Sparrow

* Unprotected
* Armored
* Shielded
* Sinister Shielded
* Sinister Armored

Shielded HP - 5

The **Sparrow** is the most common Invader and appears in all missions. They are small, agile, but contain the lowest hitpoint pool of all the invaders, at an estimated value of 5 when unprotected. They are never equipped with more than a single fixed weapon at the front of their hull, which may fire pellets, darts, shurikens or lasers. Individually, the Sparrow poses a minimal threat to the player but can become troublesome if they spawn in crowds alongside or behind larger invaders.

## Description

### Appearance

All sparrows have a small cockpit fixated on top of their gun, with a single engine placed behind this cockpit. Their wings are not very extensive and exhibit different shapes based on whether the Sparrow is unprotected, armored or shielded.

A variant of a Sparrow with a green cockpit and striped wings may occasionally spawn in missions. Apart from appearance, this variant does not display any movement or behavioral differences to regular Sparrows.

Different weapon types are more effective against certain invader types. Against an unprotected invader, use High Impact ships, they can land critical hits. (AB8/Klyn, Corsair, etc.) Against an armored invader (typically a yellow-brownish color, sometimes with stripes), use Armor Piercing ships (Ogon, Marauder, EX04239, etc.). Armored invaders negate a percentage of damage that your ship puts out. Armor Breakers deal full damage on armored invaders. Against shielded invaders, use Shield Breaking ships (Exarch, Arietis, etc.) that can take out the shields quickly. Turrets can't be damaged/destroyed until the invader's shield goes down. Over time when not damaged, invaders will also regain their shielding. Using High Impact ships is also ok, as the invader becomes unprotected once the shield goes down.

### Armament

Sparrows are equipped with only one weapon. This weapon will always be a tier 1 variant of a fixed gun or a fixed laser, meaning no Sparrow with a weapon that tracks the player's ship may spawn. These weapons include:

* Pellet Cannon.
* Dart Cannon.
* Rapid-Fire Dart Cannon.
* Shuriken Cannon.
* Fixed Laser.

Sparrows never produce boomerangs.

In some missions, Sparrows can be armed with a "butt MIRV", which is attached to the back of the ship, near the engines. Even on missions that don't say there are MIRVs, these Sparrows can spawn and any mission that has MIRV sparrows will affect every Sparrow in the mission. These MIRVs explode into bullets only (even if it's a laser mission) when the Sparrow is killed, and point-defense has to shoot down each bullet individually (the MIRV explodes instantly and can't be shot off the Sparrow). This makes Sparrows extremely dangerous, especially on speedruns with Missile Swarm ships that kill most Sparrows instantly.

## Behavior

### Spawning

Sparrows are capable of spawning in any Act during a mission. Except for in the lowest Leagues—namely C and D League—they are unlikely to spawn as individual units with no accompanying invaders. The crowding potential of Sparrows is high, and it can be expected that these invaders often appear in groups or alongside other invaders.

During Acts 1 and 2, Sparrows dominate the types of invaders that may appear. They are one of the only two invaders that first spawn in Act 1, the other being the Raven. In later Acts, other, larger invaders may take their place in a Wave, and Sparrows would not spawn. But if they do, it is likely for many to appear alongside other enemy types.

### Movement

Sparrow movements are very annoying since they move very quickly and randomly. Focus fire weapons may have trouble taking them down, and going near is sometimes not an option when they are armed with shuriken launchers. Tracking weapons have no such problems.

## Strategy

Against a Sparrow swarm, it's best to use an area damage weapon, like Reflex EMP ultimate upgrade or Aurora's main. Due to their low health, near any blast damage will kill a Sparrow.