The Quadcopter is a feature in Watch Dogs 2.
Summary
The quadcopter is a 3D printed drone owned by Marcus Holloway, after 3D-printing it for $67,500. It is small enough for Marcus to hold and carry around with him. He can deploy it at any time to scope out the area and get a higher view. If the drone gets too far away from Marcus, it will warn the player, and if the player flies it too far away, the connection will be cut off and the player will have to move closer to the Drone to reconnect it. The drone is capable of hacking things within view.
Abilities
Entering (Almost) Everywhere: The Quadcopter can obviously fly, and this means you can forgo the slightly laborious process of maneuvering around obstacles on the ground. It can provide reconnaissance information for the entire area, especially after you upgrade it with the Proximity Scanner _/Research ability. It can also enter every vent and gap that the RC Jumper can.
Going Places You and Your Jumper Can’t: The Quadcopter has even more flexibility of movement than the Jumper, as it can immediately and quickly fly over perimeter gates and fences, head to rooftops, fly into open windows without needing to climb up difficult scenery, and it can hide under vehicles. It can hack security doors, push open unlocked doors, and scoot past every type of foe, usually at much closer range than Marcus. Don’t forget the Quadcopter can also take photographs, if you want to see an area from a new angle, especially a ScoutX landmark. Looking down from the sky allows you to view an entire restricted area, much like the maps in this guide.
Enemy Interaction: Expect the same type of enemy interaction as you would when using a Jumper. Enemies spotting this craft will shoot or lob rocks at it. If the Quadcopter is destroyed, it requires a cooldown time (shown on your smartphone minimap). If the Quadcopter is spotted, use Boost and hide or simply fly up vertically, out of enemy range.
Upgrades
All the Best Moves: Make sure you check out the Remote CTRL branch of the ./Research app tree, and unlock the following upgrades:
- Proximity Scanner: Perhaps the best upgrade Research Points can buy, this allows you to tag enemies through walls while using the Quadcopter in both normal and NetHack views. This essentially negates the need to remotely go from security camera to camera, scouting for foes and turning them red. In Co-op Operations, one player can tag foes while the other infiltrates, as foes are visible to both of you.
- Expert RC Engineering: This reduces the cooldown time for the Quadcopter, meaning once the enemy sees and destroys it, and you’re waiting for it to respawn, it doesn’t take as long. This is useful, especially if you have a teammate relying on you. But it’s not a mandatory ability; just take more care with the machine so it isn’t destroyed, or use the RC Jumper or Marcus while the cooldown is occurring.
- Remote Gadgets: Need to drop electroshock and explosive devices all over a restricted area? Want to call on mass hacks after positioning your Quadcopter near a cluster of objects that benefit your tactics the most during a mass hack? Then employ the Quadcopter rather than the Jumper or Marcus, as it can usually reach an area in the safest and fastest time.
- Speed Boost: Though helpful, boosting over a restricted area isn’t all that necessary, as you can simply gain height and fly over an area unimpeded. Also, you’re likely to boost out of signal range, so be aware of this drawback.
Trivia
- The drone itself can be upgraded to shoot or drop multiple explosives. The drone can be destroyed, and after a cooldown period, can be crafted again to create a new drone.
- When in the field of vision of NPCs they will react to it: anything from commenting about it to attempting to take it down.
- The deploying animation shows that it can fold up to be smaller.
- It is possible the drone is modeled after the Ryze Tello drone.
Challenges
There are some obstacle course challenges within the game made for the drone itself, that appear to be drone flying training courses. These appear to be shapes lit by neon lights of various colors that the drone has to fly through. They are supported by metal structures that hold them in the air.
Gallery
