Raytheoid

The Onslaught variant of a Raytheoid.

Raytheoids are Cyber Lieutenants encountered on Zelem's Nexus. Their main ability is to fire piercing laser bolts that hit Heroes and their pets in a straight line. Their other ability is to apply a buff to nearby Darkspore which doubles their energy damage output. When fighting Raytheoids, it may be best to take out nearby enemies that they buffed quickly before starting on the Raytheoid itself.

Lore

Mutated by the Darkspore from excavation drones to combots, the Raytheoids are a highly destructive strike force capable of slaughtering victims with laser attacks. They also increases their allies' energy damage. Far more intelligent than the drones they originally were, Raytheoids are formidable enemies.

Strategy

• Apocalypse Variant: Raytheoid Delta

1/1

As ranged enemies, they naturally pose a larger threat than most melee enemies. If they spawn with a group that deals mainly energy damage, then that threat has been increased even further.

Before firing their piercing laser, Raytheoids run through a brief animation where they appear to be manually firing their weapons. This action, along with the sounds that accompanied it, could give a brief but still valuable time to move out of the way of their projectiles. As they can increase their damage, this is something you always want to look out for when fighting them, especially when running Cyber Genetic Heroes on your team. If you cannot practically reach the Raytheoid in time, however, then you could focus on nearer enemies that it buffed.

A Raytheoid attacking Krel.

Prioritize Raytheoids based on their allies. If there are several minions that deal energy damage, or even just one energy based Lieutenant, then it would be prudent to take out the Raytheoid before they can increase their ally's damage. If they are surrounded by mostly physical damagers, though, one could afford to wait, assuming they move when the firing animation begins, and they are not currently fighting a horde.

Fast Heroes who can easily evade the laser beam and reach the Raytheoid before it can use its buff were useful here.

Trivia

• 

  Official Concept Art of Raytheoids.

  The energy damage buff that Raytheoids apply to other Darkspore can be stolen and used by Meditron.
• Raytheoids were first revealed in the Spotlight Video that revealed the planet Scaldron.
• Darkspore.com stated that they originated from Zelem's Nexus.
• For a long time, Raytheoids would spawn on most levels in the game after Onslaught, regardless of the planet, and some players even claimed that they would spawn when they were not listed on the level preview. This was fixed in a recent patch, though some claim that they will appear from time to time for no reason.
• They have Magnos's gauntlets as leg limbs.
• Their lasers are in fact Krel's Loot Weapon, the Forge Cannon.
• They possess Goliath's hands and feet.
• Raytheoids have Char's Weapons mounted on their upper torsos.
• The Raytheoid's single eye in the concept art is reminiscent of HAL 9000, from 2001: A Space Oddysey. Considering the vast influence it has had on science fiction, this similarity is likely not a coincidence.
• Since Raytheoids evidently do not appear to originate from any of the known planets, including the planetary location of the DB's Palace, nor had they been confirmed to (supposedly) originate from the TNX Nebula, their "homeplanet" remains unknown.