Revision - enemies - Starsand Island Wiki

Windrose's enemy roster is broad enough that it helps to sort it by family rather than by one giant list. The live build moves from wildlife and pirate crews into undead and plague threats, then caps the progression with the main biome bosses that anchor Chapter 1.

Enemy Families

Family	What Defines It
Wildlife	Animals that feed the survival loop, from safe food targets to aggressive hunting threats
Pirates and outlaw humans	Camp enemies, ranged gunners, elites, and Blackbeard-aligned surface pressure
Undead and drowned	The supernatural side of the game that begins showing up early and gets heavier as the story darkens
Plague or swamp threats	The late-launch-biome enemy family tied to the Cursed Swamps
Bosses	Named progression encounters that structure the launch-build story ladder

This family split matters because Windrose teaches different combat lessons through different enemy groups. Wildlife punishes panic. Pirates punish bad target priority. Undead and plague enemies punish attrition and sloppy preparation.

Wildlife

Enemy	Role
Dodo	Safe early food and material target
Crab	Low-end coastal threat that still matters when grouped
Boar	The first animal that reliably teaches players to respect charge attacks
Sow	A related early aggressive animal encounter
Wolf	Pack pressure in the Foothills
Mountain Goat	Passive Foothills wildlife that still matters to gathering
Crocodile	A more dangerous animal presence in later exploration

Wildlife is more than set dressing. It feeds the food chain, the leather chain, and the early light-fuel chain all at once.

Pirates and Human Threats

Enemy	Role
Pirate Sailors and musketeers	The baseline camp and shipboard human threats
Pirate Sergeant	A tougher hybrid elite that raises the threat ceiling of camp fights
Mercenary	A stronger human combatant around curated combat spaces
Grenadier	The splash-damage pirate variant that punishes clumping and slow closes

Human enemies are where the game starts asking you to solve actual encounter structure instead of just trading hits. A sergeant plus ranged backup is a different problem from one boar on an open beach.

Sea Pressure Versus Land Pressure

Windrose also uses enemy families differently on land and near ships. A pirate camp tests how well you pull and isolate targets. A boarding action tests how well you survive chaos once melee, guns, and NPC crew all overlap. The same faction can feel very different in those two contexts.

Undead and Drowned

Enemy	Role
Drowner	Early supernatural pressure and one of the first signs of the darker story thread
Swollen Drowned	A more dangerous drowned variant with ranged or area pressure
Blackbeard-aligned undead crews	The broader undead war machine behind much of the game's naval and later-land threat

These enemies are important because they change the tone of the whole game. Windrose is not only a pirate survival sandbox. It is also a supernatural story, and the drowned are one of the first clear signals of that.

Plague and Swamp Enemies

Enemy	Role
Plague Thrall	A baseline plague enemy in the Cursed Swamps
Plague Hunter	A more specialized plague combatant
Plague Warrior	A heavier plague threat built for later-biome pressure
Plague Witch	A higher-threat plague caster or support enemy
Swamp Creature	A larger swamp threat tied to the biome's harsher side

By the time plague enemies become your normal opposition, the game is no longer testing whether you understand the basics. It is testing whether your build, healing, and route planning are ready for a later biome.

Documented Launch-Build Bosses

Boss	Biome
Thomas Richards	Coastal Jungle
Israel Hands	Foothills
High Priestess	Cursed Swamps

Enemy Pressure by Biome

Biome	Main Enemy Feel
Coastal Jungle	Starter animals, pirate camps, and the first undead pressure
Foothills	Harder packs, more dangerous humans, and stronger mid-game combat density
Cursed Swamps	Plague attrition, reduced comfort, and later-biome supernatural intensity

Reading Enemies by Biome

Coastal Jungle mixes wildlife, pirate camps, and the first drowned threats.
Foothills adds stronger packs, tougher human enemies, and the Israel Hands story route.
Cursed Swamps lean harder into plague, supernatural corruption, and the High Priestess boss line.

Universal Combat Advice

Do not treat every enemy family the same. Wildlife teaches spacing, pirates teach target priority, and undead or plague enemies punish attrition.
Carry healing and food into any space where multiple enemy families overlap.
If an encounter feels impossible, check whether the real problem is biome order, not mechanics.

Windrose often feels harder than it really is when the player misreads the enemy family in front of them. The right answer to a boar, a pirate pack, and a plague enemy line is not the same answer repeated three times.

Revision 8