Mantis Cannon Turrets are common stationary tower enemies that fire long streams of multiple projectiles directly at the player's Plane.
Appearance[]
Default types[]
A Mantis Cannon Turret appears mounted on top of a gray metal tower in a shape of a rounded rectangle, with a base support on each shorter edge and two on each longer edge, the latter are positioned toward the front. The front corners feature a plate each with red decoration. Connecting from the armament to the rear is three straight bars, with the notched one in the middle.
The armament is a gray hemisphere with darker patterns on the sides and rear, featuring a spinning six-barrel gatling gun secured by three bands.
Their appearance is similar but less complex than Supercharged Mantis Cannon Turrets, which are the successive and more advanced enemies.
Small type[]
This version has no tower base, it is simply the armament of a Mantis Cannon Turret but shrunken down and its barrels has no band.
Behavior[]
General[]
As a tower enemy, Mantis Cannon Turrets are stationary and have more health than some other turrets. A red health bar is displayed above the armament when damage is dealt to it and fades after being left intact for a while.
The Plane cannot collide with Mantis Cannon Turrets, it simply passes through them instead.
On destruction, Mantis Cannon Turrets rarely drop Health Restore items.
Armament[]
Mantis Cannon Turrets target the Plane directly but prioritize any active decoys placed by the Holo Granny Technician first instead. They fire long streams of projectiles with slight spread.
These projectiles only damage the Plane while harmlessly phasing through other enemies. Each can be absorbed by Energy Shields, annihilated by either Mega Bombs or Iron Clad's Main Weapon Supercharge shockwaves, and slowed by Slo Mo Chan's ability.
Type I[]
Fires streams of fourteen projectiles each, thrice in succession before a short reloading period. Each projectile travels slowly, deals low damage and appears as rotating white ellipse with glowing pink outline.
Type II[]
Fires streams of 28 projectiles each while consistently reload for longer in between. These projectiles are the exact same as the first type, though visually they are initially smaller then quickly grow to normal size.
On Stage B1, two Mantis Cannon Turrets have such short reload periods that they fire continuously. In addition, they sway their armament from side to side instead of directly aiming at the Plane, resulting in a twisting and inexhaustible stream discharged toward the bottom of the screen.
Small type[]
Fires streams of twelve projectiles each, reloading shortly after every three successive volleys. Each projectile travels faster, deals less damage and appears as a small light blue orb.
Strategy[]
- Avoid moving the Plane too much or long distances, otherwise as the Mantis Cannon Turret attempts to track your movement, it will spray projectiles everywhere and reduce available evasion space needed against other enemies. Instead, exploit the projectiles' slow speed by dragging the Plane slowly and kiting the Turret.
- Take advantage of the windows created during the Turrets' reload period to either deal damage (use bursts of Main Weapon Supercharge for efficiency) or relocate the Plane from tricky situations by flying it through the gaps between streams.
Trivia[]
- Mantis Cannon Turrets potentially have the largest base platform out of all turret enemies.
- Mantis Cannon Turrets appear in both the mini-boss sections of Stage 4 and Stage 7, where they attack alongside the respective Spider Walkers.
- Majority of Bosses use Mantis Cannon Turrets or their derivatives, including: Twisted Vengeance, Spinning Retaliation (larger projectiles), Canned Dread, Murky Huntress, Frying Falcon, Araneae Lebes, The Scarlet Heart and Lewiatan (converging projectiles).
- In the second Tournament Stage, one Mantis Cannon Turret has such a short reload speed that on later cycles it results in an uninterrupted stream of bullets.