Saboteur

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Saboteur
Unlock Cost	Triumph Polluted Wasteland II & 7,500 or 449
Role	Offense
Placement	Ground
Placement Limit	8
Statistics
Base Cost	$775
Base Selling Cost	$258
Base Damage	2
Damage Method	Pierce Spread Poison
Base Firerate	1.35
Base Range	12.5
Hidden Detection	Level 1+
Lead Detection	Level 0
Flying Detection	N/A
Immunities	None
Placement Footprint	Average (1.5)
Base Cost	$575
Base Selling Cost	$191
Base Damage	2
Damage Method	Pierce Spread Poison
Base Firerate	1.15
Base Range	11.5
Hidden Detection	Level 1+
Lead Detection	Level 0+ (Poison) Level 2+
Flying Detection	N/A
Immunities	None
Placement Footprint	Average (1.5)

A toxic shotgunner who poisons enemies and can throw a grenade that amplifies damage taken in an area.

―Inventory Description

Description

The Saboteur is a poison-based tower bought for 7,500 after triumphing Polluted Wasteland II or bought for 449.

It fires in a manner similar to the Shotgunner. With each shot, multiple bullets come out of its spread gun. These shots are spread out and not guaranteed to all hit the same enemy. Additionally, it has a max hits stats which is used in its Scattershot. With it, the damage dealt by a pellet is done as many times as what the max hits is. For example, at Level 4, the max hits is 3, meaning each pellet deals damage three times to the enemy it hits. The max hits being 3 does not however mean it will only hit three enemies, as each of the 6 pellets can, even if this happens rarely, all hit a different enemy

With each shot, the Saboteur applies poison, which deals damage over time while also slowing enemies down. Unlike the Toxic Gunner however, it cannot melt Defense.

Starting from Level 3, it gains the Aggressive Toxins ability. When used, a cursor will appear allowing the Saboteur to throw a grenade anywhere in its range. This will apply the Neuralyzed attribute to the enemy, making towers target them while also increasing how much damage they receive. Enemies with Neuralyzed take priority over enemies with Aggro. This ability costs $500 to use.

The Saboteur has a placement limit of 8.

Upgrades

RegularPVP

Scam Artist

Level 1 • Cost: $375

+1 Damage

+Hidden Detection

0.9 > 0.6 Tick

Sell Price changes to $383

Brand New Rig

Level 2 • Cost: $1,850

+1 Damage

1.35 > 1 Firerate

+1 Range

+1 Poison Damage

5 > 6 Poison Time

3 > 3.5 Base Spread

2 > 1.5 Spread

+1 Max Hits

How many times the pellet Saboteur scales based on max hits

Sell Price changes to $1,000

Black Market Tech

Level 3 • Cost: $5,950

+3 Damage

1 > 0.8 Firerate

+1 Range

+2 Poison Damage

3 > 4 Bullet Count

Throws a toxic grenade that applies a Neuralyzed debuff to enemies that amplifies damage taken and forces towers to target them.

•$500 Ability Cost

•5 Neuralyze Duration

•3.5 Neuralyze Grenade Radius

•10% Damage Taken Bonus

Sell Price changes to $2,983

Neural-Runner

Level 4 • Cost: $15,115

0.8 > 0.65 Firerate

+2 Range

+1 Max Hits

+3 Poison Damage

6 > 8 Poison Time

0.6 > 0.4 Tick

7.5% > 10% Slowdown

4 > 6 Bullet Count

3.5 > 4 Base Spread

1.5 > 1 Spread

5 > 7.5 Neuralyze Duration

10% > 15% Damage Taken Bonus

Sell Price changes to $8,021

Scam Artist

Level 1 • Cost: $450

+Hidden Detection

+1 Max Hits

How many times the pellet Saboteur scales based on max hits

Sell Price changes to $341

Brand New Rig

Level 2 • Cost: $1,475

+2 Damage

+3 Range

+Lead Detection

+1 Poison Damage

4 > 5 Poison Time

3 > 3.5 Base Spread

2 > 1.5 Spread

Sell Price changes to $833

Black Market Tech

Level 3 • Cost: $5,150

+3 Damage

1.1 > 0.9 Firerate

+2 Poison Damage

5 > 5.5 Poison Time

0.9 > 0.6 Tick

Throws a toxic grenade that applies a Neuralyzed debuff to enemies that amplifies damage taken and forces towers to target them.

•$500 Ability Cost

•5 Neuralyze Duration

•3.5 Neuralyze Grenade Radius

•15% Damage Taken Bonus

Sell Price changes to $2,550

Neural-Runner

Level 4 • Cost: $15,115

0.9 > 0.65 Firerate

+1 Max Hits

+3 Poison Damage

5.5 > 7 Poison Time

0.6 > 0.4 Tick

10% > 15% Slowdown

3 > 5 Bullet Count

3.5 > 4 Base Spread

1.5 > 1 Spread

5 > 9 Neuralyze Duration

15% > 25% Damage Taken Bonus

Sell Price changes to $7,588

Ability

RegularPVP

Aggressive Toxins

Level 3 • $500 • 100s Cooldown • 30s Initial Cooldown

Throws a grenade at the selected area, applying Neuralyzed to them. This forces them to be targeted by towers while also boosting how much damage they receive.

Aggressive Toxins

Level 3 • $500 • 90s Cooldown • 15s Initial Cooldown

Throws a grenade at the selected area, applying Neuralyzed to them. This forces them to be targeted by towers while also boosting how much damage they receive.

Statistics

Open in Statistics Editor

RegularPVP

Level	Cost	Total Cost	Damage	Bullet Count	Poison Damage	Firerate	Tick	Poison Time	Slowdown	Range	Base Spread	Spread	Max Hits	Neuralyze Duration	Neuralyze Grenade Radius	Damage Taken Bonus	Total Elapsed Damage	DPS	Cost Efficiency
0	$775	$775	2	3	1	1.35	0.9	5	7.5%	12.5	3	2	1	N/A	N/A	N/A	5	5.56	$139.39
1	$375	$1,150	3	3	1	1.35	0.6	5	7.5%	12.5	3	2	1	N/A	N/A	N/A	8	8.33	$138.06
2	$1,850	$3,000	4	3	2	1	0.6	6	7.5%	13.5	3.5	1.5	2	N/A	N/A	N/A	20	27.33	$109.77
3	$5,950	$8,950	7	4	4	0.8	0.6	6	7.5%	14.5	3.5	1.5	2	5	3.5	10%	40	76.67	$116.73
4	$15,115	$24,065	7	6	7	0.65	0.4	8	10%	16.5	4	1	3	7.5	3.5	15%	140	211.35	$113.86

Level	Cost	Total Cost	Damage	Bullet Count	Poison Damage	Firerate	Tick	Poison Time	Slowdown	Range	Base Spread	Spread	Max Hits	Neuralyze Duration	Neuralyze Grenade Radius	Damage Taken Bonus	Total Elapsed Damage	DPS	Cost Efficiency
0	$575	$575	2	3	1	1.1	0.9	4	10%	11.5	3	2	1	N/A	N/A	N/A	4	6.57	$87.52
1	$450	$1,025	2	3	1	1.1	0.9	4	10%	11.5	3	2	2	N/A	N/A	N/A	4	12.02	$85.27
2	$1,475	$2,500	4	3	2	1.1	0.9	5	10%	14.5	3.5	1.5	2	N/A	N/A	N/A	10	24.04	$103.99
3	$5,150	$7,650	7	3	4	0.9	0.6	5.5	10%	14.5	3.5	1.5	2	5	3.5	15%	36	53.33	$143.45
4	$15,115	$22,765	7	5	7	0.65	0.4	7	15%	14.5	4	1	3	9	3.5	25%	119	179.04	$127.15

Skins

To see all the upgrades of a skin, see the gallery page.

Skin	Coral Princess
Rarity	Uncommon
Daily Store Cost	5,250
Obtained From	Beach Crate

Strategy

• The Saboteur's decent DPS, low starting cost and support capabilities allows it to be useful throughout the entire match.
• The Saboteur poisons any enemy it hits with its main attack, dealing additional damage over time.
  • This poison also slows down enemies, allowing for the Saboteur to be a support tower from Level 0.
  • If needed for the purpose of applying poison to as many enemies as possible, using targeting options like Random can allow it to hit as many enemies as possible, slowing down multiple enemies at once.
• At Level 1, the Saboteur unlocks Scattershot, which makes it hit enemies more times based on how many targets were hit. While this is in a lot of situations, nearly the same as simply doubling or tripling the damage, there are a few notable cases where the Scattershot will do better or worse than just doubled damage.
  • It hitting enemies more times means it will trigger effects like the fireworks from the Firework Technician or the crit from the Precision Skill more often than it would with just increased damage.
    • This is especially notable for the Firework Technician, as the Saboteur can trigger fireworks way more often than most towers, especially at Level 4 where it hits enemies 18 times.
  • Due to it hitting enemies more times, it will be more effective on Tank enemies, as upgrading from Level 0 to 1 will make it go from dealing 1 damage three times to dealing 1 damage six times. If the damage was simply doubled, these Levels would behave nearly identically against them.
• The Saboteur can throw a grenade that forces any enemy hit by it to be targeted by towers, while also boosting how much damage they receive.
  • This can be used to preemptively or immediately redirect firepower to a specific enemy or group of enemies without having to switch tower targeting.
    • Notable examples of this include using the ability on Fallen Jester type enemies to kill them as soon as possible and prevent them from buffing other enemies.
  • This ability should be used carefully, as if used on the wrong enemy, it could lead to hordes of other enemies getting past your defenses and cause a loss.
  • Neuralyzed takes priority over Aggro, meaning it can be used to stop towers from having to target them.
  • Enemies affected by this ability also receive more damage from towers. As this is not a Damage Buff, it functions differently and has different effects on towers.
    • Unit damage is actually boosted by Neuralyzed, meaning towers like the Engineer, Military Base or Mercenary Base can have their units receive a boost in damage.
      • While their attack damage does get boosted, the collision damage does not. This means units like the Rifleman are greatly affected while ones like the Riot Guard receive little to no change in their DPS.
    • Damage over time from debuffs like chillness, burn, poison, sting or blood is affected by Neuralyzed.
      • Because of this, the Saboteur can be used to boost the DPS of the Swarmer. Do note however that it does not boost the damage from a single stack (for example, 3 damage getting increased to 4 for a total of 120 damage) but instead boosts the total damage from each stack (for example, 90 damage from 30 stacks getting increased to 104 damage).
      • The Slasher also greatly benefits from this. For example, against a 500,000 health enemy with no Defense, it normally deals 13,481 collapse damage. However, with a 15% Neuralyzed damage boost, it deals 15,504 damage instead.
    • As the Neuralyzed effect is on the enemy itself, consumables are actually affected by it. For example, the Nuke will deal 86,250 damage to an enemy with a 15% Neuralyzed damage boost instead of the usual 75,000.

Trivia

• While not publicly released until the 22nd of April 2026, the Saboteur actually made an appearance in-game long before that point as it was used in Matchmaking for the PVP mode.
  • This is because when first made, the Saboteur was a PVP-oriented tower, having mechanics specifically made for it, like stealing the opponent's health or paralyzing the opponent's towers. This concept was never properly released however.
• The Saboteur, Cowboy and Warden are the only towers that requires both a badge and coins to unlock.
• Scattershot was initially a bug that was turned into a feature.
• The name of the gun, "The Vitriolic Withering", in the Level 4 upgrade description is a reference to the upgraded Acid Gat from Call of Duty: Zombies.

Update History

For previous cosmetic variations, see the gallery page.

• 23 July 2025 - v1.71.0
  • Saboteur added.
• 24 July 2025 - v1.71.5
  • Saboteur effectively removed.
• 22 April 2026 - v1.89.0
  • Saboteur re-added.
  • Bug: Cannot be unlocked after triumphing Polluted Wasteland II.
  • Bug: Saboteur does not generate any fireworks.
  • Bug: Saboteur's bullets can deal damage and apply poison to units.
  • Bug: Aggressive Toxins duration is not affected by Time Scale.
  • Bug: Gifting does not work.
  • Bug: Neuralyzed rounds up damage instead of rounding it down.
• 22 April 2026 - v1.89.3
  • Bugfix: Can be unlocked after triumphing Polluted Wasteland II.
• 23 April 2026 - v1.89.4
  • Bugfix: Now can generate fireworks.
• 8 May 2026 - v1.90.0
  • Statistical changes (Regular):
    • Base
      • Lead detection added, moved from Level 2.
    • Level 1
      • Cost decreased from $550 to $500.
    • Level 2
      • Poison time changed from 3 > 4 to 3 > 5.
    • Level 3
      • Cost decreased from $5,150 to $4,850.
      • Poison time changed from 4 > 5.5 to 5 > 6.
      • Paralyzing Toxins cooldown decreased from 120 to 100.
      • Paralyzing Toxins initial cooldown decreased from 60 to 30.
    • Level 4
      • Bullet count changed from 4 > 5 to 4 > 6.
      • Poison time changed from 5.5 > 7 to 6 > 7.
• 22 May 2026 - v1.91.0
  • Gamepass price decreased from 599 to 449.
    • Bug: Gifting was not discounted.
• 27 May 2026 - v1.91.4a
  • Gamepass price increased from 449 to 599.
• 5 June 2026 - v2.0.0
  • Firerate decreased due to the Firerate Bug being fixed.
  • Statistical changes (Regular):
    • Base
      • Firerate decreased from 1.225 to 1.2.
    • Level 2
      • Firerate decreased from 1.225 > 1.025 to 1.2 > 1.
    • Level 3
      • Firerate decreased from 1.025 > 0.925 to 1 > 0.9.
    • Level 4
      • Firerate decreased from 0.925 > 0.675 to 0.9 > 0.65.
  • Statistical changes (PVP):
    • Base
      • Firerate decreased from 1.125 to 1.1.
    • Level 3
      • Firerate decreased from 1.125 > 0.925 to 1.1 > 0.9.
    • Level 4
      • Firerate decreased from 0.925 > 0.675 to 0.9 > 0.65.
• 19 June 2026 - v2.1.0
  • Statistical changes (Regular):
    • Base
      • Slowdown decreased from 10% to 7.5%.
    • Level 4
      • Slowdown changed from 10% > 15% to 7.5% > 10%.
  • Bugfix: Neuralyzed now rounds down damage.
• 2 July 2026 - v2.1.7
  • New skin: Coral Princess
• 17 July 2026 - v2.3.0
  • Statistical changes:
    • Base
      • Cost increased from $575 to $775.
      • Firerate increased from 1.2 to 1.35.
      • Range increased from 11.5 to 12.5.
      • Poison time increased from 3 to 5.
    • Level 1
      • Cost decreased from $500 to $375.
      • Damage increased from +0 to +1.
      • Tick changed from 0.9 to 0.9 > 0.6.
      • Max hits decreased from +1 to +0.
    • Level 2
      • Cost increased from $1,475 to $1,850.
      • Damage decreased from +2 to +1.
      • Firerate changed from 1.2 > 1 to 1.35 > 1.
      • Range decreased from +2 to +1.
      • Poison time changed 3 > 5 to 5 > 6.
      • Max hits increased from +0 to +1.
    • Level 3
      • Cost increased from $4,850 to $5,950.
      • Firerate changed from 1 > 0.9 to 1 > 0.8.
      • Tick changed from 0.9 > 0.6 to 0.6.
      • Poison time changed 5 > 6 to 6.
    • Level 4
      • Range increased from +1.5 to +2.
      • Poison time changed from 6 > 7 to 7 > 8.
      • Neuralyze duration changed from 5 > 9 to 5 > 7.5.
• 2 August 2026 - v2.4.2a
  • Gamepass price decreased from 599 to 449.
    • Bug: Gift price has not changed.

Notes