Mortar

"The Mortar can mow down hordes of enemies by the splash damage from its shell. Don't let enemies get too close to it!"

Summary
Mortars are the player's heavy defenses. Whenever an enemy comes into range, it blasts out an explosive shell with a low frequency "ping".

Mortars have high damage per attack and deal splash damage, but lack in attack speed. Their splash damage combined with their long range makes them deadly weapons against large amounts of weaker enemies, such as archers or goblins. One of its major disadvantages is its inability to attack enemies at close range (3 tile radius restriction).

Defensive
Mortars are excellent at mowing down groups of weak ground troops, often killing even large groups of high level troops with a single shot. They also have excellent range, but their 3 tile radius blind spot means that placement and defense of mortars is extremely important. A common strategy is to place mortars behind other defensive structures. This helps to negate the tactic of overwhelming other defensive structures with large groups of troops, while also keeping troops outside of the mortar's blind spot. Make sure to position mortars within range of anti air defenses as they are unable to target air troops themselves.

Offensive
The mortar's blind spot, low rate of fire, and inability to target air troops makes them vulnerable to a wide variety of different attacks. Fast melee troops such as barbarians or goblins (after all resource structures are destroyed) can rush the mortar and quickly enter its blind spot. Archers can also be effective if they are positioned in a circle around the mortar. The mortar's relatively low hitpoints makes it very vulnerable to giants as well. Finally, their inability to target air troops makes mortars easy pickings for balloons and dragons if they are not covered by air defenses.

Trivia

 * A level 6 mortar acquires a major graphic change, as the bomb shot out is a firey ball.