The Proton Drum is a weapon manufactured by Gadgetron in Ratchet & Clank (2016 game). It launches a metallic ball that, upon reaching the ground, retracts its walls to reveal a pulsating orb of pink energy. With each pulse, the orb expels shockwaves in a large circular area around the orb, damaging enemies.
The weapon can be upgraded to the Protoclast at V5, which causes the orbs to also continuously zap enemies with electricity. It can be upgraded to the Omega Protoclast in challenge mode once the Proton Drum's holocard set was complete. The weapon can also be upgraded with Raritanium, improving its duration, area of effect, and the holocards picked up by using the weapon. Three mystery upgrades are available: the Pseudo-quantum Particles increasing its ammo capacity, the Constructive Resonator allowing two Proton Drums to be launched at once, and the Frictionless Casing allowing Proton Drums to be deployed at a further range. Once upgraded to the Protoclast, the Subatomic Polarizer upgrade was also available, allowing two arcs per Protoclast orb.
The Proton Drum is first available on Novalis for 4,000 bolts.
Characteristics[]
The Proton Drum is a capsule filled with a strange green liquid with three metallic "claws" attached to it. The claws pulsate at a steady pace. The top features a large antenna similar to the Hoverbomb Gun.
The orbs launched hover briefly in the air, glowing pink, before pulsating regularly, damaging nearby enemies and knocking them back briefly. Once finished, they retract to the ground. The Protoclast's orbs appear similarly, though they also fire large zaps of pink electricity at nearby enemies.
Combat[]
Ratchet using the Proton Drum against sandsharks on Aridia.
The Proton Drum is primarily used for crowd control, and to help clear out waves of enemies grouped together. Releasing a Proton Drum orb allows the drum to damage enemies, while also briefly knocking them back after each pulse, clearing more space for the player to damage them with other weapons. It can be used effectively to grant more breathing room in fights, as well as to clear out waves of small enemies from one area while attacking enemies from the other. The weapon should not be used as a primary source of damage, but rather to supplement other weapons and kill enemies faster.
Raritanium upgrades further improve the weapon, particularly the Constructive Resonator allowing two orbs to be thrown at once, and upgrades to its duration. When upgraded to the Protoclast, the orbs also zaps one enemy with electricity, making it stronger against larger enemies as well as waves of smaller ones. However, the weapon becomes outclassed by more powerful weapons at later stages in the game.
Behind the scenes[]
The Proton Drum was first shown at PSX 2015 in a demo booth.
The Proto Drum has similarities to the Pulse Mine from Sunset Overdrive, another game by Insomniac Games.