Harpy



Harpies are flying enemies added in the 1.0.4 patch. They spawn at high altitudes, typically between the height of Floating Island and the top of the map.

Harpies can spawn in both day and night although the spawn rate is slightly lower during the day while during dusk and night time Harpy attacks are very active. During dawn the spawn rate begins to diminish and when it becomes daytime the spawn rate becomes around 50% of night times spawn rate.

Their spawn rate occurs more often the closer you are to the top of the map, as at the minimum depth Harpy is a rare spawn where other monsters can spawn in its place still, where at the top of the map there is nothing but Harpies.

The Harpy monster uses the obvious Flying AI but with a twist. Instead of just ramming into the target like a Hornet or Demon Eye would, the Harpy attempts to ram the target and also shoots volleys of 3 feather-like projectiles. These feathers cannot be deflected with a weapon and do 30 damage when unarmored (16 damage with full Molten Armor). When it rams into the player the damage is slightly less, dealing 25 unarmored (11 damage with full Molten Armor). The feathers are destroyed on contact with any block or after it travels a certain distance it will break apart.

There can be up to 7 Harpies attacking you at once during the day time. At night you can have up to 10 Harpies attacking you at once and during Blood Moon you can up to 15 Harpies attacking you at once. They tend to eventually group together in 1 single bunch if left alive, probably a bug with its AI. This makes it seem like it unleashes an endless fury of feathers at you.



Video is just a demonstration of the attack speed of the feathers during a Blood Moon.

When killed, the Harpy's body is destroyed leaving nothing but its wings on the ground.

The Harpy seems to not drop anything other than 1-5 Silver Coins and a 0-5 Copper Coins, 4 and 5 silver being most rare but have witnessed a single Harpy dropping 8 silver and 3 copper coins.

Tips and Tricks
One way to fight Harpies is to make a sky bridge at the top of your map, for large maps at around 1000 feet. Unlike a typical sky bridge you need a large opening for the ones that spawn below you to get to the top. You'll want to make a long enough bridge to cover the screen, doesn't have to be a huge bridge that goes from one end of the map to the other as that is very unnecessary and you wont get anything from it.

Soil Block Method


You'll want an opening at the very least of 5 blocks wide, although I'd recommend 10+ :



This is to allow the bottom ones to work their way upwards, because if you didn't make an opening it would be impossible for the ones below to get up to the top which lowers the amount available to you at once.

Wooden Platforms Method


You can also use Wooden Platforms, although this method has its own disadvantages. For one you'll have to gather around 100 pieces of wood to get enough to cover the screen. Second disadvantage is that the feather projectiles can go through the wood platforms making it more difficult to dodge 6 Harpies at once (although it can be quite entertaining as well). Harpies can come up through the bottom so you do not have to make any holes for them to get through, and they cant go through the top so even better for close combat. This is ultimately the best method to fight the Harpy.