The Drone Swarm gets a verb. The telemetry was clear: picked in 2 of 26 runs, both ended within 49 and 159 seconds, 0.0% damage share — even though its measured DPS sat right in line with the other weapons. Not a balance problem, a feel problem. A weapon that plays itself is missing the action that makes it feel like yours.
Swarm strike. The drones now passively nibble away with only 40% of the damage budget. Holding focus sends the whole swarm diving at one target — every drone dives at once, hits for 3.3× base damage, and returns. It then needs a second and a half to recharge.
Measured at 300 px: the command deals 2.5 to 3.4 times the passive output. Passive spreads damage around, the command focuses it — turning the weapon into a decision instead of something to watch.
Two indicators for it, in the same visual language as the Heavy Gun’s reload ring:
- a crosshair on the enemy the swarm is about to hit
- one dot per drone under the ship, full = ready to dive
As a side effect, Focus finally has a reason to exist: telemetry showed zero seconds of focus time in every Arcade run. The focus readout now also names what it’s currently doing.
The skill tree shows the difference on its own — the “in focus” column already sat next to “in flight,” and now for the Drone Swarm it shows the full dive value against the passive one.