Antlion

Antlions are one of the two new mobs found in the desert, the other being the Vulture. They're the first mob to shoot non-magical projectiles at the player, which are affected by gravity. They remain stationary with their head sticking out of the sand, and will shoot sand at you until you are out of range, or dead. A good tactic for fighting these if you do not have a ranged weapon is to wait for it to shoot at you, charge at it with a melee weapon, and continually hit it from opposite sides. Alternatively, if you set up a small pillar in between you and the antlion, a flail weapon can be used to hit the antlion while you stand safely behind your pillar.

The sand blocks around the Antlion can be removed without hurting it. However, it must always have at least one column of two sand blocks. If one of the sand blocks is removed, the Antlion sinks down a layer. If a block is added on top of the column, the Antlion moves up a layer.

It is possible for the Antlion to survive on different types of blocks other than sand. This can be done by removing the sand that the Antlion is sitting in and making it move down onto a different block. The Antlion will act as if nothing is different and will still launch sand at you. If the sand is dodged, it will land on the ground as normal.



Trivia

 * The Antlion is based off of the real life Antlion Larva.
 * The Antlion could be a reference to the Half Life series, where Antlions are a fundamental enemy.

Update Info
1.0.5 - Antlion added.