Crystal Deerclops

Crystal Deerclops is a Boss Monster exclusive to Don't Starve Together, introduced in the Host of Horrors update as part of the From Beyond series.
It spawns if a Deerclops is slain when a fully formed Lunar Rift is active in the world. If the Deerclops carcass is not immediately destroyed (by burning it down), a Brightshade Gestalt will appear then go into the corpse and proceed to reanimate it. This reduces the number of Deadly Brightshades spawned from that rift.
When killed, it will drop 2 Pure Brilliances and 3-4 Rot. If killed for the first time and at least one Posessed Varg and Armored Bearger have been defeated before, Wagstaff will appear and grant the player a Spark Ark. If all three mutants have been defeated once before, every killed Crystal Deerclops will grant the player a Spark Ark, as long as the previous killed mutant is not a Crystal Deerclops.
== Behavior ==
When not engaged in combat, Crystal Deerclops will wander around its spawn area. Unlike normal Deerclops, it will not actively target player-built structures, however, collateral damage may still occur during combat. Same as the normal Deerclops, should winter end, Crystal Deerclops will try to wander out of the player's view and despawn if not engaged in combat.
In combat, Crystal Deerclops will first create a large freezing aura around it that reduces the temperature of players in it to 0 and also slows them down. Players in the freezing aura will be frozen much faster by Ice Staves and Ice Rounds (if PvP is enabled) or by Crystal Deerclops' and Deerclops' melee attack.
Crystal Deerclops has two attacks: the first is simmilar to Deerclop's melee attack and has the same effects on hit players, and the second is only performed if the player gets too far. During its ranged attack, Crystal Deerclops will rip one of the icicles out from its back and throws it at the player, creating a temporary freezing area (similar to that around Crystal Deerclops) on impact. Once it uses both its icicles, Crystal Deerclops will enter a reload animation.
== Strategy ==
While Crystal Deerclops can be kited in a similar manner to regular Deerclops, it is not recommended, as it takes a long time to kill it and its freezing aura will also slow down and freeze players, slowing the fight down even more. Crystal Deerclops' swipe attack also recovers faster than that of regular Deerclops, making it unsafe to counterattack if he is not throwing an icicle.
Crystal Deerclops will throw two icicles before needing to reload. If Crystal Deerclops is hit with a fire-related weapon during its reload animation (such as a Fire Staff or Fire Dart), it will fall to the ground for about three seconds, becoming vulnerable to attacks. It will then stand up and become unable to create freeze auras around its feet, although it can still throw icicles. After taking 1200 damage, Crystal Deerclops will return to making ice auras under its feet until it is set on fire again in the reload animation.
Crystal Deerclops possesses Planar Entity Protection, thus a Brightshade Sword and/or a Shadow Reaper are a good weapon choice for this fight. A good idea is to spam Brightshade Bombs on it when it is stunned, then use a Shadow Reaper (which deals 10% more damage to lunar-aligned creatures) during its icicle-less phase.
== Trivia ==
*Crystal Deerclops was introduced in the Host of Horrors update.
*During the early Beta testing phase, Crystal Deerclops could be stunned at any time. This was changed in a Hotfix by adding its icicle-less phase.
*In the phase in which the Crystal Deerclops loses its icicles, its eye socket is seen to be empty and occupied by a Brightshade Gestalt. This is because the Deerclops loses its eye when it first dies, before being reanimated by the Brightshade Gestalt occupying it eye socket.
*As it only drops Rot, Ice, and Pure Brilliance, all coming from other, less dangerous sources as well, it is not recommended to fight the Crystal Deerclops unless players are in need of Spark Arks.
Category:Mobs
Category:Boss Monsters
Category:Don't Starve Together
Category:Surface Creatures
Category:Hostile Creatures
Category:Sanity Loss
Category:Object Destroyers
Category:Area of Effect
Category:From Beyond
Category:Lunar Aligned