Swimming Horror

Swimming Horror
	300
	20 (15 )
Attack Period	2.5
Attack Range	3
Running Speed	3
Sanity Aura	-100/min (-75/min ) (-90/min ) (-110/min )
Special Ability	Teleports when attacked
Drops	×1-2
	"swimminghorror"

Exclusive to:  
The Swimming Horror is a Shadow Creature introduced in the Shipwrecked DLC. It will spawn in the Shallow Ocean. When a player sails past a Swimming Horror, it will swim towards them and try to attack them. It will not give up chase unless the player leaves the Shallows or returns to land. In the Hamlet DLC, Swimming Horrors can also be found in the Lily Pond biome.

Fighting Strategy

Crawling Horrors, Terrorbeaks, and Swimming Horrors can be attacked if they are actively pursuing the player. Despite their intimidating appearance, individually they are very easy to fight: the basic tactic is to kite them, by walking close enough for them to attack, dodging the attack by walking back, then hitting them. Since they teleport away when damaged, the player won't be able to hit them more than once. However, they will occasionally pause to perform a "yelling" animation, during which it is possible to get one extra hit in without them teleporting, for a maximum of two hits. it is possible for them to teleport within melee range, allowing the player to land a second hit simply by holding the attack button (F by default).

While multiple Crawling Horrors are easy to deal with, a player with incredibly low sanity may have to fend off one or more Terrorbeaks alongside them. If this occurs, it is better to simply run and make distance in order to fight Terrorbeaks individually, due to their sheer speed.

Since they are only visible to the player, mobs cannot be recruited to defend against Shadow Creatures. However, there is an exception in Willow's Bernie, which is the only Mob in the game that's able to taunt Shadow Creatures and attack them.

Tornadoes spawned by the Weather Pain can stop a Shadow Creature's teleports due to its fast and continuous attacks. It is very useful for stopping a group of them during the Nightmare Cycle.

Below is the number of hits it takes (with a default damage modifier) to kill Shadow Creatures. The Weather Pain is not included due to the random nature of its projectile.

Weapon
No. of hits for	Immune	95	30	24	15	14	12	10	7-14	6 or 10	8	7	6	4	2
No. of hits for	Immune	71	23	18	12	10	9	8	6-11	5 or 7	6	6	5	3	2

Trivia

In-Game

• Shadow Creatures are one of the only mobs able to freely travel through walls and are the only mobs that can freely travel across the barrier that separates land from ocean. They can only do this while not aggressive. When Sanity drops below 15%, they will manifest into a physical form, unable to perform such feats.
• Attacking a Shadow Creature will cause any other Shadow Creature to become "real" and aggressive, regardless of the Sanity level. The hostility of a Crawling Horror, Terrorbeak or Swimming Horror may end after an attack if the player's sanity is higher than 15%.

Cultural References

• The Swimming Horror's appearance closely resembles the general appearance for the Loch Ness Monster, a Scottish cryptid.
• Wavey Jones' name is a reference to the phrase Davy Jones' Locker, which is a common metaphor for drowning among sailors

Bugs

• In the Hamlet DLC, Swimming Horrors cannot actually teleport when attacked in the Lily Pond biome.

Gallery

• 

  A Swimming Horror about to attack Wilson, as seen in the Shipwrecked trailer.

• 

  Swimming Horror and Mr. Skittish as seen in the poster for the Hang Ten update.