Undermine: Targeting and Damage Limits
By KS_Josey_Wales · titans
Understand why Undermine destroys different numbers of buildings, compare dense and spread-out defenses, and reproduce the tower tests in the editor.
What Undermine Does
Undermine’s value depends on the buildings in its path, not just the point where you cast it. Its movement and limited total damage explain why the same cast can flatten a row of weak towers yet leave more of an upgraded defensive line standing.
The tests here concern Undermine in The Titans. Town Centers also take reduced damage, so a result against ordinary towers does not predict the same result against a Town Center.
Why Building Spacing Matters
Compare two lines of towers: one with towers along the whole line, and another with towers only near the ends. Undermine keeps moving while it is not destroying something. In the spread-out line it can reach farther; in the dense line it spends more of its effect damaging buildings along the way.
In the original tower test, the spread-out arrangement let the effect reach roughly two tower positions farther. The dense arrangement also showed that the effect has width: it could hit several towers across the path rather than only a single column.
Use this distinction when choosing a target. A dense group of structures offers several potential victims, but the buildings at the far end are not guaranteed to fall. Focus on the buildings whose destruction opens the route you need.
The Total Damage Limit
In the test described here, Undermine destroyed eleven towers with 550 hit points each, for approximately 6,050 damage in total. That observation explains the limit; it is not a promise that every cast deals that amount against every kind of building.
Upgraded towers have more hit points, so fewer of them can be destroyed before the damage budget is exhausted. Compare remaining hit points as well as destroyed buildings when judging a cast. A power that leaves several damaged towers standing may still have done substantial work.
Reproduce the Test in the Scenario Editor
You can examine these effects with your own tower layout:
- Make an open test area with clear visibility and enemy towers of the same type.
- Build one line with towers close together. Make a second line of comparable length with towers only near its ends.
- Test Undermine against each arrangement from a fresh copy of the scenario. Compare the farthest building reached and the damage left behind.
- Place several towers side by side across the path to examine its width.
- Make a dense cluster, record the towers’ starting hit points, and total the damage after the cast.
- Repeat the cluster test with upgraded towers. Compare total damage and the number destroyed separately.
Keep tower type, upgrades, and starting health consistent within each comparison. This makes it easier to distinguish changes in spacing from changes in durability.
Put the Result to Use
Choose a building group that matters to the next attack: a blocking defensive line is a better objective than unrelated structures you cannot follow up against. Account for the tougher buildings along the path, and have your army ready to exploit the opening.
The practical lesson is to plan around reach, building density, and hit points together. Counting towers alone misses why one cast works better than another.