Warhead

## Stats

### Cost

200 metal and 2000 energy to upgrade from Swarm Missile (700 metal and 4500 energy total)

### Build time

95 seconds to upgrade from the Swarm Missile

## Characteristics

### Pros

Very high damage in a large splash. Can destroy energy shields.

### Cons

Occupies a foundation rock that could be used for Mines. High firing cost. Missile susceptible to anti-air. Reflected by portals. Missile can potentially hit the attacker when damaged shortly after launch. Requires a Sniper in order to fire. Sniper's targeting laser will warn the opponent of an incoming attack. Can be stopped with EMP rockets.

The Warhead (a.k.a. "nuke") is a large guided missile launched from an in-ground silo. It is acquired by upgrading the Swarm Missile silo, and as such requires an Upgrade Center to be built.

## Overview

The Warhead silo is an early-to-midgame weapon, and can be deployed relatively quickly by rushing for the Workshop and the Upgrade Center. It launches a single, guided missile, which delivers serious damage upon impact.

As the weapon is built by upgrading the Swarm Missile silo, it occupies a foundation rock space.

The Warhead has the highest splash radius in the game, paired with an extremely high splash damage. It deals 140 damage within a whopping seven grid-spaces. Due to its high splash and massive radius, this makes the Warhead exceptional at "chip damage" - slowly but surely dealing damage to the enemy's reactor. If the opponent is ill-prepared, it's even possible to eliminate them in one shot; note that the Reactor has 100 HP while the Warhead deals 140 damage.

Similarly to the Swarm Missile, the Warhead must be launched by the Sniper, by "painting" the target with a targeting laser. The Warhead will then home in to the location designated by the laser. The laser is visible to the opponent (unless playing Seep commander), and may expose the location of the Sniper, as well as warn the opponent of an incoming attack.

Note that the AP Sniper *cannot* paint the target for the Warhead (unless playing the Buster commander).

A Warhead silo costs 200 metal and 2000 energy to upgrade from the Swarm Missile (with the combined cost being 700 metal and 4500 energy). Upgrading from the Swarm Missile silo takes 95 seconds to complete. Each launch requires 50 metal and 4000 energy to fire, and takes 25 seconds to reload. Note that the launch is not immediate - it has a delay of 5 seconds, during which the silo will slowly open and emit smoke. The reload timer does not start until the missiles are actually released. Seep commander's passive ability reduces this delay by 59%.

A Warhead will destroy Energy Shields with one hit on a direct impact, but *not* Portals - it is teleported through, often back towards the attacker.

A Warhead can be blocked and disrupted by an EMP rocket. An EMP blast will confuse the guidance of the missile and cause it to get stuck continuously looping around the spot of explosion. This maneuver is somewhat difficult to pull off against just the Warhead, however it will often be caught in the blast if launched together with Swarm Missiles. Seep's passive ability makes the EMP explosion instead redirect the Warhead back to the sender.

Caution must be taken when using the Warhead in conjunction with the Smoke Bomb. Aiming the Sniper's targeting laser at the smoke cloud will disrupt the guidance of the missiles and cause them to diverge in random directions on the way to the target, instead of focusing on the intended point.

Another property of the Warhead is its ability to survive a single hit from any projectile without being destroyed. When this happens, the missile will enter a "drunk" state, with its flight path swaying dramatically from side to side, while emitting black smoke from the exhaust. While this makes the Warhead more likely to dodge further anti-air fire, it can be very dangerous to the user, as the missile can potentially hit the launching fort if it gets hit and enters the drunk state near, shortly after launch.

One of the passive abilities of Seep commander makes the Warhead burst into 15 Swarm Missiles upon being destroyed often decimating the opponent's anti-air defenses. Seep's active ability boosts the thrust of Warheads by 32%.

### Strategies

Typically, the Warhead will be deployed together with Swarm Missiles, the latter covering the Warhead from anti-air fire, ensuring that the payload will reach the opposing fort. While this takes even more precious foundation space that could've been used to place mines, it vastly increases the survivability of the Warhead; the Swarm Missiles will block up to 15 shots from Machine Gunners, Flak, or Shotguns, leaving the nuke unharmed.

When using the aforementioned combo, it's often best to have the Swarm Missile launcher in front of the Warhead silo. This ensures the Warhead is protected behind the Swarms instead of ahead of them, where it's much more likely to be shot down. It should also be noted that instead of grouping both the silos and firing them simultaneously, it's better to fire the Swarm Missiles first, and *then* fire the Warhead. This allows the Swarm Missiles to act more as a protective barrier for the Warhead, since they're so far ahead; they'll cover more angles and additionally Flak shells won't detonate close enough to the Warhead that they damage it.

Alternatively, if map control is established and the opponent does not have significant anti-air defenses, the second Swarm Missile silo can be upgraded for an additional Warhead. While trading the protective ability of the Swarm Missiles away, an explosion from double Warheads will deal enough damage to annihilate anything in their blast radius.

When going for Warheads, aggression is key. In order to pin down enemy anti-air, an Armory can help significantly through use of EMP Rockets, Shotguns, and Smoke Bombs. EMP Rockets can be used to bait Machine Guns and Flak to fire their volleys, which leaves prime doorsniping opportunities through use of either a Sniper or Shotgun. Smoke Bombs directly block Anti-Air, so they're very effective if the enemy has not yet placed a Repair Station.

It's also highly important to maintain map control using a Sniper. Anti-air emplacements which would otherwise take heavy weaponry to destroy (e.g. double-doored Flak) can be easily destroyed with a Sniper while firing; this can either be done via the use of a bait Incendiary Mortar or EMP Rocket, or while a Warhead or Swarm Missiles are in flight.

Firebeams are a highly effective support weapon for Warheads, since they burn out Machine Gun, Flak, and Shotgun projectiles before they can reach the missile. The Firebeam can also be used to ignite the Warhead itself; this increases the damage dealt by the missile beyond the breakpoint of destroying the Bracing in its radius. Note the Warhead *will* burn out after a short period, so good timing for the Firebeam shot is essential. Additionally an investment into the Factory and the Firebeam may be very expensive after commiting into warheads, therefore a valid option for utilizing this tactic is to coordinate it with a teammate in games larger than 1v1.