Facing Your Foe: Are Cockroaches Afraid of Human Players?
As a hardcore gamer, I know an enemy NPC when I see one. And household cockroaches are no different – these minions fear human players and will flee from us on sight!
When you unexpectedly come across one of these large creepy-crawlies in your home, their first instinct is to scatter and despawn like low-level mobs avoiding a high-level adventurer. Much like when you enter a new stage and all the baddies turn tail and run away.
This might make you think cockroaches don‘t consider humans much of a threat. But in reality, they know engaging a human in direct battle would easily spell Game Over for these little bugs!
Why Cockroaches Nope Out When They See You
Evolution has programmed cockroaches to automatically flee from bigger creatures that can kill them. And to a puny roach, a human is like a screen-filling boss enemy that barely fits on camera!
To a cockroach, facing off against a human would be like battling a raid boss with just a level 1 character. They know we wield deadly weapons like rolled up newspapers and bug spray that spell instant death!
I‘ll never forget the time I stumbled onto a roach nibbling my sandwiches on the counter, yelled "HEY, THAT‘S MY POTION!!” and watched it nearly jump out of its carapace scuttling for safety! These creatures do NOT want to tangle with humans if they can help it.
Behaviors Revealing This Pest‘s Fear Response
When a cockroach encounters a human player, they instinctively react as if they‘ve stumbled into the activation range of a dangerous foe:
Scatter Flee – They‘ll immediately run for safety like low HP mobs getting away from an AOE attack. No strategy here other than "exit battle ASAP!"
Hide In Plain Sight – Roaches stick to sneak stages during daytime hours, camping out unseen like stealthed rogues until the cover of nightfall allows them to emerge.
Jump Scare Defense – Getting the jump on a human by hissing, lunging or flying erratically to freak us out can make us flinch or hesitate long enough for them to get away!
But just because cockroaches want to avoid confrontation doesn‘t mean they aren‘t a threat – they still invade our bases and try stealing our resources! Let‘s look at some ways to counter them.
Turning Their Fear Against Them
Take advantage of what we know about cockroaches to send them packing:
Debuff Mobility – Lay down citrus or peppermint oil AOE attacks to intimidate and herd these mobs away from key areas.
Illuminate Encounters – Keep the lights on to reveal these hidden enemies. Darkness buffs their stealth, so fight that with illumination!
Provoke Ambushers – Make noise to aggro concealed roaches and force them out of hiding – then squash them!
Crazy Cockroach Facts Concerning Humans
Now for some random intel on how cockroaches interact with us without fleeing:
Accidental Encounters – Roaches occasionally crawl on sleeping players by mistake like NPCs with bad pathing routines.
No Companionship – Unlike tameable mounts or in-game pets, cockroaches cannot form bonds with human mains.
Toxic Casualties – Defeating cockroaches releases bacteria, so no stepping on them! The status effects from their deaths aren‘t worth it.
While cockroaches didn‘t choose to become our enemies, these invaders must be eradicated from bases and defeated if spotted! Their stealth abilities and surprise attacks may heighten the challenge, but the information here should help players send these bugs packing.
The battle is on, gamers – so gear up and trounce those roaches! This guide will let you counter their creepy crawly chaos. Now if you‘ll excuse me, I have a few raid boss strategies to theorycraft…
