Postby Hell_Diguner » Mon Sep 11, 2017 5:48 am
After level 5 or so, Shuriken damage is basically the same as the previous level of Beams.
Beam Cannon 15: 83 DPS
____Shuriken 16: 81 DPS.
Shurikens have an extra 1.5 second delay between installation and the first projectile dealing damage to an enemy node, and since they launch a projectile every 1 second there is potentially an extra 1 second delay for the last projectile to do the last 1 point of damage needed to capture a node that Beams would have done almost instantly, but Beams have a 0.5 second delay between switching targets, so Shuriken's extra delays aren't much longer than Beam's delays.
So in the end, taking 4 nodes down at the same time with Shuriken is almost 4 times faster than taking them down one at a time with Beams. Even better - attack priorities mean nothing to Shuriken, so Shuriken directly counters beam / blaster traps that exploit attack priorities. It's surprising to me that so many people still don't realize Shurikens are way better than Beams almost a year after the game was released. I can't believe the "over-leveled Ice Wall + Beam Cannon" strategy is still popular after knowing for 10 months that Shurikens are better, and only marginally more expensive / time consuming to upgrade and compile.
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Also, the "Sweeper Combo" is Shocker only, while you suggest using both Shocker and Protector. The program slot your Protector is installed on could have been an extra Beam or Shuriken if you had only used Shockers. Depending on how many program slots the node has, that one extra node slot with an attacking program could result in as much as 50% more damage output.
Generally speaking, it's foolish to use both Shocker and Protector on the same node. Shocker is for "going fast", and Protector is for "digging in". Three Ice Walls take up the same library space and are faster and (usually) cheaper to compile than a Shocker, so you'd be better off using Ice Walls to install a Protector.
Even worse is using Shockers to "let a Protector regenerate". Even level 21 Shocker doesn't let a Protector regenerate to full health. If you look at the effective health gained per b-coin and per library space, it's a better idea to just install a second Protector. Either that, or exclusively use Shockers on that node if it's being targeted by enough damage to break a Protector.
Hell_Diguner - C12L39, Had C12L29 (world record), Shuriken main
DiaboliExMachina - C12L38, Worms+Maniac main
CaptainDavyJones - C12L39, Beams main, will eventually be Kraken main
