Dragonfly

"That's one fly dragon!"

- Wilson

Dragonfly is one of the four giants in Don't Starve: Reign of Giants. It spawns during Summer. When killed, Dragonfly drops Scales and 8 Meat.

Attack Pattern
When hit, the Dragonfly will enrage and do a large "ring of fire" AOE attack after squeaking; any Campfires or Endothermic Fires caught in the attack will be fueled up and Mobs will be set on fire. Otherwise it will do a swipe attack that can't be kited unless the player has at least a 75% speed boost. When enraged it engulfs itself in flames and deal constant fire damge to anything nearby, while also setting flammable objects on fire. After being left alone for a while, Dragonfly will calm down and revert to its normal form. Attacking with any ranged attack seems to provoke it into using its area attack, making it easier to get away.

Strategy
Dragonfly will stay neutral for as long as it is not attacked. It will spit lava on various objects turning them to Ashes, which it then eats. When Dragonfly has consumed 20 or more Ashes, it will fall asleep.

When attacked or if the player gets too close, it will enter its "enraged mode", lighting everything in its path on fire. During rain, this mode doesn't last as long, and if frozen, Dragonfly will immediately return to its calm state when it thaws. When enraged, it will move at most characters' base movement speed, making it near impossible to escape. When it gets in range of its target, it uses a swipe attack while moving forward. When contact has been made, it will slam the ground three times, creating a ring of fire with each impact. This attack will set objects on fire, causing massive AoE damage.

A Tentacle Spike or better is recommended when fighting Dragonfly, as well as two Football Helmets and two Log Suits. The AoE ground slam can deal enough damage to instantly kill some characters. Hit and run tactics will allow two strikes from the player while it is using this attack. A very cold Thermal Stone will likely be needed during this fight, to avoid Overheating.

One of the easiest ways to deal with any boss in Don't Starve is a Sleep Dart/Pan Flute and Old Bell/14 Gunpowder combination. Not only does the 14 Gunpowder instantly bring Dragonfly down, but since it is immune to fire damage, it will not destroy its loot.

Another effective way to deal with Dragonfly is by “feeding” it 20 Ashes (Actually just put the pile of Ashes onto the ground, one cannot directly give the Ashes to Dragonfly). Afterwhich it will start flying toward the pile and then inhale those Ashes. Before long it will stumble into deepsleep, one can then use 14 Gunpowder listed above to finish it off.

28 Blow Darts can make short work of Dragonfly. Using either a Blow Dart attack or Ice Staff will coax it into stomping giving you time to get away after swinging at it with melee weapons.

The Old Bell can be used twice to weaken it, leaving it with 750 health points. Placing three or four piles of Ashes on the ground and ringing the Old Bell as Dragonfly comes for them is a very effective way to get it to stay put as Bigfoot approaches.

Treeguards or any type of monster with large amounts of health seem to be able to fight Dragonfly and deal noticeable damage.

Refrain from luring it to areas with Beefalo or Pigs, as tempting as it may be, as it will simply kill them all in 1-2 attacks.

If unable to apply the above strategies, try to lure Dragonfly to a swamp (or run to a swamp after hearing it's "incoming attacker" growl). Tentacles and Merms can be used to defeat it. Drop Ashes close to some tentacles. Every time it kills any hostile monster, it will be reset to a calm state. Rinse and repeat the process until it simply drops dead.

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

Trivia

 * The name Dragonfly is a portmanteau of the words "Dragon" and "Fly" and also a tongue-in-cheek portmanteau of the words "Dragon" and "Dragonfly".
 * Dragonfly is attracted to flammable objects, but instead of eating them directly, it will spit lava on them and eat the leftover Ashes. This is similar to how real flies spit out digestive juices onto their food before sucking it up.
 * Dragonfly is the mob with the highest DPS in the game.
 * Dragonfly's attack pattern resets when re-loading the game, causing it to use its AoE ground slam attack.

Bugs

 * Sometimes, no damage will be taken from Dragonfly's flaming aura if the player runs straight towards him after he has finished his slam. This will last until the next swipe.
 * Dragonfly can die from two hits of the Old Bell (instead of three).

Gallery
Драконья Муха