From Plants vs. Zombies Wiki
Rocket Drone is an alternate ability to the Engineer's Zombot Drone ability. Its primary weapon is the Mean Beam, which deals less damage (6-8 depending on your distance between your opponent) and is less accurate but fires a continuous beam instead of fully automatic laser shots, resulting in more damage per second. The crucial difference is that the Rocket Drone has 20 health instead of 5.
The Lone Cone attack drops a single Cone Bomb at a time, rather than Cone Strike, which drops multiple, and takes four seconds to recharge. Each Lone Cone deals 10 damage if it lands directly on a plant and 25 damage for the explosion. Its plant counterpart is the Artichoke Drone. Like most other alternate abilities, it was introduced in the Garden Variety DLC. It takes 60 seconds to recharge.
Stickerbook description
The Rocket Drone is the pinnacle of Zomboss invention! It has reinforced armor for increased health and a state of the art navigation system, but at the expense of some firepower.
Strategies
With
The Rocket Drone works best as a scout craft to gain intelligence over plants and their defenses. The extra 15 health makes scouting around in enemy territory easier. The Lone Cone strike can be used to destroy Potato Mines and Spawnable Plants, making it easier for your teammates to attack gardens. The Rocket Drone is not as strong as the Zombot Drone, but it is faster and more durable, allowing more daring usage.
The Mean Beam deals 6 damage per hit to plants by default and 4 damage if it hits a Peashooter using Pea Gatling or a Sunflower using Sunbeam. The mean beam deals damage 10 times per second, resulting in a DPS value of 60 (40 if you hit any of the plants mentioned above). Since the Mean Beam deals a good amount of damage, it can be used to take out said plants from above, which is a cruel and ironic technique and requires you to stop moving to get the crosshair on the target before firing, but if you can pull it off, you will be able to remove an otherwise dangerous obstacle to your teammates using nothing but a drone.
Against
The Rocket Drone can be tough to shoot at, let alone destroy, because of its speed. Its health can also be a big problem, as a single hit may not be enough to destroy it. While not much of a threat, it can cause material damage by triggering Potato Mines, destroying Tallnut Battlements, Spikeweeds, and crucial Spawnable Plants like Heal Flowers. It can also kill you with the Mean Beam if you do not pay attention or have low health.
When you see one, and you are injured, run. Try to shoot it when it is not moving. If you can find the Engineer piloting the drone, try to kill him or swallow him whole as a Chomper. In a one-on-one fight against the drone, however, the Lone Cone is not much of a threat.
Gallery
Rocket Drone's stickerbook description
A Rocket Drone in a promotional image
Rocket Drone's front side
In other languages
Please note that only official translations are used.
Language |
Name |
Description
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English
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Rocket Drone
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French
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Drone-fusée
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German
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Raketendrohne
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Italian
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Drone razzo
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Japanese
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ロケットドローン
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Brazilian Portuguese
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Caçadrone
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Spanish
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Dron cohete
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Trivia
- It is possible to fly with the Rocket Drone by placing the Engineer atop a small rock, but the feet of the Engineer should be on the edge of the rock for the Rocket Drone to pass under him. Once the Engineer is on top of the Drone, the Engineer will stay on top of the Drone, and he can fly to high places which would be impossible to reach otherwise. His teammates can also jump atop the Drone, which is much easier since all they have to do is jump on.
- This also can happen with the Cactus' Garlic Drone and Artichoke Drone, the regular Zombot Drone (only in the original Garden Warfare), and Captain Deadbeard's Parrot Pal and Future Parrot Pal (only in Garden Warfare 2).
- However, for the Engineer, it is mostly useless unless you are on top of a building not too far off the ground or playing as the Painter (who already has long-range shots), as the Engineer and most of his variants have shots with a relatively short range.
- It has a propeller in its icon and sticker, but does not have one in-game.
- Its primary weapon, the Mean Beam, is the only laser-type weapon on the zombies' side in Garden Warfare.
- While not returning along with the Zombot Drone in Garden Warfare 2, it makes a cameo appearance in the Zombopolis map, in which it is seen as a massive sign at the Drone Factory.
- A strange glitch in Garden Warfare 2 allowed you to obtain the Rocket Drone in packs, but not use it.
- The Up and Down abilities for the Rocket Drone picture the standard Zombot Drone.
See also