Deerclops/DST

Don't Starve

DST

“It's enormous!!”

–Wilson

“Holy crap!”

–Willow

“He looks mightier than me.”

–Wolfgang

“Death incarnate!”

–Wendy

“DANGER! THREAT INCOMING!”

–WX-78

“Laurasiatheria!”

–Wickerbottom

“That's a big moose!”

–Woodie

“Even I'm afraid of that guy.”

–Maxwell

“Rays will shine thröugh my spear and pöke öut yöur eyeball!”

–Wigfrid

“He might be able to digest me!”

–Webber

“I once had a saucier who looked like that.”

–Warly

“Branch Head branches”

–Wormwood

“Don't even think about it, you dumb lug!”

–Winona

“So large, so rude, so full of 'tude!”

–Wortox

“She not look happy, florp.”

–Wurt

“Woah! It's you!”

–Walter

“Do we really have to do this again?”

–Wanda

The Deerclops is a boss monster that is only active during Winter, unless edited in World Customization. It has a lot of health, does a lot of damage and can destroy Structures and trees. The Deerclops is aggressive towards anything it encounters and can kill most creatures easily. Its monstrous appearance drains Sanity quickly when the character gets too close.

When used on surface land in Winter, Hostile Flares have a 60% chance to spawn a Deerclops. This is an effective way of killing multiple in one Winter if the player doesn't want to wait to get its loot a second time, or if they want to fight a second Crystal Deerclops in one year.

Deerclops will despawn at the beginning of Spring if it is offscreen. If the player does not wish to kill it, they can leave it far away and it will despawn on its own.

Deerclops takes four blasts from the Ice Staff to be frozen, and four Sleep Darts to put to sleep. When killed, it will drop 8 pieces of Meat and a Deerclops Eyeball, which does not spoil. The main uses of the eyeball are to craft the Eyebrella and Houndius Shootius, two powerful items. When eated, it also restores a high amount of Health and Hunger but drains Sanity.

Once the player activates a Lunar Rift, the corpse of Deerclops will be possessed by a Brightshade Gestalt if a Lunar Rift is active in the world and turn into Crystal Deerclops. Before this happens, the player can set the corpse on fire with a Torch or Fire Staff to prevent the transformation.

Behavior

“That sounded big!”

–Wilson, when a Deerclops is near.

“That sounded like a big mean monster man!”

–Willow, when a Deerclops is near.

“Sound like big strong man coming.”

–Wolfgang, when a Deerclops is near.

“That could be bad.”

–Wendy, when a Deerclops is near.

“WARNING LARGE ATTACKER INCOMING”

–WX-78, when a Deerclops is near.

“That sounds quite large.”

–Wickerbottom, when a Deerclops is near.

“What was that?”

–Woodie, when a Deerclops is near.

“I hear one of them coming.”

–Maxwell, when a Deerclops is near.

“A wörthy föe appröaches.”

–Wigfrid, when a Deerclops is near.

“That sounded like a big meanie.”

–Webber, when a Deerclops is near.

“I do not like that sound one bit!”

–Warly, when a Deerclops is near.

“Something scary coming!!”

–Wormwood, when a Deerclops is near.

“Democrew incoming!”

–Winona, when a Deerclops is near.

“Clipping and clopping, here comes a stomping!”

–Wortox, when a Deerclops is near.

“Glurp... me know that sound...”

–Wurt, when a Deerclops is near.

“That has to be a Deerclops! I need to get a closer look!”

–Walter, when a Deerclops is near.

“Oh botheration, is it that time of year already?”

–Wanda, when a Deerclops is near.

The Deerclops spawns during Winter near the player. Its approach is signaled by a deep moaning sound, which the character will eventually comment on, similar to the way that Hounds are signaled. Unlike Hounds, the Deerclops will not follow the player wherever they go; the player can move away and, with skill, leave the Deerclops behind to despawn when Winter ends.

The first Deerclops will generally spawn on Day 30.8. If no player is on the surface world or mainland, its spawn is delayed until someone is, after which it will spawn in 60 seconds. Deerclops respawns from dying after 16.8 Winter days. Since the default winter length is 15 days, this is more than a season and will always be 71.8 days after the kill (or 126.8 if killed on the last 1.8 days of winter). If killed after winter, like in spring, it respawns after 2.8 winter days by default. Deerclops spawns at Day 30.8, 102.6, and 174.4 plus however long it took to kill it, by default. The number of Deerclops spawned per winter can be increased with world configuration, or with Hostile Flares.

The Deerclops has an attack in which it will either swipe or pound the floor at its current target. Both animations have the same effect (the animation seen depends on which direction Deerclops is facing), damaging all mobs and structures within a radius of about 2.5 berry bushes. It usually does not immediately target the player upon arrival, having an "aggro distance" toward any mob it gets close to. The Deerclops first tries to target the closest structure to the player at time of being spawned; if no structure is close enough to the player, then the player is targeted instead (although this tends to be rare). The Deerclops will not target Walls unless the object or mob that the Deerclops is aiming to destroy is behind a wall. Often, walls and other structures or mobs nearby may suffer collateral damage despite what the Deerclops may target, so walls do not stand up well to a Deerclops.

The Deerclops aims to destroy all structures before leaving. Note that the only structures counted are the ones targeted by the Deerclops directly - collateral damage is not counted, meaning many more structures may be destroyed before the Deerclops is finished. Naturally, if the Deerclops is aggroed by the player or other mobs, it will hang around to take care of them first, before continuing to destroy structures or leave.

Deerclops prioritises spawning on players with at least 5 structures within 20 Tiles, spawning 40 tiles away from its targeted player. Deerclops targets players within 16 tiles, followed by structures within 40. It despawns after destroying at least 5 structures, and all structures within 40 tiles of Deerclops. Deerclops respawns, with the same health it had when it despawned, 2.8 winter days after despawning. If Deerclops was killed, Deerclops respawns, with full health, after 6 times the attack interval; which on default settings prevents attacks for the rest of the season. The default programmed number of attack is 4, but this number is generally useless for player. The attack interval is (season length - 1)/(number of attacks + 1) days.

During Winter's Feast, the Deerclops has a different appearance: it has dark fur and a glowing red eye. It can shoot a laser from its eye to attack players from medium range, without following a particular pattern. Additionally, Winter's Feast Deerclops emits a fair amount of red light that can ward off Charlie if the player stands nearby.

Deerclops' freezing attack fans out in a 30° cone with a roughly 6-tile radius. Each attack of Deerclops adds 2 coldness and reduces the player temperature by 5 (but not below the environment temperature). A player generally freezes after receiving 2 consecutive attacks from Deerclops.

Hunting

For instructions on how to prepare for fighting Deerclops, see Guides/Preparing for Deerclops.

The Deerclops can be kited, a process by which the player attacks, moves away to avoid an attack, then attacks again. It is possible to strike the Deerclops three times in between attacks, or four times if the player is walking over Cobblestones or Road, or can quickly equip a Walking Cane. It is highly recommended to stick to three or even two hits if one doesn't know the exact hitbox of the Deerclops. The player must time their attacks with the Deerclops's animations, as its long and wide ranged melee attack is hard to dodge. Its big health means this will take time, however, and the character's Sanity will drop very quickly. Armor should be worn when attempting this as the Deerclops can kill most characters in two strikes. Two or three Log Suits and Football Helmets should be enough to absorb damage, and around 10 pieces of Jerky should be enough to recover health and mitigate the sanity loss. A Walking Cane and timed clicking can increase the ability to dodge its attacks in between the player's blows, and gives a speed boost to run away if necessary. Deerclops' attacks will freeze the player after two hits, unless the player places a fire source next to them.

A few strategies can be used to fight Deerclops:

• An easiest method to kill the Deerclops is simply tanking with Football Helmets and Marble Suits and attacking with fresh Ham Bat. Deerclops' freezing attack can be avoided by standing right next to a Campfire with maximum fuel. It is advised to fuel up sanity and health before fight.

• If the player happens to have a lot of Tooth Traps, they can lead the Deerclops to an open area covered in the traps. As with other aggressive creatures, it will walk towards the player without avoiding the traps. It will take 67 sprung traps to kill the Deerclops, but the player can kite it to speed up the process.

• Another way to kill the Deerclops involves having neutral Treeguards nearby one's base. The player should guide the Deerclops into trees to destroy them or let it attempt to hit the character while nearby a Treeguard, as its AoE attack will hit the Treeguard if close enough.

• The quickest method of killing the Deerclops requires Gunpowder and a Torch or Willow's Lighter. Gunpowder deals 200 damage, and thus, 20 units of them would instantly kill the Deerclops. However, this will also burn the Deerclops Eyeball. To keep the Eyeball, place 19 Gunpowders in a stack as close as possible to the Deerclops (it is recommended to freeze or put it to sleep to hold it still). Next, light the Gunpowder with a Torch and run. To deal with the Deerclops' remaining health, attack it with non-fire weapons.

• If the player chooses not to fight, the Deerclops can easily be lost by moving a good distance away, or by jumping into a Worm Hole. After losing interest in the character, it will find something else to smash or attack. A Bush Hat will keep the character hidden if necessary, but if it has already aggroed onto the player, this method will not work.

• Players can safely bombard Deerclops from the Boat, using ranged weapons such as Houndius Shootius or Winona's Catapults.

Below is the number of hits it takes with each weapon to kill a Deerclops/DST when playing with characters with a default damage modifier. The Weather Pain is not included due to the random nature of its projectile.

Number of Hits

Item
	4	0	0
	12	0	0
	16	0	0
	20 - 27	0 - 0	0 - 0
	20	0	0
	≥25	≥0	≥0
	26 as	0 as	0 as
	40	0	0
	40 - 79	0 - 0	0 - 0
	40	0	0
	45 (27 )	0 (0 )	0 (0 )
	59	0	0
	59	0	0
	67	0	0
	118, 89 or 67	0, 0 or 0	0, 0 or 0
	68	0	0
	68 - 135	0 - 0	0 - 0
	74 - 148 -	0 - 0 -	0 - 0 -
	79	0	0
	80	0	0
	91	0	0
	93 (56 )	0 (0 )	0 (0 )
	95	0	0
	100	0	0
	118	0	0
	118 (40 )	0 (0 )	0 (0 )
	131	0	0
	134	0	0
	148	0	0
	197	0	0
	200	0	0
	236	0	0
	295	0	0
	942	0	0

It takes 4 blasts to freeze a Deerclops/DST with an Ice Staff. It takes 4 Sleep Darts to put Deerclops/DST to sleep.

Trivia

• The Deerclops was added in A Winter's Tale update. At the end of the update's trailer, the screen goes black for a brief amount of time. During this time, the growl of the Deerclops is heard.
• The name "Deerclops" is a portmanteau of "Deer" and "Cyclops".
• Pictures of the Deerclops appeared in the teaser video for the Long Live the Queen update, at around 30 and 45 seconds into the video (see pictures). It's clear that the image shown was an older/simplified design.
• Although it's usually not possible to see two Deerclops spawn at the same time, if this happens (due to a bug or by spawning it via the console) they will be hostile to each other, unlike other boss monsters.
• According to Maxwell, Deerclops are myopic.
• Sometimes the moaning noises can be heard, but the Deerclops does not seem to spawn. This happens when the snow melts below a certain threshold (e.g. when summer begins) after the Deerclops is about to appear.
• Artwork of the Deerclops can be used as a rare Steam profile wallpaper.
• Despite being a monster, the Deerclops drops normal meat rather than monster meat.
• Her Winter's Feast appearance may be a reference to Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, although it has a glowing-red eye instead of a nose.
• Even though other characters refer to the Deerclops as male, Wurt calls it a female.
  • Wurt's observation is supported in the Glass Eyebrella skin description, which refers to the Deerclops as a female.
• Webber's quote may be a reference to his title, The Indigestible.
• If allowed to destroy 5-6 structures it intentionally targeted, Deerclops will do a relaxed expression/attempt to smile, and then proceed to go off screen to despawn unless aggroed again. This cycle will repeat.
• The Deerclops appeared in Re-Logic's Terraria Desktop 1.4.3 version as a crossover boss. See also: Deerclops' entry in the Official Terraria Wiki.

Sounds

Deerclops sounds
Deerclops attacking.
Deerclops' body falling in dirt.
Deerclops' body falling in snow.
Deerclops dying.
Deerclops being heard from the distance.
Deerclops getting hurt.
Deerclops making big ice spikes.
Deerclops making small ice spikes.
Deerclops idling.
Deerclops stepping.
Deerclops swiping.
Deerclops taunting.
Deerclops taunting continued.
Deerclops walking.
Deerclops during Winter's Feast charging a lazer ().
Deerclops during Winter's Feast shooting a lazer ().

Gallery

• 

  Deerclops Sprites
• 

  Deerclops Sprites
• 

  Deerclops roaring when spotting something to smash. This also happens when it aggros on a player.
• 

  Deerclops attacking.
• 

  Falling asleep and waking.
• 

  Frozen Deerclops.
• 

  Single frame from Deerclops's death animation.
• 

  A dead Deerclops.
• 

  Deerclops as seen in the Long Live the Queen update video.
• 

  RoG Deerclops can freeze enemies.
• 

  Deerclops attacking Wilson (RoG).
• 

  Deerclops in the DST loading screen.
• 

  Deerclops chasing Webber in the Reign of Giants winter teaser trailer.
• 

  Deerclops as seen in the Reign of Giants trailer.
• 

  A Deerclops Steam profile wallpaper.
• 

  Deerclops chasing Wilson in an official wallpaper.
• 

  Deerclops among the trees in the Winter poster.
• 

  Deerclops's relaxed/smiling expression after destroying over five structures in DST.
• 

  Deerclops as seen in the 2016 holiday poster.
• 

  Deerclops from Winter's Feast scaled with Wilson.
• 

  Deerclops's, during Winter's Feast, relaxed/smiling expression after destroying over five structures in DST.
• 

  Deerclop's Laser attack during the DST Winter's Feast event.
• 

  The Deerclops being defeated in a comic for Winter's Feast 2018.
• 

  The Deerclops as seen in a New Year themed drawing from Rhymes with Play #220.
• 

  Deerclops as seen in a drawing from Art Stream # 9.
• 

  Deerclops as seen in a drawing from Art Stream # 60.
• 

  A Deerclops plush.
• 

  The art on the Deerclops plush's tag.
• 

  Deerclops's silhouette as seen in the poster for A Winter's Tale update.
• 

  Deerclops as seen in a poster announcing the release of Reign of Giants on the PS4.
• 

  Deerclops as seen in a poster announcing the arrival of Reign of Giants content in Don't Starve Together.
• 

  Deerclops in Don't Starve Newhome teaser
• 

  Deerclops Skeleton from Forgotten Knowledge Update Trailer
• 

  Deerclops in Terraria teaser
• 

  Deerclops form DST × Terraria crossover poster.
• 

  In An Eye for An Eye Release Poster
• 

  In An Eye for An Eye Release Poster
• 

  In An Eye for An Eye Merch Poster
• 

  In An Eye for An Eye Merch Poster
• 

  In An Eye for An Eye RWP Poster
• 

  Pixel Deerclops avatar in steam
• 

  in a promotional animation for the An Eye for An Eye update.
• 

  Deerclops in Terraria
• 

  Deerclops map icon in Terraria
• 

  Deerclops mask in Terraria
• 

  Deerclops Trophy in Terraria
• 

  Deerclops Treasure Bag in Terraria
• 

  Tiny Deerclops pet in Terraria
• 

  Deerclops Unused Leg in Terraria
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  Deer Thing in Terraria
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  Deerclops Relic in Terraria
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  Pixel Deerclops emoji from official Klei Discord server
• 

  Pixel Deerclops portrait from official Klei Discord server
• 

  In "Death Perception" achievement
• 

  Deerclops head in Klei Office
• 

  In DST Loading Screen
• 

  On Postcard from CD Don't Starve
• 

  On CD Don't Starve Box
• 

  On Concept Art from Bonus Materials from CD Don't Starve.
• 

  On Wizard with a Gun Crossover Image
• 

  Deerclops Costume On Wizard with a Gun Crossover

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