Spider-Tron

A Spider-Tron is one of the many robots the player must face throughout Clone Drone in the Danger Zone, and comes in three varieties, the more common (In the early levels) Spider-tron 5000, and the more deadly Spider-tron 6000, and then the even more lethal Spider-tron 7000 which only appears in Story Mode. 5000 and 6000 are support/artillery units that do not pose a real threat on their own but can leave you vulnerable to attacks from other robots. However, the 7000 has a deadly weapon it can use in combat as well. They will be respectively referred to as ST-5K, ST-6K and ST-7K throughout the rest of the article.

## Appearance

Spider-Trons are large spider-like Robots. The general shape of all of them is usually a main body, containing the core(their vulnerable point) suspended in the air by four legs. Therefore not actually spiders but the Robots do not care. There are three types presently in the game: ST-5K, ST-6K and ST-7K.

ST-5K is notably smaller than ST-6K, small enough for its core to be struck by a sword without any sort of external assistance from a jump pad or by cutting down the legs. The main body is a simple box shape, a face on the front and a rib-cage like apparatus holding up the cannon on the back. It's difficult to notice its features due to the core, which glows brightly on the front.

ST-6K is much bigger, taller, and more menacing (or goofy) in appearance. ST-6K has two cores taking the place of eyes on a skull-shaped main body. The individual limbs are much larger than the ones on its counterpart, suspending the robot high enough to avoid sword-slashes to the body.

ST-7K is of similar size to ST-6K, however the head is made of three rectangles that rotate around a central point, each with an “eye” on them. Being a Mind-Space robot, it is comprised almost entirely of shimmering blue tinted cubes, and each body part will be instantly destroyed upon taking damage, making it arguably slightly easier to destroy than ST-6K.

## Behavior

Spider-Trons will stand still and fire Bombs at the player via a mortar positioned on their head/body. ST-5K and ST-6K can not easily deal direct damage as the bombs have an unreliable shrapnel effect, however the bombs they periodically launch have the guaranteed ability to knock down a player if they're within a certain radius of the detonation, leaving them vulnerable, or on rare occasions the shrapnel released will hit the player as they fall over, doing a substantial amount of damage and sometimes instantly dismembering or killing the player (or whatever else the Shrapnel hits). Shrapnel can be deflected with an upgraded sword or a shield. They do this at a slow rate, opening up large windows of opportunity for the player to strike them down. They can only be killed if all of their cores are destroyed, be it by arrows, swords, hammers, spears, or any other means. The number of bombs launched greatly depends on the Spider-Tron model, ST-5K launches one every 2.5-4 seconds and ST-6K launches five every ~5.5 seconds. ST-7K will launch bombs in three different directions, making strafing the bombs harder at close range. ST-7K will also periodically open fire with a rapid fire laser weapon, shooting small projectiles at a high fire rate. These do little damage with such a small size but can, of course, instantly kill the player if they hit the right places. Bombs fired by ST-7K have no shrapnel, but can still knock you down.

Spider-Trons will constantly extend and bend their legs, causing their head to bob up and down. This serves as an excellent timer for time between shots as Spider-Tron will only fire when completely upright. This can cause complications, however, as it can be difficult to shoot the moving cores with a bow from long range. Spider-trons are also invulnerable to saws and spikes.

## Strategies

When it comes to taking down a Spider-Tron, the strategy taken greatly depends on the specific model. In order for a Spider-Tron to die all of its cores must be destroyed.

ST-5K can be easily cut down with a sword but the more exaggerated motion of their head makes it slightly more difficult to down with a bow. Hammers can be useful, but risky due to the fact that the shrapnel can't be deflected with them.

ST-6K requires a jump assist to be taken down in a single strike with a sword, and the sword must be flaming. If this cannot be achieved, in order to kill one with the sword one must cut down the legs to lower the body and then attack the cores. Otherwise, it is best killed by going under it with a bow (to circumvent the bobbing motion) and firing upwards towards the cores, or if the player thinks themselves skilled enough they could shoot down ST-6K by firing an arrow through both cores out of an assisted jump. Hammers, especially flaming hammers, can be extremely useful for taking down ST-6K as a hit to the front can easily destroy both cores either through the impact alone or burning.

Spears are not recommended for the ST-6K, as the legs are extremely hard to cut efficiently.

ST-7K is similar to 6K, however spears are more effective due to its Mind-Space destruction mechanics. Though the player must constantly strafe to avoid the laser and move out of range to avoid the bombs and the laser as they are near impossible to dodge if the player is too close.

If one has the patience, or no other choice, one can manipulate Archer Bots to attack the SpiderTron by standing in front of it, though this strategy is more dangerous and less reliable. ST-5K is more easily lead into hazards, although this is one of the best ways to destroy a ST-6K or 7K without the use of a weapon.

Spider-Trons can also be kicked towards hazards, such as spikes or fire (Spider-Trons are immune to saw blades) this is the one way (combined with the one above) to destroy Spider-Trons in the kick-only challenge.

Another strategy to killing Spider-Trons is to use flame breath, which can reach ST-6K from below, it should be used with caution however, as Spider-Tron bombs can aim below it, and using flame breath is energy expensive.

An upgrade to counter their knockback, "Get Up!", is also available. It branches out from the "Kick" upgrade and significantly reduces the time the player takes to get up from being knocked down.

With the above upgrade and any level of deflect, another effective strategy is to simply ignore Spider-Tron until it is the last enemy standing. Deflect is capable of warding off the shrapnel released by the bombs and get-up will make the bombs' knockdown effectively harmless. However, do not forget about them as a bomb landing right behind you can easily take a chunk out of your head. Spider-Tron's bombs become more dangerous to enemies to a point acting as a sort of crowd control and occasionally picking off robots that can't deflect the shrapnel (archers, hammers, or early swords), but this method is highly unreliable as it is basically down to luck how many robots die.

New Spider-tron challenge

## Gallery

Spider-tron 5000 facing off against the playerSpider-tron 6000Spider-tron 5000 trying, and failing, to kill the player

Added

## Trivia

* Spider-tron is the first robot in the game to be capable of knocking down the player, the second being Kick Bots.
* It is said in one of the commentators quote that there was a Spider-Tron 4000 and that was apparently "not as good" as ST-5K
* In one comment the commentators refer to ST-5K as Fives.
* Spider-Trons are not immune to saw blades.
* According to Analysis-Bot, ST-5K is the friendliest of all robots.
* In chapters 4 or 5 (or mind control challenge) you can't mind control spider-trons.