Poison Headcrab


 * "I hate these things..." - Alyx Vance

The Poison Headcrab (also commonly known as the black headcrab), is a Headcrab subspecies encountered in Half-Life 2 and it's episodes. Like it's relations, the Poison Headcrab is able to infest and mutate humans into Zombies.

It is unknown whether Poison Headcrabs are a natural subspecies never encountered on Xen or a result of Combine genetic minipulation of the Standard Headcrab for use in Headcrab Shells.

Physical Description
The Poison Headcrab can be identified by its dark colored skin (sometimes with a wet sheen) and thick hairs on the joints of its inward bending, spider-like legs. On the Poison Headcrab's legs are white bands that encircle the knee joints and the creature's dorsal markings are similar to those of a species of orb-weaving spider.

Behavior
At walking pace, the poison Headcrab is the slowest of the Headcrabs, but will run faster than a normal Headcrab if injured or under attack. Poison Headcrabs move slowly and cautiously when maneuvering but will leap with incredible speed and height with an angry squeal when it has a clear line of sight to a suitable host.

Venom
The Poison Headcrab delivers it's extremely powerful neurotoxin via the four fangs on it's "beak". In gameplay any contact with a Posion Headcrab will reduce the player's health to 1% immediately regardless of the current health amount. After a period of time, the HEV suit will provide an antidote that will restore lost health.

As the Poison Headcrab's only method of attack is by its poison and not from any direct physical damage, there is no way for it, or even an army of them, to kill the player outright. However, this does make the player extremely vulnerable to damage from any other enemies in the vicinity, as a player attacked by a Poison Headcrab is unable to resist even the slightest damage until they recover.

Trivia

 * According to Half-Life 2: Raising The Bar, the development team noticed that upon hearing the Poison Headcrab's sound playtesters would frantically start looking around for the Poison Headcrab so they could destroy it, regardless of any other present dangers.
 * If severely hurt, the Poison Headcrab will attempt to hide or run away from the player, in hopes that it will not be killed. It is also interesting to note that the Poison Headcrab, although rarely, will ignore the player and try to seek refuge in a corner or secluded area.
 * It is possible for the player to be killed by a Poison Headcrab by standing on it and shooting it with the Gravity Gun.
 * If a poison headcrab is eaten by a barnacle, the barnacle will die after swallowing the headcrab.