I would say the issue with giving swarmers a spawning ability is the ai with melee spawns making them charge ahead and pulling the armor buff away but the shotgun upgrade you've suggested may work well with them.
I also think if they get a health buff and a rework of their current health upgrade they should only have 125 health and always wear the hat along with their drone because I'm pretty sure thats how much health the ai weeds and browncoat counterparts have. This would also give some visual distinction and some warning to players that the swarmer is possibly a hero , not a consumable and that the drone is an instakill one. 135 also seems like alot for a character getting both armor and a better respawn point when played correctly. At max armor boost thats 270 effective health, almost as much as a space station with alot smaller hitbox
@Studman61 I completely agree with what you said about the health, I honestly don't know why I though 135 health was a good idea for them. I guess I forgot that Armor is a main part of their playstyle, whoops. 125 health is much more suitable for them assuming that upgrade would be reworked, and I like your idea better of the Bucket/Terracotta just permanently on the player for the reasons you said. To respond to your first sentence, I actually made another reply to someone else where I mentioned that Consumables spawned from the new 2nd ability would follow the Swarmer who spawned them among other balancing ideas from that. Thanks for your feedback and criticism!
