Be the Citys Villain Flight, Lasers, Slam, Blast

Four powers define Be the Citys Villain: Flight, Heat Vision, Ground Slam, and Chest Blast. This page ranks them for mobility, destruction (wanted income), and survival against tanks, gunships, mechs, and rival supers. It is community meta guidance inferred from the loop No brainer studio shipped — not an official balance table.

If you only remember one line: buy the ability to leave the street before you buy a bigger crater. The upgrade priority page turns that line into a bounty order. The bounty spend guide is the in-run checklist.

Ranking rules

• S — You feel the missing upgrade every death.
• A — Core damage or burst. You still win without maxing it first.
• B — Situational or timing-taxed. Strong in a window, expensive outside it.

We rank the power, not a single shop node. “Flight S” means the whole mobility axis (takeoff speed, air control, hover stamina if the live build has it). A cheap first Flight buy can be more important than a fifth slam radius node.

S — Flight

Flight is the reason the fantasy works and the reason the army does not instantly delete you. The official pitch is “fly, melt steel, drop a block.” If you cannot fly well, you only get the last third of that sentence, and the last third is where tanks live.

Why S for survival. Gunships own horizontal sightlines. Mechs own the block you just opened. Tanks own the boulevard. Verticality is the only consistent answer that does not require a lucky Chest Blast. Rival supers at 55 / 75 / 90 still have to chase a villain who is not standing in their slam pit.

Why S for wanted. Heat Vision is dramatically better from a stable hover than from a sprint across rubble. Flight is the platform the laser sits on. Players who skip Flight and “just laser from rooftops” still get boxed in when the rooftop becomes a crater.

When Flight is not the click. The first ten seconds of a brand-new run, when no army has spawned and you can slam two storefronts for seed bounty. After that, every death that starts with “I was still on the pavement” is a Flight debt.

Practice takeoff after every slam. The landing is the vulnerability; the leave is the skill. Controls is worth a pass if your hover is drunken on mobile.

S–A — Heat Vision

Heat Vision is the safest wanted engine. You stay in the air, you pick a facade, you melt steel, you move. It is also the best answer to “I cannot Ground Slam because a tank is looking at the intersection.”

Damage role. Consistent building deletion. Not always the fastest burst on a full block — slam still wins a quiet street — but the most repeatable deletion once gunships exist.

Survival role. Range is extra health. Every meter of laser reach is a meter you do not stand in mech stomp. Against rival supers, Heat Vision is poke and interrupt, not a true execute. Do not try to win a 90-wanted duel exclusively with a beam if Chest Blast is off cooldown.

Why it can dip to A. If you tunnel the beam and fly in a straight line, gunships still win. Heat Vision without Flight control is a glow stick. Buy enough laser to farm from altitude, then go back to air upgrades. See the upgrade powers shop discussion.

A (early) / B (late) — Ground Slam

Ground Slam is the trailer beat: drop a whole city block, wanted meter jumps, bounty rains. It is also the power that gets new villains killed at the first hunter breakpoint.

Early A–S window (wanted ~0–40). Army density is low. A slam chain across two intersections can fund your first real Flight and Heat Vision nodes. If you never slam in this window you will feel poor.

Late B window (wanted 55+). The slam is still strong damage. The timing tax is the problem. You commit to the ground. Tanks, mechs, and rival supers all love a committed target. If you slam, you must have a practiced takeoff and a pre-picked exit vector. Slam into a street you have not cleared of armor and you are donating a highlight.

Co-op exception. A dedicated slam villains can keep farming if a partner peels with lasers and Chest Blast. That is a role, not a license to skip Flight. Co-op tips spells out the split.

A — Chest Blast

Chest Blast is the burst button: a forward dump of power for clustered facades, awkward mechs, and rival supers who refuse to respect your hover. It is not a wanted-farm primary. Spamming it on empty sidewalks is how you go dry before 75.

Why A, not S. You can reach 99 with modest blast upgrades if Flight and Heat Vision are real. You cannot reach 99 with max blast and a drunk hover.

Why not B. At 55 / 75 / 90 the hunters are the run. A stored Chest Blast is the difference between a kite and a reset. Hold it for the super, not for the third lamp post.

Aiming note. Treat it like a shotgun, not a second Heat Vision. Close enough to matter, not so close that a mech backhand lands. The survive the army page covers spacing.

Mobility vs damage vs survival (one glance)

Power	Mobility	Destruction	Survival	Wanted 99 value
Flight	S	B (enabler)	S	Highest
Heat Vision	C	S	A	Highest for farming
Ground Slam	D (commits you)	S early	C–D late	High only with an exit
Chest Blast	C	B (burst)	A at breakpoints	High at 55+

Destruction without survival is a fast 40 and a faster death. Survival without destruction is a scenic hover that never pays for the next node. The live game wants you to oscillate: slam when the street is quiet, laser when the sky is busy, blast when a rival commits, fly always.

Common ranking mistakes

“Slam is the game.” Slam is the hook. The game is wanted versus army. Hooks do not pay gunship tax.

“I will max one power.” Mid-run bounty is a stream, not a respec. Spreading into Flight + laser with a modest slam is usually stronger than a single maxed crater.

“Chest Blast is weak because buildings take two hits.” Buildings are not the test. Hunters are.

“Flight is just QoL.” In this design, QoL is HP.

How to use this list in a real run

1. Seed bounty with a couple of slams or close-range lasers.
2. Buy Flight until takeoff is instant and hover is stable.
3. Buy Heat Vision until you can delete a facade without hugging it.
4. Sprinkle slam only if you still have a quiet district.
5. Keep a Chest Blast node in reserve before you cross 55.
6. From 75 onward, spend like a survivor who happens to be a demolitionist.

Then go win. The Reach Wanted 99 guide is the route; this page is the kit philosophy. Recheck after patches on the Updates Hub.