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Corpse Gestalt

Based on game build 714014 | Last updated: 2026-03-04

Overview​

corpse_gestalt is a prefab representing a flying, lunar-aligned entity (commonly known as the "Corpse Gestalt") used in DST's lunar cycle mechanics. It spawns near players and tracks a designated target entity, teleporting to a rift portal if one is nearby and aligned with lunar affinity; otherwise, it spawns at a walkable offset from the target. The entity depends heavily on the entitytracker, locomotor, and sanityaura components for its core behavior, and integrates with the rift system via RiftSpawner:GetRiftsOfAffinity(). It is typically instantiated as a boss or event-driven entity tied to lunar phases.

Usage example​

-- Typical usage when spawning the entity during a lunar event:
local inst = Prefab("corpse_gestalt", fn, assets)()
if inst and inst:IsValid() then
    inst:SetTarget(target_entity)
    inst.Spawn()
end

Dependencies & tags​

Components used: entitytracker, sanityaura, locomotor, knownlocations, transform, animstate, soundemitter, network, physics
Tags added: brightmare, NOBLOCK, soulless, lunar_aligned

Properties​

No public properties exposed directly on the instance beyond standard component properties (inst.components.sanityaura.aura, etc.). The prefab function returns an entity instance with runtime properties such as inst.Spawn and inst.SetTarget, which are assigned as methods on the entity.

Main functions​

SetTarget(inst, target)​

  • Description: Assigns the entity to track target. If valid, it begins tracking the target and spawns the gestalt either at a rift with lunar affinity or at a nearby walkable position. If target is nil or invalid, tracking is removed.
  • Parameters: target (entity instance or nil) — the entity to track.
  • Returns: Nothing.
  • Error states: Does nothing if target is invalid; does not error but skips rift-based spawn if no suitable rift is found.

Spawn(inst)​

  • Description: Initializes the entity’s orientation and transitions its stategraph to the "spawn" state.
  • Parameters: None (uses inst).
  • Returns: Nothing.

GetFirstLunarRift()​

  • Description: Utility function that returns the first rift portal with lunar affinity, if any exist in the world.
  • Parameters: None.
  • Returns: Entity instance or nil.

GeSpawnPoint(inst, target)​

  • Description: Calculates a nearby walkable spawn position for the gestalt relative to the target, avoiding obstacles and ocean tiles.
  • Parameters: target (entity instance) — used to compute base spawn position.
  • Returns: Vector3 spawn position.

GetRiftToSpwanFrom()​

  • Description: Scans all players and returns the first rift with lunar affinity that is within the camera see distance of any player. Note: Contains a typo (Spwan vs Spawn) in the original source.
  • Parameters: None.
  • Returns: Rift entity instance or nil.

Events & listeners​

  • Listens to: onremove (via EntityTracker:TrackEntity) — to automatically forget a tracked target when it is removed from the world.
  • Pushes: No events directly; relies on stategraph transitions ("spawn") and component interactions for side effects.