Komodo Dragon

* Current (S2)
* Emperor Varande
* Dowager Varande
* Golden Komodo
* Night Komodo
* Classic Skin

* Climbing Trees
* Faster Movement on mud and in quicksand.
* Can dive in mud.
* Consumes carcasses and bones.

"*UPGRADED to Komodo Dragon!
Komodo Dragons have a very poisonous bite. Press W to bite! Also eat bones.*"

The **Komodo Dragon**, also referred to as the **Komodo**, is a tier 13 Desert animal in Mope.io. It is equivalent to the Hippo, Boa Constrictor, Ostrich, Killer Whale and Sabertooth Tiger, and was released in the Desert Update on April 27, 2019.

## Technical

* Upgrades from the Bison, Eagle, Rhino, Shark, Wolverine or Markhor at 350K XP.
* Upgrades to the Blackwidow Spider, Elephant, Cassowary, Blue Whale or Mammoth at 650K XP.
* It can consume all food sources in the game, with the exception of the date, cactus pear and berry.
* Prey of the Komodo Dragon includes all animals within the range of tier 12 to tier 6 (Bison to Gazelle).
* Predators of the Komodo Dragon includes all animals within the range of tier 14 to tier 17 (Blackwidow Spider to Black Dragon).
* The special ability of the Komodo Dragon is "Poison Bite;" when activated by pressing `W`, the Komodo Dragon will bite outwards with its mouth and drag the bitten animal for a second, causing intense water-loss (it works on both prey and predators, but is more effective on the former).
* The passive abilities of the Komodo Dragon includes:
	+ Faster Movement on quicksand patches and in mud (additionally can dive in mud).
	+ Climbing on trees.
	+ Comsuming carcasses and bones.
	+ Creating a sweat droplet that looks like a water pod by standing in one spot for a prolonged time; once the sweat droplet develops, animals that move over it will sweat and lose water.
* It can use every hiding spot other than small hiding holes.

## Appearance

There are multiple design quirks that are consistent among all skins of the Komodo Dragon:

* All skins periodically stick out their tongue or lick their snout quickly.
* When using its Special Ability, the Komodo's mouth will open to bite (complete with its forked tongue) and it will appear angry. Its head will lurch forward and swing back to its original position.
* The Komodo Dragon’s nose darkens and lightens the more the player needs water. At full darkness, its eyes will also squint slightly.

### Current (S2)

The ultra high-definition "*Season 2*" Komodo Dragon design, which is currently the default skin in-game, has a wrinkeled khaki brown body. It has a round nose with prominent nostrils, and a long thick tail. Various light spots decorate the "*Season 2*" Komodo Dragon's body. Its tongue is forked and bright blue. The eyes of this skin are black with white pupils, and have a frown.

### Emperor Varande

The Emperor Varande is orange with rhombuses on its back and head. The rhombuses on its back are paler orange, while all others are yellow. It has a highlight shaped like an arrow on its snout and a yellow ring beneath its eyes.

### Dowager Varande

The Dowager Varande looks very similar to the Emperor Varande, but is bright teal. The circular spots on its back have slight corners to them, and it has curved lines on its head. The ring under its eyes is lighter.

### Night Komodo

The Night Komodo Dragon is purple with light purple spots on its back. On its head, between its eyes and nostrils, there is a lighter patch of purple that can be seen.

### Golden Komodo

The Golden Komodo Dragon is similar to Classic skin of the Komodo Dragon, except its skin is golden instead. It also has more wrinkles than the other Komodo skins.

### Classic Skin

The Classic Komodo Dragon skin has a khaki body like its successor skin, but unlike its successor has less wrinkles and no spots. This skin has round black eyes, two small nostrils, and a long tail.

## Strategy

* The player has two primary options for leveling up: one of which is farming food sources in the Desert.
	+ Cacti are the main source of XP, along with aloevera plants, for the player as a Komodo Dragon. Eating an aloevera before cacti is important, as the aloevera allows the player to consume the former without receiving damage.
		- The player will need to make sure they maintain their animal's water bar as farming can often reduce it by a lot. Use Healing Stones or water spots to regain water.
	+ Alternatively, the player can go to patches of quicksand or oases to eat melons and Chili Peppers, both of which provide substantial XP. In an oasis, however, the player will need to stay out of the water as Komodo Dragons are fast in quicksand, but not in water sources.
	+ The player can also eat other Desert food sources such as oranges and watermelons. The latter are risky due to being located in the Desert's lava patches, and do not provide a huge amount of XP.
	+ There are very few food sources outside of the Desert that provide as much XP, and the player's survival is typically only viable in the Land biome. Because of this, sticking to the Desert is the best option when farming.
* The second option for leveling up is to gain XP via killing prey. Being at tier 13, there are a myriad of animals that the Komodo Dragon can eat.
	+ When the player uses the "Poison Bite" ability on prey, be sure to pursue the prey while it sweats as the bitten animal will likely run out of water and be easy to kill if blocked from a water source.
	+ The Bison, which is a tier below the Komodo Dragon, has the highest XP of all prey of the Komodo Dragon. It cannot move fast on quicksand, or climb on trees/hills, so the player can easily trap and kill a Bison by using the "Poison Bite" ability on a Bison.
		- When chasing a Bison, the player will need to watch out for the Bison's "Gores" ability, which can knock the player into the air, far away from the prey they were chasing.
		- If the player sees a Bison charging, they should try to press `W` before it reaches the player. If the timing is right, the Bison might be affected by it. Their charging hitbox is large and the sweat bite's hitbox is relatively small, but the hitbox lasts long so the player might get thrown into the air yet still cause the Bison to sweat.
	+ Most other Desert prey of the Komodo Dragon has advantages in terrain. For example, the Vulture and Gobi Bear can climb on hills and rocks, while the Rattlesnake can move fast in quicksand. However, the Hyena has no Passive Ability whatsoever, and as such is a potentially easier target if its ability does not slow down the player too much.
* The Komodo Dragon has very little defense and cannot climb hills or rocks, so it has no realistic way of combatting predators. Thus, predators should be avoided in almost all instances.
	+ When being chased by a predator, the only thing that the player can do other than hiding is to use the "Poison Bite" ability on the predator to make them sweat rapidly. If successful, this will cause the predator to leave and rehydrate.
	+ With that being said, predators with the low water indicator (small blue dot) can be good targets for the "Poison Bite" to be used on; it may cause the predator to die of dehydration or from one of their own predators.
	+ In emergencies if being chased by a Desert predator, the player can go to the land biome through a patch of mud. The Komodo Dragon is unaffected by mud, and in addition can also dive in it if necessary. Against non-Desert predators, the player can re-enter the Desert biome and hope that the burn debuff will cause the predator to leave.
		- As the Komodo Dragon can climb on trees, the player can seek refuge in the Forest biome from non-tree-climbing predators. However, the player will suffer freeze damage when drinking water from the Forest, so it is not the perfect sanctuary.
* The Komodo Dragon has a special feature that was never mentioned in the changelog; the sweat puddle. It begins with a small, innocent, light blue drop (which appears to be a water drop) that grows over time into a moderate-sized puddle that can be used for both defensive and offensive tactics.
	+ In order to make a sweat puddle, the player must simply stand still and wait. The animation of the Komodo Dragon will make the Komodo Dragon start to lick its nose and the darker its nose gets, the closer the player is to generating a small drop of sweat.
		- The player can step back from the spot momentarily to make sure they have already generated it, and as soon as the player does, they must stay on top of the little drop until it turns into a little puddle, now harmful to any animal that lands on it.
		- However, the player can make the puddle grow even bigger by standing on it for even longer, increasing its sweat effect and range. It has in total from 4 or 5 states of size counting the small drop at first before it starts to dry up and disappear.
	+ All the animals that land on it (except other Komodo Dragons), will suffer a sweat effect, so the player can use this puddle to hunt, by lingering near enough that prey will not be alarmed away from the area, chasing and killing the prey when it begins to sweat.
	+ In case of a predator, the player can simply stay on the opposite side of the predator while the sweat pool is in the middle of both players, so if the predator is going to chase the player, it will have to go through the sweat puddle.
* The Komodo Dragon has a large tail, and thus are especially prone to having their tail bitten by low-tier animals. Whenever the player sees prey that is following them, the player should use the Sweat Bite to deter the prey, though only if no predators are nearby.
	+ The Gazelle is a consistent offender, as their "Jump High" ability allows them to leap over other players and bite the tail of animals such as the Bison, and Komodo Dragon with ease. Enter a hiding hole or use the Komodo Dragon's Special Ability to counter a leaping Gazelle.
	+ The Warthog is another animal that is known for tail-biting predators with ease, due to its "Charge" ability. When in sight of a Warthog, don't stop focusing on it unless being chased by a predator. When it charges and says "GRRUNT!" in the chat, pivot around to face it and thereby block its path, then bite it with the player's Special Ability.

## Gallery

### Assets

The tongue of the Komodo Dragon (used for all skins).The ultra high-definition "*Season 2*"Komodo Dragon skin (in-game from February 1, 2022–).The high-definition Komodo Dragon skin using its ability.The body of the "*Season 2*" Komodo Dragon.The tail of the "*Season 2*" Komodo Dragon.The head of the "*Season 2*" Dragon.The nose of the "*Season 2*" Dragon.The "*Season 2*" Komodo Dragon's head when it uses its "Poison Bite" ability.The Emperor Varande (in-store from May 22, 2021–).The Emperor Varande when using its Special Ability.The body of the Emperor Varande.The Emperor Varande's tail.The head of the Emperor Varande.The nose of the Emperor Varande.The Emperor Varande's head when it uses its "Poison Bite" ability.The Dowager Varande (in-store from May 22, 2021–).The Dowager Varande when using its Special Ability.The body of the Dowager Varande.The Dowager Varande's tail.The head of the Dowager Varande.The nose of the Dowager Varande.The Dowager Varande's head when it uses its "Poison Bite" ability.The Golden Komodo Dragon (in-store from December 23, 2019–).The Night Komodo when its Special Ability is used.The body of the Golden Komodo Dragon.The head of the Golden Komodo Dragon.The nose of the Golden Komodo Dragon.The Golden Komodo Dragon's head when it uses its "Poison Bite" ability.The tail of the Golden Komodo Dragon.The Night Komodo skin (in-store from December 23, 2019–).The Night Komodo when its Special Ability is used.The body of the Night Komodo Dragon.The head of the Night Komodo Dragon.The nose of the Night Komodo Dragon.The Night Komodo Dragon's head when it uses its "Poison Bite" ability.The tail of the Golden Komodo Dragon.The "*Season 1*" Komodo Dragon skin (in-game from April 27, 2019 – January 31, 2022).The "*Season 1*" Komodo Dragon when its Special Ability is used.The body of the "*Season 1*" Komodo Dragon.The head of the "*Season 1*" Komodo Dragon.The nose of the "*Season 1*" Komodo Dragon.The "*Season 1*" Komodo Dragon's head when it uses its "Poison Bite" ability.The tail of the "*Season 1*" Komodo Dragon.
### In-game

A Komodo Dragon using its "Poison Bite" ability on a T-REX.A Night Komodo and Komodo Dragon standing next to each other.A Komodo Dragon in the ocean.A Komodo Dragon that's been tossed in the air by a Dino Monster.A Giant Spider sweating after being bitten by a Komodo Dragon.A T-REX sweating from a sweat puddle of the Komodo Dragon.Two Komodo Dragons and a Bison near quicksand in an oasis.A freshly upgraded Golden Komodo.A Komodo Dragon by its sweat puddle.An Emperor Varande Komodo Dragon with a PumpkinThe same Emperor Varande having killed a T-RexA Dowager Varande with a Rainbow UmbrellaA new komodo dragon in a desert volcano.An Emperor Varande by several Healing StonesA Night Komodo roaming the Desert.A Night Komodo casually eating an Aloevera in an Oasis.

## History

 December 23, 2019: #GoldenAge | * It can move fast in quicksand now.
 June 18, 2019 | * Sweating duration reduced by 20%.
 April 27, 2019: Desert Update | * Added.

## Trivia

* The Komodo Dragon is the only animal that has a body sprite separate from a tail sprite.
* It is one of the few animals with animation (excluding the flying ability's animation).
* It has the same initials as the King Dragon (KD). However, the Komodo Dragon's abbreviated form is rarely used.
* As early as March 2017, the Komodo Dragon was confirmed by Pike to be an upcoming feature. However, it was not released until two years later.

### Glitches

* The tongue flick animation (specifically the one where the Komodo Dragon licks its eyes) is currently bugged and will flicker sometimes when played.
* When the Komodo Dragon climbs trees, for some reason it does not fully show in the tree and looks as though it is still on ground level. Whether this is a glitch or not is currently unknown.

## Footnotes

### References

1. ↑ Revealed in a screenshot.

* Land
* Ocean
* Arctic
* Desert
* Forest
* Lava
* Rares
* Poisonous
* AI
* Unreleased
* Re-added

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