Antlion Spitter

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Antlion Spitter
General information
Faction	Antlions
Type	Insect ranged caste
Personal information
Attack(s)	Acid spit
Game information
Entity	npc_antlion

 

The Antlion Spitter is an Antlion variant introduced in Half-Life: Alyx and one of the only two Antlion castes featured in the game.

Overview

Antlion Spitters greatly resemble the standard Antlion Soldier in Alyx, but with a blue-green coloring and slightly rounded exoskeleton shape around the mouth and wings. Interestingly, it appears to have compound eyes, while other Antlion types lack any visible eyes.

Behavior and skills

Spitters have a similar attack method to Antlion Workers, vomiting a blue bile over great distances that blur the player's sight and deals poison damage. While attacking, they hover in the air, exposing their glowing abdomen which, when shot, sends them whirling into an explosion. Due to the ranged nature of their attack, Spitters tend to hang back and stay at covered or elevated locations. While hovering in the air, they also frequently shift their positions mid-flight to make themselves harder targets.

Tactics

The Antlion Spitter's carapace is bullet-proof, just like the Antlion Soldiers encountered in the game, which makes them more challenging to deal with. However, unlike their brethren, their abdomen starts off vulnerable. Shooting the exposed abdomen when they jump up in the air to attack is the most effective way to dispose of them, though the Spitters could dodge the projectiles, making it tricky to pull off. If any of their hind legs are shot off, they will choose to stay hovering above the ground, making their window of vulnerability much longer.

Appearances

Antlion Spitters appear in the chapters Revelations and Breaking and Entering. The first ones are encountered near the building where Antlions are being "milked", and a pair of them appear again alongside regular Antlion Soldiers in the Tanker Yard. The final pair appear after Alyx has to rearrange construction equipment to cross a large gap.

Behind the scenes

Internally, many filenames refer to the creature as an Antlion Worker, suggesting it was meant be one early in the game's development. The striking similarity of their abilities further supports this notion.

List of appearances

• Half-Life: Alyx