The Insect Tier List

The Strange Bugs are one of the most broken factions the game has ever seen. Nowhere else in nature will you find such an incredible concentration of abilities that are not only super powerful but also extremely unique. It's hard to know where to start when talking about what makes

insect

s. such a successful group because in many cases it is not just that their individual abilities are surpassed, but some of them feel that they should be mutually exclusive, as they are incredibly operational when used in combination with each other, you will see what I mean, once I get into the

tier

list

, but first a brief overview of the general attributes and history of the

insect

faction, insects were added to the game during the early Carboniferous expansion, the developers increased the level of atmospheric oxygen, which which allowed members of the arthropod faction to adopt larger sizes. more expensive sizes and abilities, and while the majority of the arthropod player base attempted to dominate Earth by leveling up its size, a small branch of the crustacean player base opted to forego the gigantism trait and instead used this oxygen bonus to unlock a never before seen ability in the game flight because these new creatures were the first to gain the ability to fly, air became completely their domain for the time being and would remain that way until the reptiles unlocked the ability several expansions later.

Insects are extremely diverse in their abilities and statistics. In fact, they are so diverse that it is impossible to include them all in a single video. I'll keep things pretty generalized, but the truth is that many of the groups I'll be talking about today have so many notable members that they could easily be an entire

tier

list

in themselves, so it's a little difficult to pin down their general attributes, but There are some commonalities: Being members of the arthropod faction, all insects receive the advantage of exoskeletal armor that greatly increases their AC compared to soft body structures. of similar sizes with the only drawback being a massive reduction in those same defensive stats for a short time each time the player levels up, this makes the bugs quite tanky on average, allowing them to excel in combat.

The structure of the insect also has access to the advantage of compound eyes. giving them much better awareness compared to other arthropods like scorpions and centipedes with 360 degree vision. Their ability to avoid obstacles, dodge attacks, and pursue targets while flying is far superior to most other fliers. This enhanced perception advantage is important because insects tend to have high natural ability. stealth, so competing with other bug builds requires keen insight, we've only scratched the surface of the crazy abilities bugs have access to, though for a deeper look let's get into the tier list in the bottom of the level.

On the list we have the silverfish, the silverfish is the most primitive insect still in existence, it somewhat blurs the line between what is and is not considered an insect and not in a good way, unlike other insects. non-flyers who decided to respect and abandon the ability to fly. In favor of more refined strategies, the silverfish construct never actually had access to it in the first place, aside from having an exoskeleton, they don't actually have any of the abilities that make insects powerful, they don't have wings and essentially They have no combat skills. They have pretty low defenses and take bodies left and right from almost everything, and their only useful stat is their decently high movement speed.

Their special ability allows them to gain XP by eating cellulose and lignin, meaning they can farm XP from wooden structures that they normally don't. t Of course, this ability would be quite powerful in forest biomes, but because they are such weak combatants, they tend to stick around in urban areas feeding on things like paper and cloth in the relative safety of houses, apartments, and office spaces, even there. where are they. However, it's not completely safe and while no build is truly safe in the bug meta, silverfish has an extreme lack of useful abilities putting it firmly in tier f, that's honestly the only bug build that I think it deserves a level f rating like most insects. pretty viable and even the least viable ones tend to have at least a few useful things going for them, even if those things don't necessarily break first.

In DeTour we have the Phasmid build which includes staffs and blades that mimic these sporting builds which are hands down some of the most impressive camouflage abilities in the entire game, only surpassed by color changing builds like the Octopus and Chameleon, just as impressive as these, although the question I end up constantly asking is whether this is really necessary because, with the exception of insects that deliberately lower their Stealth as part of the apostomatic coloring strategy. Insects as a whole already have above-average stealth and are generally able to maintain it while continuing to develop other equally impressive abilities.

Their camouflage can only take them so far, while they are almost undetectable and remain motionless. Walking sticks still need to move to find food and while they mimic the movement of a swinging leaf or branch, this is certainly not perfect, in fact if they are ever caught in an environment where the camouflage doesn't match their instincts to walk. Swaying and moving can end up revealing your position even more rather than aiding your attempts to hide. Some phasmids possess chemical defenses, but as we will see later in the tier list, this attack is quite mild compared to the heat of other insects. are packing, the phasmids have a sloth-like game plan, with all the major flaws that plague this strategy, although at least the phasmids don't completely give up on common sense and make a perilous trip to the forest floor once a week only to poop next.

Level D, we have the Lepidoptera, the faction that includes moths, butterflies and captains. At first glance these may seem like absolute bottom tier builds, they are among the most vulnerable builds in the game when it comes to combat with extremely soft and absolutely abysmal defensive stats. offensive abilities, many of the larval forms of these builds are 100 defenseless and have single-digit mobility stats, literally the freest kills in the game; However, the leopard player base is quite clever and has come up with some ways to at least mitigate their many weaknesses, both caterpillars and adult leopards can adopt quite convincing disguises, some designed to help them blend in and others designed to intimidate, given These strategies often don't hold up against High Intelligence builds, but they do help some caterpillars develop pretty powerful defenses like spines and toxins that make it simply not worth taking the potential damage and giving them credit where it's due, though They are still fairly helpless butterflies and moths that have excellent mobility and can fly much greater distances than most insect structures, allowing them to avoid high conflict areas of the map and reach higher quality loot that might be too rare to pick up.

Most players rely on their massive wings, as well as being highly customizable for a variety of stealth or intimidation purposes, they also make them appear much larger than insects of comparable species. body sizes that help deter attacks. But ultimately the lapids still require a lot of L's and most high level bug builds have pretty oppressive matchups against them so they are definitely a below average faction which is actually for D tier and I know which might seem like we. We're moving up a tier list quickly, but again, the bugs are a hugely successful faction and will focus on the higher tiers at the bottom of the seat.

Here we have the Cockroach. The Roach is the ultimate survivor who chose to specify stealth mobility and a multitude of elemental resistances instead of offensive abilities, although they do not accumulate much heat, their flat shape allows them to easily wedge themselves into places that are extremely difficult for other players to attack them. on their rather clumsy Flyers, but they have superior resistance. The average ground movement speed allows them to quickly run for cover if they see a predatory player approaching; However, when caught outdoors or cornered, they are quite defenseless and are easily one of the most vulnerable structures of the entire insect faction.

They are also carried to some extent by human mainnets, making temperate and Tundra servers viable for them because, as impressive as their toxin and radiation resistance capabilities are, they are quite vulnerable to the cold and would still be confined If it weren't for humans unlocking the fire control ability, the larger variants may be able to take a hit or two, but even then, with no way to defend themselves, they are still quite screwed if they can't escape a fight, next in the seat here we have the earwig, a fearsome looking generalist build. which appears to have a pair of giant jaws on its back called Cersei, just as fearsome as these Cersei pincers.

If we actually check his wig's base stats, we quickly notice that, like all of his other stats, his power stat is pretty mediocre. As threatening as the Cersei are, the actual penetrating damage they can deal is quite minimal and can even be deflected by the most basic armor and even against unarmored builds the damage is so low that larger builds still don't need to be careful. approach an earwig and they may attack without restraint just because they can doesn't mean they will as the earwig's intimidation factor alone is often enough to protect it from conflict and credit, where credit is due, tweezers are in actually quite decent in confrontations against soft ones. insects with bodies and allow the earwig to carry its targets much better than it could with its jaws and, while it may seem foolish to have opted for rear-facing weapons instead of the more typical forward-facing ones, such as jaws and tribunes, the position actually serves. a purpose in that it allows earwigs much greater access to burrows and tight spaces where they can hide and avoid conflicts entirely.

Of all the weapons the bugs have access to, Cersei might be one of the most unorthodox, which likely contributes to her ability to intimidate other players. However, I think to get out of the mid-tier, earwigs need to have the ability to back up their threat display, they would do well to hit some sort of poison. Venom-infused stings are a pretty common attribute for bugs, so this feels a bit of a missed opportunity, so while it's certainly a viable mid-level, don't overestimate this build's abilities on the part. top of the seeds, here we have the orthoptera, including grasshopper crickets and katydids, these are the first mobility-focused setups on our list while they're at it.

Quite capable fliers, their true power comes from their leaping hind legs rather than their wings. Flying is an excellent defensive ability, as it allows the user to get out of range of an attack, but this usefulness is reduced if their flying ability is too high. delayed start and therefore, instead of using its wings to rise into the air, a powerful jump allows the arthopter in Mains to escape vertically at instantaneous speed. Their excellent vision makes it extremely difficult to get within striking range without alerting them and because their jump has such excellent Frame Data, landing an ambush hit on an Orthopter can seem almost impossible at times and even if a player manages to secure a grapple , his power behind the legs can work as a quite effective combo.

Breaking the spines on his legs increases the damage of his kicks. can deal, meaning that if a grasshopper can withstand the first few hits of an ambush attack, it can turn the tide of a confrontation and escape after dealing serious damage to the attacker. That said, I think there are some flaws in their strategy. which I think keeps them out of the higher levels, grasshoppers can jump so far that there's really no way to know what kind of situation they're about to get into one way or another.similar to how the Flying Fish does using such a drastic Escape option at times. end up putting yourself in a worse position than before, especially if your local meta has a lot of spider players and, although they present a challenge, most Predator players are not interrupted by the grasshopper's kicks and can absorb the damage directly or one hit the grasshopper even before it has a chance to retaliate at the bottom of the beach.

Here we have the hemiptines, a diverse order of insects with some things in common, including generally having a high defense and being somewhat shield-shaped, however, most notable is that instead of cutting or pinching the mouth parts . The hamitara build opts for a drilling stand, perfect for drilling through hard surfaces for most hemitterin builds, allowing them to gain XP from sources that are normally difficult to access, such as the energy-dense sap within trees and the stems or the starch within the seeds, however, there are some hematurians who use their sharp Rostrum to deliver a venomous bite that is capable of piercing through armored targets.

Its venom is powerful enough to shoot almost any other insect and can even cause severe damage to larger structures. The only major flaw here is that these so-called assassin bugs tend to have fairly low stealth and opt for the aposomatic intimidation defense I mentioned above and on top of it all, they have fairly low mobility, making ambushing another player a pain. a little difficult if they do. We're actually paying enough attention to just dodge attacks and run away, although some break this trend and opt for better camouflage and high aquatic mobility, making them some of the scariest aquatic builds in the game on the herbivorous side. of the things that usually happen to mipters. a little worse, they generally still have fairly low mobility and low stealth and their defenses may be higher than average, but they are not as impenetrable as some of the taller structures on this list;

They tend to rely on a chemical defense similar to some phasmids, from which they get the name stink bugs, however, similar to phasmids, these defenses also tend to be a bit poor and often fail to deter attackers, so they certainly It's a group with some notable members and is fine for farming XP, but still nothing too broken and overpowered. Outside of Tier B, we have the Neuroptera, a pretty clunky build with some pretty pathetic looking base stats. Truly one of the least agile flyers in the entire game; However, looking at the final form of this construction offers a very misleading picture of its capabilities: the larval form. is how they spend the vast majority of their time, as it is a brutally effective Predator build for any player who prefers the camp style of play.

Looking at the larvae's stats, we see that they have incredibly high power and stealth for the size that antlions are. a devastating venomous bite that they use to single-shot unsuspecting players before draining all of their hit points with their hollow jaws due to their ability to construct Pitfall traps. His passive stealth rating is extremely high, making his ambush playstyle incredibly effective as if escaping wasn't. Strong enough once prey is caught in its trap, the antlion even has the ability to launch projectiles to stun its target, making escape nearly impossible. I have a whole video dedicated to the overpowered abilities of neuropterans and larvae, but in short, they are what earwig pretends to be, if you took the earwig, Cersei put it in front and made them sharper and gave them deadly poison to boot, you would have an antlion, so why has the weak adult form spent all its evolution points optimizing its larval form? almost never as adults, they don't even have the ability to eat this way and really only exist to be a vessel that allows players to meet each other and complete the mating questline, something they lack the ability to do in their entirety. time. less mobile larval form, so while I think it would be more impressive if they didn't make such a massive cut to his power level during his final level, there's no denying that for the vast majority of his playtime these builds are a threat. absolute to find at the bottom of a level, we have one of my favorites, the mantises Mantis have a fairly simple play style that involves slashing and grabbing their targets using powerful, spiked raptor limbs.

If we take a look at Mantis' stats, we see that The Mantis has one of the highest base power stats of any non-venomous insect. He also has a staff-like stealth stat that he desperately needs in order to get close to his targets. Their clumsy flight and slow ground movement speed make chasing prey basically impossible, however, what they lack in movement speed they easily make up for in attack speed. The mantis' attack is incredibly fast to the point that it is able to easily hit targets normally considered hopelessly evasive, as powerful as these. The attacks are a weakness of the strategy is that the grappling attack does not immobilize the target and actually puts it within range of a counterattack and while the mantis' large size allows it to resist most counterattacks that attack a poisonous target.

Canada is a serious mistake for a mantis player, so it's definitely a powerful high level for your predator, but not one that's so invincible that Mantis Mains can get careless. At a level where we have flies, this gets a little confusing due to the number of other builds that use the word fly in their name, but in this group the true flies are defined by a very specific characteristic. True flies only have two wings, this may seem like a significant trade-off, but it does leave them more vulnerable to having their fighting ability disabled so they don't take damage. the benefit they unlock in return is worth the risk in lieu of a second pair of wings.

They change the flies for Hall. They tear apart a sensory structure that gives flies an incredibly powerful upgrade to their aerial maneuverability and evasion. Their superior aerial acrobatics make them virtually impossible. impossible to land a blow in mid-air and also allows variants of the Predator fly, such as the Thief fly, to launch incredibly precise attacks in mid-flight and take down targets that would normally be too powerful to engage head-on but cannot effectively counter. . They attack in flight, however, most flies are scavengers or parasites that use their rapid mobility and superior reaction speed to get around defenses and avoid counterattacks from larger players.

While they have an extremely short lifespan, there is no denying that they make the most of the time they have and are one of the most efficient and evasive builds in the entire game, but while Flies are excellent aerial combatants, they are no match for The ultimate aerial hunter build. The Dragonfly is similar to the Crocodile in that it is one of the most optimized PvP builds to ever exist in the game, already such an efficient build that over the course of several balance patches and game expansions, the Dragonfly has seen very few changes to your main strategy, they are simply not necessary since the dragonfly is already equipped. to deal with almost anything developers throw at it, so what is it about Dragonfly that has given it such a competitive advantage?

Dragonflies have the best aerial maneuverability of any build in the game and the highest maximum flight speed of any insect, unlike most insects. Dragonflies have the ability to move their wings independently of each other, giving them the ability to move in any direction without needing to turn and look in that direction, meaning they can strafe in mid-flight and even fly backwards. This ability makes their flight more energetic. more demanding than for other insects, so it is a big commitment. High reward play style to ensure adequate reward for your incredible agility. Dragonflies have also achieved what is arguably the best vision of any arthropod.

Extremely large, high-resolution eyes that basically take in their entire head, giving them full 360-degree vision, allowing them to track all potential targets around them with ease and allowing them to see attacks coming very close. before they are actually at risk of being hit, unlike many of the other bills on this list. which have a powerful larval form but a weak adult form or a powerful adult form that can only achieve this after enduring an extremely vulnerable early game. The dragonfly is a high-level predator in both forms, while everyone knows that they rule the skies when they reach their maximum level.

What you may not know is that, as nymphs, dragonflies are one of the fiercest aquatic constructs in the game, capable of from shooting fish and amphibious players of similar size. Now, while it was tempting to put dragonflies in a level, they do have some shortcomings. While they can usually see approaching predators before it's too late, they are not particularly good at avoiding accidentally flying into dangerous situations, getting easily caught by webs, and often being snatched out of the air when flying too close to them. another player. Dragonflies can't walk, meaning their energy-consuming flight ability is their only option if they need to reposition themselves.

It's not that devastating of a weakness, but it's enough to keep this ancient construct from being able to enter the first level. . In the level we have the beetle. The Beetle is the Epitome of the Bug builds a bunch of extraordinarily powerful abilities that don't seem to work properly when used together, but somehow end up synergizing incredibly well. Beetles are the main tanks of the insect faction with an outer cuticle tough enough to deflect almost any attack with ease, they have such high AC that they can confidently pass through a swarm of aggressive ants without taking any damage, something that Not even many reptiles and amphibians can get away with it now, usually when a build is heavily invested in defenses like this, it has to make a lot of sacrifices in its other stats.

This is the opposite of what we see in the beetle's build, as in addition to being the most armored bug in the game, it also excels in several other metrics, the most obvious of which is its power stat. Beetles can destroy their enemies in combat using powerful jaws and explosive chemical weapons. Its ability to lay waste to opponents with its forward-facing weaponry is hard to overstate, but in my opinion, its real damage potential comes from beetles possessing the ability to destroy their attackers with a toxic or acidic chemical blast, but there This is not where the madness ends because, although you would probably expect a high-powered tank to be slow and heavy, beetles also possess the highest ground movement speed of any insect and if that wasn't enough, despite having heavy horns ​o giant jaws and a tank full of harmful chemicals, being dressed in heavy armor and strapped with enough muscle to move objects well above its weight class, the beetle is still able to fly without much problem, now they sacrificed one of their pairs of wings for additional armor, so they can't perform the advanced aerial acrobatics that dragonflies and houseflies can do, but the ability to get from point A to point B via flight is still extremely valuable for escape. of danger. and to reach valuable points of interest in short order, the beetles have essentially all the abilities you could ask for, they are an amalgamation of everything that makes the insect faction so powerful, so it is no surprise that the beetle species represent a whopping 25 percent of all species in the game.

They are so versatile and adaptable that a Beetle player can find a niche on virtually any server. They truly are the ultimate bug and deserve a tier list of their own, as incredible as this combination of powerful abilities is, ultimately the Beetle still has more to go. The powerful insect ability of all of them uses sociability. I now have an entire video dedicated to explaining how broken this ability is and there's no doubt that bugs that incorporate it into their game plan simply dominate everything in their path. Now technically the Termites are a variant of the Cockroach built, but they have such a unique and powerful playstyle.That grouping them with mid-level cockroaches seems disingenuous.

The Termite Queen is the longest-lived insect in the game, with a lifespan close to that of a human or an elephant and lasting many decades. Building one of the most powerful armies the game has ever seen, these termite armies are capable of building some of the best fortified bases in the game, giving even beaver dams and human skyscrapers a run for their money, no. Not only do they build incredible bases but the termites literally transform the map to better optimize their colony's ability to gather resources, paving roads and building ramps and bridges to important resource deposits.

This efficiency allows them to support a huge army and command vast territories. Termites despite being more closely related to cockroaches. They have a combat style that is actually very similar to the Spitting Cobra, which if you've seen my snake tier list you'll know is also a top tier build. Termites can accurately shoot acid from a needle-like horn on their face, which is heavy. They damage anything caught in their blast, some termites opt for giant slicing jaws instead of acid sprays to the head, and are crucial in defending your face from an attack by invaders. Termites have a somewhat unbalanced build with incredibly powerful forward-facing weaponry but extremely vulnerable abdomens.

Without any armor, this means that they are often, despite their larger size, quickly overwhelmed if outnumbered and outflanked, which is usually not a problem as termites are competent at defending themselves in a phalanx formation. It covers the weaknesses of the individual members, so it is certainly not a bad enough weakness to deny the top-level status of your sociality, but this weakness means that I have to give first place to the other insect social faction. Hymenoptera are the group of insects that includes ants, bees and wasps, unlike termites, these insects are a bit more complete, have decent armor throughout and tend to have forward and rear facing weaponry, and the Most of the time in operons it has strong jaws and a venomous stinger.

The wasp's signature buzzing sound and yellow bands are as infamous as almost every other insect faction in the game. has at least some members trying to replicate it to gain advantage in their own intimidation checks. You social hymenoptera can build extremely complicated structures without the use of tools. They can launch organized attacks containing thousands of combatants. They can capture prisoners, cross important barriers and control territory. To an absolutely incredible degree, thousands of players will give their lives in defense of a colony if necessary. Ants in particular are masters of both empire building and military tactics and often have to wage war on multiple fronts while carrying out large agricultural and construction projects in their territories. own territory, so while beetles may occupy a larger percentage of the total insect variants, termites and ants vastly outnumber any other type of insect, and while I don't base my tier lists solely on population , there is no denying that the abundance of these insects is due to their incredibly powerful strategies and their ability to take advantage of their environment; in fact, the only genuine threats to social players tend to be invaders that disguise themselves as members of their own colony, but they are actually there to disrupt the theft and attack many hemiptura and mantis spiders.

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