Reaper
Frontline hovercraft
Armoured Substrate frontline hovercraft armed with a plasma launcher.
Role Frontline hovercraft
Producer Auxiliary Assembly
Exact stats Not published
Dossier
What the Reaper is for.
The Reaper is the Substrate’s announced frontline hovercraft: an armoured machine with a plasma launcher, produced at the Auxiliary Assembly. It is the unit expected to hold space while other Substrate assets do their more specialised jobs.
Stardock presented the Reaper alongside the Hatchling and Overmind as a representative slice of the faction. No health or damage values were published, so the dossier focuses on its confirmed role rather than inventing a stat line.
How to use it
- Put Reapers at the front of a Substrate formation so fragile support units can operate behind them.
- Use their durability to cover a controlled disengage; regenerating shields make a short retreat more valuable to the Substrate than to most factions.
- Pair with Hatchlings to create a layered screen: swarm bodies first, armoured bodies second, support assets last.
How to answer it
- Bring anti-armour and long-range fire; the Reaper is a frontline unit and should not be allowed to trade efficiently.
- Force it out of shield-regeneration rhythm with sustained pressure, then hit the support units behind it.
- Avoid fighting it exclusively with cheap single-target units that can be screened by Hatchlings.
What we still do not know
- Health, damage, weapon range and cost are not published in the official materials used here.
- The official reveal labels it “Frontline” but does not define its exact armour profile.
Sources
Last verified November 1, 2026. Source status: official reveal.