FAQ (IOS) by light_rock_zz

Version: 4.8 | Updated: 05/13/2025
FAQ of the Month Winner: January 2020 | Highest Rated Guide

Tier List (Introduction)

Beginner Friendliness List

Good Ships for beginners to learn the ropes of the game
Beginner Friendly Ship ListTier List for Aura & Zen Ease of UseEasy Ships to pick up Aura / Zen
  • Beginner friendly ships are great ships to pick up basic Phoenix 2 skills such as dodging, using Auras & Zens , and sometimes aiming.
  • They are also good survival ships that will help a player get into the gold ranks easily (suitable for bronze and silver ranks).
  • Beyond the gold ranks however, it is high likely a player would need to invest in a ship with a better survivability rating.

There will not be any specific explanations in each ship to explain why it is beginner friendly. Instead, it will be explained here.

  • Some synergy is considered between the main weapon , the Aura & Zen .
    • If one aids the usage of the other, it is a lot more beginner friendly.
    • Conversely, if there is an anti-synergy between any of the 3, main weapon , Aura & Zen , it is more likely to be not considered as beginner friendly.
  • Auto aiming main weapons are a huge factor towards beginner friendliness.
    • Any type of auto aiming main weapon , or instant tracking main weapons are a huge plus to beginner friendliness.
  • Straight firing and spread main weapons are neutral.
    • This is because while they can still hit, not being able to destroy Invaders quickly enough means getting overwhelmed by bullets (and lasers), which isn't a good thing.
  • If a main weapon is cone triggered, and the cone is narrow, then it is less beginner friendly.
  • Some main weapons also act in a strange manner, such as slowly accelerating forward, or being spaced very far apart.
    • These factors are considered less beginner friendly.
    • While there are auto aiming / instant tracking main weapons that exhibit some of these strange behaviours, since it does not significantly impact how a beginner player controls the ship, they will not be taken into account for these beginner friendly main weapon types.

Beginner Friendly Ship List

The following ships are very beginner friendly ships. These ships are suitable for use when first starting out the game.

The following ships are still rather beginner friendly. You should expect to pick it up quite easily, although it might take slightly longer to get a hang of using it well.

Tier List for Aura & Zen Ease of Use

In the table below, the beginner friendliness are rated from the highest S rating, to the lowest D rating.

Aura/ZenBeginner FriendlinessExplanation

Bullet EMP

S
  • Activate to clear bullets, Bullet EMP is the simplest of Auras to understand.
  • Does not defend against lasers , but it is obvious in its name.
  • A Bullet EMP can save players even with the smallest usable Aura radius , making it very beginner friendly.

Stun EMP

B
  • Stunning turrets is something that is less straightforward to a beginner.
  • It is easy to simply continue about one's business and just dodge the bullets already on field.
  • However, Stun EMP's true purpose is to allow players to eliminate turrets and Invaders that are most threatening, a skill that requires good judgment.
  • The need to use Stun EMP at the start of the wave is less intuitive to beginners, since pre-emptive usage is a slightly more foreign concept.
  • A small Stun EMP radius hardly helps since the stun duration is too short and de-synchronizes turrets, creating more problems.
Barrier
A
  • To use barriers as a beginner is easy, simply put it around your own ship to protect from bullets and lasers.
  • While not optimal at Ultimate level, it is usually not necessary at beginner levels.
  • The only problem about barriers is last minute barriers will not protect you from bullets, something which beginners need to understand.
Laser Storm
S
  • With a large reaching radius , simply activate and let it do its job to compliment your damage. It's a pretty straightforward offensive based Aura .
  • The only problem is when a beginner attempts to activate it while the radius is too small, which causes it to do nothing.
Missile Swarm
A
  • Its Fire and Forget nature makes it quite easy for beginners to use.
  • Simply lock on once and let it do its thing.
  • The only problem is when a beginner activates Missile Swarm too quickly, causing some bigger targets to be not locked onto.
  • If the radius of Missile Swarm is too small and only a few small targets are locked on, there will be a large wastage of Aura .
Point Defence
S
  • Activate when bullets are near you, this is another straightforward Aura that is similar to Bullet EMP.
  • Compared to Bullet EMP, Point Defence is not a one-time use, making it even easier for beginners. This is especially in early ranks where bullets are much fewer.
Chrono Field
D
  • Arguably, the hardest skill to operate.
  • Slowing bullets in the field easily causes panic among beginners.
  • Once the invincibility wears off, it is easy to get trapped in the bullet field.
  • The main caveat of Chrono Field is to Chrono Hop and use the time inside the Chrono Field to eliminate the most threatening turrets or Invaders.
    • You can also use Chrono Field to peek outside for a short while, but this is a more advanced skillset.
  • Knowing what to eliminate (especially which turrets) takes a lot of good judgment and experience.
  • The skill of Chrono Hopping is a very difficult skill. Essentially, you are using Teleport without having the arrival EMP skill when you arrive at your desired spot.
Vorpal Lance
A
  • It's difficult to know at what spot one should throw Vorpal Lance, as beginners don't often remember the upcoming waves.
  • Usually beginners would see the wave, analyze for a while to decide where to use Vorpal Lance, move to the spot, and finally throw Vorpal Lance.
  • There are quite a few steps, which can be hindered with the presence of leftover bullets from the previous wave.
Phalanx
A/B
  • Phalanx by itself is a weak barrier that only appears in front of your ship.
  • When faced with many bullets, Phalanx should be used as a shovel, which is quite counter-intuitive for a beginner who is concerned about losing their protection after shoveling.
    • It is more likely for beginners to allow Phalanx to slowly soak up damage, causing it to break unexpectedly.
  • Shoveling with Phalanxes is not an easy skill, as players need to understand how far they can shovel before they move too far and crash into bullets.
  • Like Barrier, a Phalanx does not save a player from last minute bullets.

However, Phalanx is quite good at lower ranks due to the lower density of bullets, allowing them to last quite long.

  • But once you reach the higher gold ranks, Phalanx has to be used differently. Thus, Phalanx is an A at lower ranks, but a B at higher ranks.
Ion Cannon
CThe need to delicately aim Ion Cannons properly, as well as the relatively slow speed of Ion Cannons is very difficult to hit Invaders correctly for beginners.
Goliath Missile
CThe extremely slow moving nature of Goliath Missiles make it very hard to use, often missing Invaders.
Kappa Drive
S
  • Release to gain more Aura , as simple as that.
  • The Kappa Drive Overdrive Ultimate , which slows time, is beneficial for beginners who can have more time to figure out where they would like to go next.
Mega Laser
B
  • A fairly straightforward offensive Zen .
  • Generally, most beginners will only charge at the start of each Act.
  • The long charge time means positioning is key, a skill that takes a lot of time to master.
    • Positioning is not a huge issue with the Ultimate upgrade. Positioning slightly offset from the middle usually does fine.
    • Being downfield and thus away from bullet sources also helps in positioning.
Mega Bomb
B
  • A fairly straightforward offensive Zen .
  • Generally, most beginners will only charge at the start of each Act.
  • The long charge time means positioning is key, a skill that takes a lot of time to master.
  • Slightly more difficult than Mega Laser as positioning too low causes Mega Bomb to be ineffective, causing problems later on.
Teleport
C
  • Knowing the correct spot to Teleport to takes practice, making Teleport one of the hardest abilities to use.
  • Teleport-ing to the wrong spot causes you to be trapped, causing players to spam Teleport until they die because the Charge Time of Teleport becomes too long.
Reflex EMP
B
  • Although straightforward in clearing bullets, the Charge Time of Reflex EMP is slightly problematic since it is quite long.
    • Especially in the presence of faster bullets like darts and boomerangs .
  • It takes some skill to judge the correct time to release Reflex EMP so it is sufficiently effective.
    • Releasing too early is useless, especially when using it to deal AoE damage.
Personal Shield
A
  • Let go and be completely invincible against bullets and lasers. Simple.
  • The low Charge Time means not much pre-emption is required.
  • The only issue is that Personal Shield doesn't last forever, which is something that can be forgotten by beginners.
Focus Lance
B
  • Difficult to know where one should charge Focus Lance, as beginners don't often remember the upcoming waves.
  • Usually beginners would see the wave, take some time to analyze it, decide where to charge Focus Lance, move to the spot, and release touch to charge.
  • It is quite a lot of steps, which can be hindered with the presence of leftover bullets from the previous wave.
  • Focus Lance doesn't travel very fast, so imprecise movements, RNG and the considerably long Charge Time can easily cause Focus Lance to miss the intended targets.
  • It's basically a harder version of Vorpal Lance , vulnerable to more RNG.
Clover ATS
A
  • A straightforward offensive Zen .
  • Charge at the start of each wave or 2, and let the homing Clover ATS missiles do their job.
  • Low Charge Time .
  • No need to aim means a beginner can simply find a safe spot to charge Clover ATS and let Clover ATS do its own work.

Easy Ships to pick up Aura / Zen

The ships below are suitable to learn the different Auras & Zens .

  • You will not see a ship that is easy to learn Bullet EMP , Laser Storm , Point Defence & Kappa Drive as some of these abilities can be learned from ships above.
  • There will not be a beginner friendly ship to learn Barrier as well, as the optimal usage of barrier differs from ship to ship
    • Some barrier ships benefit from putting barriers upfield
    • Other ships just don't have enough benefit from putting barriers upfield and are more likely to place barriers at the bottom of the screen instead.
Aura Beginner Friendly Ships to learn Aura
Stun EMP

Torrent, Nimbus

Missile Swarm Prime X
Chrono Field Njörun
Vorpal Lance Vani-Vith
Phalanx

Marauder

Ion Cannon Barret
Goliath Missile Claymore
Zen Beginner Friendly Ships to learn Zen
Mega Laser

Tempest

Mega Bomb

Veil, Qhelqod

Teleport

Orion, Luna

Reflex EMP

Lyova, AB8/Klyn

Personal Shield

Jericho, Phoenix

Focus Lance

Disaris

Clover ATS

Esperon