Glossary

Glossary

Most of the terms used in this guide are also official terms used within the game itself. There are few defined just in this guide (although also frequently used in Phoenix 2 communities).

Know the terms in red as they will be used throughout the guide.

For other terms, these are good-to-know as they will be frequently used in Phoenix 2 communities. Abbreviations are used in Phoenix 2 communities all the time for quick communication. However, abbreviations are rarely used in this guide.

General

Particles

Energy. What you get for destroying Invaders.

• Comes in blue, green and gold colors.
  • Blue ones are the lightest as they get pulled in by your ship the fastest, but give you the least energy to recharge your Aura.
  • Green ones are heavier and pulled in by your ship a little slower, but give more energy than blue ones.
  • Gold particles are the heaviest and take much more time to be absorbed by your ship, but give the most energy.

Hull

Refers to the other parts of an Invader (which are not turrets or their cockpit)

• Shooting at it will cause damage to the Invader itself, but not its turrets.

Crit

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

• The Invader and/or cockpit flashes red when this happens.

Graze

Occurs when your core is dangerously close to a bullet or laser, rewarding Aura energy.

• 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.
• Grazing off a laser happens when the white burst of energy runs through the white line (which happens 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.
• You may graze the same laser more than once.
  • You can also graze the white burst of energy that runs through the white laser lines just before they fire.
• Here's how the red slash looks like JUST after grazing the bullet (shuriken) above the core:
  
• Here's how grazing a laser works. Grazing a laser will also have the red slash (Not easily visible below).
  

Phase Out

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.
• While Phase Out is a term used for only Chrono Field in the game, this guide extends the definition to other Auras and Zens that have fading times.

Ships

Ship

What you control during gameplay.

Core

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/purplish in color) touches it, you die and need to restart a mission.

Projectiles

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.
• Projectiles are how a ship does damage to Invaders.
• Has a certain travel speed that varies by ship.
  • Does not instantaneously hit Invaders, unlike beam weapons (self-explanatory).

SB

Shield Breaker

• Ships that have SB main weapons are tagged with the following icon:
  

• SB main weapons deal bonus damage to Invader shields, destroying them much faster than other weapon damage types.
• Once the Invader shield is down, SB main weapons deal normal damage.

AP

Armor Piercing

• Ships that have AP main weapons are tagged with the following icon:
  

• AP main weapons deal full damage on Armored Invaders, unlike SB or HI weapons.
• They also deal normal damage on all other Invader affinities.

HI

High Impact

• Ships that have HI main weapons are tagged with the following icon:
  

• HI main weapons have a chance to deal critical hits on Unprotected Invaders, Invaders that have their blue shield downed, or if you hit the cockpit of Armored Invaders.

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.
• 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

• 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

• Upgrade one of the ship's stats, whether it is main weapon, Aura, or Zen to the Ultimate level, also referred to as Level 6.
• 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:
  

Apex

Apexes change the look of the base ship, and come with either a re-adjustment or an enhancement to the base ship.

Badges

BoB

Best of Best

sBoB

(specialist) Best of Best

oBoB

Ogon Is Fine

AAO

Against All Odds

Invaders

Invader

Targets to be eliminated

• Use your ships' main weapon, Aura & Zen to take them down.
• You objective is to eliminate them all in a varying number of waves in a mission.

Affinity

The 3 different coatings of Invaders. Namely:

• Unprotected
• Shielded
• Armored

Shielded

Invaders that have a blue outline.

• The icon below represents the presence of Shielded Invaders in a mission:
  

• Protect Invaders from damage while this blue outline is up.
• After dealing damage to it for some time, the blue outline fades.

Armored

Invaders that have a gold outline.

• The icon below represents the presence of Armored Invaders in a mission:
  

• These Invaders resist some damage if incoming damage by your ship is not tagged as Armor Piercing.

Unprotected

Invaders that have a grey outline.

• The icon below represents the presence of Unprotected Invaders in a mission:
  

• All weapons do normal damage to unprotected Invaders
  • Some weapons can do bonus critical damage to Unprotected Invaders.

Elite

Refers to that Invaders have dark grey external platings with a white interior and red center.

• Elite Invaders can only be Unprotected Invaders.
• While this term is used by the devs and well known by Phoenix 2 communities, it is not necessary to know this term.

Imperial

Refers to Invaders that have a white-grey body and a red center with golden rims.

• Imperial Invaders can only be Shielded Invaders.
• While this term is used by the devs and well known by Phoenix 2 communities, it is not necessary to know this term.

Assault

Refers to Invaders with red interior and dark grey-grey exterior with sharp edges.

• Assault Invaders can only be Armored Invaders.
• While this term is used by the devs and well known by Phoenix 2 communities, it is not necessary to know this term.

Sinister

Refers to Invaders that with a green center with camouflage patterns / grey spots on the exterior.

• Sinister Invaders are either Shielded or Armored Invaders.
• As Sinister is used by both Shielded or Armored Invaders, this guide uses this term in some rare places.

Cockpit

The small region 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,
  • Green for Sinister Invaders.
  • Red / Orange for other Invaders.
• For other Invaders, you just have to take it as it is there even though you can hardly see it.

Class

The 7 different Invader-classes. Namely:

• Sparrow-class
• Raven-class
• Heron-class
• Eagle-class
• Vulture-class
• Condor-class
• Roc-class

• In this guide, the suffix "-class" will be dropped.

Dense

Dense waves have a lot of Invaders on screen.

• 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 don't feel like counting the number of Invaders on field, the wave is dense.
• Usually happens when there are many Ravens and/or an overwhelming number of Sparrows on screen.

Heavy

Heavy waves have few large Invaders.

• 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.
• By this definition, heavy waves provide particles when completely wiped out.

Sparrows

Sparrow-class Invaders

• Smallest in size
• Has only 1 static turrent
• Rapid random movement

From left to right:

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

Ravens

Raven-class Invaders

• Small size
• Has 2 turrets
• Fast random movement

From left to right:

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

Herons

Heron-class Invaders

• Medium size
• Has 2 side turrets and 1 static launcher at the center
• Some random movement

From left to right:

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

Eagles

Eagle-class Invaders

• Big size
• Has 3 turrets
• Small random movement
• Take up about half the horizontal screen space

From left to right:

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

Vultures

Vulture-class Invaders

• Huge size
• Has 4 turrets
• Minimal random movement
• Span across the entire horizontal screen space

From left to right:

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

Condors

Condor-class Invaders

• Gigantic size
• Has 6 turrets
• Near zero movement
• Takes up at least half the overall screen space
• The icon below that indicates a Condor's presence in a mission:
  

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

Roc-class Invaders

• Colossal size, biggest size
• Has 10 turrets
• Near zero movement
• Usually takes up half of the overall screen space
• The icon below that indicates a Roc's presence in a mission:
  

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

Turret

The source of bullets and lasers.

• Mounted on top of Invaders.
• Can be destroyed.
• Invulnerable while an Invader shield is up.

Turret Collision

Dying due to your ship core being on top of a turret.

• For most turrets, it is possible for your ship core to be on top of the turret's outer edges, and still not die.
  • This technique is known as turret riding / inside graze.
  • This is because different turrets on different Invaders have a different invisible hit circle. So as long as you are not on top of the hit circle, you can safely stay there.

Bullets

Things that are generally RED on screen. Kills you if your core touches them.

Lasers

Unless specified, lasers refer to the regular laser which is white in color

Dangerous straight lines that kill you if your core touches any part of it when active (when red/purplish in color)

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

There are 2 types of lasers.

• (Regular) Laser
  • Turret is white and red in color.
  • White line(s) while not firing.
  • Turns red for a short time when firing.
  • When the lines turn red, these lines are deadly, which kills you if your core touches any part of the red line.
  • The workings of an actual laser in-game is shown below:
    
• Speed Laser
  • Turret is purplish and red in color.
  • Shows white line(s) with distinct white shimmers just before firing.
  • Afterwards, these white line(s) turn purplish for a very short time, which kills you 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. (Ignore the Phase Disruptor lasers of Razor VI).
    

Darts

Fast moving bullets

• Has a rounded front tip
• Has 2 pointy edges at the back

Pellets

Slow moving bullets

• Look like elongated ovals

Shurikens

Even slower moving bullets

• Are a darker shade of red on the exterior
• Always spin counter-clockwise as they move
• Has 4 pointed edges around it

Rangs

Boomerangs

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

The fastest bullets in Phoenix 2

• The only type of bullets that moves in a curve rather than a straight line.

MIRVs

Unless specified, MIRVs refer to pellet MIRVs

2 stage Invader weaponry that turns into either pellets or lasers when triggered.

• 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:
  

Nobody cares what they stand for (neither do I). Here are some characteristics of MIRVs:

• Slightly slower than shurikens
• There are 2 types of MIRVs
  • The more common pellet MIRVs
    
    
    • Explodes into 30 pellets that are equally spaced apart in 360° fashion.
    • Each of the pellets continue to move radially outward from the point the MIRV explodes.
  • The less common laser MIRVs
    • Emits either 5 or 9 lasers equally spaced apart (in terms of angle) radially outward.
    • Works just like a laser
      • Has an initial period where the lines are white and don't kill you
      • Turns red after 1s and becomes dangerous
      • Finally fades away
    • T1 Laser MIRV (Has 5 spikes on it)
      
    • T2 Laser MIRV (Has 9 spikes on it)
      
• Here's a pellet MIRV exploding:
  
• Here's an (old) T2 laser MIRV exploding:
  
  

cMIRV

Caged MIRV. Harmless until you destroy the Sparrow it is attached to. It then works like a triggered pellet MIRV.

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

• Caged MIRV on an Unprotected Sparrow:
  
• Caged MIRV on an Imperial Sparrow:
  
• Caged MIRV on an Assault Sparrow:
  
• Only equipped at the rear of Sparrows, these equipments are harmless until the Sparrows that have Caged MIRVs are destroyed.
  • In other words, they do not fire any MIRVs, bullets or lasers of any kind while the Sparrow (and the Caged MIRV) is on field.
• However, once the Sparrow with the Caged MIRV 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 triggered).
• There is no way to destroy the Caged MIRV without destroying the Sparrow.
• Caged MIRVs do not increase the health of a Sparrow.

Doomsday Weapons

Doomsday Weapons are sometimes abbreviated to DD.

DDL

Doomsday Laser. Strictly forward lasers with the same width as the Nightfury.

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

• Has a long reload time
• 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)
• If you are in the way of the Doomsday Laser, your core will flash red on the upper half.

DDMB

Doomsday Bomb. Releases a shockwave that will kill you if your core is caught in the radius.

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

• Has a long reload time
• You can hear and see it's charging status.
• The effective radius of the Doomsday Bomb is clearly indicated by a red border.

DDSM

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 MIRV

• Only emitted by DDSMs.
• When triggered, a Super MIRV triggers a single burst of 14 equally radially spaced apart rings that travel radially outwards.

Launchers

Turrets that fire bullets vertically downwards only.

• Not applicable to lasers.

Spreads

Turrets that fire more than one lane of bullets or lasers in a cone fashion.

Spinners

Turrets that fire bullets in a 360° fashion.

Tracking

Tracking turrets will try to track onto your ship core.

• They may or may not require a brief lock-on period before firing.

Bloomers

Fires expanding rings of MIRVs.

• Needs to reload for a while before firing the next ring of MIRVs.
• This term is exclusively reserved for MIRVs because no other turrets behave this way.

Tx (where x is an integer)

Tier x

• The same type of turret has different tiers.
  • Different tiers are distinguished by their appearance.
  • A higher tier turret is more deadly, and fires more bullets or lasers at the same time.
• All turret types have 4 different tiers.
  • This excludes Doomsday Weapons which have no tiers.

Mk

Mark

• Within the same tier of a specific turret, there are several different attributes that define a turret.
• It varies what do the different Marks mean for different types of turrets.
• A higher Mark turret reloads faster, firing its next burst at shorter intervals.
  • For lasers, a higher Mark can also mean the tracking onto your core is faster (higher rotation speed).
• 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 Mark.
• If you are confused, just think of Marks as categories within a single Tier. A higher Mark means a more dangerous category.

Auras

In this guide, the full form of all Auras are used instead of their abbreviations.

BEMP

Bullet EMP

SEMP

Stun EMP

Barrier

LS

Laser Storm

MS

Missile Swarm

Missile Barreling

Activating Missile Swarm Aura such that all / most missiles are immediately absorbed by 1 Invader (at most 2).

• Used primarily as a speedrunning tactic since no missile travel time is incurred.
• May also be called MS Barreling.
• 2 sub-variants exist:
  • Perfect / Complete Barrel = ALL missiles are immediately absorbed by ONE Invader only.
  • Imperfect / Incomplete Barrel = Most missiles are immediately absorbed by 1 / 2 Invader(s), while some are intentionally allowed to re-target other Invaders. Also occurs if the above is not done properly.

PD

Point Defence

CF

Chrono Field

VL

Vorpal Lance

Phalanx

IC

Ion Cannon

GM

Goliath Missile

BS

Blade Storm

Chrono Hop

Refers to the technique where you can use the 0.5s of Phase Out time (after leaving a Chrono Field or after Chrono Field fades away) to safely cross bullets and/or lasers to re-position yourself.

Zens

In this guide, the full form of all Zens are used instead of their abbreviations.

KD

Kappa Drive

Kappa Dodge

Refers to the technique where you release your touch to use Kappa Drive in very small bursts.

• This slows down time to allow you figure out the optimum way to pass in-between tight gaps of bullets (and lasers if applicable).
• A small quick dash is made before releasing touch again to repeat the process, until you are clear of a tight maze of bullets (and lasers, if applicable).
• More details in this section.

ML

Mega Laser

MB

Mega Bomb

MBc

Mega Bomb Fusion Core

• The glowing blue orb you see after Mega Bomb has finished charging.

TP

Teleport

REMP

Reflex EMP

PS

Personal Shield

FL

Focus Lance

CATS

Clover ATS

TM

Tracking Minigun

NF

Nightfury

Vorpal Lance riding / Mega Laser riding

Refer to the technique where you move forward together with the Vorpal Lance projectile / the Mega Laser beam.

• A safe technique that allows you to move upfield without being hit by bullets since Vorpal Lance (when at Ultimate level) and Mega Laser clears bullets ahead of you.
• Respectively, they are also abbreviated to VL riding / ML riding in Phoenix 2 communities.

Miscellaneous

AoE

Area of Effect

• Refers to Auras and Zens that either:
  • Deals 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 a bullet the same way as any other bullet in range of its Aura.

OP

Overpowered

RNG

Random Number Generator

• Not used literally, refers to the random aspects of the game, such as random Invader movements which varies wildly between each game you play.

NPC

Non-Playable Character

• In Phoenix 2, these characters give you transmissions that appear at the top of your screen, in and out of gameplay.

Upfield

Refers to the top half of the playing field

Downfield

Refers to the bottom half of the playing field

Stun Lock

A technique where you fire off consecutive Stun EMPs or Ion Cannons such that Invaders stay in a stunned state, unable to fire any bullets or lasers.

Invader Riding

Refers to the technique of your ship being on top of an Invader.

• This is such that the Invader's turrets cannot turn quickly enough to kill you.
• However, your main weapon projectiles are able to deal damage to the Invader immediately since your projectiles don't need to travel across the playing field to hit the Invader.

Turret Riding / Inside Graze

Refers to the technique of being on top of a turret at a blind spot where the turret's bullets are not able to kill you, yet you do not die due to turret collision.

It looks something like this: