IG-86 sentinel droid

For other uses, see Sentinel.

"Assassin droids are incredibly dangerous. They're walking armories, complete with integrated concussion grenade launchers and flamethrowers."

―CR-8R^[11]

The IG-86 sentinel droid,^[12] also known as the IG-86 assassin droid or IG-86 sentry droid,^[13] was a model of assassin droid manufactured by Holowan Mechanicals.^[1]

Characteristics

"These must be the 'unique items' we were warned about. These assassin droids can be very unpredictable."
"They're switched off. They don't look so tough to me."
"Nothing looks tough to you. Take my word for it—they're deadly."

―Anakin Skywalker and Ahsoka Tano on the Vulture's Claw^[8]

A pair of rusted, inactive Assassin Droids

The IG-86 was created to be a better form of battle droid. Holowan knew the existing models were limited by their inability to think creatively. However, Holowan failed to consider that a creative droid was unpredictable. When the IG-86 got on the market, everyone knew it was a killer, but no one knew what it was thinking.^[14]

The IG-86 units were very intelligent and agile assassin droids, capable of jumping from shelves and moving in between them. They were also relentless, as one continued to attack even with the loss of its arm. Their reinforced body could withstand sustained blaster fire without suffering significant damage, but was unprotected against a lightsaber^[8] and vulnerable to a head shot or a close-range chest shot from an ELG-3A blaster pistol. They could work individually or in groups. It sometimes spoke using binary. It was equipped with a E-5 blaster rifle or a long-barreled blaster rifle, and possessed several built-in utilities on its head, such as a flashlight, which helped the droid see in dark areas, and a laser reflex sight, which it used to target certain enemies. Their bodies were painted with various colors like white or dark gray. The ones owned by Ziro had the symbol of the Black Sun.^[10]

History

IG-86s were part of the InterGalactic Banking Clan's Collections and Security Division^[9] but were also popular with gangsters such as Ziro the Hutt.^[10] Many IG-86 units owned by Ziro were adorned with a Black Sun marking, like their master. One of these was KRONOS-327.^[15] They saw frequent use during the Clone Wars, during which they were used by both third parties^[8] and the Confederacy of Independent Systems.^[9]

When KRONOS-327 finally failed Ziro, two IG-86 units dragged him to be turned into spare parts. An IG-86 unit, HELIOS-3D, also escorted Senator Padmé Amidala when she attempted to help create a treaty. Another IG-86 unit restrained Amidala when she learned of the plot and shot down HELIOS-3D. The IG-89 unit dragged Amidala to the dungeon. Later, the same unit accidentally contacted C-3PO and destroyed her comlink. When 3PO arrived, Amidala grabbed the droid’s blaster and destroyed the IG-86 unit by shooting it in the head.^[10]

The Trandoshan junker Gha Nachkt had several IG-86 units on board his ship, the Vulture's Claw. After Nachkt recovered the astromech droid R2-D2 from a battle, causing Anakin Skywalker and Ahsoka Tano to come aboard in search of him, they encountered and fought a pair of IG-86 sentinel droids.^[8]

Cad Bane led a group that included three of these droids during his capture of the Senate Building. Anakin Skywalker, who was not carrying his lightsaber at the time, destroyed one of the droids by clubbing it with its own blaster rifle.^[7] HELIOS-3D and HELIOS-3E had previously assisted Bane on a mission to steal vital information to break into the Senate building.^[16]