Laser in Sir, We Have an Orc Problem: Bounces and Range

Last reviewed: 12 September 2026 · Newest game update reflected: 2026.08.18.12.05 (18 August 2026). The laser is the only turret on this site whose value depends on the shape of the map rather than on the orcs in front of it. Fifteen bounces and 550 range mean a single beam fired into a narrow corridor keeps hitting the same column on the way back — and every level page here that documents a corridor, documents a laser aimed into it.

The numbers

Figures from the player-measured sheet by the Steam user Mrlazy, self-dated 31 July 2026, as reproduced on the all turrets page. They are not official numbers, and the laser is the one turret this site explicitly flags as most likely to have drifted since — see the patch section below.

What 15 bounces are actually for

Against a straight-line column the laser's 27.5 DPS is the second-lowest damage figure among the five turrets that list a DPS at all, above only the gunner's 12. Fired into geometry, the number stops being the point. The turret roles page describes a laser aimed down a corridor as ricocheting along its length and hitting the same wave repeatedly, and files it as a power turret on that basis rather than on its damage.

A commenter on aerouge's 6.1 layout, quoted on the 6.1 page, put the realisation plainly: they had "totally forgot about lasers bouncing in tight spaces." That is the whole learning curve of this turret in one sentence — it is not that the laser is stronger than the table says, it is that its output is multiplied by walls a player has to notice and use.

The flat-section problem

The counterweight is a caveat the all turrets page repeats from a Steam strategy guide: many slanted surfaces in this game have flat sections, so a beam aimed carelessly at a slope bounces somewhere useless. A laser is therefore the one turret where placement angle is a real decision rather than a rounding error, and the 4.2 build order turns that into a rule — angle the laser so the bounce stays inside the corridor instead of escaping into open ground.

aerouge's own refinement notes for 6.1 point the same way. One of his listed improvements is to angle the upper-right lasers more perpendicular, because that is what had worked better in the other corridors on the map. That is a player tuning bounce geometry after a successful clear, which tells you the margin between a good and a wasted laser is large.

Where lasers are documented working

• 3.2 — the laser is one of the two branches a reviewer names as effectively mandatory before that stage. The page's argument is that a laser corridor scales multiplicatively where more cannons scale linearly, and that this is the exact point where linear stops being enough.
• 4.2 — Broseidon's per-chokepoint squad puts one bouncing laser in each of the level's eight chokes, alongside a flamethrower, a gunner and a tesla coil.
• 5.2 — jeffk114 asks for long-range lasers plus slow grenades, bounced north-to-south at the top and bottom of each lip, and calls the result a "laser fence of bouncing death." The second player on that thread, Sulphuric_Glue, cleared the same level without lasers unlocked at all, which is a useful counterweight: the laser is the strong answer on 5.2, not the only one.
• 1.1 — itsuno's single-turret, no-ability achievement was done with one laser and a good bounce setup, which is the most compressed demonstration available that bounce geometry can carry a level on its own.

The patch that changed how it fires

The laser is the only turret with a documented post-launch change. Update 2026.08.02.13.35, logged on the update history page, added an upgrade that lets the laser fire in a straight line without sway. Several published 6.1 layouts lean on that behaviour, which means a layout written before 4 August 2026 and a layout written after it may be describing subtly different turrets.

Neither announcement restates base stats, so the table above stays as measured — but of the seven turrets, this is the one where a mismatch between the sheet and your game is most expected.

Where it is weaker than it looks

Two limits. First, 1.7 shots per second is the second-slowest rate on the table, ahead only of the mortar's 1.4, so a laser whose bounce is misaligned loses a lot per miss. Second, the bounce needs walls: nothing on this site documents a laser performing above its DPS line in open ground, and Sulphuric_Glue's lip setup, built on flamethrowers, mortars, gunners and cannons instead, is the closest thing here to a demonstration that a map can be solved without one.

What we have not confirmed

We do not know how many bounces a laser has before the bounce branch is upgraded, or what the no-sway upgrade costs — the upgrade grind page records that no verifiable source publishes tier-by-tier data for any turret. We also cannot say whether the 15-bounce figure was measured before or after the August sway change, since the sheet is dated 31 July 2026 and the patch shipped on 4 August. Treat the bounce count as the best available number rather than a current one.

Sources on this site

Stats, the flat-section caveat and the laser-wall description: all turrets. Corridor reasoning and the power role: turret roles. Player layouts: 4.2, 5.2, 6.1. Branch priority: 3.2 and upgrade grind. The single-turret clear: all achievements. The sway upgrade: update history. Terms used above: glossary.