Bowtorn weren't needed or wanted and drastically take away from the game.

[foebits]

With the regular moss-babies pelting us relentlessly with rocks we absolutely did not need another mob who's sole purpose is to be annoying.

Seriously, these ruin the game. Instead of a rain of rocks we now have these damnable arrows at levels that are just meme-able. They NEVER spawn singularly, they spawn nearly without end even on rift activity being low, and they have the highest spawn rate out of anything else. Bowtorn spawns populate at least 90% of all mobs. So nearly every moment you're in a cave,  most of the time in a field, or anywhere without lots of trees blocking line of sight, you're being shot at. And then you have high activity or a temporal storm; just forget it at those times. NOTHING but bowtorn everywhere, in groups of 6 or more! It's like the game's been made to forget other mobs even exist. I think I've seen a total of just 6 or 7 shivers so far...

If their spawn rates were lower than the other enemies as a supplement to them this would be a different story. It would make them a good part of a group to take out; covering the other mobs as they rush you. As it is... We're just in front of a firing squad all the time.

Edited April 10, 2025 by foebits

[k1ngofpentacles]

Am I the only one that has yet to experience the fabled bowtorn mafia?

[Kyle Rick]

It's interesting as the base surface Bowtorn does 5 damage per shot, while the nightmare and storm exclusive gearfoot Bowtorns does 9-10 damage per shot that is also tier 0 damage, meaning any armour at all makes Bowtorn ranged attack just slightly more dangerous then rocks thrown by drifters. Compared to surface Drifters doing tier 0 2.5 damage while Doublehead does like 24 damage tier 4, a over 10 times increase after considering armour.

Honestly I take more damage from their melee attacks due to being careless while chasing them. I don't even craft shields till the first story location I go to. Also this being a block game means Bowtorns can be easily blocked by, placing blocks. Funny considering Skeletons in the other block game are way more dangerous and the most hostile overworld mob without armour in my opinion.

The only problem with Bowtorns is that out of the 3 they seem to have problems despawning during temporal storms so they just build up over time while Drifters and Shivers seem to despawn, even suddenly at times. Might be why you've been seeing so many more Bowtorns? This only applies during temporal storms it seems as while caving I see Drifters spawn the most out of the 3 types.

Makes me wonder how people play the game at times. I myself try to push though and play a while before giving my thoughts, and so far I find Shivers the most deadly to me because of their speed, though being a 2 wide enemy makes them weak to blocks.

I only played this game on 1.20 and above starting with the release candidates, and the combo of the 3 main types of underground mobs seem to work together well in my opinion, with Swifters being most dangerous in the open, Bowtorns not making it trivial to build and cheese Swifters, and Drifters able to fit though 1 block gaps to make it not completely free if made Bowtorn and Swifter proof.

Could mobs and their spawning be handled better? I think so, and apparently some people don't like how the overworld mobs spawn due to how they work so they can farm stacks of meat and such but that is off topic.

I do find it odd only Bowtorns don't properly despawn during/after temporal storms. Luckily they all despawn if far enough away from them. I find it a bit odd and at worst a mild threat during the super early game of no armour if you did not make any armour before your first temporal storm.

Based on this comment on damage per type:

 

Edited April 10, 2025 by Kyle Rick

[StCatharines]

Personally, I've been greatly enjoying both bowtorn and shivers. They add to the overall creepiness and tension, and I don't find either particularly annoying so much as... let's say, "persistent threat". Sometimes that threat can be low level, as with surface drifters, and other times the threat is much more significant.

[Thorfinn]

49 minutes ago, Kyle Rick said:

Bowtorns not making it trivial to build and cheese Swifters, and Drifters able to fit though 1 block gaps to make it not completely free if made Bowtorn and Swifter proof.

.If you reflect on the challenges presented in Chapter 1, you can build a simple structure to cheese pretty much everything except locusts, which you almost never see on the surface.

35 minutes ago, StCatharines said:

and I don't find either particularly annoying so much as... let's say, "persistent threat"

They are just wandering damage. Bowtorn you can always hear before they shoot, so avoiding damage is pretty easy unless they are to your side, shivers you should only take one or maybe two hits from before you can give them the slip, and that's what poultices are for. Even on Wilderness, where they do 3.75HP, and you start with 10, they aren't a serious threat unless you let yourself get boxed in. And if you can scroll to your poultices while running, they can't hurt you fast enough until you run out.

[Zane Mordien]

I feel your pain. I hate them. I can cheese them but that isn't fun to me. Their accuracy is too high just like it was for drifters throwing rocks. I don't mind them sprinkled in but when you get overwhelmed with them it is just stupid.

[HalfAxd]

I find bowtorn to be trivial on the surface.

What annoys me is finding 2 or 3 of them immediately upon entering a cave... maybe that's part of the de-spawning issue mentioned previously?

They are not hard to kill but they take some of the fun out of exploring...

[Krähenwolf]

I tend to build on plains near a nice forest. Every morning there he is, Billy the Bowtorn, sniping at me from 20+ blocks away once I leave my home, with no cover. Its basically his good morning call, 5 damage directly to the face. Sometimes he brings a friend, which makes his visits even more exciting!

Jokes aside, I have nothing against Bowtorn per se. But I can see that the damage they do can be pretty frustrating, especially during the first couple days when resources are hard to come by and armor is non-existent. Counts double for new players trying to learn the game the old-school way, by playing it and not reading much about it unless needed (I did it this way and died a lot).

I had made a post on Reddit about this, in my opinion, keeping shivers to the underground and bowtorns to forests would have helped a bunch. Drifters are the beginners reminder that something is amiss, let them find out how much is truly F-ed up once they got a bit of a start and armor in some form. Getting pin cushioned on night one without any way to fight back might be tedious, imo.

[Thorfinn]

Without a serious rewrite to worldgen, shivers in caves and bowtorn in forests would be a big nothingburger. Shivers are unable to move effectively in cramped spaces. For the typical cave, just one or two fence sections  makes them free loot, as little as it is. Abd forests are already difficult for the seraph, at 2 blocks high. It's nigh unto impossible for a 3-high entity to get through, c.f., elk.

[DUCATISLO]

tbh they aint a problem for me but it adds a nice challange.

ig maybe reduce their accuracy the more far away you are from them ig

[Krähenwolf]

16 hours ago, Thorfinn said:

Without a serious rewrite to worldgen, shivers in caves and bowtorn in forests would be a big nothingburger. Shivers are unable to move effectively in cramped spaces. For the typical cave, just one or two fence sections  makes them free loot, as little as it is. Abd forests are already difficult for the seraph, at 2 blocks high. It's nigh unto impossible for a 3-high entity to get through, c.f., elk.

True, didn't think of the height problem for Bowtorns. And forests range from a deathtrap to a nice, slow stroll for me, but this varies with bush density. But yes, this might be too many predators in one area, regarding wolves and bears.

Regarding shivers, I actually rarely encounter them. For some reason, I was only attacked a handful of times; once in a calm night when a deep one somehow made it up a pit and followed me for a while before attacking when I stopped. So its possible I didn't notice these problems. Aren't they supposed to be able to climb?

[Thorfinn]

The game definitely needs more "biome" based creatures. And someday there probably will be. I just think they have to be creatures adapted to the environment. A highly-adapted forest creature, for example. might be only 1.5 blocks high, 0.7 blocks wide and be able to vertical climb any number of blocks of tree or brachy leaves. A true death from above. 

Shivers have a climb similar to bears. If you want to keep them in the caves, you can't allow any routes that are only a 2-block climb. IME, though, they are pretty common in the caves. Between fences and torches and a few strategically-placed rammed earth to block missiles, you can make any cave that does not have locusts into safe zones for seraphs given enough time.

[LadyWYT]

11 hours ago, Krähenwolf said:

Regarding shivers, I actually rarely encounter them.

I think shivers also have a spawn limit of one or two for any given area; bowtorn don't have that limit, to my knowledge. I suspect the spawn limit is in place to prevent the player from being overwhelmed by them, as they are slighter tougher than drifters and much faster. The fast skitter can also make them pretty difficult to hit once they're on top of you.

[Tom Cantine]

Bowtorn can be a hassle, but I don't find they ruin the game for me. I enjoy a little sniper duel once in a while when I have a decent bow myself, but most of the time, I just sprint away, zigging and zagging, until I get far enough away from my base that they despawn (or temporally relocate, if you prefer), and then I come back. Admittedly, that's a more dangerous approach early game without armor, but everything's tough then.

 

[Zer0pig316]

I don't mean to trivialize anyone's feedback but am I missing something? I see these posts periodically and as a fairly new player have to say the mobs have never frustrated me. Sure my first dozen hours taught me not to underestimate them but they just motivate me to have awareness and use caution rather than pose a real danger. But I suppose this could be a playstyle difference as I don't run around during storms or cave real deep (at least not until I find a reason to cave deep). 

[LadyWYT]

1 hour ago, Zer0pig316 said:

I don't mean to trivialize anyone's feedback but am I missing something? I see these posts periodically and as a fairly new player have to say the mobs have never frustrated me. Sure my first dozen hours taught me not to underestimate them but they just motivate me to have awareness and use caution rather than pose a real danger. But I suppose this could be a playstyle difference as I don't run around during storms or cave real deep (at least not until I find a reason to cave deep). 

Bowtorn spawns were broken when they were first added to the game. The spawn rules have since improved, however, there's still a rough spot or two that can cause a whole pack of them to appear. That is most likely the issue that most are encountering.

As for issues aside from spawn rules...it really depends on a player's personal preferences and skills. Those who don't enjoy ranged opponents probably won't enjoy dealing with bowtorn.

[cjc813]

Do people really not know how to... move?

Every time someone calls bowtorn "super accurate" or "snipers" I facepalm.

[idiomcritter]

its dark, they have perfect targeting, oh no, i'm getting sniped, which direction, ah i'm hit again, wth... lol

[Zer0pig316]

44 minutes ago, cjc813 said:

Do people really not know how to... move?

Every time someone calls bowtorn "super accurate" or "snipers" I facepalm.

I just start moving when I hear them squeeze their rubber water bottle. IMO they don't hold a candle to the drifters laser guided rock.

[ifoz]

1 hour ago, cjc813 said:

Every time someone calls bowtorn "super accurate" or "snipers" I facepalm.

If you play on a server with lag, they definitely are.
Their shots can be dodged in singleplayer, but in a multiplayer environment the game is more than happy to rubber band you into their shots, even if said shots clearly should have missed.

It just depends on what kind of environment (singleplayer/multiplayer) people are playing in.

[Rhyagelle]

I like the idea of the bowtorn, but the fact that they are even more auto-aimed than the annoying rock throwers makes them just a giant pain in the butt. Couple that with server lag when you are playing online, and it's so much worse. And then the spawn rate is atrocious... 

[Dilan Rona]

Imo, they are fine the way they are. Might need to tweak them a bit more as they still spawn in armies during a severe temporal storm. I've had 9 bowtorns for every drifter on really bad storms, and ideally I think it needs to be 3-4 drifters for every bowtown spawned.

[Thorfinn]

I don't play on a high latency server, so can't comment about that. But with a low ping, I don't see those kinds of issues. I suppose if I did play on one, I might have to forego doing things outside at night? At least on the worst nights. High and even very high is still pretty easy if you scope out where all the rifts are before dark, and, ideally, light up the space between where you plan to work and the rifts. Keep then from being able to spawn within seeking range and you only have to worry about the random walkers. And usually not even them, you just slap down a dozen fence sections between you and the closest rift.

Maybe sucks to be trapped indoors, but I could usually find something to do. Might even agree to sleeping through the night now and again.  

I'm still curious how they plan to support 200+ player games...

[OkayRelax]

On 4/9/2025 at 5:45 PM, k1ngofpentacles said:

Am I the only one that has yet to experience the fabled bowtorn mafia?

I also don't have such a fabled trouble with these guys, I get like 2 at a time max, and they show up less than drifters by a long shot.

[cjc813]

On 4/11/2025 at 10:02 PM, ifoz said:

If you play on a server with lag, they definitely are.

Literally any game ever, if played with lag, things won't work right.

To say, "this mechanic is broken because it doesn't work on a laggy connection" is kinda silly.

At that point, it's not a Bowtorn problem, it's a problem with your setup.

That'd be like me saying, "omg, Anego, fix your worldgen" just because my potato of a laptop doesn't have enough memory to generate chunks faster than I run. The problem's not with the game, it's with my setup.