Units

* *For the list of all unit pages, see Unit List*

   Units are possibly one of the biggest elements of LoW: Mercenaries. They serve as part of the player's army and fight those who dare to cross paths with the player. There are 5 types of units: Tank, Infantry, Recon, Artillery, and Air, each with their own advantages and disadvantages. There are also 5 manufacturers of units: Bluesteel, Redpoint, Greenbrake, Goldfire, and Whitehawk, allowing units to deal extra damage against a certain unit type. For example, Bluesteel units deal more damage against tanks. Although the bonus might not be of much help for lower-ranking units, it can be a deciding factor in the battle's outcome when the player advances further into the game and gains higher tier units. Knowing how to properly counter enemy units is key to victory, as a large group of enemy units that are still alive and attacking can either overpower the player's units or stall long enough for the player to suffer a defeat from the battle timer running out. The major characteristics of a unit are its stats, abilities, faction, type, and rank. While choosing what units to use in their squad ultimately boils down to the player's playstyle, knowing the major characteristics of the various units can help in their decision in choosing what units they want to use or want to pursue.

## Stats

The stats of a unit are possibly the most valuable and most informative information the player can get from the unit. Stats describe the core numbers that make up the unit, ranging from how much damage it does to how fast it can fire. These numbers are the key factor in determining whether a unit is powerful or not. The following information that can be found about a unit is as follows:

* ATK - The overall offensive capabilities of the unit, largely if not entirely determined by several of the stats listed further down in this list. This number can be deceiving as a unit can have high damage but lack in everything else and still result in a high attack overall.
* DEF - The unit's capabilities in surviving damage. This number is not how much health a unit has but is directly related to it. Higher defense means the unit can take more damage than others. DEF can be increased by tech and is effectively increased with abilities. It is theorized that the amount of health of a unit can be calculated by multiplying defense by 5.2-5.4, with 5.4 being the more likely multiplier amount. This stat can be increased with plating tech.
* Cost - How much supply points the player needs to accumulate before they can deploy the unit. This number is influenced by the unit's type, other stats, defense towers, and research. The lower this number is, the more often the player can deploy the unit when they are still low in supply points.

* VS [unit type] - How much bonus damage the unit inflicts on enemy units of a certain unit type. The targeted unit type is determined by the unit's manufacturer. The amount of bonus damage is determined by the unit's rank. Note that if the player has any vs. ammo tech that increases this stat, it may not be shown with the correct amount in the stats list and requires the player to manually add up percentages to determine the true damage increase percentage.
* Recharge - The unit's "cooldown." After being deployed, the unit cannot be deployed for some time, even if the player has enough deploy credits. This number is determined by the unit's type and can be shortened through abilities. The lower this number is, the more often the player can deploy the unit if the player has amassed a tremendous amount of supply points.
* Range - How far the unit can shoot. Once an enemy unit enters this invisible radius around the unit, the unit will stop moving if it was doing so and proceed to attack the enemy unit. If this number is high enough, the unit may be able to attack enemy bases without fear of being attacked by defense towers such as cannon towers. Should multiple enemies be in range, the unit will target the closest one. If multiple enemies are around the same distance away, the unit will tend to target the unit type it receives bonus damage on. For example, if a tank, recon, and infantry unit all enter the range of a greenbrake unit, the greenbrake unit will tend to target the recon unit first. This stat can be increased using sight tech.
* Damage - How much damage the unit does in a single attack and can be increased with tech and abilities. If the unit fires a volley of multiple shots, this number represents the total amount of damage done in the burst. Unit abilities that do damage to enemy units, such as explosive rounds or explode revenge, depend on this number. This stat can be increased with ammo tech.
* Fire Rate - How fast the unit can fire. After firing, the unit will have to wait before they can shoot a second time. If the unit fires a volley of multiple shots, this number starts counting down the moment the first shot is fired, not after the unit is done firing all shots. This can often result in units looking as if they are able to constantly shoot when in reality the duration of the volley lasts just long enough for the unit to follow up the last shot with another volley. Fire rates can be increased using loader tech.
* Speed - How fast the unit is when moving. The larger this number is, the more distance the unit can cover in a given time frame. This number is determined by the unit's type and can be increased using thruster tech.

## Firing Patterns

Each unit has its own way of shooting their shots, otherwise known as its firing pattern. Many units prefer to shoot multiple shots instead of a single shot, in which the damage value listed in the unit's stats is split evenly across every single of its shots. For example, a unit that does 300 damage and fires 3 shots will do 100 damage per shot fired (300 damage / 3 shots = 100 damage per shot), while a unit that shoots 5 shots with the same damage value does only 60 damage per shot fired (300 damage / 5 shots = 60 damage per shot). As stated before, a unit that fires multiple shots will have their fire rate countdown start the moment the first shot is fired. Some units like the Arion fire their volley in quick bursts while others like the Mahun take their time shooting their volley. In either case, multi-shot units can hit more than one target in a single attack if the first target is unable to survive every shot in the attack. Single-shot units always shoot a single shot and can never hit more than a single enemy per shot without the help of abilities, no matter how overkill the damage would be.

A few units, however, possesses a pattern that is essentially a combination of both single and multi-shot. These units fire multiple shots and damage is split across every shot, but fires every shot simultaneously and is functionally identical to single-shot units. This is mainly to acknowledge the fact that there are multiple shots fired but still need to act like a single-shot unit. An example is the Ares, an artillery unit that visibly fires 4 separate shots but shoots the entire cluster at once. This is merely a cosmetic effect and units with hybrid patterns should be treated as single-shot units. However, in very rare cases, it is possible for some hybrid-shot units to hit split their shot to hit multiple targets at once. This appears to be more of a bug rather than a feature of this firing pattern since the times hybrid-shot units hit multiple targets in a single shot is inconsistent at best.

## Tech

* *For more information, see Tech*

Tech are items that the player can earn through various means. They feature minor to moderate boosts to certain stats when installed on a unit. A unit can equip up to three pieces of tech depending on its current rank. There are 5 levels of each tech, all of which grant bigger boosts at higher levels, though some tech have larger increases between levels than other tech. If the player has enough tech of the same level and type, they can upgrade it to a higher level. The player can mix and match any combination of tech they want to find their preferred playstyle with the unit.

## Abilities

* *For more information, see Unit Ability*

All units have special abilities that they can use during battle, all with a random chance of activating if the requirements are met. The abilities of a unit often give it an edge in battle and can change the tides of a tough battle. A unit can have up to three abilities depending on its current rank. Abilities start off as weak bonuses and must be upgraded using oil and thorium before they can become a battle's deciding factor. Abilities of the same kind have different intensities and probabilities of activating depending on what rank the unit is when the ability unlocks, as the higher the unit rank requirement is, the higher the upgrade level cap is for that ability.

## Type

* *For more information, see Unit Types*

A unit is categorized into one of the five possible unit types. Each one comes with its own pros and cons and has vastly different properties. The player can experiment with different combinations of unit types to suit their play style. Knowing the advantages and disadvantages of the different unit types can massively help the player in battle.

## Manufacturer

* *For more information, see Unit Manufacturer*

All units come designed specifically to counter a specific unit type, doing increased damage when attacking that unit type. What that unit type is can be learned by looking at what color the unit is. The player can also remind themselves by tapping the mini-map near the bottom-right corner of the screen during a battle. When a unit receives the attack bonus, the unit's faction will be shown next to the damage number when attacking, indicating that the unit is currently attacking the unit type it counters. It is recommended that the player includes multiple factions in their squads allowing them to deal extra damage against more types of enemy units.

* Redpoint counters infantry
* Greenbrake counters recon
* Bluesteel counters tanks
* Goldfire counters artillery
* Whitehawk counters air

## Rank

A unit's rank is represented by how many stars are shown above it on the screen before a battle is started. There are two different kinds of ranks a unit can have. One is the current rank and the other is the unit's natural rank. The natural rank of a unit is how many stars the unit starts off with when acquired by the player. This number can range from 1-6. Depending on what the unit's natural rank is, the unit may start off with tech slots and abilities already unlocked and does not need to be promoted for those benefits. There is a strip of color behind the stars of units that tells how many stars the unit starts off with. For example, a Disruptor is a natural 4-star unit with its purple banner. The colors of the starting ranks are as follows:

* Rank 1 (Light Gray)

* Rank 2 (Green)
* Rank 3 (Blue)
* Rank 4 (Purple)
* Rank 5 (Orange)
* Rank 6 (Black)

The unit's current rank is how many stars it has currently. The unit's current rank can range from 1-7 stars depending on the unit's starting rank and how many promotions the player gives it. If the unit's current rank is higher than its natural rank, the unit will appear different from pictures and previews in the machine shop and officer's club, respectively and will stop changing appearances after 3 promotions. The unit's current rank needs to be at certain amounts in order to unlock additional tech slots and abilities. Although the star count above the unit shows its current rank, the strip of color behind the stars remain the same, revealing the unit's natural rank. The higher the current rank of a unit is, the more supply points the player starts off in battle. This effect stacks with other units in the player's squad, allowing the player to start off with a bunch of points if their entire squad is promoted to higher ranks. Although minor, the higher the combined total of the current ranks of the units in the player's squad, the higher the default durability of the player's base becomes.

Stats of higher natural rank units are usually better than promoted lower natural rank units with the same star count. For example, a natural 3-star will have better stats than a natural 1-star unit that is promoted to 3 stars. However, this doesn't mean all lower rank units possess no strength against higher rank units. Some examples are the Dagger, a natural 3-star recon that has one of the most destructive firepower of all recons in the game and the Barghest, a natural 3-star tank that has both heal and shield ability that makes it one of the ideal tanks in the game. Currently, the maximum rank a unit can achieve is seven stars at level 70. Attempting to upgrade the unit past this point will result in a message telling the player that the maximum level has been reached.

## Cost of Upgrading Units

Leveling up units increases the cost of scrap and cash as the rank and level go up.

## Squad

The player's squad contains the units currently lined up for battle. A squad contains four units that can be seen and changed before a battle, meaning the player can change units around and pick units specifically for countering enemy units, such as changing bluesteel units to redpoint units because the enemy doesn't have tanks and have lots of infantry instead. Tapping on an enemy unit allows the player to view its stats along with tech and how developed its abilities are. If the player taps on their own unit, they can only see basic information. By doing so, the unit becomes highlighted and can be swapped out with another unit in the player's reserves from a list that appears on the right. If the player has a unit that is disabled due to weather conditions, a special symbol will overlay it.

## Trivia

* Many non-infantry units, usually with a natural rank of 4 stars and above, will emit sparks and arcs of electricity when heavily damaged.
* Infantry units have various visual elements on their models that are shared with other infantry units of the same natural rank. For example, every natural 5-star infantry unit has large, thick shoulder pads and what appears to be a bald head.
	+ Any appearance changes from promotions are also usually the same. In the example above with natural 5-star infantry, the infantry units all gain a hat and their shoulder pads become segmented when promoted to 6 stars and gain a glowing circle on their chest armor along with a strip on top of their hat when promoted to 7 stars.
* In the past, a unit's natural rank is not shown with the color strip as it is currently, but rather with its star count. Any stars the unit starts off with have extra points on them, making them slightly different in appearance to the stars the unit gains when promoted to higher ranks.
	+ After some time, the color strip method was implemented, though it had a slightly different appearance than it does now when first implemented.