Shadowthrall Hands

Based on game build 714014 | Last updated: 2026-03-07

Overview

The shadowthrall_hands prefab defines the behavior and rendering of the Shadow Thrall Hands enemy, a secondary boss-fight entity tied to the Shadow Thrall. It integrates with multiple systems: combat for targeting and damage, locomotor for movement, sanityaura for nearby player sanity effects, and lootdropper for item drops. Visual FX (flames and fabric particles) are synchronized using colouraddersync and entitytracker to link it with its parent horns and wings. The prefab also handles networked and non-networked (client-only) state via conditional logic.

Usage example

-- Typical usage occurs during boss summoning or world generation.
-- This prefab is not instantiated manually by modders.
-- Example reference for internal use:
local hands = Prefab("shadowthrall_hands", fn, assets, prefabs)
-- In a boss controller, e.g., when spawning hands:
local hands_entity = SpawnPrefab("shadowthrall_hands")
hands_entity.Transform:SetPosition(x, y, z)
hands_entity.components.entitytracker:AddEntity("horns", horns_entity)
hands_entity.components.entitytracker:AddEntity("wings", wings_entity)

Dependencies & tags

Components used: colouraddersync, combat, entitytracker, health, locomotor, lootdropper, planardamage, sanityaura, inspectable, drownable, planarentity, knownlocations, colouradder.
Tags added: monster, hostile, scarytoprey, shadowthrall, shadow_aligned.
Tags checked (via HasTag): player, FX.

Properties

Property	Type	Default Value	Description
highlightchildren	table (array of entities)	nil	List of FX child entities (flame and fabric) used for colour syncing.
displaynamefn	function	DisplayNameFn	Callback to determine display name based on player allegiance.
OnLoadPostPass	function	OnLoadPostPass	Callback to initialize lastattack timestamps for team synchronization.

Main functions

RetargetFn(inst)

• Description: Determines the new combat target when the retarget timer fires. Skips re-targeting if the entity is appearing or invisible, or if the current target is already in range. Also checks for devoured targets associated with the horns entity.
• Parameters: inst (Entity) — the shadow thrall hands instance.
• Returns: Entity — the closest player in range, or nil.
• Error states: May return nil if no suitable target exists or conditions prevent re-targeting.

KeepTargetFn(inst, target)

• Description: Decides whether to continue targeting the current entity. Returns true if the target or the horns/wings entities are within the deaggro range, or if the target remains valid.
• Parameters:
  • inst (Entity) — the shadow thrall hands instance.
  • target (Entity) — the currently targeted entity.
• Returns: boolean — true if target should be kept, false otherwise.

OnAttacked(inst, data)

• Description: Event handler fired on entity attack. If not currently near its active target, shifts aggression to the attacker.
• Parameters:
  • inst (Entity) — the shadow thrall hands instance.
  • data (table) — contains attacker entity.
• Returns: Nothing.

OnNewCombatTarget(inst, data)

• Description: Triggers when a new combat target is set. Suggests the same target to the horns and wings entities (if present and combat-capable), enabling coordinated attacks.
• Parameters:
  • inst (Entity) — the shadow thrall hands instance.
  • data (table) — contains oldtarget and target.
• Returns: Nothing.

GetWintersFeastOrnaments(inst)

• Description: Defines loot for Winters Feast event. Returns ornament configuration only if both horns and wings are absent (indicating standalone spawn).
• Parameters: inst (Entity) — the shadow thrall hands instance.
• Returns: table or nil — e.g., { basic = 1, special = "winter_ornament_shadowthralls" }.

OnLoadPostPass(inst)

• Description: Initializes staggered lastattack timestamps across the thrall team (hands, horns, wings) to prevent identical attack timing.
• Parameters: inst (Entity) — the shadow thrall hands instance.
• Returns: Nothing.

DisplayNameFn(inst)

• Description: Returns a specialized display name string for Shadow-Aligned players.
• Parameters: inst (Entity) — the shadow thrall hands instance.
• Returns: string or nil — STRINGS.NAMES.SHADOWTHRALL_HANDS_ALLEGIANCE if player is shadow-aligned, otherwise nil.

CreateFlameFx()

• Description: Creates and configures a local FX entity for flame particle effects.
• Parameters: None.
• Returns: Entity — non-networked FX entity with FX tag.

CreateFabricFx()

• Description: Creates and configures a local FX entity for fabric particle effects (reused for two instances).
• Parameters: None.
• Returns: Entity — non-networked FX entity with FX tag.

OnColourChanged(inst, r, g, b, a)

• Description: Syncs colour changes to child FX entities by setting SetAddColour on each.
• Parameters:
  • inst (Entity) — the shadow thrall hands instance.
  • r, g, b, a (numbers) — colour channel values.
• Returns: Nothing.

Events & listeners

• Listens to: attacked — handled by OnAttacked to acquire new target if needed.
• Listens to: newcombattarget — handled by OnNewCombatTarget to propagate target to team members.
• Pushes: None identified.