Deathbellows

Attack

The deathbellows is an immobile creature that attacks by launching swarms of highly aggressive biting insects at a target, which they kill by sucking it dry of blood. These swarms of insects act as an area effect weapon, and they apply continuous damage for five seconds.

Range: 32 metres
Damage: 200
Damage type: heal

Although the damage type inflicted by the insects is heal, just like with a medikit, the insects are capable of killing your soldiers. A medikit works by inflicting a negative amount of damage to the target soldier, thus increasing his health.

Defence

Soft: 0%
Universal: 10%
Hard: 20%
Burn: 25%
Laser: 25%
Plasma: 25%
Warp: 60%
Paralyse: 75%

Health: 3,800 hit points

Distribution

The deathbellows can be found in any region that has not been swallowed up by the Biomass, and it first appears between the Area-51 mission and the Kasputin Yar mission. It is too big to be encountered in the second stage of an establish base mission.

Tactical notes

A deathbellows is an animal that has been infested with the larvae of a parasitic species of fly that was mutated by the Fall. As the larvae matured into adults, they turned the host animal into a living hive, creating the distinctive entrance holes in its body. The adults then use the living hive as a base from which they attack other people and animals in the locality. The deathbellows is one of the most repulsive and dangerous transgenants in the game.

A deathbellows is immobile, which means that your soldiers will not see one until it is too late if they run around the map. Because of the danger of this species, you should be wary of ordering your soldiers to run in a mission against the transgenants unless they are running away from an immediate threat, such as a morelman with a rocket launcher.

When a deathbellows spots your soldiers, it will turn round to face them and then launch a swarm of insects at them. If that happens, your only choice is to run away. If you stay put and return fire, you will lose some or even all of your soldiers; a deathbellows can take a lot of damage before it dies, and it will certainly last long enough to launch several more swarms of insects at your squad.

The best way to engage a deathbellows in the wilderness is with long range weapons such as sniper rifles.

Grenades are useful against a deathbellows in urban missions. As a deathbellows is immobile, try to remember its location if you are forced to run away from one. Grenades can be thrown over cars and walls, so it is often possible to use the cover to get close enough to a deathbellows to throw grenades at it without your soldier being spotted. It takes 4-6 grenades to kill a single deathbellows.

A deathbellows cannot be taken alive under any circumstances, and their bodies are too big for your soldiers to carry.