Apexes (Zen)

Ships

Apexes (Zen)

• You can only view and unlock the apexes for a particular ship when that ship is fully upgraded (to 6-6-6).
• Every ship has 2 apexes.
• You can buy both apexes, but only one of them is usable at any point in time.
  
  • You can switch between apexes, or switch back to the base form of the ship at any time.
• Apexes can be seen as cosmetic changes, like skins in other free-to-play games.
  • In fact, as confirmed by the devs, the price of apexes are hand set based on the appearance of the apex instead of the apex's re-adjustment / enhancement.
• Some apexes have useful changes, others not so much.
  • There are some apexes that are necessary to secure Best of Best or (specialist) Best of Best badges due to the fact some apex enhancements improve the speedrunning capabilities of the ship.

• The greek alphabet of the apexes only determines the apex price. It does not determine the re-adjustment / enhancement of the apex.

  Apex	Cost
  Alpha (α / Α)	¢5.000
  Beta (β / Β)	¢10.000
  Gamma (γ / Γ)	¢15.000
  Delta (δ / Δ)	¢20.000
  Epsilon (ε / Ε)	¢25.000
  Lambda (λ / Λ)	¢30.000
  Sigma (σ / Σ)	¢35.000
  Tau (τ / Τ)	¢40.000
  Phi (φ / Φ)	¢45.000
  Omega (ω / Ω)	¢50.000

• An easy way to remember the prices of the apexes in ascending order (since the next apex is simply an increase of ¢5.000) based on the name is through the following:
  ABCDE LoST Phoenix Order
  • The C is replaced by G for Gamma, but "Camma" sounds quite close, so it sort of works.

You may refer to this website to search up the apexes of every ship in the game: https://elegater.github.io/

This section is a generic section describing how the apex might help and/or hinder you. Main weapon upgrades or apexes for exclusive Auras / Zens available to only one ship will not be listed here, but under Ship Details itself.

An overall rating from C - X is also given to each apex.

• This rating is only a general guide.
• There are times that the apex may be more/less useful on other ships, which may boost/lower its rating.
• The first rating refers to its usefulness in daily / specialist missions.
• The second rating refers to its usefulness in community missions .
• Take these ratings as an extremely rough gauge and refer to the Advanced Tier List for the specific apex in question to get the accurate rating.

The general increase that each apex has on all of the tier categories, namely Survivability, Speedrunning & Fun Factor are also given.

• These increases are given with respect to daily / specialist missions.
• It is not the final rating applied to all apexes that are of this boost, so how the apex works with the ship will change the boosts accordingly.

The way this rating works is through a generic addition system, which is as follows:

• A "-" means there is a minor decrease the apex provides in the tier category to the sub-letter tier rating. For example,
  • A+ to A
  • A to A-
  • A- will remain as A- (special case)
• A "--" means there is a major decrease the apex provides in the tier category, likely knocking it down one letter tier rating. For example,
  • A+ to A-
  • A to B+
  • A- to B- / B / B+
• A "=" means there is no change the apex provides in the tier category, or the change is such a minor boost that there is not even an increase of the sub-letter tier rating for a ship.
• An increase of "+" means there is a minor boost the apex provides in the tier category. This means that it is likely that the apex will see an increase of the sub-letter tier rating. For example,
  • A- to A / A+
  • A to A+
  • A+ will remain as A+ (special case)
• An increase of "++" means there is a noticeable boost the apex provides in the tier category. This means that the apex will see an increase of the letter tier rating. For example,
  • B+ to A-
  • B to A-
  • S+ to X (special case)
• An increase of "+++" means there is a significant boost the apex provides in the tier category. This means that it is likely that the apex will see an increase in BOTH the letter and sub-letter tier rating. For example,
  • B- to A- / A (excludes B- to A+)
  • B to A / A+
  • B+ to A+
  • S- / S to X (special case)
• An increase of "++++" means there is a game changing boost the apex provides in the tier category. This means that it is likely that the apex will see an increase in AT LEAST 2 letter tier rating. The examples become too many to list, but here are some notable ones:
  • B- to A+ (special case)
  • Any rating to X

Take note that boosts to Beginner Friendliness or Uniqueness Factor will NOT be mentioned.

• The reason is apexes are NOT catered to beginners.
• Also, since these are generic rating boosts, uniqueness can't be applied to a collective group of apexes.

Kappa Drive Apexes

Antigrav

• Oran Beta
• Vuxine Alpha
• Zephyr Beta
• Gladius Gamma
• Marauder Alpha

Pulls in all types of particles at the same speed. Passive attraction speed is increased to ×3, while active attraction speed remains at ×15.

• In other words, gold, green and blue particles are all drawn in by Kappa Drive at the same speed with this apex
  • Normally, green and gold particles are drawn in slower than blue particles as they are heavier.

• Generally useful for offensive Auras (with the exception of Laser Storm , but no Laser Storm-Kappa Drive ships have this apex anyway) since you can exhaust your particles faster but still efficiently, resulting in faster kills.
• This, however, comes at the risk of exhausting offensive means too quickly, which might make a later heavier wave harder to deal with.
• Careful usage of this apex would be necessary for offensive Aura based ships.
• With defensive Aura ships, it can help when you are trapped.
  • However, when that happens, you would have usually already exhausted all particles on screen, rendering this apex of little help.
  • This apex is meant to be used for more pre-emptive usage, so use it to deploy your defences more pre-emptively.

Mega Laser Apexes

Focused Beam

• Tempest Delta
• Razor VI Sigma
• Arietis Epsilon
• Lorilou Epsilon

Reduces the width of Mega Laser back to 50% width of non-Ultimate Level Mega Laser, but increases Mega Laser damage to 200.

• There is a slightly lower time multiplier when Focused Beam is fired, meaning time slows slightly more.

• Helps ships that rely a lot on Mega Laser to deal damage, particularly those ships of the Lightfury class.
• Not every Mega Laser ship benefits however, since some ships use Mega Laser less, and rely on Mega Laser as a tool of bullet clearing.
• One very niche usage of this apex is that the reduced width of Mega Laser Focused Beam is enough to fit in between 2 exposed turrets of a Roc to pop off 1 of its difficult-to-reach turrets.
• Despite the increase in damage , this apex makes these ships very prone to RNG.
  • The significantly thinner Mega Laser Focused Beam means that smaller Invaders such as Herons or below can more easily dodge your Mega Laser much more easily.
  • This makes crowds very frustrating to deal with where a normal Mega Laser can still have a reasonably high chance of hitting them.

Armor Piercing (ML)

• Cinnri Lambda
• Hime Lambda
• Neni Delta

Makes Mega Laser Armor Piercing .

• Mega Laser now always does 170 damage to Armored Invaders, no matter if it hits the cockpit of the Invaders or not.
• Increases the offensive power of Mega Laser significantly (in fact 43%, since it is increased from 70% damage to 100% damage).

• If you are faced with multiple small to medium size Invaders that are all lined up, this apex can prove very useful since Mega Laser will not be able to hit all their cockpits.
  • Normal Mega Laser may not be able to wipe the entire column out while Mega Laser Armor Piercing can.
• If the column of small Invaders is not very long (not many Invaders), a normal Mega Laser will still wipe them all out and Mega Laser Armor Piercing is not useful.
• In a frontline Vulture wave, a normal Mega Laser will likely be able to do the same damage as Mega Laser Armor Piercing since you can position yourself in front of the Vulture's cockpit before it arrives, but Mega Laser Armor Piercing helps you to save yourself the trouble of doing that.
• Mega Laser Armor Piercing can be a massive help, allowing you to jump a couple of leaderboard spots up.

Double Shot

• Fujin Epsilon
• Photurius Lambda
• Hime Epsilon
• Monsoon Epsilon

Fires one Mega Laser with 100 damage that lasts the same amount of time as firing a normal Mega Laser. After a 1s delay, fires a second identical Mega Laser of 100 damage.

• The firing location of the second Mega Laser is dependent on where your ship is after the 1s delay.
• The width of both Mega Lasers is back to its pre-Ultimate status (100% width instead of 150%).

• Useful against crowds of Invaders in front as you can split the damage between 2 columns of Invaders, clearing out more smaller Invaders.
• Also useful for turret sniping as you can split the 2 Mega Lasers for 2 different turrets.
  • There is enough delay time to hop over from the leftmost turret to the rightmost turret (or vice versa) in a Vulture .
  • However, this apex can be difficult to use as you need to look ahead to figure out a decent spot to go to.
    • Otherwise the second Mega Laser can miss completely.
    • This no longer complies with the Fire and Forget nature of Mega Laser.
• In speedrunning, there may be a small reduction in DPS since your main weapon usually does not fire during the 1s delay.
  • Given how you need to repopulate the field with your main weapon projectiles again, the extra 30 damage over normal Mega Laser may not be always worth it.
  • Fortunately, in denser waves, this apex helps to prevent Mega Laser damage from getting wasted since 170 damage from normal Mega Laser at one side of the field is usually too much for dense waves.
  • The small reduction in DPS can be alleviated by going into point blank range with the Invaders.
    • This speedrunning technique, along with accurate Mega Laser Double Shot aiming at Armored Invader cockpits, is how Mega Laser Double Shot can be faster than Mega Laser Armor Piercing.
    • However, this is a difficult task to pull off, and only for the best of speedunners.
• The delay time of 1s is also sometimes a factor because for Armored Invaders, the second Mega Laser may not hit the cockpit.
• A large Invader may potentially die slower if it's already sufficiently damaged to the point a normal Mega Laser would actually kill it.
• The gameplay of such ships with this apex can be quite revolutionary due to the elimination of the Fire and Forget nature of Mega Laser and needing to actually aim a second time (after the positioning yourself for the initial charge).

Mega Bomb Apexes

EMP Core

• Veil Beta
• Krillou Alpha
• Proxymar Beta
• Qhelqod Beta

Eliminates bullets inside of the Fusion Core (which has a radius of 80) only after Mega Bomb is released, with a small delay.

• The elimination of bullets above your ship core allows you to push up slightly to deploy whatever Aura you have, making the Aura effect ever slightly more worthwhile.
• However, this apex will not save you from dying, and should not be relied upon to get you out of your Mega Bomb charging since there is some distance between Fusion Core and your ship core.
  • This means if the bullet made it too close to your ship core, Fusion Core will not eliminate that bullet and you will still die.

Compressed Blast

• Krillou Gamma
• Kada Veni Gamma
• Valkyrie Delta

Deals a flat 70 damage to all Invaders in a decreased radius of 200 (half of maxed Mega Bomb).

• Fusion Core no longer deals additional 40 damage.
• The radius of the Mega Bomb Compressed Blast is shown below, using the zoom level of Act 1 as reference:
  

• Not very useful in community missions as you do not instantly kill anything new other than Armored and Shielded Ravens , which are now severely overkilled.
  • The decrease in range means allowing more Invaders to escape Mega Bomb.
  • This usually translates to less total damage dealt to Invaders.
• In daily missions, there are some waves that are heavy.
  • This includes 4 Eagles (and some with even 2 Herons in-between them).
  • There are also waves with more than 2 Herons that make this apex capable to eliminate these heavy Invaders faster.
  • However, one needs to charge Mega Bomb close to the center of the screen, which is something not all Mega Bomb ships can do.
  • Given how spread out Invaders can be in some other waves, particularly if there are Sparrows , Ravens and/or Herons separated by heavy Invaders such as 2 Eagles or a Vulture , Mega Bomb Compressed Blast may not be able to reach them all.
    • Thus, Mega Bomb Compressed Blast only situationally improves your times .

The Fusion Core for Compressed Blast is purplish in color compared to blue in color for normal Fusion Core. The picture on the left below shows the normal Fusion Core, while the picture on the right below shows the Fusion Core for Compressed Blast (which still does 70 damage like the rest of the blast):

Extended Range (MB)

• Jn'Dur Epsilon
• Proxymar Delta
• Buhloo Gamma
• Wraith Lambda
• Kibarrax Epsilon

Increases the radius of Mega Bomb from 400 to 500.

• Benefits ships that have trouble positioning themselves to charge Mega Bomb
  • These are usually ships that have very little to no defence or those without a defensive Aura .
• You can then charge Mega Bomb much closer to the corner of the screen or near the bottom of the field and still be able to reach some of the Invaders behind.
  • This helps in later waves such as those in Act 5, or even Act 6 in community missions.
• The effects are noticeable only with Mega Bomb placements too close to the edge of the screen.
  • It simply adds a small, extra level of reliability to catch all the Ravens and Sparrows at the edge of the field.
  • This can make a difference in the world of speedrunning, since speedrunning ships have nearly none or no defence and it's not always possible to charge Mega Bomb further upfield.
• As dense and heavy waves often push Invaders far upfield and force you to be at the bottom of the screen, Mega Bomb Extended Range can help hit the Invaders all the way upfield.
• The range of normal Mega Bomb is shown on the left, while the range of Extended Range Mega Bomb is shown on the right.
  

Fast Charge

• Jn'Dur Gamma
• Juggernaut Delta
• Baqlor Lambda
• Mistral Lambda

Decreases the initial charge time of Mega Bomb by 0.2s, from 2.0s to 1.8s. Also increases the Charge Time Recovery rate from -0.1s per sec to -0.133s per sec(3s if used once and allowed to fully recover afterwards).

• Very useful due to how abusable Mega Bomb can become.
• You can charge Mega Bombs after Mega Bombs, and take even more risks than before.
• If the ship defensive means, then you can abuse Mega Bomb to no end as you can run into charge times as long as the defence holds up, which often means at least 1 or 2 more Mega Bombs in a row.
• This is not only faster, but easier since you do not need to go around the field and eliminate Invaders one by one.
• If the ship is purely offensive, the same can be done, but usually in easier mission types that don't have turrets aiming directly at you or turning too fast to aim you.

Shield Breaker (MB)

• Veil Sigma
• Baqlor Phi

Makes the Mega Bomb explosion deal 2.5 times the damage of a normal Mega Bomb on Invader shields, same as a Shield Breaker main weapon .

• Note that Fusion Core still does 40 damage, even to Invader shields.
• The shockwave damage (with the 2.5 times damage to Shields) is applied first before the Fusion Core damage.

• Completely wipes out Shielded Ravens in its wake, making it very powerful.
  • In very dense waves, just wave goodbye to the gazillion Ravens on field.
  • It is even viable to charge Mega Bomb Shield Breaker for 3 consecutive waves.
  • The 2.5 times damage to shields mean that many Invaders' shields go down very quickly after Mega Bomb is released, making this apex very powerful.
• Shielded Herons and Eagles immediately get stripped of their shields.
  • If you can land Fusion Core on a couple of Shielded Herons , they will all be obliterated.
• Shielded Vultures only require a bit more damage to strip their shield.
• For a Shielded Condor , 1 Mega Bomb coupled with a bit of the ship's main weapon would strip its shield.
• For a Shielded Roc , 2 Mega Bombs spaced out by about 4s of non-Shield Breaker main weapon damage strips its shield.
• The speed boost by this apex is very significant, which increases both speedrunning and survivability. In the case of survivability, you can start popping off turrets more quickly, meaning less bullets on field to contend with.

The picture on the left below shows the normal Fusion Core which is blue in color, while the Fusion Core for Mega Bomb (Shield Breaker) is a deeper, royal blue as shown in the picture below on the right:

The GIF below shows how Mega Bomb Shield Breaker looks like in action:

Teleport Apexes

Departure EMP

• Hunter Alpha

Creates a small Bullet EMP with a radius of 75 (normal Teleport Arrival EMP has a radius of 50) at the spot it Teleport-ed away from.

• Creates a bit more clearance space ahead of you, only if you Teleport to a location that is more downfield from the area that you Teleport-ed away from.
• If you are Teleport-ing to another side of the field however, there is no utility that this apex can provide you.
• As the use case is quite rare where you would need to Teleport to an area that is downfield from where you were, it's difficult to utilize the effects of this apex.

Trivia: According to the devs, there was supposed to be another ship that had a Teleport apex with Departure EMP, that was changed to something else. It was not revealed what that ship was.

Extended Clearance

• Tillat'Or Epsilon
• Aurora Lambda
• Prime X Tau
• Vani-Vith Sigma
• Orion Lambda
• Claymore Delta

Increases the Arrival EMP range of Teleport by 30% to a radius of 65 compared to 50 for normal Arrival EMP.

In the screenshots below, the normal Teleport Arrival EMP range is on the left, while Teleport Extended Clearance Arrival EMP range is on the right.

• Useful in Shuriken/MIRV and Dart/MIRV missions, particularly, when employing the Teleport then pushback strategy.
• The increased clearance in space makes it easier for you to pushback, especially when faced with shuriken clouds hindering your pushback.
• Other than that however, the buff provided by this apex is hardly felt in other mission types.

Double Teleport

• Trireme Tau
• Czar Delta
• Sakura Epsilon

Allows you to use a second Teleport immediately after you have arrived at your new location from the first Teleport.

• Using this second Teleport will NOT incur an additional charge time increase for your subsequent Teleport.
• The second Teleport must be done immediately/near immediately after you complete the first teleport.
• There is only just enough time for you to use one counter of your Aura , fully release your Aura (for radius based Auras) or do a very brief swipe.

• Situational based on ship, but it has a generally somewhat useful purpose for all ships with this apex.
  • Useful against MIRVs , where you can eliminate much more MIRVs and bullets.
  • Also can be useful for dart tracking turret distraction since these turrets don't fire until they achieve a very brief lock-on with your core.
    • Teleport to a corner and wait for the dart turrets to track you and fire before using the second Teleport.
• It is also possible to abuse a technique known as Graze then Teleport.
  • Basically, what you do is to purposely teleport into a dense cluster of bullets, let the second Teleport charge run for a while, then just before a bullet can hit you, Teleport out again.
  • This results in massive grazing from the cluster of bullets around you.

Explosive Arrival

• Czar Lambda
• Xaniea Lambda
• Sakura Phi
• Barret Epsilon
• Icarus Sigma
• Luna Omega

Deals 30 AoE damage in the Arrival EMP range of Teleport.

• Increases the Charge Time Increase from 0.2s to 0.3s.
• Increases the Charge Time Recovery rate from -0.067s per sec to

  -0.1s per sec.

• This means it still takes 3s to fully recover if Teleport is used once and allowed to fully recover.

• Benefits all ships with it due to the additional form of damage that can now be dealt to Invaders.
• Ships that have a long recharge time between each burst may benefit slightly more.
  • Teleport Explosive Arrival can be used to cover for periods of time where no damage is dealt, in order to finish off weakened Invaders, instead of wasting its powerful main weapon burst to finish off the job.
• It also benefits ships that suffer from Invader crowds.
  • Particularly, against Sparrows and Unprotected Ravens since Teleports wipe them off the field immediately.
• As Teleport is the most abusable Zen with a non-zero charge increase time, it turns any ship with it into a speedrunning ship that can deal devastating AoE damage frequently.
  • Can even be used twice in a row without much implications, provided Teleport has cooled down.
• Even though the AoE may be small, you can pre-charge Teleport and let it run until you find for the perfect opportunity where many Invaders get together.
  • BOOM, Teleport on them to deal lots of AoE damage.
  • It's just like the Tele-frag technique.
• 30 AoE damage is extremely significant, which changes some main weapon interactions with Invaders.
• The only thing you would want to take note for this apex is that the RNG factor associated with this apex is very high, particularly since Teleport Explosive Arrival obliterates Unprotected Ravens and Sparrows , which are the Invaders with the highest RNG movement.
  • If you are gunning for the top with these Teleport Explosive Arrival apexes, prepare for a ton of frustration trying to get good bunch-ups of Invaders, particularly in earlier Acts.
  • But if you are simply looking for some fun, you can use this apex without stressing over not getting too frustrated over sub-optimal placements.

Reflex EMP Apexes

Extended Range (REMP)

• Saber Epsilon
• Uhb Epsilon
• Scuuxun Tau
• Nimbus Epsilon
• Zimitr Epsilon

NB: Yigothu Omega does count as Extended Range Reflex EMP, although it also has an additional enhancement which is Manual Trigger (Works like Mega Bomb, when charged, re-engage piloting to trigger the Reflex EMP). For Yigothu Omega, the apex name is Serenity.

Increases the radius of Reflex EMP by 22.2%, from 225 to 275.

• Potentially deal damage to some Invaders that are normally outside the normal Reflex EMP radius .
• Also a defensive buff since more bullets are cleared, which is definitely a welcome addition.
• Benefits some ships more than others.
  • Ships that have difficult main weapons aiming benefit more, like those with a narrow range cone and those with no to little main weapon homing capability.
  • This is because you need to push yourself upfield less to deal the same amount of AoE damage as normal Reflex EMP.
  • Ultimately, this translates to you being able to go back down the bottom of the field after launching Reflex EMP for damage much more quickly.
  • This means potentially less wasted DPS from your projectiles or main weapon being unable to hit Invaders on your way back down.
• In dense waves, the extended range catches more Invaders, especially when going upfield can be dangerous.
  • Also enables you to deal against the insane onslaught of bullets in higher rank missions.

High Damage (REMP)

• Shogun Sigma
• Predator Delta
• AB8/Klyn Sigma
• Lyova Lambda
• Starless Sigma
• Jeria Sigma

Increases the AoE damage of Reflex EMP from 20 to 30.

• Very useful under all circumstances.
• 30 damage means Reflex EMP instantly kills Unprotected Ravens , making all ships with this apex very viable for Unprotected missions, even for ships that were not originally designed for Unprotected missions.
• Also heavily damages Armored and Shielded Ravens , rendering them extremely vulnerable to your main weapon .
  • Pesky Ravens hiding behind a Vulture can be taken out quickly, before the frontline Vulture's turrets start to wreck havoc.
  • Even tracking turrets usually don't have enough time to flood the upfield, so you can often head back down safely through one side of the field.
• With the same AoE radius, and a pretty significant buff to the damage , the increase in total damage being dealt to Invaders with a correctly launched Reflex EMP is huge.
• The satisfying compounded sound of the Reflex EMP dealing damage to the gazillion Invaders on field either completely obliterates Unprotected Ravens or severely damages other affinities of Ravens, leaving them so vulnerable to the slightest touch of an offensive Aura or your main weapon .
  • The increase in overall damage dealt from an increase in 10 AoE damage is simply understated and unexplainable, compared to a normal Reflex EMP. This makes any such ship with this apex a tremendous boost over its base form.
• Having Reflex EMP deal 30 damage is basically an extremely fast charging version of Mega Bomb , without the Fusion Core damage.
  • In exchange for the 40 Fusion Core damage, you have very fast charging AoE damage and even bullet clearance.
  • The latter advantage is the reason why Reflex EMP High Damage Apexes do so much better in bullet heavy missions than Mega Bomb ships.
• The AoE damage is so powerful, that you would really only need to use Reflex EMP as defence in very heavy waves, such as when fighting a Condor , Roc , Vulture or against 4 or more Eagles .
  • All other Invaders would be dead before they can even flood the field with bullets and lasers .

Personal Shield Apexes

Supersize

• Phoenix Beta
• Atlas Alpha
• Lokie Alpha
• NC-271 Beta
• Zhetass Gamma

Increases the radius of Personal Shield from 50 to 80.

• Actually quite useful.
• Ships with this apex are also generally quite cheap to purchase, which makes this apex a worthwhile investment.
• The most obvious buff is the fact you can potentially reflect more lasers since the area of laser catch is much wider.
  • This usually makes for much larger laser reflection damage compared to normal Personal Shield since some T1 low Mk lasers that have poor tracking ability may not be able to target your core in time.
• A second more useful and less obvious buff is the fact that the Personal Shield Supersize can clear a lot more bullets than normal Personal Shield.
  • The increase in diameter also means you can clear away much more space and open up more pathways for you to escape after exiting Personal Shield.
  • Combined with the Phase Out time of Personal Shield, where the bigger Phase Out Personal Shield can clear even more bullets, this apex turns Personal Shield into a viable bullet defense, increasing the survivability of the ships with this apex against bullets.

Shield Booster

• Centurion Epsilon

Increases the time in which Personal Shield is still active after re-engaging touch from 0.2s to 0.6s.

• Max duration is not affected.
• If the Personal Shield is allowed to fully expire, this apex also has no effect.

• An interesting apex which turns Personal Shield into a pseudo 360° Phalanx .
• Using this apex, the more you move, the more bullets you are able to eliminate.
• The more daring you are willing to take this apex, the better it'll get.
• Unlike Phalanx, you can shovel in any direction you want, or even shovel in a weird S shape.
  • You can use this flexibility to eliminate pellets released from MIRVs even if they are spread across a wide wavefront.
  • It's a very good get out of bullet jail apex which allows you to change sides of the field, particularly when a gigantic shuriken cloud has blocked your way.

Focus

• Jericho Gamma
• Gorthaur Alpha
• Zhetass Beta

Increases the Charge Time Recovery rate from -0.333s per second to -0.5s per second (4s if used once and allowed to fully recover afterwards). Also decreases the base Charge Time from 0.4s to 0.3s.

• Makes Personal Shield ships with this apex much more survivable ships due to the increased ability to deploy Personal Shield.
• In longer waves, such as heavier waves in Act 5 of Marshal rank, you can use it twice.
  • This is particularly useful especially against speed lasers , which reload quickly.
  • You can now use Personal Shield every 2 rounds of T2/T3/T4 speed lasers aiming at you.

Super Reflect

• NC-150 Beta
• Essin Gamma
• Torrent Beta
• Njörun Gamma
• Widget Delta

Makes Personal Shield deal 5 times the normal Laser Reflection damage only if a laser hits Personal Shield within 0.6s after fully charged (in real-time, 0.8s).

• An octagon shaped Personal Shield indicates this duration, and lasers reflected during this duration will have an extra large width.
• If a laser is incident on Personal Shield within this duration, the 5 times damage is applied to the entirety of that laser's duration (until the source is destroyed or the laser ceases).
• If a laser is incident on Personal Shield after this duration, normal damage is applied to it.
• Each laser is treated individually. This especially applies to speed lasers and lasers that are fired just slightly later.

Below is an image of along with how the octagon shaped Personal Shield looks like and how a super reflected laser looks like, in reference to a normal Invader laser (normal reflected lasers have the same width but they are purplish in color, the same as the color of the super reflected laser in this screenshot).

• Who doesn't welcome some SERIOUS extra damage, right?
  • With quite a bit of practice, you will be able to identify the correct timing to release your touch such that the lasers will hit your octagon shaped Personal Shield to deal extra laser reflect damage.
  • The super reflected lasers still suffer from the random targeting nature.
    • It is therefore possible that not all Invaders may die even with many lasers on field. Bigger Invaders are very likely to go down.
    • If the laser turrets are all in front, then the Invaders behind are unlikely to be affected.
• This apex is the most useful against Condors and Rocs as lasers from these Invaders either heavily damage or completely decimate these Invaders.
  • As a reference, 8 lasers super reflected (with a bit of prior damage to a Roc's shield with a 34.375 DPS Shield Breaker main weapon ) instantly destroys a Shielded Roc .
  • Never again will you have to face such a difficult Condor or Roc filled with both lasers and insane bullet spinners.
  • Just beware of the next wave because they can be very deadly and you will not have enough time for Personal Shield to recover to reflect the next wave of lasers .
• This apex is also useful if most of the lasers come from upfield, and there are Invaders downfield to tank the damage, since there is significantly less chance that the super reflected lasers are able to directly hit the source of the lasers, so they will deal the full super reflected damage.
• However, against speed lasers , Super Reflect apexes are less useful since speed lasers fire in shorter bursts compared to normal lasers, which means super reflected speed lasers will do only as much damage as normal reflected lasers.
  • Speed lasers also reload very quickly, making it difficult to use a second Super Reflect Personal Shield against them.
  • Another issue is that speed lasers don't all activate at the same time, making it very difficult to have all the speed lasers be super reflected back at Invaders.
  • Personal Shield Super Reflect still beats normal Personal Shield, but its effects are not as noticeable.
• For most other waves, this apex is generally not very useful as it is difficult to reflect lasers from upfield Invaders to hit frontline Invaders.
  • It is more efficient to use an Aura which refills very quickly, particularly in dense waves.
  • The slow recovery rate of Personal Shield also make this apex slightly harder to use, and is best reserved only for heavy waves.
• Because community missions features significantly less amount of lasers , the effects of this apex is a bit more difficult to feel.
  • Thankfully, community missions don't feature speed lasers so Super Reflect apexes can still deal full super reflected damage where possible.

Focus Lance Apexes

High Voltage

• Disaris Sigma

Stuns turrets for 0.6s at the impact point within a radius of 25.

• There is no point to stun a turret when Focus Lance can simply be used to delete the turret entirely.
• Focus Lance's usage is better realized to destroy Ravens rather than doing turret popping. (I mean, eliminate 2 turrets from a Raven rather than 1 turret, right?)
• It's possible only usage only comes when dealing against Condors or Rocs where one Focus Lance cannot pop it off.
  • Even so, stunning one turret very briefly does very little help, especially on exposed turrets of Condors and Rocs that often reload quickly.

FTL (Faster Than Light)

• Warden Sigma

Turns the Focus Lance into a vertical laser with zero travel time to deal piercing damage to all targets once charged.

• Not to be confused with the game of the same name, this apex alleviates the RNG associated with Invaders moving about.
  • This is particularly relevant as Ravens can often dodge the Focus Lance being launched at them.
  • With only one factor at play which is the charging time, rather than both the charging time of Focus Lance and the travel time of Focus Lance, this apex makes Focus Lance a bit more responsive and easier to play with as Ravens have less time to dodge the Focus Lance.
  • Sparrows however, are still too nimble to catch with the FTL Focus Lance.
• The elimination of one factor at play also means a re-adjustment in how you pre-fire Focus Lance.

Lance Wake

• Reaper Lambda

Makes Focus Lance clear bullets in its path, just like an Vorpal Lance's Vorpal Wake Ultimate .

On the left is how a normal Focus Lance looks like, while on the right is how the Lance Wake Focus Lance looks like:

• Just as how useful you may find Vorpal Wake to be, especially in Full Offence ships, this apex makes ships without a defensive Aura a bit more survivable as riding a lance can save your life, particularly when completely cornered with no way out.
• Given that Focus Lance can be somewhat abused, you won't find yourself trapped so easily when you could charge Focus Lance again after quite a short time.
• However, unlike Vorpal Lance where you can stockpile lances, this is a one-time use for quite some time so be sure to plan a proper place to shoot it at to get out of tight situations.
  • It is best to pick a thin wall where you are comfortable to ride out of.

Expert Focus

• Banshee Sigma
• Stinger Lambda

Decrease the base Charge Time of Focus Lance from 0.35s to 0.3s and increases the Charge Recovery Time rate from -0.25s per second to -0.333s per second (3s if used once and allowed to fully recover afterwards).

• Being able to abuse Focus Lance more definitely makes Focus Lance ships slightly more fun to play with, when you can tear through Invader lines a bit more often.
• Particularly, this apex allows you to use Focus Lance twice in a wave in Act 4 and 5 of higher ranks, or use an Focus Lance every wave in Act 3.
• Knowing this, however, means that you need to be prepared to find a good spot to fire off a second Focus Lance mid-wave.
• Increasing the recovery time of Focus Lance still does not make Focus Lance very abusable, compared to Vorpal Lance which is much easier to abuse.

Clover ATS Apexes

Ion Warheads (CATS)

• Esperon Sigma

Makes each missile of Clover ATS stun turrets for 0.6s within a radius of 50 at the point of impact.

• The stun time does not stack with multiple missiles hitting the same Invader.

• With only 4 missiles from Clover ATS, at best, it would only stun 4 turrets.
• However, the situation is far from ideal as Clover ATS will more likely hit downfield Invaders first, which are more likely to be smaller Invaders like Ravens or Herons .
  • As Ravens die easily from just 2 missiles of Clover ATS, it's more likely that the Clover ATS missiles would not even reach more dangerous turrets on bigger Invaders like Vultures .
• With only 4 missiles, and no control over them, it is very difficult to ascertain that the missiles will hit a dangerous turret at all.
• Due to limited amount of turrets this apex can stun, more likely than not, it will cause the turrets to be de-synchronized instead, which potentially causes more problems
  • Especially when Clover ATS missiles hits some lasers and not other lasers.

Double Clover

• Pandora Lambda

Doubles the number of missiles in Clover ATS from 4 to 8. Total damage stays the same.

• The damage of each missile is now 9 instead of 18.

• This apex alleviates some of the flaws of Clover ATS.
  • Having each missile deal 9 damage reduces the overkill of Clover ATS missiles on Sparrows .
• Armored and Shielded Ravens still require 4 missiles of Double Clover ATS
• Unprotected Ravens , which have precisely 27 health, requires only 3 Double Clover ATS missiles.
  • This is almost equivalent to simply 2 missiles of normal Clover ATS, so there is not much difference.
• Thus, this apex is only good against waves with mostly Sparrows with some other Invaders.
• It is usually easier to just eliminate the Sparrows first before launching Clover ATS.

Shield Breaker (CATS)

• Naya Phi

Makes the missiles of Clover ATS deal 2.5 times the normal damage to Invader shields.

• Allows Clover ATS to deal 180 damage to Invader shields, which is significant.
  • However, this is only useful if the full burst of Clover ATS hits a Shielded Roc or Condor .
    • With a welcoming party usually present, you will need to completely eliminate the welcoming party first before charging Clover ATS.
  • The recovery time of Clover ATS means that before the next Clover ATS Shield Breaker can be fired, the shield of a Roc or Condor would be already downed.
• No change of interaction between the Clover ATS missiles and Ravens or Sparrows .
  • 2 Clover ATS missiles will still take out a Shielded Raven anyway.
  • For Herons , it is possible that 3 Clover ATS Shield Breaker missiles will now take out a Shielded Heron instead of 4.
  • For other Invaders, 4 Clover ATS Shield Breaker missiles would still not be enough to destroy them, but it would help to eliminate them faster.
  • It is likely possible to see the effects of Clover ATS Shield Breaker by seeing how Eagles and Vultures will start catching more fire compared to normal Clover ATS.