Combat bot

Merc and Green.

Combat bots, also called battle bots, are robots that to assist Ratchet in Deadlocked. The two robots, Merc and Green form part of Team Darkstar with Ratchet during their forced participation in DreadZone, and both belonged to a former contestant. They were fixed up by Al and then used to support Ratchet, in lieu of Clank being stuck as the team's mission engineer.

The combat bots made use of a variety of weapons and upgrades developed by Go-Comet, a leader in the industry, while Vox Industries developed their Hacker Ray gadget. Their paintjobs were provided by DreadZone and derived from contestants or organizations in the Shadow Sector, with the exception of the "Assassin" design hand-painted by Al, while modifications to their heads that deviated from the standard DreadZone design were provided by Al.

The combat bots assist in gameplay both in providing combat assistance and using gadgets. They can be upgraded in damage output and armor with the bolts made from completing battlecourses as well as purchase new weapons and gadgets. Additionally, the player can personalize their combat bots by optionally purchasing alternate head designs, and color schemes. In co-op, the combat bots do not feature as a second player takes the place of both combat bots.

Gameplay

A combat bot using the Shield Link.

Combat bots are almost entirely autonomous, their general AI dictating they stick close to Ratchet and shoot anything hostile. They are relatively accurate, but not very powerful on their own, better serving at times as decoys and to handle fodder with their standard Pistol Flux LX. The Bogo notably improves their odds against grouped enemies, and the Range Warrior makes them more effective at medium to long-range engagements.

They also have a unique superweapon called the Ravager, which came in a Beta and Alpha variant. The former is a large sphere that emitted powerful lasers in all directions, simply destroying most enemies in its range until it exploded. The latter is a homing disc that ricochets between enemies, homing in on them on its own. Both Ravager weapons can only be used once, as they have to be charged by the bots' taking and dealing damage, which takes a long time.

A combat bot using the Alpha Ravager.

They also make us of a small number of gadgets, such as their own wrench for hitting enemies and rotating bolt cranks. Other than the wrench they also standardly come with EMP Grenades, for disabling 70 millimeter Stalker Turret's and Landstalkers, as well as shock orbs and electrified platforms. Al's workshop vendor also sells a Shield Link, which allows a bot to create a shield around the other (or Ratchet himself) when working on manual tasks, ensuring they can actually finish. Completing battlecourses also grants Ratchet's bots the Grind Cable and Hacker Ray gadgets, which allows them to lay grind cables at fixed areas and hack security orbs to progress through various challenges.

The combat bots will not actually ever use their gadgets, except the Shield Link, nor the Ravager weapons, on their own. Instead, the player has to order them through the controller's D-pad. They also have the option to order them to retreat and regroup at Ratchet's position.

Equipment and upgrades

The weapons and upgrades were provided by Go-Comet. One of the weapons was the Bogo, a hovership-mounted grenade launcher refitted by Go-Comet for personal use, named after the sound it made when firing in a crowded test laboratory. The Beta Ravager superweapon was specifically designed to be fired and controlled by combat bots, though it needed its recoil reduced to prevent them from misfiring into the grandstands during DreadZone challenges.

Equipment

Equipment	Price	Availability
Pistol Flux LX	—	By default
Bogo	20,000	Avenger Tournament
Range Warrior	30,000	Crusader Tournament
Alpha Ravager	—	By default
Beta Ravager	100,000	Vindicator Tournament
EMP Grenade	—	By default
Shield Link	15,000	Marauder Tournament
Hacker Ray	—	Catacrom Four reward
Grind Cable	—	Sarathos reward

Upgrades

Upgrade	Price	Availability
Go-Comet A	25,000	Avenger Tournament
Go-Comet X	50,000	Crusader Tournament
Go-Comet XR	75,000	Vindicator Tournament
Hyper-Tron	100,000	Liberator Tournament
Dreadinator	150,000	Marauder Tournament (Challenge mode)
DZ Ultra	200,000	Vindicator Tournament (challenge mode)
Ultranator	250,000	Liberator Tournament (challenge mode)

Pistol Flux LX

Bogo

Range Warrior

Alpha Ravager

Beta Ravager

EMP Grenade

Shield Link

Hacker Ray

Grind Cable

Cosmetics

The cosmetics menu for the combat bots.

The combat bots have a brown and blue design by default, the original paint scheme from a DreadZone Champion Bot. The other customizable paintjobs were provided by DreadZone and derived from contestants or organizations in the Shadow Sector, with the exception of the "Assassin" design hand-painted by Al.

The bots use standard DreadZone 3030 head by default. Al also provided many helmet modifications: the Crash V6, a modified Go-Comet crash test helmet; the Gate Keeper, a rare helmet worn by Tron-Del Warriors (which smelled like feet); the Cyclone, which Al claimed was designed for a "mysterious superhero named Al-Man" (providing no evidence for his existence); and the Bounty Hunter, based on the helmet worn by Jet Baxter in Al's favorite movie, Mandles, Sandles for Men. The Saga Continues?

Paintjobs

Paintjob	Price	Availability
The Royale	—	By default
The Commando	1,000	Marauder Tournament
The Gold Star	3,000	Avenger Tournament
Pale Rider	3,000
Gunner Grey	5,000	Crusader Tournament
Elium Shocker	5,000
The Destroyer	10,000	Vindicator Tournament
The Assassin	20,000	Liberator Tournament
The Dragon	50,000	Challenge mode
Bruiser Machine	50,000
The Firestorm	50,000

Head designs

Head	Price	Availability
DreadZone 3030	—	By default
Bounty Hunter	2,000	Avenger Tournament
Crash V6	3,000	Crusader Tournament
Gate Keeper	5,000	Vindicator Tournament
Cyclone	10,000	Liberator Tournament
ShellShock	—	'Exterminator Bot Heads' option from the Cheats menu.
Reactor	—
The Eviscerator	—

Behind the scenes

Merc and Green were apparently planned to have legs at one point. The two have legs in an early screenshot for the game, and were modeled with legs in an early trailer for the game alongside being claimed to be more advanced and smarter than the Galactic Rangers by Clank, In a video on GameSpot, Merc and Green had legs. They also had legs on the Japanese cover. In the final game, Green mentions that he had his legs blasted off, and describes the event in which it happened in the Blathercon War.