Mechabellum Wasp Guide
All units Wasp
Wasp
Used against
Marksman
Phoenix
Melting Point
Vulcan
Overlord
Countered by
Mustang
Fortress
Fang
Wraith
Typhoon
Tarantula
How to play Wasp
Wasps can be played in many different ways depending on the board state and your technology choices.
In early game you can use Wasps as a harassment unit with jump drive and mobile beacon. It's very effective if the enemy has holes in his defense. Later on you can add Rhinos or Steel Balls in front of them to power through the defenses or just switch to defensive formation and jump drive the wasps back and tech shields for them and use them as meat shields.
You can use them as your main damage deal unit as they deal insane amount of damage with ground/air specializations. They are very squishy though and you need to protect them by building a solid frontline. The key in this strategy is to get early levels on the Wasps so they are a menace with items. In later rounds you can't block damage coming to them with frontline units and the only way is to go elite marksmen/range on them to keep them safe.
Most often Wasps are just used as meat shields. They are good vs leveled Marksmen and Melting Points in particular. One good trick is also to use them to block sentry missiles. The missiles have a big splash radius and if you have clumped up ground units who would all die, you can tank the missile with wasps and the splash will hit only air units.
They scale into the late game very well and are the perfect counter for mass overlord or wraith strategies. Against Wraith you struggle in the mid game but once you get your techs going (Range + Aerial Spec) you should defeat them easily.
If you have ground specialization on your Wasps, you can use it early game to farm leveled enemy ground units to gain fast levels on your own Wasps.
Wasps are also very strong flank defenders if enemy has already committed multiple units in your flank. They will fend off most units and fly to the battle fast after doing so. Also, the aerial specialization will instantly target any air units in your flank. The enemy cannot block it.
Mechabellum Wasp counter
In the early game, you should buy Mustangs when you see the Wasps come out. Wraiths can also be good if the enemy has a lot of crawlers paired with the Wasps. (and rare Typhoons if you get them from the unit drop)
In the mid and late game, Fortresses with Anti-air barrage is the best option. This is because the Wasps are often paired with a mobile frontline like the Steel Ball, so the Fortress will fend off both of these units. After you tech the anti-air on the Forts the enemy usually tries to block it with bigger air units like Field Maintenance Wraiths so you might need to go Aerial spec marksmen, charged shot phoenix or a Melting Point also.
Depending on the situation and the technology palette of the enemy Wasps, going your own Waps with Aerial spec and range might be really good also.
If the enemy is using Wasps as a chaff unit to block your phoenix or Marksmen and you already have a bunch of fangs as chaff units, it's usually better to tech range for the fangs to kill the wasps than to invest in another unit type like Mustangs.
Wasp Builds
Listed below are all some highlighted Wasp builds.
Surrey's Wasp build
I use wasps a lot early game with jump drive and mobile beacons. When doing so I only tech jump drive. During this process they sometimes level to like 5-6 and then I sell them or tech Elite Marksman on them. The best role for the Wasps right now is countering enemy Wasps or countering mass overlord strategies, that's why I have the range + air spec available. I have also noticed that using energy shield wasps as chaff either buy building them or going wasp spawn on boats is always an overkill since the shield doesn't do anything against Mustangs etc. which are always coming after you press the wasp spawn tech.
Wasp Technologies
Listed below are all available technologies for Wasp, their viability and how to use them.
Electromagnetic Shot
Causes electromagnetic interference on hit, temporarily disabling the target unit's Tech and reducing its movement speed by 40%
200
Very interesting option. Unfortunately it's not that good. You really don't want your carry wasps have the EMP technology and if you want to actually connect to EMP you need range on them so then it becomes too much of an investment. Sometimes good with wasp summoning with mass overlords, especially on casual modes like the FFA. For example vs. Fort anti-air, multi beam Melting point and War Factories.
Aerial Specialization
Attack against air units is increased by 75%, and the range when attacking air units is increased by 30m
200
You really cannot commit into Wasps without this technology, since if the enemy has this technology he can always counter your Wasps with his own Wasps. Good vs air units (big surprise).
High-Explosive Ammo
Increases splash damage range by 7m, but reduces ATK by 40%
150
It's not a technology I buy very often, but it keeps your wasps very versatile. Very useful for clearing crawlers, fangs and wasps. Ok vs mustangs. It's better to counter these units with other units though.
Energy Shield
Obtain an energy shield that absorbs damage equal to your HP and can block at least one instance of damage.
300
Very strong technology on paper. But the reality is that if something connects to your Wasps, they will die, so having a shield doesn't solve this issue. Even when using them as chaff the enemy will go mustangs and the shield doesn't matter that much. It's often still +value to get in that situation but equipping this will cost you a technology slot and there are many good techs on the Wasps. Good against spells like missile strike, orbital, storm and sometimes good when you are flanking against sentry missiles.
Ignite
Attacks have a chance to ignite the target unit. Ignited units lose 6% HP per second for 2s
200
Ignite is a very powerful effect. With fangs, it's sometimes amazing, with wasps it's underwhelming.
Jump Drive
Increases Wasp's movement speed by 5m/s and allows Wasp's to be freely repositioned during the deployment phase of every round
50
Wasps are countered easily. Having the ability to move them around in early and mid game to avoid the counters and force the enemy to make suboptimal units will make them win you many rounds. Almost always my first upgrade to get. Highly dependant of your playstyle if you want to have this technology on or not. But it allows for a lot of options with especially the Elite specialist and on rounds where you get early lev2-3 Wasp drop from free units.
Armor-Piercing Bullets
Increases ATK by 50%
200
The specialization upgrades are better.
Elite Marksman
The effect increases with unit level, increasing range by 5m and ATK by 25% per level increased
300
The range part of the technology is the important one here. It's hard to outrange mustangs so this technology is most relevant if you find yourself in a Waps vs Wasp battle. Otherwise it's not that good.
Range Enhancement
Increases attack range by 40m
300
A requirement for the carry Wasps. Don't tech this too early, you don't want to show you are committing heavily into the wasps.
Ground Specialization
ATK increases by 200% to ground units
200
3x damage is crazy. With jump drive and ground specialization you can divert a lot of power into one spot instantly. Strong as a flank defender and strong as a pusher if you have a solid Steel Ball frontline for example. It's not good late game as the wasps fall off the skies very rapidly.
