Revision 1

The Lasher is the Grell basic ranged creature, a Tier 1 unit from the Broodwomb that fires Acidic Spines at range 8 and hits both air and ground. It is the first answer the faction has to a flyer and the first unit it can use to hold a line rather than charge one.

Figures below describe the September 2026 Early Access build, the one carrying the identifier ZS.c36778, and they move with the weekly patch cadence. Roughly half the versus roster had a stat touched in the fortnight before that build was captured, so treat every number here as dated rather than permanent.

Stat Block

Weapons

Abilities

Upgrades

Conversion Costs

Infuse is the Grell conversion mechanic, paid out of the same top bar power pool as the Legion Reanimate and the Xol Replicate. It permanently raises a friendly unit's health, damage and regeneration for the rest of that unit's life. Since the balance pass of August 11, 2026 the bonus is +45%, down from +50%, and the cost multiplier rose from 0.045 to 0.05 so that it matches the Protectorate shield and the Legion Reanimate.

The Lasher is eligible for all three conversions. In this build the three prices are identical at 4.0625 power each, so Infuse by a Grell player, Reanimate by an allied Legion player and Replicate by an allied Xol player all cost the same. At that price a Lasher is one of the cheaper units in the faction to convert.

Role

Vision 18 is the longest in the Grell roster and two points further than the Lasher can shoot, which tells you what the unit is for: it sees a fight before it is in one. At 15 damage per second against both domains it is the faction's general purpose line unit, filling the gap that Stingers cannot because they are melee and Skrell cannot because they are fragile fliers.

Extensor Adaptation takes the attack to range 12, which is a different unit rather than a better one: at that range Lashers outrange most things they will meet at Tier 1 and can retreat while the enemy closes. Corrosive Secretion is the damage upgrade, and its +75% against Medium armour is now the only source of a Medium bonus the Lasher has, because the base attack lost that bonus on August 11, 2026. Camouflage is the raiding option, six seconds of invisibility and a large speed burst, which is enough to reposition out of a losing fight or to open one on a harvester line.

150 health and Light armour keep the Lasher honest. It is not a unit that absorbs anything, and a Lasher group without something in front of it loses to almost any melee that reaches it.

Faction Context

Lashers come from the Broodwomb, and the Grell second tier of Lasher research moved from the Synapse Canopy to the Elderwomb on August 28, 2026, which pushes Corrosive Secretion and Camouflage further up the tech path than they used to sit. First tier research stays at the Young Canopy.

Within the faction identity the Lasher is the unit that does not depend on biomass. It has no biomass passive, no stealth on mat and no root, so it works at the edge of the Grell territory in a way that Stingers and Threshers do not. The mat and the economy behind it are covered in Resources and Economy.

Tier and Armour Interactions

The Lasher carries Light armour with an armour value of 0. At 150 health it is more durable than a Stinger and considerably less so than anything Heavy, and the flat armour rule described in Units does nothing for it.

On offence, the Lasher's relationship with armour types is entirely a research question. Since August 11, 2026 the base Acidic Spines attack carries no armour bonus at all, and the +75% against Medium comes only from Corrosive Secretion. A Lasher army that has not taken that upgrade is doing flat damage to every armour type in the build.

Counters

Strong Against

Weak To

Balance History

• August 11, 2026: base damage increased from 17 to 18, and the base attack lost its bonus against Medium armour. The Corrosive Secretion Medium bonus rose from +50% to +75%, so the total against Medium fell from +100% to +75%.

• August 28, 2026: the second tier of Lasher upgrades changed its requirement from the Synapse Canopy to the Elderwomb.

Notes

• The roster record for this unit is COMPLETE.

• The Camouflage ability text and the Camouflage upgrade text disagree in the current data. The ability lists +75% movement speed for 6 seconds; the upgrade that unlocks it describes +25% movement speed and a cloak for 6 seconds. Both are reproduced above as published, and neither has a dated studio note resolving them.

• Per unit numbers are drawn from a community maintained entity catalogue that the studio links from each of its own faction pages. It is the only place the full stat block is published, and it is not a studio document, so the figures are best read as careful community documentation of a build rather than as an official specification. Dated balance notes, by contrast, come straight from the studio patch posts.