Toad

The Morning Light Croakers, also referred to as "toads", are slightly more specialized Tier 1 units. They are kamikaze units which attack by detonating, dealing AoE damage at the cost of their own life. When a toad is within range of its target or an enemy unit nearby, it explodes dealing a large amount of damage to its primary target and a smaller amount of splash damage to the other units around it. Although unable to hit air targets, toads are able to attack structures, making them effective for base assaults as well as clearing out large clumps of enemy units. However, since they must be close to their target in order to detonate, they are vulnerable to ranged units.

Strategy
"Strategy is largely dependent on your own unit composition, your opponent's unit composition, as well as map layout and other factors. Please take these suggestions with a grain of salt." Toads are your main option for Tier 1 AoE damage. In an ideal scenario, 3 toads can take out 9 units. With their high single target damage, they are also ideal for taking out high HP targets or structures, but their main weakness is their fragility and lack of range.

Playing with toads
Toads can deal devastating damage to your opponent's army if you play your cards right. That said, as they lack speed and health, you either need a large number of toads (taking in to account that some will inevitably die trying to reach your opponent's army) or put them behind a frontline that will take damage for them as you push in so that they can get close enough. It is sometimes better to manage your toads in order to hit a unit in the middle of your enemy for more AoE damage or into a high hp target, as opposed to just the first unit they come into contact with. This comes with its own risks as your toads would need to travel further under enemy fire.

Playing against toads
Like all other melee units, toads are susceptible to being shot at from a cliff, high ground, or from the air where they can't retaliate. Additionally, unlike lizards, they do not have the advantage of speed, so you can definitely take out a few toads using squirrels and other ranged units if you can kite with them. Falcons, being airborne units that can hit ground units can take out toads without any retaliation. Snakes can also poison the toads and run before the toads can get close to do anything. In the late game, many of the Tier-3 units can deal with toads quite well in their own ways. When it come to defending against toads, try barbed wire as it slows and damages toads as they pass through, allowing your units on the other side to finish them off.

Changelog

 * Pre-Alpha 28:
 * Is now 7 DEF, up from 6
 * Will now do 18 damage to main target and 3 damage to all AOE targets
 * Pre-Alpha 25:
 * Are now 6 DEF, down from 8
 * Pre-Alpha 24:
 * Now detonate after .25 seconds, down from .50
 * Pre-Alpha 23.02:
 * Are now 8 DEF
 * Pre-Alpha 23:
 * Detonation time is now .5, up from .25
 * Pre-Alpha 16:
 * Damage now 16 (was 5)
 * Pre-Alpha 15:
 * Can no longer attack flying units
 * Pre-Alpha 14:
 * Can now attack flying units
 * Pre-Alpha 12:
 * Hitpoints now 10 (was 15)
 * Pre-Alpha 11:
 * This patch changed the “damage per 5 seconds” system to a “damage per second” system.Therefore, damage values have to be divided by 5 before they are comparable.
 * Can not attack or damage Barbed Wire anymore
 * Damage now 5 (was 10)
 * Hitpoints now 15 (was 10)
 * Pre-Alpha 9:
 * Hitpoints now 15 (was 10)
 * Pre-Alpha 6:
 * Can now attack and damage Barbed Wire
 * Pre-Alpha 5:
 * Attack cast time now 0.5s (was 0.25s)
 * No longer explodes on death
 * Pre-Alpha 4:
 * Damage now 10 (was 15)
 * Pre-Alpha 1:
 * Shortened fuse.