Any tips for Tiger Beetle Larva?

[DatPinkPuffball]

It may be me, but I'm horrible at dealing with them. They just snap up my ants and are easily able to escape my army by tanking the damage while burrowing away. Any of you got tips for taking them down? It'd be much appreciated for 2.2 Challenge.

Also I want to point out how the narrator LOVES to point out my ants being killed by Tiger Beetle Larva. Wasn't exactly the most uplifting messages, as I heard notifications every minute or so. A little frustrating..

[flyons_gary]

Well its a 2 part thing. You want to be luring them out while there are only a few. The moment you place a pheremone away and its reset it will go for your ants so simply back them off a little then immedietly replace. You want to either have upgraded rate of fire on mortors or go for fast firing ones for better effeciency.

[Mike]

The larva will emerge when there's a single ant by itself, so there has to be some sacrifice to it in the first place. We're not a micro-heavy game, but if you get a BTBL in an awkward spot move the pheromone marker around until it emerges, then hit it heavily with everything - you have a few seconds before it becomes invulnerable again.

As far as the narrator line goes - I think the cooldown timer on it is close to a minute. It can get annoying later in the game when there's lots of them - I'll mention it to the guys.

[DatPinkPuffball]

Thanks for the advice, and for responding to me. :)

[Sarvashaktimaan]

They feel ridiculously tanky for an enemy you have to kill in a few seconds before it becomes invulnerable. You just do not have the fine micro control of your units either (whiich I think is completely fine by itself), which makes them frustrating af.
The only way to deal with them seems to be to spend minutes at a time focus on nothing else but pulling your ants in and out, then slowing damaging them down.
This is made 10x more annoying by them just completely ignoring rival ants on the map.

[RealDeathClawProductions]

Originally posted by Sarvashaktimaan:

They feel ridiculously tanky for an enemy you have to kill in a few seconds before it becomes invulnerable. You just do not have the fine micro control of your units either (whiich I think is completely fine by itself), which makes them frustrating af.
The only way to deal with them seems to be to spend minutes at a time focus on nothing else but pulling your ants in and out, then slowing damaging them down.
This is made 10x more annoying by them just completely ignoring rival ants on the map.

Agreed. They really should have a bit less health.

[DatPinkPuffball]

5 years since I posted this and I've learnt a long time ago that one of the best ways of dealing with them is to bait them out with a Worker then completely burst them down with your ranged units. Melee Wood ants are not as suited for dealing with the larvae because they lack range and DPS, so make sure you're using your ranged ants when you're exterminating them. If need be, having a small chamber of Worker ants dedicated for baiting larvae is viable but early on, try your best to avoid them and minimise losses with Workers.

Long story short just treat them as bulkier funnel web spiders that attack slower but are more durable - send a worker to bait them out then concentrate as much firepower as you can before they hide again. They are very predictable once you figure out their detection range.