Dropwig



The Dropwig is a fast-moving, insectoid ambush predator that stalks the enclosures of Rain World. These creatures are 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 black bodies accented by slightly reflective stripes - which can range from being a light blue to a deep purple - on their abdomens and thoraxes. Like in most insects, two antennae crown their heads, and can be tipped with the same hue as their stripes.

When lying in ambush, the Dropwig will dim its purple stripes to be less noticeable. In this state, it has a menacing, symmetrical profile akin to that of a downward-reaching claw. Being hardly discernible from their surroundings at a glance, perched Dropwigs can be perceived as shadowy stalactites.

Combat
If the player anticipates it, the Dropwig is fairly easy to fight, as a single throw may be enough to kill it, or at least stun it long enough so that the Spear can be retrieved and thrown again. Unless playing as the, a Dropwig will always die from the second spear throw. If caught off-guard by a Dropwig, the player should is to get away from the falling Dropwig as quickly as possible (which can be achieved by sliding or backflipping away), as Dropwigs have the highest chance to deliver a lethal attack when falling on their prey. From this point, the player can throw or a Spear to stun the Dropwig, and then either run from or kill it. Having a tamed can also help a player survive Dropwigs, as it can kill the Dropwig even if the player has been incapacitated by it.

Detection
Dropwigs, while hard to recognize at a glance, can be easy to spot if the player is aware of their surroundings. Seeing objects out of place, such as a on the ground or an  when there is no evidence of  that have passed through the area can be used to detect a perched Dropwig.

Evasion
Dropwigs move fast enough to outpace a running player. Sliding under a perched Dropwig, then luring it to a pipe is a safe way to evade it, as Dropwigs quickly lose interest in their prey if they have spent too long chasing after it. Another way to evade a Dropwig is to force it to drop, either by throwing something at it or threatening it by getting too close whilst holding a spear, then running away.

Perching
When a Dropwig enters a room, it will look for a suitable spot on the ceiling to perch. Once it does so, it waits for unsuspecting prey to pass by. While looking for an ambush spot, the Dropwig ignores all creatures which do not pose an immediate threat to it, including prey such as.

Dropping
When a Dropwig's prey is within range, it drops from the ceiling and attempts to either grab its prey or slash it. The Dropwig has an 80% chance to slash at its prey when dropping, which has an 80% mortality rate, and has a 20% chance to try to grab its prey when dropping, which itself has a 20% mortality rate.

Pursuing
After an unsuccessful drop attack, the Dropwig proceeds to spend roughly 10 seconds chasing its prey, periodically leaping at (in a manner similar to that of a ) and attempting to slash or grab its prey. The Dropwig has an 80% chance to try to grab its prey, which is never lethal, and has a 20% chance to slash at its prey, which has an 80% mortality rate. After performing a slash attack, the Dropwig cannot perform it again for 4.5 seconds. If the Dropwig's prey is not caught within this time, the Dropwig becomes disinterested in it and begins to look for another perch. If the prey is caught, however, the Dropwig takes it to its den and emerges a short time later, being aggressive to any nearby prey.

Bait
Dropwigs seem to be rather intelligent, oftentimes placing bait beneath their perch to lure prey into an ambush. Upon finding suitable bait, the Dropwig grabs it and drops it underneath its perch. Dropwigs have a chance to spawn at the beginning of a cycle with a piece of bait. If the is played as, Dropwigs cannot spawn with, and the chance for them spawning with no item gets increased to 76.5625% (49/64).

Trivia

 * Dropwigs were released in the 1.5 update of Rain World.
 * Dropwigs are able to stack on top of each other while perched on the ceiling.
 * Dropwigs can hide behind foreground objects such as chains and vines, making them even harder to detect.
 * Dropwigs are not very good at escaping, so baiting them to it in Outskirts is a viable yet tedious way of battling them if the player is capable of outmaneuvering them.
 * As with other corpses of a similar size to Slugcat, holding the corpse of a Dropwig boosts the player's movement speed in tunnels considerably.
 * Dropwigs, due to their highly aggressive nature, are capable of grabbing and may even move them from their spawn point, resulting in unintended behavior.

Variants & Attributes
Dropwigs' stripes vary in color. Their thoraxes, antennae, and cerci vary in length and thickness, and their antennae also have a 50% chance to bear tips colored with the same hue as their stripes with a gradient to black from the tips to the head.