unit-pulsar

Pulsar is a flying tier-2 combat/mining unit that fires arcs of electricity which both damage enemies and repair allied structures. It belongs to the Nova line of units and appears as a fast, fragile attacker with a short-range electrical beam that can also be used to mine certain resources when controlled. Pulsar is notable for combining modest offensive power with a small repair field and an item capacity that allows limited suicide bombing using Blast Compound; it is the lightest unit in its tier in terms of health.

Pulsar attacks with a two-barrel burst weapon that fires in short 3-shot rounds at an effective per-barrel rate of 2 × 2.5 shots/sec (rounds cadence results in bursts every ~1.2 seconds). Each shot deals roughly 15 damage and has significant inaccuracy (about 35°), producing arcs rather than pinpoint hits. Its weapon has a relatively short reach (historically around 7–8 tiles; later builds increased arc length though detection start range remained limited), and its electrical hits apply a “shocked” effect. The unit also passively repairs allied structures in its arc; the repair per shot is small but noticeable when focusing nearby buildings.

Pulsar has several practical roles and limitations to consider in play. Its strengths include mobility, quick burst DPS at close range, limited item-carry capacity (useful for one-off Blast Compound runs), and the ability to mine under player control (including sand and other resources when the “double-tap/click to mine” option or mining stance is available). Its shield-regeneration-like repair field can increase survivability for low‑health units (for example boosting a 70‑HP Flare toward ~110 effective HP in some cases).

However, Pulsar is fragile and struggles against mid- and long-range defenses. Its short weapon range forces it to enter the engagement zone of many turrets; it is vulnerable to virtually any turret stronger than Duo, and particularly threatened by Scatter and Parallax. In PvE (campaign) encounters, Pulsars spawn as normal enemies without special abilities and are often comparable to the Mace in threat, except their electrical arcs can bypass ordinary walls — making stronger walls (Plastanium) or thicker multi-tile wall lines (4 tiles) advisable defenses. In PvP, Pulsar rushes can be dangerous due to high close-range DPS compared with some other units (Novas), so deterrents such as Scatter near critical buildings and mid-range turrets like Arc or Salvo help prevent them from landing and tearing down infrastructure.

Practical tips and interactions:

• Keep Pulsars away from dedicated anti-air turrets and mid-range defenses; they need to close distance to be effective.
• Use light scatter or mid-range turrets to deter landing and punish boosting Pulsar runs in PvP.
• When mining with Pulsar, use logic or the built-in mining stance; their mining speed was nerfed in later builds (e.g., Build 149) but still useful for targeted resource collection (sand, scrap, coal).
• Consider Pulsar for hit-and-run repair/offense roles where its repair arcs can assist allied units or structures, but avoid committing it into prolonged turret-lined base assaults.
• Its low health makes it the most fragile tier-2 unit, so pair it with support (healing or distractions) if you intend to use it offensively.