Ah, things start off so peacefully in No Man’s Sky. Gentle feeding creatures here, mining rocks there. Then, all of a sudden you have a drone buzzing around watching you and worse, attacking you if you do something it doesn’t like. WTF?

So you loose off a few warning shots to waft it away like a wasp, and all of a sudden there is a whole swarm of them and you are reappearing on a space station having lost your inventory. No good. So let’s have a look at how to deal with these pesky things once and for all.

How to kill Sentinels in No Man’s Sky¶

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Sentinels still can’t handle it when you run into a building.

First things first, some of these guys are difficult to kill. If you progress through the game’s starter missions and end up hiring an armorer for your base, be warned you are on a collision course with the worst of them. This actually felt like a bit of a jolt and like I was being forced down a fighting path I didn’t want to take, but what it will do is provide you with weapons and upgrades that will make the job a lot easier so it is worth doing.

Now while there are tips and tricks to make them go away most of the time (dig a quick tunnel with your Terrain Manipulator and head underground until the heat dies off, sometimes, like on certain missions or to gather a certain resource you need, you are going to have to blow them to smithereens.

Sentinels come in different shapes and sizes (and aggression levels) - the basic drones can be sent packing with a few shots from your Boltcaster or Scatter Blaster, but their tougher brethren all have weak spots you should concentrate on first.

Let’s take a look at the variety of Sentinel you will come across.

Drones¶

While you can’t one-shot them, with a decent blaster you can come pretty close. These are more of a distraction while the next types cause you the real damage.

Quads¶

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Nice doggy. This Sentinal Quad looks at you suspiciously.

When you get a chance to stop and look at these, they are reminiscent of that robot dog thing Boston Dynamics have made here on earth. Just in case you wanted a look into the future to see where that is going to end up.

However cute you think the Boston Dynamics robodog it, like Quads, can’t spin around, so try and get behind them and take them out by running around behind them in circles.

Be aware as well that you don’t want to leave them with depleted health and move on to a target as the drones will quickly repair them to full health. Annoying. Finish them off.

Walkers¶

These can be a right old pain as they are the toughest to destroy. There are quests too where you will need to loot a Walker’s Head, so you can’t avoid them forever. Fortunately, they do have a weak spot on the legs and being Walkers, that’s a big design flaw. Hit them there and they finish off the head.

What do Sentinels drop?¶

Sentinel loot is mighty fine loot. You will see they drop a canister labeled Combat Supplies that can contain a variety of goodies like Walk Brains, Quad Servos, and the like. Also breaking them open will partially restore your shield so do it mid-battle if you need to for a welcome boost.

How to escape Sentinels¶

This has got tougher with recent updates. Digging a tunnel or running into a building might cause the Sentinels to go into Search mode but you might also be inclined to jump into your Star Ship and head for the sky. Be wary though because the Sentinals will call in their star ship reinforcements, and then you have another issue on your hands.

There used to be a trick where as long as you stayed within the atmosphere that didn’t happen but they were on to that and now they will come after you regardless. The best way to avoid them if you don’t feel up to a space fight is to summon The Anomaly and make a beeline to land quickly and lose them that way.