Buzzers

Buzzers
A Buzzer swarm
Unit
Affiliation	Scrin Reaper-17 Traveler-59
Role	Anti-infantry unit
Armament	Razor blades
Tier	1
Properties
Hit points	112
Armour type	Light (25% Cannon, 25% Rocket, 50% Grenade, 50% Gun, 100% Sniper)
Production
Cost	200
Build time	0:02
Produced by	Portal Buzzer hive
Hotkey	F1
Combat
Squad size	1
Ground attack	100 (Sniper)
Cooldown	0.1 seconds
Speed	75
Attack range	30
Sight range	Short
Function
Abilities	Combine with Vehicle
Notes
Can clear and occupy but not attack from garrisonable structures

“

Those darn buzzing things, they're everywhere! - GDI soldiers witnessing buzzers in Cologne, Tiberium Wars

”

Buzzers are the Scrin basic infantry unit. They are small, fast and agile, but extremely fragile. They swarm enemies and kill using melee attacks.

Background

Named for the unnerving sound they make as they approach, Buzzers are like a cloud of flying razors. They are guided by a limited sentience, and terrifyingly effective against infantry, whether they are fighting for their lives out in the open or seeking cover in urban environments. Buzzers are also often seen swarming about Scrin vehicles, forming a defensive barrier.

In addition to their offensive roles, Buzzers are also released from Buzzer Hives, serving the role of anti-infantry base defense.

Abilities

“

Those buzzers! They're somehow attached to that walker! - GDI infantryman observing the Buzzers surrounding an Annihilator tripod

”

Combine with Vehicle

Buzzers can swarm around a Scrin vehicle and are impervious to damage until they are removed or the vehicle is destroyed. Buzzers automatically attack anything that approaches the vehicle (Ctrl+A).

In-game

Buzzers are perhaps the most flexible early infantry unit in the game. They attack by swarming enemies and are small enough to go unnoticed in hectic battle situations, and because they lack any solid mass, they are notoriously difficult to direct and track. For human players, Buzzers are extremely difficult to manage and there are only a few ways to know of their presence:

• Faint, consistent flashes of reflected light in one spot
• Allied infantry seem to be firing and/or dying for no reason
• Antipersonnel defenses seem to be firing at nothing
• Sudden, unexplained clearing of allied garrisons
• Allied infantry attacking Scrin vehicles from the rear are killed

Changelog

• Tiberium Wars patch 1.01: hit points reduced to 75 and weapon damage type changed to SNIPER.
• Tiberium Wars patch 1.05:
  • hit points increased by 50%
  • move and attack rates retuned - as a result, Buzzers are now more effective at cutting through massed infantry but will no longer kill entire infantry squads all at once.

Gallery

• 

  Unused intelligence database art

Trivia

• Buzzers are somehwhat similar to attack dogs from the Red Alert Universe in the sense that both can instantly kill infantry and can only attack in melee.
• Strangely, sniper teams can kill a swarm of buzzers with a single shot, which should be impossible for sniper rifles to do. This is most likely due to balancing reasons.

See also

• Rifleman squad (Tiberium Wars) - GDI basic infantry
• Militant squad (Tiberium Wars) - Nod basic infantry
• Confessor cabal - Black Hand basic infantry
• Awakened - Marked of Kane basic infantry