Fist Bump seems to fly under everyone’s radar, and after upgrading him I have no clue why there hasn’t been more chatter about him!  Great story, unique abilities, and an awesome upgrade tree!

Box Stock

Fist Bump is one of those classic, “Eh, not that great” characters box stock.  While I appreciate the proficiency of the primary attack and found a nice tie in with the primary and secondary, most seem to see the numbers and be unimpressed.  The Panda Pound does 50-75 and the Fault Line Slam deals 32-48 when up close on impact, or 35-52 from a distance with a nice 44-66 uprising when a fault line is hit with Panda Pound.  However, it is important to note Fist Bump has a nice jump slam attack from the get-go with a 175-262 hit!  There is also a 1-2-3 Combo that deals 50-75, 50-75, 140-210 you have to factor in…Since a lot of people overlook the jump slams and combos, it is very important to make note of them.

Seismic Slide is the tertiary attack and it deals 72-108 on impact and actually generates a fault line…The fault line remains the same as the standard secondary attack and will deal 44-66.  Panquake is up next and while it keeps the Panda Pound at 50-75, it also makes mini fault cracks that come in handy later.  If you jump attack it, you now create instant fault lines to go with the powerful 175-262.  Hold the Line simply extends the reach of the fault lines, which is always nice.  Don’t Bump Fist Bump is almost like armor, but falls more in the self-defense field.  When you are hit by an enemy and have fault lines on the field you will see the faults are triggered and generate the 44-66 uprising damage.

This is a pretty solid path, particularly because of A Bolder Boulder (doesn’t that sound like a Rocky Roll Upgrade?).  Fault Lines in Glass Houses adds small stones that can shoot up from pounded fault lines…they are more visual than anything as they only deal 10-15 damage.  Quake’N’Bake is a two-fold increase of the standard fault line.  The usual 35-52 impact damage is now 49-73 and the 44-66 uprise damage is bumped to a very nice 62-93.  A Bolder Boulder wraps up the path and it interjects the possibility of having a spiked boulder.  You still have the small stones that deal 10-15 damage, but every 4-6 small stones you will see one of the spiked boulders…the spiked boulders do an incredible 100-150!  It is also worth noting that this looks really cool…The most functional way I saw to play this path was to fire off a few fault lines and then start Panquake.  In addition to getting the 62-93 from the risers and additional damage from the small stones and spiked boulders, if an enemies are left after the fault lines expire you can keep spamming Panquake and take advantage of the small fault cracks generating the stones and spiked boulders…You will miss out on the uprising damage, but that is easy to offset with a moderate ground pound coupled with the stone projectiles.

Man, what a path!  I had the pre-drawn conclusion that Rowdy Richter would be the hard hitting path and was simply holding hope that the bamboo explosions did more than 16 damage and the health regen was more than +5 at a time…Both fears were put to rest!  Healing Bamboo is up first and it spawns within fault lines you create…The bamboo deals a very respectable +15 Health!  The game stays you have to “slide into it” which would imply the tertiary attack, Seismic Slide must be used but that is no the case.  You can simply walk into it, or I found that often times the bamboo spawns so close to you, you just auto absorb the health increase!  Sliding into it is advantageous though as it will generate even more fault lines with bamboo!  So what if you are at full health, or need the damage output more than gaining a little back?  Well, Bamboo Harvest takes that into consideration.  If you have created a few fault lines and have bamboo all across the screen, you can do your jump slam attack and create bamboo explosions to the tune of 80-120 damage with each go around!  Lastly, “Jump For It!” makes the jump slam attack much quicker and generates 2 fault lines, which yes…have bamboo!!  Overall this is an awesome combination of offense and defense and a path I can’t help but prefer!

Soul Gem

Riding the Rails transforms Fist Bump into quite the juggernaut.  It is quite possible you could take out hordes of garden variety enemies like Chompies and some mid-tier enemies without actually doing anything aside from moving!  You might think that this Soul Gem would suit Rowdy Richter better, but I would gladly debate that.  While Rowdy Richter will get more results from the uprisings and stones and boulders launching, Bamboo Bonanza lets you cash in on +15 Health, or great access to ready made bamboo to detonate with an Air Panda Pound!  The Soul Gem plays beautifully into either path and truly does make Fist Bump a force to be reckoned with!

Attack Damage

Conclusion

Fist Bump upgrades very well down either path.  Personally, I would have to rate Bamboo Bonanza as the better option.  Rowdy Richter is great for those who want to spam the primary attack, or simply approach enemies with a base skill (Seismic Slide or firing off a few fault lines) and the revert back to the tandem compatibility of using Panda Pound.  The spiked boulders are lethal and you can make quite a dent on most enemies before they are up close for melee combat.  Bamboo Bonanza really isn’t that far behind Rowdy Richter’s damage output and offers health regeneration!  The versatility of Bamboo Harvest, which lets you blow up the bamboo if it will better function in that manner than in regenerative fashion really seals the deal.  Having the jump slam sped up and spawning fault lines with bamboo encourages you to utilize Fist Bump’s most powerful attack AND make use of his tertiary attack for quick recovery.  It is one of the better paths I have seen in Trap Team and I truly believe he is in the running for being the most versatile of all the core Skylanders in this game!

I have never really heard much chatter about Gusto, aside from people saying they don’t like him…I have used him a lot in my blind playthrough and actually really like him.  Then again, I tend to be both a boomerang and weather fan, so maybe that has something to do with it.

Box Stock

Gusto’s primary attack, Traptanium Boomerang, is straight forward and simple.  It deals 80-120 2-3x.  If you tap the primary attack button while it is out, the boomerang will return quicker.  Inhaler is his secondary attack.  It allows you to inhale enemies (16-24 damage) and then spit them out.  Your impact exhale does one instance of 64-96 and if you hold it down, you can deal 16-24 multiple times over about 8 seconds, which is also how long you can hold inhale.  They combine for a good tandem in my opinion and each one has pretty good range.

Base Upgrades

 The Breath of Life seems more like a Soul Gem to me.  It allows you to inhale enemies AND gain HP.  However, it is the amount of HP you gain that strikes me as “soul gem” territory.  I expected 3-8 to the range, and was shocked to see +20!  That means 5 enemies can regen 100 Health!  Nothing to argue about with this being our first base upgrade!  Twistin’ in the Wind is Gusto’s tertiary attack.  You can press, or hold the button and do 2 or 3 counts of 33-49 respectively.  This is a cool move just because of how fun it looks.  Electro-Rang is up next and it really delivers.  This is a progressive, charged attack.  You have three tiers of damage based on the hold time: 1 Second=104-156, 2 Seconds=136-204, and 3 Seconds=200-300!  That is a lot of damage!  Plus, if you have to stop short of a full 3 seconds, you’ll still deal damage greater than the original 80-120.  Lots of Lungpower is hard to document as I saw no change in the inhale damage, exhale damage, or duration of inhale and exhale.  That said, I assume you can simply hold more enemies, which might come in handy when you spit them out.

Air Ace

Gusto’s Air Ace Upgrade Path addresses the Traptanium Boomerang.  Boom-erang is a three-fold enhancement!  The regular boomerang throw goes from 80-120 to 100-150.  The Electro-Rang also sees increases across all three tiers: 1 Second=130-195, 2 Seconds=170-255, 3 Seconds=250-375.  Lastly, and not advertised or mentioned is the fact that our tertiary attack, Twistin’ In the Wind, will now deal 66-99!  This is a really big deal because the 33-49 doesn’t even change on Dizzy Destroyer, a path dedicated to the tertiary attack!  Next up we have Rang Me Like a Hurricane.  Anytime the boomerang hits an enemy, it will spawn a mini hurricane that lasts about 8 seconds and does 15-22 damage.  Boomerang Buddies finishes the path off and allows you to have up to 3 orbiting Boomerangs that act as a shield.  They deal 10-15 damage and run for 25 seconds each if they take no damage.  If you have  3 active and trigger a 4^th, the previous three will shoot out in all directions.  Sadly, there is no “boom” factor, but they will still do the same 10-15 as when they orbit you.

Dizzy Destroyer

This path focuses entirely on the tertiary attack Twistin’ In the Wind.  Spin Like the Wind takes the short life cycle of Twistin ‘ in the Wind and ups it to 8 seconds.  Furthermore, when you hit enemies, you now spawn mini hurricanes.  Just like in Air Ace they seem to last about 8 seconds and deal 15-22 damage.  They move very quickly, but also erratically.  Shocking Twist lets you shock enemies.  Shockingly (pun not intended) this seems to not register any additional damage, but looks to slow enemies down a little bit.  Oddly enough, the base attack is still doing 33-49 like when we first got it.  Lightning Ball is really the highlight of this path.  You now instantaneously turn into the Lightning Ball and have a run time of 11 seconds.  In this state you can move very fast!  You do the same 33-49 damage, but the lightning ball will trigger electrocution and hurricanes as you roll thru enemies.

Soul Gem

Boomerang’s 4 Breakfast seemed like it would favor Air Ace, but that was not the case.  Both paths do the same damage with this Soul Gem.  In order to execute it you need to throw the boomerang and then inhale it.  You will know this happens when you don’t see your boomerang and Gusto’s belly is swollen.  Upon exhale, the boomerang registers a hit of 160-240 and then lets you hold exhale for a familiar 8 seconds, but at a greater damage rate of 64-96!

Gusto Attack Damage (Click to Enlarge)

Conclusion

I am not quite sure why more people don’t seem to talk about Gusto, but I suppose that is the fate of a few characters each game.  Dizzy Destroyer is unique and a lot of fun.  You can obliterate groups of weaker enemies and seriously weaken heavier hitting foes.  Once your times is up, you just head back into it.  There is no reason to NOT be in Lightning Ball if you select this path.  The only exception would be if you are critically low on health and need to regen some HP via Inhale.  This is the path for you if you like speed, simplicity, and/or don’t see yourself using the boomerang or inhale much.  Air Ace is the path to take if you are a boomerang fan, or enjoy the spectacle that is inhaling and spitting out your opponents.  I personally prefer Air Ace and not just because I like the boomerang.  Air Ace offers nice damage, a defensive ability, and actually increases the tertiary attack’s damage numbers!  It is mind boggling that Dizzy Destroyer maintains the same 33-49 the entire path for the one attack it is focused on!  I think Lightning Ball is great, but wouldn’t you like it better if you were doing 60-90 damage?  I also find it somewhat odd that the electrocution doesn’t do damage over time to enemies.  I see a lot of potential for Dizzy Destroyer and feel like it was cut short on that front.  I will continue to maintain that you can wreck a lot of enemies with Lightning Ball, but for something the encourages you to use 1 attack exclusively, I would have expected something more in terms of a damage count exceeding the debut numbers in our base upgrades.  That said, I would overall recommend Air Ace, but if you love the look of Lightning Ball, or just don’t like the primary/secondary (or feel that they are good as is), then you will not be disappointed with Dizzy Destroyer.  I can’t stress enough I like the path, but I find it very odd that the 33-49 perpetuated thru all the upgrades and electrocution was so lackluster.  As nit-picky as that sounds, I played around with both Gusto’s after the upgrades and took Dizzy Destroyer up a few levels just rolling thru enemies, lol.  I’d l just prefer to do so at a higher damage number.

Echo has continued to impress me since I unboxed her.  She looked much better out of the packaging, delivered better damage than we expected (my Nephew helped in her Introduction), and continued that through her Base Upgrades and Upgrade Paths!

Box Stock

Echo’s Siren Scream deals out an impressive 111-166 over 5 Hits, or 8 Seconds.  The Bubble Bombs home in on enemies and deal 40-60, with a max of 2 Active at a time.  This makes a for a very solid, stock pairing!

Echo’s base upgrades themselves evolve her into a very formidable Skylander.  Sonic Slam is her tertiary attack and offers up a quick and instantaneous 140-210!  Pitch Control ratchets up both the damage and duration of Siren Scream.  The attack now deals 133-199 and lasts about 13 seconds and sends off 15 instances of damage if you are on target.  4-Beat is straightforward…you can now have 4 Bubble Bombs active at once AND they do more damage at 56-84.  Lastly, Subsonic creates an aftershock after Sonic Slam that covers a nice radius and deals 28-42, sometimes twice.

This is a great defensive path.  Bubble Shield lets you hold the secondary attack button for about 2 seconds and enter into a bubble.  While in the bubble, damage is reduced big time!  In testing, I took about 1/3 of an enemy’s actual damage (27 standard vs 9 in the bubble).  That alone is huge!  It also seems that the stock, 1 bubble covers around 24 or so in terms of damage before bursting.  Also of note are a few important details the game and strategy guide leave out.  First, you just hold the secondary attack button long enough to enter the bubble…there is no need to continue holding.  Second, you can stay in this mode indefinitely if you are not getting damaged.  Third, you can both move AND execute both your primary and secondary attacks while IN the bubble.  I was under the impression you would be in pure “defensive” mode and not have access to these attacks.  If you try to do the Sonic Slam you break the bubble at this point in the path…that is what I thought was going to happen if I used Siren Scream or Bubble Bombs.  Power Pop is up next and it makes the Bubble Bombs to max damage at 80-120, which is a pretty big jump and DOUBLE what we had box stock!  Burst My Bubble lets you use the tertiary attack to blow up the bubble.  The result?  140-210!  Also of note, I believe if you collect more bubbles while in the shield you will increase the durability AND explosive force.  You can collect up to 4 Bubbles.  The biggest explosion numbers I saw were 313-469.

Singalong is the opposite of Bubble Up; this one is pure offense!  Ultimate Pitch Control lets you spam Siren Scream indefinitely.  The damage stays at 133-199, but it is nice for those who like a steady stream of a solid attack.  Scream Out lets you do a scream attack after any Siren Scream.  I have only seen a critical 199 in testing, but I suppose you might sometimes see 133.  I was a bit disappointed this wasn’t a slightly higher number range to differentiate it from the Siren Scream, but 199 is 199.  Ultrasound is where things really get interesting.  If you charge up Sonic Slam for 3 seconds, Echo goes into a semi-shielded mode where she will deal 28-42 3 times before firing this attack off…Also of note, you can manually fire it off before she automatically does with no loss of damage.  And what is that damage you ask?  How does 700-1050 sound?  Yep, easily one of the highest, non-Soul Gem, non-Wow Pow, not Elite attacks in all of Trap Team!  The three seconds really isn’t that hard to allocate either, especially given the rewards for making the time!

Soul Gem

Echo’s Soul Gem is pretty cool.  If you fire off a Bubble Bomb and hit it with Siren Scream, it turns into this large, blue orb of light and music that causes enemies to become entranced.  They can’t help but stare at the bubble and it deals 28-42 (40-60 Bubble Up!) over time and finishes with an 84-126 (120-180 Bubble Up!) explosion!  It is important to make note of my parentheses there…The Soul Gem is benefitted by Bubble Up’s Power Pop, which accounts for the difference between the damage sets.

Echo Attack Damage Numbers

Conclusion

Bat Spin has a nice combination of box stock attacks.  Bat Attack works two fold in that you shoot out a bat that does 39-58 on impact and then deals an additional 8-12 damage with subsequent bites.  The life span is roughly 8 seconds at this point in time.  The only weakness here is that a maximum number of “additional hits” are hard to come by since the bats are somewhat relaxed and won’t always seek out the enemy with great effort.  Bat Swarm summons bats and sends them in a swirl that quickly shrinks down.  If you stand at a point blank range, the bats will do 60-90 on impact for roughly 6 hits.

Base Attacks

Bat Spin boasts some very balanced base upgrades.  Healing Bite offers up the classic Undead Element way of gaining health.  If Bat Spin shoots out a bat with Bat Attack they do 39-58 as mentioned above.  At this point in time, they can not grant you health.  However, once they have “bit” an enemy (see the 8-12 additional damage) they grant you +3 Health.  As best I can tell, each subsequent bite delivers an additional +3.  It is very unlikely to get more than +6 from a single bat at this point in time given how lax they are around enemies.  Nonetheless, you can’t  argue with what is essentially a semi-automatic health regeneration!  Next up is Brawny Bats.  This upgrade is multifaceted.  First off, the life cycle of a bat from Bat Attack doubles from 8 to 16 seconds.  The 39-58 impact remains the same, but now the 8-12 after the hit bite clocks in at 16-24, which again is double the previous output.  Another key aspect here is that Bat Swarm bumps up from 60-90 to 78-117.  In this form you can see your +3 move on to +12s and even +15 if you get lucky.  I do believe this remains proportional to the number of times the bat has attacked and dealt damage..Case in point, grab a bat right after the first bite and you’ll get +3.  Go Batty! Is up next and it is a very unique upgrade, and quite formidable!  This is Bat Spin’s tertiary attack and it transforms her ghoulish self into a large, flying bat.  She can stay in this form indefinitely.  If you execute a primary attack in Go Batty, she will bite.  This deals a devastating 150-225!  A hit of the secondary attack button while in Go Batty and you deliver 56-84 3x via Screech.  Lastly, A Colony of Bats seems to let you have 8 or so bats active at once…obviously, this is advantageous in any situation.

Pet Purveyor

This path strikes me as more of a “hands off” approach.  If you are of the mindset that you’d rather sit back and only contest enemies when you must, or like to play very defensively, this path is for you.  I found it extremely hard to document, and thus fully appreciate.  The vague descriptions and lack of first hand scenarios matching them do not do much to bolster this path.  Essentially you add 3 special bats which are always active.  Mr. Dizzy stuns and confuses enemies.  I never really saw this happen in my limited attempts, but that also means it would be just as hard to appreciate over a longer interval.  I have faith it works, but I didn’t see any glaring instances where I found myself cheering for Mr. Dizzy.  Mr. Blocky is said to protect you by deflecting projectiles.  I saw the armor icon a few times, but nothing to get excited about.  Mr. Bitey was actually quantitative.  If you see a 75-112 on screen you can trace down Mr. Bitey and watch him rip off further instances of the numbers.  I think, despite how hard it is to tell what the path is really doing, and how well it is working, that you would have a pretty solid character with this path.  I’m also fairly certain there are certain locations this path would show much better than it did in the video.  However, I do haveideas to make this path significantly better.  I am fine with the bats being present as it is unique and reflective of the level of upgrades your Bat Spin has.  However, let’s make Mr. Dizzy generate +x Critical Hit.  Mr. Blocky would, of course, grant +40 Armor.  Mr. Bitey could maintain his 75-112, but what if that also applied (in the same, or a lesser degree) to your Bat Attack bats?  Maybe making the 39-58 a 45-67 and then additional damage coming by way of 32-48 bites and intervals of +4 Health.  That sounds really good to me…quantitative and functional!

Bat Betterment

This path upgrade the previously untouched bat form attacks that came with Go Batty!.  Bat-tle Cry takes the Screech from 56-84 all the way up to 84-126!  Furthermore, if you screech at bats from bat attack they know deal 32-48 when they bit enemies.  Ultimate Bat Squad, as best I can tell lets 8 bats fly with you…If you get in good space, this actually looks really cool.  Plus, if you are about to enter a hot bed of enemies, you can simply bring in a full arsenal of bats, screech at them, and then fly into battle!  Chiropteran Call keeps the bat form bite at 150-225, but shoots out 3 bats at once!  This is a big deal because these are the same bats you get from Bat Attack.  So essentially you do 150-225 from the bite and then immediately have 39-58 3x for the bats AND after that they are free to fly around biting enemies to deal 16-24, or 32-48 if you screech at them.  That damage adds up very quickly!  The biggest advantage though is that you can now stay in bat mode and get bats…previously we had to switch back to regular form and fire them off via Bat Attack.

Soul Gem

Great Balls of Bats!  Looks like the greatest upgrade of all time in the training grounds.  It deals 156-234 damage.  However, if you hold it (charges roughly 2-3 seconds) you can keep it active and deal 156-234 endlessly at extremely fast intervals.  Sadly, this only works at the training grounds…in a gameplay situation, Bat Spin can hold it, but the ball shoots of quickly.  It does pass through enemies so it can sometimes dish out a few counts of 156-234, but more often than not it will only do so one time.  That said, I fully recommend you try it out at the training grounds!

Bat Spin Attack Damage Numbers

Conclusion

Bat Spin is a very solid character.  I think you can do well with either path, but I find it difficult to fully appreciate the Pet Purveyor path, especially when I can see and document exactly what Bat Betterment offers.  Clearly, these paths are both unique, but are spectrums apart in terms of style.  If you hate her bat form via Go Batty!, you will want to stay away from it.  In my opinion, Bat Betterment is more  of a “get in there and fight” type of a path while Pet Purveyor rewards you more for standing back and letting the bats do more of the grunt work.  You could easily argue that Go Batty!, is strong enough on its’ own merits to warrant taking Pet Purveyor.   You could also argue that the gains from Bat Betterment outweigh Pet Purveyor’s vague nature.  I think most will select the path based on their play style.  Despite not seeing much from Pet Purveyor, I still think it has potential, but for me personally I would pick Bat Betterment and I fully recommend it.

High Five was a split character for me.  On one hand I was looking forward to him because he was a dragonfly and I thought that could bring a lot to the table and his aesthetics are unique and colorful.  Then, on the other side, he was the Frito Lay promo Skylander…and I’m not a fan of their promotions, lol.  That said, the more I have played with High Five the more he has grown on me!

Box Stock he isn’t the most impressive character, but often these are the very ones who wind up with great upgrade paths.  His primary attack, which sadly never gets directly addressed, deals 23-34, but it is spammable and he maintains mobility…That makes it offset a bit, but a slight increase would have been appreciated.  Buzz Dash is a typical quick dash move and attack combo.  High Five quickly darts away, or into an enemy and deals 44-66.

Base Upgrades

Poison Cloud is an offspring of the primary attack.  After your Poison Pellet hits at 23-34 the Poison Cloud forms and lasts roughly 8 seconds.  It seems to deal both 8-12 and 16-24.  I am thinking it does this based on proximity or a series of hits, but in the given time there was no definitive answer.  Fly Slam is High Five’s tertiary attack and it really sets the table for what is to come!  You essentially jump up and do 20-30 damage and then slam down to deal 90-135.  Buzz Charge takes Buzz Dash up a level.  If you tap your secondary attack, you dash at 44-66, but if you hold it for roughly 1.5 seconds, High Five darts forward and delivers a much more menacing 136-204.  The best thing is he auto deploys.  You don’t have to look for a shimmer, glisten, or change in appearance…he just goes when the time is up!  Buzzerker Overdrive is where things get interesting…If you hold your tertiary attack button down, you begin to spin rapidly around your targets.  In this time ,a full charge will deal 20-30 10 times AND THEN smash down a devastating 334-501!  The catch here is that you lose HP while charging this up.  You can stop before the 10 hits and 334 and the damage seems to be somewhat scaled back, as is your health loss.  This is a catch 2-2 attack.  You can dominate your opponents, but you do so at the cost of your own well being.

Pollen Prince

If the thought of giving up health to deal damage doesn’t set well with you, or you just really like the Poison Cloud then Pollen Prince is the path for you!  This is a tough path to document because you have to be “in game” vs real enemies.  Cloud Control lets you have 5 Poison Clouds active at once…they also move faster and seek enemies.  The damage increase is minimal.  Most instances of damage remained at the 8-12 and 16-24 range, but a few hits were a new 18-27.  Buzz ‘Em Up combines the Buzz Dash and Poison Clouds.  When you dash thru a cloud you extend it’s life and up the damage, although not significantly.  Power Clouds makes the Poison Cloud extra big.  You can use Buzz ‘Em Up to extend the life cycle, but I found that they deal more damage 27-40 naturally than if you buzz through them as that actually drops the output back down to 24-36.  In theory, you would think that buzzing through a Power Cloud would result in 30-45, but that is not the case.  Overall, I think this is actually a good path, but it doesn’t deliver the same impressive grandeur you find with Speed Slammer.  This path also has a few issues.  First, as mentioned, buzzing a Power Cloud results in them doing less damage…and since all clouds are now Power Clouds, you kind of get shafted on that front.  There are also two things that I think would have made the path much better.  First, if the primary attack itself was directly upgraded from 23-34 to anything higher, it would have made a substantial improvement.  Second, I think that the Power Clouds could have been greatly enhanced if they either detonated on expiration, or you could dash thru them twice (or something like that) to trigger a radial explosion with a larger damage number, say even 60-90.  Despite the shortcomings, I still think this would be a solid path, it just feels a little under developed and doesn’t quite match up with Speedy Slammer.

Speedy Slammer

If you weren’t scared off at the thought of losing health toe execute the Fly Slam, you’ve come to the right place!  We get started with Spin Cycle which seems to pull enemies in and add 2 hits to the charge time, dealing the same 20-30 12 times instead of 10.  Buzz Buzz Buzz lets you dash up to 5 times by holding the secondary attack button.  The standard dash stays at 44-66 and the chained dashes remain at 136-204.  There were some instances of 68 and 92 that came off broken chains and singular Buzz Dashes, but they didn’t occur at a marked frequency.  Slam Apples sees the Fly Slam extend from 10 to 12 to 18 counts of 20-30 damage.  If you are sad that didn’t increase by now, fear not…the final slam, which has remained at 334-501 since Buzzerker Overdrive now does an insane 734-1101!  That is in OP Wow Pow, or Elite territory!  However, you do loose more health than you regenerate, despite the Slam Apples dealing out +5 Health.  That said, you should, at this pace, destroy your opponents before your own health is truly jeopardized.  If you are concerned, just wait for Organic Slam Apples.

Soul Gem

Organic Slam Apples is an upgrade that might make you take Speed Slammer, with or without research.  Many of you, myself included, likely preview the upgrades in game and then see Slam Apples tied in with Speed Slammer.  There is NO mention of apples with Pollen Prince.  So, you might say, “Ok, this is one of those paths I need to take to utilize the Soul Gem.”  The good news is, this does function with Pollen Prince and it delivers the same +10 Health from the apples…however, there aren’t as many of them.  Essentially it is a nice boost each time you elect to use your tertiary attack (which has no further upgrades via Pollen Prince).  If you couple this with Speed Slammer, however, you are very well served.  Where we were putting down a ridiculous 734-1101 from Slam Apples, we were also doing so at the expense of our own well being.  Organic Slam Apples seems to deliver 10 Apples around a fully charged slam that each regenerate +10 Health.  Similarly, this is what you lose when executing a slam.  So, in theory, as long as you didn’t take damage from the enemy horde you are attacking, you can start the slam, fully charge it, and finish it at the exact same health if you collect all the apples.  In a clutter free environment with little lateral movement from the attack, you automatically pickup all the apples.  If you migrate towards more, or different enemies you will get most of the apples, but might miss a few.  You have a few seconds to collect the remainder.  Either way, this Soul Gem clearly favors the Speed Slammer Path, but does at least work with Pollen Prince.

Attack Damage Numbers (Click to Enlarge)

Conclusion

I personally prefer Speed Slammer.  I would recommend it for rookie players, younger players, and those who just like simple to master paths and/or paths that deal insane damage.  That said, Pollen Prince is a unique path and one that I would not hesitate to stick with…It isn’t as impressive, but when mastered, you can essentially keep 2-3 of the 5 clouds on screen and alive.  This means they deal roughly 20-40 while you dash, or fire off the primary Poison Pellets.  I do fell my earlier suggestions would make this path more formidable, but it certainly does stand on its’ own merits.  That said, my vote would go to Speed Slammer for uniqueness and devastating damage.  The Soul Gem pretty much eliminates the downside to fully charging the Fly Slam.