- “Licensed to Drill!”
- —Drill Sergeant's official catchphrase
Drill Sergeant is a train-like, drilling Arkeyan machine who is one of the playable Tech Skylanders in the Skylanders series, first appearing in Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure.
Character Development
Drill Sergeant was originally called Drillbot. His original design had him have to retrieve his Drill Rockets each time he fired them. It quickly became apparent that this was not fun. The Drill Rockets have some resemblance to the Fire-and-forget Nuclear Missiles on the Earthling Cruisers in Star Control 2. Nat Loh recalls Drill Sergeant being particularly difficult to design requiring many more redesigning cycles than some of the other characters.[2]
Background
Personality
Drill Sergeant was built and programmed to obey orders, which results in him calling everyone 'sir', which irritates some of his comrades. He follows rules to the letter, never wavering until the job is done.[3] As a valued member of the Skylanders, he is a free machine, answering to no one, but old habits of his Arkeyan programming hasn't yet diminished. Like all Tech Skylanders, Drill Sergeant is fascinated by machinery.[4]
Biography
Like many Arkeyan artifacts, Drill Sergeant was buried for centuries – a long forgotten remnant of an ancient powerful civilization. It was only a chance collision with a burrowing Terrafin that led to his systems firing up again. By Arkeyan custom, Drill Sergeant was then obligated to become Terrafin’s servant. This didn’t sit well with the dirt shark, so his first order as master was for Drill Sergeant to not serve him at all… a command he continues to follow zealously to this day.
Story
History
Drill Sergeant is an ancient piece of Arkeyan apparatus, once left to rust underground. Thousands of years later, Skylands dirt shark Terrafin was burrowing through the earth when he struck something solid. Terrafin tugged the artifact above ground and dragged it off to show Master Eon. Eon muttered a few magical phrases. There was a clunk, then a whirr, and then... KACHUNK! Drill Sergeant clattered to life with lights blazing and engine revving, Drill Sergeant turned his attention to Terrafin. By Arkeyan law, he was sworn to serve the shark for all eternity. Terrafin's first order was simple: 'STOP FOLLOWING ME.' But it's one that Drill Sergeant has found tricky to compute.
Without an Arkeyan in sight, Drill Sergeant found Skylands a bit senseless. So Eon signed him up, and his drills are now used for death blows against evil.[5]
Spyro versus The Mega Monsters
Drill Sergeant becomes singed after being accidentally burned by Spyro during training.
Drill Sergeant was one of the Skylanders who was in a training session with Spyro, Trigger Happy, and Jet-Vac within Eon's Citadel, but the training ended with Drill Sergeant and Trigger Happy being singed by Spyro's flames. The Arkeyan bulldozer was later sent to the Giggling Forest to deal with two, mega-sized Sheep that was eating up the leaves of the trees. Before he could land a hit on the sheep, Kaos arrived after claiming he was renouncing his evil ways to battle evildoers, and used his magic staff to banish the sheep.
The Arkeyan bulldozer soon went with Spyro and Jet-Vac to the Desert of Columns to save Diggs from a mega-sized, yet familiar troll, only for Kaos to save the day again. Drill Sergeant later accompanied the other Skylanders with the Warrior Librarians of the Eternal Archives to stop Kaos from reaching the archive that contains a dangerous book.
Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure
While in frozen toy form, Drill Sergeant's first thoughts must have been "Oh no! Not again!". After spending thousands of years with his "off" button pressed and unable to move, being frozen in space must have been his worst nightmare. Just as those drills had begun to roll, like in the good old days, they were forced to cease once again.[6]
Gameplay
Stats
These are the starting and maximum Statistics for this Skylander in the Skylanders games.
- Health: 290 (max. 580)
- Speed: 43 (max. 91)
- Armor: 12 (max. 82)
- Critical Hit: 30 (max. 80)
- Elemental Power: 46 (max. 96)
Warning: These stats are not used in any of the Skylander games. They are only listed for completeness reasons.
- Strength: 80
- Defense: 80
- Agility: 60
- Luck: 30
These are the starting and maximum Statistics for this Skylander in the Skylanders games.
- Health: ???
- Speed: ??
- Armor: ??
- Critical Hit: ??
- Elemental Power: ??
Warning: These stats are not used in any of the Skylander games. They are only listed for completeness reasons.
- Strength: 100
- Defense: 80
- Agility: 60
- Luck: 40
Abilities
| Basic Abilities Drill Sergeant can destroy rock formations with his drill rocket and bulldoze charge attacks. |
Wow Pow Ability
| |||||||
| Drill Rocket | Bulldoze Charge |
Arkeyan Armor
Futurecannon
| ||||||
 Shoot homing rockets that chase down enemies for massive damage. |
 Drill Sergeant can dash forward and barrel over enemies. |
 New armor makes Drill Sergeant harder to hit.
 Hold Attack 3 to fire energy pulses that haven't been invented yet.
| ||||||
| Basic Upgrades Skylanders can buy new abilities from Persephone/Power Pods. | ||||||||
| A Speedy Recovery | Dozer Endurance | Power Charge | Auto-Blaster | |||||
 Drill Rockets reload quicker and do increased damage.. |
 Bulldoze charges last longer. |
 Bulldoze charge does increased damage. |
 Targets and fires at nearby enemies automatically. | |||||
| Drill Rocket |
|
| A View to Drill | DX300-Drill Detonator | MIRV Drill Rockets | ||
 Increase your Drill Rocket damage. |
 Using advanced explosive charges, this causes your drills to release an explosive area of effect pulse. |
 Drill Rockets explode into a series of smaller rockets. |
| Megadozer |
|
| Speed Dozer Boost | Hail Storm | Mega Dozer | ||
 Drill Sergeant moves faster during a Bulldoze Charge. |
 Auto-blaster fires much faster and never runs out of power. |
 Bulldozer Charge does extra damage and can charge through some attacks. |
Skylanders can use abilities depending on their level.
Starting Powers
- Drillblast (Primary Attack): Press (Y) to launch one of Drill Sergeant's drills.
- Pulse Cannon (Secondary Attack): Hold (X) to shoot Drill Sergeant's pulse cannon at nearby enemies. The pulse cannon will slow down if it is fired too often.
Upgrades
- Drillbeat (requires level: 4): Press (Y) repeatedly when close to an enemy to quickly pummel them with Drill Sergeant's drills.
- Stun Shot (requires level: 7): Drill Sergeant's Pulse Cannon (X) will sometimes shoot a blue pulse that stuns enemies.
- Spin Up (requires level: 9): Sprint (A) into enemies with Drill Sergeant's drills to make the drills larger. Attack with (Y) to deal extra damage with the larger drills.
Mystic Seeker Scroll
- Gain a 20% Speed bonus while in the Radiant Isles. The scroll for this upgrade can be found in Sunblight Wood.
Quests
Basic Quests
- Monster Masher: Defeat 1000 enemies.
- Chow Hound: Eat 50 pieces of food.
- Arena Artist: Complete an arena without taking any damage.
- Battle Champ: Win 10 PvP matches.
- Heroic Challenger: Complete a heroic challenge without taking any damage.
Elemental Quests
- Elementalist: Cause 7500 elemental bonus damage.
- Cracker: Use 25 keys to open doors.
- Magic Isn't Might: Defeat 50 Life Spell Punks.
Unique Quest
- Drill Skill: Defeat Drill-X without changing Skylanders.
Basic Quests
- Bad Guy Basher: Defeat 1000 enemies.
- Fruit Frontiersman: Eat 15 fruit.
- Flawless Challenger: Complete a non-Story Mode level at full health.
- True Gladiator: Win 10 PVP matches.
- Totally Maxed Out: Reach level 20 and purchase all Upgrades for this Skylander.
Elemental Quests
- Elementalist: Deal 7500 elemental bonus damage.
- Out-Teched: Defeat Evilized Glumshanks in Jungle Rumble without switching Skylanders.
- Problem Solver: Complete 25 Spark Locks with this Skylander.
Unique Quest
- Drill Skill: Defeat 10 Spell Punks with the Auto-Blaster.
Quotes
Battle Cries
- "Licensed to Drill!"
- "Rolling through."
- "Rolling on."
- "Oh yeah!"
- "Numbers are fun!" - when checking stats
- "Stats are my favorite!"
- "This is acceptable." - when given a hat
- "A hat, how fun!"
- "I like it!" - when given a nickname
- "Interesting choice."
Book Quotes
Skylanders: Spyro versus The Mega Monsters
- "Boop-bo-boop, I didn't stand a chance, sir. I was revving up for a power charge, ready to send the first mountain of mutton flying into next week, when he arrived."
- "Beep-be-be-beep. You should see the engines, sir. Absolutely marvelous. All gleaming brass and..."
- "Beep. Sorry, sir. Not at all, sir. My mistake, sir."
Character Trailers
Gallery
Trivia
- Even though the Arkeyans were the first to discover the Tech Element, Drill Sergeant is the only Arkeyan in the series to actually be of the Tech Element (Chop Chop and Krypt King are Undead, and most other Arkeyans do not have known Elements).
- In Spyro's Adventure and Giants, Drill Sergeant can destroy rock formations with his Drill Rocket attack.
- His catchphrase is a pun on the phrase "licensed to kill," often utilized by policemen.
- His Auto-Blaster upgrade (when not upgraded) is the least damaging move out of any character's powers, outside of Mining Picks.
- It is also the only non-flying upgrade that can be used simultaneously with other powers.
- Drill Sergeant, Stump Smash, Prism Break, Eruptor and Countdown are the only five bipedal Skylanders with no hands.
- Series 2 Drill Sergeant has the A View To Drill upgrade, giving him spiked drills.
- He, Drobot, Bouncer, Drobit, Magna Charge and Ro-Bow are the only six Skylanders who have robotic voices.
- Drill Sergeant is one of the few Skylanders to have drilling abilities (others include Grilla Drilla and Rubble Rouser, and partially Ro-Bow).
- Sometimes Drill Sergeant will have his drills tucked in him and remain until you can do a Bulldoze Charge or fire a drill rocket. This usually happens when Drill Sergeant hits a wall suddenly in his Bulldoze Charge.
- If Drill Sergeant shoot a drill rocket at Shrednaught before the battle starts, the camera will glitch.
- Despite their description, Drill Rockets do not often home in on enemies.
- His Wow Pow on consoles, Futurecannon, is similar to one of his 3DS upgrades, Stun Shot.
References
- ↑ This time I am known as #toxicdrillsergeant hopefully not a reflection on my personality!. (Date Posted - Oct 9, 2014). Twitter
- ↑ Senior character Gameplay designer. Nat Loh Website.
- ↑ Skylanders: Universe - The Complete Collection, page 140
- ↑ Skylanders: Spyro versus The Mega Monsters, page 101
- ↑ Skylanders Sticker Book: Meet the Skylanders
- ↑ Skylanders: Book of Elements - Magic and Tech, page 53
- ↑ Can Drill Sergeant dig through the rocks in Skylanders Imaginators?. (Date Posted - May 16, 2017). YouTube
