Giant Bat 5e: Stats, Blindsight and Fighting in the Dark

A giant bat is a CR 1/4 Large beast with AC 13, 22 hit points, a 60-foot fly speed, blindsight and a bite for 5 piercing damage (6 in 2024). It has no darkvision and doesn't need it: blindsight lets it perceive everything within 60 feet (120 feet in 2024) whether there's light or not, including inside magical darkness. In the 2014 rules, Echolocation means it loses that blindsight while deafened, which is the one clean counter. The 2024 rules (SRD 5.2.1) remove Echolocation, so deafening a 2024 giant bat does nothing.

Table of Contents

• •Giant Bat Stat Block (2014)
• •The Giant Bat in the 2024 Rules
• •How Giant Bats Fight
• •Running a Giant Bat Encounter
• •How Players Beat Giant Bats
• •Giant Bat Encounter Ideas
• •Frequently Asked Questions

Giant Bat Stat Block (2014)

The ordinary bat is Tiny with 1 hit point, a 30-foot fly speed and a bite for 1. The giant bat is Large, with 22 hit points, double the fly speed and Strength 15. The two 2014 stat blocks share the same senses: blindsight 60 feet, Echolocation and Keen Hearing (Advantage on hearing-based Perception checks). With Wisdom 12, its passive Perception is 11, or 16 for anything it can hear.

The Giant Bat in the 2024 Rules

The 2024 bat hits more often, hits harder and senses twice as far, and it loses its one weakness. It also loses Keen Hearing, so its passive Perception is a flat 11.

How Giant Bats Fight

Fight where nobody else can see. Blindsight works in total darkness. A party without darkvision, or any party inside the Darkness spell, can't see the bat. That gives the bat Advantage on its attacks (it's an unseen attacker) and gives the party Disadvantage on theirs. Nonmagical darkness is dim light to a character with darkvision, but magical darkness stops darkvision as well.

The numbers against AC 16:

Fly high, drop in. A giant bat that ends its turn 30 feet up is out of reach for melee characters. It has no Flyby, so flying away after a bite provokes an opportunity attack. Play it as a diving attacker: bite, take the hit if someone is waiting, and leave when it's below half health.

Swarm the backline. Several giant bats can fly over the front rank and land on the wizard and the cleric. The bats go for whoever isn't wearing armor.

Running a Giant Bat Encounter

Run the 2014 math in our encounter calculator. In a lit room the labels are about right. In darkness they play harder than the label says, because every bat attacks with Advantage and every party attack against them is at Disadvantage. A group of three is a good first cave fight for level 1 characters; add a swarm of bats for chaos. For something that uses bats deliberately, put them under a vampire or vampire spawn.

As a mount. A giant bat is Large, so a Small or Medium creature can ride a willing one. You can control it only if it's trained to accept a rider. A goblin or kobold bat-rider over a cave lake is a good level 2 or 3 set piece.

How Players Beat Giant Bats

• •Deafen it (2014 only). Blindness/Deafness on a failed Constitution save (+0) deafens it, and a deafened 2014 giant bat can't use its blindsight. It has no darkvision, so in a dark cave it's now blind. Against a 2024 giant bat, deafness does nothing. Blinding it still applies the Blinded condition's attack penalties as written, but its blindsight lets it perceive everything within 120 feet anyway, so how much that hurts it is a DM call.
• •Light the room. Light doesn't hurt a bat, but it removes the unseen-attacker Advantage. Without the dark, it's 22 hit points at AC 13.
• •Ready attacks. Bats that dive and climb come back. Ready an attack for when one comes within reach.
• •Use area spells. Thunderwave hits every bat in the cube, and their Constitution save is +0.
• •Charm it. With Intelligence 2, Animal Friendship works in both editions.

Giant Bat Encounter Ideas

The bell tower. A village church's bell has been silent for a month. Three giant bats roost in the belfry. Ringing the bell deafens them (DM ruling, not rules text) for a round, turning off a 2014 bat's blindsight. The rope is at the bottom of the tower and the bats are at the top.

The kobold air cavalry. A kobold warren under a hill uses two trained giant bats as mounts. The kobolds fly over the party, drop flasks of oil, and fly away. The bats' lair is above a shaft the party will have to climb.

The cursed lantern. A cult hands out lanterns that project magical darkness instead of light. In the market, three giant bats circle the crowd. The cult wants the panic. Find the lantern-bearer before the bats find the children.

Frequently Asked Questions

What CR is a giant bat in 5e?

CR 1/4, worth 50 XP, in both the 2014 and 2024 rules.

Can a giant bat see in magical darkness?

Yes. It perceives with blindsight, 60 feet in 2014 and 120 feet in 2024, which works without light. In 2014 it loses its blindsight while deafened.

What changed for the giant bat in 2024?

Its bite went from +4 for 5 damage to +5 for 6, its blindsight doubled to 120 feet, and it lost Echolocation and Keen Hearing. AC, hit points, speed and CR are unchanged.

Can you ride a giant bat in 5e?

Yes. It is Large, so a willing giant bat can carry a Small or Medium rider. You can control it only if it has been trained to accept a rider.

Can a druid Wild Shape into a giant bat?

From druid level 8 in both editions, because it has a fly speed.

Stat blocks: System Reference Document 5.1 (2014) and 5.2.1 (2024), Wizards of the Coast, CC-BY-4.0. Tactics, encounter math and ideas are Loreify's own.