Originally posted by Faceplant8:

I don't know why, but there seems to be some confusion about this, so I tested it just to make sure my math was right above, Even at only 100 health, with max iron armor, the wolf attack does, in fact, do only about 20 damage, with no chance of stagger:

https://youtu.be/W0clZPxMZeQ

Wolves do attack very fast. If you do, get staggered while being attacked by a wolf, you many not be able to recover, which may be what the OP is describing, but that's bad with any armor, and the question that hasn't been answered is what caused the stagger.

This is probably what i was remembering, then (I'm in mistlands now). I do know that multiple times i've been, essentially, stunlocked by a single wolf with absolutely no way to recover, but it's possible i wasn't at full health at the time of taking that first hit - stagger seems to scale with your current health, as many times when i'm low on health i completely fail a block i know i have timed right.

Another issue with wolves specifically is their terrain traversal. They can follow you up any degree of slope, it seems, and you can only stay ahead of them so long as you have stamina to sprint, so if you're not in a good position to deal with one (low health, for example), aggroing one can basically be a death sentence. I'm a big opponent of unavoidable death in any game, i think that the player should always have the ability to either succeed or escape.