Tsunami

Tsunami is a long-range liquid ammo turret introduced in Mindustry's 6.0 update. It fires streams of various liquids as projectiles, applying secondary status effects and modest direct damage depending on the liquid used. The turret occupies a role between conventional bullet turrets and area-effect weaponry: it extends reach beyond most short-range defenses while consuming large volumes of liquid, making it a natural partner for dedicated liquid storage and supply lines.

Tsunami accepts multiple liquid types with distinct effects. Molten Slag is the primary damage-focused ammo: each slag projectile deals 4.75 damage and applies a melting effect for about 4 seconds, making it excellent for sustained area damage and clearing waves of enemies (slags from many hits stack into effective DPS). Shallow Water and cryofluid deal low base damage (0.2) but grant strong utility—water provides high knockback and automatically targets fire-based enemies, while cryofluid freezes and heavily slows targets for ~4 seconds and synergizes with blast-type ammo by increasing damage taken. Oil also deals 0.2 damage while tarred status slows units and boosts pyro-synergy but is hazardous to store because oil tanks can explode and start fires when destroyed.

The turret fires rapidly (its fire rate was reduced from 60→40 shots per second in a post-release patch) and consumes liquid quickly; a single full Liquid Tank placed adjacent to a Tsunami provides roughly 25 seconds of continuous firing. Because of this consumption, Tsunamis are best deployed with nearby tanks and reliable pump or refinery networks to maintain uptime. Range and status application let the Tsunami support front-line defenses or cover chokepoints while keeping the turret itself farther back from direct assault.

Practical usage and strategy:

• Always pair Tsunami with Liquid Tanks or dedicated piping: it exhausts liquid stores rapidly and needs steady supply to remain effective.
• Use Molten Slag ammo for raw damage and area denial; slag melts units and yields the highest DPS among available liquids (example calculated DPS: 4.75 × 40 shots = 190 DPS ignoring melting dynamics).
• Use Pooled Cryofluid to slow heavy swarms and increase incoming damage from allied blast/armor-piercing weapons; cryofluid’s freeze and the “blasted” synergy amplify per-hit damage from certain ammo types.
• Use Shallow Water when logistics are limited: it is easy to obtain, provides notable knockback useful against insectoid units, and interacts beneficially with certain alloy ammo types.
• Use Oil to slow and debilitate targets and to buff pyratite-based turrets, but avoid storing large amounts of oil in vulnerable tanks since oil tank explosions cause severe damage and fires.
• Be aware that non-slag liquids have low direct DPS (e.g., 0.2 × 40 = 8 DPS) so their value is mostly in status effects and synergies rather than raw damage.
• Tsunami’s extended range makes it less susceptible to being outranged by many defenses, but some turrets such as Minke and Fortress can still outrange it; position accordingly.
• Many tactics used against the Wave turret apply to the Tsunami as well due to similar behavior and role; however, Tsunami’s liquid-specific effects and higher range change its optimal support and counterplay.

Development notes: Tsunami was added in 6.0 and underwent several balance changes during early builds, including adjustments to liquid ammo damage/knockback, removal of ammo multipliers, and a reduction to its firing rate before the official 6.0 release.