Overview[1]
The Ant Challenge is a challenge found past the Ant Gate, with the objective being to defeat as many ants as possible.
Accessing and Participating
The player needs 20 bees in order to pass the Ant Gate and play the Ant Challenge. An ant pass is also required each time to participate in the challenge. The player can obtain a free every two hours by using the Free Ant Pass Dispenser behind the Ant Gate. If players wish to get more ant passes, they can purchase another one for each at the Ant Pass Dispenser. Panda Bear also gives ant passes in his quests sometimes.
Gameplay
Upon entering, the remaining pollen in a player's bag is instantly converted. The player has 5 minutes to defeat as many ants as they can. The timer on the right side of the anthill shows the time remaining for the challenge. The ants come in waves, starting with level 1 and 2 ants, and they increase in level with each wave. Each wave launches an assortment of ants that contain Regular Ants, Fire Ants, Army Ants, and/or Flying Ants. Every 5th wave always contains a Giant Ant, with the exception of every 40th wave, which contains 2 giant ants. Each ant defeated grants 1 point. To progress, fill the meter on the anthill by gathering pollen. The amount of pollen needed to progress to the next wave starts at 4,000 and increases by at least 2,000 more than the previous requirement for each wave. Upon reaching wave 8, the white doors on the sides will start flashing red. This indicates that a lawnmower is about to come out and pass through the lane the door directs to. Move away from the targeted lane to avoid getting damaged. Getting hit by a lawnmower deals 50 base damage. Lawnmowers will move faster and appear more frequently as the challenge progresses, with multiple lawnmowers running simultaneously possible near the end of the challenge. The challenge ends upon the player's death, leaving the challenge, or when the 5 minutes are up, whichever happens first. While having the Haste+ buff, if the player walks up the ant hill, the player may leave the challenge. This is a common glitch.
Rewards
After the challenge ends, a message box pops out on the player's screen presenting the rewards. The rewards increase in quality and quantity relative to the player's score. A higher score will also give players higher-tier Ant Amulets: If the player already has an existing Ant Amulet, they may choose to keep their old one or replace it with the new one, depending on which one has better/more favorable buffs.
Tips
Try to collect as many tokens (Haste, Baby Love, Bear Morph, etc.) as possible before participating in the challenge. Rage tokens can be used to take out ants faster, as they increase Bee Attack. Certain mutations on bees that increase attack will also help in defeating ants faster. Higher level bees will be able to make the later waves easier to get through. Bees with higher attack and/or speed will also prove to be more effective than those with lower attack and/or speed. A high-level Vicious Bee is vital, as the spikes from its ability, Impale, can deal significant damage to multiple ants. In addition, wait to activate the ability when many ants are in the arena to maximize it effectively. A Gifted Stubborn Bee can help in this case as it increases the lifespan of ability tokens, giving the player more time to spawn ants before activating abilities. Windy Bee's Tornado can be even more effective than Impale in the Ant Challenge. Not only does it collect pollen, but it also deals massive area damage (which cannot miss) and collects tokens. However, haste stacks and powerful sprinklers are required to maximize their potential. tokens can be used to fill the progress meter on the anthill, so the player may consider using Honey Bees or Diamond Bees to spawn Honey Gift tokens, or using a Festive Bee to collect honey tokens from Festive Gifts. Having amulets that boost bee attack damage, a Gifted Brave Bee, and a Gifted Rage Bee makes it easier to defeat ants. The Fire Mask and Demon Mask will boost attack and add Flame-generating passives.
Patch history
If a player uses a during an Ant Challenge, it used to teleport the player to the starting platform after teleporting to the hive, thus ending the challenge and granting an amulet with the score the player left with. During an unknown update, this was fixed to teleport the player to the center of the field. However, during a later unknown update, the player is instead teleported back to their hive, which teleports them back to the challenge platform and ends the challenge. Despite being lawnmowers, they actually do not affect any of the flowers when they pass through. Prior to the 2018-11-25 update, the Ant Challenge can only hold up to 20 ants at once. Since the Egg Hunt 2019 update, the player can get as a reward from the Ant Challenge. If the player uses jelly beans while inside or right outside the Ant Challenge, no jelly bean tokens will appear. Upon entering the arena, the player's bag will instantly be converted, and the player will gain a boost of +100% Instant Conversion. The boost is represented by the icon. There used to be a visual glitch that when leaving the ant challenge, the player would still have this buff. It was only a visual glitch, so the player did not actually have a +100% Instant Conversion boost active. Before the 2018-11-25 update, a Haste token with an expired timer would represent the boost is now represented as the icon. There is an ant pass token hidden behind the Ant Challenge area. To get it, go behind the leaderboard and follow the hallway around the corner. This also leads to the Gummy Bee Egg Claim.
