Crawltipede

The Crawltipede is a Hardmode, post-Lunatic Cultist, worm-like enemy which spawns in Solar Pillar areas during the Lunar Events. Uniquely, it has no health bar, and instead can only be destroyed by damaging its tail, which can be difficult to hit. It flies directly at airborne players and deals high damage, while ignoring players on the ground.
Something to note is that while its health may be very high and its tail can be hard to hit, the Crawltipede takes significantly more damage from all attacks than it should, as if it had a high multiplier for damage taken. This makes killing it easier than one might think, though still sometimes difficult.
The Crawltipedes' primary role seems to be forcing the player to stay near the ground, opening them up to melee attacks from the other invasion enemies.
== Segments ==
NPC ID	Type	Type	Damage	Defense
== Notes ==
* The Crawltipede only targets players about 8 tiles above the ground and completely ignores players standing on the ground.
* Hitting a Crawltipede's tail causes 10 times more damage than attacking a normal enemy, despite them having no visible health bar and taking damage in no other apparent way.
* Players standing on the surface of a liquid (e.g. with the Water Walking Boots, its upgrades, or the Water Walking buff) are not considered to be standing on the ground by a Crawltipede and will be targeted. Players suspended by grappling hooks (except for the and Anti-Gravity Hook) will not be targeted.
*Only a single Crawltipede can be alive at a time, and it will always fly around in a large area above the nearest player, making sure it is always ready to attack players that get too far off the ground.
== Tips ==
* The Crawltipede will approach flying players quickly and can deal massive damage. It moves swiftly and is able to make quick sharp turns. When compared to other worms, its agility is only beaten out by the Dune Splicer, though the Crawltipede has the advantage of being able to freely move through the air. It is very hard to dodge even with high-tier wings. Therefore, players should avoid this enemy as much as possible.
** The immense mobility granted by the , combined with the , facilitates outrunning and dodging the Crawltipede.
* Short jumps into the air are usually possible, but it is important to land again quickly.
* Homing and fast hitting weapons such as the Razorblade Typhoon, Possessed Hatchet, or Chlorophyte Bullets will make fighting a Crawltipede much easier. Likewise, minions make short work of this enemy as they will target the tail without the need for the player to aim.
* Vampire Knives are very effective against Crawltipedes, due to the overall increased damage against them. This in turn rewards increased life regeneration, and thus players can very swiftly restore up to 40HP (two hearts of health) with just one or two successful attacks.
* If using a powerful magic weapon and wearing Spectre armor with the Spectre Hood, hitting the tail can heal for 600+ HP, the highest self-heal per hit in the game.
* If the Solar Pillar has been defeated before, the Solar Eruption is somewhat effective against the Crawltipede. Its swinging motion and long length can easily hit Crawltipedes' tails.
*Since Crawltipedes will not target players standing on platforms, placing a lot of layers of platforms in the area may help fighting Crawltipedes.
** Hammered platforms on the bottom position won't count and the player standing on them will be chased by the Crawltipede.
* An unusual and perhaps somewhat dangerous method of dealing with the Crawltipede is waiting for it to curl up, then using the Cosmic Car Key to hover on the inside of its curl. The Crawltipede cannot turn sharply enough to reach the player, instead forming a circle around them. It can then be attacked from within its own "trap". The only issue is that there is not much room to move without touching the Crawltipede's body, which makes the player susceptible to Corites until the Crawltipede has been killed.
== Trivia ==
* It is the only destructible enemy without a health bar.
* It would appear, at least on the , that the Tally Counter does not properly count Crawltipedes killed (it will always display as 0).
* The Crawltipede may be a reference to Moldorm from the fantasy action-adventure video game franchise – more specifically, , , or – where Moldorm appears as a giant black or yellow centipede that can only be damaged by striking its tail. It has a habit of attempting to knock Link into the pit surrounding the arena, similar to the Crawltipedes' habit of flying directly into an airborne player.
* Should it happen to enter the area of another Celestial Pillar, its color changes accordingly.
* Its name is a portmanteau of crawl and centipede.
:* Although this states that the Crawltipede has no eyes, it has four black eyes on its head.
== History ==