Drifter

Drifter
Type	Humanoid
Behavior	Hostile

Drifters are common hostile creatures that have both a melee and ranged attack, and are the only hostile creature that can spawn both on the surface and underground.

Spawning

Drifters can spawn in any empty or tall grass block with a light level below 7.

On the surface, only surface drifters can spawn, though they are further limited to only spawning within a 25 block radius of a temporal rift.

Depending on the type of drifter, they are limited to spawning within a certain Y level - the more dangerous drifters tending to spawn much deeper in a world.

Double-headed drifters can only spawn during temporal storms.

Drops

Upon dying, drifters can be harvested with a knife for a chance to loot a number of flax fibers, rusty gears and temporal gears. The chance for each item varies depending on the type of drifter, and can be seen in the table below.

Variants

There are 6 different types of drifter: Surface, Deep, Tainted, Corrupt, Nightmare and Double-headed.

Surface drifter Type Humanoid Behavior Hostile Health 12 Base attack 2.5 Tier: 0 Spawn Y level: 0.85 to 2 Group size: 1 ± 3 Drops Flax fibers 20% Temporal gear 2.66% Rusty gear 1%	Deep drifter Type Humanoid Behavior Hostile Health 16 Base attack 4 Tier: 1 Spawn Y level: 0.22 to 0.89 Group size: 1.5 ± 0.5 Drops Flax fibers 40% Temporal gear 3.33% Rusty gear 3%	Tainted drifter Type Humanoid Behavior Hostile Health 22 Base attack 8 Tier: 2 Spawn Y level: 0.1 to 0.55 Group size: 1.5 ± 0.5 Drops Flax fibers 60% Rusty gear 7% Temporal gear 4%
Corrupt drifter Type Humanoid Behavior Hostile Health 30 Base attack 12 Tier: 3 Spawn Y level: 0.1 to 0.55 Group size: 1.5 ± 0.5 Drops Flax fibers 80% Rusty gear 10% Temporal gear 4.66%	Nightmare drifter Type Humanoid Behavior Hostile Health 40 Base attack 20 Tier: 4 Spawn Y level: 0 to 0.23 Group size: 1.5 ± 0.5 Drops Flax fibers 100% Rusty gear 20% Temporal gear 5.33%	Double-headed drifter Type Humanoid Behavior Hostile Health 48 Base attack 24 Tier: 4 Spawn Group size: 1.5 ± 0.5 Drops Rusty gear 500% ± 250% Flax fibers 200% Temporal gear 100% ± 40%

Behavior

Drifters will wander around aimlessly until they spot a player within 20 blocks, at which point they will begin pursuing said player.

Attacking

Melee

If a drifter reaches a player, they will attempt to swipe at them with their arms. The damage of this attack depends on the type of drifter, and has a cooldown between 0.5s and 1.75s.

Rock throwing

If a drifter is within 15 blocks of a player but cannot path to them, they may stop and throw a rock at them instead, every 1 to 10 seconds. This ranged attack deals 1 damage, regardless of the drifter's type. Drifters can throw rocks over blocks that are too tall to jump over, such as fences and fence gates. The rocks disappear once thrown and cannot be picked up by the player. This rock projectile can sometimes hit the drifter who threw it, or even other drifters.

Fleeing

Drifters have a chance to flee from the player in sunlight. The amount of light required varies depending on the type of drifter:

Type	Light level
Surface	0.925
Deep	0.97
Tainted	2
Corrupt	2
Nightmare	2
Double-headed	2

Drifters may also flee from a player upon receiving damage. They will continue to flee for up to 10 seconds, or if they manage to get more than 12 blocks away from the player. The chance for them to flee once again depends on the type of drifter:

Type	Chance
Surface	15%
Deep	7%
Tainted	3%
Corrupt	1.5%
Nightmare	1%
Double-headed	1%

Trivia

• Drifters have two uncommon idle animations: 'cry' in which it curls up and cries, and 'think' where it looks at its arms and raises them to the sky.
• According to the story excerpt Ghosts, drifters have a metallic smell.
• Prior to version 1.18, drifters could spawn in light level 9 or below.