Toxopid

## Purpose

### Description

Fires large electric cluster-shells and piercing lasers at enemy targets. Can step over most terrain.

## Research

### Research Cost

99000  Silicon
56000  Plastanium
46000  Surge Alloy
31000  Phase Fabric

The **Toxopid** is a Tier 5 Ground Unit on Serpulo, obtained by upgrading an Arkyid through the Tetrative Reconstructor. Instead of a *sapping* laser, the Toxopid shoots out two Fuse-like purple projectiles out of its forward weapons, while the electric ball launchers previously on the Arkyid are combined into a single massive cannon, firing electric cluster shells that further fragment into explosives.

Like all legged units, the Toxopid is able to walk over natural walls less than 3 tiles wide and can only drown if all legs are touching deep water tiles.

## Weapons

75 area damage ~ 10.0 tiles
5x lightning: 50 damage each
 Sapped ~ 10 seconds
9x frag:
* 40 area damage ~ 8.7 seconds
* Sapped ~ 10 seconds
* 0.8 knockback
 Leg damage: 80 ~ 7.4 tiles

## Strategies

### **Against**

Toxopid's climbing ability necessitates extreme firepower to destroy it, as it is only deterred by knockback. High-damage options good against it include Cyclones and Swarmers, taking advantage of the synergy between Surge Alloy and Water in Tsunamis to kill it within seconds. Foreshadows can also safely snipe them from far away, but you must have a good distance between the enemy spawn and the turret to get the most out of it.

Once the Toxopid gets in range of your turrets, its damage can bypass your walls and leave a dent in your defenses if you are not careful. The artillery attack is very dangerous as the fragments will travel over blocks to explode, much like the projectiles from a Hail. These clusters can be neutralised by the Segment, but some conveyors may be caught and destroyed, in which case having a flock of Poly nearby will help rebuild and maintain ammo supplies.

Because the artillery inflicts the *sapped*, sending in Ground Units is a certain death sentence. Keeping support Air Units on the front line is safe as they are only hit by the close-range laser attack. A small group of Antumbra or a single Eclipse can destroy it without support (assuming the Toxopid is not manually or logic-controlled).

### **For**

Toxopid excels at killing units with its electric ball cannon easily destroying waves of foes, making it a potent defensive unit against enemy unit factories and attack waves in campaign sectors and custom maps. However, being a tier 5 unit it's extremely expensive, time, and space consuming to manufacture which may result in it not being worth making compared to faster-deploying units like the Zenith and Quad. Nevertheless, the Toxopid offers a strategic advantage in long-form PvP games where turrets designed to counter smaller units like the Quad prove less effective against bulkier targets like the Toxopid.

Strategically employing the Oct to transport two Toxopids into an enemy base can effectively handle heavily fortified Cores. The Oct's exceptional speed among tier 5 units minimizes exposure to threats like the Foreshadow, which excels at eliminating larger targets.

## Changes

 Version 7.0, Build 127
	+ This makes Quad no longer able to carry it.
* Item capacity increased (90 items → 110).
* Range decreased (31 blocks → 29).
 Version 7.0, Build 128
 Version 7.0, Build 130
 Version 7.0, Build 132
 Version 7.0, Build 136
 Version 7.0, Build 138.1
	+ Old description: "Fires large electric cluster-shells and piercing lasers at enemies. Can step over most terrain."
	+ New description: "Fires large electric cluster-shells and piercing lasers at enemy targets. Can step over most terrain."

## Trivia

* Toxopid is named after the Toxopidae family of spiders, which are located in Australia and New Zealand. The Atrax and Arkyid are also named after spiders.
* Toxopid currently has the highest number of legs of any unit on Serpulo, at eight.
* Players sometimes jokingly refer to the Toxopid as the "big spooder" or “giant enemy spider” due to its appearance and offensive capabilities.
* The Toxopid is sometimes misspelled as “Toxipod” (the 2nd 'o' and 'i' are swapped), which somewhat sounds more like the spider itself.