Electric bug

x spark bug
Difficulty	4
Attacks	Bite shock 1d3

x spark bug
Difficulty	4
Attacks	Bite shock 1d3
Base level	2
Base experience	19
Speed	12
Base AC	9
Base MR	0
Alignment	0 (neutral)
Frequency (by normal means)	1 (Very rare)
Genocidable	Yes
Weight	15
Nutritional value	10
Size	Tiny
Resistances	shock, poison
Resistances conveyed	None
A spark bug: is an animal. does not eat. (*) is normally generated hostile. can be seen through infravision. does not appear in Gehennom. normally appears in small groups. never leaves a corpse. hits creatures as a +1 weapon.
Reference	SLASH'EM 0.0.7E7F2/monst.c#line1794

x arc bug
Difficulty	6
Attacks	Bite shock 2d4

x arc bug
Difficulty	6
Attacks	Bite shock 2d4
Base level	4
Base experience	45
Speed	12
Base AC	9
Base MR	0
Alignment	0 (neutral)
Frequency (by normal means)	1 (Very rare)
Genocidable	Yes
Weight	15
Nutritional value	10
Size	Tiny
Resistances	shock, poison
Resistances conveyed	None
An arc bug: is an animal. does not eat. (*) is normally generated hostile. can be seen through infravision. does not appear in Gehennom. normally appears in small groups. never leaves a corpse. hits creatures as a +1 weapon.
Reference	SLASH'EM 0.0.7E7F2/monst.c#line1800

x lightning bug
Difficulty	8
Attacks	Bite shock 2d6

x lightning bug
Difficulty	8
Attacks	Bite shock 2d6
Base level	6
Base experience	79
Speed	12
Base AC	9
Base MR	0
Alignment	0 (neutral)
Frequency (by normal means)	1 (Very rare)
Genocidable	Yes
Weight	15
Nutritional value	10
Size	Tiny
Resistances	shock, poison
Resistances conveyed	None
A lightning bug: is an animal. does not eat. (*) is normally generated hostile. can be seen through infravision. does not appear in Gehennom. normally appears in small groups. never leaves a corpse. hits creatures as a +1 weapon.
Reference	SLASH'EM 0.0.7E7F2/monst.c#line1806

Spark bugs, arc bugs, and lightning bugs, collectively referred to as electric bugs, are monsters in SLASH'EM and SpliceHack. They possess the same shock attacks as grid bugs, but since they are higher than level 0, their attacks have the potential to destroy rings and wands. In SpliceHack, they can only move orthogonally like grid bugs, but in SLASH'EM they can move diagonally as well.

Strategy

All three of these bugs can be a large danger to an early SLASH'EM character. Magic cancellation is a must to protect against their attacks, but even MC 3 is not proof against them, and it may be difficult to acquire for a beginning character. The main danger of these bugs is that they may destroy wands; in SLASH'EM, a wand exploding has the same effect as if you broke it yourself. This means that all those wands you have could cause magical explosions, cancel everything in your inventory, engulf you in a fireball, or polymorph you; worst of all, a wand of wishing could be wasted entirely. A relatively low-level character is not likely to survive that many magical explosions, and these bugs are generally seen in SLASH'EM's relatively early game. They make acquiring a sack or oilskin sack a much higher priority, particularly for wands of cancellation, which cannot be put in a bag of holding. A good philosophy in SLASH'EM for wands is, unless you wouldn't mind it blowing up in your face, don't keep it in your main inventory.

Encyclopedia entry

"What was that?" cried Buck, rubbing his numb and tingling arm.
"Nature's revenge for bug zappers," replied his companion.