Depths Worm

"Does dirt normally move around?"

- Willow

The Depths Worm is a hostile Mob found in Caves and Ruins. When it is not engaged with the player, it will seek out areas with harvestable objects then set its lure and lay in wait, or emerge to consume meats. This lure will appear as a small blue flower labeled "Mysterious Plant". If the player approaches the displayed lure, the worm will emerge and attack. During this time the main body of the worm resides underground.

The Depths Worm serves the same function below ground as Hounds above ground; they will periodically spawn in a wave to attack the player. Before an attack, the player will begin to hear rumbling growls which grow more frequent the closer the attack draws. The older a world is, the more frequently attacks will come and the more worms will spawn with each wave. Initially, attacks will occur every 12 days with 1 Worm. At 150 days the waves reach their maximum intensity and will come every 5 days with 3 worms.

Very rarely a single worm may be encountered in the Mushtree Forest biome.

Tips

 * While underground, Depth Worms will rarely trigger Tooth Traps, making them a poor defensive option when facing multiple Worms. Bee Mines on the other hand will do wonders. Five or six of them will be enough to deal with a Worm.
 * Pigs and Bunnymen will ensure a safe place from the worms as the Pigs and Bunnies will attack them on sight. Pigs will automatically leave their homes during the day and Bunnymen will also leave during dusk and night so befriending items are not needed if the player stays near their homes. The bigger the waves are the more Houses and Hutches one will need though. Giving protective helmets to them will make them more efficient.
 * Rock Lobsters are the best option to deal with Depth Worms. A group of 3-4 of them will make quick work of Worm waves even when they're at their maximum size. The lobsters don't need to be fully mature, small ones will work too.
 * Depths Worms will always follow the same attack pattern: attacking once, followed by a brief resurface, then a second attack followed by no resurface. It is possible to get 4-5 hits in after the first attack, during the initial diving and subsequent surfacing.
 * Depths Worms cannot be frozen by an Ice Staff but being hit by it will still stun them.
 * Despite moving underground, Depths Worms will still be unable to go past Walls.

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

Spawn rate
Similar to Hounds Worms spawn delay is decreasing and amount is increasing on Default man generation settings.

Most annoying custom setting is less harmful then after 100+ on Default. Data extracted from ''DST/data/scripts/prefabs/cave.lua. Code reuses DST/data/scripts/components/hounded.lua ''that is why some patterns for Worms are similar to Hounds.

Trivia

 * During the Nightmare phase of the Ruins, the pinkish purple segments of the worm's fur will become a vibrant red. This is due to a side effect of the nightmare cycle, one which causes all traces of red to glow a vibrant, magenta-red color during the active phase.
 * The Worm was added in the Six Feet Under update.
 * The striations and coloration are similar to that of the Sandworms from the Beetlejuice cartoon series.
 * Their lure is very similar to the lure of female Anglerfish in real life.
 * It could be a reference to the Graboid, a species of subterranean worm-like creatures from the Tremors saga.

Bugs

 * In the latest version of Don't Starve (Rev. 115739) Depth Worms can trigger Tooth Traps while underground and be damaged by them.