Auras & Zens Comparisons

Ships

Auras & Zens Comparisons

Comparison between various Auras & Zens. Apexes are considered where relevant.

In this section, we will be comparing some similar Auras and Zens and see how they fare against each other. Apexes are not considered in the baseline comparison, but will be mentioned if it is relevant. Some Auras and Zens are not included because they are too different from others, but feel free to submit your suggestions on what can be compared! Some comparisons are clear cut and don't need so much explanation and will be briefly touched on below:

VL vs GM

Winner: VL, unless you use the Tungsten Warhead apex of GM.

VL sweeps the field much faster than GM due to the fast speed of VL. GMs move slowly which makes it much more difficult to sweep the field of invaders because you have to manually position yourself both horizontally and vertically in the correct ideal spot to launch GMs. On the other hand, with VL you only need the correct horizontal position, with the vertical position mattering much less.

This being said, however, GMs have a large blast radius while VL's radius is very thin in a straight line. This makes RNG much more of a factor in VL than GMs, as excellent and consistent speedrunners with GMs sweep fast with GMs, which means there is little RNG at play. With VL, experienced speedrunners can sweep left to right quickly, but the need to move horizontally coupled with the RNG movements of Ravens and Sparrows means VL is not a guaranteed hit against them. This makes GM ships more consistent in speedrunning than VL ships.

With Disintegrator Warhead apex that GM has, it makes GM speedrunning even more consistent and easier due to the fact it can clear bullets to quickly jump between the target spots you need to throw GMs at.

With the Twin Lance apex, it makes VL slightly more consistent in speedrunning, but there is still a fair lot of RNG at play.

The picture changes with the Tungsten Warhead GM vs VL in armored missions. The capability of Tungsten Warhead GM to wipe out any Armored Ravens even in its blast radius make Tungsten Warhead the clear winner over VL, which struggles against RNG, while GM has significantly less RNG, and can wipe out Ravens with extreme reliability in the hands of the skilled that can sweep fast.

VL vs FL

VL clearly wins, even with the Lance Wake apex FL has.

SEMP vs IC

Winner: Unless you are dealing against Rocs or Condors, SEMP is the clear winner.

IC struggles against Vultures since you need to use 2 ICs since you must quickly move horizontally to throw ICs on BOTH sides of the Vulture. Meanwhile, SEMP doesn't have the same problem since it's large radius more often than not, allows it to reach all of its turrets. SEMP usually stuns everything else as well since a Vulture is so huge, so you are more likely to be able to disable the whole field of turrets. On the other hand, throwing ICs against Vultures just don't let you stun the rest of the invader turrets effectively without having a large stockpile of ICs. Stunning Eagles with IC can sometimes even prove difficult when you don't have the maneuvering space, so sometimes you only stun 2 out of 3 of its turrets.

The only other characteristic of IC, aside from the fact that 2 ICs are sufficient to keep a Condor or Roc stunned, that has an advantage has over SEMP is the fact that if any turret of an invader is stunned, the invader freezes in place. This allows it one to set up Zen charging upfield safely without the worry of turret collision. Unfortunately, this only really benefits MB (which means only Dragonfly), as Zens like ML, FL & CATS are usually charged at the bottom of the screen. REMP's short charging time also means that turret collision is not really a problem as well. There is also little reason to use any form of defensive Zen like Kappa, TP & PS, unless you are using them as mobility tools to allow you to stun the next invader. (Do note however, Barret Epsilon is a special case; Using Explosive TP after stunning with IC works quite well.) As MB is often effective only in denser waves, the inability of throwing several ICs to effectively stun all turrets on field means charging MB after throwing all required ICs to stun the field is a dangerous and impractical strategy.

The only real advantage to using ICs is against Rocs and Condors. While SEMP is only at most effective for 2 rounds, ICs can last longer with a full stockpile of 6 ICs. Unfortunately, 4 ICs have the equivalent stunning power of 2 SEMPs. On the plus side for ICs, it's not always easy to keep particles around for 2 SEMPs. Also, having 6 ICs (although impractical most of the time) is still a possibility (and sometimes, one can always stockpile from the previous waves if such dangerous Condors or Rocs really call for it), unlike having only 2 SEMPs at max which may or may not be sufficient.

BEMP vs PD

Winner: For purposes of survivability, BEMP. For speedrunning purposes, PD can sometimes excel over BEMP.

Majority of time, the answer would be BEMP. Especially in the higher ranks, where bullet density is extremely high, BEMP will work better since it disregards how many bullets there are. So long the bullets are in range of the Aura, they will be eliminated. However, for lower ranks, PD will work much better since the bullet density is much less. Furthermore, PD doesn't deplete all in one go which allows you to still clear bullets even after using PD for a while.

However, PD works much better against dense Sparrow waves which come equipped with Caged MIRVs. This is because unless you have an AoE Zen damage means, Sparrows will die one or few at a time, making it difficult to get rid of all their pellets at once.

PD can also better if you simply need to position yourself laterally slightly. BEMP is more of a panic button when there is just too many bullets on field and too much going on you need a break from it all. PD allows you to position yourself to one side without burning too much Aura, while BEMP can sometimes be an overkill and clear too much space where not necessary. When you need to move laterally again slightly, you would still have enough Aura to move sideways, while with BEMP, bullets may now block your way.

PD is usually better against faster bullets since they come in less quantities and will hold up longer against them. However, darts may still be very plentiful and BEMP may work better when faced with a massive dart barrage. Against boomerangs however, PD works much better due to the fact that BEMP can reset boomerang turrets, which causes them to fire again.

PD also works much better for speedrunning, since it is not a one time use. This can be used to stay close to invaders to optimize your main weapon or deploy fast charging offensive Zens with less worry that you will run out of Aura to defend yourself. BEMP is generally only sufficient to stay close to at best, a Heron before you likely have to retreat downfield.

Majority of time, BEMP works better than PD due to the high bullet density in higher ranks, which overall eliminates more bullets than PD.

For extremely desperate survivability where you are desperately grazing off bullets and forced to use the minimum Aura size, both BEMP and PD work equally well, although BEMP might be just marginally better with it's slightly larger size (depending on how much you grazed before spamming Aura).

With PD's EMP Laser Apex, PD becomes far superior to BEMP, but only in Shuriken/MIRV missions. The energy consumption of the PD EMP Laser apex is just so efficient in terms of energy to number of eliminated bullets. It is simply unmatched by BEMP. In other missions, the rather slow acting nature and the small radius for each laser of the PD EMP Laser Apex makes PD quite difficult to use. Granted, it is likely you will never run out of Aura due to the slow Aura depletion rate, but it makes you more vulnerable to fast moving bullets. BEMP is able to to deal effectively against fast moving bullets (except boomerangs), so the PD EMP Laser Apex isn't as great here.

A skilled user of the PD EMP Laser Apex will be able to survive indefinitely against a bullet entourage by skillfully avoiding the faster bullets. However, boomerangs will still be a huge problem since you have to dodge them, since PD EMP Laser won't help you eliminate them. While it seems like the PD EMP Laser Apex is great at surviving against bullets, it fails against any form of laser fire, since the slow acting nature of the PD EMP Laser Apex makes strafing fast enough to avoid slow tracking lasers or invaders moving about with spread lasers very difficult. In contrast, BEMP can usually clear enough space to strafe effectively enough to avoid laser fire.

BEMP vs Phalanx

Winner: BEMP, although Phalanx should not be undermined

BEMP will usually excel over Phalanx. However, Phalanx works well in some situations. Particularly, Phalanx excels better under heavier waves, or front-heavy waves where Eagles or above are the frontmost invaders. When you have BEMP, after using it once, you would run out of defensive options (unless you have a defensive Zen), and grazing bullets tightly will result in only a small radius to use in desperate bursts. This is usually not useful against faster bullets such as darts, and particularly, boomerangs where a small BEMP does almost nothing. In contrast, with Phalanx, you are able to effectively pull off 6 decently sized BEMPs, which holds you up for a longer duration to get rid of the heavy invaders in front. That being said, it is possible to conserve enough particles for a second decently sized BEMP to last you long enough. However, after using the second BEMP, you are on your own to dodge and graze tight, especially against boss invaders which are Condors and Rocs.

Both Auras work well with long charging Zens which are ML and MB, since they both protect you long enough to charge them completely. With Phalanx however, you will likely need to sacrifice that one charge to do so. The same can be said for BEMP, where after using BEMP you would have no defences left. That being said, it's usually not a problem for BEMP since particles would be available for you after charging such a Zen. Take note that both Auras will not always guarantee your safety depending on bullet speed (for both Auras), bullet density (for Phalanx) and clearance space (for both Auras).

Barrier vs Phalanx

Winner: Barrier

The only time where Phalanx might be better is like in the case of BEMP vs Phalanx, which is dealing against heavy or front heavy waves. Barriers may not last you the full duration, while Phalanx can get you out of tight situations for up to 6 times. However, you can prepare for such a heavy wave by putting many barriers upfield.

Unlike BEMP, a small barrier works wonders. The smallest barrier will block off a large barrage of bullets, and even withstand against one burst of lasers under almost all circumstances. Even though the small barrier will start to fade almost immediately, it is this Phase Out duration which will keep you protected for quite a while. Be sure to trap a few bullets from lanes inside your small barrier so that you can continue to graze off them to try to get another barrier up as soon as possible. Note that unlike BEMP, it is much harder to get the minimum Aura size for Barrier compared to BEMP.

Barriers even protect you from any burst of normal lasers, so long it is deployed just before laser fire. In contrast, Phalanx may not always deal well against laser fire, and may require you to burn away up to 3 charges of Phalanxes. When faced with bullet lanes such as from darts or pellets, Barrier will likely hold up from grazing by deploying the minimum barrier size. In contrast, it is difficult to use Phalanx against both bullet and laser fire.

Against a huge mess of bullets such as shurikens and pellets from MIRVs or Caged MIRVs around you, Barrier is very unlikely to save you, but Phalanx can. However, upfield barriers allow you to have sufficient time to get rid of frontline invaders before the barrier fades and you run out of the spare barrier you have at hand.

Both are weak against DD weapons so it's not really worth mentioning. However, it is easier to control your Phalanx and not have it be in ranger of a DD weapon compared to Barrier.

When comparing the Reflector apexes that both Barrier and Phalanxes have, it is clear that Barrier Reflector is vastly superior to Phalanx Reflector since you can deploy more than one barrier, while you can only deploy one Phalanx at a time. The coverage area of Barriers to reflect lasers is also significantly larger than Phalanx. Lastly, you have to carefully keep on deploying Phalanxes to keep up against heavy laser fire, while Barrier wise, there's no such need. If you run out of barriers or Phalanxes, you just strafe to dodge the laser fire, so no advantage if you are low on energy.

MS vs LS

Winner: MS

There's no contest that MS is way better than LS. MS deals more damage than LS and deals its damage in a much shorter time, which also implies a less likelihood of particle overflow. In contrast, LS is extremely likely to result in particle overflow, which wastes particles. There are a few small LS advantages over MS, but it mainly lies in the fact that you can see LS as a low-skill MS.

• No need to worry about initial targeting
• Release early and forget. In fact, you can even release before the next wave arrives, although this is generally not recommended.
• MS requires lock-on targeting duration which may be small, but sometimes significant when you are dodging bullets.
  • When it comes to lock-on targeting, differences in lock-on targeting speed differs from invader to invader. Sparrows lock on faster than Vultures.
  • Sometimes, this can mean a difference between locking on to upfield invaders.
• Turret priority targeting: LS eliminates turrets, MS usually doesn't eliminate turrets, the curvy paths of MS usually makes them hit the invaders' hull instead. Generally, MS is generally just pure damage.

The last point in particular, is what makes LS possibly better in very heavy waves, such as Vulture or Condor front waves, or waves with a Roc in it. It makes survivability easier. However, such scenarios are usually rare. For Vulture front waves, killing the Vulture faster is still generally a better idea than eliminating its turrets, but for ships with low main DPS and without an offensive Zen, it may be beneficial.

So what's the point of LS anyway? According to the dev EL:

In concept, MS is more like a 'need-it-right-now' damage burst weapon, the speed of the missiles and their homing behavior determine how good it is at that. Then there are other factors that influence how much of that total damage you will effectively have. Missiles hit the wrong target (that might be in their path), they hit targets simultaneously (that might not need that many missiles) and the missiles themselves deal damage in chunks (that might be more than the target needs to be destroyed). Please re-read these factors to make sure they are super clear, because these are what make this ability.

LS is more like a 'I-need-some-help-clearing-this-and-recovering' ability, it increases your total damage output for a relatively long time. The lasers deal a fixed rate of damage during their entire lifetime. How long it lasts and how the damage is distributed mainly determines how good this ability is. Sure, higher dps per beam is always better, but that just creates imbalance. The distribution is important because it helps a lot if Laser Storm clears the small enemies and turrets, removing as much threat as possible and freeing up new energy to pick up. The maximum duration is the way it is because it is feasible to gather 100 energy during that time and activate a new Laser Storm when the current one is done.

These are aspects the MS cannot do well. Sure it can target turrets, but not hit them reliably and for smaller enemies, same thing.

For both these abilities you can see that Ultimate and Apex abilities are generally designed to emphasize their unique aspects and abilities. Some are meant to break the rules a bit. These abilities are not the same and never will be.

BEMP vs REMP

Winner: BEMP for the purpose of survivability, REMP for the purpose of speedrunning

Both abilities clear bullets. However, their usage is quite different. Particularly, REMP is meant to be used as a wave opener, dealing as much AoE damage as possible. In contrast, BEMP's first usage usually only comes when you are sufficiently threatened. Aside from the first usage in a wave, both abilities play a similar role as the wave progresses.

The 20 AoE damage from REMP makes it a lot better at speedrunning since it is very significant against dense waves. Against much heavier waves, the 20 AoE damage doesn't count for much. On the other hand, BEMP does no damage at all. It's only use in speedrunning is for re-positioning purposes to land an offensive Zen or aim your main weapon much more effectively. REMP does the same job of re-positioning if required (usually somewhere mid-wave if the wave is very heavy). With the rather wide AoE clearance range of REMP, it is generally sufficient for re-positioning purposes.

That being said, BEMP can do better in heavy waves, especially when in comes in the context of survival since you can often use it multiple times, while REMP can at best, be used twice in such heavier waves. The long cooldown of 6.5s for REMP means a lot of dodging would be required before you could use REMP again in the same heavy wave. Even while desperate, BEMP can save you with very small Aura radius, while there's just no chance with REMP if it has not cooled down.

The range of REMP is also generally insufficient when it comes to trying to strafe to dodge lasers, which is something that BEMP is much better at, given it can have a huge radius, and even reset the laser turrets. As the wave drags on though, REMP may have better clearance range than BEMP and a slightly better fighting chance to survive against lasers.

A highly contentious battle is between the Destructive Wave BEMP Apex and the High Damage REMP Apex. However, High Damage REMP is generally the winner here, since the additional damage that High Damage REMP deals is dealt immediately upon the wave's arrival. In contrast, you have to keep on refilling your BEMP Aura to keep dealing only at most 10 AoE damage each time, which makes Destructive Wave BEMP much slower at speedrunning.

Against waves where you may not have enough time to get upfield, both apexes can be quite evenly matched. You may not be able to pull off an optimal REMP such that it damages a lot of the field, while with the Destructive Wave Apex, you can hold off for a while and build up Aura so that you can reach upfield invaders. You can also wait a while before going upfield and releasing the High Damage REMP, but this is much more difficult than building up a huge AoE radius for Destructive Wave BEMP.

If you just compare the Destructive Wave BEMP Apex against normal REMP, it is obvious that Destructive Wave BEMP Apex is much better since it is easier to deal AoE damage with the Destructive Wave BEMP Apex. You can even deal 20 AoE damage with 2 full sized Destructive Wave BEMPs, which is entirely possible against a wave after dense waves.

With the Extended Range Apex for REMP, it makes much more on par with BEMP, since the second REMP in a wave can clear out a lot more space than tiny BEMPs, relieving much more space. This makes REMP on par with BEMP when faced with bullet lanes (since BEMP has the capability to graze for Aura) littered with other annoying bullets between the lanes you are in.

The Extended Range Apex for BEMP doesn't do a lot to improve BEMP. Thus, it will not be discussed.

MB vs REMP

Winner: Depends. In missions with a lot of fast moving bullets, or incredibly bullet dense missions, REMP is the winner. Otherwise, MB wins

Both Zens have some form of AoE damage, although REMP does have a smaller range with smaller AoE damage. However, MB has absolutely no form of bullet clearance (at least, without apexes).

The long 2s charging time of MB makes it extremely difficult to charge it on higher rank missions that have fast bullets, like General - No Lasers missions or Dart/MIRV missions. In contrast, the 0.6s charging time of REMP always make it possible to have it go off even on such missions.

The lack of bullet clearance from MB (even if taking into account the EMP Core apex, which doesn't do much) means Shuriken/MIRV missions at higher ranks are close to impossible to pull off. Meanwhile, REMP can still deal respectable AoE damage while allowing you to clear such missions. The lack of bullet clearance from MB also means difficulty to deal against Caged MIRVs, while REMP has absolutely no such issues. It does help a little however, with the MB EMP Core Apex.

In every other mission type however, the crux of MB, with the MBc damage of 40 and the wider 30 AoE damage makes it vastly superior to REMP that has a smaller range and only deals 20 damage. Even with the High Damage REMP Apex, the 40 MBc damage is simply unmatched, since you can land MBc on 2-3 Herons or 2-3 Eagles, which is just an insane amount of additional damage compared to simply 30 AoE damage from High Damage REMP.

REMP does have the capability to deal its 20 AoE damage in heavier waves, but the unmatched AoE damage from MB, together with MBc damage just still makes MB superior. (Generally, you won't need to use High Damage REMP twice in a heavy wave, unless it's against Condors and Rocs.)

Obviously, the capability of REMP to provide bullet clearance makes REMP superior in the heaviest of waves in the context of survivability. This is especially so against Condors and Rocs where MB simply has no place other than the initial damage. Note that you can charge MB twice when there is a Roc, once against the welcoming party, and the other against the Roc itself where you could potentially land MBc to deal 70 damage. In that aspect, MB still triumphs over REMP in terms of damage dealt even in heavy waves.

The Extended Range Apex for MB has little benefit to MB, and will not be discussed. The MB EMP Core Apex doesn't help much since the long charging time for MB means that whatever is being cleared is likely not very desirable (since you won't really know what bullets will reach that small MBc region in 2 whole seconds, which is a long time). The small MBc area isn't very big to consider the bullet clearance significant either. Since MB doesn't really have much bullet clearance aside from the EMP Core Apex, there is no point to discuss the Extended Range Apex for REMP.

Comparing the MB Compressed Blast Apex against the High Damage REMP Apex, High Damage REMP still wins, due to the bullet clearance it provides. The MB Compressed Blast Apex is only very specific in heavier waves such as waves with 4 Herons or 4 or more Eagles. Otherwise, the MB Compressed Blast Apex doesn't do a lot of additional AoE damage in other waves. In such heavy like these of course, the MB Compressed Blast Apex excels over High Damage REMP Apex, but the use case is specific which makes High Damage REMP Apex better as a whole.

The MB Compressed Blast Apex does wipe out Shielded and Armored Ravens completely, while High Damage REMP Apex does not. This has the capability to save time in using other damage means, especially your main weapon which requires target switching, which can be huge time savers in denser waves. In this case, it depends on the specific ship. Some ships have heavy hitting main weapons that are easily wasted on heavily damaged Ravens. Other ships have another form of damage that can spread out single target damage effectively, or heavy hitting single target damage. If the ship has a form of single target damage that spreads effectively, or another form of AoE damage, then High Damage REMP Apex is still the winner.

ML vs Nightfury

Winner: ML, unless in Shuriken/MIRV missions, where Nightfury wins

ML is almost always the clear winner. It is significantly much more abusable and can be used with a higher frequency compared to Nightfury. The Nightfury suffers from a very long charge time of 2.3s compared to ML's 1.9s. The 0.4s is significant and can mean all the difference in a dart or boomerang hitting you. In heavy and dense waves, it is even possible to pull off 2 MLs in that wave while you never see that happening with the Nightfury. In fact, it may sometimes be not possible to pull off a Nightfury at the start of a medium (or above) wave due to the long charge time and faster bullets compared to ML, where it is almost usually possible to do so

However, Nightfury is better than ML in one mission type, Shuriken/MIRV missions. In these missions, bullets move so slowly that 0.4s is not very significant. The number of times Nightfury can be abused is generally about once a heavy and/or dense wave, and can be used in medium waves if the next wave does not call for a Nightfury to be used. In the heaviest and densest wave, Nightfury can be abused up to 3 times. Even though overall, the damage output provided by Nightfury compared to ML may pale slightly due to the fact ML can be abused twice in a heavy wave, the main selling point which makes Nightfury more effective than ML is the defence it provides, particularly, the bullet clearance. The very huge bullet clearance space provided by Nightfury clears out enormous amounts of MIRVs and shurikens, much more than ML. On the other hand, ML's bullet clearance only serves as a way for you to ride up the ML to collect the particles from destroyed invaders.

The enormous condensed damage in a Nightfury of 300 is also almost always guaranteed to clear out all invaders on the side of the field you fire the Nightfury, provided there isn't a Vulture or above. Even with a Vulture, it is likely the Nightfury will pop off the turrets on the Vulture (and even 2 of the Condor's side turrets). This is very important in Shuriken/MIRV missions since remaining invaders on one side on the field will still continue to pump in MIRVs from MIRV Launchers, which will still cause the entire field to be flooded with MIRVs. Nightfury eliminates that problem, while for ML, it really depends on how heavy or dense the wave is, as well as relying on RNG to hit some Ravens on that side you fire ML on. ML doesn't guarantee your safety on that side of the field you fire ML, while Nightfury will. Pulling off a second ML incurs another 2.4s which adds up to 4.3s to almost guarantee clearing off that side of the field, compared to using just 2.3s (or say up to 3s from incomplete cooldown) by using Nightfury. And again, RNG comes into play whether you will clear off all the Ravens, or miss one or two of them.

In addition, the rapid movement of invaders can cause ML to be less optimal than intended, especially when the wave is dense but not heavy. This may cause Ravens to dodge your ML and waste some damage. On the other hand, Nightfury doesn't care, so long you don't charge it in a corner and cause some of the beam width to be close to or beyond the edge of the playable field, you are sure to hit anything in front of you. You can say Nightfury never misses, so long you don't charge it at such a bad position, while ML is subject to RNG and can miss even though you think you charge it at the right position, due to the fact the charging time allows invaders to shift around.