Basic Tier List

Tier List (Introduction)

Basic Tier List

The Basic Tier List only looks at the base forms of all ships, without considering their apexes.

Survivability Tier

Survivability is the reliability of a ship to clear a mission of the daily mission type(s) it is strong against (usually using the Marshal rank missions as a base) or community mission, no matter how fast or slow it may be. Generally speaking, the higher the survivability tier, the lower the speedrunning tier. Survivability is primarily determined from:

• Controllability of the main weapon
• Capability of the ship, using all of its main weapon, Aura & Zen to pop off turrets
• Individual strengths of Aura and Zen
• Synergy between Main Weapon, Aura & Zen
• Some speed is also considered. If the ship kills too slowly, it is also a bad thing. If the damage is more easily dealt, it will be considered as part of survivability.

This tier also assumes that the ship's usage is optimized, not to its fullest but at least well enough that you know how to follow the playstyle of the ship. I do give some leeway if I feel that certain aspects of the ship's playstyle isn't something that is easy to grasp.

Since daily missions are different from community missions, each ship will have a separate survivability rating for daily missions and community missions.

Speedrunning Tier

This tier is purely determined by its average leaderboard standings in daily missions across most skilled players, disregarding those who intentionally take it slow. This tier assumes that the ship you are using is fully optimized, playing as aggressive as possible, since picking up a ship for speedrunning means you intend to be a pro player and want to go fast. Speedrunning ships are usually not great survival ships, but this is not always true.

Since daily missions are different from community missions, each ship will have a separate speedrunning rating for daily missions and community missions.

Fun Factor Tier

How fun the ship is to play. As a cautionary advice, this tier is the most subjective as the definition of fun differs for different players. Take this rating with a grain of salt, and watch gameplay videos of the ship in action to see if it really suits you. The way I quantify fun is through the following, all factors considered:

• Speedrunning ships are generally fun due to the adrenaline rush. Most speedrunning ships are of high fun factor tier.
• Main Weapon: Is it fun to use, or fun to watch/hear?
  • In the usage aspect, perfect aiming or instant tracking weapons are generally seen as boring.
  • Very thin, straight, forward firing weapons are also generally less fun because they are very frustrating to use.
  • Some main weapons have very weird nuances to them such as having a mind of their own. They don't target what you want, which makes them frustrating to use.
  • Although you can listen to the sounds of a ship's main weapon by using the preview button, but a ult weapon can sometimes be very different from what is shown in the preview (which is at only level 1).
• Ship Main Weapon + Aura + Zen synergy
  • Some combinations of all 3 or 2 of them go very well together and are very satisfying to pull off.
  • If they compete against each other for damage, this makes the ship frustrating to play.
• The Aura or Zen itself. Some Auras are more fun than others.
  • Vorpal Lance is more fun because of the satisfying feel of piercing potentially tons of invaders, and the sound of piercing is awesome to hear.
  • Laser Storm is also fun as it's visually appealing and a ult Laser Storm is very satisfying to hear.
  • Missile Storm and Mega Laser are considered neutral.
  • This might be biased, but I generally consider Kappa ships less fun, as the time slowdown when ult makes gameplay very draggy.
• Blast Damage Main Weapons: Always satisfying to watch other invaders blow up together with the target you hit.
• Ships with any form of AoE damage, like those with Reflex EMP, Mega Bomb or Vorpal Lance get more fun value.
• Ship Core Position: Some ships have more intuitive ship core positions than others, making it much easier to pilot. This is one of the factors with the least weight in consideration, unless it is of extreme noteworthy.
• Uniqueness Factor: These ships play very differently from other ships, and has certain unique characteristics. This factor is a small part of the consideration in the Fun Factor, but because some players want an experience that is entirely unique, a short separate tier list of worthy unique ships are detailed in this section.
• The aesthetics of a ship is not a factor considered here because you can simply stare at it in the ship selection screen without even playing it. Some ships have moving or animated parts but you can simply use the Preview button to admire it all you like.

X: These ships are a must-get. Whether you just want fun, are aiming to clear missions or want to speedrun missions, these ships are guaranteed to feel really fun.

Ships with X rating: Proxymar, Photurius, Ex04239

S: Really fun ships that feel great to handle and are easily recommendable for enjoying the game.

Ships with S+ rating: Buhloo, Exarch

Ships with S rating: NC-150, Cinnri, Geist, Juggernaut, Baqlor, Corsair, Shogun, Nimbus, Claymore, Kibarrax

Ships with S- rating: Veil, Krillou, Fujin, Aurora, Prime X, Vani-Vith, Hime, Saber, Torrent, Wraith, AB8/Klyn, Mirage, Reaper, Mistral, Warden

A: Quite fun to handle, but there are either some nuances with these ships that prevent it from being more fun, or the ship overall just isn’t very spectacular to play.

Ships with A+ rating: Jn'Dur, Trireme, Xaniea, Arietis, Gladius, Sonah, Uhb, Lorilou, Icarus, Qhelqod, Luna, Banshee, Centurion

Ships with A rating: Tempest, Razor VI, Wrackr, Atlas, Essin, Von Braun, Dragonfly, Lokie, Barret, Valkyrie, Yigothu, Antioch, Predator, Lyova, Naya

Ships with A- rating: Kada Veni, Havoc, Proteus, Boxer, X-81, Scuuxun, Neni, Starless, Jeria, Monsoon

B: Not a very interesting ship to play. There are more interesting ships to play, but when starting out in this game, you may still derive some fun out of it, until you discover other ships.

Ships with B+ rating: Oran, Ogon, Gorthaur, Sakura, Hunter, Trinity, Zimitr, Stinger, Esperon

Ships with B rating: Mist Star, Phoenix, Tillat'Or, Njörun, NC-271, Zhetass, Pandora, Disaris

Ships with B- rating: Czar, Elyon, 502-Q8, Xavis

C: Boring to play, or there are weird nuances about the ship that makes it frustrating to play. It's hard to derive a lot of fun out of playing these ships.

Ships with C+ rating: Tar'Cah, Heechi, Zephyr, Polaris

Ships with C rating: Jericho, Yoth-Hola, Orion, Widget

Ships with C- rating: Shinova, Marauder

D: Anti-fun or extremely boring ships to play. This is not to say never to touch these ships. But based on my definition of fun, these ships are extremely unlikely to be enjoyed.

Ships with D rating: Vuxine