Mutant Fly
| Mutant Fly | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Type | Monster |
| Location | Mutant Bug Lair, Skull Cavern |
| HP | 66 |
| Damage | 12 |
| Defence | 1 |
| Speed | 2 |
| XP | 10 |
The Mutant Fly is the overgrown cousin of the Cave Fly, and it only turns up in two unpleasant places: the Mutant Bug Lair under Pelican Town and the prehistoric floors of the Skull Cavern. It flies straight through solid rock at the farmer, clips them on the way past, then loops around for another run, which makes it one of the few monsters that cannot be shut out by standing in a doorway. Mutant Grubs in the same lair turn into Mutant Flies if they are left alone long enough, so a fight against a sluggish group can become a fight against something fast. Eighty cave insects of any kind earn the Insect Head from Gil, and that sword counts both the flies and the grubs they came from.
Behaviour
A Mutant Fly does not walk a path towards the farmer. It picks a line, crosses the room at speed, and passes through whatever stone is in the way. Damage lands on contact during the pass, and once it is through it banks round and comes back from a different angle.
The looping flight is what makes it dangerous and also what makes it beatable. Because the fly commits to a run, its arrival is predictable: standing still and timing a swing for the moment before contact meets it head on. A weapon with strong knockback throws it far enough that the return trip takes a while, which lets the farmer set the pace of the fight.
Chasing one is a mistake. It moves faster than the farmer and ignores the terrain the farmer has to walk around, so pursuing a fly across a room means taking contact hits from it and whatever else is in the room at the same time.
Fishing in the Mutant Bug Lair is the exception to all of this, because flies keep arriving while the rod is out. The usual answer is to stand right by the entrance, so that a trip out and back clears whatever has gathered.
Location
The Mutant Bug Lair sits in the north west corner of the Sewers, and it opens as part of the Dark Talisman quest. Talking to Krobus during that quest is what unseals the passage, so the lair is reached through the shadow person's own home.
Inside, Mutant Flies and Mutant Grubs share the ground, and the flies keep arriving as long as the farmer stays. The lair looks like an overgrown garden, with plants growing and water to fish in, but the game treats it as an underground floor, so the greenery is scenery rather than forage.
The other home is the prehistoric stretch of the Skull Cavern, the jungle-looking floors where Pepper Rexes also live. Flies there are mixed in with far heavier company, so most farmers meet them as an annoyance during a dive rather than as a target.
The lair is the better place to hunt them. It is a short walk from town, it needs no Skull Key, and the flies come back every time the door is opened.
Drops
Bug Meat comes off nearly every fly, and it is more useful than its name suggests. One piece crafts five Bait, which is what makes a Fiberglass Rod or better worth carrying. Twenty five pieces with Copper Bars and Slime build the Sturdy Ring, a ring that halves how long every negative effect lasts, and that is exactly the ring a farmer wants against the debuffs waiting in the deeper mines. Ten pieces cook into Bug Steak for an emergency meal, and Willy's Juicy Bugs Wanted order asks for a hundred of them in exchange for gold and the Quality Bobber recipe.
White Algae appears occasionally, which is a convenience rather than a windfall. It is otherwise hooked out of the Sewers, the Mines or the lair's own water, it counts towards the fish collection, and Gus asks for it now and then on the Help Wanted board outside Pierre's General Store.
The Ancient Seed is the prize. It is an artefact the Museum wants, and a packet of Ancient Seeds grows into Ancient Fruit, a crop that takes most of a season to mature and then produces again every week for as long as it stands. A fly carries a seed only rarely, but the lair can be cleared again and again, which makes it a reasonable place to hope for one.
A Dwarf Scroll I turns up occasionally, and the Museum wants that too. A Diamond or a Prismatic Shard appears on the rarest rolls.
Items this monster can drop when it is defeated, with the chance of each.
| Item | Image | Chance |
|---|---|---|
| Ancient Seed | 
|
0.5% |
| Bug Meat | 
|
90% |
| Dwarf Scroll I | 
|
0.5% |
| Dwarf Scroll IV | 
|
0.1% |
| White Algae | 
|
2% |
| Diamond | 
|
0.05% |
| Prismatic Shard | 
|
0.05% |
Notes
The Insect Head is the reward Gil pays for eighty cave insects, and it is a genuine weapon rather than a trophy: a sword with an unusually wide damage spread and a speed bonus. Flies, grubs, bugs and armoured bugs all count towards the same total, so the lair is the fastest place to finish it because both of its residents qualify.
Monster Musk doubles the monsters on a floor, and in the lair it doubles a population that is already arriving unprompted. It suits a farmer finishing the bounty and makes fishing there considerably worse.
Oil of Garlic keeps weaker monsters from showing up, which is the drink to carry when the goal is the Slimejack in the lair's water rather than the insects around it.
All Monsters
Every entry in this group, with its key details.
| Name | Image | Location | HP | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Armored Bug | 
|
Skull Cavern | 1 | 8 |
| Armored Bug (dangerous) | 
|
Skull Cavern | 250 | 20-27 |
| Bats | 
|
The Mines & Skull Cavern | 24, 36, 80, 300,; 268, 277 | 06, 07, 15, 30, 13, 14 |
| Blue Squid | 
|
The Dangerous Mines | 310 | 18 |
| Bug | 
|
The Mines | 1 | 8 |
| Bug (dangerous) | 
|
Dangerous Mines | 250 | 15-16 |
| Carbon Ghost | 
|
Skull Cavern; The Dangerous Mines | 190 | 25 |
| Cave Fly | 
|
The Mines | 22 | 6 |
| Cave Fly (dangerous) | 
|
Dangerous Mines | 266 | 13-15 |
| Duggy | 
|
The Mines | 40 | 6 |
| Duggy (dangerous) | 
|
Dangerous Mines | 280 | 8 |
| Dust Sprite | 
|
The Mines | 40 | 6 |
| Dust Sprite (dangerous) | 
|
The Mines | 280 | 13-15 |
| Dwarvish Sentry | 
|
Volcano Dungeon | 300 | 18 |
| False Magma Cap | 
|
Volcano Dungeon | 290 | 15 |
| Ghost | 
|
The Mines | 96 | 10 |
| Grub | 
|
The Mines | 20 | 4 |
| Grub (dangerous) | 
|
Dangerous Mines | 265 | 12-13 |
| Haunted Skull | 
|
Quarry Mine; The Mines random dungeon floors | 160 | 15 |
| Haunted Skull (dangerous) | 
|
Dangerous Mines | 310 | 19-26 |
| Hot Head | 
|
Volcano Dungeon | 215 | 18 |
| Iridium Crab | 
|
Skull Cavern | 240 | 15 |
| Iridium Golem | 
|
Wilderness Farm | 430 | 15 |
| Lava Crab | 
|
The Mines | 120 | 15 |
| Lava Crab (dangerous) | 
|
Dangerous Mines | 340 | 19-26 |
| Lava Lurk | 
|
Volcano Dungeon | 220 | 15 |
| Magma Duggy | 
|
Volcano Dungeon | 380 | 16 |
| Magma Sparker | 
|
Volcano Dungeon | 310 | 15 |
| Magma Sprite | 
|
Volcano Dungeon | 220 | 15 |
| Metal Head | 
|
The Mines | 40 | 15 |
| Metal Head (dangerous) | 
|
Dangerous Mines | 280 | 19-26 |
| Mummy | 
|
Skull Cavern | 260 | 30 |
| Mummy (dangerous) | 
|
Skull Cavern | 445 | 38-55 |
| Mutant Fly | 
|
Mutant Bug Lair, Skull Cavern | 66 | 12 |
| Mutant Grub | 
|
Mutant Bug Lair | 100 | 12 |
| Pepper Rex | 
|
Skull Cavern | 300 | 15 |
| Putrid Ghost | 
|
The Dangerous Mines | 500 | 25 |
| Rock Crab | 
|
The Mines | 30 | 5 |
| Rock Crab (dangerous) | 
|
Dangerous Mines | 272 | 13 |
| Royal Serpent | 
|
Skull Cavern | 150 + (50 × tail segments) | 32-48 |
| Serpent | 
|
Skull Cavern | 150 | 23 |
| Shadow Brute | 
|
The Mines | 160 | 18 |
| Shadow Brute (dangerous) | 
|
Dangerous Mines | 370 | 22-32 |
| Shadow Shaman | 
|
The Mines | 80 | 17 |
| Shadow Shaman (dangerous) | 
|
Dangerous Mines | 310 | 21-30 |
| Shadow Sniper | 
|
The Mines | 300 | 18 |
| Skeleton | 
|
The Mines | 140 | 10 |
| Skeleton (dangerous) | 
|
Dangerous Mines, Quarry Mine | 655 | 16-18 |
| Skeleton Mage | 
|
Dangerous Mines, Quarry Mine | 355 | 20-25 |
| Slimes | 
|
The Mines, Skull Cavern, Quarry Mine, Secret Woods, Tiger Slime Grove, and Volcano Dungeon | Varies | Varies |
| Spider | 
|
The Mines (Shrine ON) | 200 | 15 |
| Squid Kid | 
|
The Mines | 1 | 18 |
| Squid Kid (dangerous) | 
|
The Dangerous Mines; Skull Cavern | 250 | 22-32 |
| Stick Bug | 
|
The Dangerous Mines | 700 | 20 |
| Stone Golem | 
|
The Mines | 45 | 5 |
| Stone Golem (dangerous) | 
|
Dangerous Mines | 283 | 13 |
| Truffle Crab | 
|
The Farm | 30 | 5 |
| Wilderness Golem | 
|
The Farm | 30 | 5 |