WATCHER
Watchers are the eyes of the Illuminate. These floating droids scan for free-thinking lifeforms, and report them to their masters for enslavement or eradication.
TACTICAL BRIEF
• As the only unit of the Illuminate that can call in reinforcements, Watchers should be quickly dispatched to prevent them. Visually, Watchers sends out several blue flares upwards to signal reinforcements, but the actual signal gets sent before this occurs, indicated by the "Illuminate Ships Incoming" event message at the top of the screen.
• The APW-1 Anti-Materiel Rifle and RS-422 Railgun are able to destroy Watchers in a single hit to the main body.
• The ARC-12 Blitzer and ARC-3 Arc Thrower are effective weapons for stunning Watchers. This will interrupt their reinforcement calls and leave them floating still for a moment.
• Watchers can survive having multiple of their "fins" torn off; Helldivers should prioritize aiming at center mass.
• Its lightning discharge deals low damage, but temporarily slows and slightly drains a Helldiver's stamina. This makes it especially dangerous near a horde of Voteless or a group of Fleshmobs.
• Upon death, Watchers will fall to the ground. And with enough velocity, its carcass will explode once colliding into anything. The blast radius is small, but lethal. The carcass of Watcher can stay intact when touching the ground when the falling velocity stays low enough. This is most often achieved with the fatal-hit being either burn or gas overtime-damage while the Watcher is floating less than 2-meters of height. Any kinetic last-hit or a fall from greater than 2-meters of heigh will always end up increasing the falling velocity threshold to explosion being crossed. The intact carcass of Watcher can be rolled around the ground and even flung around with light/medium ballistics, or powerful enough melee strikes (E.G. with CQC-30 Stun Baton). However, the carcass will explode once there is enough velocity when once more colliding into a surface.
ATTACKS
Weapons and melee strikes this unit can perform. Each card shows the wiki's illustration, a one-line description, and the full stat table (Damage, Armor Penetration, Fire Rate, Stagger, etc). Values are passed through verbatim, so multi-line cells like "350RPM (2-Round Burst) / 1.2s (Between Bursts)" stay readable.
An electrical conductor embedded into the Watcher's eye socket. This device is capable of building up a charge and releasing it at once, inflicting painful electrical burns and disorienting the foe in the process. Used by Watchers as a defensive weapon.
| Damage | 30 Strike Damage / 15 Durable Damage |
| Inflicts | Inflicts Stun I (1.5s) |
| AP | 3/2/1/0 |
| Fire Rate | 1.2s (Chargeup) / 4.4s (Recharge Delay) |
| Spread (Mrad) | ↔[10.00] ↕[10.00] |
| Demo Force | 10 |
| Stagger Force | 10 |
| Push Force | 5 |
Whilst a rare occurance. A plummeting Watcher can still be a hazard to any underneath it. Its weight is still such that it is capable of crushing any unfortunate that happens to be below it.
| Damage | 0 Impact Damage / 0 Durable Damage |
| AOE | 300 Blast |
| Inner | 1m |
| Outer | 2m |
| Shockwave | 1.5m |
| AP | 10/9/10 |
| AP | 0/0/0/0 |
| Fire Rate | Death Explosion |
| Spread (Mrad) | Death Explosion |
| Demo Force | 30 |
| Stagger Force | 30 (Ragdolls) |
| Push Force | 30 |
It is unknown if it is by design to prevent capture or because it is simply fragile. But what is known is the Watchers tendency to violently explode upon crashing onto solid ground, killing infantry and even capable of severely damaging vehicles
| Damage | 0 Impact Damage / 0 Durable Damage |
| AOE | 80 Blast (100 Durable) |
| Inner | 3m |
| Outer | 5m |
| Shockwave | 4m |
| AP | 3/2/3 |
| AP | 0/0/0/0 |
| Fire Rate | Death Explosion |
| Spread (Mrad) | Death Explosion |
| Demo Force | 30 |
| Stagger Force | 30 (Ragdolls) |
| Push Force | 30 |