Stell

Stell is a tier 1 ground assault unit designed as a durable, short-range damage dealer. It functions as a frontline brawler that soaks hits and pressures defenses with steady direct-fire shots. Stells appear on maps where basic land units are available and form part of the early-game army composition on Erekir and similar scenarios; they are inexpensive to produce and are intended to be fielded en masse rather than individually micromanaged.

A Stell has 850 health and 6 armor, which significantly reduces incoming raw damage from low-penetration weapons. Its primary weapon fires at 1.2 shots/sec (0.83 s reload) and deals 30 damage per hit, with an effective range of about 20 tiles. The weapon’s projectiles travel at roughly 30 tiles/sec and live for about 0.66 seconds, and the turret/weapon rotation is relatively slow. The unit’s mobility is below average for ground units: it moves slowly and cannot traverse walls, so Blast Doors or planned openings are required for base entry/exit.

Tactical role and usage:

• Use Stells as disposable frontliners to absorb fire and disable early turrets and supply lines. Their bulk lets accompanying, faster units or support units operate with reduced incoming fire.
• Because of low mobility, position Stells proactively at chokepoints rather than relying on reactive repositioning. They perform best when funneled so their damage and durability can be focused.
• Stells are cheap and quick to rebuild; overwhelming an opponent with numbers and fabricator support is a common and effective approach.
• Their projectiles do not pierce or travel over targets, so supporting units that provide splash or area denial (for example Merui-class support) help by dealing with clustered defenses and cutting off turret ammunition supply.

Counters and matchups:

• Any wall completely stops Stells; walls are a simple and effective counter that prevents their entry. Because Stells cannot cross walls, use Blast Doors to control friendly movement if you rely on them.
• Elude units have high rate-of-fire and mobility and can threaten Stells, but Stell’s 6 armor effectively halves many Elude shots, reducing their efficiency against a clumped Stell force.
• Splash or high-penetration units (for example Breach-class units) are effective at whittling down Stells despite their armor. Once higher-tier units such as Titanium-class heavy attackers or Afflict-level units are available, mass Stell attacks become infeasible.
• Rapid-fire skirmishers and units with area damage (such as Merui splash) can exploit clustering; micro against slow projectiles can sometimes let Eludes avoid Merui shots and counter.

Practical notes and history:

• Stells were added in Build 136 and received a small range increase in Build 147 (range changed from 19 to 19.5). Their weapon statistics: 1.2/sec firing rate, 30 damage, ~20 effective range, 30 tiles/sec projectile speed, and 0.66 s projectile lifespan.
• On open maps Stells struggle to cover perimeter threats due to poor scouting mobility; mixing in Eludes for reconnaissance and skirmishing is recommended.
• When defending with Stells of your own, they often outperform other tier 1 units in direct confrontations when supported by walls and numbers; however, fabricator support is useful to keep production and replenishment rates high.