Insectoid

Insectoid
A very fast and dangerous zombie. Can jump over enemies and attack from the back.
Main Stats
Health 140 Melee Damage 35
Special Attacks	10 (pounce attack)
Crit. Chance	0%
Speed	30
Rage Drop	4
Behavior Stats
Agility	40
Aggression	80
Morale Stats
Charisma	-32
Charisma Radius	50
Abilities
Activation Chance	50%

Insectoid is an unusual infected. It has lost any semblance of a human, appearing heavily deformed and much more alien-like. Its structural anatomy has been drastically altered, with its skull now becoming an elongated dome shape with gray flesh and having developed powerful hind legs. Its arms have become insect-like as well as the extra set of limbs it has grown on its torso.

Overview

Insectoid is a special end-game enemy. It possesses a unique ability to pounce onto units who utilize ranged attacks as their primary source of damage. This ability has a random, but relatively high, chance of activating whenever Insectoid detects at least one suitable target present on the battlefield. Targets are chosen at random. When landing, Insectoid deals 10 damage to all units in a tiny radius around it, while also having a brief invincibility period. It always tries to land a little to the right of its target.

If a unit manages to walk past Insectoid while it's in the middle of its landing animation, the zombie will turn around and go after them, as a result forcing their target to turn either. Insectoid is able to target units regardless of whether they are standing in front or behind it. The only condition under which Insectoid can't target units is if they are standing inside of the Bus' hitbox.

Strategy

Although its health isn't the best, Insectoid is one of the most dangerous enemies throughout the entire endgame thanks to its dangerous ability. It allows even small quantities of them to cause major trouble as ranged units cannot fend for themselves in close quarters. Insectoid can reach the bus rather quickly and is capable of destroying it in mere seconds thanks to its insane speed, fast attacks, and very high damage. It can also reach it faster by pouncing on a ranged unit that's close to the bus but still in range for Insectoid to target.

Fighting Insectoid can very often come down to luck: Insectoid's detection can be fatally instantaneous or life-savingly slow, and upon pouncing it can either start attacking immediately or do nothing for a few seconds. In a best-case scenario, ranged units can kill it without suffering much damage. To be safe during most situations, it's advised to have a spam unit ready to be sent out when Insectoid appears and ranged units are present. Mechanic is one of the better options for this as his sledgehammer attack can recover a little ground if it isn't killed off. Private Rodriguez is also a good choice as he is fast and can deal with Insectoid relatively well on his own, and with his special ability unlocked, he'll always have an advantage against the first one he faces by dealing some damage before approaching it.

Policeman Diaz and Sonya are great ranged units to use in missions with Insectoid. Both have excellent forms of attacks that can effectively kill Insectoid quickly and both have methods for getting around Insectoid's annoyingly effective ability. Policeman's unique melee resistance allow him to partially absorb the damage from its pounce, and tank its attacks long enough for his shotgun to kill it. Meanwhile, Sonya can simply knock it back with her signature move after it pounces and quickly fill it with bullets with the space made after she kicks it away.

Red Barrel can be effective at heavily damaging Insectoid. Generator can be used similarly while also being able to stall for much longer. Insectoid is entirely invincible while leaping into the air so fire damage, as well as any other incoming attacks, will be ignored until it reaches the ground again. Nitrogen can be used as an obstacle to slow down Insectoid to a screeching halt, turning it into a very easy target for any unit. As always, proper timing and positioning are important or else Insectoid might slip past its radius of effect or friendly units will be mistakenly slowed. Lastly, it is worth noting Insectoid's pounce and melee attacks can damage everything, but will only target human units, so it will succumb to Turret's punishing fusillade if there is enough distance for it to cover your units.

Trivia

• Insectoid's general appearance is based on Xenomorphs from the Alien franchise.

Gallery

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  Journal entry.