- "An opponent that moves around on buildings is annoying!"
- —HQ voices his rather surreal dislike of Deroys.
A Deroy takes part in HQ's least favorite Deroy activity.
A Deroy (ディロイ Diroi) is an enemy first encountered in Global Defence Force and by extension, its eventual port Earth Defense Force 2: Invaders From Planet Space. A new version of the Deroy appears in Earth Defense Force 2025 and Earth Defense Force 4.1: The Shadow of New Despair. The original version of the Deroy returns in Earth Defense Force 5.
Global Defence Force
The EDF was not ready for the Ravagers to unleash the power of the parallel line tool.
In Global Defence Force the Deroy is first seen in mission 38: Flaming Drop, where they are deployed from orbit as a shower initially mistaken for meteors. They essentially function as a levelled-up version of the Daroga. They are massive, imposing vehicles with an Imperial Guard for a body, walking on four tentacle-like legs, with a battery of rapid-fire laser cannons on each side of the body which flip up when they are going to use them, and the ability to fire huge energy blasts from their center. They can also stab at characters with their spiked feet, performing three stabs in a row.
Since in Global Defence Force player characters cannot aim straight up, the Deroy's tendency to move forward until they are standing directly over their target makes them very dangerous. However, their legs and feet are just as vulnerable to attack as their bodies.
Giant Deroys appear in mission 57: Customised. These machines have the same attacks as their smaller brethren but are vastly taller and somewhat tougher, and also extremely fast. One major issue with this type is that when standing directly overhead, it is possible that the Deroy's legs will be out of range of some shorter-ranged weapons. The same mission also features small Deroys with less health and a phenomenally silly walking animation; they are faster than normal Deroys, but not as fast as giant ones, and have tremendous difficulty actually accomplishing anything due to their body constantly flipping over.
The Deroy's arrival-by-meteor probably influenced the arrival method of Hectors in Insect Armageddon.
Earth Defense Force 2025 / 4.1
Meanwhile in 4.1, one Deroy indicates to another that it has found the treasure.
In these two games Deroys are first seen in Steel Beast, where they are deployed from the spawner plates of Earth Eaters.
Deroys have essentially the same attacks as their previous incarnation; they will still stab with their spear-like feet (as before, lunging three times in a row) and fire huge artillery blasts similar to fire from Hector Plasma Cannons from their bodies. The greatest change is their laser attack; rather than being mounted on the body with the main weapon, the emitters are mounted on the Deroy's legs; they are larger than normal segments, with a pink-red core the laser is fired from.
They take some time to decide to start this attack, but once they do they do not tend to ever stop, sweeping their constant-damage lasers around erratically and sometimes twisting their upper body to whirl the beams around even more. The beams can stunlock their targets, much like the beams of the Flight Vehicle and Quadruped Fortress, and have the same nasty ability to induce an inescapable mid-air stun state in a Wing Diver, though other classes can escape them temporarily by rolling or dashing.
Deroys are unusual in that they have multiple hit locations; each leg segment is a target distinct from the body with its own hitpoints; unlike in Global Defence Force, damage to the legs alone will never destroy a Deroy. They count as enemies, have their own lock-on boxes and can drop items, at roughly the same rate as normal enemies. In addition, destroying the emitter segments will prevent the Deroy attacking with them, while destroying the feet will prevent the stab attack, though the latter is quite tricky to pull off. Destroying the Deroy's body will destroy it instantly, but prevents any remaining leg segments from dropping items.
In their idle state, Deroys will remain motionless with their bodies on the ground and their legs raised, making it very obvious if they are present. They are sometimes also spawned in: Earth Eaters can deploy Deroys of any size, while other types of spawner usually restrict themselves to small or normal Deroys. On hitting the ground after being deployed from the air, a Deroy will slam its body down on the ground and then spring up to its full height; if a tracked or wheeled vehicle is under it when it does this, it will tend to be thrown to the nearest map edge.
The same effect also occurs if a Deroy is struck by a Satellite Blaster shot, making the weapon extremely ineffective against them.
Normal Deroy
This standard Deroy usually only has one emitter per leg, though in some missions normal Deroys with two and even three emitters per leg are seen. They are roughly as durable as a Blue Hector, and also faster and more agile.
Small Deroy
The small Deroy is a slightly weaker version with shorter legs, which can be deployed from Transport Ships, though it is usually dropped from Large Transport Ships. It has about half the health of its normal-sized counterpart.
Large Deroy
The Large Deroy is first seen in Towering Beast. It is a normal-size Deroy body on immensely elongated legs, allowing it to mount up to four laser cannons per leg. It is around twice as tough as a normal Deroy, and is deceptively fast; its long legs also mean its body moves around more, making it a harder target.
Earth Defense Force 5
A Deroy unsuccessfully attempts to stab a Ranger with its leg.
Deroys return in Earth Defense Force 5, bearing a blend between their original design from Global Defence Force and their design from Earth Defense Force 2025 and 4.1. Like in 2025 and 4.1., Deroys attack using laser emitters installed in their legs and come in small and large variants. They also attack by stabbing enemies with their legs. However, Deroys gain a new ability in this game: homing rockets they fire from their legs that will chase enemies until they are destroyed or make impact. The player must fire at these rockets with their weapons in order to destroy them, or attempt to lead them along until they crash into another object and explode. The ports from which the Deroys fire these rockets are located near the top of their legs, and, like the laser emitters, can be destroyed if shot.
