Stag Beetle
Those mandibles are not decorative. Neither is the grudge.
Uncommon bugs unlock with XP you earn playing online, or with coins. The game shows how to get each one.
Passive: Grapple
Enemies within 80u of your body are slowed 15%, pinning them on your line.
A passive is always on: you never fire it and it never runs out. It is what the Stag Beetle 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 | Stag Beetle | Compared with the standard bug |
|---|---|---|
| Speed | ×0.94 | 6% slower |
| Turn | ×0.82 | turns 18% slower |
| Bulk | ×1.22 | 22% thicker |
| Growth | ×1.08 | 8% more from food |
| Boost | ×1.06 | boosts 6% faster |
| Boost drain | ×1.00 | the standard |
| Spawn mass | 24 | bigger than the standard 18 |
Power-ups
Every bug has 5 power-up slots. The Stag Beetle can carry 9 of the game's 18 power-ups: the 5 core ones every bug carries, and 4 more that its traits from the real animal allow. Its traits are armored, predator, ground and spiky.
Venom Trail
For 8s you leave lingering venom clouds behind you that squish any head entering them.
From its predator 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 armored and spiky traits.
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 Stag Beetle plays it as a Hunter. Roams for prey: chases bugs up to ~57 % of its mass from further off and boosts to cut them off well ahead.
Other hunter bugs: Centipede, Dragonfly, Wolf Spider, Tarantula Hawk, Asian Giant Hornet.
Skins
The Stag Beetle has 7 skins. A skin changes only how it looks, never how it plays. See them in the full skin gallery.
Obsidian Stag Beetle
Volcanic glass, polished to a mirror: jet-black armour with a violet glint.
Copper Stag Beetle
Rich copper armour with bright orange highlights, like a freshly struck penny.
Tiger Stag Beetle
Tiger-orange wing cases barred with black stripes and dark antler jaws, after the tropical Odontolabis stags.
Azure Stag Beetle
The rare blue stag of old beech woods: cobalt shell, deep-navy legs and pale steel-blue jaws.
Rainbow Stag Beetle
Australia's jewel of the rainforest: emerald armour with violet sheen and inlaid pale amethyst diamonds, gilded jaws and copper legs.
Masquerade Stag
A champagne-gold stag beetle with two navy harlequin diamonds on its elytra, dark jaws and navy legs, like a masked-ball mask.
Vampire Stag
A caped count of the night: inky wine-black armour with a crimson lining, fangs for jaws and glowing red eyes.
The real animal
The Stag Beetle in buggs.io is based on Lucanus cervus, and its traits come from what the real animal does. Read about it on Wikipedia.