Megadramon Posted August 24, 2011 Characteristics of the Elemental Towers > > > > > i. Preface: Not many people know the technical differences between each elemental tower, and many don't use them properly. Ignoring resell, unlike ray and grenade towers, elemental towers are not 100% resell value on all pick, making elemental towers harder to utilize, and any wrong towers will cost you. On all random however, reselling is not a problem. Knowing the key characteristics and mechanics of each elemental tower can and will help you improve your game, allowing you to clear out waves more effectively and efficiently; at the same time, saving you minerals. Though this game revolves around combining elements to make dual or triple towers, knowing elemental tower mechanics is still very useful, and can help you in tight situations. Please look forward to the rest of the guide! Contents: i. Preface 1. Introduction 2. Types of Towers 3. Splash (AOE) vs Single Targeting Splash (AOE) Single Targeting Results 4. Elements Light Element Dark Element Water Element Fire Element Nature Element Earth Element 5. Final Words 1. Introduction: Hello everyone, and welcome to yet another guide about towers! Unlike my last guide, this guide will focus more so on the characteristics of the Elemental Towers in their pure form. If you haven't already seen my first guide about Ray and Grenade towers, please check it out!! My goal of this guide is to hopefully educate you all, and increase your understandings about the mechanics and characteristics of towers. Throughout this guide I'll be sharing with you the hidden potential of each pure elemental tower so you can better utilize them when playing. I've noticed a lot of people using the pure elemental towers improperly, so hopefully by the end of this guide, you'll all learn a thing or two about how to use them effectively and efficiently. 2. Types of Elemental Towers: In Elemental Tower Defense, there are 6 types of elemental towers: Light, Dark, Water, Fire, Nature, and Earth. Each element has it's obvious strengths and weaknesses, but they also have their technical strengths and weaknesses which many people do not realize. Here is a list of the obvious strengths and weakness of each element: Light: Strength: Dark Weakness: Earth Dark: Strength: Water Weakness: Light Water: Strength: Fire Weakness: Dark Fire: Strength: Nature Weakness: Water Nature: Strength: Earth Weakness: Fire Earth: Strength: Light Weakness: Nature Just like in Pokemon, elements deal 2x normal damage against elements they're good against or deal 0.5x damage against elements they're weak against. It's very important to know the obvious strengths and weaknesses of towers. Though there are 6 different elements, if you want to find out their technical strengths and weaknesses, it's best to divide them into two groups. Splash towers and Single Target towers. Fire, Water, and Earth are the splash towers, and Light, Darkness and Nature are the single target towers. If you've read my guide on Ray and Grenade towers, you'll know that there is indeed a technical difference between the two, and that they are important, along with the range. One of the key technical difference between the two is the way they output damage. In order to continue on with this, we'll move along to the next topic. 3. Splash (AOE) vs Single Targeting: Splash and Single Targeting are important mechanics that you must learn in order to become successful. It's important to know them to understand the true damage output you inflict on an entire creep wave. Splash (AOE): Splashing towers are able to output damage through splash, and single towers can't. The trade-off for splash is that it usually always gets a weaker attack compared to a single target tower. When a Splash tower hits a target, it deals damage to the target it hits, and depending on the range of it's splash, it will damage those around the initial target as well. So even though a splash tower would deal 10 damage to a unit for example, depending on the splash radius, or how many creeps are juxtaposed on top of each other, in reality, you are dealing more than 10 damage to the entire creep wave; not just the creep itself. Rather than thinking about damaging a creep, it's important to think in terms of damaging the creep wave. In Element TD, it's not about how much damage you can inflict to a single unit, it's actually about how much damage you can inflict on an entire creep wave. When you are defending in a TD, ask yourself how much damage you're inflicting to this creep wave rather than how much damage does this tower do to a single target. Thinking about the damage output towards a creep wave rather than on a single unit will change the way you think about the game in a positive way. Single Targeting: Now that you know a little more about AOE, and proper thought process, you may be wondering why you should make single target towers now. Well Element TD is well aware of the enormous advantage splash towers have over single target which is why there are different types of creep waves. The best wave single target towers are good against are bosses. Since a boss is just a single unit, when a splash tower hits a boss, it only deals damage to that one unit. There are no other units in which splash can hit, eliminating any potential damage a splash tower can do. Single target towers have a significantly higher attack than splash towers, so they will be much more effective. The advantage single target towers have over splash are their stats. Statistically they are very powerful towers. Take Pure Light for example. Though they are powerful, it lacks one major characteristic to complete the package, and that's splash. No matter what, the maximum potential a single target tower can inflict towards a creep wave is the amount of damage it inflicts towards a single unit, whereas splash towers damage output is reliant of how many creeps are inside it's AOE radius which can lead to a much higher damage output a single target tower can hope to inflict. Results: So I've talked about how it's important to think in the sense of trying to inflict damage towards an entire creep wave rather than a single unit. Inflicting the most damage towards the entire creep wave is key to any defense. Reading about splash and single target towers, you should know that splash towers are potentially much more effective in outputting the most damage towards a creep wave. Single target towers' potential towards a creep wave is the maximum damage it inflicts towards a single unit; nothing more. The problem with this is, although single target towers have high attack output, occasionally they will lose damage output by attacking creeps with lower health than it's damage, significantly reducing the damage output the single target tower is doing towards the entire creep wave. Take Pure Dark for example, this tower deals 18750 damage to a single unit. That means 18750 is the maximum amount of damage it can inflict to a creep wave. If a creep has say 20000HP, and it gets hit by it, not only did you inflict 18750 damage to the creep, you inflict 18750 to the creep wave. What happens if you attack a creep with 1000HP? Then you obviously kill it which is a good thing, right? No, that's over kill. Since the creep only had 1000HP and Pure Darkness does 18750 damage, you only did 1000 damage to the entire creep wave in that one shot when the potential of the tower is 18750 damage. Because of this overkill, single target towers lose damage output towards creep wave which is a bad thing. Splash towers don't suffer too much from overkill. Even if a splash tower over kills a unit, it still inflicts damage to units around it, so wasted shots aren't as grave. Now that you know a little more about the significance of splash and single targeting, we'll move on to the characteristics of each element. 4. Elements The Light Element: Light Tower: Type: Light Cost: 50 Damage: 4 Speed: 0.66 Range: 22 AOE: - Amplified Light Tower: Type: Light Cost: 175 Damage: 20 Speed: 0.66 Range: 22 AOE: - Focused Light Tower: Type: Light Cost: 625 Damage: 100 Speed: 0.66 Range: 22 AOE: - Refined Light Tower: Type: Light Cost: 2125 Damage: 500 Speed: 0.66 Range: 22 AOE: - Pure Light Tower: Type: Light Cost: 11225 Damage: 7500 Speed: 0.66 Range: 22 AOE: - To many, it seems like the Light Element is the strongest element. Why shouldn't it be? It has good attack speed, high damage, and very long range. It's the perfect tower! Though that may all be true, it's missing splash damage, which as you should know by now, is very important. Key Characteristics: Pros -Good damage -Extremely long range -Good attack speed -Good against Darkness -Single Target Cons -Vulnerable to misfire -Vulnerable to overkill -Single Target -Weak against Earth Explanation: All the pros are pretty much self explanatory, the only interesting characteristic you may not know about this tower is that it has a slow projectile. I say this tower has a slow projectile because the time it takes for the projectile to connect with the creep takes a while, especially at a longer range. By the time the projectile connects with the creep, there's a chance the creep may already be dead, resulting in a misfire which can be common if you have your light towers far away from the action. When a misfire occurs, you lose damage output towards the wave. You inflict 0 damage in that one shot which is huge damage loss; at least with a misfire, you deal some damage. Another disadvantage with a slow projectile is that mechanical creeps may get lucky enough to go invulnerable before the projectile connects, another example of a misfire. Light towers are also vulnerable to overkills. The Dark Element: Dark Tower: Type: Dark Cost: 50 Damage: 10 Speed: 1.5 Range: 16 AOE: - Amplified Dark Tower: Type: Dark Cost: 175 Damage: 50 Speed: 1.5 Range: 16 AOE: - Focused Dark Tower: Type: Dark Cost: 625 Damage: 250 Speed: 1.5 Range: 16 AOE: - Refine Dark Tower: Type: Dark Cost: 2125 Damage: 1250 Speed: 1.5 Range: 16 AOE: - Pure Dark Tower: Type: Dark Cost: 11225 Damage: 18750 Speed: 1.5 Range: 16 AOE: - Though it's a very cool element, some think of it as the inferior light due to it's wannabe range, and horrid attack speed. Hopefully I can shed some light onto this element as it's pretty dark in here. Key Characteristics: Pros: -High damage -Good range -Good against Water -Single Target Cons: -Vulnerable to overkill -Vulnerable to misfire -Slow attack -No splash -Weak against Light Explanation: Though it's very powerful, it's very sluggish, slow and suffers from some of the same problems light has but with lower range. The lower range isn't necessarily a bad thing. I'd say it now has a much lesser chance to misfire, and is more effective against units around it's range. Though because of it's high attack, it can suffer more from over-kill, with a long recovery time in-between shots. The Water Element: Water Tower: Type: Water Cost: 50 Damage: 1 Speed: 0.31 Range: 12 AOE: 1.5/3 Amplified Water Tower: Type: Water Cost: 175 Damage: 5 Speed: 0.31 Range: 12 AOE: 1.5/3 Focused Water Tower: Type: Water Cost: 625 Damage: 25 Speed: 0.31 Range: 12 AOE: - Refined Water Tower: Type: Water Cost: 2125 Damage: 125 Speed: 0.31 Range: 12 AOE: 1.5/3 Pure Water Tower: Type: Water Cost: 11225 Damage: 1875 Speed: 0.31 Range: 12 AOE: 1.5/3 It may seem like the inferior version of the Fire element, but truth be told, they have different purposes! The only difference between the two are the AOE and range! Key Characteristics: Pros: -High attack speed -High DPS -Decent range -AOE -Good against Fire Cons: -Low damage -Small AOE -Bad against Darkness Explanation: Though the damage is pretty weak, it makes up for it's extremely fast attack and AOE resulting in a pretty high DPS towards the wave. I listed it's AOE as it's pro and con because even though it has AOE, there are different levels of AOE, and the Water's AOE is the lowest kind. That being said, AOE still means it has potential, its just that it means it's potential is a bit harder to achieve due to the low AOE radius, but still possible with enough slow. Another good thing about the Water tower is that is has pretty decent range, allowing it to fight creeps weak against single target characteristics, such as speed, mechanical, and bosses, something Fire isn't able to do well. If you have enough slow throughout your defense, I can see it outshining Fire. The Fire Element: Fire Tower: Type: Fire Cost: 50 Damage: 1 Speed: 0.31 Range: 8 AOE: 2.25/4.5 Amplified Fire Tower: Type: Fire Cost: 175 Damage: 5 Speed: 0.31 Range: 8 AOE: 2.25/4.5 Focused Fire Tower: Type: Fire Cost: 625 Damage: 25 Speed: 0.31 Range: 8 AOE: 2.25/4.5 Refined Fire Tower: Type: Fire Cost: 2125 Damage: 125 Speed: 0.31 Range: 8 AOE: 2.25/4.5 Pure Fire Tower: Type: Fire Cost: 11225 Damage: 1875 Speed: 0.31 Range: 8 AOE: 2.25/4.5 This tower is easily one of the favorite towers in terms of strength and results. The truth behind the matter is, this tower is really good against creep waves en mass, and that's what the majority of the game is all about, killing creeps en mass. The only problem is that the game tries to find ways to screw people over who rely too heavily on splash towers, and thus throws in bosses, and creeps that try to nullify splash damage. Key Characteristics: Pros: -High attack speed -High DPS -Good AOE -Good against Nature Cons: -Low damage -Bad against Water -Severe weakness to anti-splash stages Explanation: There's not much to this tower. All you need to know is that it's good against most creep waves, and bad against bosses, speed, and mechanical. Fire is a very simple yet effective tower. If you're wondering why they're bad against those particular creep waves however, its simply because of Fire's poor range. Fire is basically a better version of the Grenade tower. Just like the Grenade tower, they're only good against units en mass. Bosses, speed, and mechanical can all find ways to escape the poor range of the tower. The Nature Element: Nature Tower: Type: Nature Cost: 50 Damage: 5 Speed: 0.66 Range: 12 AOE: - Amplified Nature Tower: Type: Nature Cost: 175 Damage: 25 Speed: 0.66 Range: 12 AOE: - Focused Nature Tower: Type: Nature Cost: 625 Damage: 125 Speed: 0.66 Range: 12 AOE: - Refined Nature Tower: Type: Nature Cost: 2125 Damage: 625 Speed: 0.66 Range: 12 AOE: - Pure Nature Tower: Type: Nature Cost: 11225 Damage: 9375 Speed: 0.66 Range: 12 AOE: - I feel as that the Nature Element is one of the underdog Elements out there along with Earth. I don't hear many people brag about how good it is like the other elements. Once you get to know this Element better, it'll start to grow on you. The great thing about Nature is that it serves as a mediator between Dark and Light, both being single target and all. If you were to compare Nature to something, it'd probably be to a Ray Tower. They're both pretty identical in terms of characteristics. Key Characteristics: Pros: -Good damage -Decent range -Decent attack speed -Single target -Good against Earth Cons: -Vulnerable to overkill -Vulnerable to misfire -No splash -Good against Earth Explanation: Like I said before, this tower is essentially the same as the Ray Tower, except with more potential due to it's higher level forms. If you simply want a single target tower without the hassle, choose Nature. Even though Nature seems like an average tower, the truth is that all single target suffers from overkill and misfire, unless you're like the Celerity Tower with no projectile, so this problem is only natural and something you'll have to live with when you choose single target towers. The Earth Element: Earth Tower: Type: Earth Cost: 50 Damage: 2 Speed: 1 Range: 10 AOE: 2.25/4.5 Amplified Earth Tower: Type: Earth Cost: 175 Damage: 10 Speed: 1 Range: 10 AOE: 2.25/4.5 Focused Earth Tower: Type: Earth Cost: 625 Damage: 50 Speed: 1 Range: 10 AOE: 2.25/4.5 Refined Earth Tower: Type: Earth Cost: 2126 Damage: 250 Speed: 1 Range: 10 AOE: 2.25/4.5 Pure Earth Tower: Type: Earth Cost: 11225 Damage: 3750 Speed: 1 Range: 10 AOE: 2.25/4.5 Like the Nature tower, this tower doesn't get as much love or talk as much as it's AOE counter-parts. Like the Nature Element, Earth fits in the middle. Though it has the same AOE as Fire, it's slightly more sluggish, but packs more of a punch. It's range is also slightly less than the Water Element. Key Characteristics: Pros: -Decent attack -Decent range -Good AOE -Good against Light Cons: -Mediocre attack speed -Bad agsint Nature Explanation: Overall, this tower is decent. It really is in the middle of Fire and Water. It has the same AOE as Fire, but the DPS is significantly lower. The only thing this Element has over the Fire is it's range and attack, meaning it has more chances to hit the target with it's higher attack and range than a Fire Element, keep in mind, though, Fire has a much higher attack speed. Though the damage between Water and Fire are the same, Fire has a larger AOE, allowing it to do more splash damage, and therefore more damage to the creep wave Final Words: Once again I owe my thanks to Karawasa for creating this map, and for the players, as well as the community, contributors, testers and anyone else out there who has made an impact on Element TD for Starcraft II. I really hope Element TD can become big as I see a lot of potential in this game, and I hope that everyone keeps up their efforts in supporting this mod anyway they can. Without your efforts, I wouldn't have been able to make this guide. Please post your criticisms, comments, questions or new ideas about future guides. If you find any mistakes, or disagree with anything, please let me know! Go to top Share this post Link to post
