Buzz Brigade Guide – How to Grow a Huge Swarm, Beat Every Boss and Get 3 Stars
Buzz Brigade is a free 3D bee swarm survival game for your browser and phone. You fly the Queen, and a cloud of worker bees follows her and stings anything that comes close. This guide explains how the swarm works and how to clear all 12 stages with 3 stars.
The basics
- Fly with W A S D or the arrow keys, or hold the mouse button and the Queen flies towards the cursor. On a phone, drag anywhere on the screen.
- Buzz Blast with Space or the right mouse button (the BLAST button on mobile, or tap with a second finger).
- Pick a power with 1, 2 or 3 when you level up. Pause with P or Esc.
You never aim. Any enemy within about 6 metres of the Queen (the dashed ring on the ground) gets attacked by your free bees. The more bees you have, the more stings fly at once.
Your bees are your health
Every stage starts with 10 bees. When something hits the Queen, 2 bees take the hit for her. Only when the swarm is completely gone does the Queen lose a heart, and with no hearts left the stage is over. So the bee counter in the bottom-left corner is your real health bar. If it shakes, you are nearly out.
Bees die in other ways too: wasps and crabs bite bees on the edge of the swarm, frog tongues and dragonfly dashes cut through it, and the big red attacks of the bosses squash whatever bees are inside them. Move the Queen out of danger early, because the swarm trails a little behind her.
Getting more bees
- The Queen lays eggs. A new bee hatches about every 2 seconds, all stage long.
- Pollen. Hover near one of the big flowers and some bees fly down to collect pollen. Every 3 pollen hatches a bee. A flower holds 6 pollen and slowly refills, so move between flowers. When your swarm gets small, a pink flower arrow on the edge of the screen points to the nearest full flower.
- Snacks. Fly close to people on picnic blankets. They scream, run away and drop their cake, ice cream or sandwich. Grab it for a Sugar Rush: 3 bees at once plus bonus honey. Each picnicker drops a snack again after a while.
Your swarm is capped (34 bees at the start). The Bigger Hive power raises the cap by 12 each time.
Honey, levels and powers
Every bug you beat drops honey. Fly near it and it zooms to the Queen. Honey fills the bar at the top of the screen, and each level-up lets you choose one of three powers. You get one free reroll per stage (more with the Lucky Clover upgrade).
Good picks for a strong run:
- Sharp Stingers (+25% damage each level) and Buzz Frenzy (stings 15% faster) make every bee count.
- Bigger Hive and Royal Brood grow the swarm. Royal Brood hatches 6 bees on the spot.
- Disco Swarm makes the whole cloud spin and hurt anything it touches. It gets stronger the more bees you have.
- Honey Bombs throw a sticky bomb at the nearest enemy every few seconds. It damages and slows everything in the splash.
- Spicy, Frosty and Zappy Stingers add fire damage, slowing and chain lightning.
- Royal Jelly gives the Queen an extra heart and heals her. Take it when you are low.
Golden “big ones” sometimes appear. Beat them for a jar of Royal Jelly on the ground: it gives you a free level-up.
Buzz Blast
Buzz Blast throws the whole swarm outwards in a ring of about 6 metres. It damages and knocks back every enemy in range, stops wind-up attacks, pops bubbles and candy, and tears up spider webs. Its damage grows with your swarm size, so a big swarm blast can wipe out a whole crowd. It recharges in about 9 seconds (the ring around the button shows the timer). Save it for when you are surrounded or a boss is right next to you.
Reading the danger zones
Most big attacks show up on the ground first:
- Red circles, cones and lines will hit everything inside when they fill up. Fly out, and give your swarm time to follow.
- Orange lines show where a dragonfly, seagull or crow is about to dash.
- White circles are spider webs about to land (they slow the Queen) or a bear roar (it knocks bees out of the air for a moment).
- Green circles are bug spray clouds. Bees inside them drop fast.
Hazards by world
- The Garden: the sprinkler’s water jet knocks bees to the ground for a few seconds. Kids with nets swing at your swarm.
- The Park: a playful dog chases the swarm and snaps at bees. Sting him enough and he runs off yelping. Frogs sit by the ponds and shoot their tongue in a straight line, so sidestep.
- The Beach: crabs, seagulls and, on Tide Pools, a big wave that washes up the beach after a warning. Soggy bees can’t fly.
- Spooky Night: blue bug zappers pull nearby bees into the light. Sting the zapper to break it.
The bosses
- Grumpy Gary (Gnome Garden): swats three times in a row at where the Queen is, sprays bug spray in a cone, rakes a long line and kicks a wasp nest. Keep moving sideways during the swats.
- Big Barry (Bear Woods): charges in a straight line (he gets stunned if he runs into a tree), swipes in a wide cone, roars and leaps onto the Queen. Dodge the charge and sting him while he is dizzy.
- King Clawdius (Crab Cove): pinches on both sides, fires fans of bubbles, burrows under the sand and pops up under the Queen, and calls in crabs.
- Jack O’Gourd (The Pumpkin King): drops rains of pumpkin bombs, fires rings of candy corn, calls crows and spins straight at you. Below half health every boss gets faster.
Stars and honey goals
You get one star for winning the stage (surviving the timer, or beating the boss). The other two stars need honey:
| Stage | ★★ | ★★★ |
|---|---|---|
| 1 Sunny Backyard | 260 | 380 |
| 2 Veggie Patch | 450 | 650 |
| 3 Gnome Garden | 230 | 300 |
| 4 Picnic Hill | 550 | 780 |
| 5 Duck Pond | 500 | 750 |
| 6 Bear Woods | 300 | 420 |
| 7 Sandy Shore | 700 | 950 |
| 8 Tide Pools | 520 | 680 |
| 9 Crab Cove | 750 | 1050 |
| 10 Pumpkin Patch | 650 | 880 |
| 11 Spooky Hayride | 650 | 900 |
| 12 The Pumpkin King | 520 | 750 |
Honey comes from bugs, snacks, scaring people and extra pollen once your swarm is full, so keep fighting all stage long.
The shop
Coins earned at the end of each stage buy permanent upgrades: Starter Swarm (more bees at the start and a higher cap), Sharper Stingers, Royal Heart (an extra heart), Queen Wings, Pollen Pouch and Lucky Clover. The later worlds are much tougher, so if a stage feels too hard, replay earlier stages and buy upgrades. The shop also has 10 hats for the Queen and 9 bee colours, from Bubblegum to Rainbow Party.
Clear stage 3 to unlock Endless Meadow, where everything keeps coming until the Queen falls.