Koalefant

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Winter=

"Adorably delicious."

- Wilson

A Koalefant is a neutral Animal that spawns after the player has tracked it down by examining Suspicious Dirt Piles.

Once spawned, a Koalefant will actively avoid the player until it is attacked, at which point the animal becomes hostile and will chase the player for a distance. If left alive, they drop Manure, similar to Beefalo (both Mobs use similar models in the game).

A Koalefant takes three blasts from the Ice Staff to be frozen and drops 8 Meat and a Koalefant Trunk when killed. While technically a Food item, the Koalefant Trunk can be used to craft the Breezy Vest.

Winter Koalefant
During Winter, the Koalefant is replaced by the Winter Koalefant, which has a seasonally appropriate color change. When killed, a Winter Koalefant drops a Winter Koalefant Trunk, which can be used to craft the Puffy Vest.

A Koalefant that was already spawned before the season change will remain as a normal Koalefant during Winter. Should Koalefant tracks be found before winter and followed during winter, a Winter Koalefant will be found.

Hunting


Koalefant tracks can be found by investigating a Suspicious Dirt Pile. These can be found randomly in the world and will change locations if ignored for a period of time. Once examined, the Suspicious Dirt Pile will be uncovered by the character and replaced by an animal footprint pointing in the direction of travel. Another pile of dirt will then spawn approximately two screens away.

Upon uncovering the final footprint (there can be between 6 and 12 per hunt), the character will alert the player that the creature is close and a Koalefant will be spawned rather than another track. Note the information provided below if playing with the RoG expansion. If playing DST, a Ewecus spawning is another possibility. The mob will remain in the world until it is killed, regardless of which Seasons pass.



Occasionally when uncovering the tracks, the footprint will not appear and the character will communicate the end of the trail to the player, resulting in the animal being lost. Generally, another Suspicious Dirt Pile will spawn nearby for the player to restart the hunt. The animal may also be lost if the player ignores a track, resulting in the footprint slowly fading away after about a minute or so.

Behavior
When approached, the Koalefant will run away from the player until it is hit by an attack. Using a Boomerang, Blow Dart, or Sleep Dart is the most effective way to initiate a fight; however, the animal can also be cornered (see tips) and struck with a melee weapon to engage.

After it has been angered, the Koalefant will attempt to close the distance between the attacker and strikes with the same timing as a beefalo, although with considerably more damage. A player can safely Kite one with an attack pattern of 5-6 swings depending on movement speed, however, if there is more than one Koalefant on-screen then all of them will become aggressive towards the attacker until they are killed or outrun.

Below is the number of hits it takes with each weapon to kill Koalefants when playing with characters with a default damage modifier. The Weather Pain is not included due to the random nature of its projectile.

Reign of Giants
In the Reign of Giants DLC, a trail might lead to a Varg instead of a Koalefant, and the chance gradually increases as days pass, up to roughly 1/3 of followed tracks by day 100. The player is unable to tell which animal will be at the end of the tracks before encountering it.

Also, if tracked while or shortly after rain, there is a chance a track will not appear at some point after the first, whereas normally if the character remains in the correct rough spot, the track ought to be there for a couple of seconds. When this happens, the character will comment that the wet ground cannot sustain tracks.

Tips

 * If found at night the Koalefant can be seen sleeping, and while it will eventually wake up and continue running away if approached, the time the animal takes to do this will give the player opportunity for a melee strike to engage it in combat.
 * If killed with fire, the regular loot of 8 Meat will be replaced with 8 Cooked Meat, and the Trunk will be replaced with Ashes.
 * As with anything that spawns resources, there is a chance for the Koalefant's loot to fall into the water and be lost if the items are dropped too close to sea line.
 * Cornering the Koalefant can be difficult to control with varying land tile layouts, it's more reliable to "trap" it using only one boundary. This can be done by herding the animal up against the obstruction, at which point it will begin to run sideways along the edge in an attempt to escape. If the player is able to catch up with it fast enough, the Koalefant will no longer run along the boundary but instead be stationary as it attempts to run directly into it
 * Cornering the Koalefant can be difficult to control with varying land tile layouts, it's more reliable to "trap" it using only one boundary. This can be done by herding the animal up against the obstruction, at which point it will begin to run sideways along the edge in an attempt to escape. If the player is able to catch up with it fast enough, the Koalefant will no longer run along the boundary but instead be stationary as it attempts to run directly into it

Trivia

 * The name "Koalefant" is a portmanteau of "koala" and "elephant".
 * When examined by Maxwell he states "It's a distant cousin of the Beefalo".
 * Although the Koalefant is considered a neutral Mob, killing it does not affect the Naughtiness level.
 * A Koalefant can be chased into a pen to be kept as a pet.
 * A Telelocator Staff & Focus can also be used to achieve this.

Bugs

 * Sometimes a Koalefant will not appear at the end of a trail, even though the player states that they found the animal.
 * A Suspicious Dirt Pile can spawn in the ocean, making it unreachable.
 * A Suspicious Dirt Pile near the ocean can despawn while investigating it.
 * A Koalefant may spawn in (or be able to walk on) the ocean, making them unreachable with melee weapons.
 * Suspicious Dirt Piles layer incorrectly when directly behind the pole of a Touch Stone. Once investigated, the track is correctly placed.