Template:Appearances Bladeballs are enemies in Ratchet & Clank (2016 game). They are common small, red, blargian robots deployed by Drek Industries which attack by spinning their blade arms. They float above the ground and attack in numbers, often deployed from blarg generators, on planets Gaspar, Batalia, Kalebo III, and on board the Deplanetizer.
Bladeballs share a name with the PX6 BladeBall that first appeared in Going Commando and their design is vaguely similar. They appear in place of the seekers and scoutbots in the original Ratchet & Clank.
History
Bladeballs were first fought in the Blarg Research Outpost on planet Gaspar, during the mission "Fight the Blarg" in which Ratchet and Clank fought through the Blarg Depot, deployed from blarg generators near the Depot, though they were not fought elsewhere on the world. They were then fought at the Fort Krontos area on Batalia, both outside the fort in "Travel to the Fort" and within it in "Get to the Turret", where they were deployed by blarg generators. A few bladeballs were fought in Ratchet's first visit to the Deplanetizer during the mission "Disable the Security System". Finally, bladeballs accompanied the invasion of the Gadgetron Headquarters, Kalebo III, and Ratchet and Clank fought many spawned from blarg generators in the mission "Find the Focus Lab".
Characteristics
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Concept art
Bladeballs are small, floating, red robots with a slightly spherical shape, two arms, and a head on their top with a single glowing red eye from a black eyelid that can expand from their body to look around them. Their arms have large claws for hands, which transform to blades when needed in combat. The back of their head contains an antenna. When idle, they will patrol around in groups looking for enemies. When spotting an enemy, their eye will retract as their hands transform to blades, and they head towards the enemy to spin their arms and attack.
Combat
Bladeballs on their own pose little threat, due to their low durability, and being restricted to melee range. The primary threat from bladeballs comes from the blarg generators that spawn them, or from nearby ranged enemies. As the blarg generators are mobile and tough to destroy, bladeballs can swarm Ratchet while trying to destroy the generators from which they are deployed. Similarly, focusing energy on destroying bladeballs will leave Ratchet vulnerable to ranged attacks from other enemies, while ignoring them will cause him to become swarmed by many bladeballs at once. The best way to deal with them is to either use the Proton Drum, and having the drum destroy the bladeballs while using another weapon to destroy the generator, or using Mr. Zurkon to destroy nearby bladeballs before they reach Ratchet.