Glossary

Glossary

MUST READ!!! A list of all terms and abbreviations used in this guide.

Some terms in this guide will be repeated a lot and thus it is easier for you to read and understand. A lot of these terms are also frequently used in Phoenix 2 communities so it is a good idea to know them as well. Do understand this section well before you continue to read the rest of the guide. It looks like a lot of terms but many are quite common sense, and some are used in the game itself.

General

Particles

These are what you get for destroying invaders. They come in blue, green and gold colors. Blue ones are considered the lightest as they get pulled in by your ship the fastest, but they only give you very little energy to recharge your Aura. Green ones are heavier and they are pulled in by your ship a little slower, but they give you more energy than the blue ones. Gold particles are the heaviest and they take a lot of time to be absorbed by your ship, but they give the most energy.

Shielded

These refer to the blue outline you see on some types of invaders. It also makes the invaders themselves look more blue. These protect invaders from damage while this blue outline is up. After dealing damage to it for some time, the blue outline fades. The icon below represents the presence of Shielded invaders in a mission:

Armored

Refers to the gold outline around some types of invaders, these invaders resist some damage if it is not tagged as Armor Piercing. The icon below represents the presence of Armored invaders in a mission:

Unprotected

Refers to the grey outline around some types of invaders. All weapons do normal damage to unprotected invaders, but some weapons can do bonus critical damage to unprotected invaders. The icon below represents the presence of Unprotected invaders in a mission:

Hull

Refers to the other parts of an invader (which are not turrets or the cockpit) where shooting at it will cause damage to the invader itself (but not any turret).

Crit

To score a critical hit on an invader by chance and using a HI weapon, thus dealing bonus damage.

Graze

This refers to the technique where your core is dangerously close to a bullet. You can see a small red slash moving from 9 o'clock to 3 o'clock near your core for every bullet you graze. The distance of the red slash away from your core is the maximum distance away from a bullet you can be to successfully perform a graze. You can also graze off a laser, this happens when the white burst of energy runs through the white line (which happens just milliseconds before the white line turns red and becomes dangerous) zooms past near enough to your ship's core. Grazing rewards you a bit of energy to recharge your Aura. You may only graze the same bullet once.

On the left you can see how the red slash looks like JUST after grazing the bullet (shuriken) above the core. On the right you can see how grazing a laser works. Grazing a laser will also have the red slash, although not visible below.

Phase Out

This refers to the fading time of several Auras and Zens. Some of these abilities continue to last for a short/very short time even after their strength is depleted or the Zen is cancelled. The most obvious one is Chrono Field, where the term Phase Out literally refers to the effect of invincibility from Chrono Field continuing to last on your ship for an additional 0.5s.

Ships

Ship

What you control during gameplay.

Core

This is the blinking blue dot on your ship and the only part of your ship that matters. If a bullet or laser (when active, which means red in color) touches it, you die.

Projectiles

These refer to each and every distinct shape or short line/curve that a ship produces. Each of these that hit an invader produces an impact sound and this is how a ship does damage to invaders. They have a certain travel speed that varies by ship and do not instantaneously hit invaders unlike beam weapons (self-explanatory).

SB

Shield Breaker. SB main weapons deal bonus damage to invader shields, destroying them much faster than other types of weapons. Once the invader shield is down, they deal normal damage. Ships that have SB main weapons are tagged with the following icon:

AP

Armor Piercing. AP main weapons deal full damage on armor invaders, unlike SB or HI weapons. They also deal normal damage on all other types of invaders. Ships that have AP main weapons are tagged with the following icon:

HI

High Impact. HI main weapons have a chance to deal critical hits on unprotected invaders, invaders that have their Shield destroyed, or if you hit the cockpit of Armor invaders. Ships that have HI main weapons are tagged with the following icon:

x-y-z (where x,y,z are integers)

Refers to a ship's stats. x is the Level of its Main Weapon, y is the Level of its Aura, and z is the Level of its Zen. For example, 1-2-0 means the ship has a Level 1 Main Weapon, a Level 2 Aura, and a Zen which is not unlocked (thus Level 0).

Max

To upgrade one of the ship's stats, whether it is main weapon, Aura, or Zen to Level 5. Maxing a ship means upgrading it to 5-5-5. The upgrade icon (which appears in the Play Tab only) when the ship stat is not yet maxed is shown below:

Ult

To upgrade one of the ship's stats, whether it is main weapon, Aura, or Zen to the Ultimate level (sometimes referred to as Level 6), which costs more than 1000¢. Ult-ing a ship means to upgrade it completely to 6-6-6. The upgrade icon (which appears in the Play Tab only) when the ship stat is ready to upgrade to ult level is shown below:

BoB

Best of Best badge

sBoB

specialist Best of Best badge

oBoB

Ogon Is Fine badge

AAO

Against All Odds badge

Invaders

Invader

The antagonists of the game. You use your ships' weapons to shoot them down.

Sinister

These refer to invaders that have camouflage patterns on them ie grey spots on their exterior. Sinister invaders are either Shield or Armor invaders.

Turret

The source of bullets and lasers which can be destroyed.

Cockpit

Refers to the very small region that are situated at the bottom center of invaders. For invaders with even number of turrets on them, you can see a shining oval shape at the center, which is either green (for Sinister invaders) or red / orange (for other invaders) in color. For other invaders, you just have to take it as it is there even though you can hardly see it.

Type

This refers to the 7 different types of invaders mentioned below, namely, Sparrows, Ravens, Herons, Eagles, Vultures, Condor and Roc.

Affinity

This refers to the 3 different coatings of invaders, namely, Unprotected, Shielded and Armored.

Trivia: All Unprotected invaders were previously also called Elite class invaders. Shielded Invaders (that did not have camouflage patterns) were also called Imperial class invaders. Armored Invaders (that did not have camouflage patterns) were also called Assault class invaders. These are legacy terms that are no longer used.

Dense

This term is used to describe wave formations. When I say the wave is dense, it means that there are a lot of invaders on screen, and in extreme cases such as higher rank daily missions, you may see invaders partially overlapping each other. Generally speaking, if you see a wave, feel immediately overwhelmed and you don't even feel like counting the number of invaders on field, then it is dense. Usually this happens when there are many Ravens and/or an overwhelming number of Sparrows on screen.

Heavy

This term is used to describe wave formations. If you don't see Ravens and Sparrows, and you see 3 or more invaders that are Herons or larger in a wave, the wave will be referred to as heavy in this guide. A reason for this definition is due to the fact by this definition, such waves only have few particles available.

Sparrows

The smallest invaders in the game, rapid random movement and has only 1 launcher. From left to right:

• Elite Unprotected
• Imperial Shielded
• Sinister Shielded
• Assault Armored
• Sinister Armored

Ravens

Small size invaders with 2 turrets, fast random movement. From left to right:

• Elite Unprotected
• Imperial Shielded
• Sinister Shielded
• Assault Armored
• Sinister Armored

Herons

Medium size invaders with 2 turrets and 1 launcher at the centre. Some random movement. From left to right:

• Elite Unprotected
• Imperial Shielded
• Sinister Shielded
• Assault Armored
• Sinister Armored

Eagles

Big size invaders that take up about half the horizontal screen space with 3 turrets. Small random movement. From left to right:

• Elite Unprotected
• Imperial Shielded
• Sinister Shielded
• Assault Armored
• Sinister Armored

Vultures

Huge invaders that span across the entire screen space with 4 turrets. Minimal random movement. From left to right, Elite Unprotected, Imperial Shield, Sinister Shield, Assault Armor, Sinister Armor.

Condors

Gigantic invaders that take up half the screen space with 6 turrets. Near zero movement. Accompanied by only Ravens and/or Sparrows which spawn at the bottom half of the screen immediately after the wave begins in community and specialist missions, while Herons and Eagles may also accompany Condors in daily missions. The icon that indicates the presence of a Condor in a mission is shown below:

In the images below, from left to right, the affinities of the Condors are as follows:

• Elite Unprotected
• Imperial Shielded
• Sinister Shielded
• Assault Armored
• Sinister Armored

Rocs

Colossal invaders that take up half the screen space with 10 turrets. Near zero movement. The only invaders that take 8s to arrive on screen fully (after the wave counter has changed) before they can be hit and its turrets start their firing sequences. Accompanied by only Ravens and/or Sparrows which spawn at the bottom half of the screen immediately after the wave begins in community and specialist missions, while Herons and Eagles may also accompany Rocs in daily missions. The icon that indicates the presence of a Roc in a mission is shown below:

In the images below, from left to right, the affinities of the Rocs are as follows:

• Elite Unprotected
• Imperial Shielded
• Sinister Shielded
• Assault Armored
• Sinister Armored

Turrets

Bullets

Things that are generally bright red on your screen that will destroy your ship if your core touches them.

Lasers

The presence of lasers in a mission is indicated by the icon shown below:

There are 2 types of lasers. One is the regular laser which is white in color while it is not firing, and the other type is the speed laser which is purplish in color while it is not firing. Unless specified, lasers refer to the regular laser which is white in color.

Regular lasers show white lines on screen that turn red at certain intervals for a short time, making these red lines deadly, destroying your ship if your core touches any part of the red line. The workings of an actual laser in-game is shown below:

Speed lasers show white lines with distinct white shimmers only just before they are about to fire. Afterwards, these lines turn purplish for a very short time which destroys your ship if your core touches any part of the purplish line. Otherwise, speed lasers do not show any lines on screen. Here is a comparison of the speed lasers, both before and after firing. The Phase Disruptor lasers of Razor VI are just for reference.

Darts

Fast moving bullets that have a rounded front tip and 2 pointed edges behind.

Pellets

Slow moving bullets that look like elongated ovals.

Shurikens

Even slower moving bullets that are a darker shade of red on the exterior that always spin counter-clockwise as they move. Has 4 pointed edges around it.

Boomerangs

The presence of boomerangs in a mission is indicated by the icon shown below:

The fastest bullets and the only type of bullets that moves in a curve rather than a straight line. And they literally look like a classic boomerang. The graphics of an actual boomerang in-game is shown below:

MIRVs

Nobody cares what they stand for (neither do I), but if you approach these slow moving (even slower than shurikens, although just very slightly so) yellow / gold rings that leave a flame-like trail behind it, at a certain threshold distance away from your ship's core, they explode. There are 2 types of MIRVs, one is the more common pellet MIRVs, which will explode into 30 pellets that are evenly spaced apart in 360° fashion. Each of the pellets continue to move radially outward from the point the MIRV explodes. The other less common type is laser MIRVs, which emits either 5 or 9 lasers equally spaced apart (in terms of angle) radially outward. They work just like a laser, having an initial period where the lines are white and don't destroy you, and later turning red which becomes dangerous, and finally fading away. Unless specified, MIRVs refer to pellet MIRVs.

The presence of pellet MIRVs in a mission is shown by the icon on the left, while the presence of laser MIRVs in a mission shown by the icon on the right:

Above, on the left, you can how a pellet MIRV looks like. Above, in the middle is how a T1 laser MIRV would look like. Note how it has 5 spikes on it. Above, on the right, you can see how a T2 laser MIRV would look like, note how it has 9 spikes on it.

Below, on the left, you can see a pellet MIRV exploding. On the right, you can see an (old) T2 laser MIRV exploding. NB: Can you identify the ship used on the left side based on the main weapon? Hint: It's a blue laser with a short burst. The answer is Mirage.

Caged MIRVs

Only equipped at the rear of Sparrows, these equipments (not exactly turrets) are harmless until the Sparrows are destroyed. In other words, they do not fire any MIRVs, bullets or lasers of any kind while the Sparrow (and the equipment) exists on field. However, once the Sparrow dies, the Caged MIRV activates and releases 30 pellets equally spaced out in a 360° fashion, same as the behaviour of a pellet MIRV when it detonates. There is no way to destroy the Caged MIRV without destroying the Sparrow, as they do not have any separate health. They also do not increase the health of the Sparrow.

The presence of Caged MIRVs is shown by the icon below.

The leftmost picture shows how it looks like on an Unprotected Sparrow, the middle picture shows it on a Shielded Sparrow while the rightmost picture shows how it looks like on an Armored Sparrow. Caged MIRVs do not appear on Sinister Shield or Sinister Armor Sparrows.

Doomsday Weapons

Doomsday Weapons will be abbreviated to DD in this guide. DDL means Doomsday Lasers, DDMB means Doomsday Bombs and DDSM means Doomsday Super MIRV.

Doomsday Laser

The presence of doomsday lasers in a mission is indicated by the icon shown below:

Doomsday Lasers are strictly forward lasers that have the same width as a Nightfury laser. They generally have a very long reload time, and you can hear and see it's charging status when it is just about to fire. You can also see the region of space it will fire upon (it will start to have red glowing particles), and if you are in the way of it, your core will start to flash red at the upper half.

The animation of the Doomsday Laser as it charges up, fires and finally cools down is shown below:

Doomsday Bomb

The presence of doomsday bombs in a mission is indicated by the icon shown below:

Doomsday Bombs release a very brief shockwave that will kill you if your core is caught in the radius without an invincibility option (such as Chrono Field or Personal Shield). They have a very long reload time, and you can hear and see it's charging status. You can see the radius of the Doomsday Bomb, which is equivalent to the radius of a level 1 Mega Bomb, clearly demarcated by a red border.

The animation of a Doomsday Bomb as it charges up and then cools down after releasing the shockwave is as shown below:

Doomsday Super MIRV

Releases a burst of varying number of super MIRVs, at an interval of 2s apart.

The presence of Doomsday Super MIRVs in a mission is shown by the icon below.

sMIRV

Super MIRVs. Only released by DDSMs. When triggered, the super MIRV triggers a single burst of 14 equally radially spaced apart rings that travel radially outwards.

Launchers

Launchers strictly fire bullets (not applicable to lasers) forward (or vertically downwards if you prefer).

Spreads

Spread turrets emit more than one lane of bullets (roughly straight and in-line) or lasers.

Spinners

Spinners emit bullets in all directions, even behind themselves.

Tracking

Tracking turrets will try to aim their guns (visually) such that they align themselves to the core of your ship.

Bloomers

These emit a burst of MIRVs in all directions, forming a ring of them spreading radially outwards, below needing to reload for the next burst. It is similar to how a flower blooms when it opens up. This term is exclusively reserved for MIRVs because no other turrets behave this way, thus you will only hear of MIRV Bloomers.

Tx (where x is an integer)

Tier x. The same type of turret has different tiers, which can be easily distinguished by their appearance. A higher tier turret is more deadly and fires more bullets or lasers at once.

Mk

Mark. Even within the same tier of a specific turret, there are different attributes that define a turret. It varies what do the different Marks mean for different types of turrets. Generally, a higher Mark turret reloads faster, thus firing its next burst at shorter intervals. For lasers, a higher Mark also means the tracking is more accurate (it locks onto your ship's core much faster). It is impossible to tell apart the different Marks just by looking at the turret visually. Since it is impossible to tell apart the different Marks, this guide will only mention higher or lower Mk. (If you are confused, just think of Marks as categories within a single Tier, a higher Mark means a more dangerous category.)

Auras

BEMP

Bullet EMP

SEMP

Stun EMP

Barrier

LS

Laser Storm

MS

Missile Swarm

PD

Point Defence

CF

Chrono Field

VL

Vorpal Lance

Phalanx

IC

Ion Cannon

GM

Goliath Missile

Blade Storm

Chrono Hop

Refers to the technique where you can use the 0.5s of Phase Out time (after you leave the Chrono Field or when Chrono Field fades away) to cross a large region of bullets and/or lasers safely to re-position yourself in another part of the playing field.

Zens

Kappa

Kappa Drive

ML

Mega Laser

MB

Mega Bomb

MBc

Mega Bomb Fusion Core. The glowing blue orb you see after MB is finished charging.

TP

Teleport

REMP

Reflex EMP

PS

Personal Shield

FL

Focus Lance

CATS

Clover ATS

Tracking Minigun

Nightfury

Kappa Dodge

Refers to the technique where you release your touch to use Kappa Drive in very small bursts, in order to slow time down and figure out the optimum way to pass in between tight gaps of bullets (and lasers if applicable). A small quick dash is made before you release you touch again to repeat the process until you are clear of a tight maze of bullets (and lasers, if applicable) in front of you.

Miscellaneous

AoE

Area of Effect. Refers to Auras and Zens that either deal the same damage to all targets in range, or produce the same extent of a certain effect to anything that an Aura or Zen deals with. For example, a BEMP completely deletes the bullet the same way as any other bullet in range of its Aura.

OP

Overpowered

RNG

Random Number Generator. This term isn't used literally, it refers to the random aspects of the game, such as random invader movements which varies wildly between each game you play.

Upfield

Refers to the playing field at the top half of the screen

Downfield

Refers to the playing field at the bottom half of the screen

Invader riding

This technique refers to being on top of the invader itself such that it's turrets are not able to turn quickly enough to kill you, yet your main weapon (assuming it is not a beam weapon) is able to immediately deal damage to the invader due to zero travel time.

Turret riding / Inside graze

This technique refers to being on top of the turret itself at a blind spot where the turret's bullets are not able to damage you, yet you would not die due to turret collision. It looks something like this: