Tarantula
A fistful of legs and hair. Nothing wants to touch it.
Epic bugs unlock with XP you earn playing online, or with coins. The game shows how to get each one.
Passive: Urticating Hairs
Enemies within 110u of your body are slowed 30%.
A passive is always on: you never fire it and it never runs out. It is what the Tarantula 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 | Tarantula | Compared with the standard bug |
|---|---|---|
| Speed | ×0.95 | 5% slower |
| Turn | ×0.90 | turns 10% slower |
| Bulk | ×1.34 | 34% thicker |
| Growth | ×1.10 | 10% more from food |
| Boost | ×1.00 | the standard |
| Boost drain | ×1.05 | boosting costs 5% more |
| Spawn mass | 28 | bigger than the standard 18 |
Power-ups
Every bug has 5 power-up slots. The Tarantula can carry 10 of the game's 18 power-ups: the 5 core ones every bug carries, and 5 more that its traits from the real animal allow. Its traits are spinner, giant, armored and ambusher.
Venom Trail
For 8s you leave lingering venom clouds behind you that squish any head entering them.
From its spinner 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 spinner and ambusher traits.
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 giant traits.
Nectar Bloom
For 10s every mouthful is worth double and you regenerate 6 mass per second.
From its giant 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.
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 Tarantula 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: Praying Mantis, Black Widow, Emperor Scorpion, Deathstalker Scorpion.
Skins
The Tarantula has 6 skins. A skin changes only how it looks, never how it plays. See them in the full skin gallery.
Cobalt Tarantula
After the cobalt blue tarantula: deep navy fur with bright blue bands.
Rose Tarantula
After the Chilean rose tarantula: dusky rose fur with soft pink bands.
Blonde Tarantula
Straw-blonde desert tarantula on dark legs, after Aphonopelma chalcodes, extra shaggy.
Pinktoe Tarantula
Iridescent teal tree tarantula with hot-pink knee bands, after the Avicularia pinktoes.
Amethyst Tarantula
A royal-violet bird-eater with gold knee bands and gold spots, after the purple-sheened Pamphobeteus.
Skeleton Tarantula
Black with bone-white legs and a ribbed abdomen, inspired by the skeleton tarantula of South America.
The real animal
The Tarantula in buggs.io is based on Theraphosa blondi, and its traits come from what the real animal does. Read about it on Wikipedia.