Lucifers, any use?

[Emperor Fooble]

As the title, do any of you use Lucifers?

Visually they are epic, but gameplay wise...not so much.

The best use I've found for them, 6 can take on a Doom Village with micromanagement to pull them back or hunt down spitters (a few snipers helps), but their cost, upkeep and drawbacks see me never use them.

They are useless against spitters (outranged by a mile) and Chubbies (damage too low, the fatty can punch them to death with ease), since they cant fire over walls they only become defensibly useful after a breach and unless massed in crazy numbers they are still pretty weak against the billion horde for the simple reason that their damage is low so the hordes of infected executives tear them apart.
They are so slow they cannot outrun runners/executives so they get forced into fight or die situations.

Maybe they could work rather will with a horde of soldiers, the higher damage rapid firing bullets along with lucifers constant aoe damage could mow down hordes with contemptuous ease. Of course you would still need a handful of snipers/titans to handle the spitters, and in that case why bother and just go full titan?

Share your wisdom!

[HeathenSW]

Well, they are a bit useful, when stationed behind gates (they can fire through them, thus making them more durable than walls) and when patrolling in the dwellings block (they can stagger the flow of newly infected peeps). Except that - I think they are useless as well, exactly 'cause of flaws mentioned by you.

[Aggravated Peasant]

I haven't tried one out yet. But from looking at its stats, I can tell that it needs a little buff. I reckon they do AoE damage? Perhaps the AoE range should be considerably larger, or the damage / attack speed buffed to make them able to kill infected faster (and not get killed themselves).

For comparison:
Soldier stats

• HP: 120
  
• Movement Speed: 2.4
  
• Attack Range: 5
  
• Attack Speed: 2
  
• Attack Damage: 15

Lucifer stats

• HP: 300
  
• Movement Speed: 1.44
  
• Attack Range: 3.5
  
• Attack Speed: 2
  
• Attack Damage: 15

I realise that if the Lucifer unit does AoE damage it's considerably better than the soldier during some circumstances. But it should probably be buffed in a sensible way that allows for a unique, yet efficient playstyle with this unit.

[Reinman]

I have beaten all 4 scenarios and with the current build I really only used titans and occasional archers. Most of the other units are a waste of resources for that moment in the game or just not very useful

[Buntkreuz]

considering my first experience was layed with numerous issues the game has i will probably never build them again.

I built 4, they blocked themselves while walking (pathfinding is ♥♥♥♥ in this game).
When ordered to kill one Harpye one dude shot, the others tried to run through him to reach her (although she stood infront of them), as walking around seems no possible task a unit in this game could do.
When i then ordered my ranger squad to support them as they obviously sucked anus, not only in pathfinding, but also in damage, these rangers stood behind them shooting.
But when a single zed appeared from behind going for the rangers, a Lucifer turned around and not only burned the Zed but literally 11 rangers to ashes.
Then, when another Harpye attacked them, i ordered them to run and sent my 3 soldiers i had left to help them retreat.
The result:
Lucifer in the back is too slow to run away from her and gets damaged constantly.
The soldiers, again due to bad pathfinding, stood in the way for the other Lucifers blocking them.
The other Lucifers were trying to get through the bodies of these 3 soldiers, constantly running on the spot, until the horde appeared and killed them all.
Result of using only 4 Lucifers:
Barely anything killed, incredibly angry on the ♥♥♥♥ pathfinding in the game, 18 units killed (all i had in that session at that time), Lucifers were of no use not only damage wise but also for anything else (scouting, defending, supporting).

The fact that they can burn your own units makes them useless, the fact that they are not damaging really makes them useless.
Considering the amount of resources you have to invest, they deliver sup par efficiency.
Instead i then started to go for Titans instantly, skipping soldiers, snipers and Lucifers and just using rangers and then titans got me the best score so far.
I will repeat this way.
Maybe at one point, if i have a plus of resources and dont know what to do, i can place some infront of a dumb wall and see them take out a few Zeds and then die.
Besides that, i think they should explode and cause big damage around them, at least then they would be useful as a defensive selfdestruction bomb.
But since i never actually have any big plus of resources and see enough ways to spend those for better defenses (another Exterminator Tower or a Power Plant for more Towers, or a Titan), this will never happen.
Currently, pretty much 2/3 of the unit roster is pretty bad and useless.
Yeah soldiers are somewhat ok, but since a tower is more effective at killing, their only use would be to clean the map and scout, which rangers do better and silent with less danger.
Snipers wont focus on specials and are too slow for normal zeds.
In my opinion they should rework the units and how they work entirely.
A way to tell them on what they have to focus would be a nice way. This way Snipers at least became viable.

On top, which would maybe solve some issues, i think a third upgrade from the Foundry could be a nice addition: Bunkers.
A Bunker where all units except titans can enter and shoot to the outside. They are heavily fortified so they last longer than a stone tower (made out of iron). They can only shoot when placed outside of a wall.
At least then Lucifers and Soldiers would outperform a Tower like the Exterminator, simply because A: they cant be attacked by a spitter, B: a spitter cant turn the Bunker off, C: their damage is good enough to justify placing them inside and D: they wouldnt block valuable space behind the wall and instead be a useful force infront of the wall.
Imagine Starcrafts Terran Bunker.

[Morphic]

Part of the problem with Lucifers is that they cannot garrison towers and they cannot shoot over/through Walls.

Ergo they basically don't have any defensive use whatsoever, which is bad since you are basically playing a pure defense game.

That said, they do AoE in a ~3 tile straight line and have a "constant tick" damage type. Offensively they are actually pretty good when grouped up or standing by a chokepoint. However, much like Snipers, a handful of them aren't good but a small mass or greater are really good.

Overall it becomes a playstyle deal with how you setup defenses. Lucifers are actually really great for unorthodox defense layouts, like "Dragon's Maw" or "Fang" wall setups. However if you do the traditional double layer Wall ... Lucifers are totally a waste and you are better off spamming Executors or Titans.

TLDR: You either want to mass them to create a blob, have unorthodox defense setups ... or completely ignore them and spam Titans/Executors.

[FraGmenToR]

Put them in really cramped bottle necks. They die but kill a crap ton of enemies in the process. And you dont need that many. They are a bit like the roaming version of shock towers, which are also great in cramped areas, but not so much in the open fields.

[Crukih]

If you get them from a mayor, then they can be good at clearing. Otherwise I feel as though they need a little buff. They are a seriously ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ cool unit, but need some lovin. Currently the Thanaos rules over the oil units.

[Mathspode (Qc)]

You might know know it but lucifers have a crazy health regen, they can regen while in combat and can totally recover in less than 30 seconds.. but i think i would beef it up al llittle.. 400hp and +1 range atk.. that would be perfect