When Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi sought to end the Trade Federation’s blockade of Naboo, Nute Gunray and his henchmen sent battle droids to kill the Jedi. When the attempt failed, the Neimoidians dispatched destroyer droids to succeed where their predecessors had failed.

Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan held off the powerful droids’ barrage of blaster fire, but were unable to penetrate their shields. Faced with a stalemate, the two Jedi used a burst of Force-enabled speed to disengage.

When Queen Amidala’s raiding party invaded Theed’s royal palace, droidekas rolled into the fray to stop them. Acting quickly, Anakin Skywalker activated a Naboo starfighter’s cannons, blasting the droids into scrap.

During the Battle of Naboo, droidekas acted as heavy infantry for the Separatist forces confronting the Gungan Grand Army.

The arrival of droidekas forced Padmé Amidala, Captain Panaka and their party of Naboo soldiers to surrender to Gunray’s battle droids. But this apparent setback was actually part of Padmé’s plan to defeat the Trade Federation viceroy.

Years later, during the Separatist Crisis, droidekas backed up Jango Fett in his confrontation with Anakin and Padmé deep in Geonosis’s droid foundry. Outgunned, the young Padawan surrendered.

Along with Obi-Wan, Anakin and Padmé escaped execution in the Geonosian arena, but were surrounded by droidekas. Fortunately for them, Mace Windu and a rescue party of Jedi Knights then joined the fight.

As the Clone Wars raged, Jedi and clones learned that a stand-up fight with a droideka was a bad idea – but the machines could be outmaneuvered and outsmarted. On Christophsis, Anakin taught his new Padawan Ahsoka Tano one trick: run from a shielded droideka, then turn and attack it while it was rolling and unprotected.

On Rugosa, Yoda confronted droidekas sent by Asajj Ventress to eliminate him. The Jedi Master’s clone troopers fired a rocket that buried the destroyers under tons of rock.

Aboard the Separatist battleship Malevolence, Obi-Wan used the Force to shove the droidekas targeting him into wheel form, using them to bowl over other battle droids.

In Nuvo Vindi’s secret lab beneath the surface of Naboo, Ahsoka showed her mastery of one anti-destroyer technique. While clone troopers watched appreciatively, Ahsoka deactivated her saber, pressed the hilt against the droideka’s shield, and activated it, piercing the droid’s defenses.

Droidekas remained formidable foes, however – as the Republic forces trying to retake Geonosis from the Separatists discovered.

When droidekas attacked Anakin and Luminara Unduli, Captain Rex was prepared with heavy weaponry. Not even a droideka’s shield could withstand a blast from a missile launcher.

Droidekas served as reinforcements in the Separatist prison known as the Citadel, bedeviling the party of Jedi and clones sent to rescue Even Piell and Captain Tarkin.

On Onderon, Rex and the Jedi taught Steela Gerrera’s rebels how to defeat droidekas. One useful strategy: roll grenades slowly enough to avoid triggering their shields. But this tactic wasn’t easy to master – or to employ in the heat of battle.

During the fight for the Ringo Vinda space station, destroyers drove back Anakin’s clone troops, demoralized and uncertain after the murder of Jedi Master Tiplar by one of their own.

During the Battle of Coruscant, droidekas helped capture Anakin, Obi-Wan, R2-D2 and Supreme Chancellor Palpatine as they attempted to escape Grievous’s flagship, the Invisible Hand.