Saint

''Frail and armed with a long tongue. Your journey will be one of perfect enlightenment, but walking this path requires patience, caution and complete attunement with the world.''

The Saint is one of five playable Slugcats in the Downpour DLC. They begin the game in Windswept Spires, and have a variety of unique mechanics, including the ability to grapple and swing from walls and ceilings with their long tongue, which can be extended and retracted by pressing up and down. Saint is unable to throw spears properly, making defending themselves incredibly challenging.

For the main Slugcats page, see Slugcat.

Food
4 food pips are required to hibernate, while only 1 may be stored for the next cycle.

General Changes

 * Eating meat gives no Food Pips, and slightly stuns Saint.
 * This does not apply to 'eggs', meaning the Hunter passage is possible to achieve.
 * On Expedition and with the perk, this can be bypassed by combining meat and a plant.
 * Saint immediately dies to any danger, including ones that are normally randomized like bites.
 * They also have a more intense reaction to being stunned, especially to creatures like Snails, which make the Saint seize helplessly for around 4 seconds and depletes their breath almost completely.
 * s cannot be properly thrown and deal no damage. Instead, they spin in the air and fall after a short distance. Other throwables like, s, s and s still work, however.
 * This means that, while unconventional, passages such as The Outlaw and The Dragon Slayer are technically attainable.
 * Popcorn plants cannot be opened, instead opening by themselves as the blizzard worsens
 * In Expedition Saint is capable of throwing spears albeit with severely reduced velocity and damage, which does not apply to upthrows.
 * [[File:Echo_icon.png]]Echoes can be met at any Karma level, and will raise Saint's Karma by one. Meeting one while having 5 maximum Karma raises Saint's maximum Karma by 2 instead.
 * Saint starts with a maximum Karma level of two, and must meet seven Echoes to reach 10 Karma.
 * Nearly all Colored Pearls have been "blanked" by the passage of time. Only two remain readable: The Pink Pearl at Farm Arrays and a pearl that is special to.

Blizzard
Rain is not present in Saint's campaign. Instead, snowfall gradually increases into a blizzard, decreasing all creatures' (except those immune to the cold) temperature until they hibernate or freeze. Saint shivers if the external temperature would normally lower theirs, and their fur changes color depending on temperature; it starts green, fades slowly to white, followed by blue, and then a dull brown. s have a similar cosmetic effect where their color fades as snow falls on them.

Warmth
Some objects (including background objects) have a warming effect that can stave off the cold or even raise creatures' temperature. This effect occurs when they are swallowed as well as when held. Below is the full list of these objects: All types of explosions (such as those by Cherrybombs or Explosive spears) set a fixed temperature. has a natural resistance to the cold, equal to one lantern. When creatures are near each other, the temperature between them equalizes; if one is immune to the cold, it can be an infinite heat source.

Cycle structure
There is no precycle chance in Saint's campaign. On a new cycle, snow lightly falls over outdoor areas and all creatures are active. Outdoors, creatures' temperatures decrease quickly; Saint freezes in only a few minutes. Indoors, the decrease is slower, and can be stopped entirely or reversed in the presence of warmth-providing objects.

As the blizzard approaches, temperature falls more rapidly and a fierce wind starts blowing. This wind makes it increasingly difficult to travel and can even push creatures along ground and off poles. When the blizzard is at full force, a single lantern only keeps Saint at 3 pips of warmth indoors, even if they gain more from other sources. Being in the proximity of more lanterns still increases Saint's temperature at a rate proportionate to their number until max, but the lanterns required for this also increase as time goes on. Although it is cumbersome to carry multiple, having one swallowed allows for indoor travel almost indefinitely, with short bursts outdoors. However, spending too long without hibernating forces Saint to freeze regardless of how many lanterns there are.

Most creatures attempt to retreat to their dens; they prioritise this over other actions such as hunting. Some, however, are blizzard 'wanderers', and continue behaving normally, even as they start to freeze. At this point they exhibit the same signs as Saint when they are freezing - slowing down, falling over, and dropping items. If the cycle continues they eventually die from the cold. Scavengers - especially those at tolls - typically last the longest as they tend to carry lanterns and stick in large groups. Below is a list of all Wanderers:

Stats
[*] Throwing skill affects velocity and trajectory.

[†] Only applies to s, s and Expedition. Damage value is randomized on throw between 0.6 and 0.9, with a bias towards 0.9.

Grappling
Saint possesses a long tongue they can use to grapple onto walls, ceilings, objects, and creatures, much like a Grapple Worm. This tongue can be extended or retracted by holding Up or Down. While attached to a surface, Saint can eat food and throw objects. While attached to a creature or object, Saint either pulls it or is pulled by it depending on the mass ratio. This interaction allows Saint to grab to eat and ride  without using a, among other uses. There is no cooldown on the grapple ability.

Climbing
Jumping while grappled detaches the tongue and gives Saint upward momentum. This can be used to climb anywhere there is a reachable wall or ceiling, as although some surfaces automatically detach Saint, manually jumping propels them upward regardless of this property. On poles, this acts as a normal pole-boost with more or less height gain and end lag depending on where the tongue had grappled.

Velocity
Saint's tongue can be used to gain incredible speed as it is longer and more versatile than a grapple worm. This is mainly useful for traversing long horizontal rooms with ceilings by grappling while having forward momentum, then releasing as late into the swing as possible, and repeating, which adds to Saint's initial momentum. Vertical momentum also applies to the grapple, however this has limited use as it is mainly encountered when grappling while falling from a great height, in which case Saint is yanked upwards relative to their speed.

Freezing
Saint has difficulty moving and is slower when below 1 pip of warmth. They may fall over while walking or climbing, and often drop held objects. Strangely, this doesn't affect their tongue, so they can stay grappled onto a surface indefinitely, even after death.

World Changes

 * Snow falls all over the surface.
 * Almost every area is renamed to reflect the passage of time.
 * 's name has uniquely not been changed.
 * Water becomes dangerous when the snow grows intense enough, freezing the Saint faster.
 * s have spread all over the world and can be found in several regions, in greater numbers than before.
 * packs are now widespread across most regions.
 * All Lizards except for s can have horns on their snouts as well as hair, which is more commonly seen in Yellow and lizards.
 * has collapsed, and has fallen on top of the, crushing it. As such, and  no longer exist and cannot be accessed. What remains of the regions that comprised the Shaded Citadel and ' superstructure is now known as the.
 * has transformed into, a humid jungle environment unaffected by the cold. An Echo can be found there.
 * The Rot in (Glacial Wasteland) is completely gone.
 * (Frigid Coast)'s waters are now fully clean. Fauna and flora from the like es and s have expanded into the region. Due to this, the lack of  and the presence of s, the region is much more dangerous than before.
 * The Leg and the part of the Underhang that contained the lower entrance to Five Pebbles has crushed the Shaded Citadel-Shoreline Karma gate, replacing it with a connection to the Silent Construct.
 * has gravity fluctuations due to Moon's partial reactivation. The original upper entrance to her superstructure can be reached while there's low gravity. There's an Echo at the western dead end, beyond the Five Natural Urges' representations.


 * has a few changes to make it easier to reach The Heart, and the Saint can find an additional, optional Echo inside of Bitter Aerie. Even with the changes, reaching The Heart is incredibly difficult without 10 maximum Karma.
 * (Ancient Labyrinth) now has a visual distortion effect similar to the one in the Depths, which are is now gone entirely and replaced with a massive pit that leads to . Rubicon cannot be accessed without 10 maximum Karma, and any attempts to jump down just teleport you back up.

Attunement
Once Saint meets 7 of the 8 echoes available, and reaches a maximum Karma level of ten, they unlock the ability to fly and ascend creatures, instantly killing them. Saint can take flight by pressing Grab and Jump while airborne (this includes when grappled onto a surface). In this state, they move at slightly faster than walking speed through the air, and as fast as holding a  through water (where they do not use up breath). Saint can pick up items and eat food but cannot throw objects. Instead, pressing Throw while flying gives you an aiming reticle controlled by the movement keys. After some time, an explosion appears at the aiming reticle, killing anything in a slight area of effect, and opening s to drop s. Disturbances, like being grabbed or hit by spit, cancel current ascension. Ascension kills do not count for the score tally after finishing the campaign, unless Saint hits a creature with another attack first (e.g. ). This makes killing stationary or blind creatures, such as or, a viable method to gain the Outlaw passage. It also makes it significantly easier to gain the Dragon Slayer passage.

The ascension attack works on any creature in the game, including es, s, s, s,, and. Unlike everyone else, Guardians can survive up to three attacks before dying.

Should the player die in the same cycle as ascending Looks to The Moon or Five Pebbles, they will remain ascended on the following cycle.

If one or both of the above characters are ascended, they will offer special dialogue at the end of Rubicon.

In Expedition, Saint is permanently capped at 5 max Karma and is unaffected by echoes, due to this reaching Attunement is impossible in the game mode.

Echo Monologues
Main page: Echo/Dialogue

Trivia

 * The only kind of spear Saint is able to throw are s, which are only found in the final region.
 * in Saint's campaign have hair growing from their heads. This is presumably an adaptation to the winter environment.
 * Saint is the only whose body is covered in fur. It can be assumed that similar to the Lizards, the fur is an adaptation.
 * This makes sense as Saint is the furthest Slugcat in the timeline.
 * The game actively takes screenshots of Saint at each karma cap increase, displaying them again at the end.


 * Saint opens their eyes while flying. Their color changes rapidly, similar to strobe lights.
 * Their paws also move erratically in a circular motion.
 * Despite not having the ability to fly and ascend creatures in Arena Mode, Saint can still "ascend" Batflies. This is likely to allow them to still gain points, as they're normally incapable of doing this. The Saint gains the same amount of points as any other Slugcat that eats Batflies.
 * If the player restarts the Saint's campaign after completing it, the Slugcat selection screen art still shows Saint as an.