Killer bee

Version 0.31: This article may not be up to date for the latest stable release of Crawl.

For a list of all arthropods, see list of arthropods.

killer bee y
HP	10-22
HD	3
XP	62
Speed	20
AC	2
EV	18
Will	10
Attack1	10 (sting: poison)
Resistances	None
Vulnerabilities	Poison
Habitat	Land
Intelligence	Animal
Uses	Uses nothing
Holiness	Natural
Size	Tiny
Type	killer bee, killer bee
Flags	Flying No skeleton

A giant bee, bearing a deadly barb which can sting repeatedly.

Useful Info

Killer bees are poisonous flying insects that live up to their name. They're twice as fast as most characters, attack in swarms, and can quickly inject fatal amounts of poison. They are found in the mid-Dungeon, as well as in "hive" vaults scattered around elsewhere.

Tips & Tricks

• Never believe that there's just one bee on the floor - they always travel with friends. Try to use hallways if you can.
• With poison resistance and decent AC, a bee swarm is a nuisance. With only poison resistance, they can be a handful if they surround you. Without either, charging into melee is often suicide.
• Be extremely wary of out of depth swarms of bees. It's almost certain death to fight a swarm on D:4, even if in a hallway. If possible, close doors with C to keep them from reaching you.
• Later in the game, watch out for queen bees, who can berserk nearby killer bees. Even if you can tab through regular bees, a dozen berserked bees can be a serious threat.
• The following are particularly effective against bee swarms:
  • Poison attacks work wonders. Mephitic Cloud will make a tightly-clumped swarm slaughter itself. Olgreb's Toxic Radiance will slaughter large bee rooms. A weapon of venom can quickly kill if it hits, but due to their 18 EV, this isn't as reliable.
  • Bees have relatively low willpower, so a wand of charming can be effective in turning some of them onto your side.
  • A potion of lignification can give characters some much-needed AC and poison resistance, greatly reducing the threat of a pack of bees.
  • When things go badly, don't forget about your potions of curing.