A close look at Swarm

                                                                                                                    

Name: Swarm

Element: Air

Species: Wasp

Gender: Male

Type: Giant

Tagline: Bring the sting

Other variants: None

Compatible with: Skylanders Giants 

Upgrade paths: 

Barberous Avenger- Further develop Swarm's Barb Blade attacks

Wasp Stormer- Further develop Swarm's Swarm Form attacks

My chosen path: Wasp Stormer

Basic in game stats:   

• Health: 400 (max. 800)
• Speed: 20 (max. 68)
• Armor: 12 (max. 42)
• Critical Hit: 50 (max. 100)
• Elemental Power: 25 (max. 100)

Swarm was the 5th Skylander in my collection (yes, I got a late start... I will talk about this on a better related post). I was not rushing with excitement to get this guy on the portal for the first time but I was pleasantly surprised by this bee that can do more than sting, now even 68 Skylanders later he is by far one of my favorites and easily my favorite giant.

Below is my personal rating score of Swarm. Each Skylander I review will follow this same formula for scoring. The highest possible score for an individual Skylander is 200, keep in mind that I am rating each character based on the upgrade path I chose, which is stated above. 

• Look of physical character: 6
• Look of character in game: 7
• Initial impression before played: 3
• Impression before any upgrades: 5
• Fully upgraded impression: 10
• Uniqueness of abilities: 10
• Fun Factor: 10
• Maneuverability: 8
• Attack power: 6
• Area of effect: 6
• Efficiency of abilities: 10
• Stat speed: 2
• Flight or dash speed: 10
• Defensive abilities: 5
• Offensive abilities: 10
• Story Mode Use: 10
• PVP Use: 5
• Battle Arena Use:10
• Replay Value: 10 
• Easy to find: 10

Skylandnerd Score: 153  Low Medium High Very High  

Hours played: 27 (rounded to the nearest)

Level: 15 (Max for Skylanders Giants)

Quests completed: All (gold top hat acquired) 

Heroic challenges completed: 20

Where to find Swarm

This Skylander is often heavily stocked at Bestbuy stores and if for some reason your local store is out, simply order him online from Bestbuy, Amazon or ToysRus. 

Where to find Exclusives, Alt decos and specials:

Unfortunately Swarm has no other variants to collect.  

Swarm vs. regular enemies

Swarm is great in big mobs using his Swarm Form attack, he also is
surprisingly good at handling inhumane shields, using flight of the wasp makes it easy to circulate around these foes to hit them in the back making this enemy's annoying defenses pretty useless against Swarm. These irritating little creatures are fine in low pressure situations but they can cause some big problems when trying to defeat some of the more difficult battle arenas. 

Swarm Vs. Bosses

Swarm does well in all situations including Boss Battles, But I did not see him particularly shine over other eligible boss fighting Skylanders.  In a lot of cases I think that the best suited Skylander for difficult to complete tasks are the skylanders you personally are more confident with. 

Swarm's Specialties

Swarm is fantastic for doing speed runs when trying to finish a chapter under par time. He may not be the fastest race car on the track but  don't let that fool you. With his flight of the wasp "attack" he is the fastest giant in all of Skylands and using a giant in general speeds up the process of a level.

 A giant can easily get through many parts of a level with out having to go in a round about way providing giants with the quickest path possible through every chapter. Now add the fact that giants typically have more defense and attack power, making enemy swarms a breeze, spending less time fighting your foes also puts you on the fast track to victory. 

Closing in on our close look

Overall Swarm is a well rounded character that is helpful in most if not all situations when used right. His unusual attacks and well thought out upgrades make him highly enjoyable and gives us long time gamers something new with combat style. 

I plan to do a close look at all Skylanders from Spyro's Adventure, Giants and Swap force when it becomes available. If you like my reviews send me a request of what skylander you would like me to review next.