Difficulty: Medium Duties: Weed the colony, build the hive, plant eggs for the Queen Guides: no separate guides Quote:Frenzy: on. Knuckles: cracked. Weed: ready. Yep, it's Combat Drone time.
Chances are if you've gone drone, you plan to either evolve to carrier, hivelord, deflier, shirke, and maybe even queen eventually. In the meantime, here are some things you should focus on.
You are not a combat caste, if you didn't know that yet, and as such should not be on the front lines unless you are building forward nests, emitting Pheromones for your sisters, or spreading weeds. You are the primary constructor of the hive in its critical first few minutes. Plant eggs for the queen, and manage the hosts as they come in, directing your sisters to the nests, or taking the hosts and infecting and nesting them yourselves. Build defenses, keeping in mind that marines operate the most poorly in tight enclosed quarters. Consequently xenos excel in tight, cramped spaces, so build your hive mazes accordingly. There are some examples further down the page of hive building.
Playing the Drone
The primary objective of the Drone as with most other Tier 1 caste Xenos is first, to stay alive.
Their next most important duty is expanding the hive, whether by weeding new areas or building new defenses. When building, keep in mind that xenomorphs have a strong advantage against marines in tight winding corridors, and offset patterns. When weeding, keep in mind that you cannot plant weeds on rock, grass, or catwalks. Don't hesitate to set up forward hives and nesting areas close to combat, and bring eggs from the queen's hatchery to assist in quick infection of marines. Remember, you cannot take a lot of damage, so guerilla hit and run tactics are your best bet if forced into combat.
Maturity Statistics and Evolution Paths
Your choices are relatively simple. You can evolve into carrier, or hivelord, which are tier 2, or queen, which is tier 4. Carrier and hivelord both evolve into defiler if they choose to evolve rather than upgrade.
Your upgrades primarily supplement your building abilities with increased plasma regeneration, and an increased plasma pool.
Drone Abilities
Abilities
Functions
Difficulty of use
Plasma cost
Toggle Bump Attacks
This ability allows you to toggle bump attacks on and off. If for some reason you want to avoid them, toggle this off. The red arrow means it's on; the green arrow means it's off.
N/A
N/A
Rest
This ability is used to rest and get up, you will heal faster when resting on weeds.
Easy
N/A
Regurgitate
Regurgitate does exactly what it sounds like. Expels the contents of your stomach onto the current tile. To consume someone, grab them then click on your sprite, and stand still.
Easy
N/A
Headbite
This ability is used to remove the brain of a downed marine, allowing for a quick execution. Takes 10 seconds to pull off.
Builds whatever resin structure you have chosen in Choose Resin Structure on your hotbar, on your current tile.
Easy
75
Transfer Plasma
Lets you transfer a set amount of plasma to any target within a 2 tile range. You must not move while transferring, and if the target moves further than 2 tiles away from you, the channeling is cancelled.
Begins a 3-part channel that injects larval serum into a target, speeding up a larvas growth. (Overdosing causes oxygen damage)
Easy
N/A
Corrosive Acid
Lets you expel weak acid from your body on to any structure/object you are able to. Drone acid is very weak, and a Spitter, Drone, or Queen's acid should be used instead if available.
Easy
75
Emit Pheromones
Emit one of the three Pheromones. It is advised to emit the pheromone that are not already being emitted, as pheromones don't stack except for Frenzy pheromone. Your pheromones will grow stronger as you mature.
Easy
30*
Drone tips & tricks
You are very weak, but your pheromones and ability to plant weeds make you a strong front line support xeno.
Xenos operate best in narrow, enclosed spaces. Consequently, marines operate worst in narrow, enclosed spaces. Build accordingly.
Your corrosive acid is very weak, but it's better than nothing. Don't be afraid to secrete some and call for a stronger acid xeno to come in the meantime.
You are better off transferring plasma to a hivelord who's building, as their resin structures are much stronger than yours.
Never try to 1v1 any marine. You are not built for that.
