Burrower Ball Cannon

The Burrower Ball Cannon is a powerful ESC 1 magical weapon in the Halax arsenal, capable of dealing large amounts of widespread ENG damage thanks to the explosive nature of its projectiles. Although this makes it ideal for ravaging clustered enemy installations, the range type and Mana firing cost of the Burrower Ball Cannon can make it somewhat difficult to use.

Story
Despite its now ubiquitous role within the Halax arsenal in the Arena Conflict, the Burrower Ball Cannon, originally, was not a weapon the Halax intended to use against their enemies. In an effort to create weaponry that was better suited for destroying the heavy armor of Druko infrastructure, Halax grand priests experimented with ultrahot plasma cohesion via Panxama compression magic. These priests discovered that, if sufficiently condensed, plasma balls could penetrate virtually any type of armor or shield. From these experiments came the first Burrower Ball Cannons, so-named because of the way in which their projectiles "burrowed" through enemy armor. Field testing of these new weapons began immediately, and within very little time the Halax discovered a critical flaw in the design of the weapon. Although their compression enchantments held up well in close proximity to the cannon itself, burrower balls quickly became weaker as they traveled further away from the cannon. As a result, in most situations, the balls would break upon hitting an enemy fortification of sufficient density, showering everything nearby in searing-hot plasma. Since this wasn't the intended effect of the weapon, an attempt to remove all Burrower Ball Cannons was made by the grand priests who designed them, as they wanted to refine the technology behind the weapon before using it in combat. However, this recall was blocked by Halax grand wizards, who favored the usage of Burrower Ball Cannons for their area damage capabilities, which were especially helpful against Transhuman Engines. After much argumentation, Burrower Ball Cannons were left in the official Halax arsenal with all of their unintended flaws, and they have seen a considerable amount of usage since then. However, attempts at recreating the weapon to serve its original purpose have not been halted completely, and many grand priests have continued to improve upon its design. Experimental Devourer Blasters, a derivative weapon with much greater penetration power, are being tested at several Halax research temples across the Arena.

Even though it is referred to as a "cannon," the Burrower Ball Cannon is more akin to a gigantic fusion reactor than an actual weapon. High-energy plasma, generated in a large ring surrounding the center of the cannon, is funneled together via special channels, aided by large teams of Panxama wizards. As the plasma is funneled, it gets condensed, becoming progressively more destructive as it nears the center. Once a sufficient amount of plasma coalesces in the center of the weapon, a skilled Panxama wizard creates a compression enchantment that allows the ball of plasma to retain its shape as it is launched out of the cannon towards an enemy installation. The bright blue color of burrower balls can be seen from very far away, and the enemies of the Halax have gained a striking fear of the intense, high-pitched warbling sound produced by the balls right before they break, releasing a storm of plasma in all directions. To ensure burrower balls never explode within the confines of the cannon itself, plenty of extra Panxama wizards remain on standby in the cannon's infrastructure, capable of quickly redirecting and compressing plasma in the event of an emergency. However, even despite these emergency procedures, there are many situations in which hasty burrower ball preparation has led to spontaneous explosions of plasma that severely damage the cannon and surrounding infrastructure.

Gameplay
The Burrower Ball Cannon may be the cheapest magical weapon available to the Halax, but it certainly isn't weak. Capable of dealing huge amounts of combined damage to tight clusters of enemy forces, the Burrower Ball Cannon's main strength emerges whenever it attacks a tough enemy installation. If the Burrower Ball Cannon fails to destroy its target in a single shot, it will deal an additional 20 ENG damage to everything in the same sector as its target, including the target itself. This means that, against more durable fortifications, the Burrower Ball Cannon can inflict a total of 60 ENG damage on its original target, and 20 ENG damage on everything else. On a Block with all three weapon/structure slots filled, this amounts to 120 total ENG damage, greater than several superweapons. Combined with the Superheated Ballista's ability to deal extra Block damage upon killing an enemy weapon/structure, the Burrower Ball Cannon can be an excellent Block destruction weapon. It has quite a bit of usefulness even beyond ESC 1, as well, since it is the only magical weapon that does not deal ETH damage, meaning it can be used against enemy forces with high ETH resistance. Although this position is better filled by Fanaticism Tendrils, the Burrower Ball Cannon has the advantage of being cheaper and dealing more area damage than a Fanaticism Tendril, and its damage can still be amplified using Mana, just like all magical weapons.

The only major weakness of the Burrower Ball Cannon is its range type, which is sidecross. This can make it difficult to use on maps with tight chokepoints or lots of Oth Barriers. Thankfully, the Teleport spell allows a Halax player to easily relocate their weapons if necessary, so quickly repositioning your Burrower Ball Cannons to attack enemy forces is a completely viable strategy. This can be done more frequently in the mid and late game, when a player's Mana income is higher. In the early game, Mana is better spent building and firing magical weapons, so place your Burrower Ball Cannons carefully. Also note that the extra 20 ENG damage inflicted by Burrower Ball Cannons is applied even if its original shot damage is completely negated, so attacking enemy forces with 40 ENG resistance or more can still be viable if other enemy forces in the same sector do not have the same amount of resistance.