Praying Mantis
Patient, precise, and armed with two very fast opinions.
Rare bugs unlock with XP you earn playing online, or with coins. The game shows how to get each one.
Passive: Ambush Predator
Boosts cost 15% more mass but run 12% faster.
A passive is always on: you never fire it and it never runs out. It is what the Praying Mantis does that no other bug does quite the same way.
Stats
Stats are multipliers on the standard bug, which is ×1.00 in everything (the game shows them as percentages: ×1.14 is 114%). Turn is Agility in the game. For Boost drain, lower is cheaper.
| Stat | Praying Mantis | Compared with the standard bug |
|---|---|---|
| Speed | ×1.02 | 2% faster |
| Turn | ×1.06 | turns 6% faster |
| Bulk | ×1.00 | the standard |
| Growth | ×1.05 | 5% more from food |
| Boost | ×1.12 | boosts 12% faster |
| Boost drain | ×1.15 | boosting costs 15% more |
| Spawn mass | 18 | the standard |
Power-ups
Every bug has 5 power-up slots. The Praying Mantis can carry 11 of the game's 18 power-ups: the 5 core ones every bug carries, and 6 more that its traits from the real animal allow. Its traits are predator, ambusher, ground and spiky.
Venom Trail
For 8s you leave lingering venom clouds behind you that squish any head entering them.
From its predator trait.
Silk Snare
Fires a silk bolt up to 520u. On hit the target is slowed 60% and cannot turn well for 3s.
From its ambusher trait.
Burrow
Go underground for 5s: untargetable, invisible to bots, 40% slower, cannot eat.
From its ground trait.
Barbed Carapace
Body swells up to 30% and grows barbs: enemies that hit your body are repelled and stunned instead of dying.
From its spiky trait.
Leaf Camouflage
Blend into the leaves for 6s: bots no longer see your head as a threat or as prey, and other players see you faded.
From its ambusher trait.
Horn Charge
Lower your horns for 2.5s: 1.5x speed, wider turns and hard to shove. A body you ram is knocked aside and stunned instead of squishing you (barbs still bounce you).
From its spiky trait.
Core power-ups: Nitro Wings, Molt Husks, Phase Shift, Pheromone Call, Shockwave.
How bots play it
Bots fill every seat no player is using. A bot playing the Praying Mantis plays it as an Ambusher. Settles on a mushroom patch and loiters around it; when a smaller bug passes within strike range it boosts across its path.
Other ambusher bugs: Black Widow, Emperor Scorpion, Tarantula, Deathstalker Scorpion.
Skins
The Praying Mantis has 7 skins. A skin changes only how it looks, never how it plays. See them in the full skin gallery.
Orchid Praying Mantis
Petal pink, hiding in plain sight: the orchid mantis' blossom-pink body and hot-pink trim.
Dusk Praying Mantis
Dusky lavender-grey with pale lilac trim, made for hunting at twilight.
Deadleaf Praying Mantis
Dressed as a fallen leaf: bark-brown body and tan leaf-litter wing covers, invisible until it strikes.
Eyespot Praying Mantis
A spiny flower mantis in ivory and buttercup, its wing covers marked with black eyespots that stare down predators.
Sapphire Praying Mantis
A living gem: sapphire body, turquoise wing covers studded with gold, and indigo raptorial arms.
Nutcracker Mantis
A toy-soldier red mantis with a scarlet coat, four gold buttons down its back and cream-white legs.
Ghost Mantis
A pale ghost-white mantis with a lavender glow, drifting through the haunted garden. Boo!
The real animal
The Praying Mantis in buggs.io is based on Mantis religiosa, and its traits come from what the real animal does. Read about it on Wikipedia.