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Swarm of Wasps 5e: Stats, Stings and Getting Away
A swarm of wasps is a CR 1/2 Medium swarm of Tiny beasts with AC 12, 22 hit points, a 30-foot fly speed (5 feet on foot) and a bite that deals 10 piercing damage (4d4) to a creature in its space. On paper it's the base swarm of insects with wings instead of a climb speed. The wings are what matter: a wasp swarm keeps up with a running character, crosses chasms and water, and can't be outrun on foot. It's the swarm for chase scenes and kicked-over nests.
Swarm.The swarm can occupy another creature's space and vice versa, and the swarm can move through any opening large enough for a Tiny insect. The swarm can't regain hit points or gain temporary hit points.
Actions
Bites.Melee Weapon Attack: +3 to hit, reach 0 ft., one target in the swarm's space. Hit: 10 (4d4) piercing damage, or 5 (2d4) piercing damage if the swarm has half of its hit points or fewer.
Stat block from the SRD 5.1 (2014 rules) by Wizards of the Coast, licensed under CC-BY-4.0. Check an encounter with this monster in the encounter calculator.
SRD 5.1 prints it under the swarm of insects as an "Insect Swarms" variant: walk 5 feet, fly 30 feet, no climb speed. Everything else is the base swarm and the standard swarm rules: shared spaces, no healing, resistance to bludgeoning, piercing and slashing (magic weapons too) and eight condition immunities. The bite only hits a creature in its space and weakens to 2d4 at 11 hit points or fewer.
The 2024 Replacement
SRD 5.2.1 has no wasp swarm. Its Swarm of Insects lists "20 ft., Climb or Fly 20 ft. (GM's choice)"; pick Fly for wasps. That 2024 swarm has AC 11, 19 hit points and a 5-foot-reach bite for 6 Poison damage. The big difference for a chase: the 2024 swarm flies at 20 feet, not 30, so a character with a 30-foot speed outruns it.
How Swarms of Wasps Fight
Stinging is steady. The swarm's +3 hits AC 15 on a 12 or better, 45% of the time, for about 4.5 damage a round. It's not lethal on its own above level 2. Three swarms on one character are another matter: around 13.5 a round.
You can't run. A 2014 wasp swarm flies at 30 feet, the same as most characters' walking speed. If a character Dashes, the swarm Dashes too. Leaving the swarm's space also provokes an Opportunity Attack. A party trying to flee a nest takes stings the whole way.
Terrain doesn't help the party. Ravines, rivers, brambles and rooftops slow characters down. They don't slow something flying. Put a wasp nest beside a cliff path or a rope bridge, where every square of movement costs the party more than it costs the wasps.
Swarms come in waves. A disturbed nest doesn't need to send everything at once. Start with one swarm, add another each round the party stays, and stop when they've left the area. That makes the fight about leaving, which fits real wasps better than fighting to the last sting.
Bigger wasps. A giant wasp (CR 1/2) is a single Medium creature with a poisonous sting and a 50-foot fly speed. A nest of giant wasps with a swarm of ordinary wasps around it makes a mixed encounter.
Running a Swarm of Wasps Encounter
Each swarm is worth 100 XP. Encounters for four characters:
Party
Creatures
XP
2024 difficulty
2014 DMG guideline
Level 1
1 swarm
100
Low
Easy
Level 1
2 swarms
200
Low
Hard
Level 2
2 swarms + 1 giant wasp
300
Low
Hard
Level 2
4 swarms
400
Low
Deadly
The 2014 Dungeon Master's Guide guidelines used by our encounter calculator rate groups of swarms much more harshly than the 2024 budget does. Which number to trust depends on the party. Weapon users take a long time to get through 22 hit points at half damage, so a party with no area spells feels the 2014 rating. A party with a wizard feels the 2024 one.
How Players Beat a Swarm of Wasps
•Area spells, aimed carefully.Burning Hands (3d6, Dexterity save at +1) and Thunderwave (2d8, Constitution save at +0) take big chunks out of 22 hit points. Thunderwave also pushes the swarm 10 feet on a failed save.
•Wind. Gust of Wind's line pushes creatures 15 feet on a failed Strength save, and the wasps have Strength 3 (−4). It also makes them spend double movement to come back toward the caster.
•Spirit Guardians.Spirit Guardians targets Wisdom, the swarm's weakest common save at −2, and halves its speed. A cleric can cover a retreat with it.
•Shut a door. Wasps can't open doors, but they can get through any gap a single wasp fits through, so stuff the cracks too.
•Water. The rules don't say whether a swarm can follow a creature underwater. DM ruling, not rules text: wasps can't, and a character who dives into a river or pond is out of reach while they hold their breath.
•Smoke. The SRD has no smoke rule for insects. DM ruling, not rules text: a smoky fire calms a nest enough to approach it, and a character who grew up on a farm might know the trick.
Swarm of Wasps Encounter Ideas
The orchard harvest. A farmer pays the party to pick a hillside orchard before a storm. Wasps nest in the fallen fruit, and every few rows someone steps on a nest. Run it as a timed challenge: each round they keep picking, roll to see if they disturb another nest.
The chimney nest. An abandoned manor's only way in is through the chimney, and wasps have built a nest inside it. Climbing down a chimney with a swarm in it is a choice between a smoky fire (DM ruling) and the stings.
The giant wasp hive. A giant wasp nest hangs in a dead tree on a canyon edge. Two giant wasps guard it, with swarms of ordinary wasps around it. A druid hired the party to collect the queen's eggs, which an alchemist will trade for a cure the village needs.
Frequently Asked Questions
What CR is a swarm of wasps?
CR 1/2, worth 100 XP. It has AC 12, 22 hit points, a walking speed of 5 feet and a flying speed of 30 feet.
Is the swarm of wasps in the SRD?
Yes, in SRD 5.1: it's one of the insect-swarm variants listed under Swarm of Insects. The 2024 SRD has no wasp swarm; use the Swarm of Insects with a Fly Speed.
Can you outrun a swarm of wasps?
Not usually. A 2014 swarm flies at 30 feet, the same as most characters' walking speed, and Dashes when they do. The 2024 Swarm of Insects with the fly option moves at 20 feet, so a character with a 30-foot speed can outrun it.
Is a swarm of wasps poisonous?
The 2014 swarm deals piercing damage and has no poison effect. The 2024 Swarm of Insects deals Poison damage, so creatures immune or resistant to poison take less or none.
Stat blocks: System Reference Document 5.1 (2014), Wizards of the Coast, CC-BY-4.0. Tactics, encounter math and ideas are Loreify's own.
This page includes material from the System Reference Document 5.1 and 5.2.1 by Wizards of the Coast LLC, available under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Loreify is not affiliated with Wizards of the Coast.