Slugpup

Downpour-Exclusive Content

This page contains content exclusive to the Downpour DLC. This content is not available in the base game.

"Slugpup"
Details
Code name	SlugNPC
Behavior	Fearful to Passive
HP	1
Food Pips	3 As Hunter 3 As Artificer 1.5 As Gourmand 1 As Spearmaster
Points	2
Spawn Chance Outskirts (15% spawn chance) Industrial Complex (25% spawn chance) Drainage System (25% spawn chance) Garbage Wastes (30% spawn chance) Shoreline (15% spawn chance) Shaded Citadel (40% spawn chance) The Exterior (5% spawn chance) Chimney Canopy (25% spawn chance) Sky Islands (20% spawn chance) Farm Arrays (30% spawn chance) Subterranean (50% spawn chance) Pipeyard (50% spawn chance) Outer Expanse (10% spawn chance)

Slugpups are creatures exclusive to Downpour. They are unlocked after completing Gourmand's food quest and traveling to Journey's End, after which they begin spawning in shelters in Survivor, Hunter, and Gourmand's campaigns. They rely almost entirely on Slugcat for their survival.

Appearance

Slugpups following Slugcat

Slugpups are the juvenile versions of Slugcats and are roughly half the size of an adult. Slugpups come in a variety of different colors, with green and yellow hues being the most common, and red and violet being the rarest.

Food

Slugpups need 2 food pips to hibernate, and 1 may be stored for the next cycle. A Slugpup's food bar resembles their body color.

On the cycle a Slugpup is found, their food bar is not visible. Due to this, a common mistake is to not feed them during that cycle, resulting in the Slugpup starving and needing 3 pips of food the next cycle. A found Slugpup has an empty stomach, and 2 pips of food is enough for them to hibernate successfully.

Slugpups can eat anything that Survivor can eat, including all kinds of Centipedes. However, the only prey they actively pursue are Batflies. They may still catch Batflies when full, but do not attempt to eat them. Neuron Flies give Slugpups the Neuron 'glow'.

When not full, Slugpups can also consume other plants. Mushrooms cause them to shake sporadically for a brief time, and triggers the mushroom's effects on the player's screen. Karma Flowers consumed by Slugpups reinforce Slugcat's Karma.

Spawning

Technical page: Spawning

Every cycle, Slugpups have a chance to spawn in a random Shelter when certain regions are loaded. Slugpups no longer spawn if Slugcat already has 2 Slugpups with them when the region is loaded. The spawn chance for each region is detailed in the table below.

Spawn chance by region
Region	Chance
Outskirts	15%
Industrial Complex	25%
Drainage System	25%
Shoreline	15%
Garbage Wastes	30%
Shaded Citadel	40%
The Exterior	5%
Chimney Canopy	25%
Sky Islands	20%
Farm Arrays	30%
Subterranean	50%
Pipeyard	50%
Outer Expanse	10%

When factoring in the number of shelters per region and general difficulty, Industrial Complex is a recommended region to search for Slugpups, as there is a moderate 25% chance and traversing between shelters is relatively easy. Drainage System has the highest per-shelter Slugpup chance, with a 6.25% chance of finding a Slugpup in a given shelter.

Slugpups may also spawn in shelters in any region if no Slugpups spawn at the beginning of a cycle for 25 (5 for Hunter) consecutive cycles.

Abilities & Behavior

Slugpups initially ignore Slugcat until interacted with by means of grabbing or feeding. Upon being fed, Slugpups become friendly toward Slugcat. Once sheltered with, a smaller food bar appears above the player's, indicating the Slugpup's hunger. Slugpups follow Slugcat around unless distracted or given a stay command. Although Slugpups are capable of grabbing and eating food on their own, the player may still need to feed them.

Slugpups can tug on Slugcat and point, pick up and throw items, and jump over terrain. Upon entering a room with a hostile creature, any Slugpups that are not being held scatter. When captured, their food bar starts blinking red, alerting the player so they can save them. When killed, their food bar fades to a dull grey. While they cannot defend themselves when grabbed, if the player happens to be captured, Slugpups may throw Spears and Rocks in an attempt to rescue them.

Idle Slugpups occasionally play with items and shuffle them around in their hands. They may also wiggle and jump around, and tug on Slugcat's hand. Slugpups may also nap while idle, lying down on the ground and closing their eyes.

Slugpups can perform most of the same movement options that are available to Slugcat, but are not able to intentionally use advanced moves such as slides and backflips. They can also grab anything that Slugcat can, including Squidcadas and corpses.

Utility

Slugpups can hold extra Spears and other useful items. Slugpups can also throw them to catch food and help Slugcat escape when they are captured by a predator, and are sometimes able to free themselves when holding Rocks. Slugpups deal the same amount of damage as Monk, and can be surprisingly adept at killing or distracting creatures. When held, Slugpups may take hits for Slugcat from Scavenger Spears, Spitter Spider Dart Maggots, and Lizard bites. In Expedition, their attacks count towards the player's challenges and score.

Player Interaction

While holding a Slugpup, the player can transfer them to their back by holding Pick up. Piggybacked Slugpups do not affect Slugcat's weight. Only 1 Slugpup can be piggybacked at a time.

Slugpups can also be given certain commands:

• If the player jumps while crouched (down + jump), the Slugpup is told to stay in their current location.

• A singular jump without directional inputs tells a Slugpup to play with the player. In this "play with me" mode, Slugpups stay closer to the player and pick up items more often.
• A jump with the up direction held tells the Slugpup to stop playing with the player.

Food Preferences

Slugpups have unique food preferences. If a Slugpup likes a type of food, they dance around in joy to a level according to how much they like the food. Conversely, if a Slugpup dislikes a type of food, they close their eyes in disgust and shake slightly. If a Slugpup has a strong enough preference in either direction, they can be stunned for a short moment, followed by the appropriate reaction.

Slugpups have memory for food items, which works similarly to the "Ignores" and "Eats" behaviors other creatures utilize.

Slugpup food preferences are impacted by personality traits, which can be modeled in the following table:

Food Preferences
Type of Food	Trait that Likes this Food	Trait that Dislikes this Food
Blue Fruit	Nervousness	Energy
Bubble Fruit	Sympathy	Aggression
Jellyfish	Energy	Nervousness
Slime Mold	Energy	Aggression
Eggbug Egg	Dominance	Energy
Fire Egg	Aggression	Sympathy
Popcorn Plant	Dominance	Bravery
Gooieduck	Sympathy	Bravery
Lilypuck	Aggression	Nervousness
Glow Weed	Nervousness	Energy
Dandelion Peach	Bravery	Dominance
Neuron Fly	Bravery	Nervousness
Adult Centipede	Bravery	Dominance
Infant Centipede	Energy	Aggression
Vulture Grub	Dominance	Bravery
Infant Noodlefly	Aggression	Sympathy
Hazer	Nervousness	Sympathy

Variants & Attributes

A short, slim pup and a wide, tall pup.

Slugpups are vastly varied in appearance and attributes. These attributes, such as metabolism, stealth, balance, etc. affect their physical appearance and performance. This can be seen in the form of a Slugpup's color, wideness, speed, and lung capacity.

Slugpups have a wide range of color with multiple variables. They may come in either a pale or dark color range, which is determined in the game files by a variable called Dark. Eye color is based on their body color, with dark-colored Slugpups having pale eyes and light-colored Slugpups having dark eyes.

• 
  Light color range
• 
  Dark color range

Personality

Slugpups have 6 personality traits that affect their behavior: Sympathy, Bravery, Energy, Nervousness, Aggression, and Dominance.

For each Slugpup, Sympathy, Bravery, and Energy are randomised. The other 3 traits are influenced by them.

Sympathy Lowers Aggression

Bravery

• Lowers Nervous
• Raises Aggression
• Raises Dominance

Energy

• Raises Nervous
• Raises Aggression
• Raises Dominance

• Energetic Slugpups want to hold Pearls, Overseer Eyes, Neuron Fly, and Vulture Masks.

• Slugpups with more Energy play more often, while Slugpups with less Energy nap more often.

• Energetic Slugpups may pull and tug on the player's hand when the player stays idle for too long.

Nervous

• Raised by Energy
• Lowered by Bravery

• Nervous Slugpups want to hold Rocks, Cherrybombs, Flashbangs, Spore Puffs, Lilypucks, and Jellyfish.
• Nervous Slugpups appear anxious around other Slugpups.

Aggression

• Raised by Bravery
• Raised by Energy
• Lowered by Sympathy
• Raises Dominance
• Aggressive Slugpups want to hold Spears, Grenades, and Singularity Bombs.

Dominance

• Raised by Bravery
• Raised by Energy
• Raised by Aggression

• Dominant Slugpups want to hold Cherrybombs, Batnip, Spore Puffs, Flashbangs, Gooieducks, Bubble Weed, and Noodlefly Eggs.
• Dominant Slugpups pick up items more often.
• Dominant Slugpups stay closer to other Slugpups.

Trivia

• Slugpups are a re-imagining of Cut Content; another version of Slugpups were shown in alpha trailers, which had a different code base and were removed prior to release.

• Survivor's Slugtree ending changes depending on the number of Slugpups the player brings with them; however, Monk's Slugtree ending cutscene always shows 2 Slugpups with Survivor.

• Slugpups occasionally pick up corpses. There is a 1% chance of a Slugpup picking up Slugcat's corpse.
• Slugpup corpses can be picked up but cannot be piggybacked, unlike dead player corpses in Jolly Co-Op.

• Slugpups can be fed to Lizards to tame them.
• Slugpups can be targeted for tutorials by an Overseer. This is most likely an error in the entity being targeted.

• While Slugpups are accessible to only 3 Slugcats, every region has a pupSpawnChance number in their properties file, with the exception of Submerged Superstructure.
  • Artificer, Rivulet, Spearmaster, and Saint have unique pupSpawnChance numbers in their properties files, despite Slugpups being unable to spawn in their campaigns.

• Slugpups cannot ascend as they are stopped by an invisible floor in the Void Sea. If carried, they still move left and right along the barrier with Slugcat. Once let go, they can swim to the surface of the Void Sea.
• Slugpups cannot gain Karma by any means and are attacked by Guardians upon entering Depths. This can result in Slugcat's death if they are carrying a Slugpup.

• Despite being able to encounter Slugpups, Outer Expanse is locked off for Hunter. Because Slugpups cannot ascend, if the player wants to complete the game, the only option is to abandon them.
• Due to Slugpups' low mass, they are significantly more vulnerable to threats like Coalescipedes and Worm Grass.

• If Gourmand slides into a pipe while carrying a Slugpup, they are knocked off and stunned.
• Slugpups are transported with Slugcat when using Passages to fast travel.

• Tamed Lizards can target Slugpups, and due to being friendly to Slugcat, they are exempt from hostile stasis at the start of cycles. Care must be taken when keeping a Lizard around Slugpups, such as sleeping in a large shelter, and being prepared to immediately grab the Slugpups once the cycle starts, as Lizards cannot bite them when held by Slugcat.

• If the player force enables Slugpups, there is a 100% pupSpawnChance in Rubicon as, according to one of the developer commentaries, "all Slugpups go to hell".

• Non-player Slugpups are incapable of rolling and sliding if spawned and controlled in Safari mode.
• Successfully hibernating with a Slugpup grants passage progress towards The Mother. The amount of progress depends on how many Slugpups are hibernated with.
• Slugpups holding onto a Neuron Fly in a zero-gravity area are dragged around by the Neuron Fly.

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