FAQ (IOS) by light_rock_zz

Version: 4.4 | Updated: 11/18/2024
FAQ of the Month Winner: January 2020 | Highest Rated Guide

Ship Details (Part 2)

Detailed Stats & Strategies for Below Ships & Apexes (Part 2)
Razor VIMist StarProxymarOranKada VeniWrackrTriremeCinnriPhoenixBuhloo

Razor VI


Strong against: Dart/Boomerang/Pellet, General - No Lasers, Shuriken/Boomerang, Dart/Boomerang/Laser, General/Boomerang, General
Weak against: Shuriken/MIRV, Dart/MIRV, Lasers Only, Laser/Pellet, Laser/Shuriken

Ship Class: Lightfury
+

Main Weapon: Phase Disruptor

Survivability (Daily Missions): A+
Survivability (Community Missions): A+

  • (+) A deployed upfield barrier around Invaders allows it to move around safely for a brief moment of time to focus fire its powerful Phase Disruptor to take out Invaders quickly.
    • This is rather repeatable every wave (Act 3 and above), making Razor VI easy to use.
  • (+) Barrier also allows a safe Mega Laser setup. You can even safely charge 2 consecutive Mega Lasers.
  • (+) Mini Barriers around yourself also work wonders for Razor VI and can extend your safety time further when you foresee the big barrier around the Invaders to break soon.
    • This allows some risky Mega Laser setups to be possible.
  • (+) Mini Barriers also allow for some last minute defence against an entire frontline of bullets converging onto you.
    • Useful when fighting Rocs .
  • While Razor VI is offensive, once the wave dies down (to 1 or 2 small Invaders), you can simply wait for the bullets to die down, unless you have an active barrier .
  • (+) One burst of Razor's Phase Disruptor pops off a turret, assuming the Invader shield is down.
  • (-) The Phase Disruptor 6 forward firing beams means that rather precise positioning is needed to pop off the turret.
  • (+) Razor VI's barrier help in positioning it underneath turrets.
  • (-) Unfortunately barriers against lasers is unreliable so do watch out for lasers and potentially breaking barriers.
  • (-) The strictly forward firing nature of Razor VI, both its Phase Disruptor and Mega Laser , means it can run into maneuverability issues after the barriers die down.
    • This means that it can be difficult to place barriers upfield at the end of the wave, unless you waste time to allow most of the bullets from the field to cool off.
    • However, this isn't always ideal, if there are still Invaders who continue to pour in new bullets.
    • As such, go upfield as soon as possible after eliminating all but the last Invader on field.
  • (+) For a frontline Vulture , one burst of Phase Disruptor should be fired along with charging Mega Laser to almost instantly vaporize it.
    • This is because you should be taking advantage of the Shield Breaker nature of Phase Disruptor which deals an astounding 2.5 times the normal 31.25 DPS, while the Mega Laser does a flat 170 damage .
    • Optimising the Phase Disruptor timing gives Razor VI insane burst damage within ~3s. 62.5 damage from Phase Disruptor, 1.9sec charging Mega Laser (taking into account ~0.1s for reaction time), 170 damage from Mega Laser, and 62.5 damage from Phase Disruptor for the next 1sec. This totals to a whooping 295 total damage.

Speedrunning (Daily Missions): A+
Speedrunning (Community Missions): A

  • (+) The powerful Phase Disruptor destroys 2 Ravens in one burst.
  • (+) One burst of the Phase Disruptor also takes out 1 Shielded Heron just nice.
    • If you are lucky, you can also squeeze in 1 or 2 Sparrows in the same burst that takes the Heron too.
    • But be sure to focus fire on the Heron .
  • Each Phase Disruptor burst lasts 1s and it takes 1s to recharge.
  • Optimizing the Phase Disruptor is key, and the uninterruptible burst allows easy re-positioning.
    • A sweep of the Phase Disruptor from left to right eliminates a whole line-up of Sparrows in early Acts.
  • With more and more Invaders on subsequent waves, eliminate from left to right (or vice versa) so you don't waste the powerful Phase Disruptor.
  • Because of the Phase Disruptor's burst nature, it is desirable to charge Mega Laser just as the Phase Disruptor starts to fire.
    • It is actually a mistake for many players to charge Mega Laser as the next wave approaches.
    • When the wave has 2 Eagles in front, a burst of Phase Disruptor should be fired first
      • Ideally, one side of the Phase Disruptor hits each Eagle , stripping both their shields before Mega Laser goes into action.
    • Against Rocs , it would be usually more practical to fire off one Mega Laser just as the Roc arrives, and then fire a second Mega Laser after it's shield goes down, which is after 2 bursts of the Phase Disruptor.
      • A third Mega Laser is possible but not really recommended unless it is the last wave.
    • Against Condors , you could strip off the shield first, and then fire off the one Mega Laser , since firing 2 Mega Lasers on the Condor would incur too high of a charge time for subsequent waves.
  • Razor VI is one of the hardest ships to master properly, as there is no hard and fast rule on when to deploy barrier .
    • Sometimes small barriers are beneficial to allow easier movement and thus faster target switching, while at other times you would use small barriers to charge Mega Laser .
    • As a general rule of thumb, the first Mega Laser should be charged underneath an upfield barrier , while the subsequent Mega Lasers are likely to be charged inside a small barrier around yourself.
  • (-) The strictly forward firing nature of Razor VI, both its Phase Disruptor and Mega Laser , means it can run into maneuverability issues after the barriers die down.
    • This means that it can be difficult to place barriers upfield at the end of the wave.
    • In this case, finish off the last Invaders and instead place a small barrier around yourself to charge Mega Laser for the next wave.
    • Then, after Mega Laser is fired, ride up the Mega Laser, grab particles and put the upfield barrier .
  • For upfield Vultures blocked by 2 Eagles , 8 Ravens , or any frontline formation with similar health (not counting 2 Herons ), use 2 Mega Lasers in the same wave.
    • Deploy the barriers and use the Phase Disruptor to destroy a few Invaders on one side of the field.
    • Ride up the Mega Laser to grab particles, deploy a second smaller barrier around yourself (if the previous one already broke)
    • Then charge Mega Laser as the next burst goes off.
    • There should now be a hole on that side to reach the Vulture .
    • Grab the particles, deploy a third barrier, and fire off another Phase Disruptor burst as you charge Mega Laser to eliminate the Vulture . Finally, clean up the rest.

Fun Factor: A

  • (+) The Phase Disruptor is easy to use due to the forward and sufficiently wide spread nature. The straightforward nature of the Phase Disruptor is what makes Razor VI so popular.
  • (+) The Phase Disruptor feels powerful, particularly the impact sound it makes on Invaders.
  • (-) The ship core position is a little awkward since it's towards the back of the ship, making it hard to get used to.

Trivia

  • The base form of Razor VI was designed by Romano Molenaar, while the apexes were designed by Rogier van de Beek.
  • Razor VI was probably the most popular ship in the game before v5.0 since it was powerful, yet easily available (since it's rarity is common ).
    • However, the new mission layout introduced late into v5.0 made Razor VI too difficult to use due to extremely dense wave formations.
    • Today, Razor VI is making a slight comeback due to how v6.3.9 wave formations are a bit more heavy.
  • Razor VI is commonly referred as a "Horseman" back in the early Phoenix 2 days.
  • Razor VI's Phase Disruptor used to be High Impact before it was changed to Shield Breaker in the v3.0 update.
  • Razor VI is considered the last surviving "Horseman", due to the fact since v3.5, Stun EMP got nerfed badly which stripped the title of "Horseman" from Cinnri and Photurius.
  • Razor VI is apparently one of the most commonly misspelled ships, as players would sometimes call it Razor IV instead of Razor VI (Note the Roman numerals).
  • Early versions (since retired) of the speed lasers were based off Razor VI's Phase Disruptor.
  • Before the v4.0 update which introduced Apex forms, the Sigma Apex of Razor VI was teased on the Phoenix 2 Reddit:
  • Here's an early sketch version of Razor VI:
  • Here's a representation of Razor VI flexing made by one of the game artists, Romano Molenaar:


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Apexes

Beta (Barrier Reinforced Lining) - ¢10.000


Value: A-
Cost vs Utility: A

Survivability (Daily Missions): A+ [No significant change]
Survivability (Community Missions): A+ [No significant change]

  • (+) Improves capability to set up Mega Laser after placing barriers , allowing for a bit more grace time, since Razor VI is able to make use of its inner lining most of the time.
  • (+) Easier to set off 2 consecutive Mega Lasers from the increased inner lining strength that can survive the onslaught of bullets, which can help in waves with more larger Invaders such as Eagles with Vultures .

Speedrunning (Daily Missions): A+ [No change]
Speedrunning (Community Missions): A [No change]

Fun Factor: A [No change]


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Sigma (ML Focused Beam) - ¢35.000


Value: A+
Cost vs Utility: B

Survivability (Daily Missions): A+ [No significant change]
Survivability (Community Missions): A+ [No significant change]

  • (+) The increase in damage allow some heavier waves to be survivable with only one Mega Laser instead of 2.
  • (+) More damage means less to contend with as the wave progresses.
  • (-) The thinner Mega Laser means that Ravens can easily escape the Mega Laser.

Speedrunning (Daily Missions): S- [++]
Speedrunning (Community Missions): A+ [+]

  • (+) The overall buff in firepower is noticeable, especially against Vultures , Condors and Rocs .
  • Without the increased Mega Laser damage, one burst of Phase Disruptor + Mega Laser already eliminates a Vulture instantly. However, the Phase Disruptor should still be allowed to go off before charging Mega Laser.
    • The bonus Mega Laser damage can continue to damage upfield Invaders behind the Vulture .
    • The Mega Laser may also catch unsuspecting downfield Ravens that walk right into the path of the Mega Laser in front of the Vulture .

Fun Factor: A- [-]

  • (-) A thinner Mega Laser means a higher likelihood of missing Ravens and Sparrows , especially on denser waves, causing more frustration.


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Mist Star


Strong against: Shuriken/Pellet/Laser, Lasers Only, Laser/Pellet, Laser/Shuriken
Weak against: Dart/MIRV, Dart/Pellet/Laser

Ship Class: Balanced
+

Main Weapon: Flux Seekers

  • Average DPS = 25
  • Homing = Perfect
  • Weapon Class = Uninterruptible Burst
  • Rate of Fire = Fast
  • Projectile Speed = Fast
  • Reload Time = Medium
  • 4 successive sets of 2 homing projectiles that move in wavy patterns

Survivability (Daily Missions): C+
Survivability (Community Missions): C+

  • As the Flux Seeker fires in bursts, while the first of the Flux Seekers fire, engage Kappa Drive to charge up a large Stun EMP .
    • Disengage Kappa Drive once the last of the Flux Seekers fire off.
    • Obviously, don't do it when your Aura is already full.
  • (+) The capability to generate lots of Stun EMP gives you some flexibility to move around.
  • (-) Unfortunately, the lackluster DPS of Mist Star means that it is very easy to get overwhelmed by bullets and lasers easily.
  • (-) Because the Flux Seekers are homing, and you have little control of where it wants to go, you have to force it to go where you want.
  • (+) Kappa Drive can be used to generate a full or near full Stun EMP Aura size before the next wave fully arrives.
  • (+) Sparrows mean nothing to Mist Star because they should all be destroyed the instant the wave begins.
  • If there are Invaders hiding behind larger Invaders like Vultures or Eagles , use Stun EMP , then go behind and quickly take out the pesky Ravens . This allows you to refill Stun EMP quickly.
  • A Stun EMP at the start of the wave allows you to go near to Ravens to destroy them.
    • This forces the Flux Seekers to hit them and thus destroy them quickly.
    • Particles collected from going in the face of several Ravens is sufficient to blast off a 2nd Stun EMP before the 1st one expires (given enough Ravens on field).
    • This means that after you have exhausted all your Stun EMPs , there should only be Herons or larger on field.
    • The Herons should also be heavily damaged or destroyed.
  • (-) The low DPS of Mist Star will make it struggle against Eagles and above.
    • In such situations, make sure all the smaller Invaders are eliminated before retreating to the bottom of the screen.
  • It's usually not possible to kill a Vulture before it fires its spinners, even after the initial Stun EMP .
    • Let the spinners fire up for a while and graze off the bullets from the spinner.
    • Just before you are unable to handle the bullet walls created, fire the Stun EMP (which should be large enough) to keep the spinner from starting again too quickly.
    • Just remember to kill off all the smaller Invaders before that happens to gain back sufficient Aura to cover both spinners.
  • (+) Kappa Drive can get you emergency Aura , and Stun EMP increases in radius quickly.
    • This means it sometimes, you may sacrifice DPS to engage Kappa Drive to generate just enough Aura and position yourself so that Stun EMP just nice covers all dangerous turrets.
    • Very useful when you are out of particles and are faced with deadly turrets like Doomsday Super MIRVs that are just about to fire.
  • (-) Very hard to pop turrets with the Flux Seekers as you need to be right in front of the turrets to do so.
  • (-) The lackluster DPS of Mist Star doesn't help in popping turrets quickly.
  • After using Stun EMP to wipe out the Sparrows as the wave fully arrives, allow the Flux Seekers to go off before engaging Kappa Drive .
  • (-) It is common to cancel the time slowdown by Kappa Drive since it is easy to simply let go after using Stun EMP .

Speedrunning (Daily Missions): B+
Speedrunning (Community Missions): B+

  • Spamming Stun EMP means many small AoE damage with wide coverage.
    • This makes Mist Star slightly speedy for dense missions that has lots of Ravens and Sparrows .
  • Optimizing when to use Stun EMP is key in earlier waves.
    • A slightly delayed Stun EMP to charge more Aura from Kappa Drive makes all the difference in killing Sparrows or not.
    • Abuse Kappa Drive as much as you can in early waves as the Stun EMP damage will wipe Sparrows clean.
  • (+) The key to optimizing Mist Star is to know when to re-engage touch at the right time such that the next burst of Flux Seekers are ready to go off.
  • (-) The huge difficulty in speedrunning Mist Star comes in the fact that it is very hard to control where the Flux Seekers are going.
    • This makes difficult to use the Flux Seekers to take down the shields of Ravens on field, before Stun EMP does so.

Fun Factor: B

  • (+) Interesting Flux Seekers that curve here and there.
  • (-) On the flip side, it means it's difficult to have Mist Star do what you want.
  • (-) The rhythm of Mist Star's Flux Seekers is hard to catch, so using Kappa Drive between bursts is difficult.
  • (+) Spamming Stun EMP to watch Invaders float around helplessly is fun.
  • (=) Neutral Flux Seeker impact sounds.

Trivia

  • The base form of Mist Star was designed by Romano Molenaar, while the apexes were designed by Rogier van de Beek.
  • The Flux Seekers are actually tiny versions of Mist Star, except without the middle wing.


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Apexes

Lambda (SEMP Strong Stun) - ¢30.000


Value: B+
Cost vs Utility: A

Survivability (Daily Missions): B- [++]
Survivability (Community Missions): B- [++]

  • (+) Makes a difference in heavier waves as these waves do not give you a lot of particles to work with.
  • (+) The additional stun time is useful particularly against Herons or larger Invaders.
  • (+) Particularly, you could take out the middle turret of an Eagle with the longer stun after dealing with the Ravens . You could then opt to skip Herons since Eagle middle turrets can be more dangerous than Herons.
  • (=) Not much use in denser waves since particles are easily available for continuous stunning.

Speedrunning (Daily Missions): B+ [No significant change]
Speedrunning (Community Missions): B+ [No significant change]

  • (+) Taking out a dangerous turret can sometimes make a difference in being able to get close up to Invaders at the end of the wave, thus being able to take out Invaders faster end wave.

Fun Factor: B [No significant change]

  • (+) Better stunning capabilities make Mist Star a bit easier to play.


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Gamma (SEMP Extended Range) - ¢15.000


Value: B+
Cost vs Utility: A

Survivability (Daily Missions): B+ [No significant change]
Survivability (Community Missions): B+ [No significant change]

  • Encourages you use of Stun EMP in smaller bursts more often.
  • (+) The wider reach of Stun EMP allows it to more easily reset spinners that are further apart, especially those on Vultures or larger.
  • (+) The shorter time needed to achieve the same radius for less Flux Seekers downtime to use Kappa Drive can make all the difference in being able to quickly reset these dangerous turrets.
  • Be very careful as the Stun EMP duration does not change, which means for the same radius of Stun EMP, turret(s) stunned stay stunned for a shorter time.
    • Thus, it is a bad idea to stand near tracking dart turrets after launching an Stun EMP .

Speedrunning (Daily Missions): B+ [No significant change]
Speedrunning (Community Missions): B+ [No significant change]

  • (+) For a decently sized Stun EMP Aura, it can make a difference in reaching a far away Raven or not.

Fun Factor: B [No significant change]

  • (+) Easier stunning capabilities make Mist Star a bit easier to play.


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Proxymar


Strong against: Shuriken/Pellet, Shuriken/Pellet/Laser, Lasers Only, Laser/Pellet, Laser/Shuriken
Weak against: Shuriken/MIRV, Dart/MIRV, Dart/Boomerang/Pellet, General - No Lasers, Dart/Boomerang/Laser, Dart/Pellet/Laser

Ship Class: Blitzkrieg
+

Main Weapon: Lightning Conduit

Survivability (Daily Missions): C-
Survivability (Community Missions): C-

  • (-) Low DPS, and absolutely no defence at all. Once trapped, you are dead.
  • (-) Very limited turret popping. Kill or die.
  • It is possible to go near to a turret and release Missile Swarm to pop the turret off, but this can be very difficult.
  • (+) Lightning Conduit does the damage work automatically for you, so no worry about aiming or distance to Invaders.
  • (+) Missile Swarm allows you to finish off a wave in order to charge Mega Bomb for the next wave.

Speedrunning (Daily Missions): X
Speedrunning (Community Missions): X

  • Lightning Conduit's only purpose is to weaken shields.
    • Always try to be in the middle of Invaders so there is a higher chance that the Lightning Conduit will split up to hit different Invaders.
  • The 2 independent Lightning Conduit will keep targeting the same target until the Invader is destroyed.
    • After which, it has a slight tendency to target something that is closer in terms of the angle of the last Lightning Conduit beam.
  • For the best chance to have the both Lightning Conduits target different Sparrows , try to be in the middle of them.
  • In Wave 1-1, if there are only 2 Sparrows , don't charge Mega Bomb immediately. Instead, hold on to the screen for 1s, go to the middle of the field and then charge Mega Bomb.
    • This allows the 2 Sparrows to be instantly destroyed as Wave 1-1 arrives, allowing you to use Mega Bomb against Wave 1-2 instead.
  • Missile Swarm and Mega Bomb are used in alternate turns.
    • The Lightining Conduit only helps out a bit in damage.
    • The main bulk of damage comes from Missile Swarm and Mega Bomb .
    • The lack of bullets in laser heavy missions makes Proxymar very strong since Proxymar can eliminate Invaders before many lasers can fire.
  • In early waves, release Missile Swarm offset downwards from the center of all Invaders, due to how most of the missiles from Missile Swarm are coming out from the front.
  • In early waves, if there is only one Raven at the front, perform an imperfect Missile Barreling on the Raven.
    • This heavily damages the Raven but allows the other Invaders behind to absorb most of the Missile Swarm .
    • To execute this, release Missile Swarm just slightly above the centerline of the Raven's body.
  • Missile Barreling is a very important skill for Proxymar. Master it properly to go really fast.
    • This technique is particularly used against Herons in early Acts 1 - 2 (when the Heron is alone, or with only Sparrows ).
    • This technique is also used against Eagles frequently.
      • This allows the next wave to either appear faster, or be able to use the next Missile Swarm .
      • Learn how to perform perfect Missile Barreling so that the next Missile Swarm is ready for use immediately.
    • Remember that Missile Barreling an Eagle as the last Invader on field as that will mean you can't charge Mega Bomb for the next wave, unless it is Wave 4 of an Act.
  • Positioning is key, ironically (for an instant tracking main weapon ), as Mega Bomb positioning plays a real part in cutting off precious seconds to jump a few places.
    • Also, this ensures you don't get killed easily by Invaders crashing into you.
  • Do not use Mega Bomb in light waves.
    • Simply use a full size Missile Swarm to eliminate them all.
    • Once the Missile Swarm fires, start charging Mega Bomb for the next wave.
  • When dealing with pellet spinners, spinner riding may be a good idea to gain free Aura .
    • Bear in mind this can hurt your positioning in the next wave.
    • It may be better if you can simply kill the entire Invader(s) with the pellet spinners before it can start firing by conserving particles on field.
    • You may also do Missile Barreling such that one of the pellet spinners is eliminated immediately.
    • A full size Missile Swarm Aura will take down the shield and pop the pellet spinner off.
  • Proxymar requires a lot of approximation.
    • In particular, you must know for the size of Missile Swarm , how long you have to wait to launch it such that the Missile Swarm will clear the entire remainder of the wave.
    • This is important for speed. Charge Mega Bomb right after Missile Swarm fires to save time in the next wave.
    • Mega Bomb charge times can get lengthy due to how fast Proxymar can be so there may not be time to recover to the Base Charge Time .
  • However, for maximum optimization of Missile Swarm at the end of the wave, continue firing the Lightning Conduit for a while more.
    • Try to charge Mega Bomb such that Mega Bomb will just nice finish charging as the next wave arrives.
  • Landing an Fusion Core on a Vulture or larger may not always be the best option.
    • This is because doing so may cause you to overfill on Aura and thus have less Missile Swarm to use later.
    • If there are a lot of particles upfield, charge Mega Bomb more downfield.
    • Landing Fusion Core may not be beneficial if you notice that you are overfilling, so forgo Fusion Core if you are overfilling on Aura .
  • For even more tips on how to speedrun with Proxymar, refer to this website:
    https://p2myth.club/docs/Cookbook/Proxymar

Fun Factor: X

  • (+) Proxymar is one of the easiest FO ships to pick up due to the lack of need to aim.
  • (+) Going really fast is really fun, especially if flown in a laser heavy mission with little bullets.
  • (+) Despite its lackluster Lightning Conduit damage, the highly damaging Missile Swarm and Mega Bomb more than makes up for it.

Trivia

  • The base form of Proxymar was designed by Romano Molenaar, while the apexes were designed by Rogier van de Beek.
  • Proxymar was one of the most heavily spammed ships in past Shielded Laser/Pellet missions before v5.0.
    • Practically, every single time this mission type comes by, the S+ leagues were always flooded with Proxymars.
    • It got so bad that what it feels like the top 300 places in the S4 leagues were almost purely Proxymars.
    • The only exception where Proxymar didn't dominate was when there was a difficult Roc with tracking lasers and pellet spinners, which was rare before v5.0.
    • Today, Proxymar is a bit more difficult to use but still sees some use in easier missions in some of the top spots. Sometimes, a really skilled speedrunner can find a way to clear and take the top spot in a difficult mission.


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Apexes

Delta (MB Extended Range) - ¢20.000


Value: B
Cost vs Utility: A

Survivability (Daily Missions): C- [No significant change]
Survivability (Community Missions): C- [No significant change]

  • (+) Helps in catching Ravens and Sparrows far upfield.
  • (-) However, does not help in finishing off the heavily damaged Ravens unless you go near to them, which can be dangerous for most players.

Speedrunning (Daily Missions): X [No significant change]
Speedrunning (Community Missions): HX [+]

  • (+) Adds a layer of reliability in catching all Invaders on field in the case charging at the extreme upper left or right corner of the field.

Fun Factor: X [No change]


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Beta (MB Core EMP) - ¢10.000


Value: B-
Cost vs Utility: S

Survivability (Daily Missions): C- [No significant change]
Survivability (Community Missions): C- [No significant change]

  • (+) Makes certain impossible missions due to heavy bullet walling possible if unconventional Mega Bomb charging techniques are applied.

Speedrunning (Daily Missions): X [No significant change]
Speedrunning (Community Missions): X [No significant change]

  • (+) Possibly makes Proxymar viable for Shuriken/MIRV missions, although usually in gold ranks.
    • In Marshal ranks, some easier Shuriken/MIRV missions allow the use of this apex, although it is usually both stressful to pilot and unlikely to get top spots.
  • (+) A bit more useful for community missions since those are quite bullet heavy and not too hard, this apex makes it easier to use Proxymar in community missions.

Fun Factor: X [No change]


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Oran


Strong against: Shuriken/Pellet/Laser, Lasers Only, Laser/Pellet, Laser/Shuriken
Weak against: Dart/MIRV, Dart/Pellet/Laser

Ship Class: Balanced
+

Main Weapon: Meson Laser

Survivability (Daily Missions): C+
Survivability (Community Missions): C+

  • While the Meson Laser burst goes off, engage Kappa Drive to charge up a large Stun EMP .
    • Disengage Kappa Drive once the Meson Laser dies off.
    • Obviously, don't do it when your Aura is already full.
  • (+) The capability to generate lots of Stun EMP gives you some flexibility to move around.
  • (-) Unfortunately, the lackluster DPS of Oran means that it is very easy to get overwhelmed by bullets and lasers easily.
  • (-) Because the Meson Laser is instant tracking, and you have little control of where it wants to go, so you have to force it to go where you want.
  • (+) Kappa Drive can be used to generate a full or near full Stun EMP Aura size before the next wave fully arrives.
  • (+) Sparrows mean nothing to Oran because they should all be destroyed the instant the wave begins.
  • If there are Invaders hiding behind larger Invaders like Vultures or Eagles , use Stun EMP , then go behind and quickly take out the pesky Ravens . This allows you to refill Stun EMP quickly.
  • An Stun EMP at the start of the wave allows you to go near to Ravens to destroy them.
    • The particles collected from destroying several Ravens is sufficient to fire a 2nd Stun EMP before the 1st one expires (given enough Ravens on field).
    • This means that after you have exhausted all your Stun EMPs , there should only be Herons or larger on field.
    • The Herons should also be heavily damaged or destroyed.
  • (-) Annoying to aim the Meson Laser. Depending on where the Meson Laser aims, adjust accordingly so that Ravens get caught in the Meson Lasers.
  • (-) The low DPS of Oran will make it struggle against Eagles and above.
    • In such situations, make sure all the smaller Invaders are eliminated before retreating to the bottom of the screen.
  • It's usually not possible to kill a Vulture before it fires its spinners, even after the initial Stun EMP .
    • Let the spinners fire up for a while and graze off the bullets from the spinner.
    • Just before you are unable to handle the bullet walls created, fire the Stun EMP which should be large enough to keep the spinner from starting again too quickly.
    • Just remember to kill off all the smaller Invaders before that happens to gain back sufficient Aura to cover both spinners.
  • (+) Kappa Drive can get you emergency Aura , and Stun EMP increases in radius quickly.
    • This means it sometimes, you may sacrifice DPS to engage Kappa Drive to generate just enough Aura and position yourself so that Stun EMP just nice covers all dangerous turrets.
    • Very useful when you are out of particles and are faced with deadly turrets like Doomsday Super MIRVs that are just about to fire.
  • (-) Very hard to pop turrets with the Meson Laser as you need to be right in front of the turrets to do so.
  • (-) The lackluster DPS of Meson Laser doesn't help in popping turrets quickly.
  • (+) Extremely good synergy between Meson Laser and Kappa Drive .
    • Oran generates quite a lot of particles by itself through the use of Kappa Drive , since the rhythm of the Meson Laser is easy to follow.
  • After using Stun EMP to wipe out the Sparrows as the wave fully arrives, allow the Meson Laser to go off before engaging Kappa Drive .
  • (-) It is common to cancel the time slowdown by Kappa Drive since it is easy to simply let go after using Stun EMP .

Speedrunning (Daily Missions): B+
Speedrunning (Community Missions): B+

  • (-) The Meson Laser can be very annoying to aim. It sometimes dedicates so many lasers to one Sparrow , wasting a ton of DPS.
    • To minimize this, after that Sparrow is dead, readjust yourself such that it hits the largest Invader on field such as a Vulture .
  • Spamming Stun EMP means many small AoE damage with wide coverage.
    • This makes Mist Star slightly speedy for dense missions that has lots of Ravens and Sparrows .
  • Optimizing when to use Stun EMP is key in earlier waves.
    • A slightly delayed Stun EMP to charge more Aura from Kappa Drive makes all the difference in killing Sparrows or not.
    • Abuse Kappa Drive as much as you can in early waves as the Stun EMP damage will wipe Sparrows clean.
  • (-) The huge difficulty in speedrunning comes in the fact that it is very hard to control how the Meson Laser aims at Invaders.
    • This means adapting very quickly to the Meson Laser to have Ravens be in the path of the Meson Laser.
  • (-) In early waves, as it is difficult to generate Stun EMP to a sufficiently large size, learn how to redirect the Meson Laser into other Sparrows or other Invaders to ensure the Meson Laser leaks as little damage as possible.

Fun Factor: B+

  • (+) The synergy of the Meson Laser and Kappa Drive is very fun to abuse.
    • As the Meson Laser fires, let go.
    • When the Meson Laser dies down, re-engage touch briefly to trigger the next burst of the Meson Laser.
    • It's easy to keep the rhythm going.
  • (=) While the guide author personally likes the sound of Meson Laser, it's been compared to nails on a chalkboard and the sound can be a bit piercing to the ears.
  • (+) Many Meson Lasers going in different directions is quite a sight to behold.

Trivia

  • The base form of Oran was designed by Romano Molenaar, while the apexes were designed by Rogier van de Beek.
  • While all ships bank / tilt to one side when moving, Oran has a reduced degree of banking compared to most other ships.
  • Oran used to have guns in the design of the pre-alpha version of Phoenix 2, as shown below:
  • The Meson Laser used to be 21.25 DPS before the v3.5 update.
  • Oran is the only ship in the game that flies with redundancy, as it has two forms of propulsion, one which is the 2 turbofans, and the other is the traditional thruster at the back of the ship.


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Apexes

Beta (Kappa Antigrav) - ¢10.000


Value: B
Cost vs Utility: B

Survivability (Daily Missions): C+ [No significant change]
Survivability (Community Missions): C+ [No significant change]

  • (+) Helps for heavier waves, where you sometimes need to quickly fire another round of Stun EMP again before Invaders start flooding the field with bullets, especially after a larger Invader such as a Heron or Eagle is destroyed.

Speedrunning (Daily Missions): B+ [No significant change]
Speedrunning (Community Missions): B+ [No significant change]

  • (+) Being able to stun Invaders more quickly mid-wave after receiving the particles from destroyed Invaders means more maneuverability space to re-direct the Meson Laser where required.

Fun Factor: B+ [No change]


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Delta (Main Weapon Meson Controller) - ¢20.000


Value: B+
Cost vs Utility: A

This apex upgrades the Meson Laser such that there is no leakage in DPS. Meson Lasers that killed Invaders before the burst ends will be redirected into a new burst that is separate from the initial burst. There is no change in how the Meson Lasers look.

Survivability (Daily Missions): C+ [No change]
Survivability (Community Missions): C+ [No change]

Speedrunning (Daily Missions): B+ [No significant change]
Speedrunning (Community Missions): B+ [No significant change]

  • (+) Particularly helps against earlier Acts since the leakage of the Meson Laser after Sparrows is significant.
    • No more re-directing the Meson Laser and switching between Invaders manually.
  • (-) However, the de-synchronization of the Meson Laser may affect how long you can use Kappa Drive between bursts
    • You need to wait for all bursts to go off before engaging Kappa Drive .
    • This can mean less damage from Stun EMP .

Fun Factor: B+ [No significant change]

  • (+) No leakage of DPS is nice.
  • (-) More difficult to abuse the synergy between the Meson Laser and Kappa Drive .
    • If you want to keep to the rhythm, you will deal less damage from less of the Meson Laser going off.
    • Otherwise, you have to let all the bursts go off, which is quite unpredictable, throwing off the rhythm for playing Oran.
    • Generally, the offset is not so bad and the time between the first and last burst won't exceed 1s.


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Kada Veni


Strong against: None in particular
Weak against: Shuriken/MIRV, Dart/MIRV, Lasers Only, Laser/Pellet, Laser/Shuriken

Ship Class: Defend to Attack
+

Main Weapon: Pulse Battery

  • Average DPS = 25
  • Homing = Average
  • Weapon Class = Continuous Stream
  • Rate of Fire = Fast
  • Projectile Speed = Fast
  • Slightly homing projectiles that pause for a while after being emitted, and then accelerate

Survivability (Daily Missions): B-
Survivability (Community Missions): B

  • (-) Because of the horrendous aiming of the Pulse Battery, Kada Veni should be confined to the bottom of the screen.
  • At the end of the wave, as the last Invaders are at the back of the field, you should slowly start making your way closer upfield, but stay below the centerline.
  • (+) As the last Pulse Batteries fire off, deploy a barrier such that the outer edge of the barrier is just in front of any Invader, so that you can quickly swipe to the edge of the outer barrier to charge Mega Bomb .
  • (+) Because the Pulse Battery takes a while to reach its target after it fires, you can slightly pre-charge Mega Bomb as the last few Pulse Batteries are just emitted and waiting to be launched, killing the last Invader on screen.
  • Once Mega Bomb goes off, the particles you collected when quickly moving upfield to charge Mega Bomb should give you quite likely, a full size barrier .
    • Quickly deploy this huge barrier after Mega Bomb goes off, and then push yourself all the way back down to the bottom.
  • Deploy small barriers around yourself where needed to block off difficult to dodge bullet situations.
  • (-) Impossible to pop turrets with Pulse Battery.
  • (-) Extremely difficult to control the Pulse Battery.
  • (+) Despite the Pulse Battery horrendous aiming, the horrendous aiming ironically helps out in destroying heavily damaged Ravens hiding behind a Vulture .
    • Simply go to the extreme side of the field where the Vulture isn’t drifting towards, and the inaccurate Pulse Battery might miss the Vulture, but curve around it to hit the Ravens behind instead.
  • (-) Stay between the 4 front turrets of a Roc , because the aiming of the Pulse Battery is so horrible that going beyond that and some of the projectiles can even miss the Roc entirely.

Speedrunning (Daily Missions): A-
Speedrunning (Community Missions): A-

  • (-) Very awkward speedrunning with Kada Veni.
    • To charge Mega Bomb optimally, at the end of the wave, as the last of the Pulse Batteries hit the last Invader, quickly push up to charge Mega Bomb at the desired positioning to land Fusion Core properly.
  • If that's only one Doomsday Bomb and not many other threats around, be sure to get rid of it so that the barriers will last, allowing you to land Pulse Battery more easily.
    • To do this, you can stand right in front of the Doomsday Bomb you need to destroy.
  • After landing the Fusion Core , immediately retreat back downfield.
  • (-) Mega Bomb is the only saving grace that helps it to go a little faster, but being unable to utilize it fully pulls Kada Veni back.
  • Unfortunately, it's difficult to give advice how to use the Pulse Battery properly, due to its horrendous aiming.

Fun Factor: A-

  • (-) Kada Veni's main Pulse Battery aiming is so horrible, it's not even funny. This is the very definition of an anti-fun main weapon , one that doesn't hit and it's not even your fault.
  • (=) Average Audio & Visuals for the Pulse Battery.
  • (+) Barrier allows to set up Mega Bombs quite optimally, which means great effective AoE damage and fun blowing up invaders.

Trivia

  • The base form of Kada Veni was designed by Romano Molenaar, while the apexes were designed by Rogier van de Beek.
  • Despite the horrid Pulse Battery that has a level of aiming that is similar to Ogon, because Kada Veni still has a strong Aura - Zen combination, it is not really a meme unlike Ogon.
  • Kada Veni used to have guns in the design of the pre-alpha version of Phoenix 2, as shown below:
  • Kada Veni's Pulse Battery used to be High Impact before it was changed to Armor Piercing in the v3.0 update.


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Apexes

Alpha (Main Weapon Launcher Upgrade) - ¢5.000


Value: A+
Cost vs Utility: X

This apex improves the homing capabilities of the Pulse Battery. This is how the improved Pulse Battery looks like:

Survivability (Daily Missions): B- [No significant change]
Survivability (Community Missions): B [No significant change]

  • (+) Being able to hit Invaders better means clearing out Invaders a bit faster so they don't flood the field with too many bullets and lasers .
  • (-) Due to the improved aiming, you can no longer ultilize the technique where you go to the edge of the field and hope the Pulse Batteries curve around the Invaders to reach upfield Invaders, making upfield Ravens that survive the Mega Bomb an issue.

Speedrunning (Daily Missions): A [+]
Speedrunning (Community Missions): A [+]

  • (+) The improved aiming of the Pulse Battery restores the effective DPS of 25 for Kada Veni, which is a good improvement compared to a weapon that misses coming to half the time especially on smaller Invaders.
    • Going near enough to smaller Invaders such as Ravens will still make the Pulse Battery miss though.

Fun Factor: A+ [+]

  • (+) The now reliable Pulse Battery effectively completely eliminates the frustration of missing Pulse Batteries, making this ship a fun Barrier - Mega Bomb ship.


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Gamma (MB Compressed Blast) - ¢15.000


Value: A-
Cost vs Utility: A

Survivability (Daily Missions): C+ [--]
Survivability (Community Missions): B- [-]

  • (-) The reduction in Mega Bomb range makes it much more difficult to reach upfield Invaders.
  • (-) This is especially when Kada Veni isn't a very strong ship, given most barriers are set up around yourself, which makes charging Mega Bomb at the center of field very difficult.

Speedrunning (Daily Missions): A+ [+]
Speedrunning (Community Missions): A+ [+]

  • (+) The Compressed Blast eliminates 4 Herons in a row more easily, or Herons and/or Eagles on different rows.
  • (-) However, it is difficult to set up Mega Bomb at the appropriate position since it is difficult to swipe up, deploy a barrier around yourself, and get into position properly.
  • (+) Since Compressed Blast doesn't have Fusion Core damage anymore, positioning can be slightly more lenient since you don't need to be in-between 2 Herons or 2 Eagles to land Fusion Core on. So there is some tolerance in positioning.
  • (-) Of course, the positioning still matters as Invaders outside the Compressed Blast range will not be affected.
  • Charging at the center of the field means that deploying barriers properly is important, such that you won't get shot point blank.

Fun Factor: B+ [--]

  • (-) This apex just makes an already frustrating ship more frustrating to play from not being able to get an optimal Mega Bomb usage.


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Wrackr


Strong against: Shuriken/Pellet, Shuriken/Boomerang
Weak against: Dart/MIRV, Dart/Boomerang/Pellet, General - No Lasers, Dart/Boomerang/Laser, Dart/Pellet/Laser, Lasers Only, Laser/Pellet, Laser/Shuriken

Ship Class: Attack & Retreat
+

Main Weapon: Seismic Blaster

  • Average DPS = 31.25
  • Spread = Narrow
  • Weapon Class = Continuous Stream
  • Rate of Fire = Very Fast
  • Projectile Speed = Fast
  • Small projectiles that shoot in a general forward direction with a slight random angular deviance from the vertical

Survivability (Daily Missions): B-
Survivability (Community Missions): B-

  • (-) The random spread of the Seismic Blaster means you need to go near to Invaders in order to pop off turrets.
  • Ensure the field is sufficiently clear of bullets at the end of the wave (such that there are very clear places you can hide at) so that you can safely charge Mega Bomb for the next wave.
  • Once Mega Bomb goes off, spam Point Defence to clear out the whole mess of bullets headed for you so that you won't die.
  • Afterwards, try to conserve Point Defence until near the end of the wave when few turrets are left active.
    • Kill the last Invaders, and use Point Defence to eliminate their bullets to set up properly for the next wave's Mega Bomb .
  • in the mid-wave, try to graze to get more Aura for the end of the wave.
  • (-) The particles from destroyed Ravens and Sparrows after setting off Mega Bomb will be able to keep up the elimination of bullets for only a short while.
  • (-) Wrackr is often stuck at the bottom of the screen charging Mega Bomb in most cases, making it difficult to reach upfield Invaders unless it is a wave with a frontline Vulture .
  • (-) This means it's hard to land Fusion Core on any Invader.
  • (-) No laser defence. Conserve and use Point Defence to dodge lasers.
  • (-) Bad synergy between the fast traveling Seismic Blaster and Mega Bomb .

Speedrunning (Daily Missions): A-
Speedrunning (Community Missions): A-

  • Spam Point Defence to stay close and personal to Invaders. Doing so also eliminates turrets since grazing is not needed for Wrackr, since Point Defence is defensive.
  • As Invaders in the wave die out, the threat becomes less so, allowing you to stand back a bit. There's no need to pop all the turrets.
  • Stay in the middle of the field as the last Invaders begin to die. This is where you will charge Mega Bomb .

Fun Factor: A

  • (+) The fast firing main is a sight to behold.
  • (+) Due to the fast firing High Impact Seismic Blaster, you will have a lot of satisfying critical hits.
  • (+) Very fast paced gameplay with Wrackr.

Trivia

  • The base form of Wrackr was designed by Romano Molenaar, while the apexes were designed by Rogier van de Beek.
  • Wrackr's Seismic Blaster used to be Armor Piercing before it was changed to High Impact in the v3.0 update.


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Apexes

Alpha (Main Weapon Laser Upgrade) - ¢5.000


Value: B-
Cost vs Utility: S

This apex improves its Seismic Blasters such that it reduces the randomness in the spread, and turns the Seismic Blasters into lasers with zero travel time. This is how the improved Seismic Blasters look like:

Survivability (Daily Missions): B [+]
Survivability (Community Missions): B [+]

  • (+) The increased accuracy of its Seismic Blasters allow you to stand as far back as you need and still be able to pop turrets off.
  • (+) Better safety during a wave so you don't get shot point blank by turrets.
  • (+) This also means easier Mega Bomb setups.
  • (-) However, faster Seismic Blasters also decreases the benefit of being able to stand back.

Speedrunning (Daily Missions): A- [No significant change]
Speedrunning (Community Missions): A- [No significant change]

  • (-) The faster Seismic Blasters means its harder to charge Mega Bomb at the center of the field, since less time is available between finishing off the last Invader and the time when the next wave has fully arrived.

Fun Factor: A [No significant change]

  • (+) A different kind of fun to watch the changed Seismic Blaster firing, putting on a bit of a light show.


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Epsilon (PD Bullet Detonator) - ¢25.000


Value: S-
Cost vs Utility: A

Survivability (Daily Missions): B [+]
Survivability (Community Missions): B [+]

  • (+) Eliminating Invaders a little faster helps a bit in survivability. Since Wrackr will exhaust Point Defence pretty fast after exiting Mega Bomb , the exit phase is where Point Defence might do damage to Invaders as you drain Point Defence.

Speedrunning (Daily Missions): S- [++]
Speedrunning (Community Missions): A+ [+]

  • (+) The close combat fighting style of Wrackr when speedrunning synergizes very well with Point Defence Bullet Detonator.
  • (+) Staying up close to Invaders is hugely rewarded with this apex.
  • (+) Under the hells of Shuriken/MIRV missions, this apex can do really well due to the enormous amount of bullets, as well as Mega Bomb feeding particles to Wrackr.
  • Like any other Bullet Detonator apex, spinner riding techniques will crush Vultures and larger Invaders really quickly.

Fun Factor: S- [++]

  • (+) This apex severely enhances the close combat speedrunning style of this ship.
  • (+) This allows Invaders to die quickly under the might of their own Invader weaponry, which is hilarious.


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Trireme


Strong against: Shuriken/Pellet/Laser, Lasers Only, Laser/Pellet, Laser/Shuriken
Weak against: Shuriken/MIRV, Dart/MIRV

Ship Class: Defend to Attack
+

Main Weapon: Burst Pulsar

  • Average DPS = 21.25
  • Target Tracking = Instant
  • Weapon Class = Interruptible Burst
    • (Invader Triggered - Synchronous)
  • Rate of Fire = Very Fast
  • Reload Time = Fast
  • 12 extremely short bursts of instant tracking lasers that randomly target anything

Survivability (Daily Missions): B
Survivability (Community Missions): B

  • (-) Very limited capability to pop turrets off. The only way to do so is via Missile Swarm .
  • (-) Even turret popping is hard via Missile Swarm since the shield needs to be stripped off a Vulture or larger first before Missile Swarm can go into action to destroy the turret.
  • (-) Impossible to control Burst Pulsar. This particularly makes firing Missile Swarm at the right time very difficult.
    • The Burst Pulsar targeting is random.
    • However, at the end of every burst, the first Burst Pulsar beam tends to target whatever is in front of Trireme first.
  • The main bulk of Trireme's damage is dealt through Missile Swarm .
  • The Burst Pulsar's only purpose is to strip the Invaders of their shield.
  • However, if the wave is dense with only Ravens , then there is simply no point waiting for the Burst Pulsar to cycle through all of them. Simply just fire Missile Swarm off straight away to deal with the Ravens.
  • Always wait for the shield to be downed before firing Missile Swarm for all other Invaders except Sparrows and Ravens .
  • This requires quite a lot of estimation since you need to know how much can the current size of Missile Swarm Aura kill.
    • It is ok to overkill slightly and have some missiles re-direct to another Invader that still has shields up.
  • Despite the instant tracking Burst Pulsar, Trireme actually needs to flail around a lot.
    • This is to get closer to its intended targets that have lost their shields to deploy Missile Swarm on.
  • Trireme succeeds in dart dodging due to its Teleport .
    • A very common technique to employ is to go to the upper corner of the field, swipe across from one end to another, and then Teleport down.
    • This distracts dart turrets to fire upwards instead of downwards.
    • This technique is very useful when the screen is getting flooded by MIRVs and shurikens.
  • You will require a lot of Teleporting as you need to distract dart tracking turrets a LOT.
    • It's a lot of hit-and-run emphasis, once you Teleport , fire Missile Swarm .
  • Although not frequent, you sometimes need to Teleport into the thick of the action to fire off Missile Swarm so that Missile Swarm can lock on to as many targets as possible, in order not to waste Missile Swarm.
    • However, since Missile Swarm kicks into action later, most Invaders would be dead after the Missile Swarm.
    • This allows you to collect most of their particles, refilling your Aura to a pretty huge size.
  • There are times where you might want to fire off smaller Missile Swarms to quickly clear one part of the field to be designated your safe zone you can Teleport back to.
    • Be also very careful as dense waves run a real risk of turret collision.
  • Unfortunately, Trireme will fare quite bad in a densely populated dart field where there is very little time to think where to position yourself correctly to prepare for the next Teleport .
    • A lot of practice is needed to understand Teleport departure techniques as the wrong positioning before charging up Teleport can put you point blank at a dart tracking turret.
  • The best option is to get nearer or inbetween spread or tracking lasers as those don't fire very often.
    • Be careful to start your Teleport departure before the lasers start to charge up (the laser sound cue).

Speedrunning (Daily Missions): A-
Speedrunning (Community Missions): A-

  • (+) Trireme has absolutely zero damage spill when used right.
    • Missile Swarm can retarget bigger Invaders (Vulture and above), so they don't go down even with their shield down and after one full Missile Swarm burst on them.
  • Kill Ravens and Sparrows immediately via Missile Swarm if they are downfield and close to you.
    • This allows the Burst Pulsar to target larger Invaders behind them to make use of the Shield Breaker nature of Burst Pulsar.
  • When dealing with upfield Ravens and Sparrows , make sure you have enough Missile Swarm to wipe them out as you fire Missile Swarm to get rid of whatever is in front of them as well.
    • Insufficient Missile Swarm Aura means the Burst Pulsar needs to finish the remaining Invaders off, which is very inefficient.
    • Wasting another Missile Swarm on the remaining damaged Ravens and Sparrows wastes particles since some missiles may be wasted.
  • When faced with Herons and/or Eagles , make sure their shield is completely stripped away before firing Missile Swarm . The same applies for Vultures .
  • Generally you would want to group Missile Swarm usage into: Ravens and Sparrows , Herons and Eagles , and Vulture and above.
    • If there are only Herons , then Herons can be grouped with the Vulture .
  • Try not to do Missile Barreling to the point where an Invader is killed immediately.
    • Any Missile Swarm Aura is precious for cutting down on time so don't waste it.
    • You can do Missile Barreling if you have less than enough or just enough Missile Swarm Aura to finish off that Invader.

Fun Factor: A+

  • (+) Trireme's Burst Pulsar is very satisfying to hear in action since it's so rapid.
  • (+) The Burst Pulsar is very cool to watch as it randomly chooses a new target after the previous hit.
  • (-) Obviously, this comes with disadvantages as it's really hard to predict what Trireme would do next, which can get frustrating as you can't make informed decisions well either.
  • (+) Trireme is very stress free in some sense as none of its offensive means (Burst Pulsar and Aura ) require aiming, only Missile Swarm requires locking on but it's pretty automatic.
  • (+) Speedrunning with Trireme is also very fun due to the flailing around needed.

Trivia

  • The base form of Trireme was designed by Romano Molenaar, while the apexes were designed by Rogier van de Beek.
  • Trireme was one of the most overpowered ships back in v1.0, due to the overpowered Missile Swarm .
  • According to the dev, quote unquote "if you don't trireme is fun, you proably think jeria is fun" (If you don't find Trireme fun, then you probably find Jeria fun).


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Apexes

Tau (Double Teleport ) - ¢40.000


Value: B-
Cost vs Utility: B

Survivability (Daily Missions): B [No significant change]
Survivability (Community Missions): B [No significant change]

  • (+) Landing safe Teleports can be really tricky at times due to the mess of bullets heading in all directions. This is when the second Teleport helps to resolve this by letting you use the first Teleport to scout.

Speedrunning (Daily Missions): A- [No significant change]
Speedrunning (Community Missions): A- [No significant change]

  • (+) You can use the first Teleport to go behind larger Invaders such as Eagles , Vultures or even Condors to get to upfield Ravens and Sparrows .
    • As you land your first Teleport , immediately launch Missile Swarm to get rid of ALL of the Ravens and Sparrows .
    • Try to hang there for a bit (let the second Teleport stayed charged but hold off using it first).
    • The destroyed Ravens and Sparrows give you particles to deal with the Invaders downfield after you strip off their shields.
    • Then use the second Teleport to get back downfield and continue destroying the downfield Invaders.
  • (+) This technique eliminates the need to allocate such a large Missile Swarm Aura size budget to the Invader(s) blocking them.
    • You can then focus to eliminate the bigger Invader(s) without worrying about how much Missile Swarm Aura is needed to finish off the many other smaller Invaders behind.
  • (-) However, this can get risky as mis-estimation will leave heavily damaged Ravens who will then recover their shield, wasting time.
  • Thus, be sure to stock up more than Aura for this technique to be used effectively.

Fun Factor: A+ [No significant change]

  • The "peek-a-boo" technique that is doable with this apex's ability is fun. Bet those Invaders didn't expect that Missile Swarm coming from behind them.


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Gamma (MS Armor Piercing) - ¢15.000


Value: C
Cost vs Utility: B

Survivability (Daily Missions): B- [-]
Survivability (Community Missions): B- [-]

  • (-) The Burst Pulsar to Invader affinity mismatch means it will take a very long time to burn through Armored Invaders, resulting in longer battles than if Trireme were to just stick with Shielded missions.
  • (+) The only real practical purpose for this apex is to bring it out in community missions that feature a mix of Armored and Shielded Invaders.

Speedrunning (Daily Missions): B+ [--]
Speedrunning (Community Missions): B [-]

  • (-) The Burst Pulsar to Invader affinity mismatch means that compared to using Trireme on the same layout with on a Shielded mission mean that Trireme will be much slower than so many other ships.

Fun Factor: B+ [--]

  • (-) Using this apex on an Armored mission is just weird.
  • (+) The only reason to get this apex is if you really really love Trireme as a ship, and want to bring it out on more missions.
    • This apex can be used on Armored laser heavy missions fairly easily since those missions are generally of lower difficulty.


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Cinnri


Strong against: Shuriken/Pellet, Shuriken/Pellet/Laser
Weak against: Shuriken/MIRV, Dart/MIRV, Lasers Only, Laser/Pellet, Laser/Shuriken

Ship Class: Lightfury
+

Main Weapon: Neutron Launcher

  • Average DPS = 25
  • Homing = Very Good
  • Weapon Class = Uninterruptible Burst
  • Rate of Fire = Fast
  • Projectile Speed = Fast
  • Reload Time = Fast
  • 3 successive sets of 2 homing projectiles from each side that shoot out in a forward arc

Survivability (Daily Missions): B+
Survivability (Community Missions): B+

  • (-) The Neutron Launcher is pretty annoying. It does not have perfect homing , so there is quite a noticeable chance that the projectiles will actually miss.
  • This means that you should try to stay downfield, below the middle line, otherwise the Neutron Launcher projectiles might miss.
  • (-) Very difficult to pop turrets with the Neutron Launcher due to its firing pattern.
    • There's usually no point to bother, just kill the Invader as a whole.
  • Cinnri mainly relies on its Mega Laser to deal damage.
    • Always attempt to charge it at the start of every wave.
  • Since Cinnri's Neutron Launcher takes time to travel, be anticipative on how many more projectiles are needed to kill the remaining Invaders on field.
    • This will mean all the difference in being to pull off an Mega Laser in the next wave or not.
    • The uninterruptible burst nature of the Neutron Launcher helps out in that aspect.
  • Riding up the Mega Laser is very beneficial.
    • Because of the imperfect Neutron Launcher homing , only ride up to the center field before you stop and launch an Stun EMP , before heading back down or getting near to Invaders.
  • Cinnri relies a lot on stun locking.
    • This means continuously firing Stun EMP after killing a few small Invaders, ensuring they do not have the chance to fire bullets.
  • You should then go up to the smaller Invaders to destroy them quickly to refill your Stun EMP for a 2nd round of Stun EMP.
  • The Neutron Launcher's weak DPS means it should be only used to finish off Invaders.
    • Against Eagles or larger, the Neutron Launcher has not much use.
  • There are 2 distances that Cinnri should be from Invaders.
    • Either stay far away and let the Neutron Launcher find their way to the Invaders.
    • Or go right up to the Invaders and blast the Neutron Launcher right in their face.
  • Staying far away is best for the end of the wave when cleaning the last of Invaders.
  • In the early wave however, Stun EMP allows you to get right into the Invaders' face to force all the Neutron Launcher projectiles onto them.

Speedrunning (Daily Missions): S-
Speedrunning (Community Missions): S-

  • (-) The lack of need to aim means a lackluster DPS.
  • Ride up the first Mega Laser , collect particles, and then launch another full or near full size Stun EMP .
  • Afterwards, head back down and charge a second Mega Laser .
    • This applies for waves that have at least 3 Eagles (or anything with the health equivalent).
  • A third Mega Laser in the same wave is usually impossible.
  • If you have used 2 Mega Lasers in the previous wave, the next wave should have at most only one Mega Laser.
    • Otherwise, the Charge Time will get too long and you waste too much time.
  • (+) Because of the ability to constantly spam Mega Laser , Cinnri makes up for its lackluster DPS.

Fun Factor: S

  • (+) Stun locking with Cinnri is extremely fun. You can fly around the Invaders and just laugh at them.
  • (+) The momentum of Cinnri is very fun, riding up Mega Laser and then throwing a Stun EMP in.
  • (-) The Neutron Launcher projectiles can miss easily if you don't stay downfield, causing frustration.
  • (=) Average Neutron Launcher impact sounds.

Trivia

  • The base form of Cinnri was designed by Romano Molenaar, while the apexes were designed by Rogier van de Beek.
  • Cinnri was one of the "Horsemen" in pre-v3.5 due to the ridiculously long Stun EMP stun time (5s) and the ridiculously fast Mega Laser recovery time (Very Fast).
  • Before the v4.0 update which introduced Apex forms, the Lambda Apex of Cinnri was teased:
  • Cinnri was used in a banner before, with all three forms, the base form & both its apexes. The banner can be easily found, but here's an early 3D model of Cinnri for the artist before it received its coats of paint for the 3 final models of Cinnri in the poster.


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Apexes

Lambda (ML Armor Piercing) - ¢30.000


Value: A
Cost vs Utility: A

Survivability (Daily Missions): B+ [No significant change]
Survivability (Community Missions): B+ [No significant change]

  • (-) Playing Cinnri in an Armored mission is pretty weird, as the lackluster DPS of the Neutron Launcher means it's hard to deal effective damage to Armored Invaders.
  • (+) However, both Stun EMP and Mega Laser Armor Piercing allows this apex to be used quite well in easier Armored missions.

Speedrunning (Daily Missions): A+ [--]
Speedrunning (Community Missions): A [--]

  • (-) The Neutron Launcher to Invader affinity mismatch results in this apex being pretty slow.
    • However, by spamming Mega Laser Armor Piercing , it can still be quite fast.

Fun Factor: S [No significant change]

  • (+) This apex is an opportunity to bring Cinnri out to more missions. For a pretty fun ship like Cinnri, that's not really a bad thing.


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Tau (SEMP High Damage) - ¢40.000


Value: S+
Cost vs Utility: S

Survivability (Daily Missions): A- [++]
Survivability (Community Missions): A- [++]

  • (+) The significantly faster killing speed of this apex makes Cinnri much easier to survive with, and allows Stun EMP to take over the Neutron Launcher damage dealing aspect for Cinnri for most waves.
  • (+) Simply pull off the Mega Laser to kill some of the Ravens to gain enough Aura for full Stun EMP , then fire it away.
    • In no time, you'll be firing more Stun EMPs until before you know it, the whole wave is gone.

Speedrunning (Daily Missions): S+ [+]
Speedrunning (Community Missions): S+ [+]

  • (+) Because of the need for Cinnri to constantly fire Stun EMP to deal damage , the significant increase in Stun EMP damage turns Cinnri into an insane AoE damage dealer.
  • (+) When faced with dense waves, this apex simply decimates them all very quickly.
    • This is particularly so in Unprotected missions since 2 full Stun EMPs can decimate Unprotected Ravens , instead of the usual 3 Stun EMPs (which honestly will never happen in the same wave).

Fun Factor: S+ [+]

  • (+) It is extremely noticeable how much faster this apex can go, and the fact that the Stun EMP High Damage can kill Unprotected Invaders (especially Ravens ) so much more easily is just very satisfying.


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Phoenix


Strong against: Dart/Pellet, Shuriken/Pellet, Shuriken/MIRV, Dart/MIRV, Dart/Boomerang/Pellet, General - No Lasers, Shuriken/Boomerang, Dart/Boomerang/Laser, General/Boomerang, General, Dart/Pellet/Laser, Shuriken/Pellet/Laser, Lasers Only, Laser/Pellet, Laser/Shuriken
Weak against: None

Ship Class: Double Defence
+

Main Weapon: Helix Cannon

  • Average DPS = 31.25
  • Weapon Class = Continuous Stream
  • Rate of Fire = Fast
  • Projectile Speed = Fast
  • 2 sets of forward firing projectiles that have changing horizontal distance between them in a helix pattern

Survivability (Daily Missions): S+
Survivability (Community Missions): S

  • (+) Although Bullet EMP & Personal Shield don't really have a synergy, their near mutual exclusiveness makes it so defensive and covers Phoenix insanely well.
  • (+) Bullet EMP itself is already such a good Aura since you can literally spam it.
    • Even when empty, Bullet EMP automatically regenerates a bit after use, even without grazing.
  • (+) Under laser fire, use Personal Shield where you can.
  • (+) Bullet EMP can be used to cover while Personal Shield is recovering after its usage, particularly in laser heavy missions.
    • Use Personal Shield to reflect the first round of lasers , then use Bullet EMP to cover yourself just when the second round of lasers is about to fire (assuming the Invaders in that wave still exist, of course) in order to stun reset them.
    • This is particular useful in Roc fights since you can continuously alternate between the 2 abilities, between the Roc's laser cycles, without too much of an issue.
  • (+) Personal Shield can also be a great solution to boomerangs in the absence of lasers in that wave.
    • Using Bullet EMP may affect boomerang turrets and cause them to fire again immediately due to the reset stun .
  • (+) Personal Shield is also a great solution against pellets released by one wavefront of MIRVs in Shuriken/MIRV missions since it's quite easy to keep using Bullet EMP to clear out space and run out of Bullet EMP Aura .
  • (+) If the wave is still too dense in bullets, if you are unable to use Personal Shield Phase Out to jump to a safer spot, make use of this Phase Out to push forward and immediately use Bullet EMP .
    • Be prepared as this move may result in a perceived time speed-up which may be disorientating.
  • (+) The Helix Cannon is capable of popping off turrets as it is quite highly focused.
    • However, the spread of the Helix Cannon is quite big
    • The continuous stream means it'll take a while for the shield to go down, and then to pop the turret off.
  • (+) Fortunately Bullet EMP is the perfect tool to keep Phoenix perfectly aligned to the turret.
  • Use Bullet EMP for most matters.
    • Use Personal Shield as a backup in case Bullet EMP Aura is low.
  • (-) Difficult to pop off difficult-to-reach turrets on Rocs and Condors due to the Helix pattern of the Helix Cannon.
    • It will take a lot longer for it to be popped off, although Bullet EMP does a good job of keeping your best focus on eliminating these turrets.
  • (-) Unfortunately, a front heavy wave, especially those with many varieties of turrets, meaning boomerangs , spinners, MIRVs and lasers spell trouble as both Bullet EMP & Personal Shield can only last you so long against the onslaught of everything.
    • If such waves appear, you'll have to rely on savaging the remaining particles floating around on screen (coupled with a full Bullet EMP at the start) to constantly fire off small Bullet EMPs to save yourself.
    • Use Personal Shield very tactfully for Phase Out to eliminate bullets.

Speedrunning (Daily Missions): B-
Speedrunning (Community Missions): B-

  • (-) Double Defence means Phoenix isn't capable of speedrunning.
  • (+) However, in laser heavy missions, the massive amount of lasers increases Phoenix's speed by the laser reflection damage.
    • Similarly, slightly laser heavier missions like Dart/Pellet/Laser also sees good usage of Personal Shield to deal counter-offensive damage.
  • Optimizing the Helix Cannon is key.
    • Use Bullet EMP just as you finish destroying one Invader and need to move to another Invader that is at the other side of the field to ensure minimal Helix Cannon spillage.
  • (-) It's easy to accidentally strip Invader shields when switching targets quickly.
    • Remember to check for Invaders that have their shields downed and go back very briefly to damage them before they regenerate their shields.
  • Given the medium speed of the Helix Cannon, you can stay on the column where Sparrows would appear.
    • Just before the Sparrows arrive fully, swap over to the other side of the field where the other column of Sparrows are.
    • This allows you to instantly eliminate 2 columns of Sparrows very quickly.

Fun Factor: B

  • (+) A classic for many returning players sure make Phoenix a vintage and invokes a feeling of deja vu. Even though Phoenix's Tachyon Projectiles and the (3-way) Chainguns are taken out, the most classic and unique Helix Cannon is retained.
  • (+) Phoenix is a very easy to handle ship due to its straightforward nature and plenty of defensive option, which makes it pretty fun to play at times.
  • (+) Very easy to understand Helix Cannon. Just straightforward, always firing.
  • (+) The classic Helix Cannon makes a pretty interesting sound.

Trivia

  • As of v7.0, the main way to obtain the Phoenix ship is to complete all 30 campaign missions.
    • You can only purchase Phoenix from the Get Ships shop if it appears on the specialist mission for the day.
    • Phoenix will no longer drop from Warp Gate activations.
  • The base form of Phoenix was designed by Romano Molenaar, while the apexes were designed by Rogier van de Beek.
  • The Delta Apex of Phoenix, being one of the most popular apexes, is commonly referred to Deltix in Phoenix 2 communities. It is sometimes referred to as Delnix or Deltnix, but Deltix is still the most commonly used term for Phoenix Delta.
  • Phoenix is one of the 5 ships that got brought over from Phoenix 2's predecessor game, Phoenix HD.
  • Phoenix is the only Phoenix HD ship that made it into the first version (v1.0) of Phoenix 2. Other Phoenix HD ships were only added in subsequent versions of Phoenix 2.
  • Phoenix is also the only ship from Phoenix HD that received the ship rarity of Rare while the other 4 ships from Phoenix HD are Super Rare in rarity.
  • Phoenix in the predecessor game of Phoenix 2, Phoenix HD, had many different weapon systems.
    • Only the iconic Helix Cannon, which is the first weapon system in Phoenix HD, is replicated.
    • The missiles from Phoenix HD are also replicated in Phoenix 2, but only in the apexes of Phoenix.
  • Ships in Phoenix 2 no longer have descriptions, but since Phoenix was brought over from Phoenix HD, the description given to Phoenix in Phoenix HD is: All-round fighter with a diverse arsenal of weapons. Obviously, this is no longer true in Phoenix 2 since Phoenix now only has the Helix Cannon, or an addition of the missiles if apexed.
  • It is possible that the decision of the Aura and Zen of Phoenix are directly influenced from the power-ups in Phoenix HD itself. There is a EMP power-up which clears all bullets currently on screen, and a Shield power-up that deploys a mobile shield around your ship which lasts only a short while (about the same max duration of Personal Shield though).
  • Interestingly, it was possible that Phoenix was not even supposed to make it into the first release of the game.
    • In a pre-alpha version of Phoenix 2, the ship in-between Cinnri and Buhloo was a totally different ship, as shown below.
    • This ship was never named and thrown out early in development.
  • Both Phoenix apexes are some of the only apexes that have an additional hidden change to them, adding the vintage missiles from Phoenix HD to its main weapon .
  • Before the v4.0 update which introduced Apex forms, the Beta Apex of Phoenix was teased on the Phoenix 2 Twitter / X:
  • The Beta Apex of Phoenix is also the ship used in the prologue of the game.
    • In the beginning stages of the prologue, the ship is shown to be "broken down" and has some flames coming out of it. The "broken down" flame effects are a throwback to Phoenix HD, since you have a large finite health, so your ship in Phoenix HD would start catching more and more fire as your health is depleted.
    • The normal Helix cannon is only enabled at first, only after the first few Sparrows are eliminated.
    • The vintage missiles are then added in to properly represent the apex's hidden change at the end of Act 1 of the Prologue.
  • The Beta Apex of Phoenix is also featured in the new game preview video of Phoenix 2.
  • For obvious reasons, Phoenix is the very symbol of Phoenix 2 and is featured everywhere on online Phoenix 2 places. The loading screen in Phoenix 2 and the cover banner for the web reddit of Phoenix 2 feature a 3D perspective of Phoenix.
  • Phoenix was also used as the album cover art of the Phoenix 2 Game Soundtrack for Strings of Valour. In some places, Phoenix has replaced Fujin as the album cover art for Horns of Despair as well.
  • Here are also some early sketches of the OG ship:
  • Here's also how Phoenix looked like in Phoenix HD. It bears a lot more weapons (which are the Tachyon Projectiles and the (3-way) Chainguns) than it has now in Phoenix 2:
  • Here's an amazing piece of eepmon art that Firi Games have around in their office, a player that still holds the #1 record for Phoenix HD as of June 24, 2024.
  • Here are some additional 3D renders of the OG ship:
  • You can also view some additional renders and versions on the classic ship Phoenix in the following link:
    https://www.behance.net/gallery/713649/Phoenix
  • Given that Phoenix is the titular ship of Phoenix 2, many different app icons involving Phoenix was being trialed. Here are all the different combinations tried:
  • Here are the current renders of the Phoenix 2 app icon featuring this titular ship (the last one is used if tinted icons are used):
  • The dev even tried making a flying manga girl wearing parts of Phoenix. He affectionately called it Phoenette, pictured below:
  • Here's a representation of Phoenix cheering made by one of the game artists, Romano Molenaar:
  • Phoenix Delta is the one of the apexes that you can use without buying it by playing it in Campaign Mission #6. You are locked into using this apex for this campaign mission and cannot use any other ship/apex.
  • Phoenix Beta is Marshal Liss' ship used throughout the campaign. It makes a cameo appearance at Mission #19 of the Campaign, and also appears in Mission #30 of the Campaign, featuring a unique Ultra EMP Bomb which is strong enough to wipe out the deadly Condor and clear all of its bullets emitted.
  • Here is the App Store promotional banner being used when promoting support for Controllers in the v7.0 update, which includes Phoenix:


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Apexes

Both apexes add the vintage missiles from Phoenix HD to its main weapon , which look like this. The missiles target turrets preferentially. The missiles have a DPS of 6, while the DPS of the Helix Cannon is cut back by 3 to 28.25. 2 missiles kill a Sparrow .

Delta (BEMP Destructive Wave) - ¢20.000


Value: X
Cost vs Utility: X

Survivability (Daily Missions): X [++]
Survivability (Community Missions): X [++]

  • (+) The vast increase in DPS for Phoenix from both the vintage missiles and most importantly, the Bullet EMP Destructive Wave allows Phoenix to effectively deal against frontline Eagles effectively enough, fixing a minor flaw that Phoenix has.
  • (+) It also fixes the inability of Phoenix to reach damaged Invaders that had their shield stripped off previously while switching targets, so these Invaders do not regenerate their shields.

Speedrunning (Daily Missions): S- [++++]
Speedrunning (Community Missions): S [++++]

  • (+) The continuous stream of the Helix Cannon can sometimes be difficult to estimate when to quickly switch target to another Invader.
    • The vintage missiles are thus able to clean up and kill off whatever you may have overestimated.
    • Remember that the vintage missiles may not always hit the heavily damaged Invaders as you expect it to.
  • (+) The continuous stream of Helix Cannon also makes it easy to strip shields without you realizing it, which can result in a lot of regeneration of shields as you focus fire a larger Invader. This apex stops Invaders from regenerating their shields.
  • (+) Eliminates Sparrows like they don't exist. No more switching targets from killing Sparrows that leak DPS from the Helix Cannon.
    • The continuous stream of the Helix Cannon which isn't very damaging in terms of damage per projectile means that it can be difficult to do a quick sweep of all Sparrows on screen, and doing a slower sweep risks leaking some DPS.
    • Helps in annoying waves with continuous dart streamer Sparrows that are everywhere and/or hiding behind other Invaders. One Bullet EMP and they are all gone.
  • (+) Because Phoenix has 2 forms of defences, there are just times you don't quite need Bullet EMP especially when in certain waves where you can just inch your way around the field to avoid bullets.
    • You can now start using Bullet EMP for damage instead of just letting it do nothing.
  • (+) Because of the significantly ease of optimizing the Helix Cannon and the AoE damage provided by Bullet EMP , this apex turns Phoenix into a respectable speedrunner, especially on days where some Shielded missions can get very hard.
  • (+) It can also be used to speedrun community missions where dense waves are frequently present.
  • Strip Ravens of their shields first before using Bullet EMP Destructive Wave.
    • Ideally, you would want to weaken the Ravens to the point they would die after the Bullet EMP Destructive Wave hits them.
  • If the Ravens are stacked upon each other, ignore them first and try to weaken the other Ravens.
    • Then go back to them and launch Bullet EMP Destructive Wave before any one of the bunched up Ravens die.
    • The best case scenario, of course, is that they separate from each other so you can go and weaken each of them previously bunched up.
  • In waves with Sparrows in front of other Invaders, try to avoid as many Sparrows as possible and aim down the largest Invader where possible.
    • Once the shield of the Invader is stripped, launch Bullet EMP Destructive Wave to deal damage to the Invader and kill all the Sparrows .
  • For even more tips on how to speedrun with this apex, refer to this website:
    https://p2myth.club/docs/Cookbook/Phoenix

Fun Factor: S [++++]

  • (+) The addition of the vintage missiles is a really cool addition.
  • (+) Being able to use Bullet EMP as an offensive tool allows Phoenix to deal constant AoE damage from the large amount of Bullet EMP.
    • With this apex, Phoenix no longer feels boring to play.
    • Instead, you'll be looking for means to utilize this powerful Bullet EMP Destructive Wave ability to the best of your ability.


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Beta (PS Supersize) - ¢10.000


Value: B+
Cost vs Utility: A

Survivability (Daily Missions): S+ [No significant change]
Survivability (Community Missions): S [No significant change]

  • (+) An increase in DPS means less to contend with.
  • (+) The increased Personal Shield size means a bit more laser reflection damage, which also means not having to survive so long with too many threats on field.
  • (+) The increase in Personal Shield size also means more effective Phase Out usage to clear more bullets and possibly pave the way to the other side of the field, useful when Bullet EMP is running low.

Speedrunning (Daily Missions): B [+]
Speedrunning (Community Missions): B [+]

  • (+) The continuous stream of the Helix Cannon can sometimes be difficult to estimate when to quickly switch target to another Invader.
    • The vintage missiles are thus able to clean up and kill off whatever you may have overestimated.
    • Remember that the vintage missiles may not always hit the heavily damaged Invaders as you expect it to.

Fun Factor: B+ [+]

  • (+) The addition of the vintage missiles is a really cool addition.


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Buhloo


Strong against: None in particular
Weak against: Shuriken/MIRV, Dart/MIRV

Ship Class: Blitzkrieg
+

Main Weapon: Quantum Prisms

Survivability (Daily Missions): C-
Survivability (Community Missions): C-

  • (-) No defence at all.
  • (=) The Quantum Prisms are forward firing, but they take a while to pop off a turret. If you score critical hits however, turrets get popped off a lot faster.
    • This aspect is quite annoying as it's entirely RNG based.
  • (+) Easy to handle Quantum Prisms.
    • It pretty much fires all the time so it's like a continuous stream weapon.
  • (+) Laser Storm does assist slightly in turret popping.
  • (+) Both Quantum Prisms and Laser Storm make popping turrets fairly easy
    • It can even reach some difficult-to-reach turrets on Condors and Rocs .
    • However, it's difficult to keep yourself well positioned to attack these turrets until they are destroyed.

Speedrunning (Daily Missions): A+
Speedrunning (Community Missions): S-

  • (+) Because of the really long duration of the Quantum Prisms, it synergizes extremely well with Mega Bomb and Laser Storm .
  • While both the Quantum Prisms and Laser Storm are firing to take out the last of the Invaders, start charging Mega Bomb (after correct positioning, always wait for the tracking dart turrets to fire first).
    • When the next wave comes in, even if Ravens are coming in first, Mega Bomb is ready to fire.
  • Take out turrets that inhibit the charging of Mega Bomb , like darts and boomerangs .
    • Darts will always be the priority over boomerangs .
    • Be sure to take out dangerous turrets like those firing MIRVs .
    • You may choose to ignore T2 dart launchers, since it is possible to stay still to charge Mega Bomb without these T2 dart launchers killing you.
  • Ideally, the last Invader of the wave to die before you charge Mega Bomb should be the largest Invader on field.
    • Try to eliminate all its threatening turrets that prevent charging Mega Bomb .
    • If the last Invader is a Heron or smaller, use Laser Storm to eliminate it to set up Mega Bomb correctly for the next wave.
  • (+) It's almost always possible to land Fusion Core correctly due to the insane synergy between all of Quantum Prisms, Laser Storm and Mega Bomb .
  • (+) Use Laser Storm as the wave begins (after Mega Bomb goes off).
    • Excess Aura energy from the destroyed Ravens can be reserved for near the end of the wave to chain Laser Storm and Quantum Prisms together and start charging an Mega Bomb like previously mentioned.
  • (-) Unfortunately, Laser Storm doesn't deal damage fast enough to make Buhloo among the top speedrunners.
    • However, Buhloo still can occupy the top spots in the right hands, although it will never get a Best of Best badge .

Fun Factor: S+

  • (+) Speedrunning with Buhloo is a high adrenaline gameplay, given that you'll be moving around quite a lot with Buhloo in order to pop off turrets.
  • (+) The long sustained Quantum Prisms burst means that if you score critical hits, the long sustaining critical hit sounds are very satisfying to hear.
  • (-) On the flip side, critical hits are random and can be difficult to estimate when to switch targets.
  • (+) An easy to handle speedrunning ship due to the straightforward Quantum Prisms.
  • (+) The ease associated with setting off Mega Bombs mean a lot of Mega Bombs can be easily charged, making lots of BOOOOM.
  • (+) Buhloo is one of the smallest ships in the game in terms of physical size, and thus has an extremely easy to grasp ship core position.

Trivia

  • The base form of Buhloo was designed by Romano Molenaar, while the apexes were designed by Rogier van de Beek.
  • Buhloo was one of the OP ships back in v1.0, constantly occupying the top spots, where Laser Storm & Mega Bomb were OP.
    • The long firing Quantum Prisms also contributes to this, as chaining Mega Bomb and Laser Storm with the Quantum Prisms was an insane combo.
    • Furthermore, there were no Charge Time Increase for Zens back in v1.0, making Mega Bomb very abusable.
    • Back in v1.0 then, while Aura is in use, the main weapon would stop firing. The thing is, Buhloo didn't care, as once the Quantum Prisms started to fire, it won't stop even as Laser Storm goes off. There would be a little bit of downtime as the last of Laser Storm goes off, but the penalty wasn't that bad considering how OP Laser Storm was back in v1.0.
  • Buhloo has the longest burst in the game, at 2000ms.
  • The "wings" of Buhloo Epsilon are translucent (you can slightly see the background on the wings).


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Apexes

Epsilon (LS High Power) - ¢25.000


Value: S+
Cost vs Utility: A

Survivability (Daily Missions): C [+]
Survivability (Community Missions): C [+]

  • (+) The faster destruction of Invaders make surviving easier.
  • (+) This apex allows Buhloo to pop turrets off even more quickly. In fact, it's much easier to pop off turrets, even those that are difficult-to-reach turrets on Condors or Rocs .

Speedrunning (Daily Missions): S [++]
Speedrunning (Community Missions): S+ [+]

  • (+) The fast speed of Buhloo means that Laser Storm often overfills. This apex fixes that.
  • (-) However, because Laser Storm is shorter, it is slightly harder to pull off Mega Bombs now. You have to sacrifice safety for even more speed.
  • Just make sure that if you need to charge Mega Bomb for the next wave, only use Laser Storm if the last Invaders are smaller Invaders such as Herons and below, otherwise it can be easy to miss the last Invaders and waste some time trying to chase them down.
    • This also depends on what's coming up in the next wave as larger Invaders in front mean more time for Mega Bomb to charge.

Fun Factor: X [++]

  • (+) The increased capability to pop turrets off make Buhloo even more fun, as you can laugh at severely stripped down Invaders. Expect to see more occurrences of this.
  • (+) Buhloo now goes EVEN faster, so EVEN more fun.


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Gamma (MB Extended Range) - ¢15.000


Value: B-
Cost vs Utility: B

Survivability (Daily Missions): C- [No significant change]
Survivability (Community Missions): C- [No significant change]

  • (+) In the case where charging optimal Mega Bombs are not possible, this apex allows Buhloo to charge downfield a little more easily but still be able to deal against upfield Ravens and Sparrows .
    • This scenario is only likely to occur if you use Buhloo in a very dart heavy mission where it is too difficult to pop off all the dart turrets.

Speedrunning (Daily Missions): A+ [No significant change]
Speedrunning (Community Missions): S- [No significant change]

  • (+) Helps in very select few waves where charging Mega Bomb nearer to the center of the screen would not be possible, like waves with too many darts.

Fun Factor: S+ [No change]


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