Lancer

Lancer

Overview

Type: Machine

Hit Points ✯✯✰✰✰

Attack Power ✯✯✯✯✰

Mobility ✯✯✯✰✰

Utility ✯✯✰✰✰

Learning Curve ✯✯✰✰✰

Lancer is a homing-rocket launching missile-silo tank. Lancer shares with Kalsidon the role of using the game's homing-attack mechanics, which is featured in its S2 and SS. Lancer has access to difficult-to-land, but rather powerful standard attack in its S1, but its trademark strength is its ability to abuse its homing missile for very rapid special meter accumulation. Lancer will frequently be the first mobile on the field to be able to use its SS, and often by several turns. As its drawbacks, Lancer can struggle to do significant damage in a pinch and has extremely limited utility in clouds and items compared to most other mobiles. Furthermore, Lancer has close to no land destruction capabilities whatsoever in its standard attacks. Overall, Lancer is very straightforward and easy to use, but a player who does not understand the subtle mechanics of Lancer's shots will struggle to access this mobile's full potential.

Shot 1

Note: As of 02/22/19, the English language version of the game mistakenly displays this attack's description in Spanish. The translation is as follows: "There are three consecutive explosions. The final explosion is the largest". Addendum: this bug has since been corrected.

Lancer's S1 fires a single missile in an arc which will explode three times in quick succession as it contacts a mobile, totem, or land. If the final explosion damages the target, it will deal high damage of around 250-270. S1 will cause negligible land destruction.

Shot 2

Lancer launches a missile in an arc which will, just after passing the peak of its trajectory, automatically lock unto and home into the nearest mobile or totem within a span of about 15 degrees in the direction of travel. S2 will behave like a normal shot if no object is found and locked onto. In either case, the missile will explode upon contacting a mobile, totem, or land for diminutive damage of around 150-170. Like S1, S2 causes negligible land destruction.

Special Shot

With its SS, Lancer launches a missile pod in an arc which will, at the peak of its trajectory, break apart several times as it descends, resulting in many smaller homing missiles spread wide which will each home into the nearest mobile or totem. The damage dealt by this attack varies widely with how many missiles connect with the target, but it can easily do upwards of 500-600 damage which can be split between multiple targets who are relatively near one another. SS will cause massive land destruction if the missiles are guided into the ground rather than a tank or totem.

Tips and Techniques

1. To minimize misses with S1, it is advisable to generally use it in close to mid range and/or at lower angles. Furthermore, when firing at a low angle, aiming slightly to the side of the target nearest to Lancer, rather that the target's center, will increase the likeliness of getting a properly landed strike.

2. Lancer's generally optimal strategy involves super-sky-shooting S2, preferably from behind cover, and for a couple of reasons. Firstly, the homing mechanic ensures that these high angle shots will land easily which will rapidly build up its SS meter. Secondly, the long descent from the super-sky-shot maximizes the homing range of the missile as it comes down from its peak.

3. Lancer must be careful to remember that as S2, as well as SS, descends, it will lock onto a totem or mobile that is even slightly nearer to it than the desired target if that totem or mobile is also within the missile's homing range.

4. Once a player has a keen grasp on S2's precise homing range, S2 can be fired at angles that allow the missile to curve around obstacles and strike a target behind cover by placing the target just inside the inner edge of the homing range. Likewise, totems and allied mobiles near a target can be avoided using this technique much of the time.

5. In order to maximize the damage from SS, it should be aimed at slightly less than sky-shot height (relative to the target). At around this point is a sweet-spot where the missiles converge before they would otherwise scatter out away from each other. Conversely, to use SS for potential perfect games, it should be aimed as high in the air as possible to maximize the scattering distance. Finally, to use SS for bunging purposes, it is best to aim at a similar height to the damaging sweet-spot, if a touch lower, and slightly behind the target. This way, the missiles will crash into the ground before the homing mechanism kicks in and they will arc into the ground under the target's feet and gouge a massive pit out from under them.

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