes do not have much variation. Red Centipedes always have eighteen segments, with sixteen body segments and two head segments. They have two legs per segment, for a total of thirty-six legs. Their shell color may be affected by a room's darkness.

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.
 * Even when uninjured, throwing Rubbish at a de-shelled segment stuns Red Centipedes.
 * Red Centipedes may flee at much higher health than other creatures if they are sufficiently de-shelled.
 * Red Centipedes were added in the 1.5 update.