Swarmbot

Swarmbot
Featured in	Metroid Prime 3: Corruption
Size	Small
Knownlocales	SkyTown Eastern SkyTown
Known worlds	Elysia
Attacks	Energy bursts Suicide run
Weakness	Attacking energy bursts

Swarmbots are small, airborne Elysian drones that appear in Metroid Prime 3: Corruption. As the name implies, Swarmbots travel in moderate-sized swarms throughout the Chozo SkyTown facility. The only functional units ever encountered appear to have either become rogue or suffered from Phazon corruption, as they will attack any organic being on sight. Little is known about their original function, although their lack of tools or other equipment and relatively potent weapons systems indicate that they may have been created for security or defense purposes. Their behavior and appearance resemble that of the Phazon Nightbarbs of Bryyo.

The diffuse nature of a Swarmbot cloud provides excellent protection against attack, as the fast-moving individual mechanoids are capable of avoiding most any weapons system. When Samus Aran approaches, the swarm will collapse to form a small ring and begin charging a series of energy blasts: during this period, they are vulnerable to all of the hunter's weaponry. However, if the swarm is disrupted early in the charging process, damaged Swarmbots will survive and attempt to ram Samus: these robots are slow-moving enough to be targeted and destroyed individually, although their small size necessitates a fair amount of aiming.

The drone Helios also commands a large number of Phazon-energized Swarmbots in order to defend the Elysia Seed: these mechanoids are vulnerable to attack, but the vast quantities produced by Helios make it useless to destroy them individually. They form complex patterns to assist in Helios's attacks, such as "legs", spherical shields, etc. Upon the master drone's destruction, the Swarmbots revert to their conventional energy level and disperse. The shapeshifting Bounty Hunter Gandrayda occasionally transforms into Swarmbot-G, a circling group of Swarmbots during her own encounter with Samus.

Swarmbots surrounding Helios.

Besides the Elysian Leviathan Core, Swarmbots are found in Skybridge Athene on Eastern SkyTown after the acquisition of the Ship Grapple Beam, Gearworks, and the Spire Dock before Samus summons the Escape Pod.

Official data

Logbook entry

Swarmbot

Metroid Prime 3: Corruption

Temporary scan

Mechanoid: Swarmbot
Nimble flyer can break lock-on.
Generates pulse attacks.

Logbook entry

Swarmbots tend to travel in groups. They can evade many inbound attacks, and can perform aerial maneuvers that make them nearly impossible to damage. They can generate pulses of energy to damage or disrupt enemy targets. As a desperate measure, they will perform suicide runs on an enemy.

Trivia

• If Samus damages a flock of Swarmbots using the Hyper Ball (noted by red-colored beams), the game will immediately crash. This glitch is known to be present on original NTSC copies of the game and is currently unknown if this glitch is present on Metroid Prime Trilogy.