Looking through the profiles, Mantis might have the movement speed advantage if allowed to be at most subsonic. Only thing faster is possibly the dart monkey's projectiles, but that's combat speed and not movement speed. While the monkey's practically the only combatant with a range advantage, it shouldn't be very mobile due to being a tower in a tower defense game. I mean I don't remember much from BTD, but basic dart monkeys are never shown to move from the spot they were placed in. They just stay, aim, and shoot.
You know, originally I was just trying to find 9-B animals from games I'm familiar with, and I doubted my choices would stand a chance. But now that I have done some research, the Mantis is actually quite the powerhouse.
This page has a ton of useful information.
Kiryu got me thinking about who goes for who first. "Highly aggressive, it attacks any medium-size or smaller creature that enters its range." It will first prey on cave crawler (my own entry, dammit), Terry, tapir, and dart monkey. Dart's range advantage won't make much of a difference before the mantis closes the distance and rips its intestines out. Even if we assume it's not just a motionless tower defense tower, instead being as mobile as a real life monkey, the mantis will still outrun it. So those smaller opponents are immediately down. What about the rest? Well, its tendency to hunt smaller prey likely refers to its natural and untamed instincts, when we're talking about a tamed mantis. In that case, the tamed mantis simply attacks whatever the player commands it to. That, on top of a tamed mantis being more leveled up in its stats, will make this individual likely
used to fighting creatures larger than itself. With no player here to command it, after it takes out the smaller creatures, it should have no objection to fighting the bigger ones such as the t-rexes.
That brings me to the next topic. How well does it fare against the stronger combatants, considering strength, speed, and intelligence? Very well, actually.
For strength, in its own game,
a tamed mantis can semi-easily take down a same level, untamed t-rex. It shouldn't have much trouble with the larger combatants, even if they're stated to be maximum weight males, and I don't imagine the individuals used for this match being tamed at all. So yes, the mantis will definitely hold its own against the several large dinosaurs in the battle. I've already established earlier that it has a speed advantage as well, so this is the combatant that will dance around all others during a direct confrontation.
Intelligence needs an entirely separate paragraph, or several. Long story short, the mantis also just about has this one in the bag. Referring to the
wiki from earlier,
"The existence of a creature such as Empusa discipulus is both fascinating and frightening. Not only is Empusa the only recorded insect to have developed an opposable digit, allowing it to grip objects and use tools, but it possesses a level of intelligence that is unrivaled among non-human species. I have even found clear patterns in the sounds Empusa makes when communicating with its own kind, as though it is actually using some kind of dialect.
I would love to study these interactions in depth, but observing Empusa up close is extremely dangerous. Its size, intelligence and ability to pounce on its prey from a great distance mean that one could be quickly swarmed and killed upon detection. Caution is recommended.
Domesticated
Though a dangerous task, successfully taming Empusa can prove highly beneficial. Its unique claws allow it to wield melee weapons like spears or pikes in battle, and use tools while harvesting resources. This makes it deadly as a mount or footsoldier and highly efficient as a gatherer."
First of all, its ability to wield human tools is accepted as
standard equipment in the profile, so it should be allowed to use them, and saying it doesn't have them for the fight would actually go against VSBW rules. That being said, throughout ARK, human weapons such as spears and pikes are shown to be very effective against predators even larger than the mantis, regardless of whether said weapons are being wielded by a human or mantis. So let's be more forgiving for a moment and assume that it doesn't have these weapons. It might be able to raid darts off of the monkey's corpse, but despite being able to use human melee weapons more effectively than humans do, from what I've seen, mantis are never shown to use projectiles, and are likely incapable due to how their arms are shaped. But even without unnatural weapons, and just its own two claws, the mantis likely still takes this for a number of reasons relating to intelligence. The profile states that it is "capable of tricking humans into a trap by purposely breaking water pipes, their combat abilities and strategies are stated to be on par with those of a skilled human and they can use tools with far more efficiency". You hear that? Being well into high animalistic, it actually has the potential to outsmart humans. Some other predators may come close, such as indo and JFC, but they still don't seem on par. The only opponents I imagine being more intelligent would be Manny and dart monkey. We've already established that dart monkey will die instantly, and Crimson Azoth says that Manny is reluctant to fight and is often shown to be outclassed by dinosaurs. The mantis on the other hand is capable of killing predatory dinosaurs many times its size. The only counter I see to its intelligence is SCP with its amnesia gas. Crimson Azoth did say that it's practically useless here since most of the enemies are animalistic, but that wasn't factoring Manny, dart monkey, and mantis. However, there might not be a chance for the gas to affect the mantis. Though SCP is one of the more intelligent predators here, it doesn't seem to be as intelligent as the mantis, and so SCP is more likely to get caught up in the chaos in the middle of fight, dying before its gas reaches mantis. That brings me to my next point.
"Mantis spawn in packs of around 2-3 individuals within caves and desert dunes. Due to their pounce attack they have a fairly large aggression range. Once one Mantis spots prey, the others usually follow. They will attempt to rapidly close the distance with an initial pounce before delivering an onslaught of rapid slashing attacks."
"Its size, intelligence and ability to pounce on its prey from a great distance mean that one could be quickly swarmed and killed upon detection. Caution is recommended."
It is somewhat implied that mantis are ambush predators with their ability to pounce while closing distances, on top of the profile saying they can lure humans into traps. Ambush combat works perfectly for it here, stalking and lying in wait for the perfect time to strike. Especially since the fight takes place on an island covered in dense vegetation, where it can easily hide. Paired with its high intelligence, it will flee to the edge of the fight and wait. And having the highest speed, it can easily stay out of range of everything apart from the dart monkey's projectiles. The wiki does state that projectiles are recommended to use due to how dangerous mantis are in close range, but again, dart monkey will go down instantly to just about anybody, and the mantis wouldn't exactly be the monkey's biggest concern if the mantis is trying to stay away from the fight for the time being. Anyway, the mantis will hide and wait until all the other opponents have killed each other and one remains. The last one will be weakened from the fight, and so this intelligent ambush predator I picked will finally have its chance to strike. And, well,
you know how well that will go. Just in case the final opponent is Deathclaw, as Dusty Raider says its two-legged stance gives an advantage, it won't actually, not against mantis. The mantis happens to have four legs while still having an upright body sporting two arms with gigantic mantis claws that are somehow able to wield human weapons. The wiki even states that after closing distance with a pounce, the mantis will open up with slash attacks. The mantis is likely the only combatant here with superior arm melee to Deathclaw.
