Spore Pod

Overview

 * Spore Pods are flying lumes, featured in The Last Stand DLC, and are found only on the Arc Islands, in all corresponing 4 maps of this region.
 * They usually spawn in large groups. Like other flying enemies, they will bypass towers to make a direct course toward the core.
 * A certain time after they reach the core, they will explode in a manner similar to Snorkers, damaging the core and any nearby players. However, they do not attack players directly.
 * When they explode, they deal 40 damage to the core, which is 1/3 of the damage, dealt by Snorkers.
 * Despite their resemblance to Snorkers, their weakspot is located on the front of their body. Like most lumes, it's indicated by a red "eye".

Notes & tactics

 * Spore Pods and Snorkers don't trigger Shocking Revelation when they damage the core.


 * Tower Strategies
 * Long-range and/or AoE towers are most effective against them, due to their clustering behavior. The Anti-Air is the best possible tower vs these lumes since its damage vs flying lumes is unmatched by any other tower. Violators and Rockets are among the best alternative choices vs Spore Pods and still can be picked along with the Anti-air to deal good damage vs both ground and air lumes. It is good to put these towers with some space between them to grab a bigger area in range, therefore not allowing any flying things to penetrate and distributing a bit better the damage.
 * Due to the Spore Pods ' large numbers, some supplemental towers may be needed. A few shorter-range towers, such as Friendship Lasers or Lightnings, placed nearer to the core could help finish-off any that were missed, although they might need a Range Spire for better reach.
 * Due to its range, steady rate of fire and sizable AoE, the Kairos is effective at slowing flying enemies, making it a good support tower for the Arc Islands.


 * Player Strategies
 * Their weakspot is not difficult to hit, as it is fairly large, even bulging-out enough to make hitting it from the sides possible. And like other flying enemies, their path toward the core is fairly straight, so one can usually see the weakspot clearly so long as they stay close to it.
 * SiMo is arguably the best character against Spore Pods, due to his passive accuracy and crit bonuses.
 * The four high-crit weapons (Sniper Rifle, Plasma Rifle, Nailgun & Ballista) are all effective at taking them out before they reach the core, due to their accuracy and high weakspot damage. One needs to compensate for gravity and distance when using Ballista though, so it requires a bit more skill.
 * Explosive weapons are also effective, due to Spore Pods ' tendency to spawn close-together. Adding Long Range Specialization will increase their AoE significantly.
 * Spore Pods present a good situation for Penetrator Rounds, since there is usually another flying enemy close behind, and they generally share the same path.
 * There is a slight probability that the delay between their arrival to the core and their suicide explosion might go longer than usually, although it appears to be either fixed or appearing rarely as some glitch.