Sandworms are terrifying enough in Dune: Awakening. Like the movies and novels, every step you take in the desert risks awakening these enormous, all-devouring Shai-Hulud, and there’s no fighting back. All you can do when caught in their crosshair is run for the rocky hills, lest you get swallowed whole. But what do you do if a worm learns to fly?
That’s a challenge that u/El-Undercover had to contend with when they looked up in the sky to see a giant sandworm hovering mid-air… menacingly. Even cruising above the Deep Desert in an ornithopter won’t keep you safe, apparently.
Unfortunately, one glance at TikTok and you’ll find several other clips of flying sandworms contorting in the air. These clips sometimes date back weeks, so it’s been a problem for a while now, with no word on when developer Funcom plans to cull their numbers. As you can see in the video embedded below, they appear to be in their usual state of waiting to hear a player so they can pounce on them, but instead of being underground, they’re fully visible. It’s disturbing, if oddly cute.
Dune: Awakening Player Claims To Be Hurling Sandworms Into The Sky To Eat Players
It’s a weird bug (or I guess, invertebrate), but u/El-Undercover didn’t provide any updates in the comments on exactly what happened after their encounter with this enormous skybound Shai-Hulud. But one player has found a way to weaponise these evolved sandworms, making for a pretty terrifying new PvP mechanic.
u/CuteBeaver claims that they use gravity pads to “launch them upwards”, turning them into deterrents for would-be griefing ornithopters. “Doesn’t work all the time, but sometimes they end up at sky high, other times just hovering,” they explained. “Absolutely still deadly to players and you can watch them dive bomb the location of folks who catch aggro.”
The worms are so notoriously buggy that they were even removed from the game at one point.
How a sandworm could feel the vibrations from 100ft above the sand is anyone’s guess, but it’s a haunting thought to imagine flying over the desert only for another player to hurl a Shai-Hulud directly at you. Then again, if you’re one of the many PvE players fed up with all the griefing, maybe it’s time to invest in a gravity pad and get to worm-flinging.
Dune: Awakening
- Released
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June 10, 2025
- Developer(s)
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Funcom
- Publisher(s)
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Funcom
- Engine
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Unreal Engine 5
- PC Release Date
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June 10, 2025
- Xbox Series X|S Release Date
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May 20, 2025
