Evil Worm
- "Sandworms I can still eat, but I draw the line at these things! I wouldn't even eat it cooked!"
- ―Matt, Epic Battle Fantasy 4
The Evil Worm is a foe found in Epic Battle Fantasy 3 and 4; it is also a summon in the latter. It is associated with the Evil Tail, however, their exact relationship varies between games.
In EBF3, the Evil Worm is one of Akron's helpers, summoned when he switches to his Raised Form during the final battle in The Rift. In EBF4, it is instead a normal (if foul) enemy mainly found in Graybone Cemetery.
Appearance
The Evil Worm is a large brown worm-like creature with a gaping, toothless mouth. Its skin is marred with bulging veins and boils, the largest of which bear twisted faces of their own. It appears with several grey, spiked chains binding its body, but most are broken off during its intro animation, leaving a few chains forming rings around its body. It also has a few black spines on its body, mainly visible when it attacks players.
When killed, the Evil Worm's body breaks apart, revealing dark green (presumably poisonous) innards.
Overview
The Evil Worm is a powerful foe that should not be underestimated. Initially, it mainly uses decently powerful single-target physical attacks; aside from headbutting players, it can regurgitate large swords or cannons to perform partially-elemental attacks. As it takes damage, it becomes more likely to use its multi-target magic attacks, which typically involve it belching various nefarious substances on its opponents; while weaker than its physical moves, these attacks tend to inflict annoying debuffs and status effects that can quickly pile up.
Evil Worms typically resist Stun, Doom, and Instant Death while being weak to Fire, Earth, and Holy. They also suffer from low base Accuracy, which can be exploited by players to drastically reduce their threat level even before killing them.
Epic Battle Fantasy 3
The Evil Worm initially favors single-target physical attacks, with one being slightly Fire-based and another hitting twice and dealing pure Bomb damage. As it loses HP, it becomes increasingly likely to use its multi-target magic attacks, all of which have above-average Accuracy and dangerous side effects. It can spit bubbles for pure Water damage and a high chance of an Evade debuff, oil to deal Dark damage with a decent chance to cripple Accuracy, and either vomit or blood to deal Bio damage with a risk of Poison. Note that Blood Burp is almost a direct upgrade to Poison Burp in everything except Poison stacks, and the Worm will spam it once it's reduced to about a third of its HP.
Incidentally, the Evil Worm was also supposed to have the ability to briefly swallow a player, dealing significant non-elemental physical damage and two stacks of Poison. However, a coding error prevents it from using this move; attempting to use it triggers Double Cannon instead.
The Evil Worm has a wide range of elemental moves to bypass resistances (especially if fought alongside Akron), but its primary weakness is its low Accuracy; it actually has very high base Accuracy, but it's a fixed value that doesn't scale with its level. Given its status as an endgame foe, it will have difficulty landing consistent hits, even with its many high-Accuracy moves - this can be further worsened if the party has Evade buffs or the Worm's Accuracy is debuffed. Alternatively, the player can inflict Syphon or Berserk to lock it out of most of its moves; it can only use Headbutt and Double Cannon for the former, and only Headbutt for the latter (albeit with a power boost).
The Evil Worm has no elemental resistances, but it's resistant to Syphon, Stun, and (to a lesser degree) Death. Its biggest elemental weakness is Earth, but Holy and Fire are also very effective against it.
Epic Battle Fantasy 4
The Evil Worm assails the party with a mixture of decently strong single-target physical attacks and weak but debilitating multi-target magic attacks, becoming more likely to use the latter as its HP falls. Its physical attacks lack special effects, but Sword Strike and especially Double Cannon have a partial Bomb element. On the other hand, its magic attacks are mainly dangerous for their side effects; Poison Burp inflicts mild Poison (obviously), Oil Burp lowers Accuracy, and Blood Burp can simultaneously debuff HP and inflict Doom with a three-turn timer. These attacks also have a slightly higher-than-normal Randomness Factor, but their very low base power mitigates the risk of taking unexpectedly high damage.
The Evil Worm has a low chance to passively spawn an Evil Tail at the start of its turn. The Tail isn't especially dangerous, but its status infliction can be problematic; it's generally best to ignore it until the Worm dies to prevent it from spawning replacements.
Elemental resistance isn't too important against an Evil Worm; its magic attacks are already very weak, and none of its physical moves are pure elemental. On the other hand, resistance to Poison and Doom are useful against its Burp attacks, and skills like Bind or Lock On will mitigate the headaches of Oil Burp; the HP debuffs from Blood Burp will remain an issue unless you're willing to waste valuable Orange Juice. The best way to neutralize it is to exploit its below-average base Accuracy with an Evade-based setup; unlike its EBF3 counterpart, it has absolutely no means to counteract this on its own (although its Evil Tails can remedy this by hitting players with Stun).
The Evil Worm is extremely weak to Earth and especially Holy, but Fire and Water also deal significant damage. On the other hand, it absorbs Dark and Bio while resisting Wind and Bomb; it's also very resistant to Stun, Freeze, Doom, and Instant Death. With "More Foe Resistance" enabled, it becomes neutral to Fire and Water in addition to developing significant resistance against Attack and Defence debuffs.
It's worth noting that Evil Worms have a chance to drop Beef, as do their Evil Tail reinforcements. Although the drop rate is incredibly low, this still makes them the optimal foes for Beef farming if the player is so inclined.
Statistics
Epic Battle Fantasy 3
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Evil Worm | Mutant Tentacle | EBF3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Uses poison, water, dark and bomb attacks. | |||
| Statistics | ||||||||||
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| Base Statistics |
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Exp | AP | Gold |
| 440 | 3.5 | 4 | 3.7 | 4 | 9* | 11* | 150 | 0 | 0 | |
| Elemental Resistance |
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| -70% | - | - | - | - | -90% | - | - | -80% | - | |
| Status Resistance |
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| - | 60% | - | - | - | 60% | 40% | ||||
| Debuff Resistance |
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| - | - | - | - | - | - | |||||
| Item Drop Rate | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Icon | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Name | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Chance | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
Epic Battle Fantasy 4
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Evil Worm | EBF4 |
|---|---|---|
| A foul beast that lives deep underground. Uses poison, bomb and dark attacks. Has low accuracy. May summon Evil Tails. | ||
| Statistics | ||||||||||||
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| Base Statistics |
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Exp | AP | SP | Gold | Hit2HP |
| 479 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3.5 | 4 | 75 | 9 | 9 | 50 | 25 | |
| Elemental Resistance |
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| -50% | - | - | -80% | 200% | 50% | 50% | -50% | -100% | 200% | |||
| Status Resistance |
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| - | 70% | 70% | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 70% | |
| Debuff Resistance |
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| - | - | - | - | - | - | |||||||
| Item Drop Rate | |||||||
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| Icon | 
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- | - |
| Name | Bio Virus | Bottled Darkness | Solid Spike | Dark Matter | Beef | - | - |
| Chance | 60% | 40% | 10% | 5% | 1% | - | - |
| Status Damage | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Damage taken from status effects, in % of maximum health (per turn), including elemental resistances: | |||
| Burn
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Poison
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Doom (if Death fails) |
 Regen
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| 5.25% | -1.5% per stack, up to -13.5% |
12.5% | -16.(6)% |
| Final damage is randomized by ±5% (except for Doom) and rounded down. | |||
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Evil Worm | EBF4 |
|---|---|---|
| A foul beast that lives deep underground. Uses poison, bomb and dark attacks. Has low accuracy. May summon Evil Tails. | ||
| Statistics | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Base Statistics |
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Exp | AP | SP | Gold | Hit2HP |
| 479 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3.5 | 4 | 75 | 9 | 9 | 50 | 25 | |
| Elemental Resistance |
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| - | - | - | -80% | 200% | 50% | 50% | - | -100% | 200% | |||
| Status Resistance |
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| - | 70% | 70% | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 70% | |
| Debuff Resistance |
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| 50% | - | 50% | - | - | - | |||||||
| Item Drop Rate | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Icon |
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- | - |
| Name | Bio Virus | Bottled Darkness | Solid Spike | Dark Matter | Beef | - | - |
| Chance | 60% | 40% | 10% | 5% | 1% | - | - |
| Status Damage | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Damage taken from status effects, in % of maximum health (per turn), including elemental resistances: | |||
| Burn
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Poison
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Doom (if Death fails) |
Regen
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| 3.5% | -1.5% per stack, up to -13.5% |
12.5% | -16.(6)% |
| Final damage is randomized by ±5% (except for Doom) and rounded down. | |||
Attacks and Abilities
- "Infectious diseases; gotta catch 'em all!"
- ―Matt, Epic Battle Fantasy 4
Epic Battle Fantasy 3
| Attack List | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Attack | Target | Power | Type | Element | Status Effect | Acc | Crit | RdF | ||
| Headbutt | Single | 40 | 
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---- | -- | -- | -- | 110% | 10% | 10% |
| Swallow | Single | 70 |
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---- | 100% | 2x |
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110% | 10% | 10% |
| Notes: Has no usage conditions set, and therefore may not be seen during normal gameplay. | ||||||||||
| Sword Strike | Single | 75 |
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30%
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-- | -- | -- | 90% | 10% | 10% |
| Double Cannon | Random | 70/2 |
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100%
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-- | -- | -- | 90% | 10% | 10% |
| Bubble Burp | All | 30 | 
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100%
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70% | 20% |
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150% | 10% | 10% |
| Poison Burp | All | 33 |
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100%
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50% | 3x |
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150% | 10% | 10% |
| Blood Burp | All | 40 |
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100%
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100% | 2x |
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150% | 10% | 10% |
| Oil Burp | All | 35 |
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100%
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50% | 30% |
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150% | 10% | 10% |
Epic Battle Fantasy 4
| Attack List | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Attack | Target | Power | Type | Element | Status Effect | Acc | Crit | RdF | ||
| Headbutt | Single | 30 |
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---- | -- | -- | -- | 100% | 10% | 10% |
| Swallow | Single | 65 |
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---- | -- | -- | -- | 100% | 10% | 10% |
| Sword Strike | Single | 80 |
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30%
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-- | -- | -- | 100% | 10% | 10% |
| Double Cannon | Single | 70/2 |
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50%
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-- | -- | -- | 100% | 10% | 10% |
| Poison Burp | All | 20 |
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100%
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66% | 3x |
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100% | 10% | 20% |
| Blood Burp | All | 10 |
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100%
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30% 50% |
20% 3x |
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100% | 10% | 20% |
| Oil Burp | All | 22 |
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100%
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100% | 20% |
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100% | 10% | 20% |
Battle Logic
The following describes general logic of the enemy and attack patterns, with chances of each attack to be used. Conditions are listed from highest to lowest priority unless specified otherwise.
Epic Battle Fantasy 3
- Syphoned → Headbutt (1/2), Double Cannon* (1/2);
- Berserked → Headbutt;
- ≥64.5% HP → Headbutt (1/6); Sword Strike (1/6); Double Cannon* (2*/6), Bubble Burp (1/6), Poison Burp (1/6);
- <64.5% to ≥31.5% HP → Sword Strike (1/6); Double Cannon (1/6), Bubble Burp (1/6), Poison Burp (1/6), Blood Burp (1/6), Oil Burp (1/6);
- <31.5% HP → Blood Burp.
*The Swallow attack, although it exists, is never used; what could activate it triggers Double Cannon instead. The impact on the gameplay is that Double Cannon gets a double chance to be used during Evil Worm's first third of health, while it would've been an equal chance for all attacks, including Swallow and Double Cannon; Worm's behavior when Syphoned has also been altered due to that.
Epic Battle Fantasy 4
- Berserked → Blood Burp;
- ≥65% HP → Headbutt (1/4), Swallow (1/4), Sword Strike (1/4), Double Cannon (1/4);
- <65% to ≥32% HP → Swallow (1/6), Sword Strike (1/6), Double Cannon (1/6), Poison Burp (1/6), Blood Burp (1/6), Oil Burp (1/6);
- <32% HP → Sword Strike (1/5), Double Cannon (1/5), Poison Burp (1/5), Blood Burp (1/5), Oil Burp (1/5).
Has a 20% chance to spawn an Evil Tail at the beginning of own turn.
Summon
In EBF4, the Evil Worm is a summon that can be obtained in the premium-exclusive Battle Mountain area, specifically from the top-right chest on the dead/poison forest screen. The Ladder is required to get to the chest.
Upon usage, an Evil Worm will emerge from the ground and use its Poison Burp on all enemies, dealing two hits of modest magical Bio damage with high Accuracy. The first hit has a chance to Poison all foes, while the second hit may reduce their Magic Defence.
The Evil Worm summon also causes an Evil Tail to emerge from the ground, but it does nothing.
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Evil Worm | SP |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Target all foes. May debuff targets' magic defence. May poison targets. | 72 | Cured | ||||||||
| Target | Power | Type | Element | Status Effect | Acc | Crit | RdF | |||
| All | 50 50 |
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100%
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80% 80% |
3x 30% 2x |
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150% | 10% | 10% | |
| Note: The two sets of stats belong to the first and second attack, respectively. | ||||||||||
Trivia
- The Evil Worm and Evil Tail are based on the Sandworm and its tail from Epic Battle Fantasy 2.
- The Evil Worm's entry in the Epic Battle Fantasy 3 Bestiary is marked with a thumbnail that is a recolored version of the Sandworm's overworld sprite. Consequently, the thumbnail shows the Evil Worm with teeth, when the worm itself is toothless.
- During Akron's death sequence, three Evil Worms emerge from the ground after his second form disintegrates, quickly meeting the same fate as their apparent master. The implications of this are unclear, but given their similar designs, it may be meant to imply that Evil Worms are actually part of Akron himself (at least in EBF3). This is reinforced by their status as "Mutated Tentacles."
- The Evil Worm is one of the very few foes that Matt explicitly refuses to consume, based on his EBF4 quote upon seeing one for the first time. Despite this, it can drop Beef, which is a consumable.
- The weapons regurgitated by the Evil Worm for some of its attacks are based on parts from the Mecha Dress Up Game. Its sword would later be used for the Fusion Sword's design in EBF4.