Antlion Worker

"Beware the acid-lions. Their corrosive spray permits quick carving of rock passages, but also serves as a strong deterrent to hive robbers like ourselves."

- Vortigaunt

The Antlion Worker is a type of Antlion, only found in or near Antlion nests in which they perform various tasks including the tending of Antlion Grubs. They produce a corrosive acid (which is also a neurotoxin) which they use to create tunnels for the nest and also to ward off attackers.

Capabilities
Like regular Antlions, workers can fly short distances; however, their wings are smaller, so workers cannot fly as far as regular Antlions. Antlion workers primarily attack by accurately hurling 'spitballs' of neurotoxin at foes from a distance (this attack is similar to a Bullsquid's). If caught up close they will attack with their claws, but they usually prefer to use their more powerful ranged attack and will often retreat if their attacker gets too close. These factors combine to make the Antlion worker an uncommonly standoffish foe.

When killed, Antlion Workers explode in a shower of acid inflicting considerable splash damage on anything within range.

Tactics
Antlion Workers are stronger than normal Antlions, and due to their highly effective ranged attacks, they are also more versatile. Closing with one has one advantage, but two disadvantages.

Assaulting a Worker up close can be a viable strategy in some situations, because although they can attack with their claws, this is not particularly effective and they will usually try to retreat instead, giving you a chance to chew them up with the SMG1 or the Shotgun as they try to escape. On the other hand, if you don't close the distance quick enough and the worker has time to use it's ranged attack, you'll have less time to dodge than if you had kept your distance. Also, keep in mind that if you're too close when the worker actually dies, you'll likely get caught in the spray of acid they unleash when they explode.

Alternatively, keep your distance and engage with a ranged weapon, such as the .357 Magnum. Workers skitter around a fair bit, but will stop moving to use their ranged attack, giving you time to score a hit and dodge their attack. A Worker should go down with two or three Magnum hits, depending on difficulty level. This is the safest strategy.

Like regular Antlions, Workers can be flipped over with the Gravity Gun, exposing their more vulnerable undersides and allowing an easy kill.

The only way to kill an Antlion Worker without having it explode is to lure it into deep water, causing it to drown or, alternately, lead it into the tongue of a barnacle.

Appearances
The Antlion Worker first appears in the first chapter of Half-Life 2: Episode Two, To The White Forest. Alone, Gordon Freeman, encounters several of them in an underground Antlion nest attached to an old mine shaft.

Trivia

 * According to the Orange Box Prima guide, Antlions Workers are a mutation and subgenus of the normal Antlion. It is rumored that they first sprung from mutated Antlions who burrowed near toxic waste dumps. This would suggest that Workers only appeared after Antlions colonized Earth, but due to their established role in building and maintaining Antlion nests, Antlion Workers being nothing but a recent mutation would seem unlikely. This explanation likely dates from the period in EP2's development when the new Antlion was simply a regular Antlion that glowed, rather than an entirely new variety.
 * Antlion Workers bear a vague resemblance to Race X aliens like Shock Troopers.