Reverser

The Reverser series, originally referred to as Repair Spray when they were introduced in Monster Attack, are a series of "weapons" that allow the player character to heal others, and in some cases themselves. They are always exclusive to the Ranger class or its equivalent, and are usually situated in the Special Weapons category.

Description
The series originated in Monster Attack as Repair Spray, a series of reloadable weapons with the primary purpose of repairing pre-placed vehicles found in certain missions. By the time of Global Defence Force Portable they had taken on the trait of not being reloadable and diversified into several distinct variants: the basic Reverser, the Reverse Shooter with an explosive area effect (which also knocks down the player character without any knockdown I-frames) and the Aerial Reverser which deploys a cloud of gas which remains in place for about a minute and heals over time.

Reversers did not appear in the base version of Earth Defense Force 2017 but were added back in for Storm 1 in Portable, placed in the "Assist Tool" category. The same categories used in Global Defence Force Portable were added, along with an additional "Reverse Drone" series which launches healing drones which function like homing missiles.

In later games, Reversers form into three specific series of healing devices, each with the qualities of another type of weapon: the basic Reverser functions like a Flamethrower, the High Cycle Reverser works like an Acid Gun, and the Reverse Shooter mostly like a Wing Diver's Plasma Launcher.

2025 / 4.1
Reversers can be used to replenish the hitpoints of other player characters, NPCs, vehicles and a Fencer's Shields. They will also heal enemies if they are caught in the effect, though since enemy health is balanced differently to player character health this is seldom a major concern.

As noted, the basic Reverser is functionally a flamethrower, unleashing a healing stream that will penetrate through multiple targets and heal them all. While it claims that it cannot heal the Ranger himself, this is actually not the case: if it is fired so it reflects off a surface and hits the Ranger (ie, directly at the ground or a wall) it will heal him. This is due to a mechanical issue of reflected damage, as it counts as being fired by the surface it reflected off rather than the Ranger himself.

The High-Cycle Reverser, having Acid Gun functionality, will only hit the first target it contacts and so cannot heal the Ranger himself. It functions like the constant-fire acid guns, including having its stream follow a parabolic arc. As compensation for this it has greatly increased range, able to hit a target a good 100 meters away if the player is skilled at handling it. However, the travel time of shots can make it tricky to use at long range, as it will often end up healing enemies rather than the actual target. All examples have high capacity and heal far more than other models of equivalent level. The large reserve of "ammunition" means it is quite easy to open fire and "walk" shots onto the desired target. It becomes particularly effective in 4.1, where as well as being heavily buffed in terms of ammo count, it is also very well-suited to healing NPC vehicles, and the health bars added to recruited NPCs assist in targeting them at range.

Reverse Shooters give a large one-off heal rather than a constant stream: they fire a healing capsule that explodes on impact, functioning like a rocket launcher. The Reverse Gun appears to have no blast effect at all, but all other Reverse Shooters function like a plasma weapon: most are functionally Wing Diver Plasma Launchers, while the Reverse Bomber is functionally identical to an A2 Plasma Bomber, including launching with a parabolic arc rather than the flat trajectory of other models. Aside from the Plasma Bomber all variants have effectively infinite range in the same manner as rocket launchers. Despite being healing devices, they have completely normal blast effects against enemies (not allies, even on difficulties where blasts affect allies) and the more powerful examples can be used to clear the area around the Ranger, as well as to force a Crimson Ant or Dragon to drop him if he is being grappled.

As noted, a Fencer's shield hitpoints can be healed by a Reverser, though it varies precisely how. For a Reverser or High-Cycle Reverser, the Fencer must hold up the Shield he wishes to have healed, while a Reverse Shooter will heal any Shield in the Fencer's currently equipped weapon pair, regardless of whether or not he is holding it up.

Variants
Numbers in (brackets) are 4.1 changes.

High-Cycle Series
Initially the stats for these variants were much lower: prior to the major balance patch 1.03 for 2025, High Cycle Reversers had 50% of the ammo capacity, one-third the recovery amount, and no variant had a zoom.