Afflict

Afflict is a mid-to-long-range electric heat-powered turret that fires a large, electrified primary projectile which spawns homing frag bullets in flight. It is unlocked via the Surge Alloy tier and requires a steady heat supply to operate; it consumes heat rather than physical ammo. Afflict occupies the role of a defensive main gun in a static line, able to suppress incoming waves and threaten many high-tier units while also functioning effectively as an anti-missile point due to its frags exploding missiles that pass through them.

Afflict mechanics and stats emphasize long reach and multi-projectile lethality at the cost of reduced structural damage and dependence on a heat network. Its effective shooting and warning range is 46 blocks. The primary projectile deals 180 damage but deals -50% building damage. In addition to the primary shot, the turret emits two interval bullets that fire at 40/sec, each dealing 35 damage with -70% building damage, 3x pierce and homing; the primary spawns 20 frag bullets (each 35 damage, -70% building damage, 3x pierce, homing) which extend the effective area of fire. Afflict requires heat input to reach full efficiency; recent builds increased its heat consumption and lowered the old maximum efficiency: heat input was changed to 20 heat units and maximum efficiency reduced to 100% (previously 10 heat for 200% max). Construction cost and times have been adjusted across several builds; Surge Alloy is required in the blueprint and the build has seen several balance changes (added in Build 136; major tuning in Builds 147–155).

Afflict is unlocked behind the Sublimate structure and the tech progression continues to Titan. It is simple to supply with heat: Electric Heaters can generate the required heat without needing item throughput, which removes the need for item inputs and allows Afflict to operate without belt logistics. Because it uses heat, interrupting the heat chain or disabling heaters immediately reduces or stops its firing, making heat nodes priority targets when assaulting a defended position.

Practical usage and strategy:

• Place Afflict behind walls or at choke points and corners where its long effective range and frags can hit clustered units and incoming missile volleys. Mid-to-backline placement preserves its survivability while letting frags extend coverage.
• Use multiple Afflicts in parallel and ensure stable heat supply; overall effectiveness scales with firing uptime rather than sheer throughput. Parallel heaters or redundant heat lines prevent single-point failure.
• Electric Heaters allow the turret to function without item input; however, note that Afflict still requires power. When an Afflict is placed it shows status indicators: without heat it may consume power while idle; when both power and heat are present it loads and idles and can fire once even if supply is briefly lost. In wave-based play you can unplug the main turret grid between waves to save energy if you manage heaters with logic or switches.
• Afflict is excellent against most units up to Tier 3 and can threaten some Tier 4 targets, and its frags make it effective at destroying missiles early. It is less effective against very large groups that overwhelm its relatively low sustained rate of heavy projectiles, and heavy missile spam (from units like Anthicus or Quell) can negate individual shots.
• Offensive players should target heat supply and power to neutralize Afflicts quickly; they have no item capacity and shut down when heaters are cut. Fast dive squads of mobile attackers can reach and destroy isolated towers—examples of vulnerable attackers include Obviates used to bypass walls.
• Balance notes: interval and frag bullets lost infinite pierce and had their pierce capped at 3× in later builds; homing strength and lifetimes were reduced, and the turret’s build cost and time have been tweaked across versions.

Afflict is best used as a sustained, heat-backed mainline turret that trades building damage for high projectile and area denial damage; stable heat architecture and proper placement are essential to realize its full potential.