Locust Drone

Drones appear to be the common race among the Locust Horde. Humans often refer to them by the derogatory name of "grubs". They are larger than humans and have chalky white skin with gray, scale-like patches that most likely are hardened to protect them from minor damage. They were bred in the Hollow to be bloodthirsty fighters, supposedly by the Queen herself. When ordered, drones will throw their lives away by the hundreds to kill a single entrenched Gear. They were often observed crawling out of "emergence holes", which the Locust use as bridges between the underground and the surface world.

Drones regularly carry out basic infantry tactics of flanking, dominating the terrain, and setting up ambushes, as well as more advanced tactics, suggesting that drones themselves are intelligent, independent creatures rather than dim-witted, single-minded brutes, or some combination thereof. Almost fearless, they know little in the way of self-preservation and almost never retreat, though they have little need to, considering their vast numbers. They will usually wield the Hammerburst assault rifle or Hammerburst II battle rifle, the ubiquitous standard infantry weapons of the Locust. They also fulfill the roles of grenadiers and snipers, armed with frag grenades or Longshot rifles respectively.

Drone sub-classes

 * Grenadier - Drones that wear considerably less armour than other drones, bearing their whole upper bodies. They are armed with frag grenades that can be thrown like hammer-flails by a chain or can be planted like mines on the battlefield. They also carry Boltoks, which are Magnum-style pistols with higher caliber rounds and greater accuracy than other pistols.
 * Sniper - Drones wearing specialized goggles and armed with Longshot sniper rifles. They are not so skilled fighting at close range and will try to avoid confronting Gears up close and personal. Some snipers even arm themselves with the devastating OneShot sniper cannon, which guarantees to kill a target in one hit by reducing the enemy to crimson slurry.
 * Cyclops - Advanced Locust shock troopers that are recognised by the strange helmets they wear. These fearless combatants use scavenged COG Lancer rifles which, while not quite as damaging as the Hammerburst, have a faster rate of fire and are equipped with chainsaw bayonets. Cyclops drones will often try to rush enemies and use the chainsaws to carve them to pieces.
 * Beast Rider - Locust drones that mount various Hollow creatures such as Bloodmounts and Reavers.