Pylons VS. Lanterns

[blimpdxmk2]

Which is better? Pylons or lanterns? Well I love pylons, because they do big damage to multiple targets, and are a reference to Gemcraft Labyrinth, but on the other hand, I think lanterns are HORRIBLE, for the early game at least, as they attack way too slow for barely any damage. So what do you think? Maybe you are a pylon hater and lantern lover. Tell me why I'm wrong, or right. I'll be waiting!

[Soren Lily]

You're basically right on the mark. Pylons are very strong indeed, though you shouldn't commit to them too early into a level. If your main gem can 1-shot monsters, there's no point to having pylons. Pylons are good when the scaling of the monsters starts outpacing your mana gains, and you won't be able to upgrade your main gem enough to keep up. For me, this generally happened after making a grade 7-8 gem. Building Pylons at that point instead of trying to buff your gem can significantly extend your run.

I have never found a real use for Lanterns. The biggest problem with Lanterns is they don't pierce armor, yet they also have significantly reduced damage. So you end up doing too little damage to effectively kill monsters unless your gem is way overpowered, in which case you don't need a Lantern to begin with; just use towers. They can deal with swarms of weak monsters in theory, but their base attack speed and AoE is too low for that to actually work. You need to sink a lot of skill points into them to actually kill swarms effectively. There just isn't a realistic use-case for Lanterns where they significantly out-perform towers.

[piccolo255]

Originally posted by Serenity:

I have never found a real use for Lanterns. The biggest problem with Lanterns is they don't pierce armor, yet they also have significantly reduced damage. So you end up doing too little damage to effectively kill monsters unless your gem is way overpowered, in which case you don't need a Lantern to begin with; just use towers. They can deal with swarms of weak monsters in theory, but their base attack speed and AoE is too low for that to actually work. You need to sink a lot of skill points into them to actually kill swarms effectively. There just isn't a realistic use-case for Lanterns where they significantly out-perform towers.

Lanterns are not damage dealers, they're late-game mass debuffers.

Guide on lanterns: https://steamcommunity.com/app/1106530/discussions/0/1745643868486075760/

Some previous discussions on lanterns (and/or pylons):
https://steamcommunity.com/app/1106530/discussions/0/2262439317612604825/
https://steamcommunity.com/app/1106530/discussions/0/1740012510018805493/
https://steamcommunity.com/app/1106530/discussions/0/2246677986019383222/
https://steamcommunity.com/app/1106530/discussions/0/1866119836966778569/
https://steamcommunity.com/app/1106530/discussions/0/1740012510024585893/
https://steamcommunity.com/app/1106530/discussions/0/2872668471926546509/

More:
https://steamcommunity.com/app/1106530/discussions/search/?q=lanterns&gidforum=1643166462053843809
https://steamcommunity.com/app/1106530/discussions/search/?q=pylons&gidforum=1643166462053843809

[12345ieee]

Let me add this to the pile of lantern resources, we talk about them in the Phases sections: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2105632516

[tuxino]

Originally posted by mylesdxmk2:

Which is better? Pylons or lanterns?

That's a bit like asking "Which is better? A hammer or a screwdriver?"

Both have their uses, and they work well. I like to have both in my toolbox.

[piccolo255]

Originally posted by tuxino:

Originally posted by mylesdxmk2:

Which is better? Pylons or lanterns?

That's a bit like asking "Which is better? A hammer or a screwdriver?"

Both have their uses, and they work well. I like to have both in my toolbox.

OTOH, you can hammer stuff in with a screwdriver (badly), but you can't screw stuff in with a hammer

[tuxino]

Originally posted by piccolo255:

OTOH, you can hammer stuff in with a screwdriver (badly), but you can't screw stuff in with a hammer :lunar2020thinkingtiger:

And that makes the analogy even more apt. You can kill giants with lanterns (badly), but you can't slow swarmlings with a pylon.

[Gem of Temporarity]

If you really want to kill with lanterns THAT hard, use poison.
Just don't.
Can somebody explain to me where the "lanterns are made to kill" assumption comes from?

[piccolo255]

Originally posted by Gem of Temporarity:

Can somebody explain where the "lanterns are made to kill" assumption comes from?

IIRC, the first Journey field that introduces them kinda wants you to do that.

[Gem of Temporarity]

Originally posted by piccolo255:

Originally posted by Gem of Temporarity:

Can somebody explain where the "lanterns are made to kill" assumption comes from?

IIRC, the first Journey field that introduces them kinda wants you to do that.

Just checked and their tutorial page shows one destroying reavers, whoops.
And the pylon one shows one used against swarmlings. Having seen this deception I now understand the spam.

[Bill Wilson]

Lanterns are also bad because they have a pathetic critical chance cap of 10% which just makes them useless for dealing damage towards the second half of the game where pure crit is needed for damage.

It wouldn't even change their use in the endgame if they were able to reach an 80% crit chance like everything else, it just makes them even worse at the part of the game where they are already bad to begin with.

[Aglet Green]

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2088916756

This accurately reflects my opinion of Lanterns.