Hoverer

Infinite (the front)

## Overview

* The **Hoverer** has a large, armored shield on its front, which generally nullifies the incoming damage. Only its back is vulnerable to attacks, which makes it difficult for most towers to damage it. There is also its weakspot in red.
* Aside of hitting the lume's back, this enemy would also always take damage from the Drone Launcher, the bleeding DoT of the Circle Saw's secondary fire and Sweet's burn, regardless of which part of the lume's body is hit/aimed at.
* It attacks with a large pulse originating from its body that pushes far away all players in range.
* The Hoverer is not actively aggressive, it will not actively target and chase players or stray from its path and will attack only if a player (or friendly AI like explorer conscripts) is close.
* While the knockback from a Hoverer's attack to players usually occurs only once at a time, it can actually attack very rapidly, and is a signficiant threat to the core if allowed to get too close. When it attacks the core, it deals 60 damage per hit, although the damage to the player is much less.

## Notes & tactics

This lume appears in most maps (23 out of 32). The 9 ones without regular Hoverers are the 4 maps from the 1st region (Facility), 3-4: Abandoned Lab, 5-2: The Smasher, 7-3: Bog, 8-3: Radar and 8-4: The Last Stand.

### Tower Strategies

* Drone towers ignore armor, making them highly effective against Hoverers.
* Hoverers can activate and be damaged by AR- & Rupture Mines. If a Hoverer breaks through the main maze, mine(s) laid near the end is a good way of finishing them off. A player can also simply lay a mine in front of the Hoverer and escape before being blown away by its attack. However, despite being triggered, if an explosive mine affects only the front, it will not damage the Hoverer(s), which would almost always happen due to a player having enraged the Hoverer in the wrong moment. Same applies to the Hoverer queen.
* Lightning and Scatter Laser towers are particularly viable towers to damage Hoverers with, though they don't damage Hoverers at a significant rate.
* Focus is capable vs the Hoverer, but has limited reliability like most other towers that use projectiles, since the damage can be partially or fully blocked. The tower might hit the invulnerable front and the Hoverer would most likely still eventually expose its back and then the Focus tower might have already reached its maximum power, being able to deal some more damage to the lume.
* Mind Control Spire towers will stun a Hoverer for its mind control period, but it will not cause it to attack other lumes, although other lumes, including other Hoverers, will attack the controlled Hoverer.
* The ACP and the Rockets **cannot** hurt Hoverers, therefore the Rocket tower(s)'s targeting should be carefully set in order to prioritize other, vulnerable lumes.

### Player Strategies

* Before they can attack, the Hoverers must first turn to face the player. Players can intentionally provoke Hoverers and keep walking forward to lessen the knockback's strength. This can be exploit by approaching from a direction that causes the Hoverer to turn its back to a tower as it attacks, rendering it more vulnerable to turret fire.
* Players should place priority on taking down Hoverers before other creatures due to the inability of most towers to damage Hoverers effectively. Often it can be considered a second-of-importance target to kill after the Bobble Heads if any in the wave.
* Approaching Hoverers can slow down their progress since they must stop moving to attack, although the players will usually be blown very far away. G-2 serves as a good distraction for this purpose.
* Large explosions, such as those boosted by the Long Range Specialization perk or Rex (primary fire) shots, aimed slightly behind this lume, can damage Hoverers even when not aimed at the weakspot.
* The secodary fire of the Rex and the Gatling Laser **cannot** damage Hoverers and Hoverer Queens, although these can apply Sweet's burn and Skye's warming-up.
* Frightening Visage does not affect hoverers, implying their attack is more of a passive (defensive) response rather than an act of aggression to the player.