Soldier ant
a soldier ant  
| |
|---|---|
| Difficulty | 7 |
| Attacks | |
| Base level | 3 |
| Base experience | 37 |
| Speed | 18 |
| Base AC | 3 |
| Base MR | 0 |
| Alignment | 0 (neutral) |
| Frequency (by normal means) | 2 (Quite rare) |
| Genocidable | Yes |
| Weight | 20 |
| Nutritional value | 5 |
| Size | Tiny |
| Resistances | Poison resistance |
| Resistances conveyed | Poison resistance (20%) |
|
A soldier ant: | |
| Reference | NetHack 5.0.0 - include/monsters.h, line 103 |
A soldier ant, a, is a type of monster that appears in NetHack. The soldier ant is an oviparous and carnivorous insect that is a stronger cousin of the giant ant. Soldier ants are among the most common source of early-game deaths, and as of May 2026 they occupy the #3 position on NAO's list of most frequent deaths.
A soldier ants has a normal bite attack and a sting attack that can inflict strength-draining poison, and possess poison resistance.
A soldier ant corpse is poisonous to eat, and eating a soldier ant corpse or tin has a 1⁄5 chance of granting poison resistance.
Contents
Generation
Randomly generated soldier ants are always created hostile, and may appear in small groups of 2-4.
Hostile soldier ants can be generated by the summon insects monster spell.[1]
Soldier ants can appear among the a that are part of the first quest monster class for Valkyries and make up 24⁄175 of the monsters randomly generated on the Valkyrie quest.
An anthole has a 1⁄3 chance of being populated entirely by soldier ants.[2]
Strategy
As with giant ants, soldier ants are very fast at 18 speed, and their poisonous sting makes them even deadlier to the point of possible instadeath. They also have the same AC of 3 as a giant ant, making them hard for early heroes to hit without trained-up or enchanted weapons. Even for heroes with poison resistance, their stronger attacks can also chew through health, especially against low-speed or poorly-armored heroes. Though they may appear late enough that a hero can find and identify a source of poison resistance in time to wear it, their strength drain will be somewhat difficult to cure unless the hero has access to prayer or can identify a potion of restore ability. Note that on some systems, dark gray items and creatures will be shown as blue instead, which makes it easy to confuse soldier ants with the much less dangerous giant beetles unless using far look or similar commands.
The same techniques for escaping or fighting giant ant swarms can work for soldier ants: avoid being surrounded at all costs, and try to lead them through a nearby corridor or close doors to block them off. Keep an eye on where any stairs are located and be prepared to retreat there if possible—avoid being burdened if at all possible in order to maximize your movement speed. Elbereth reliably works on soldier ants, and any form of magic can work as well since they also have no MR score. Have whatever escape items you can, e.g. scrolls of teleportation and wands of teleportation, ready to go if a group of ants threatens to overwhelm you, and once you escape them steer clear as long as possible until you can properly deal with them.
For heroes capable of fighting soldier ant swarms, use your best ranged weapons, offensive spells and/or wands where possible. Wands of sleep and slow monster can work in a cautious fighter's favor and can also work as a means of escaping, and wands of magic missile are also somewhat effective. Even if you can contain a group of soldier ants to a corridor, their damage and speed makes it wisest to bring them all down quickly as possible: for casting heroes, chain lightning with sufficient energy can make short work of them. Once killed, soldier ant corpses can be used as a source of poison resistance for heroes who lack the intrinsic, but possess an external source of the property and/or a tinning kit to make them safe to eat.
Soldier ants created by the summon insects spell are usually encountered at a point where they are of no real trouble to most heroes, and can even serve as a limited form of buffer, e.g. against monsters in Moloch's Sanctum or the Astral Plane—still, it may be best not to idle around them even with the regeneration property, unless you have a method of reliably healing yourself and need the space to apply it reliably. Similarly, they can provide a vector for chain lightning spells, although the amount of hostiles a hero will be facing in late-game situations where insects are summoned means that significant power drain will usually occur—heroes conserving their energy for other spells should utilize this as a form of last resort.
History
The soldier ant first appears in NetHack 3.0.0. In Hack 1.21 and Hack for PDP-11, which are based on Jay Fenlason's Hack, and from Hack 1.0 to NetHack 2.3e, the giant ant behaves much like the modern soldier ant does, attacking with a poisonous sting and leaving a poisonous corpse.
From NetHack 3.0.0 to NetHack 3.6.7, including some variants based on those versions, the soldier ant shares the same tile for between genders, has a difficulty of 6 and its poison stings can cause instant death—applying a unicorn horn can cure strength drain from the soldier ant's stings or their poisonous corpses. NetHack 5.0.0 increases their difficulty to its current value via commit 47724f01, removes the ability of poison attacks to cause instant death via commit d0b11fd2, and additionally removes the unicorn horn's ability to restore attributes via commit 43d331c4. Furthermore, homemade tins of soldier ant meat grant 40 nutrition rather than the standard 5—this is changed in NetHack 5.0.0 via commit 39bd259b.
Origin
Giant ants–specifically, ants or ant-like creatures that are human-sized or larger–are a popular form of insectoid in science-fiction media, codified by the giant ants seen in Them! (1954) and Empire of the Ants (1977). Other notable examples include the Bugs of Starship Troopers, the Formics of Ender's Game, and the ants that accompany Marvel Comics super hero Ant-Man. Like other ants in various forms of fiction, they are commonly portrayed as a hive species, which is a common misconception regarding ant colonies.
The soldier ant is a nickname given to "army ants", which can refer to any of over 200 ant species that display aggressive predatory behavior and travel in large foraging groups known as "raids": the name comes from the common name for the most predominant species of army ant, Eciton burchellii. Unlike most ant species, army ants do not construct permanent nests, and an army ant colony moves almost incessantly over its lifespan. All army ant species are members of the true ant family Formicidae, but several groups of army ants have independently evolved the same basic behavioral and ecological syndrome—this is often referred to as "legionary behaviour". The largest genus of army ant is Neivamyrmex, which contains more than 120 species.
The soldier ant of NetHack is also derived from the "warrior" giant ants of Dungeons & Dragons, which have the same hit dice, armor class and damage dice. In the first Monster Manual, 'warrior' ants make up roughly 1⁄10 of giant ants that a group will encounter, especially within their nests: a giant ant nest has one warrior for every 5 workers, and 5 warrior ants guard the egg chamber. If the queen ant is killed, the warriors will become confused for six rounds before fleeing the nest like the other ants.
Variants
NetHack variants based on NetHack 3.6.7 and previous versions may or may not retain the ability of a soldier ant's sting to cause instant death, as well as the ability to restore attribute damage from being stung or eating one's corpse with a unicorn horn.
In the original Convict Role patch, the soldier ant is the second quest monster for Convicts, and makes up 24⁄175 of the monsters randomly generated on the Convict quest.
SLASH'EM
In SLASH'EM, soldier ants can cause instant death with their sting as in NetHack 3.4.3—strength drain from the sting or from eating a killer bee corpse can be cured with a unicorn horn, though unicorn horns in SLASH'EM require a higher enchantment to more reliably cure troubles.
GruntHack
In GruntHack, soldier ants can cause instant death with their sting as in NetHack 3.4.3, and strength drain can be cured with a unicorn horn.
UnNetHack
In UnNetHack, soldier ants can cause toxic poisoning rather than instant death with their stings, and strength drain cannot be cured with a unicorn horn.
UnNetHack also implements the Convict role, and the soldier ant is the second quest monster for Convicts as in the patch, making up 24⁄175 of the monsters randomly generated on the Convict quest.
dNetHack
In dNetHack, notdNetHack and notnotdNetHack, soldier ants are a lawful and always-female species of monster, and only 250 total can be encountered in a game. They are also acidic rather than poisonous: they have acid resistance instead of poison resistance, and their sting deals acid damage rather than poison damage. Soldier ants can be commanded by formian taskmasters.
Soldier ants make up 1⁄5 of the monsters randomly generated on the Arcadian Roads of the Law Quest, and may appear among the random insects that are placed during level creation for those floors.
Soldier ants created on the Law Quest have a 3⁄5 chance of being generated with armor made to fit their body shape, as a pun on their nickname: they have a 1⁄10 chance of generating with plate mail, a 2⁄9 chance of generating with chain mail if plate is not given, and a 3⁄7 chance of generating with scale mail if chain mail is not given. Soldier ants that receive any body armor this way will also generate with a helmet that fits their long head shape.
dNetHack and its offshoot variants also implement the Convict role, but unlike in the original patch and other variants, the soldier ant is the first quest monster for Convicts and makes up 96⁄175 of the monsters randomly generated on the Convict quest.
A hero encountering a soldier ant while wearing the Scorpion Carapace unlocks the acid resistance upgrade.
DynaHack
In DynaHack, soldier ants can cause instant death with their stings as in NetHack 3.4.3, and strength drain cannot be cured with a unicorn horn.
DynaHack implements the Convict role, and the soldier ant is the second quest monster for Convicts as in the patch, making up 24⁄175 of the monsters randomly generated on the Convict quest.
SpliceHack
SpliceHack implements the Convict role, and the soldier ant is the second quest monster for Convicts as in the patch, making up 24⁄175 of the monsters randomly generated on the Convict quest.
EvilHack
In EvilHack, soldier ants can cause instant death with their sting as in NetHack 3.6.7, and strength drain cannot be cured with a unicorn horn. Poison resistance is also a partial intrinsic, and a hero needs 35% intrinsic poison resistance to prevent instant deaths from soldier ant stings unless they obtain the intrinsic by gaining experience levels. Conversely, a hero with extrinsic poison resistance can eat several soldier ants to increase their intrinsic levels of poison resistance.
EvilHack implements the Convict role, and the soldier ant is the second quest monster for Convicts as in the patch, making up 24⁄175 of the monsters randomly generated on the Convict quest.
SlashTHEM
In addition to SLASH'EM details, SlashTHEM implements the Convict role: the soldier ant is the second quest monster for Convicts as in the patch, making up 24⁄175 of the monsters randomly generated on the Convict quest.
Hack'EM
In Hack'EM, soldier ants can cause instant death with their sting as in NetHack 3.6.7, and strength drain cannot be cured with a unicorn horn. Partial intrinsics function as in EvilHack, although a hero only requires 25% intrinsic poison resistance to avoid instant death from soldier ant stings and other poison attacks.
Hack'EM implements the Convict role, and the soldier ant is the second quest monster for Convicts as in the patch, making up 24⁄175 of the monsters randomly generated on the Convict quest.
Encyclopedia entry
This giant variety of the ordinary ant will fight just as fiercely as its small, distant cousin. Various varieties exist, and they are known and feared for their relentless persecution of their victims.
