Treeguard

"I'm sorry about all of those trees!"

- Woodie

Treeguards are Monsters that can occasionally transform from Evergreens when a nearby Evergreen is chopped down. They are initially hostile towards the wood-cutter, have very high health and damage and are capable of killing an unarmored character in three strikes.

Treeguards do not normally spawn before Day 3, after which each Evergreen at any stage felled has a 1.33% chance of spawning one. After Day 30, up to two Treeguards may spawn at once, with up to three spawning after Day 80 given enough Evergreens nearby. They can spawn from any size Evergreen tree, besides Evergreen saplings (from recently planted Pine Cones) and dead Evergreens.

A Treeguard takes four blasts from the Ice Staff to be frozen. When killed, they drop Monster Meat and 6 Living Logs. Living Logs can help build a Shadow Manipulator, among other things.

A special Set Piece can be found as soon as Day 1, called Living Forest, wherein over ten Treeguards spawn at once, regardless of the number of trees someone has chopped down.

Behavior
There are 3 sizes of Treeguards – short (70% scale), normal (100% scale), and tall (125% scale) that spawn from the respective size Evergreens. Their scale affects their health, damage, combat range, and walking speed.

When they first appear, Treeguards will aim to attack whoever chopped down trees near them and will follow their target indefinitely; however, they can be pacified by planting Pine Cones. Planting one within 16 units away has a 15% chance to pacify them, while within 5 units away has a 33% chance. Treeguards give a soft growl every time a pine cone is planted, whether or not it pacifies, even if they're sleeping. If an angered Treeguard following the player does not growl when a pine cone is planted, it was not planted close enough to calm the Treeguard. Planting pine cones ahead of time does not prevent Treeguards from spawning, nor does it calm them later. Attempting to chop down a tree in the presence of a pacified Treeguard will enrage it and cause it to attack, though it can be pacified again with more pine cones. It's even possible to pacify one after attacking it.



When a Treeguard is pacified (or sleeping), it will return to the ground disguised as a tree; a Treeguard in this state has no waving animation like other normal trees. During winter, a pacified/sleeping Treeguard will also have no snow, making it easy to distinguish from actual trees. At night, neutral Treeguards go to sleep, plopping down wherever they happen to be standing. As with one calmed with pine cones, if no one chops a nearby tree or attacks the sleeping Treeguard, it will not wake up until morning comes. Neutral Treeguards can also be put to sleep/pacified with pine cones.

Treeguards will not come from dead Evergreens, Spiky Trees, or Burned Trees. Treeguards have been reported to grow to the next stage of Treeguard Size if they are small enough.

Hunting
Treeguards have a great deal of health but are slow. Killing the monster by dodging its attack and then running in to strike 3-4 times before dodging again is an effective way to wear it down, although this will drain considerable Sanity. Alternatively, they can be put to sleep using the Pan Flute or Sleep Darts, or frozen with the Ice Staff. Freezing via ice staff is ideal because Treeguards will be frozen forever unless they catch on fire. Tooth Traps are useful against Treeguards as they will not only damage them but often get the monster stuck on them for a moment. Leading a Treeguard to other hostile creatures or vice versa is another effective way to kill it. Pigs will attack them on sight, and multiple Pigs can easily disorient a Treeguard by hit & run tactics. They can also be tricked into fighting Deerclopses, Hounds, and Tentacles. Another possible way to kill a Treeguard is to pacify it by planting pine cones and light surrounding things on fire; it will catch fire but won't wake up, though this method causes the Living Logs it drops to burn into ashes, and Living Logs are surprisingly useful.

Having trouble while trying to summon a Treeguard is quite normal. A way to speed up this process is to have some befriended Pigs help chop trees. They will continue to chop trees until the player runs a distance from the trees. If the Pigs spawn Treeguards, the Treeguards will attack the Pigs instead of the player.

A good way of killing Treeguards with Woodie is to gnaw trees to try and spawn one in Woodie's Werebeaver form. The Werebeaver needs to eat a lot of plant matter to keep his Log Meter up, so it's likely Treeguards will eventually spawn.

Bugs

 * If the player attempts to use a Straw Roll to sleep while in combat with a nearby Treeguard, the game will not pick it up as being "too dangerous", and the character will awake the next day with the Treeguard still attacking.
 * Freezing a Treeguard, then hitting it with an Axe, Spear, Pickaxe, or Tentacle Spike (other weapons and tools to be tested) does not thaw the Treeguard.
 * It seems that, as of the Strange New Powers update, when a big Treeguard is summoned and the player leaves the game after a short while, sometimes it will become a medium-sized Treeguard and stay as that. It is unknown if Health and Attack power values are left the same as a big Treeguard.
 * Sometimes, a Treeguard may emerge from a dead tree (fourth, and last stage, of growth).
 * Fighting other mobs in the presence of a Treeguard, whether walking around or sleeping, will cause "E.F.S." (the boss monster song) to play. The Treeguard does not become aggressive to the player. This also applies to fighting near a Spider Queen.

Trivia

 * Tall Treeguards have the highest amount of health of all the mobs, and deal the most damage to other mobs (not to the player).
 * In the game files, the Treeguard is also named "Leif", which is a male given name of Scandinavian origin. It is derived from the Old Norse name Leifr (nominative case), meaning "heir" or "descendant".
 * Sometimes, after being chased for a while, the Treeguard will walk around randomly, not attacking the player. If this happens, one may use this time to get ready to fight it again, because it will begin attacking the next morning (even if it went passive right after morning).
 * If the player dies and respawns, the Treeguard will be pacified.
 * Spiders will not attack a Treeguard if it steps on the web outside their nest or for any other reason. Likewise, a Treeguard will not attack any Spider for any reason, even Queen Spiders.
 * Treeguards may have been inspired by the Ents in J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings" series or similar creatures (such as Treants) from other fantasy books, movies, games, and lore. Ultimately, though, most fantasy tree-spirit or tree-like creatures can be traced back to the Tolkien's Ents, as he was one of the very first fantasy novelists.