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Protectors are a possible evolution of Infected Adventurers, belonging in the Evolved tier.
Spawning
Spawned when an Infected Adventurer gets an evolution point by killing a mob and its evolution timer begins. If the evolution succeeds, they have a 45% chance to become a Protector.
Unique Behavior
When evolving, the Protector will keep the same head and feet armor and custom name as the Infected Adventurer it evolved from. If the Infected Adventurer had a chestplate or leggings on, they will disappear and not be on the Protector.
When spawned by a spawn egg or through commands, they will retain the same values for armor and names.
When having a target, the Protector will put up its shield. When its shield is up, the Protector will block any damage and deflect projectiles that it receives from the front. Additionally, when hitting targets with its shield, they won't be damaged, but instead knocked back (with the strength of Knockback I). When it hits mobs this way, they will receive Mycelium Infection for 5 seconds.
Its shield can be disabled for 5 seconds when it is hit with an axe.
When a Protector spawns, it will always have an Ender Pearl in its hand. If its target is more than 20 blocks away, it will throw the Ender Pearl to teleport closer to its target. It can gain an Ender Pearl by killing an Enderman.
When a spore mob is hurt and a Protector is within 64, the Protector's target will be set to whatever hurt the spore mob. The Protector will also gain Speed for 5 seconds. This is to be able to move in front of the other mobs to protect them.
Behavior
Protectors are melee combatants and ranged combatants, attacking mobs with Infected forms, golems, and most hostile mobs.
Protectors inflict Mycelium Infection for 30 seconds when dealing melee damage.
Has a follow range of 48 blocks.
Protectors have a 5% chance to drop a Scent upon death.
When killed, have a chance to place a small short-lived Mycelium Infection area effect cloud.
Protectors will attempt to group together in hordes with other Evolved.
Infected will follow Protectors, who themselves will follow Hyper Evolved and Calamities.
Can perform low leaps/dashes to chase prey quickly through water.
Able to use kill points to give themselves buffs, such as strength or speed if the target is running away. They can also give themselves regeneration if they are low on health.
Capable of breaking glass and leaves.
Have a damage cap of 1/3 of their health on hard mode.
Present a weakness to the cold, like all spore mobs.
Related Advancements
Drops
Protector
Statistics
HP: 50 (x25 hearts)
Armor: 12 (x6 bars)
Damage: 8 (x4 hearts)
ID: spore:protector
Threat Level: Medium-High
Trivia
The reason the Protector doesn't wear chestplates and leggings is because the mod creator couldn't find a good way to get them to render on the model.Â
Protectors spawn with an Ender Pearl because it would be almost impossible to find one that has an Ender Pearl via killing an Enderman, so that mechanic would almost never get a chance to be utilized.
A bug exists with the Protector where it will target players in creative if they hit a spore mob while the Protector is in range. It was purposefully not fixed because the mod creator thought it was funny.
The Protector was meant to put its arms up to protect mobs, rather than have a shield. This was changed when it was modeled and given a shield.
Furthermore, there was a scrapped variant called the 'Basher Protector' that would've had a shield strapped to its arm. It would do heavy knockback all of the time (not just when protecting), had a chance to block melee attacks, and always would've deflected ranged attacks. It had to be scrapped when the base Protector was given a shield.
The exposed heart design was originally just a headcanon by one of the staff, Dr. Pilot. It was officially incorporated into the Protector by the modeler, Wiki. Though, it didn't keep the mechanic of being a method of stunning the Protector.
Gallery
A Protector putting its shield up and holding an Ender Pearl.
A Protector using an Ender Pearl to reach a player.
A Protector knocking back a player.
The Protector's jaw clipping through its chest on the old model (credit to @bigxplosion)
A picture posted in the Discord server teasing the Protector before it was released.
Getting the Protector to render in-game.
Getting the armor to render on the Protector in-game.
The original model of the Protector.
An old render of the Protector before its model was completely remade.
Ditto.