Cultist

How to get it

Encountered in the forest. Armed humans in the deep woods.

Stats

Behavior

Hostile

Species

Human

Top speed

22

Threat

Armed humans in the deep woods

Walkspeed

12 (Melee) 16 (Ranged)

Weaponsuse

Old Axe Spear Morningstar Crossbow

Attackdamage

7 (Old Axe) 30 (Morningstar) 15 (Crossbow) 15 (Spear) Around >100 damage(Mega cultist)

Maxhealth

100-150 (Natural and raids) 120(Stronghold level 1) 180(Stronghold level 2) 240(Stronghold level 3) 300(Stronghold level 4)

Tipes

Cultist Crossbow Cultist Juggernaut Cultist

Raids

Groups of Cultists will periodically attack your Campfire throughout the game around every 4 days (unaffected by day multiplier). Refer to the Night Raids article for further info.

Locations

Cultists can either be found in buildings containing highly valuable loot guarding them, or when they attack your Campfire at night. You can choose to fight them by going to the Stronghold, marked by an icon with what appears to be three blue diamonds. They can also be found frozen in an Ice Temple. They can also be found in the Volcanic Biome along with the Cultist King. Around the map, players can find trees with animal corpses, or rope, burnt down camps, churches, and even a summoning circle. Cultists can be found in these locations, and loot can vary depending on distance from the Campfire. The Mega Cultist can only be spawned by developers during Update Parties. They have high health and deal 5 times more damage than Cultists holding Morningstars.

Drops

Upon death, a Cultist may drop the following items: Killing the last Cultist of certain locations and Cultist raids may drop the following items

Tips and Tricks

You can get Cultists stuck on things such as Log Walls or Wood Rain Storages making them easier to kill. Crossbow Cultists, although strong at long ranges, are extremely weak when rushed down due to their lack of melee capabilities. Crossbow Cultists can be dangerous due to their ability to snipe from a distance while you’re occupied with a large horde, so targeting them early can make the fight much easier. Crossbow Cultists will fire at the player's current location. Coupled with the Crossbows' slow projectile speed, a player can dodge a Crossbow Cultist's attacks by strafing (circling them, and dodging attacks). You can also constantly jump around to easily avoid their attacks, but this drains hunger quickly and is best used when dealing with an overwhelmingly large horde of hostile entities, or to stall time for your teammates to come and help in Raids. This is useful when the Campfire is out at night, or when accidentally aggroing a large mob of entities. Using a pet can also help minimize damage taken, you can hide when low on HP after hitting the Crossbow Cultist, preferably with a ranged weapon and let your pet kill the Cultist, but your pet may still die or take damage in the process. Melee Cultists, although weak on their own, can easily kill you in large numbers. Ranged Weapons are the safest way to kill them. Their slow turn speed means a player can kill Melee Cultists by tightly strafing them, or using the Kite technique with a Spear.

Patch history

Cultists worship The Deer, the main antagonist of the game. A Melee and Crossbow Cultist repeatedly appear in the cutscenes after each update. In one of the trailers for the "Something is Coming" Update, a Melee and Crossbow Cultist are shown encountering The Ram. In the cutscene for the "Taming" Update, the two Cultists are about to be attacked by a Wolf, when a Camper shows up from a tree and jumps down to tame the Wolf with a Taming Flute, much to the Cultists' surprise. If the player fails to kill the Cultists by the next day, the Campfire will go down faster than usual, along with the notification in red text: "Some Cultists are still alive near your fire." Over the fire, there will be one or two Cultist faces, and arrows pointing down, signifying that the campfire is going down faster than usual. The number of Cultist faces are dependent on how many Cultists there are remaining. You used to be able to get Cultists stuck on the missing kids signboard. However, in the Snow Biome Part 2 update, Cultists will now phase through it. The Cultists are shown to really like cake, shown in the Alien cutscenes and in the Snow Biome, where you can find a Cultist that got trapped in ice attempting to reach for its beloved cake. The Cultists will have more health the higher the level is in the Cultist Stronghold. The Juggernaut Cultist is the only Cultist to have armor. The Cultists, Pelt Trader, Bird Watcher, Furniture Trader, and the Missing Children are the only humans known to be in The Forest.