The Nightmare Werepig can be found starting from day 1 in the Caves. The boss spawns ensnared by shadow chains between three Cracked Pillars and asks to be released. To do this, the outer Marble layer needs to be mined off of each pillar with any pickaxe, then the player must make each exposed pillar to vibrate at the same time with a hit from a strong mining tool. The ones that currently apply are:
After all pillars are shaking at the same time, the Nightmare Werepig breaks free from its chains. However, its torment does not end there.
Phase 0
After being freed from the chains, the Nightmare Werepig is constantly attacked by small Parasitic Shadelings and is invulnerable to other attacks. The shadow creatures have 100 health and 6 movement speed. Like other shadow creatures, they can only be attacked at low Sanity. The pig is constantly fighting shadows and can inflict 12.5 damage to anything nearby. The player must go below the survivor's insanity threshold and kill the parasites after they are thrown off the boss. The Nightmare Werepig has a -800/min insanity aura during this phase. After all Shadelings are killed, the fight begins.
Phase 1
The Nightmare Werepig attacks via a powerful lunge that deals 75 damage and knocks the target on the ground, which takes time getting back up. This attack will also dismount a player from riding a Beefalo. To dodge the lunge, the player should run diagonally towards the Nightmare Werepig. For example, if the Nightmare chases the player downwards, the player should run diagonally up just before the jump. This attack will be easier to dodge with a Walking Cane or other speed boosts. Between sets of jumps, it will walk slowly until the next set, which it will start running directly at the player. During this break, you can rotate the camera to a more comfortable angle to prepare for the next round. This attack is used throughout the fight, so it's important to learn how to dodge it properly.
The Nightmare Werepig has a fatigue stat that changes based on the success of its attacks. When it misses an attack, its fatigue is increased by 1, but when it lands an attack successfully, it is decreased by 1.5. Fatigue also decreases passively, with one unit after 20 seconds and then again after 10 seconds when out of combat. When the boss's fatigue reaches 3 units (3 misses), it falls to its knees and rests its paws on the ground, eliminating fatigue but allowing the player to deal significant damage. However, if you do not attack the boss while it is resting, it will rapidly regenerate 20 health units every 0.4 seconds. This state will last between 5 and 10 seconds. Successful dodging is very important in order to keep the fight short.
Between series of jumps, the Nightmare Werepig stops running around the battlefield and begins to "stalk" the player, continuously following a player with its eyes and turning its head following their movements. While stalking, it regenerates 10 health every 0.4 seconds. In addition to healing during combat, the boss also regenerates 25 health per second if the character moves far enough to end the fight.
After losing half its health, the boss enters its second phase.
Phase 2
In the second phase, the boss begins to almost exclusively use a ground slam that deals 112.5 damage and leaving behind a short lived Antlion-like sinkhole with a radius of 3 units. Notably, the boss does not get fatigued from ground slam attacks, and may attack a player for as long as they remain in range and the attack is not on its short cooldown. Baiting these slam attacks from the boss is the only way to destroy the Cracked Pillars, which give 3-4 Dreadstones each.
If the player is keeping their distance from the boss, they will begin "stalking" once more, healing rapidly. If players allow the boss to do this for enough time, it charges at a player with its lunge attack. After being reduced to 30% health, the boss enters its third and final phase.
Phase 3
Phase 3 simply consists of the boss lunging at the player, interchanged with the recently introduced ground slam attack. Additionally, the boss will follow up any successful lunge attacks with a ground slam, and attack nearby players with a ground slam immediately after its fatigue ends. As the boss will begin using primarily the lunge over the slam, this phase can be handled near identically to phase 1, dodging the boss' lunges three times and attacking when it is fatigued.
Defeat
After defeating the boss, it does not die, instead falling exhausted and warning the survivor that the fight isn't over. After a few minutes, the boss (and pillars if they were not destroyed) will disappear. On defeat, it drops 4-5 units of Pure Horrors, 1 Nightmare Fuels and the Blueprints for Dreadstone Armor, Dreadstone Helm, Dreadstone Wall, and Dreadstone Pillar.
After disappearing, you can find the Scrappy Werepig in Teetering Junk Pile on the surface after 10 in-game days. The player have to defeat Scrappy Werepig and wait for another 10 days for the Cracked Pillar set piece and Nightmare Werepig to reappear in the Muddy Biome.
Fighting Strategy
Below is the number of hits it takes with each weapon to kill a Nightmare Werepig when playing with characters with a default damage modifier. The Weather Pain, Brightshade Staff, and Bee Mine are not included due to their random natures. This table does not take into account the damage bonus gained from characters with a lunar or shadow affinity. It also does not take into account the 40% damage bonus Wendy gets from attacking the same mob as Abigail, Wanda's damage bonus with Shadow weapons (except for the Alarming Clock, which does accurately reflect that bonus), or Wolfgang's damage multiplier when he isn't mighty.
Number of hits
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262 (Melee on land) 175 (Melee on ocean) 157 (spell)
218 (Melee on land) 146 (Melee on ocean) 131 (spell)
175 (105 ) (Melee on land) 117 (70 ) (Melee on ocean) 105 (63 ) (spell)
146 (88 ) (Melee on land) 97 (59 ) (Melee on ocean) 88 (53 ) (spell)
197 (Melee on land) 131 (Melee on ocean) 118 (spell)
164 (Melee on land) 109 (Melee on ocean) 99 (spell)
131 (79 ) (Melee on land) 88 (53 ) (Melee on ocean) 79 (48 ) (spell)
109 (66 ) (Melee on land) 73 (44 ) (Melee on ocean) 66 (40 ) (spell)
157 (Melee on land) 105 (Melee on ocean) 95 (spell)
131 (Melee on land) 88 (Melee on ocean) 79 (spell)
105 (63 ) (Melee on land) 70 (42 ) (Melee on ocean) 63 (38 ) (spell)
88 (53 ) (Melee on land) 59 (35 ) (Melee on ocean) 53 (32 ) (spell)
99 (Melee on land) 66 (Melee on ocean) 59 (spell)
82 (Melee on land) 55 (Melee on ocean) 50 (spell)
66 (40 ) (Melee on land) 44 (27 ) (Melee on ocean) 40 (24 ) (spell)
55 (33 ) (Melee on land) 37 (22 ) (Melee on ocean) 33 (20 ) (spell)
()
197 (Direct hit) 295 (AoE)
164 (Direct hit) 246 (AoE)
131 (79 ) (Direct hit) 197 (118 ) (AoE)
109 (66 ) (Direct hit) 164 (99 ) (AoE)
200
308 (185 )
257 (154 )
308 (185 )
257 (154 )
231 (139 )
193 (116 )
231 (139 )
193 (116 )
185 (111 )
154 (93 )
185 (111 )
154 (93 )
116 (70 )
97 (58 )
116 (70 )
97 (58 )
()
236 (135 )
197 (112 )
236 (135 )
197 (112 )
314
262
210 (126 )
175 (105 )
236
197
157 (95 )
131 (79 )
189
157
126 (76 )
105 (63 )
118
99
79 (48 )
66 (40 )
()
118 (When thrown)
99 (When thrown)
79 (48 ) (When thrown)
66 (40 ) (When thrown)
250
393
327
262 (157 )
218 (131 )
295
246
197 (118 )
164 (99 )
236
197
157 (95 )
131 (79 )
148
123
99 (59 )
82 (50 )
()
295
246
197 (118 )
164 (99 )
()
148 (When thrown)
123 (When thrown)
99 (59 ) (When thrown)
82 (50 ) (When thrown)
491
409
327 (197 )
273 (164 )
368
307
246 (148 )
205 (123 )
295
246
197 (118 )
164 (99 )
184
154
123 (74 )
103 (62 )
()
184 (When thrown)
154 (When thrown)
123 (74 ) (When thrown)
103 (62 ) (When thrown)
()
393 (Direct hit) 589 (AoE)
327 (Direct hit) 491 (AoE)
262 (157 ) (Direct hit) 393 (236 ) (AoE)
218 (131 ) (Direct hit) 327 (197 ) (AoE)
()
589
491
393 (236 )
327 (197 )
()
295 (When thrown)
246 (When thrown)
197 (118 ) (When thrown)
164 (99 ) (When thrown)
Nightmare Werepig is immune to being frozen, and it is immune to being put to sleep.
Note that this table assumes that Nightmare Werepig doesn't ever heal. In practice, since healing is largely unavoidable, it may take more hits to kill Nightmare Werepig.
Nightmare Werepig is unable to be set on fire.
Tips
If players do not use the Nightmare Werepig to destroy the Cracked Pillars, they will not receive Dreadstone for completing the fight, making it substantially less worth doing. It's important to lure the boss towards the pillars as soon as it starts using its slam attacks for this reason.
Cooked Green Caps, Blue Caps, Banana Shakes, or other means of sanity recovery are recommended for the fight, as the boss' high insanity aura combined with the passive sanity drain of the Caves can quickly result in the fight becoming unmanageable due to Shadow Creature attacks.
A Nightmare Amulet can optionally be used to engage in Phase 0 without decimating sanity.
Though the boss' movements are easy to track in the dark due to its glowing red fur, light sources should still be considered prior to starting the fight.
A Star Caller's Staff is the easiest way to keep the area illuminated. As a Pick/Axe is required to begin the fight, players may also want to craft a Star Caller's Staff while in the Ruins.
While the Nightmare Werepig's spawn point is likely to be near a large open area containing many Light Flowers, these will flicker on and off mid fight and will occasionally plunge the player into darkness.
As usual, Campfires, Miner Hats, and Lanterns can be used, though these may be less optimal to use as they all require fuel and provide a smaller light radius, and must be tended to/equipped in favor of weapons or armor.
During phase 2, it can be difficult for players to get damage on the Nightmare Werepig, particularly if facing the boss alone.
Attempting to trigger lunges out of the boss and fatiguing it is inefficient, as it will heal from all of the damage the player could possibly deal after finally fatiguing it.
The best strategy for a single player is to trigger a slam attack, run directly backwards from the boss to dodge the attack, then run directly back towards the boss and land 2-3 hits before it runs away. Doing this prevents the player from getting stuck in the ensuing crater while still allowing an opportunity to damage the boss without it healing.
Proper use of a Walking Cane can be crucial in avoiding attacks. If needed, equipping a Magiluminescense as well can give the player even more breathing room.
Since the boss plays the damage taken animation and quickly runs away if hit during the last 9 frames (assuming 30 fps, 18 frames if 60 fps, 0.3 of a second) of the slam animation, it is recommended to stop attacking it during the last 9 frames of the animation and only attack it after the animation fully ends, which will result in the boss immediately doing another slam instead of running away. This is much harder to do in the third phase, because the boss will run away after the slam even if wasn't attacked before, during or after the slam, leaving much less time to hit the boss before it gets out of the player's range.
Nightmare Werepig's lunges will throw players off of their mounted Beefalo. Keeping the Beefalo's obedience level high is important in this fight to be able to mount it again as quickly as possible, as it will die swiftly to to boss if provoked.
5 Dreadstones are required in order to activate the Shadow Rift, so it's prudent to set that amount of Dreadstone aside for future use.
At the cost of the durability of a Construction Amulet and a Deconstruction Staff, Dreadstone and Pure Horror may be duplicated by repeatedly constructing and deconstructing Dreadstone Armor, as the deconstructed armor will leave behind the base amount of resources needed to craft it, even if it was crafted at a discount via a Construction Amulet. This can be more economic to players who have the Green Gems to craft the needed tools, but do not wish to invest more time fighting Nightmare Werepig again.
Another way to duplicate Dreadstones is craft Dreadstone Walls with Construction Amulet and use Bearger or Reanimated Skeletons to break the walls. This method can produce more Dreadstones per green gems than deconstructing Dreadstone Armor.
Quotes
Mutters when appearing
"UUGH..."
"...(growl)..."
"ME FOUND IT FIRST... ME!"
"...UUUGH..."
When a character approaches
"FREE... ME..."
"...UUGH..."
"COME... CLOSER..."
"PLEASE..."
On the next appearance
"CAN'T KEEP... ME HERE... FOREVER..."
"ME FIND CRACK TO DARK PLACE... ME!"
"POWER SHOULD BE FOR ME!"
"COWARDS!"
Fighting the chains
"ITCHY!"
"CAN'T MOVE!"
When the columns are destroyed
"YES!"
"KEEP GOING!"
"HURRY! HURRY!"
Fighting with parasitic shadeling
"OFF OF ME!"
"GET OFF!!"
"RAAAAUUGGHH!"
"VERMIN!"
Bitten
"AHHH!"
"OW!!"
Crashes into a column trying to shake off parasitic shadeling
"OWWWWW!"
"OOF!"
Attacking a character
"HEH HEH HEH..."
"FREE... FREE!!"
"GRAAAR!!"
"PESTS!"
"ME DESTROY YOU!"
"IS MINE! MINE!!"
After defeat
"M-MY POWER..."
"THIS NOT OVER!"
Restoring health
"HUFF... HUFF..."
"BETTER... YES, MUCH BETTER."
Trivia
When Nightmare Werepig first introduced in beta, it was on Surface and then moved into Caves later in beta. This may be the reason that its prefab is daywalker.
Gallery
Old Nightmare Werepig Texture
Old Nightmare Werepig Texture
In 2023 Roadmap promo art
On Roadmap 2024 Poster
Nightmare Werepig being attacked by Parasitic Shadelings
Attention: The following categories are only for the players look up the page based on their first impression, they have nothing to do with the actual categories/behavior/function/tags of these Mobs
Attention: The following categories are only for the players look up the page based on their first impression, they have nothing to do with the actual categories/behavior/function/tags of these creatures
Attention: The following categories are only for the players look up the page based on their first impression, they have nothing to do with the actual categories/behavior/function/tags of these creatures
Attention: The following categories are only for the players look up the page based on their first impression, they have nothing to do with the actual categories/behavior/function/tags of these creatures
Attention: The following categories are only for the players look up the page based on their first impression, they have nothing to do with the actual categories/behavior/function/tags of these Mobs
