Worm

The **Worm** is a playable character in *Last Train Outta' Wormtown*, serving as the main antagonist of the game, with the goal of killing all of the Pardners before they escape from Darwin.

## Role

The goal of Worms is to hunt down and kill every single Pardner before they escape on a Train, or a hot air balloon if only one Pardner remains.

## Mechanics

### Vision

The Worm is unable to see Pardners, or most items, unless they are on the sand, and moving. Movement on the sand is indicated by a red ping while underground, which can be seen globally, and by a red dot while above ground, which can only be seen when it is nearby. The Worm cannot see pings while airborne.

### Health

**Health** is currently only lost in 3 ways; when a Pardner escapes from the Worm's mouth, when the Worm is shot by a bullworm rifle, or when the Worm is within the radius of a dynamite explosion. When the Worm loses health, it is forced to burrow underground and cannot unburrow until its health regenerates. Health regenerates automatically, but can be sped up by going further from where the health was initially lost at. This is divided into 3 "rings," the first ring heals the slowest, the second heals faster, and the third heals the fastest. The second and third rings also heal the Worm significantly faster after sundown.

## Default Abilities

### Pounce

**Pouncing** propels the Worm in the direction it is facing, causing it to grab any Pardner or almost any item in its path, or damage any structure except traincars. Pardners will have their health drained while in the Worm's mouth, while items will be swallowed after a short time. Pouncing while unburrowing propels the Worm much further. This move has a short cooldown.

### Sneak

**Sneaking** prevents the Worm from emitting any ground rumbles or noises while it moves. Sneaking while mid-air will slow the Worm's momentum down.

### Burrow/Unburrow

**Burrowing** causes the Worm to dig underground, while **unburrowing** brings the Worm back to the surface. While underground, the Worm can see notifications globally. Burrowing can only be manually performed while on the sand, though it can be done anywhere if the Worm is forced to burrow via losing health.

### Sonar Scream

**Sonar screaming** reveals any Pardners or props within a certain radius for 6 seconds. This move has a default cooldown of 60 seconds. After sundown, the sonar scream will have its cooldown reduced and its range will become infinite.

### Sinkhole

**Sinkhole** creates a vortex underground the slowly pulls the surface rocks downward into the sand. Pardners are slowed by 80% if they walk inside of it.

## Selected Abilities

Worms can only select 2 of these abilities, before the game starts.

### Sandstorm

**Sandstorm** summons a turbulent sandstorm, pushing Pardners in randomly changing directions and obscuring their vision. This lasts for 20 seconds and has a cooldown of 2 minutes.

### Armored Carapace

**Armored carapace** summons a temporary armor shell around the Worm, protecting it from all damage and allowing it to destroy structures in a single hit. This lasts for 16 seconds, until it nullifies damage, or until the Worm destroys a structure, and has a cooldown of 60 seconds.

### Stealth

**Stealth** envelops the Worm in a bubble, allowing it to move smoothly and silently through the sand. While active, the Worm will not make any movement noise or create ground tremors. This lasts for 20 seconds or until the Worm pounces, and has a cooldown of 90 seconds.

### Bodyslam

**Bodyslamming** causes the Worm to roar before slamming itself against the ground, pushing and damaging anything within the 30 unit wide impact area, dealing 10 damage to Pardners and 1 damage to structures. This has a cooldown of 60 seconds, and can only be performed while in mid-air.

### Tar Wall

**Tar wall** summons a ring of tar spires that slowly close in to create a wall. Pardners cannot pass through or climb the wall, and get slowed down if they touch it, but the Worm can move unimpeded. This lasts for 16 seconds and has a cooldown of 65 seconds, and cannot be performed while in mid-air.

### Sandtrap

**Sandtrap** is an ensnaring trap in the sand created by the Worm. Any Pardner that lands in the trap area will be pulled into the ground and revealed to the Worm, and will have to complete a mini game akin to the mouth escape mini game to escape. This has a cooldown of 45 seconds and can only be used while above ground and touching the sand.

### Bile Bomb

**Bile bomb** is a caustic mass of bile flung from the Worm's stomach, sticking to surfaces before exploding. This has a cooldown of 25 seconds, detonates after 3.5 seconds, deals 20 damage to Pardners, and can only be performed while above ground.

### Magma Trail

**Magma trail** creates through the deep layers of soil, forcing boiling magma to erupt from the surface, leaving a trail of magma patches the Worm for 10 seconds. This has a cooldown of 2 minutes, lasts 12 seconds for each patch, deals 3 damage per second to Pardners, which lingers for 1.5 seconds, and can only be used underground.

## Change Log

### Patch May 19th, 2023

* Worms can now see other Worms while underground.

### Patch July 12th, 2023

* Worms no longer heal by collecting pink orbs, and instead heal automatically, which becomes faster the further away they are from where they got stunned.

### Patch July 17th, 2023

* Worms now remove 10% of a Pardner's current health upon grabbing them.
* Slightly reduced the rate at which Worms auto-heal while underground.
* Increased the size of the underground Worm healing rings.
* Worms can now see items that they are very close to.
* Worms can now see any size X item that is on the sand, except the train key.

### Patch July 27th, 2023

* Worms now deal 10 damage to nearby Pardners when screaming after sundown.
* Worms now get healed significantly faster in the second and third ring after sundown.

### The Art of Worm Update

* Introduced 8 new Worm abilities; sandstorm, armored carapace, stealth, bodyslam, tar wall, sandtrap, bile bomb, and scorching sands. Worms can select 2 of these abilities in the lobby.
* Worms no longer deal 10 damage to nearby Pardners when screaming after sundown.
* Backpacks and kit items now have a dithering effect to prevent blocking the Worm's view with a Pardner in their mouth that has one equipped.
* Changed the Worm's HUD.
* Added a toggle for the "first-person Worm mouth" visuals when playing Worm.

### Patch September 22nd, 2023

* Reduced bile bomb damage from 30 to 20.
* Increased bile bomb detonation time from 3.3 seconds to 3.5 seconds.
* Reduced scorching sands duration from 30 seconds to 25 seconds.
* Reduced scorching sands damage from 3 seconds to 2.5 seconds.
* Reduced body slam range from 35 units to 30 units.

### Patch September 29th, 2023

* The Worm's body slam ability can now leave craters in the sand, with the lowest possible points being the ground where the train tracks are, and the ground at the Quarry.

### Patch November 17th, 2023

* Worms can now "sneak" which makes them emit no sound while moving.
* Worms now have air control when airborne or on top of a non-sand surface. The Worm will redirect it's momentum slightly in the direction the camera is facing.
* Worms now have a new default ability, "sinkhole."
* Removed scorching sands and replaced it with magma trail.
* Reworked tar wall for the tar spires to spawn further out go through structures and rocks, and slowly close in to create the wall.
* Increased tar wall cooldown to 65 seconds.

### Patch December 4th, 2023

* Sandstorm visual effects now match the map theme.

## Trivia

* Originally, only one Worm would have been in the game, but this was later changed to allow as many as the host of the game wants. This is the reason for the promotional content only saying "Worm" and not "Worms."