Shadow Pieces

Exclusive to:

For shadow monsters that appear based on player's sanity, see Shadow Creature.

The Shadow Pieces are a group of shadow-themed hostile mobs exclusive to Don't Starve Together, introduced in A New Reign. They are based on the Clockwork Knight, Clockwork Bishop, and Clockwork Rook. With exception of the Shadow Knight, they have attack patterns completely different from the Mobs they are based on.

They will spawn after a Chess Piece corresponding to each creature is hammered down during a New Moon (except if they are made of Moon Shards), or when a corresponding Marble Sculpture is mined during a New Moon.

All Chess Pieces and Marble Sculptures within 15 units of a Shadow Piece will break and spawn their respective Shadow Pieces (even if the Chess Piece is still on the Potter's Wheel). Hence, when any inner of multiple shaking Chess Pieces is hammered, all other nearby Chess Pieces will instantly break and spawn their Shadow Pieces. This also happens if a Shadow Piece is near a non-shaking Chess Piece, at any time of day, regardless of the phase of the moon.

Characters will notice the shaking of the sculpture if it's examined, but Shadow Pieces themselves can not be examined, which is similar to the ordinary Shadow Creatures.

They have the unique ability to level up when a different Piece of the same level as them or higher is killed nearby. For example: If a level 1 Shadow Rook is killed, all the level 1 Knights and Bishops in the proximity will become level 2, and the same with killing a remaining level 2 for the last to become level 3.

Behavior

The Shadow Rook will not destroy structures but can damage walls. Additionally, instead of charging at the player, it will teleport right behind them and attempt a melee attack.

Instead of a ranged bolt, The Shadow Bishop will turn into a swarm of shadow bats that will damage the player that stays within their range, much like the Sporecloud from Toadstool.

The Shadow Knight will still attempt to do a melee attack, although its attack period is massively longer. More effort is needed to kite these as the Shadow Knight's range is quite large, and it is significantly faster.

Mechanics

Shadow Pieces have three levels, each significantly stronger than the previous. The leveling up of Shadow Pieces is best illustrated with an example.

A Shadow Knight, for instance, keeps track of whether or not it has witnessed the defeat of a Shadow Rook and a Shadow Bishop. The first time that a Shadow Rook is killed within 25 units of the Knight, it will level up; the same happens the first time a Shadow Bishop is killed near it. A Shadow Piece will never level up from the death of another Shadow Piece of the same type. Consequently, to kill a Shadow Piece of level 3, which is necessary to get the Shadow Atrium, it is necessary to have at least one Piece of each type.

Below is the number of hits it takes with each weapon to kill a Shadow Knight 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.

Number of hits

Weapon
	5	13	37
()	7 (Old) 10 (Middle age) 12 (Young) 34 (Out of fuel)	19 (Old) 28 (Middle age) 34 (Young) 100 (Out of fuel)	57 (Old) 83 (Middle age) 100 (Young) 298 (Out of fuel)
()	10 (7 )	29 (21 )	86 (62 )
	9 (7 )	23 (19 )	69 (56 )
	13 (11 )	37 (32 )	109 (96 )
	13	37	109
	9	27	81
	10 (6 )	30 (18 )	90 (54 )
	17 - 90 (15 - 59 )	50 - 270 (44 - 175 )	149 - 810 (131 - 523 )
	14	40	120
	14	42	125
	15	45	135
	16 (11 ) 13 (9 ) ()	46 (31 ) 37 (25 ) ()	137 (91 ) 109 (73 ) ()
Note	16	46	137
	16 - 31	46 - 91	137 - 273
	14 (12 )	40 (35)	120 (103 )
()	15	43	127
	18	53	159
	18 (Melee on land) 12 (Melee on ocean) 11 (spell)	53 (Melee on land) 36 (Melee on ocean) 32 (spell)	159 (Melee on land) 106 (Melee on ocean) 96 (spell)
	18 (Direct hit) 27 (AoE)	53 (Direct hit) 80 (AoE)	159 (Direct hit) 239 (AoE)
	21 (13 )	63 (38 )	187 (113 )
	22 (13 )	64 (37 )	191 (109 )
	22	111	331
	23	68	203
	27	80	239
	34	100	298
	36 (Direct hit) 53 (AoE)	106 (Direct hit) 159 (AoE)	318 (Direct hit) 477 (AoE)
	53	159	477

Below is the number of hits it takes with each weapon to kill a Shadow Bishop 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.

Number of hits

Weapon
	4	12	35
()	6 (Old) 9 (Middle age) 10 (Young) 30 (Out of fuel)	18 (Old) 26 (Middle age) 31 (Young) 92 (Out of fuel)	53 (Old) 77 (Middle age) 92 (Young) 276 (Out of fuel)
()	9 (7 )	27 (20 )	80 (58 )
	8 (6 )	22 (17 )	64 (51 )
	11 (10 )	34 (30 )	101 (89 )
	11	34	101
	8	25	75
	9 (6 )	28 (17 )	84 (50 )
	15 - 80 (13 - 52 )	46 - 250 (41 - 162 )	138 - 750 (121 - 484 )
	12	37	111
	13	39	116
	14	42	125
	14 (9 ) 11 (8 ) ()	43 (29 ) 34 (23 ) ()	127 (85 ) 101 (68 ) ()
Note	14	43	127
	14 - 27	43 - 85	127 - 253
	12 (11 )	37 (32)	111 (96 )
()	13	40	118
	16	50	148
	16 (Melee on land) 11 (Melee on ocean) 10 (spell)	50 (Melee on land) 33 (Melee on ocean) 30 (spell)	148 (Melee on land) 99 (Melee on ocean) 89 (spell)
	16 (Direct hit) 24 (AoE)	50 (Direct hit) 74 (AoE)	148 (Direct hit) 221 (AoE)
	19 (12 )	58 (35 )	174 (104 )
	19 (11 )	59 (34 )	177 (101 )
	19	103	307
	20	63	188
	24	74	221
	30	92	276
	32 (Direct hit) 48 (AoE)	99 (Direct hit) 148 (AoE)	295 (Direct hit) 442 (AoE)
	48	148	442

Below is the number of hits it takes with each weapon to kill a Shadow Rook 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.

Number of hits

Weapon
	5	19	46
()	8 (Old) 11 (Middle age) 13 (Young) 37 (Out of fuel)	29 (Old) 41 (Middle age) 50 (Young) 148 (Out of fuel)	71 (Old) 103 (Middle age) 123 (Young) 368 (Out of fuel)
()	11 (8 )	43 (31 )	106 (77 )
	10 (8 )	34 (28 )	85 (68 )
	14 (12 )	54 (48 )	134 (119 )
	14	54	134
	10	40	100
	12 (7 )	45 (27 )	112 (67 )
	19 - 100 (17 - 65 )	74 - 400 (65 - 259 )	184 - 1000 (161 - 646 )
	15	59	148
	16	62	154
	17	67	167
	17 (12 ) 14 (9 ) ()	68 (45 ) 54 (36 ) ()	169 (113 ) 135 (90 ) ()
Note	17	68	169
	17 - 34	68 - 135	169 - 337
	15 (13 )	59 (51)	148 (127 )
()	16	63	157
	20	79	197
	20 (Melee on land) 14 (Melee on ocean) 12 (spell)	79 (Melee on land) 53 (Melee on ocean) 48 (spell)	197 (Melee on land) 131 (Melee on ocean) 118 (spell)
	20 (Direct hit) 30 (AoE)	79 (Direct hit) 118 (AoE)	197 (Direct hit) 295 (AoE)
	24 (14 )	93 (56 )	231 (139 )
	24 (14 )	95 (54 )	236 (135 )
	24	164	409
	25	100	250
	30	118	295
	37	148	368
	40 (Direct hit) 59 (AoE)	157 (Direct hit) 236 (AoE)	393 (Direct hit) 589 (AoE)
	59	236	589

Tips

• Pigs can become scared of the Shadow Pieces (similar to how they act during dusk), seemingly when the shadow pieces are about to attack. The same effect happens to Bunnymen and Spiders.
• None of the Pieces can be dodged in their third phase, unless the player:
  • Has speed boosts or a Beefalo.
  • Teleports with The Lazy Explorer or with Wortox's Soul Hop.
  • Is playing Wanda and uses a Backstep Watch.
  • Is playing as Wigfrid and parries with the Battle Rönd.
• The Shadow Rook's slow attack period allows the player to use the Bone Armor's protection to block every attack if the armor is fueled, even in the third stage, allowing an easy kill if chosen as the last piece fought. (The previous kills will have dropped Nightmare Fuel to fuel the Bone Armor, as well.)
• The Shadow Pieces are not true shadow or nightmare creatures, as they can damage and be attacked by other mobs. They do still cost less durability when attacked with a Glass Cutter.
• Killing a level 3 rook and its companions takes either 200% or 199% of a Dark Sword, depending on the order of killing.
• The Shadow Bishop (in any level) can't deal any damage to Maxwell's duelist nor stun it.
• They are invulnerable as they're leveling up.

Trivia

• Since Level 2 and 3 Shadow Pieces receive the "epic" tag when leveling up, they are actually considered boss mobs in the code.
  • Because they're boss mobs, when a Level 2 or Level 3 Shadow Piece is being fought, the same boss music will play as when fighting the Ancient Guardian.

Bugs

• The Shadow Knight can become stuck/frozen if attacked by multiple enemies at once in the third phase, and will not come unstuck, leaving it an easy kill.

Gallery

• 

  A Level 2 Shadow Bishop in the A New Reign: Part 2 trailer.
• 

  A Level 3 Shadow Bishop in the A New Reign: Part 2 trailer.
• 

  A Level 3 Shadow Bishop chasing Wolfgang as seen in the A New Reign trailer.

References

DSRoGSWHamDST