Arc

The Arc is a small, single-tile electric turret that fires arcs of electricity at ground targets. It consumes power as its ammo and deals direct electrical damage while inflicting the Shocked status on hit. The Arc cannot hit air units and deals significantly reduced damage to buildings (its building damage is -75%, so a normal hit of 20 damage becomes 5 against structures). Its projectiles apply Shocked affinity which grants partial armor-piercing effect: 30% of the Shocked damage pierces armor while the remaining 70% is affected by unit armor.

Arcs are highly cost-effective close-range defense for ground engagements. They have a fast fire rate and cover a wide area with chained arcs, making them one of the most potent 1×1 turrets for defending choke points and compact bases. Because they use power directly as ammo and have high draw while firing, sustained Arc fire requires robust power support and Batteries to prevent blackouts that disable the turret and other critical blocks like Menders.

The Shocked effect synergizes with the Wet status: when an enemy is Wet its interaction with Shocked causes additional damage (an additive partially armor-piercing component). Place Arcs near shallow water pools or combine them with Wave/Tsunami effects to keep enemies Wet while in range to maximize DPS. Naval units are immune to being Wet, so this synergy does not apply to them; against naval targets, Arcs still deal damage but are less optimal than alternatives with longer range or direct anti-ship capability.

Practical notes and tactics:

• Arcs are best used in dense, short-range chokepoints where enemies pass near water or where you can concentrate power supply. They excel at melting groups of ground units for their footprint and cost.
• Supplement Arcs with Scatter and other air-targeting turrets to protect the map from flyers; Scatter can pull air aggro so Arcs remain focused on ground threats.
• Avoid situating Arcs as long-range snipers or against distant infrastructure; their range and building damage penalty make them poor at snipe-targeting enemy buildings.
• Because Arcs cannot hit air units at all, they are vulnerable to being outranged or bypassed by flying units such as Daggers and Novas; pair them with anti-air defenses or protect your power network so the Arc cannot be easily disabled by targeting generators.
• Arcs fire arcs that visually point away from the target but their projectiles curve toward enemies and have effective accuracy; treat their apparent firing direction as cosmetic.
• The Arc does not require Silicon for construction, despite using power for ammo.

Balance history highlights: the Arc has undergone multiple adjustments to fire rate, damage, power usage, build cost, and building-damage penalties across updates. It currently fires slightly slower than in some past versions but with a high power draw; its Shocked piercing portion was changed to 30% piercing with the remainder affected by armor. Use updated in-game stats to confirm exact numerical values in the current build.