Full plate iron armor: still getting KO'ed by Corrupt Sawblade Locust

[vinnland]

So, I went and invested in full plate armor for caving. I have a dungeon mod and they are really hard.

When I got down there though, I am still getting 3-4 shot by the Corrupt Sawblade Locust.

How are we supposed to fight these things!?

[Michael Gates]

I never could fight one of these things to victory, so nowadays I just make sure I'm equipped with da feets.

 

(Seriously I don't know a practical way to kill 'em. Just wall them off and go on with your day.)

[vinnland]

Yeah I get the walling off strategy.

But with the Dungeon mod, the point of them is to explore the dungeon. 

It just so happens that there are Sawblade's in the hallways! 

They are blocking me from my LOOT!!

[Dilan Rona]

Hack them and dash away. Lately I started to take them on. But I make a mental note of my surroundings so I can make a fast dash away before it can strike, and striking after its swing and a miss.

[Never Jhonsen]

Practice.

When 1.14 first introduced those buggers, I had a HARD time getting even a single hit on them. Hated those guys.

Load up a creative world. Give yourself a weapon of choice, some healing/food, and a stack of Sawblade Locusts. You can also get your preferred shield/armor, whatever tier you wish to train on. Then, switch to survival mode, and place a locust.

Work through that whole stack. If you die, just respawn, gather your stuff, and get back to attacking. It's grindy work, but isn't that the point of this game? 

Anyways, with the exception of that nasty bugger in the Resonate Archives hallway, I've not been hit by a single Sawblade Locust since version 1.15. I get excited finding these guys because they're easy Jonas Parts for me. 

[AppleJam]

Having my own hacked locusts/sawblades generally makes dealing with them a lot easier lol. But yeah otherwise you gotta get used to its attacks and practice dipping in and out like others have said.

[Guimoute]

13 hours ago, vinnland said:

How are we supposed to fight these things!?

With a bow, dodging, using a shield, etc. 

[Zane Mordien]

I face tank them myself. Shield up and keep it in front of you. With scale or plate armor I don't have too much trouble with them.

[Teh Pizza Lady]

With how few Sawblades there are in the caves I go in, you must be going *really* deep underground to be encountering that many.

[Dilan Rona]

On a bad cave expedition, I might encounter 3. Worst so far was having 2 in the same cave tunnel (couple hundred blocks apart from each other, at opposite ends of the same cave system), and they can climb rather effectively.

[vinnland]

3 hours ago, traugdor said:

With how few Sawblades there are in the caves I go in, you must be going *really* deep underground to be encountering that many.

Most are in deep caves, had one in a surface cave once.

Either way, I struggle to kill em.

[Thorfinn]

If I understood the patch notes, there should be less of this now with the spawning code having shifted from cylindrical (mantle to worldheight) to spherical, so they won't spawn in the depths when you are on the surface prepping for a ruin dive.

You won't encounter nearly as many if you don't lollygag around letting them spawn. Be like a guy at a store -- go in, get your stuff, get out.

[Dark Thoughts]

On 6/19/2025 at 4:31 PM, Thorfinn said:

If I understood the patch notes, there should be less of this now with the spawning code having shifted from cylindrical (mantle to worldheight) to spherical, so they won't spawn in the depths when you are on the surface prepping for a ruin dive.

That's for the protection of the rift ward.

[LadyWYT]

On 6/16/2025 at 7:34 PM, vinnland said:

So, I went and invested in full plate armor for caving.

Since no one else seems to have asked...what did you make your armor out of? Sawblade locusts are tier 3 enemies, which means you need at least iron gear to really counter their attacks. Bronze armor or other lesser quality armor will still absorb some of their damage, but the sawblades will punch through it much more easily, so you won't be able to take very many hits at all and expect to live. Especially if there are multiple sawblade locusts.

On 6/16/2025 at 7:34 PM, vinnland said:

I have a dungeon mod and they are really hard.

When I got down there though, I am still getting 3-4 shot by the Corrupt Sawblade Locust.

How are we supposed to fight these things!?

From the sounds of it, you're either wearing lower tier armor, or your game settings/mods are making the locusts stronger than they are by default. Possibly both. If a mod is making them stronger, or you're playing a harder game mode like Wilderness Survival, the locusts will be hitting harder and you'll need to consider bringing more healing supplies or engaging fewer enemies at once when possible.

If you're wearing lower tier gear, I would certainly recommend upgrading to at least iron gear, or something even better if you want to play it very safe. As I noted before, wearing an equipment tier appropriate for the enemies you're facing will mitigate most of the incoming damage.

[vinnland]

Quote

Since no one else seems to have asked...what did you make your armor out of?

Iron. I have so much iron it's crazy. Found 3 different mines and each seem to have an limited amount of iron!

The only world changing mod I have is the dungeon mod called Ancient Dungeons (Th3Dungeon)

[LadyWYT]

14 hours ago, vinnland said:

Iron. I have so much iron it's crazy. Found 3 different mines and each seem to have an limited amount of iron!

The only world changing mod I have is the dungeon mod called Ancient Dungeons (Th3Dungeon)

Hmmm. Iron should be sufficient for fighting sawblade locusts, although if you're getting by multiple sawblade locusts at once(or other higher tier monsters) that might be a bit much. Keep in mind that plate armor offers the worst healing stats, so if you need to rely a bit more heavily on healing items in combat you may want to switch armor types.

As for fighting sawblade locusts in general...they're somewhat rare and you don't usually see more than one at a time. They are fairly tough, requiring a few hits to kill, and like other locusts have a special leap attack they can do. If you plunk down a light source before engaging them, a shield is useful to help block at least some of the incoming damage. You may also try softening them up a bit with ranged damaged before engaging them in melee.

[BlueBall]

I killed a sawblade locust in tin bronze lammelar armor, a iron falx and no shield after he killed my dad. Because i had to revenge him i probably turned into a locust killing machine. Then i thaught they were easy to fight and was like: oh i can just defeat that guy (Famous last words). Died in the process.

[Maelstrom]

Corrupt mechanicals are a weee bit harder than their non-corrupt cousins.

[Lagos]

Crouching with a shield up and trying to time your attacks to push them back and dodge their strikes. Throw spears if you got them. You're wearing the right armor for handling them but they're simply too brutal to just face tank even with it. Good luck.

[vinnland]

7 hours ago, Lagos said:

Crouching with a shield up and trying to time your attacks to push them back and dodge their strikes. Throw spears if you got them. You're wearing the right armor for handling them but they're simply too brutal to just face tank even with it. Good luck.

Lesson learned. Before making this thread I didn't even know about shields. Don't know how I survived without it.

[JUNEsummers]

Honestly, I just toss 20-30 rocks at the thing from a vantage point and they usually just sit there and die

[FlareUKCS]

I have to ask, would you be happy to make end game enemies easy ? 

Myself I want to be destroyed by saw blades, I want them to scare the [bleep] out of me and make me run away.

I want enemies to be scary, not put on farm status... I want those mofo's to kill me, to be an issue, to be deadly or add a new version... maybe a gear powered locust with a saw, it moves faster. and it had more HP...but more it can retreat and heal up, then go crazy on you again. I want mobs to be scary, like Shivers and Towborn, they add issues... locust are too easy, hell add a ranged version that fire spikes at you.

We need to make the rust enemies dangerous, all game long not just at the start, and not farmable...I mean the boys are a joke ok, a early introduction but the rest should be scary. Come on guys make these guys a challenge, make me hide in my home not see them as something I can farm... maybe make the harder lot be a thing 10 days in but more scary, a change up.

Storms are commonly seen as lame, or a pain... we need a reason to drag players out to fight, and to fear the storms.. not an option you can say nope to, I dont say remove that option, I say make that option cost something. 

[LadyWYT]

1 hour ago, FlareUKCS said:

Myself I want to be destroyed by saw blades, I want them to scare the [bleep] out of me and make me run away.

I want enemies to be scary, not put on farm status... I want those mofo's to kill me, to be an issue, to be deadly or add a new version... maybe a gear powered locust with a saw, it moves faster. and it had more HP...but more it can retreat and heal up, then go crazy on you again. I want mobs to be scary, like Shivers and Towborn, they add issues... locust are too easy, hell add a ranged version that fire spikes at you.

I agree with most of this sentiment, however, I wouldn't say that I want to be absolutely demolished by enemies...at least not if I have the appropriate gear. One thing I like about the current balance is that having the appropriate gear will make most scenarios a lot more manageable than they would be without. However, if you get too complacent, take too many risks, or otherwise plan poorly, you can still die even if you have the best weapons and armor available. It helps keep the world feeling dangerous, and prevents the high-tier enemies from feeling like an absolute joke. It also means that you need to be deliberate when you go hunting high-level monsters and plan carefully, as you may not be able to escape the situation easily should you encounter unexpected trouble.

[Zane Mordien]

On 7/1/2025 at 5:00 AM, BlueBall said:

I killed a sawblade locust in tin bronze lammelar armor, a iron falx and no shield after he killed my dad. Because i had to revenge him i probably turned into a locust killing machine. Then i thaught they were easy to fight and was like: oh i can just defeat that guy (Famous last words). Died in the process.

The first saw blade locust I ever found was in a cave right past a teleporter. It destroyed my son and I. We were all cocky and started to fight it when the 2nd one jumped us from behind and mowed us down.

[Mongster]

I have found their attacks are pretty predictable which is the one saving grace about these things. Maybe just practice in a creative world. They're also 3-4 shot themselves.