River Monsters: Old Bitey

Seriously, Old Bitey is tough. Really, really tough, and definitely not worth the reward IMO (Golden Idol worth $10000 or a Crystal Skull worth $15000 in Restless Dead levels, along with some large jewels).

The only reasons I could possibly see for anyone wanting to kill Old Bitey are:

1. Desire to unlock the Jungle Deathmatch arenas
2. Old Bitey's journal entry
3. Unlock the Viking character, found in a coffin at the bottom of the lake
4. Bragging rights
5. Has career goals as a piranha wrangler and/or wants to start a traveling piranha circus

Old Bitey can only spawn in the Jungle with the "Flooded Cavern" level flavor. This flavor is identifed by seeing the message "You hear rushing water..." at the start of the level. It may occur at the same time as Restless Dead or Darkness flavors, each of which will overwrite the message at the start with their own respective message.

Old Bitey spawns in the giant pool of water at the bottom of these levels, alongside an absurd number of regular piranha. A player who always avoids the piranha lake (a wise decision) will probably never even see Old Bitey, because it usually spawns near the bottom of the lake.

Old Bitey has only one attack, which is simple contact with its body (Not just the mouth and tail, as it did in the original Spelunky). It deals 2 damage, which doesn't seem like all that much. However, it moves much faster than regular piranha, and the insane number of regular piranha that accompany it make it very difficult to hit without thinning out the crowd with a shotgun. I think I should mention that almost every piranha in the lake will charge at you at the same time if you go more than a tiny depth into the water. Not fun. And if you get surrounded, they will tear the flesh from your bones before you can scream a single obscenity at your computer monitor. Spelunky lacks mercy invulnerability when taking damage, so it is incredibly easy to lose all your HP in less than a second.

The one other thing that makes Old Bitey so dangerous is that fact that it has an absurdedly high 40 health, the highest in the game. That is twice as much as Anubis and Anubis II, and as much as King Yama if you combine his hands (10 each) and his head (20). (Technically, Yama's head has 40 health, but the 20 health of the first phase immediately vanishes upon destroying both hands and he goes directly to the second phase.) A shotgun deals 4 damage per pellet, and shoots 6 pellets. And most of the time, only one or two pellets hit what you're aiming at. Because of Old Bitey's incredible speed, it tends to close the distance before you can get more than one or two shots off.

Combine this amount of health, the horde of minions, and the fact that you are underwater limiting mobility and preventing stomp damage, and it's no wonder nobody ever takes the risk to kill this thing on a regular run.

There are three (relatively) practical methods for killing Old Bitey:

Sticky bombs: Bombs deal 10 damage each, so make sure to stick at least four to the creature to make some fish soup. Having the Pitcher's Mitt will really help your long-range throws.

Freeze ray: One shot will turn Old Bitey into frozen fish sticks, provided the frozen creature has room to fall to the bottom of the pond. The limited 5 tile range is a liability, though. Time your shot correctly.

Crysknife: If you are lucky enough to grab this in the Worm and survive, then get a Rushing Water level on 2-4, be aware that the Crysknife kills anything in one hit. Timed correctly, you could make some sashimi with a biting flavor.

You could also kill it with the shield found in the Haunted Castle by crushing it against a wall to make flattened fish patties, but you may get hit by piranha above, below, or behind you. You might crush the idol by accident, as well.

If somehow you are lucky enough to get a plasma rifle and encounter Old Bitey, you are the luckiest freaking Spelunker ever and shouldn't waste your good fortune ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ around with Old Bitey.

A shotgun, although a poor choice against Old Bitey, is great for thinning the swarm of small piranha in the lake. You can easily get one by bombing the tombstone labeled "Ash" in a Restless Dead level. Killing most of the small piranha will make Old Bitey much easier. Do this in short bursts. Jump in the water, fire a shot or two, then get out, and repeat. By the time you go down to fight Old Bitey, most of them should be dead.

If you actually manage to kill Old Bitey (and not get killed by the regular piranha immediately afterward), you can take the golden idol it drops. There are also usually a number of chests and crates at the bottom of the lake, and a coffin containing the Viking character as well. Good luck!

Old Bitey, in addition to having the highest health of any monster, is also unique because its size is 3x2 tiles, bigger than anything except the Alien Queen (3x3) and Olmec (4x4).