Ant Challenge Guide

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         So, you want to learn how to become a master bug-bonker? Well you've come to the right place, my friend! I, Muffie, will teach you how I've been able to get very high scores in the Ant Challenge. This should cover everything that needs to be known by the aspiring ant annihilator. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to DM me:
Little Miss Muffie#9489
         Note that this is more or less a draft of what I wanted to write, and that things may change as time goes on, so check in now and then to see what's new!
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Pre-Challenge Tips:
         -Just before you begin a challenge, I suggest to gather any sort of pollen-boosting ability token (Bear Morph and/or Baby Love). This is to help spawn in more waves early on, when the ants are lower level and your bees can handle them more easily. However, make sure your bees are keeping up with you, because if at any point they get overwhelmed, it could mean severe health loss or even a game over for you.
         -This is a little tougher to do, but is overall more important: Try to have good fighter bees. This can mean having gifted bees that grant an attack bonus to your hive (gifted Rage and Brave), or just having bees with a naturally high attack power*. If you have more than 2 baby bees, you may want to only have 2 of them, since they cannot attack at all. Their only use here is the pollen boost of Baby Love.
*My definition of "naturally high attack power" is for a bee to have a base attack of 3 or more. This includes the following bees: Brave, Commander, Demon, Ninja, Lion, Crimson, Cobalt. This does not mean that if you are going to want to get high scores, you must only have these bees in your hive, but having a few of these will severely help.
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Threat levels:
         This blurb will help figure out which ants to prioritize in battle. The faster you can take out the bigger threats, the less likely you'll lose much, if any HP during your rounds.
         -Regular Ants: These guys aren't a big deal, but you still don't want them to gather up in numbers. Keep at bay, but focus on other ants.
         -Winged Ants: Being chaser mobs, the threat level is high. Make sure that if there aren't higher threats on the field, these guys are priority #1.
         -Army Ants: Also being chaser mobs, they pose a similar threat as Winged Ants. However, if you come across an instance where both Winged and Army Ants are on the field, take out these guys first.
         -Giant Ants: The third chaser mob, and a tank. However, their slow movement makes them easier to kill, even with Fire Ants on the field. Prioritize Winged and Army Ants over them, but you may want to kill these Ants before you focus on Fire Ants.
         -Fire Ants: While not being a chaser mob, these baddies can make your life miserable by, well, incinerating their path with fire. Prioritize all chaser mobs over them, but if you encounter 4 or more on your screen, defeating them becomes your top priority. Cease to collect pollen until most, if not all of them have been defeated.
TL;DR:
-Army Ants #1 Threat
-Winged Ants #2 Threat
-Giant Ants #3 Threat
-Fire Ants #4 Threat, but can be #1 if in multitudes
-Regular Ants #5/Least Threat
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Types of waves and how to handle them:
         -Basic Field: This is where there are only Regular Ants are on the field. Lead your bees to each ant on the field while collecting pollen, until there are no more ants left.
         -Hoppers: This is where there are Winged Ants and Regular Ants on the field. To defeat the Winged Ants, stand in place away from Regular Ants. This will help you because a) your bees will stay with you and b) the Winged Ants will come to you. After you beat all Winged Ants, repeat process of Basic Field.
         -Battlefield: This is where there are Army Ants and Regular Ants on the field. To defeat the Army Ants, you can either carry out the same process as Hoppers, or walk in circles, luring the Army Ants to follow you. Due to your movement pattern, the Army Ants shouldn't easily be able to lock onto you, and if they do, their aim will be way off. Continue this until all Army Ants are defeated, then repeat process of Basic Field.
         -Miniboss: This is where there is a Giant Ant and some Regular Ants on the field. To begin, move as far away from all Regular Ants as possible. Your bees will follow you, realize that the Giant Ant is there, and begin to attack it. Lead the Giant Ant around the map until it has been beaten, then repeat process of Basic Field.
         -Blazers: This is where there are Fire Ants and Regular Ants on the field. There is a precautionary step you can take prior to a new wave spawning, where you stand as far away from the Anthill as possible, directly facing it. When/if this wave spawns in, you can easily lead your bees to the Fire Ants until there are none left. After this, repeat process of Basic Field, making sure to dodge all remaining blaze trails.
         -Fireflies: This is where Winged Ants and Fire Ants are on the field. There are a few ways you can handle this situation, the first being repeating the process of Hoppers, making sure to steer clear of Fire Ants while your bees take out the Winged Ants. You can also do a riskier strategy (imo) that may make you lose more health than the first strategy, which is to keep a good distance between you and the Winged Ants after your bees have locked onto them, dodging the Fire Ants and their blaze trails during the process. After the Winged Ants are gone, repeat process of Basic Field, making sure to dodge all remaining blaze trails.
         -Minefield: This is where there are Army Ants and Fire Ants on the field. To defeat this wave type, you can repeat any earlier strategy for dealing with Army or Winged Ants. However, my preferred strategy is the riskier one under Fireflies, where you keep longer distances away from the Army Ants while your bees attack them. This is because Army Ants aren't quite so erratic with when they try to lock on and attack you, unlike Winged Ants. Once all Army Ants are defeated, repeat process of Basic Field, making sure to dodge all remaining blaze trails.
         -Wildfire: This is where there is a Giant Ant and some Fire Ants on the field. For this wave, simply repeat the process of Miniboss, and add on the threat of blaze trails. Make sure to dodge these trails, since they along with lawnmowers can be the biggest HP eaters in the challenge. After the Giant Ant is defeated, repeat process of Basic Field, making sure to dodge all remaining blaze trails.
         -Mixed Media: This is where there are 3 or more types of Ants on the field. Use the Threat Levels chart, along with the advice on 2-type waves here, to defeat any Mixed Media waves.
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Lawnmowers:
NOTE: I am working on fixing this area, since I had accidentally provided false information on when lawnmowers start to spawn.
         After having spawned a certain amount of waves, lawnmowers will start to appear out of the three gray rectangles located on the left and right sides of the field. Lawnmowers will cover a third of the field when active, and alongside blaze trails, are the biggest damage-dealers in the challenge. Once every couple seconds, one of the 6 squares will flash red for a second before releasing a lawnmower. As time progresses, the lawnmowers will spawn more frequently, become faster, and will be increasingly more difficult to dodge. in the last 30 seconds of the challenge, there will practically be 2 lawnmowers spawning at the same time! It's pretty rough.
         My strategy for dodging the lawnmowers is to make sure that the menu bar on the left hand side is completely closed. This allows you to see both the left and right sides of the screen better, and gives you more reaction time should you be in a lawnmower's path.
         Dodging lawnmowers can be hard, especially if there are Fire Ants already on the field. Try to figure out all the patterns that Fire ants walk in, so it is easier to quickly find a spot free of blaze trails. If you are being chased and you see a lawnmower about to spawn, it is more important to run away from said mob and dodge the lawnmower than to stay put and take the hit. You WILL take more damage from lawnmowers than mobs, so if you have to pick and choose, ALWAYS pick taking mob damage.
         Like stated previosly, the longer you survive, the harder it becomes to avoid lawnmowers. This means that the higher of a score you get early on, the better. If you get a score of 100 with 2 minutes left on the clock versus getting a score of 100 with 1 minute left on the clock, it will be easier to put more focus on defeating the now high level Ants, rather than being forced to dodge lawnmowers and end up dying to the overwhelmingness of the situation.
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         With all this being said, I will say that knowing your way around the field is only one part of getting a high score. You could be an expert in how to handle the field and all its many mobs, but if you don't have high level bees, the right types of bees, or enough bees, you still may not get the kind of score you want. Being currently on the leaderboard, I can say that had I not put in the time and effort of leveling up my bees and getting more bees, I would never have been able to be where I am at now.
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Hive layout and what bees to have:
This is a HUGE part of whether you will be able to get high scores in the Ant Challenge or not. I will give a few general tips as to what bees you would want to have and why.
***The following information is based on a hive with 30+ slots.***
         Like stated in Pre-Challenge Tips, you will want to have at least a few good attacking bees. These bees will be good aid in the challenge:
         -Brave Bee: With its attack powe of 3, this bee is the highest attacking rare bee in the whole game. Its gifted version also grants an extra 1 base attack for your ENTIRE HIVE, making it a priority for aspiring bug-bonkers to have Gifted Brave Bee.
         -Commander Bee: With an attack of 3, this bee is good because of its ability Focus. If you haven't seen, the attack mechanic is somewhat similar to the pollen collecting mechanic, in the sense that your bees can critically hit an enemy just like critically gather pollen from flowers. The more focus you have, the more likely your bees will land a critical hit, which could end up dealing truck loads of damage.
         -Demon Bee: Demon bees also have 3 attack, and are a good legendary to have with you. It doesn't have any stand-out quality that boosts the offensive part of battling, but in the later stages of the game, his bomb power is good to have with you.
         -Ninja Bee: This bee is one of the better fighters not only because of its attack of 3, but its title as fastest bee in game, tied only with photon at a speed of 21. This means that it can easily zip from enemy to enemy, quickly defeating them.
         -Lion Bee: With the highest attack power in game, at a whopping 5, Lion Bee is a powerful ally you would want to have. Having even just 1 or 2 Lion Bees makes a huge difference in your hive.
         -Crimson & Cobalt Bees: These bees are the second best attackers in game, with 4 base attack each. I highly recommend that you get one, if not both, as soon as possible if you want to be a good battler.
         -Rage Bee: Unfortunately, Rage Bee didn't make the cut for base attack power of 3+, since it only has a base of 2, but for what it lacks in base strength, it makes up in abilities. Gifted Rage bee is the only other bee aside from Brave that grants an additional base attack power boost. Rage also has the powerful ability Rage, which grants a temporary attack boost that lasts for 45 seconds and can stack up to 5 times. Even if you only have 2 or 3 Rage Bees, if you work carefully you can consistently get max Rage every time you play.
-Music Bee: This bee isn't on the list for useful bees because of its attack, since it stands at only 1 measley attack. However, its 3 abilities take the cake. The first ability is Focus, and like said with Commander Bee, it boosts the critical chance for attacks. The second ability is Token Link, which is useful for when abilities are scattered and you aren't in a position to try and cross the field and back just to get them. The last ability is Melody, which boosts critical power by 100% for 30 seconds. This means that if your bees DO land a critical hit on a mob, its power will be much more. Thanks to melody, I've seen some of my high attack bees get crits of 25+.
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