Killer bee

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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 yKiller bee.png
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

  • Be extremely wary of out of depth swarms of bees. It's almost certain death to fight a swarm on D:4. If possible, close doors with C to keep them from reaching you. Even in a hallway, an early swarm of bees can take you out.
  • Never believe that there's just one bee on the floor. They always travel with friends.
  • With poison resistance and decent AC, they're nuisances. With only poison resistance, they can be a handful if they surround you. Without either, charging into melee is often suicide.
  • Later in the game, watch out for queen bees, who can berserk nearby killer bees. Even if you can tab through regular killer bees, berserked bees can be a serious threat.
  • The following are particularly effective against bee swarms:
    • Poison attacks work wonders here. 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 wands of charming can be effective in turning some of them onto your side.
    • When things go badly, don't forget about your potions of curing.
    • A potion of lignification can give lightly-armoured characters some much-needed AC and poison resistance, greatly reducing the threat of a pack of bees.