Overview

• Ecdysis means "to molt one's shell."
• In game terms, this means to start over a bit stronger than before.
• The Ecdysis button is located at the bottom of the crab tab.

Normal Ecdysis

• You will receive the DNA listed in the Ecdysis window. See this entry on DNA.
• You will start over at 1m.
• Your crabs will start over at 5% of your finishing distance.
• You will lose all of your queens and their skills.
• You DO NOT lose any Mutations that you have unlocked.
• You DO NOT lose any Gems that you have collected.
• You DO NOT lose any Genes that you have implanted.
• You DO NOT lose any King Crab progress or parts in the Land of Reptiles.
• In other words, you start over, but with some DNA to buy more Mutations and get stronger.
• The mutation Jade Tipped Pincers will allow you to start higher when you perform an Ecdysis - except when you first join a Tournament.

Super Ecdysis

• For the cost of 500 pearls, you can perform a Super Ecdysis.
• You receive the DNA listed in the Ecdysis window. See this entry on DNA.
• You DO NOT start over at 1m. You stay where you are.
• You DO NOT lose your crab levels, queen levels, abilities, or skills.
• You DO NOT lose any Mutations, Genes, or Gems.
• You DO NOT lose any King Crab progress or parts in the Land of Reptiles.
• All of your abilities (Colossal Crab, Shadow Swarm, Smokescreen, etc) will refresh if they are currently on cooldown.
• This is basically a "give me the DNA now and refresh my skills" button. You can continue playing. Since your abilities will be refreshed you can often go ahead and use a Golden Leech to progress higher.
• You can immediately perform a regular Ecdysis if you want.

Queen Auto-Buy after (Normal) Ecdysis

• Introduced in version 3.5.0 as a Quality of Life improvement that has been asked for since 2016.
• Automatically purchases queens after a normal Ecdysis, presuming you start with enough gold to do so.
• Ability unlocks when your cast's maximum distance passes 10km.
• Can be turned off in the Settings menu.
• After observing how it works for a while, Queen upgrade logic appears to be this:
  1. Unlock all possible queens at Level 1.
  2. Starting with Shroud, attempt to upgrade to level 2000, including skills.
  3. Repeat for each queen after Shroud.