The Hacker in Mechabellum is a really “weird” unit, for lack of a better term. It isn’t a bad unit per se, it’s just that it’s extremely specialized. Painfully so even. Being specialized isn’t the problem however, as evident by the Stormcaller, for example.
The problem is having the versatility to branch out from that specialization, which the Hacker barely has. This is the reason why most players simply ignore the Hacker. In the best of cases, it’s a situational unit; in the worst of cases – it’s a waste of resources.
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Key Takeaways for Mechabellum Hacker Guide
- The Hacker has one role and one role only – to steal your opponent’s units.
- You should ideally use your Hackers against your opponent’s most valuable units, particularly, Single-Entity units.
- Always support your Hackers with other units, unless you want them to be destroyed.
The Hacker and its Upgrades
Hackers should be strictly kept in a supporting role. Under no circumstances should you use them as frontline units. Not only would that achieve nothing, but it will also be a massive waste of resources in the long run.
Multiple Control is the first tech upgrade available to the Hacker. Without this upgrade, your Hackers will only fire a single beam. With this upgrade, they fire 5 beams. However, each of the beams only has a fifth of the potency.
Barrier creates a massive “bubble” around your Hackers. Any units within that bubble are protected until they leave the barrier, or, until the barrier gets destroyed.
Range Enhancement does as the name implies. It increases the Attack Range of your hackers by 40 meters.
Enhanced Control is a unique tech upgrade available only to the Hacker. Whenever your Hackers take control of an enemy unit, the unit in question gets their Health Points fully restored.
Electromagnetic Interference gives your Hackers the Electromagnetic debuff. I.e. their basic attacks will apply the Electromagnetic buff, which slows down the afflicted units and disables their tech upgrades.
The Strengths of the Hacker and How You Should Use It
You should ideally use Hackers to steal the most desirable Single-Entity units that your opponent has. The best example of this is the Fortress. And who doesn’t want to acquire a Fortress for a fraction of the price?
There is, however, one little problem. That takes time, a quite substantial amount of time even. See, here’s the thing. Hackers don’t instantaneously take over a unit, they have to fill up their “hacking bar” before the enemy’s unit can become your unit.
What this translates to in practice is that you should never leave your Hackers unsupported. Just a single unit of Sledgehammers is enough to delay the enemy long for you to steal away their unit/s.
The Weaknesses of the Hacker and What You Should Avoid
Oh boy, where to begin with this one? The weaknesses of the Hacker and quite abundant. Though, undeniably, their most glaring weakness is their core mechanic itself. Having to way for a couple of seconds to take over a unit is an unpleasantly long time in a fast-paced game like Mechabellum.
This weakness ties into the other weakness they have. They’re incredibly limited in their function. This in turn means that they constantly have to be supported by other units, which is a major money sink. A single unit of Fangs is enough to destroy your Hacker in an instant. And I’m not sure if that fact is funny or plain tragic, as Fangs are notoriously considered to be one of the worst units in the game.
