Guide to All Cat Cannons
Cannons Overview
Normal Cannon
- Upgrading priority: N/A
- Stats & Gains per level: N/A
Description & Usage
Your default cannon. Affects the whole field with a slight delay and does damage. Damage is negligible, only being able to kill very weak peons. Most of the time, the basic cat cannon will be used to knockback every enemy on the field a little bit. This should be your default cat cannon until you unlock the Thunderbolt cannon or Breakerblast cannon.
To unlock other cannons, you will need to have completed EoC 1 and have upgraded your cat cannon’s range, attack and charge to at least lvl 10. To get other cat cannons past lvl 10, you will need your cat cannon’s attack and charge to be at least lvl 20+10.
Slow Beam
- Upgrading priority: Low / Medium
- Stats & Gains per level
- +2~3f duration per level (lvl 2-10), then +5f per level (lvl 11-30)
- Slow duration at level 1 is 30f (1 second)
- Slow duration at level 20 is 100f (3.33 seconds)
- Slow duration at level 30 is 150f (5 seconds)
Description & Usage
Slows all enemies on the field in a wave like the normal cat cannon though it does not deal any damage and will not knockback enemies. Upgrading the cannon will only increase the slow duration. The slow duration is affected by EoC / ItF / CotC treasures. The cannon requires a level or 7-10 to be usable.
Slow Beam has very limited usage. It is primarily used to hold enemies to the base on base hit, to prevent fast enemies from clipping into your defense or to temporarily stall some enemies from joining the frontline. It can be used on stages like Floor 29 of HT and IT. Other than some specific scenarios, the slow beam is completely outclassed by Thunderbolt to hold enemies in place and Iron Wall which does a better job at keeping enemies glued to the base.
Iron Wall
- Upgrading priority: Medium
- Stats & Gains per level
- +3~4f duration (lvl 2-10), then +3~6f duration
- +1 hp per level (lvl 2-11), then only gets +1 hp at levels 17, 24 and 30
- Level 1 stats : 60f (2 seconds) max duration, 5 HP
- Level 20 stats : 135f (4.5 seconds) max duration, 16 HP
- Level 30 stats: 180f (6 seconds) max duration, 18HP
Description & Usage
Summons an Iron Wall in front of the nearest enemies. The Iron Wall counts as a cat unit, meaning it will take up a slot in the cat limit and cannot be used when the cat limit is full. The Iron Wall has the metal ability, meaning that it will only take 1 damage from every enemy. Enemies with the critical hit ability (like R. Ost) can bypass the metal ability and will kill the Iron Wall in 1 hit. Enemies with the long distance ability can also bypass the wall by attacking over it. Because it is a wall, it deals no damage, no matter the level. The wall will disappear after its HP has been depleted or its duration has run out. Upgrading it will increase its health and duration. Can be used at any level but the higher, the better.
Like the Slow Beam, the Iron Wall can be helpful in halting enemy pushes on base hit or into your frontline, though it does a much better job. Because of its metal ability and its HP, it can stall for quite a bit at high levels, especially enemies with long attack times. Its best use is on Aku stages, where most cat cannons have no effect on them because of their shields. It can also hold for quite some time against Aku enemies who tend to have high pushing power. Other than that, other cat cannons like Thunderbolt and Breakerblast can do a better job at halting non-Aku enemy pushes.
Thunderbolt
- Upgrading priority: High
- Stats & Gains per level
- +1~2f duration and +1% damage per level (lvl 2-10), then +3f and +0~1% (lvl 11-30)
- Level 1 stats : 15f (0.5 seconds) freeze duration, 30% damage (% of regular cannon’s dmg)
- Level 20 stats : 60f (2 seconds) duration and 48% damage
- Level 30 stats: 90f (3 seconds) duration and 57% damage
Description & Usage
Freezes enemies nearest to your furthest cat. If your furthest cat is too far from an enemy, it can miss. It does not affect the whole field, only affecting a small clump of enemies. The cannon is not instantaneous as it has a small delay from the lightning bolt going from your base to the enemies. Deals some damage but it is negligible. Upgrading the cannon will increase the freeze duration and deal a little more damage. The freeze duration is affected by EoC / ItF / CotC treasures. Requires a high level (around lvl 20) to be usable.
At lower levels, the freeze duration is so short that it has little impact. At higher levels, it is one of the best cat cannons, being able to completely halt all enemies in a small area. Freezing the enemies can allow your cats to sneak into an enemy’s blindspot, allow your cats and Ubers to get their attack off or to allow rushers to sneak in massive damage to enemies like Professor A. This cannon should be the second cannon you invest your materials into, after Holy Blast.
Waterblast
- Upgrading priority: Low
- Stats & Gains per level
- +1% per level (lvl 2-10), then +1~2% (lvl 11-20), then +1% (lvl 21-30)
- Power at level 1 is 11%
- Power at level 20 is 35%
- Power at level 30 is 45%
Description & Usage
Hits in an area in front of the farthest ahead cat unit. Deals a percentage of a metal unit’s remaining health. This means Waterblast cannot finish off metal enemies. Upgrading the cannon will increase the percentage removed of remaining health. Requires a somewhat high level to be usable.
Waterblast is great for getting a chunk of a metal enemy’s health but after the first hit, its usefulness quickly drops. Most of the time it is just better to use another cat cannon like Thunderbolt to deal with metal enemies.
Holy Blast
- Upgrading priority: High
- Stats & Gains per level
- +0.2~0.3% surface and +0.5~0.6% burrowed (lvl 2-10),
- Then +.7~.8% and +1.5% (lvl 11-20), then +0.5% and +1% (lvl 21-30)
- Level 1 stats : 0.5% power against surface zombies,
- 10% against burrowed zombies, freeze duration 30f (1 second)
- Level 20 stats : 10% power surface, 30% burrowed,
- Freeze duration 60f (2 seconds)
- Level 30 stats : 15% power surface, 40% burrowed,
- Freeze duration 75f (2.5 seconds)
Description & Usage
Like the normal cat cannon, it fires a wave across the entire field and will deal a small amount of knockback. It only affects zombie enemies. Firing the cat cannon will do 3 different things; remove a percentage of a zombie’s max HP (It can finish off zombie enemies), freeze zombie enemies and unburrow currently burrowing zombies. The percentage of the zombie enemy’s health being removed depends on whether it is burrowing or not. Burrowing zombies will take about 2~3 times more damage than unburrowed zombies. Upgrading the cannon will increase the damage and freeze duration. Freeze duration is affected by EoC / ItF / CotC treasures. Can be usable at lvl 1 but the higher the level, the better it gets against zombie enemies.
Holy Blast is one of the best, if not the best cannon in the game. The cannon can completely trivialize some stages in the game and will shut down a majority of zombie stages. Its ability to unburrow zombies is its primary usage. It can save your stack of cats or your backline from being invaded by strong enemy zombies like Cadaver Bear. The damage it deals is significant at high levels as it can slowly chip away at beefy zombies like Daboo or snipe zombie backliners and zombie corpses. Its last ability, the freeze, is a really nice bonus, preventing zombies from doing anything while you can quickly get damage off on unburrowed zombies. This cannon should be your go to for any stage with strong zombie enemies.
Breakerblast
- Upgrading priority: Low
- Stats & Gains per level
- Knockback distance is the same regardless of the level
- +4~5 range and +2~3% dmg per level (lvl 2-10),
- then +12 range and +5% dmg (lvl 11-20), then +8 range and +5% dmg (lvl 21-30)
- Level 1 stats : 160 blast range, 30% power (relative to normal cannon’s dmg)
- Level 20 stats : 320 blast range, 100% power
- Level 30 stats: 400 blast range, 150% power
Description & Usage
Sends an instantaneous blast to the furthest enemy. The cannon does not affect the whole field, only a small group of enemies. Firing the cannon will knock enemies back, more than the normal cannon. The knockback distance is the same for all levels. The cannon can also break any alien barriers, granted they are in range of the blast. The range increases as you level up the cannon, being able to affect more enemies in a small area. The cannon’s damage is negligible, as the normal cannon’s damage is not high to begin with so it can only kill very weak peons. The cannon is usable as soon as you unlock it and needs little upgrading.
Although its upgrading priority is low, Breakerblast is one of the better cannons in the game, providing the player with a powerful knockback. Upgrading it will only give you more range on the blast, which can be helpful but most of the time a low level Breakerblast can work just as well as a lvl 30 one. Compared to the normal cat cannon, this cannon sacrifices its ability to affect the whole field for a much more powerful knockback, which can also affect wave immune enemies, the ability to break starred aliens’ barriers and having no delay. Having such a powerful knockback allows it to push groups of enemies much further back, allowing the player to get enemies off their base or frontline, or push them back into the base.
Breakerblast being instantaneous means that it is much easier to use as very little timing is required to interrupt enemies. Having a more powerful knockback means that sometimes you can push enemies outside of your backliner’s attack, causing them to miss the enemy but this is not a serious problem. Breakerblast can also break starred aliens’ barriers in an instant, allowing you to remove your barrier breaker unit and have an extra slot in your lineup. Overall, Breakerblast is a great cannon to use if you don’t have Thunderbolt at a decent level and can be of great help in preventing enemies from pushing too hard.
Curseblast
- Upgrading priority: Low
- Stats & Gains per level
- +3f duration per level (lvl 1-10),
- Then +6f duration per level (lvl 11-20), then +4f duration per level (lvl 21-30)
- Level 1 stats : 33f (1.1 seconds) duration
- Level 20 stats: 120f (4 seconds) duration
- Level 30 stats: 180f (6 seconds) duration
Description & Usage
Like the Slow Beam, it fires a harmless beam across the entire stage, cursing every enemy on it. Cursing enemies will prevent enemies from being able to Weaken, Freeze, Slow, Knockback, Dodge Attack, Curse and Toxic. Upgrading the cannon will only make the curse duration go up. Can be used at low levels but the higher the level, the easier it is to time and use in general.
Curseblast is a very niche cannon. Since curse only disables enemy effects like weaken and freeze, it can only be brought to very few stages. Of the things that curse can disable, only freeze and slow are the main threats. All other abilities can be dealt with pretty easily without the need of the curse effect or the cannon is just not effective at dealing with enemies with those abilities.
Even on stages with enemies with abilities like slow and freeze (Croakley and Henry stages in particular), it is not of much use as the cannon can only really disable 1 attack from them, allowing them to still slow and freeze your cat after the curse duration has ended. Most of the time, a cannon like Thunderbolt or Breakerblast are better at countering those enemies as their abilities can be used to affect other enemies, not just Croakley and Henry. Overall, curse is such a niche ability that affects a very small amount of enemies in the game that using other cannons will bring more value to a stage.
Foundation and Style
Quick note about base foundation and style
You should only be upgrading the foundation and style of your base once you have reached Zero Legends. Crafting Z-Materials is a waste of materials and engineers. These upgrades are made for late game players who have maxed out important cannons already.
The abilities of the foundation and style can also stack. For example, having a maxed out Waterblast foundation and style will reduce Red EnerG’s surge attack down to 72.25% of normal damage and a direct hit from Red EnerG will be 85% of normal damage.
Below are the traits and abilities that the foundations and styles resist respectively
- Slow Beam – Floating, Slow
- Iron Wall – Black, Waves
- Thunderbolt – Angel, Freeze
- Waterblast – Red, Surge
- Holy Blast – Zombie, Weaken
- Breakerblast – Alien, Toxic
- Curseblast – Relic, Curse
Foundations
Because the damage reduction bonus is the same across all foundations, with only the enemy trait being different, they will all be clumped together in this section.
- Upgrade priority for all: Low
- Stats & Gains per level (To lvl 20 at the time of writing)
- +0.75% damage reduction per level (lvl 1-20)
- Level 1 stats: 0.75% damage reduction
- Level 10 stats: 7.5% damage reduction
- Level 20 stats: 15% damage reduction
Description & Usage
Reduces the amount of damage your cats take against your foundation’s target trait. The damage reduction of the foundation does not affect the cat base, meaning they will take normal damage. Upgrading the foundation will increase the damage reduction your cats receive. Can be used at low levels for a tiny bit of damage reduction but ideally you want a high level to take advantage of the 15% damage reduction.
Damage reduction against a certain enemy trait is something that is very nice to have as 15% damage reduction is pretty significant. Bringing a specific foundation can allow your cats to survive longer against big threats in late game stages like Daboo in Drowsy Paths. However, since foundations are unlocked so late in the game, enemy magnifications are really high, meaning that sometimes the damage reduction will do nothing at all as your attackers will still get killed in the same amount of hits.
Foundations only being able to target 1 trait at a time is also somewhat of a problem as a lot of late game stages mix traits all the time so having only 1 foundation maxed means that you can only benefit from it occasionally in stages that feature that trait. Of the foundations at the time of writing, the only one that seems like a good investment is the Curseblast foundation, giving you a 15% damage reduction against relic enemies. Having this damage reduction can help a lot in Uncanny Legend 2 to 4 crowns and allow tanky anti-relic units such as Dogumaru, Naala, Slapsticks, etc. to survive longer against threatening relic enemies like Sir Rel. For the other foundations, there is no real order and you can pick whichever. If an Aku foundation is released, it should be your next foundation priority as it can help your units survive from their death surges better.
Styles
Because the ability reduction bonus is the same across all styles, with only the ability being different, they will all be clumped together in this section.
Upgrade priority
- Waterblast style: High
- The rest: Low
- Stats & Gains per level (To lvl 20 at the time of writing)
- +0.75% ability reduction per level (lvl 1-20)
- Level 1 stats: 0.75% ability reduction
- Level 10 stats: 7.5% ability reduction
- Level 20 stats: 15% ability reduction
Description & Usage
Reduced the damage / duration of enemy abilities. Upgrading the style will reduce the enemies’ damage / duration of their abilities. Can be used at any level though the higher the better.
First things first, all the styles that reduce the duration of an enemy’s ability are bad. Most of the time, the duration reduction of 15% is insignificant as enemies like Croakley, Henry, most relic enemies, etc. will still be able to perma-slow, freeze, curse, etc. you. In addition to those, the Iron Wall style is also bad as 99% of the time you have a wave blocker in your lineup for wave stages, meaning that reducing wave damage is pointless. This leaves us with the final one, the Waterblast style.
This style should be your first Z-Material upgrade and you should get it to lvl 20 (if you have the important cat cannons maxed out). With Aku enemies becoming more and more common and enemies with a surge attack becoming more common, getting this maxed out is a must. Having a maxed out Waterblast style can allow many of your cats to tank a death surge from Aku enemies and even the Surge base if they have high enough health.
Be the first to comment