How to handle Deerclops?

[werlpolf]

 

Maybe he spawns near you, and targets something near you? I just know that he doesn't spawn to attack you(?) He's never done this in my gazillion hours playthrough. And even if by some accident, he spawns near you and you aggro him, he's very easy to lead away and distract.

 

 

 

 

Source: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Don't Starve Together Beta\data\scripts\components\deerclopsspawner.lua

 

At local function PickAttackTarget():

        local playeri = math.min(math.floor(easing.inQuint(math.random(), 1, #_activeplayers, 1)), #_activeplayers)

        player = _activeplayers[playeri]

 

It means its completly random, who get the deerclops into his back. Further in that function you can see that, if the (randomly) choosen player has less then 4 structures around him, an additional player will be choosen, until 4 structures are selected. So theoretically, if there are 6 player on the world and no one of them are near a  structure, 6 deerclops will be spawned.

 

The deerclops states (including health) will be saved and used for next spawn time. If the deerclops get killed, next time spawning will take 6 times longer, which means he will come in the next winter, I think.

 

local HASSLER_KILLED_DELAY_MULT = 6

....

if killed == true then

attackdelay = attackdelay * HASSLER_KILLED_DELAY_MULT

 

 

EDIT: And yes, the oldest player will be checked first, how much structures he have, but I don't know if he will be checked first, if he is logging of (out of the activeplayer array) and log himself in again. Then I think he will be checked last and younger players will be checked first

 

VERY BIG EDIT!!!!::::

 

Since I told the untruth, I ve looked up deeper in the code. Know I hope I can give all a more true and better understanding:

 

 

Spawning of Deerclops: A Giant spawning, including deerclops, will start from day 26:

self:WatchWorldState("cycles", TryStartAttacks)  -- keep checking every day until NO_BOSS_TIME is up

 

Not a structure will be targeted and not several player! Only one player will be targeted and choosen randomly on that day! The player who ve more then 4 structures on that time around him/her, ve a much higher chance to be choosen then player who ve no base or left their bases for exploring on that very time. Remember first time to check is beginning of day 26.

 

The real spawning will be realised by special happend events plus a delay!! The delay is 2.8 days! I don't know all events, one of them is, when a deerclops is getting killed, when a deerclops lost his target (the choosen player) or a player joined the server. Being the choosend or targeted player does not mean, he is after you, after he spawns. He will just spawn around you.

 

local function OnPlayerJoined(src,player)

    for i, v in ipairs(_activeplayers) do

        if v == player then

            return

        end

    end

    table.insert(_activeplayers, player)

    TryStartAttacks()

end

 

If the deerclops will be killed, a random player will be targeted again and the delay is 16.8 days (factor 6), which means no deerclops anymore, because 1 winter is 15 days long in unmodded worlds.

 

If a deerclops will be wounded and disappears, after 2.8 days he will attack another (or same) player and this player can continue to damage or even kill the deerclops.

 

It does matter how old a player is ON THE FIRST CHECK, when it comes to the decision, if he/she will be targeted:

 

choosenPlayer = numberPlayer * pow(rand(0,1),5) + 1

 

Example with 6 Player

http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=6+*+pow%28x%2C5%29+%2B+1+from+x%3D0+to+1

 

This means, everyone can be choosen, even the joining player, but the first player in that array/list ve much higher chance (70%). The 2nd player (maybe 2nd oldest) ve 10% chance. If the 1st player want to be avoided beeing targeted, he just need to leave structures at checking time. Then he will ve just 0.07% chance of beeing targeted, if all other 5 player ve 4 or more structures around them in that very (checking) time.

 

If on spawn point are 4 structures, the joining player ve around more then 9% to get targeted, since the older player are not always in their bases.

 

Example: On day 26 player noob will be choosen, means on day 28.8 (night) the deerclops will suprise him.

On day 28 the noob builds 4 structures at spawn and run away.

On 28.5 the pro player joins the game. Event will be triggered (not sure). Randomly the pro will be choosen.

On day 31.3 the pro get suprised and hear the deerclops sound, right before it shortly approaches.

 

And another edit. (Understanding a new programing language is not trivial):

After a player was choosen. Next time he has the lowest chance to get choosen next:

        player = _activeplayers[playeri]

        table.remove(_activeplayers, playeri)

        table.insert(_activeplayers, player)

     -- add choosen player at the end of the activeplayers array

 

[Ridley]

You could build a sign in the middle of the Dragonfly field and lead Deerclops over there. When he stops chasing you, he will go break down the sign. Then if Dragonfly goes too close to Deerclops, they will fight. Know that Dragonfly will chase after you when the fight is over.

[applebottom]

This means, everyone can be choosen, even the joining player, but the first player in that array/list ve much higher chance (70%)

THAT RNG.

 

I just joined a server on Day 32 of Winter and got attacked the next day by Deerclops. O___O

[FTR]

1. He spawns near a player who survived the longest days. Any player near that player could hear the roar simultaneously.

 

I must say that it's not true. I survived longest along with other player (30 days) and we were walking far away from base together and deerclops started moaning and attacked some other players in base which survived only few days.

 

@werlpolf

 

You are awesome man! So much detail, that's exactly what I wanted to know.

 

There is just one more thing, does that mean that Deerclops behavior is different in singleplayer and multiplayer?

 

Will he still go after your structures in singleplayer even if you are far away form any or not?

 

I must say that I really admire klei now, because this spawn mechanic looks so simple, but in reality it's much more complicated as there is many different factors that they implemented.

[werlpolf]

There is just one more thing, does that mean that Deerclops behavior is different in singleplayer and multiplayer?

Will he still go after your structures in singleplayer even if you are far away form any or not?

 

 

so, I ve looked up.

 

In DS (not Together) you can find following source: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\dont_starve\data\scripts\components\basehassler.lua

 

 

function BaseHassler:ReleaseHassler()
    local pt = Vector3(GetPlayer().Transform:GetWorldPosition())
    
    local spawn_pt = self:GetSpawnPoint(pt)

 

....

hassler.Physics:Teleport(spawn_pt:Get())
            local target = GetClosestInstWithTag("structure", GetPlayer(), 40)
            if target then
                local targetPos = Vector3(target.Transform:GetWorldPosition() )
                hassler.components.knownlocations:RememberLocation("targetbase", targetPos)
                local wanderAwayPoint = self:GetWanderAwayPoint(targetPos)
                if wanderAwayPoint then
                    hassler.components.knownlocations:RememberLocation("home", wanderAwayPoint)
                end
            else
                hassler.components.combat:SetTarget(GetPlayer())
            end

 

It means, it will be spawned near you, when the time to attack is there. You ve to look by your own, when the method BaseHassler:LongUpdate will be invoked and in which intervals. This updateMethods causes to invoke the releaseHassler method.

 

Further if a structure/building is near you, he will attack it instead of you. The condition is, that the world covered with snow:

 

Under the following code:

        if snow_cover >= 0.2 then
            if not self.timetoattack then
                self:StartAttacks()
            end
        elseif snow_cover <= 0 and self.attackduringsummer and not self.timetoattack then
            self:StartAttacks()
        else
            self:CeaseAttacks()
        end

 

On Singleplayer also just 1 Deerclops exist and periodically he will be teleported to the player and then he will attack a structure or the player. If the deerclops died, a new one will be created and teleported to the player (when the time to attack is there). Further the existing deerclops can have a home, when it targeted a structure instead of the player. The home is a little bit away from the structure.

 

 

 

 

 

[werlpolf]

THAT RNG.

 

I just joined a server on Day 32 of Winter and got attacked the next day by Deerclops. O___O

 

 

Yes, as you can see, its not so easy for me, understanding Lua. You are right!

 

So, I think the guy, who got the deerclops warnings left and then you were instead selected, before the deerclops will be teleported.

 

Or you just joined an empty server with no other players.  Then there were 2 days left before the giant is gonna be teleported and right before it teleports, you got 100% chance, since there were no other players

 

The attack delay of 2.8 will be only resetted if the deerclops attacks

 

Following explanation.

 

This is how it goes:

 

On the following the joining player will be included, but the old targeted player will not be changed.

 

local function OnPlayerJoined(src,player)

    for i, v in ipairs(_activeplayers) do

        if v == player then

            return

        end

    end

    table.insert(_activeplayers, player)

    TryStartAttacks()

end

 

On the following code you see, that the delay, before it attacks will not be resetted, but only if the deerclops died or ve never been spawn.

The following I guess: The updating function will invoke indirectly the self:OnUpdate function.

 

local function TryStartAttacks(killed)

    if AllowedToAttack() then

        if _activehassler == nil and _attacksperwinter > 0 and _timetoattack == nil then

            -- Shorten the time used for winter to account for the time deerclops spends stomping around

            -- Then add one to _attacksperwinter to shift the attacks so the last attack isn't right when the season changes to spring

            local attackdelay = (TheWorld.state.winterlength - 1) * TUNING.TOTAL_DAY_TIME / (_attacksperwinter + 1)

            if killed == true then

                attackdelay = attackdelay * HASSLER_KILLED_DELAY_MULT

            end

            -- Remove randomization in case that shifts it too far

            --local attackrandom = 0.1*attackdelay

            _timetoattack = GetRandomWithVariance(attackdelay, 0)

            --print("got time to attack", _timetoattack, attackdelay, attackrandom)

        end

        self.inst:StartUpdatingComponent(self)

        self:StopWatchingWorldState("cycles", TryStartAttacks)

        self.inst.watchingcycles = nil

 

 

If the time to attack is there, the deerclops will be teleported and behave same like in singleplayer DS, except that he does not have a home. Means he will attack closest structure of the targeted player, if there are no structure he is passive until he find something near, which makes him aggro.

 

function self:OnUpdate(dt)

   ....

        if _targetplayer ~= nil then

            _activehassler = ReleaseHassler(_targetplayer)

            ResetAttacks()

        else

            TargetLost()

        end

    else

      ...

end

 

After that he will do nothing, until the function TryStartAttacks will be invoked. As I said I do not know all events, which will cause that, but for example, if a player joins or he get killed this method will be invoked and another attack after a delay will be initiated.

 

In TryStartAttacks the attackdelay will be calculated using the function GetRandomWithVariance. That means the delay for the next attack can only be 2.8 (or 16.8 if the beast died). This means, that deerclops theoretically can spawn at day 28.8 earliest.

 

function GetRandomWithVariance(baseval = (2.8 days), randomval = 0)

    return baseval + (math.random()*2*randomval - randomval)

end

 

 

Right before its time to initiate the warnings (deerclops breathing and character speech), 1 player will be choosen! Now this comes: IF the player hear the sound and this player leaves, another player will be choosen and get the sound and the releaseHassler will be invoked on the new player. Btw: I think also ghosts are counted as player, but usually ghosts are not near structures - so will not ve high chance beeing choosen therefore.

 

Everything can be read and understood on the self:OnUpdate(dt) function.

[agentfluff]

I play as Wolfgang so I just solo all of the bosses with tentacle spikes and log suits. You can hit deerclops twice during between his attacks.

[Zinglon]

How far?

 

I must say that it's not true. I survived longest along with other player (30 days) and we were walking far away from base together and deerclops started moaning and attacked some other players in base which survived only few days.

 

@werlpolf

 

You are awesome man! So much detail, that's exactly what I wanted to know.

 

There is just one more thing, does that mean that Deerclops behavior is different in singleplayer and multiplayer?

 

Will he still go after your structures in singleplayer even if you are far away form any or not?

 

I must say that I really admire klei now, because this spawn mechanic looks so simple, but in reality it's much more complicated as there is many different factors that they implemented.

 

[FTR]

How far?

 

Few screens

[CaptainFun]

So does Deerclops attack only once per winter? In the first winter we defeated him when he appeared towards the end. In the second winter, he also only appeared once towards the end of the season. 

[Zinglon]

Not once I guess if you failed to get rid of him at first time.

 

So does Deerclops attack only once per winter? In the first winter we defeated him when he appeared towards the end. In the second winter, he also only appeared once towards the end of the season. 

 

[FTR]

I play as Wolfgang so I just solo all of the bosses with tentacle spikes and log suits. You can hit deerclops twice during between his attacks.

I think he can't freeze you at all if you are standing next to a fire.

[kastor1994]

My favourite way to handle Deerclops is to start chopping as much wood as possible once winter starts, preferably far from my usual base. keep chopping until Treeguards pop up, and then book it home. When you hear deerclops spawning, run for the treeguards, and profit from their conflict!

 

Also, lots of tooth traps.

[RalphKastro]

@kastor1994,Additionally, you can just live near a very dense forest. Then, when the Deer comes, just lure it into the forest and force it to do a bit of deforesting himself. You get the treeguards much easilier, without risking getting attacked by them, or wasting materials. 

[loled]

I found topic with search i wanna ask.

 

I play with friends (2 newbies) and i pretty much know, how to handle him  (i have even managed to solo him one playthrough, bu i went insane).

 

Problem is, he spawns at night (he did it, last 3 times).and when we see the earthquake its too late, he may have already destroyed some farms or whatever. But what should i do? i mean i cant have 10 fires for all the base, if i have some farms, the bases is like 3-4 screens, and we are just 3

[Naipseht]

I found topic with search i wanna ask.

 

I play with friends (2 newbies) and i pretty much know, how to handle him  (i have even managed to solo him one playthrough, bu i went insane).

 

Problem is, he spawns at night (he did it, last 3 times).and when we see the earthquake its too late, he may have already destroyed some farms or whatever. But what should i do? i mean i cant have 10 fires for all the base, if i have some farms, the bases is like 3-4 screens, and we are just 3

 

Dude. This forum post is over seven months old. Necroposting is a great plague to forums. Better to make a new topic then resurrect a long-dead one.

 

If he spawns during the night, I'd recommend someone bundle up with some warm gear, grab a torch, and lead him away from the base until morning.

 

[loled]

If you dig an old thread you are necromancer,

if you post a new, you are a noob that doesnt use search. What a cruel life.

[Naipseht]

If you dig an old thread you are necromancer,

if you post a new, you are a noob that doesnt use search. What a cruel life.

 

A good rule to follow is the 30-day rule. If a topic hasn't been replied to in over 30 days, there's usually a red banner across the top of the page notifying you. At that point, it's safe to post a new thread.

 

[Mday]

I found topic with search i wanna ask.

 

I play with friends (2 newbies) and i pretty much know, how to handle him  (i have even managed to solo him one playthrough, bu i went insane).

 

Problem is, he spawns at night (he did it, last 3 times).and when we see the earthquake its too late, he may have already destroyed some farms or whatever. But what should i do? i mean i cant have 10 fires for all the base, if i have some farms, the bases is like 3-4 screens, and we are just 3

Hey there.

Deerclops always spawn at 30th night. Get everyone out of the base BEFORE night fall. Stick together by a camp fire and wait for him to spawn. Wormhole works very well here.

 

Or

 

Consider building a easily defensible base. Put everything tight and nice within 1~2 screens. Place important structure in the middle. Have your friends guard different position around the base and get ready with an ice staff/bloomerang. Place a few camp fire around the base so that you can see in dark and spot him as soon as he spawn. Attack the deerclops at first sight to take aggro, then take him to a road and kill him there.

[loled]

What you same is nice, but the fighting part, is strategically wrong in my team. My friends are newbies. The "good" one is good with spiders, (playing wendy) and isnt so good with fighting something bigger than hounds.

 

So the plan is, she keeps on tending the base, (so we dont run out of expendables) and the other 2, try to fight the deerclops. 

 

Last time, we were good, but unlucky, deerclops caught me off guard (because i lagged and died to random tentacles 2 days before, so i lost precious time), my friend put tooth traps in a stupid way, and deerclops demolished over, 25 trees, without treeguard spawning.

 

Well this time we are rolling with 2 wigfrids and hope for the best.

[Mday]

What you same is nice, but the fighting part, is strategically wrong in my team. My friends are newbies. The "good" one is good with spiders, (playing wendy) and isnt so good with fighting something bigger than hounds.

 

So the plan is, she keeps on tending the base, (so we dont run out of expendables) and the other 2, try to fight the deerclops. 

 

Last time, we were good, but unlucky, deerclops caught me off guard (because i lagged and died to random tentacles 2 days before, so i lost precious time), my friend put tooth traps in a stupid way, and deerclops demolished over, 25 trees, without treeguard spawning.

 

Well this time we are rolling with 2 wigfrids and hope for the best.

Ok here is Plan 3:

Before day 30, everyone need to have the following:

1) Full HP and at least 100 sanity

2) 2 brand new log suits, plus some logs and grass in case you need a 3rd one

3) 1 brand new spear

4) 3 healing salve

5) 4 cooked cactus/green caps.

 

As soon as deerclops show up, get everyone to melee it. Don't even bother to dodge. Just pay attention to Health and armor condition. Use the healing salve/cactus when needed. Do this together and kill it fast means you loss less sanity. Even better if you can use ham bat. Tooth traps only deal 60 damage so it won't make much of a difference unless there are 40+ placed as close as possible.

 

Edit: I forget that you have 2 Wigfrid in your team lol

So, keep the log suit, but also get everyone a helmet and battle spear.

Pierogi/Trail Mix/Honey Ham is good for healing too. If you base is near a cave entrance, and that cave entrance have a pond near by then you can also make some fishsticks.

I think in your case getting healing salve will be the easiest way thou. Usually Wigfrid player plant spider egg near the base and farm spider for health, sanity and monster meat. Use the extra silk to make bird traps and catch some birds too. If you place enough bird traps in one screen you don't have to bait with seed. Cook the bird alive at the fire pit to get cooked morsel. Wigfrid can't eat cactus/green caps so you have to find other ways to recover sanity after the fight.

[Heliodora]

I've never actually killed him but I always lead him to beefalos and then collect the loot

[VeryDead]

Ah, Deerclops. He's one of the few mobs that gets everyone's panties in a knot with his massive size and stats, his ability to freeze anyone who tries to combat him, or his ability to level a base in an instant, only rivaled by Bearger. Yet, like all mobs, there is a trick to kite him.

 

For starters, Deerclops USUALLY shows up around day 30 - 33, and in my experience, loves to come during the night. Once you hear him, have you and your friends grab a source of light, whether it be a torch, miner hat or lantern, and go far away from your camp. As soon as you are a good distance away from your camp, wait for him to spawn. Once he does, give him the good ol' ditch - a - roo. (Simply put, when you see him, get on a road and run away. You see, if any location is far enough from all players, the game kinda freezes that area to prevent lag. Think of it as the reason that whenever you go to the Beefalo after a few days that their aren't mountains of manure.)

 

From there, get back to your camp and evaluate your options.

 

You can ignore Deerclops and carry on your marry ways until Spring, but if you intend of fighting him, make sure you got some equipment.

 

For starters, having everyone equipped with multiple logsuits is a good idea. With armour being easier than ever to break in together, multiple log suits will keep you in the fight as long as possible. You'll then want healing equipment to make sure your HP is in check, since even with said logsuits, Deerclops will still do 15 per hit to you, which along with the freezing and AoE can rack up on everyone. To keep this HP in check, either bring food with good HP restoring qualities (Jerky, Dragonpie, Bacon and Eggs) or have X amount of healing salves / honey poultice. Finally, as for a weapon, bringing multiple spears / battle spears / tentacle spikes is advised, since Deerclops has a whopping 4000 HP in together. However, by far the best option is a Ham bat. Easy to craft, infinite durability and outdamages all the former options. As to get one, you'll need 1 pig skin, 2 meat, 2 twigs. The former 2 ingrediants are easily gotten by killing 1 werepig, and 2 twigs shouldn't be too tricky to get.

 

Now that your equipped for Deerclops, you'll actually need a strategy. No matter how good your equipment is, unless everyone is Wolfgang on mighty mode with Ham Bats / Dark Swords, you'll get slaughtered without a battle plan. To kite him, first get everyone on a road and bait Deerclops towards it. Then, after he slashes, get 2 - 3 hits in and use the roads speed boost to safely escape his slash (Lag may not make this work though). Alternatively, you can have your friends fight him by themselves and use a tag in system of sorts if one gets too weak to minimize the chances of dying and save on resources, since one bad kite attempt will get one person hit, not the whole group. The second strategy also helps with sanity, which with Deerclop's killer sanity aura of -400 per minute, will make your sanity go down the toilet in seconds.

 

If all else fails, bait deerclops into fighting other boss monsters to butter him up, and although he will destroy spider queens / treeguards, Bearger or Dragonfly can take him out with ease, at the cost of his loot.

 

Anywho, best of luck for you and your friends!

[loled]

Problem is, i am the only one that knows how to kyte, (i have beat in vanilla starve deerclops with wendy, with no sweat, or special gear), and i am not host (so i have some mini delay).

 

The wendy doesnt like bosses, and since she is the main farmer, we let her out of the fight (so we dont lose abigail, since spiders are our main source of food for bacon eggs.)

 

SO its me and the other guy, who keeps forgetting to put on log suit. LOL.

[JohnConnor]

keep your treeguards alive, use pine cones to plant trees so they stop aggroing you, keep them around base and they'll fight deerclops for you, but remember to help attack deerclops so they can get more hits unfrozen when the deerclops is aiming for you.

Haven't paid real attention, but a treeguard turns calm and becomes a tree, is it still a treeguard or just a tree?

 

Also, how you manage if it is still a treeguard since you cant chop trees nearby without waking them up.