Toad does not exist in isolation, though. It exists in a factory where almost every unit is brutal flex-AA:
- Puppy is epic point-defense against bombers, especially dive bombers like Raven, as well as most gunships if it can close the distance. Cylinder range means you can't hide in the sky from the dogs of war.
- Pyro can jump, set units on fire, and does quite a lot of damage. This is considered mediocre in Jump as far as flex-AA goes.
- Moderator. Do i even need to say anything? Slow, alpha, decent range, perfect accuracy. Flying into a bunch of these as any kind of air is resignable most of the time.
- Placeholder. Traps gunships and planes (or used to, idk if nerfed now) about as brutally as Newtons do.
- Jugglenaut. #1 solution to point-defense against Likhos, pretty much guarantees that at least one bomber of any raid is not coming back if it's trapped by attractive gravity.
- Constable. Even the freaking constructor can contribute to anti-air (albeit only in support role).
- Jack and Skuttle are unique in not being good at flex. inb4
mojjj jumps into the convo to mention his stunts like killing krow with skuttle.
So given all these options, when do you even need Toad at all? That's when you fight something that can escape the puppy and pyro while outranging Moderator and Placeholder and not coming into range of Jugglenaut to be torn to shreds (including when Jugg jumps in your face to rapidly close distance). This something is uniquely the Nimbus.
And that is is what Toad does in the lineup. Maybe it should do more, idk, but i think it's important to consider everything else around it before you buff jump even further.