Ship Details (Part 8)

Ship Details (Part 8)

Lorilou

Strong against: Dart/Pellet, Shuriken/Pellet, Shuriken/MIRV, Dart/Boomerang/Pellet, Shuriken/Boomerang, Shuriken/Pellet/Laser
Weak against: Dart/MIRV, Dart/Boomerang/Laser, Dart/Pellet/Laser

Ship Class: Lightfury
+

Main Weapon: Quad Phaser

• Average DPS = 21.25
• Target Tracking = Instant
• Weapon Class = Uninterruptible Burst
• Rate of Fire = Medium
• Reload Time = Medium
• 4 successive sets of 4 instant tracking lasers where all the lasers will always target the same target
  

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

• (+) No aiming required.
• (-) As the Quad Phaser has low DPS, survival is still very important for Lorilou despite its Lightfury class nature since Lorilou isn't a fast ship.
• (+) Excellent synergy between all of Quad Phaser, Phalanx and ML.
• (+) Because of the long duration of the uninterruptible nature of Quad Phaser, when the first of the 4 Quad Phaser fires, you can start charging ML.
  • This is particularly useful in the end wave when you know that that burst is the last that will wipe out the wave.
  • You can then start charging ML much earlier before the next wave arrives.
  • By the time the next wave arrives, there's much less waiting for ML to be charged.
• (+) Phalanx also shields you from the bullet mess when you are charging ML.
  • This means you can safely charge ML as the last burst of Quad Phaser finishes off the wave.
• (-) Phalanx does not last long against many bullets.
  • The faster the bullets, the shorter Phalanx will last.
  • You might need to sacrifice one charge of Phalanx to shovel and clear off the field of bullets in front of you, especially if there are too many slower bullets that will hit your Phalanx within the ML charging time.
    • If not, the slower bullets will break your Phalanx, then faster bullets will kill you.
    • Also, charge as downfield as possible, especially in the presence of boomerangs.
  • Then deploy the second Phalanx to charge ML.
• Always view ML as your primary form of damage, with the Quad Phaser as a secondary form. You should abuse ML where possible.
• In waves anything heavier and/or denser than 2 Herons and 2 Eagles, ML should be used twice.
  • When charging the 2nd ML, make sure bullets won't reach you before ML has finished charging.
    
    • It's ok if your Phalanx breaks, just make sure you have time to react after ML has charged finished.
• (+) Lorilou's Quad Phaser is instant tracking which allows you to move anywhere you wish and not risk losing damage.
  • This is very useful when you get trapped somewhere in the midfield but in one extreme side of the field.
  • Simply deploy a Phalanx, then shovel forward until you are behind the larger invaders like Vulture, Condor or Roc.
    
    • You can also charge an ML if it doesn't take too long, and use ML to ride upwards too.
  • Then while extremely upfield, head to the other extreme side of the field and go back downfield.
  • This is the loop maneuver, which is very useful when trapped. Furthermore, you don't lose DPS at all.
• (+) When confronted with lasers, use a Phalanx to push yourself above and avoid the lasers.
  • Be careful not to go point blank with dart turrets as not even Phalanx can cover you (due to the gap between the Phalanx and your ship's core).
• (-) The Quad Phaser is weak and struggles to pop off turrets.
  • It is also instant tracking, which means it's not easy to direct it to what turret you want to pop it off. Being in front of the turret helps, of course.
  • One burst of the Quad Phaser is able to pop off a turret of a Vulture, but only if it crits.
  • Lorilou doesn't know how to change you can't really pop turrets off, which is a flaw when you have to face with all the bullets and lasers.
• (+) Surprisingly viable for Shuriken/MIRV missions.
  • Due to how slow bullets move in Shuriken/MIRV missions, one Phalanx should be enough to last for one ML where required.
    
    • It's sometimes not even required to deploy Phalanx if you don't have MIRVs headed your way.
  • One ML is enough to clear off the side that you are on.
    • Simply camp on that side and let the Quad Phaser do the rest of the work.
    • It's going to be slow because moving to the other side if difficult, but it gets the job done.
    • Always get rid of all the MIRV Launchers on your side.
  • Use Phalanx to shovel away all shurikens coming at your way at one shot once they come too near to you.
    • Remember not to deploy it too late as there is a distance between your ship's core and Phalanx.

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

• (+) Try to align Lorilou's core with 2 Sparrows in a straight line where possible, especially in early waves, as one beam of the Quad Phaser has the capability to kill 2 Sparrows.
• (-) It is justifiable to use ML even against just one Unprotected Eagle due to how slow the Quad Phaser is at killing invaders.
• In waves anything heavier and/or denser than 4 Herons, ML should be used twice.
  • You can also use it against 2 columns of 1 Heron and 2 Ravens each, although this might miss a few Ravens due to their RNG movement.
  • When charging the 2nd ML, make sure bullets won't reach you before ML has finished charging.
    
    • It's ok if your Phalanx breaks, just make sure you have time to react after ML has charged finished.
• Against Condors and Rocs, you can charge up 3 MLs for them.
• (+) Abuse ML. Always. Abuse. ML. A huge number of MLs can be pulled off successfully.

Fun Factor: A+

• (+) Extremely fun synergy between all of Quad Phaser, Phalanx and ML.
• (+) Despite the low DPS of Quad Phaser, the impact sounds are impactful and strong.
• (=) Average ship core positioning.

Trivia

• The base form and apexes of Lorilou were designed by Rogier van de Beek.
• Lorilou was only introduced into Phoenix 2 at v3.3.
• Lorilou is the only ship capable of making ghost copies of itself, which happens as each shot of the main weapon fires.

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Apexes

Gamma (Double Phalanx) - ¢15.000

Value: B+
Cost vs Utility: A

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

• (+) Better shoveling capability.
• (+) Better defence against bullets while charging MLs of long charge time from abusing it, which can sometimes make the difference in pulling off an ML or not.

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

Fun Factor: A+ [No change]

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Epsilon (ML Focused Beam) - ¢25.000

Value: A-
Cost vs Utility: B

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

• (+) More damage means taking out larger invaders more quickly.
• (-) Thinner ML means higher chance that less effective damage is dealt in denser waves.

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

• (+) Huge DPS boost to heavier waves.
  • Because of the low DPS of Quad Phaser, you are likely still be able to pull off the same amount of MLs.
• (=) More difficult to get rid of denser waves with lots of Ravens and sometimes even Herons, but good lineups can still happen.

Fun Factor: A [-]

• (-) Smaller invaders such as Ravens and Sparrows can escape the thinner ML more easily, and you might waste more damage of an ML more than a normal ML.

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AB8/Klyn

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

Ship Class: Balanced
+

Main Weapon: Proton Diffuser

• Average DPS = 37.5
• Spread = Medium
• Weapon Class = Uninterruptible Burst
• Projectile Speed = Slow
• Reload Time = Fast
• 32 projectiles fired in an expanding X pattern, with 10 projectiles forming the upper half of the X, 22 forming the lower half of the X
  

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

• (+) Great double defences to keep up AB8/Klyn.
• (+) The high 37.5 DPS of the Proton Diffuser means that AB8/Klyn can kill fast enough to sustain this double defence system.
• (+) If the next wave has arrived and there are quite a lot of bullets still on field, you can use REMP to clear them first, instead of PD, since REMP is an AoE form of bullet clearing.
  • This also has some advantages of being possibly able to also damage a few downfield invaders.
• (+) REMP is a very good backup when PD runs low and you are trapped in a corner.
• (+) Primarily, remember there are 2 ways to use REMP:
  • At the start of the wave, where it is a bit preferrable since you can also deal AoE damage.
  • Well into the mid-wave where you are running out of PD and backed into a corner.
• (+) It's generally a good idea to use PD somewhere near the center of the field when the next wave arrives to deal AoE damage so that the you can kill off invaders a bit faster to sustain PD.
  • PD can back you up as you retreat after using REMP as an offence.
• In Shuriken/MIRV missions, use REMP to eliminate the first wave of MIRVs. Be sure to wait until the MIRV launchers all start firing before charging REMP as you don't want to use PD to try and cut through the remaining bullets from a previous wave, and some of the shurikens already launched in the current wave.
  
  • Then use PD to surgically cut through shuriken clouds.
  • Trigger the MIRVs to explode and then eliminate their pellets.
    • Of course, if the field is light on shurikens, plow through the shurikens and directly eliminate the MIRVs before they explode, saving even more PD Aura.
• (-) Because of the Proton Diffuser's spread, it is difficult to pop turrets off.
  • It is not of much issue as AB8/Klyn can have a more sit back playstyle where you can be downfield.
• (+) The spread of the Proton Diffuser isn't very huge, and quite a lot of the damage is focused into the center which deals great damage to invaders in front of it.
• (-) Lasers are AB8/Klyn's greatest weakness since it has no means to deal with them. You have to use PD to plow through enough bullets to strafe fast enough.

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

• (+) The highly damaging Proton Diffuser allows AB8/Klyn to go pretty fast.
• (+) The Proton Diffuser's damage is also focused at the center as well, which makes it easy to deal close up damage to even Ravens.
• (+) As a whole, the Proton Diffuser's spread isn't that wide so it's not hard to land majority of the projectiles on
• (+) The Proton Diffuser is a bit slow moving, which allows it to be easily stacked.
  • Thus, when opening up a wave with REMP, start from as downfield as possible, then quickly swipe up to position yourself as centrally as possible and charge REMP.
  • The Proton Diffuser will hit the invaders together with the REMP, dealing extra damage as opposed to simply preparing yourself upfield before the invaders arrive.
  • Given the correct timing, this can even immediately destroy Unprotected Ravens at different horizontal positions on field, including even if they hide behind Vultures after the REMP and that one burst of the Proton Diffuser hits.
• (+) You can then continue to stay aggressive and get right up in the face of invaders, using PD which is a great fast acting means of getting rid of fast bullets.
  • Just remember don't stand way too close to a dart spread.
  • Standing back by 1.5 - 2 heights of AB8/Klyn is a good gauge.
• (+) For heavier waves, you can even use REMP 2 times to deal damage.
  • However, note that this will likely mean you have to slightly delay your initial REMP in the next wave.
• For waves that are not practical to use REMP, against Ravens and Sparrows, stand a bit downfield, then charge towards the Raven(s).
  • Sparrows will die from the spread-out of the Proton Diffuser, while charging into Ravens should kill them more easily.
  • It should take about 1.5 bursts of the Proton Diffuser to kill Ravens, since the first burst is a bit further back.

Fun Factor: S-

• (+) The Proton Diffuser is fun to watch in action.
• (+) The Proton Diffuser feels great to handle, the speed of the projectiles feel just right. And the interval between bursts is also very comfortable.
• (+) Fun impact sounds from the Proton Diffuser.
• (+) REMP also makes for some nice AoE damage.
• PD is also great to hear in action.
• (+) Intuitive ship core positioning, being in the center of the chevron shape of AB8/Klyn.
  • Being a very short ship in terms of height also means that it's easy to find the ship core as well.

Trivia

• The base form and apexes of AB8/Klyn were designed by Rogier van de Beek.
• AB8/Klyn was only introduced into Phoenix 2 at v3.3.
• AB8/Klyn is the shortest ship in terms of height in the game. It is also the widest ship in the game.
• AB8/Klyn is a 2 part name thought of by the dev EL.
• According to him, AB8/Klyn looks like a human ship, and he wanted a name that sounds like something humans could make up. And given us humans, we like to nickname long names.
• The name AB8/Klyn sounds fluid as it is easy to pronounce. According to EL, AB8 is pronounced as aaj biiii 8.
• The second part of the name Klyn was supposed to be longer, but it was shortened to a single syllable because it sounded better with the first part of the name AB8. It is not clear what the longer name was.
• There were even reddit discussions about how to pronounce AB8/Klyn. Someone there pronounced it as Brooklyn. One of the discussion threads is this link as follows:
  https://redd.it/d2hhzy
• It was also teased by EL that Klyn is a reference to a space battle where its predecessor played a pivotal role, so it was sort of an homage. However, it was just made up on the spot when this question was asked.
• It was also teased that AB8 is the successor to the AB6, which was a very successful, but ageing attack ship. Coincidentally it launched around the same time as the AB9, successor to the AB5, which is the sleeker brother, more aimed at intercepting. Similarly, it was just made up on the spot when this question was asked.

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Apexes

Sigma (REMP High Damage) - ¢35.000

Value: S+
Cost vs Utility: X

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

• (+) No more Unprotected Ravens to deal with.
• (+) Very advantageous to use REMP as a wave opener to kill Unprotected Ravens instantly.

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

• (+) Crushes Unprotected Ravens, killing them instantly.
• (+) Massive AoE damage to invaders all around, given how easy is it to setup REMP.
• Be careful of REMP cooldown, given AB8/Klyn kills very fast as well, now even more quickly with the High Damage REMP.
• You can opt to stress charge REMP if it's worth it at the start of some waves even if REMP has not completely cooled down, especially if the wave is a heavier one.
  • Just be careful not to get shot point blank, since you'll be charging it in the middle of the field.

Fun Factor: S+ [+]

• (+) Watching all Unprotected Ravens go POOF is super satisfying.

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Delta (PD EMP Laser) - ¢20.000

Value: X
Cost vs Utility: S

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

• (+) Absolute cakewalk in Shuriken/MIRV missions.
  • Deals against even the toughest of them all, even in Shielded or Armored Shuriken/MIRV missions.
  • The absolute energy efficiency to clear bullets (in terms of bullets cleared/energy) is just why this apex is excellent at survival.
• (+) Tap PD rhythmically to eliminate just enough bullets to continue to be able to hold your position. Or just retreat a bit.
  • Don't stand too near to spinners or MIRV Launchers.
  • Don't use PD to eliminate sMIRVs, because it's more efficient to simply explode them and eliminate the MIRVs or pellets released instead.
• (+) Use REMP whenever you are running low on PD.
  • Then go forward to try and collect particles to refill.
• Still try to use REMP as a wave opener to deal AoE damage.
• (+) In the case where particles are very scarce, a bit of grazing will allow you to always fire off one PD laser to save yourself.
  • Retreat as you do this however, as grazing can be difficult against shurikens and pellets in many directions.

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

• (+) Allows you to always stand close, or even right in the invaders' faces to deal maximum damage from the Proton Diffuser in Shuriken/MIRV missions.
• (+) Even allows you to stand between 2 cornermost T3 MIRV Bloomers on a Vulture and still survive.
• (+) Allows you to stand close to DDSMs without fear as well.
• (-) Only shuriken launchers pose a problem, just stand back a bit so you won't get shot at point blank range.
  • You can try to be so close to shuriken launchers for an inside graze.
  • But this is usually very difficult because there are multiple shuriken launchers.

Fun Factor: S- [No significant change]

• (+) Significantly easier to pilot in Shuriken/MIRV missions.

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Polaris

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

Ship Class: Balanced
+

Main Weapon: Gamma Blasters

• Average DPS = 31.25
• Target Tracking = Fast
• Weapon Class = Continuous Stream
• Rate of Fire = Fast
• Projectile Speed = Fast
• 2 streams of projectiles which fire in the direction of a single target tracked
  

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

• (-) Horrible synergy between the Gamma Blasters and Kappa.
  • Because the Gamma Blaster is a continuous stream, using Kappa will cut DPS from the Gamma Blasters.
• (-) If you need to abuse Kappa to Kappa Dodge, you'll have to cut your DPS to ensure your survival.
• (=) For a 31.25 DPS ship with fast tracking, the Gamma Blasters are decent.
  • However, even with fast tracking, in reality, it takes a bit of time for the Gamma Blasters to change targets, leading to leaked DPS.
  • Stay downfield to allow slightly better target switching.
• (-) The tracking, and not homing nature of the Gamma Blasters mean that Polaris might lock on to targets that you did not intend to lock on to.
  • This makes it slightly frustrating to target rapidly moving smaller invaders.
• Use Kappa between waves (as the last invader is defeated and the next wave is coming in) so as to minimize DPS loss.
• (+) It is easy to refill your IC supply between waves since Kappa is engaged between waves.
  • You can spam ICs quickly to stun the entire front row of invaders after the wave has fully arrived.
  • Go behind these downfield to stun larger invaders behind.
• (-) The need to Kappa Dodge in heavier and tougher waves mean a significant cut in DPS in such waves, making surviving such waves even more difficult when you actually need to clear them out fast.
• (+) Luckily, IC is excellent against Condors and Rocs.

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

• (-) Pathetic damage from IC.
  • It can help with clearing Sparrows out faster though since you can clear out 2 or more Sparrows with one IC.
  • Reserve these ICs to clear out Sparrows opportunistically.
  • Otherwise throw them on invaders that have lost their shields.
• (-) Bad synergy between the Gamma Blasters and Kappa mean that tougher waves is difficult to speedrun.
• Avoid using Kappa where possible, obviously, other than between waves.
  • While you can pre-fire a bit of the Gamma Blasters, the projectiles move quite fast so a very slight bit of pre-firing is nice but not necessary.
• Because of the rather slow target switching, optimizing the main requires you to move yourself in front of the next target, since generally you won't be very far in front and the angle offset of the shots from vertical is quite small.

Fun Factor: C+

• (-) Horrible synergy between the Gamma Blaster and Kappa.
• (-) Tougher waves are a huge slog because of Kappa dodging and the cut in DPS. Really not fun in such waves.
• (-) Not as much Kappa usage since only between waves, but still, not much speed in Polaris anyway, making gameplays still pretty slow nevertheless.
• (+) Pretty cool Gamma Blasters impact sounds.
• (=) Average ship core positioning.

Trivia

• The base form and apexes of Polaris were designed by Rogier van de Beek.
• Polaris was only introduced into Phoenix 2 at v3.4.

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Apexes

Gamma (IC Blast Amplifier) - ¢15.000

Value: B+
Cost vs Utility: S

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

• (+) Faster to take out dense waves means less trouble from Ravens.

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

• (+) Easier to catch more Sparrows.
• (+) Faster in clearing out dense waves.

Fun Factor: B [++]

• (+) More responsive IC damage.
• (+) Takes out more Sparrows per IC.

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Beta (IC Overcharge) - ¢10.000

Value: D-
Cost vs Utility: B

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

• (+) Stuns all turrets of Condors with only 1 IC, making Condors a lot more survivable.
• (+) Possible to stun all turrets of a Vulture with only 1 IC, but this requires very precise positioning. Given their lower health, it's easier to simply stun the whole Vulture with 2 ICs.

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

Fun Factor: C+ [No change]

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Icarus

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

Ship Class: Offensive
+

Main Weapon: Inferno Laser

• Average DPS = 37.5
• Capacity = 800ms
• Weapon Class = Uninterruptible Burst
• Reload Time = Very Slow
• Thin, forward firing, sustained laser that does not follow your ship once fired
  

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

• (=) The highly damaging Inferno Laser takes out any turrets in its wake.
  • However, the firing interval between each Inferno Laser is quite long, so pick carefully on which turrets you want to eliminate.
  • If you really need a turret to be popped off, you can also throw 2 VLs at a turret.
  • The better solution is to usually use one VL to damage as much as possible in front of the turret, but still deal damage to the turret, and then the Inferno Laser takes out that invader in front, and the damage that continues on to the Vulture will pop that turret off rather quickly.
• (+) VL also quickly destroys invaders upfield.
• (+) TP is a great defence in the case where the offence doesn't play out as intended.
• (-) Icarus is somewhat weak to lasers.
  • Make sure to get rid of lasers first on Ravens first or these will get overwhelming for Icarus.
  • At the least, rid the field of one side of Ravens so it becomes much easier to survive.
  • The last resort is to use TP to get away from the lasers.
  • Bigger invaders such as Herons move slower and are less of a threat in terms of lasers. The Inferno Laser will do very well to destroy them.
• Eliminate Ravens first when they arrive on the field by sweeping across the field as fast as possible.
• (-) The Inferno Laser is notoriously difficult to handle.
  • In initial stages, it is better to let the Inferno Laser handle larger invaders such as Herons and above.
  • Let VL handle smaller ones.
  • It's usually not too bad if you miss smaller invaders with the Inferno Laser since VL will deal against them.
  • The best way is to simply use Icarus more and get a feel for it over time.
• (+) If it's not possible to sweep across the field, the "tele-frag" kit of using TP to get into position and then throwing a VL immediately works really well.
  • There's no need to wait for upfield Vultures or Eagles to arrive before doing firing VLs for the purpose of survivability.
  • VLs take care of the downfield Ravens so you can start to focus the Inferno Laser on dangerous turrets on the Vulture.
• (+) Eagles can be wiped very quickly.
  • One burst of the Inferno Laser, as well as one VL kills an Armored Eagle.
  • 2 bursts of the Inferno Laser, which doesn't take terribly long, destroys an Eagle as well.
  • There's no need to spend 3 VLs down the middle of Eagles unlike many VL ships.
• (-) Icarus against endless dart streamer Sparrow waves is extremely annoying.
  • You may wish to reserve a VL or 2 in such waves so that you can quickly get rid of a few Sparrows first.
  • Or use Vorpal Wake to cut through the dart streams.
  • However, it is still best to use TP to get out of it where possible.
• While it is possible to look at the way Icarus' wings fill up in order to determine how long more is it going to fire or when is it going to fire, it is a significantly better idea to get the feel of the Inferno Laser's burst timings instead.

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

• (+) The insane DPS of the Inferno Laser makes Icarus very fast.
  • One full burst of the Inferno Laser deals 78.75 damage.
• Icarus requires a lot of practice and predictive invader movement in order to optimize the Inferno Laser, especially in early waves against Ravens and Sparrows.
  • There's no other way to get better at speedrunning with Icarus other than to practice and get a strong feel of the timing of the Inferno Laser bursts.
• If the downfield Ravens arrive before an upfield Vulture, you can use TP to pace the Inferno Laser so that it doesn't fire off too quickly, wasting the rest of the Inferno Laser.
  • If the Inferno Laser is already charging up, you can also TP to the correct location just before the Inferno Laser fires, which is pretty much the same as the "tele-frag" kit when doing the same with VLs.
  • Don't be too anxious to use your VLs. The larger invaders behind should absorb the VLs as well to go faster.
• You can somewhat see the Inferno Laser as being somewhat of a VL, especially in denser waves.
  • Thus, mentally splitting waves into columns is very important for Icarus.
  • Assign one column for the Inferno Laser, another column for each VL.
  • Partition based on the layout of Ravens and Herons on field.
  • A full burst of the Inferno Laser will just nice take out 3 Ravens.
• (-) The Inferno Laser and VL are conflicting means of damage.
  • It is very important not to let them come into conflict with each other.
  • This is why splitting waves into columns is essential.
  • NEVER fire both Inferno Laser and VL at the same time unless the column has at least 1 Heron and at least 1 Raven together.
    • This means don't fire VL even if the column has just 3 Ravens.
  • In some cases, because waiting for good lineups is very difficult, then the Inferno Laser comes in priority first, since it doesn't fire as quickly as VLs, which you can easily control.
• (+) 1 full burst of the Inferno Laser wipes any affinity of Herons.
  • The full burst must land entirely on a Shielded Heron to kill it, Sparrows cannot block the way.
• (+) 1 VL + 1 full burst of the Inferno Laser kills an Armored or Unprotected Eagle.
  • It becomes very useful to throw one VL in-between 2 Eagles so that 2 bursts of the Inferno Laser will take them both out.
  • No need to use 3 VLs to instantly eliminate Eagles, unless you are overflowing on particles and at the full 4 VLs.
  • If there are 4 or more Eagles that can be crushed with VLs, throw 2 VLs to damage all of them before they separate.
• (+) VL sweeps the Ravens ruthlessly and also damages larger invaders. Meanwhile, the Inferno Laser tears through larger invaders quickly.
• (-) Sparrow killing with Icarus really sucks. Both the Inferno Laser and VLs are not great options against Sparrows.
  • Killing Sparrows optimally requires playing Icarus with some time and understand when the burst of the Inferno Laser would go off.
  • It also requires a lot of prediction of where Sparrows would go next, which takes a lot of practice.
  • Predicting where Sparrows would go is never perfect because RNG can sometimes make them change course very suddenly without any warning. There is just no way around this and you can only pray for the best.
  • It is not a good idea to use VLs against Sparrows unless there happen to be 3 in a column, since it is better to use them against Ravens.
• It is justifiable to use a VL to kill a single Raven in early Acts 1 - 2 to progress through them faster.

Fun Factor: A+

• (+) Satisfying Inferno Laser impact sounds. Just another day of barbequing and sizzling invaders for a tasty meal.
• (+) Powerful Inferno Laser that tears through invaders easily.
• (-) Extremely difficult to handle Inferno Laser.
  • Against smaller invaders, a lot of prediction is needed.
  • The long intervals between Inferno Laser bursts also take a lot of getting used to.
  • Icarus is a ship whose main weapon takes a long time to get used to, compared to most other ships.
• (+) The "tele-frag" kit of using TP and then immediately using VL after that is very fun to abuse.
• (-) Sparrow hunting is a huge bummer with Icarus due to their RNG movement.
  • It requires a lot of trying to predict their movement, and then suddenly they change direction at the last second and avoid the Inferno Laser.
• (-) Slightly strange ship core positioning, also due to the asymmetrical and skinny build of Icarus.

Trivia

• The base form and apexes of Icarus were designed by Rogier van de Beek.
• Icarus was only introduced into Phoenix 2 at v3.4.
• Icarus is the only ship that starts with the letter "I".
• Icarus is asymmetrical, unlike most ships.
• The Sigma Apex of Icarus, being one of the most popular apexes, is commonly referred to Sigmarus in Phoenix 2 communities.
• Icarus' 4 wings start to glow, filling up from bottom to top as the main starts to charge its next shot, and fires when it reaches the top. It then depletes the glow in the same way after the main fires.
• According to the dev, he is surprised at how people are fast with Icarus. To quote:
  i'd put my money on Icarus never being a fast ship
  lo and behold
  people are fast with it :X

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Apexes

Delta (VL High Capacity) - ¢20.000

Value: C
Cost vs Utility: A

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

• (+) Helps in the extra push for certain heavy waves that are very deadly, especially wave with 4 Eagles.
• (+) Helps for pilots who are less experienced with Icarus since the Inferno Laser by itself, is already capable of taking out many waves without too much VL assistance.

Speedrunning (Daily Missions): S [No change]
Speedrunning (Community Missions): S [No change]

Fun Factor: A+ [No change]

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Sigma (Teleport Explosive Arrival) - ¢35.000

Value: X
Cost vs Utility: X

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

• (+) Powerful apex that reduces the amount of time spent on some waves.
• Can be difficult to pull off Explosive Arrival TP, especially for less experienced players since going near to invaders is not really good for a long charging Inferno Laser.

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

• (+) Very powerful in Armored and Unprotected missions.
• (+) Banishes Sparrows easily.
  • This is extremely useful throughout any mission, since both VLs and Inferno Laser are inefficient means to deal against Sparrows.
  • It is very worthwhile to just keep waiting until time speeds up again (which is about 7s in real time) just to find the optimum time to use Explosive TP, even to catch just one more Sparrow.
    • Of course, don't do this too much, as quick decisions are much better, but this is an option.
  • Be sure to stress use TP to destroy Sparrows.
• (+) Eliminates many invaders significantly faster.
  • 1 Explosive Arrival TP on an Unprotected Raven destroys it instantly.
    • Don't do Explosive Arrival TP on an armored Raven as there is no point in severely damaging it.
    • Unless, you are planning to use TP to eliminate some Sparrows, or are just intending to reposition yourself.
    • It can also be useful against a column of an armored Raven in front and a Heron behind, since severely damaging the Raven will also allow the Inferno Laser to kill both the Raven and Heron.
    • If it's a Heron in front of a Raven, it is faster to use Explosive Arrival TP on the Heron, and throw a VL to kill them both instead of waiting for the Inferno Laser to fire.
  • 1 Explosive Arrival TP on an armored or Unprotected Heron + 1 VL into the cockpit of an armored Heron kills it instantly.
    • For Unprotected Herons, obviously it doesn't matter where VL lands on the Heron.
  • 1 Explosive Arrival TP on an armored Eagle and one Inferno Laser takes it out just nice.
    • Against Unprotected Eagles, unfortunately, 1 VL + 1 Inferno Laser is still needed, Explosive Arrival TP is not enough damage to replace 1 VL.
  • 2 Explosive Arrival TPs on a Vulture reduces the need for one more Inferno Laser.
    • This assumes that you only throw 2 VLs to eliminate other invaders. 3 VLs mean you should only need one Explosive Arrival TP to reduce the number of Inferno Lasers.
    • Try to land the Explosive Arrival TP on the cockpit of the Vulture.
  • Multiple Explosive Arrival TPs on a Condor or Roc reduces the need for one more Inferno Laser.
• Don't use TP to pace the Inferno Laser anymore since it should be reserved for pure AoE damage.
  • Unless you are intending to use it on a Heron or above where it would cut down on the number of Inferno Lasers or VLs required.
• Explosive Arrival TP should be used on the above scenarios to reduce the number of Inferno Lasers or VLs required to eliminate these invaders. Otherwise, do remember to allow TP time to cool off.
  • For Vultures, if TP is taking too long to charge, skip using Explosive Arrival TP to speed up killing them and allow it to cool for the next wave instead.
  • For Condors and Rocs, use Explosive Arrival TP sparingly so that TP can cooldown for the next waves, if any. Otherwise just feel free to use it just as you see the Inferno Laser go off, since doing it before that will mess up your aiming on turrets.

Fun Factor: S+ [++]

• (+) The new interactions that the Explosive Arrival TP provide, with TP replacing VL as the damage, in reducing the time for invaders to go down is extremely fun to abuse.
• (+) Significantly much less Sparrow hunting when Explosive Arrival TP can blow them out of the sky easily.
• (+) This is really just the best Explosive Arrival TP apex out there now. No other ship with this apex has such dramatic changes to how fast they can go aside from obliterating Unprotected Ravens
• Be prepared for extreme frustration when speedrunning on a very high level with this apex, as both VL and Explosive Arrival TPs, being 2 different forms of AoE damage (one in a straight line, one in a very small AoE radius), is subjected to extreme RNG.

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Mirage

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

Ship Class: Offensive
+

Main Weapon: Plasma Rays

• Average DPS = 25
• Capacity = 800ms
• Target Tracking = Instant
• Weapon Class = Interruptible Burst followed by Uninterruptible Burst
  
  • (Cone Triggered - Synchronous)
• Rate of Fire = Fast
• Reload Time = Fast & Slow
• A pair of instant tracking lasers that fire 7 successive short bursts on a tracked target within an approximate 140° forward arc in front of the ship (Does not fire if unable to track), before both lasers fire a final sustained forward firing burst which has no tracking
  

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

• (-) Rather difficult to use Plasma Rays.
  • The many tracking laser bursts followed by the final straight and long laser burst can be difficult to follow.
  • It takes quite a bit of getting used to and it's a rhythm that you must catch.
  • This means that you need to have advanced planning on how you want to land your final burst, whether you want to use it to hit the cockpit of a Vulture or sweep a bunch of Sparrows.
  • Ironically this means that despite being advertised as an instant tracking main, you actually have to aim, and the aiming can be annoying.
• (+) A Nightfury is usable every heavy and/or dense wave.
• (+) The highly damaging yet rather abusable Nightfury, coupled with its massive bullet clearing capabilities from both BEMP and Nightfury, makes it very suitable for Shuriken/MIRV missions.
• Mirage's Nightfury isn't actually one gigantic laser.
  • It is actually 3 MLs side-by-side, which is why it can pop 2 turrets beside the cockpit of a Vulture.
  • If aimed in a certain way, you can also see the Nightfury being split due to Eagles that resist the Nightfury for a short while.
  • The 3 purple shining laser pods when charging a Nightfury isn't just aesthetic apparently, it tells the true nature of the Nightfury.
• (=) Average turret popping capability.
  • It is difficult to pop off turrets using the many instant tracking lasers in one burst of the Plasma Rays.
  • However, the final straight firing burst of the Plasma Rays will eliminate a turret on a Vulture if the shield is downed.
  • The Nightfury is also a great turret popping tool, if the Vulture is more upfield and blocked by other invaders in front. It can pop up to 2 turrets on one side when used properly.
• (=) It is often difficult to charge Nightfury in the center of the field in Shuriken/MIRV missions, unless the wave features a Vulture in front of everything.
  • This does not matter and charge it where comfortable.
  • This is because MIRVs left over by the previous wave will often make it difficult to stay close to that side.
• (+) After the Nightfury has fired, if you are short on Aura, go forward with it to collect some from the destroyed invaders.
  • Otherwise, head over to the other side to start eliminating invaders, or launching BEMPs to eliminate MIRVs.
• The Nightfury usually eliminates most of the shuriken clouds, and even kills majority of Eagles due to the high damaging Nightfury.
  • Thus, shurikens are usually of little concern, although sometimes a BEMP is needed to clean up the rest of the cloud that wasn't cleared by the Nightfury.
• (=) In laser heavy missions, in the absence of speed lasers, because the first round of lasers only go off after approximately 3-4s after the wave arrives, there is a lot of time to charge Nightfury between waves and Acts.
  • In the presence of speed lasers, make sure you are positioned such the speed lasers will trigger but not be able to kill you.
    • This is obviously harder than it sounds, but a good guide is to try to be at either side of the field, such that you are not directly under a speed laser when a wave with these speed lasers arrive.
  • Just make sure not to over-abuse Nightfury.
  • You can then charge forward with the Nightfury and launch BEMP to immediately reset all lasers.
• After firing the Nightfury, the side of the field you are on should be clear of most of the threats.
  • There might be a few more remaining invaders on that side which the Plasma Rays can take care of.
  • You can then surgically take out the rest of the invaders, even going to the top of the screen to allow time for Nightfury to recover.
• In all 3 mission types, you can control when the next wave arrives by letting each instant burst go off one at a time.
  • Simply let go to attempt charging Nightfury after one tracking laser burst has fired.
  • It may also be beneficial to waste the final straight burst so that the next wave can be tackled with better ease.
  • As the last invader dies to the final straight burst of the Plasma Rays, you can charge Nightfury to completion rather quickly.
• (+) As Mirage's Plasma Rays is mostly instant tracking, positioning is mostly not an issue for survival.
  • However, when faced with MIRV Bloomers, you should try to go in the middle of the rings of MIRVs to fire off a BEMP (after you fired the Nightfury for earlier waves of MIRVs).
• Don't be afraid to go in-between clusters of MIRVs to launch a BEMP, so long you do it quickly.
• (-) In other mission types with faster bullets, especially darts and boomerangs, try to let the final straight burst of the Plasma Rays always finish off the wave, so you can safely charge the Nightfury.
  • Use the Nightfury every 2 waves in Act 4.
  • In Act 5, if the wave is sufficiently heavy enough, you can charge Nightfury for the next wave after that.

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

• (+) One round of Plasma Rays takes down 2 Ravens of any affinity.
  • For Shielded Ravens, there will be some spillover damage which can be used to damage another Raven or kill some Sparrows.
• Due to the need to aim the final straight burst of the Plasma Rays, BEMP becomes a very important positioning tool so that you can line up for your final shot.
  • You don't have to wait for a full size BEMP to use it.
  • Based on the rhythm of the Plasma Rays, you should try to use BEMP about 2 or 3 bursts before the final straight burst to allow for re-positioning time.
  • This applies for waves with many Ravens, as it's not important to reset Ravens' turrets.
  • Try to use the final burst of the Plasma Rays on larger invaders where possible.
  • In early Acts, learn to sweep with the final burst, and be prepared to use BEMP to facilitate the sweep. Especially against Sparrows.
• (+) Abuse of Nightfury can make it go quite fast.
  • However, at the maximum, you can only pull it off once per heavy and/or dense wave.
  • For very heavy waves such as those having waves with more than 4 Eagles (which also implies having Herons or Ravens with the 4 Eagles), it is possible to pull off 2 Nightfurys.
• 2 Nightfurys are enough to take out a Condor, with a few more Plasma Rays burst in-between.
  • If accompanied by Eagles, while 3 is technically possible, it would be better to let Nightfury cool down.
  • Unless it is the last wave, then feel free to charge 3 Nightfurys.
• For Rocs in Shuriken/MIRV missions, because bullets are so slow, you can pull off 3 Nightfurys.
  • Try to make sure the first one is charged before the Roc fully arrives.
  • Avoid using your BEMP, and immediately charge your second Nightfury at the extreme bottom of the screen.
  • Try to dodge your way for quite a while (around 5 seconds), then launch a full size BEMP to reset all the Roc's turrets (or at least the front turrets)
  • Then charge your third and final Nightfury to take out the Roc pretty much instantly.
• However, using BEMP aggressively and making the final straight burst hits something is able to keep Mirage in pace, together with its highly damaging Nightfury.

Fun Factor: S-

• (=) The handling of the Plasma Rays is both good and bad.
  • The instant tracking plasma rays are nice, but the number of such instant tracking plasma rays, as well as the duration makes it quite hard to land the final burst of the straight plasma ray.
• (+) Awesome audio rhythm to the Plasma Rays.
  • Landing the final straight firing Plasma Ray to end off the rhythm is just such an awesome sounding reward, literally.
• (+) Awesome looking Plasma Rays in action as well.
• (+) The Nightfury is an experience like no other.
  • The charging sound is such a cool and unique sound.
  • The firing sound of the Nightfury is also pretty cool.
  • The visuals of the Nightfury as it fires, darkening the background behind it is awesome.
  • Of course, not to mention the Nightfury itself looks absolutely gorgeous.
• (+) Awesome bullet clearing from Nightfury is also satisfying.
• (=) Average ship core positioning.

Trivia

• The base form and apexes of Mirage were designed by Romano Molenaar.
• Mirage was only introduced into Phoenix 2 at v3.5.
• Mirage is one of the 5 ships that got brought over from Phoenix 2's predecessor game, Phoenix HD.
• Mirage's Zen, while similar to ML, is basically a super buffed version of ML. Nightfury is a unique Zen.
• The main firing bears similarities to its Phoenix HD counterpart, as the Mirage in Phoenix HD has tracking lasers as well as straight firing lasers.
• Ships in Phoenix 2 no longer have descriptions, but since Mirage was brought over from Phoenix HD, the description given to Mirage in Phoenix HD is: Laser frigate equipped with the Nightfury laser which activates when the ship does not move. Interestingly, this statement is entirely true even in Phoenix 2.
• In Phoenix HD, the Nightfury is one laser, compared to in Phoenix 2 where the Nightfury is actually 3 MLs side-by-side. So the smallest invaders will stop the Nightfury for a short while in Phoenix HD, while only 1 of the 3 lasers will be blocked by the smallest invader in Phoenix 2 for a short while. The Nightfury in Phoenix HD has 3 stages, each one of increasing width and DPS. The third stage is the same width as ult-ed ML. The Nightfury in Phoenix 2 is MUCH wider, almost 3 times the width of Phoenix HD's Stage 3 Nightfury. However, when Nightfury is charged in Phoenix 2, the beam coming out of the laser pods on Mirage is about the same width as the Stage 3 Nightfury in Phoenix HD.
• Mirage is one of only 2 ships which has 2 different types of main weapon, one that is tracking lasers, the other that is a forward firing set of lasers.
• According to the devs, the balancing of Mirage, including its main weapon and the unique Nightfury Zen took around 2 months, including prototyping, testing, playing, changing playing, etc. At some point of time testing, Nightfury was limited to only a few uses per game.
• You can also view some additional renders and versions on Mirage in the following link: https://www.behance.net/gallery/2423514/Mirage
• Here's how Mirage looked like in Phoenix HD:
  
• Here's an early sketch version of Mirage in Phoenix 2:
  
• Before the v4.0 update which introduced Apex forms, the Omega Apex of Mirage was teased on the Phoenix 2 Reddit:
  
• Mirage is featured in the newest game preview video of Phoenix 2 on both iOS and Android game stores.

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Apexes

Omega (BEMP Increased Stun) - ¢50.000

Value: B-
Cost vs Utility: C

This apex increases the maximum stun duration of Bullet EMP from 0.6 to 1.2s.

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

• (+) The extra stun time means a delay in turrets firing again, which is useful for you to re-position yourself at the other side of the field if required.
  • This is especially so against fast bullets like darts or boomerangs.
• (+) More stun means less bullets to deal with later.
• (+) Can save you one BEMP on laser heavy waves since multiple BEMPs will stack up enough stun time to take out these lasers before BEMP runs low.
• (+) Allows possible viability in some missions with faster bullets such as darts or boomerangs.

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

• (+) Can sometimes mean all the difference in being able to fire a Nightfury or not, which matters a lot in speedrunning since firing one more Nightfury means another 300 damage to the table.
  • This is more easily felt in Shuriken/MIRV missions since bullets are so slow in that mission type.

Fun Factor: S- [No change]

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Delta (BEMP Extended Range) - ¢20.000

Value: B
Cost vs Utility: A

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

• (+) Given its viability in Shuriken/MIRV missions, this apex enhances the bullet clearing capabilities, making Mirage easier to use in these missions.

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

Fun Factor: S- [No change]

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Marauder

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

Ship Class: Defensive
+

Main Weapon: G.O. Cannons

• Average DPS = 25
• Homing = Very Good
• Weapon Class = Uninterruptible Burst
• Rate of Fire = Fast
• Projectile Speed = Fast
• Reload Time = Medium
• 5 successive sets of 2 homing missiles, each fired from one side of the ship
  

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

• Notorious reputation of camping. This ship really loves its personal space.
• (+) Use Kappa to generate Phalanxes after Phalanxes and shovel bullets away to no end.
• (+) With no need to aim, it is really a perfect camper.
  • This also means not needing to deal with majority of MIRVs.
• (-) Lackluster DPS from the G.O. Cannons, so not able to kill fast enough for particles to appear on field.
  • You might have to generate quite a lot of it yourself, which requires great understanding of the burst of the G.O. Cannons so that you don't cut your DPS.
• (-) Automatic aiming from a fanned out homing missile system means being unable to concentrate your firepower to focus down invaders. Be prepared for long battles.
• (-) While the aiming is good enough to hit invaders accurately, it's not accurate to target down turrets at all. No turret popping capability.
• When you are cornered, shovel as much as possible, then retreat back to the corner. Rinse and repeat.

Speedrunning (Daily Missions): D
Speedrunning (Community Missions): D

• (-) There's no way you are speedrunning with entirely defensive options.
• (-) Very difficult to optimize the G.O. Cannons.

Fun Factor: C-

• (-) Low DPS and constant Kappa spamming to keep yourself alive means extremely extremely long battles.
• (=) Average impact sounds from the G.O. Cannons.
• (=) Average ship core positioning.

Trivia

• The base form and apexes of Marauder were designed by Rogier van de Beek.
• Marauder was only introduced into Phoenix 2 at v3.6.
• Marauder is also the name of an invader in Phoenix HD, Phoenix 2's predecessor game, which has 2 turrets, identical to a Raven in Phoenix 2. Despite this, there is absolutely no relation in the naming as the dev says that the name Marauder is cool. Here's how Marauder looked like in Phoenix HD:
  
• Marauder is one of the only ships in the game where its apexes have a different thruster configuration/location than its original base form. It is also one of the only 2 ships with both apexes having such different configurations from the base form and each other. The base form has only 2 thrusters, whereas the Alpha Apex has 4 thrusters all lined up in a row, while the Beta Apex has thrusters in a 2×2 configuration.
• Marauder is amongst the cheapest ship to fully ult and get both its apexes, coming in at only ¢24.800 (¢500 for buying Marauder, ¢9,300 for fully upgrading, ¢5,000 for the Alpha Apex & ¢5,000 for the Beta Apex), assuming you buy everything with your own credits (including buying to unlock the ship itself).
• As a teaser to the v3.6 update where Marauder was released, these were a few teaser screenshots for Marauder on Discord as follows:
  

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Apexes

Alpha (Kappa Antigrav) - ¢5.000

Value: C+
Cost vs Utility: A

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

• (+) Slightly easier to survive when you have no Phalanx charges left and desparately need one to shovel and create space around yourself, since killing an invader makes it quicker to possibly regain a Phalanx charge.

Speedrunning (Daily Missions): D [No change]
Speedrunning (Community Missions): D [No change]

Fun Factor: C- [No change]

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Beta (Phalanx Reflector) - ¢10.000

Value: B+
Cost vs Utility: S

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

• (+) Viable for laser heavy missions.
• (+) No more need to hide against lasers, just let them come.
  • But be sure to replace your Phalanx before it breaks. 3 Phalanxes are sufficient to survive a heavy onslaught of lasers, 2 for less laser heavy scenarios.
• (+) Extremely effective against speed lasers since damage will be dealt back to invaders, yet you can survive against speed lasers very well with Phalanxes. Speed lasers don't do much damage compared to normal lasers.

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

• (+) Laser Reflection damage increases speed on laser heavy missions.
• (-) Not able to effectively catch lasers from laser MIRVs. Try to trigger those near to you for maximum damage, but don't count on them for damage.
  • Instead, gather all the tracking lasers onto you, and then slowly head upfield to try and catch as many laser streams from the laser spreads as possible.
• (+) Can use Phalanxes to reflect lasers outside of laser heavy missions to also deal damage back to invaders too, increasing speed slightly.

Fun Factor: B [+++]

• (+) Very fun against laser heavy missions.
• (+) The laser reflection is a spectacle to watch.
• (-) Slightly difficult to catch the rhythm of deploying 3 Phalanxes, one after each other to sustain the laser reflection and not die.

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Lyova

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

Ship Class: Double Defence
+

Main Weapon: Photon Shredder

• Average DPS = 31.25
• Capacity = 400ms
• Weapon Class = Uninterruptible Burst
• Reload Time = Medium
• 2 sets of 5 tightly packed forward firing side-by-side lasers on each side of the ship, with the outer lasers firing first
  

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

• (+) Lyova's double AoE bullet clearing capabilities keep it alive for really long.
  • Being able to alternate between using both means of bullet clearing makes Lyova so survivable.
• Use BEMP as your first response to counter bullets, before resorting to REMP later when BEMP is less than 1/3 of its full size.
• (+) The Photon Shredder is great for turret popping.
  
  • 2 bursts (both sides of the burst hitting the turret) makes quick work of dangerous turrets.
  • A BEMP can be used to quickly change over to the other dangerous turret on the other side of the Vulture.
• (+) Easy to reach difficult-to-reach turrets on a Roc or Condor.
  • Use BEMP and REMP to position yourself properly.
  • Do this quickly to ensure your survival in these long battles.
• Be careful to conserve your BEMP if you are expecting the next wave to have larger invaders in front, and use REMP to clean up the previous wave's bullets.
• Don't be afraid to go in-between clusters of MIRVs to launch a BEMP, so long you do it quickly.
• In Shuriken/MIRV missions, REMP is primarily a defence tool, used interchangeably with BEMP.
• In other mission types however, REMP can be easily used to deal damage at the start of a wave as well. It can also be used mid-wave for defence for heavier waves.
• (-) Somewhat weak to lasers.
  • Use BEMP to reset lasers where possible.
  • If REMP is used for AoE damage at the start of the wave, it becomes easier to survive waves with many lasers since you can focus down invaders with laser spreads or fast tracking lasers more easily.

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

• (+) Always land REMP at the center of the field, using BEMP as positional tool if required.
• (+) Also use BEMP as a positioning tool to always land the Photon Shredder properly.
• 1 burst of the Photon Shredder takes out 1 Unprotected Raven (or 1 Armored Raven if aimed correctly at its cockpit).
  • A crit will damage a Raven behind it, but not take it out.
• An REMP + 1 burst of the Photon Shredder will take out 2 Unprotected Ravens.
• The short burst of the Photon Shredder means it will at most take out 2 Sparrows realistically in the same column or on one side of the field.
  • A crit means it can potentially take out 3 Sparrows.

Fun Factor: A

• (+) Rather satisfying impact sounds from the Photon Shredder.
• (+) Very easy to handle Photon Shredder with a very comfortable rhythm to it.
• (+) Very satisfying bullet clearing from both BEMP and REMP.
• (+) Decent AoE damage from REMP.
• (=) Average ship core positioning.

Trivia

• The base form and apexes of Lyova were designed by Rogier van de Beek.
• Lyova was only introduced into Phoenix 2 at v3.6.
• The wings of Lyova are VERY SLIGHTLY translucent, being able to only really see the thrusters of Lyova, but not the background.
• The Tau Apex of Lyova, being one of the most popular apexes, is sometimes referred to Tauyova in Phoenix 2 communities.
• Here's an image of Lyova with a horizontally offset version of the main weapon, just to show at what vertical position the lasers start from. This was asked by Network2501 on the Discord which the dev responded to with this image.
  

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Apexes

Lambda (REMP High Damage) - ¢30.000

Value: A+
Cost vs Utility: B

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

• (+) Destroys Unprotected Ravens instantly, so no more trouble from these pesky guys.

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

• (+) Instantly destroys Unprotected Ravens.
• (+) Deals more damage to other invaders around as well.
• You can opt to stress charge REMP if it's worth it at the start of some waves even if REMP has not completely cooled down, especially if the wave is a dense one with lots of Ravens.
  
  • Just be careful not to get shot point blank, since you'll be charging it in the middle of the field.

Fun Factor: A+ [+]

• (+) Watching Unprotected Ravens go POOF is very satisfying.

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Tau (BEMP Destructive Wave) - ¢40.000

Value: X
Cost vs Utility: S

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

• (+) Can potentially destroy Unprotected Ravens very quickly, so no more trouble from these guys.

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

• (+) Because of Lyova has 2 forms of defence, there are just times you don't quite need the BEMP especially when in certain waves where you can just inch your way around the field to avoid bullets. You can now start using BEMP for damage instead of just letting it do nothing.
• (+) The Destructive Wave BEMP + REMP combo instantly wipes Unprotected Ravens and Sparrows clean off the field.
  • This means much less chasing down of Sparrows and Ravens with the Photon Shredder.
• (+) Destructive Wave BEMP by itself deals against Sparrows so efficiently given how fast BEMP is refilled by the BEMP + REMP combo in previous waves.
• With the correct control of how much particles to take in, Sparrows are nothing except in Act 1.
• Ravens in Act 3 onwards also gets obliterated, so you just need to focus on Herons and above.

Fun Factor: S [++]

• (+) Obliterating Ravens and Sparrows alike is super satisfying.

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Qhelqod

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

Ship Class: Defend to Attack
+

Main Weapon: Uqtor Bolts

• Average DPS = 31.25
• Weapon Class = Continuous Stream
• Rate of Fire = Fast
• Projectile Speed = Very Fast, then Slow
• 2 sets of vert fast forward firing projectiles, until a certain distance where they abruptly reduce speed
  

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

• (+) MB crushes all Unprotected Ravens on field.
• You can stay rather downfield after MB is set off.
  • The Uqtor Bolts are fast and accurate enough.
• (+) Capability to almost always deploy barriers upfield to take advantage of the inner lining.
  • The forward firing Uqtor Bolts allow you to cool off bullets and not kill the last invaders on field until you have dumped your barrier(s) upfield.
  • You can take your time to collect all the particles from the devastation MB has left behind and then deploy a barrier to charge MB for the next wave.
  • No need to leave any barriers at hand since the MB will kill off all Ravens on field to gain back your particles quickly.
  • If there's not enough time to deploy a barrier upfield, then deploying a single downfield barrier around yourself to setup MB also works.
    • This is particularly against the next wave after a Condor or Roc.
• (+) Charge your MB very near to the edge of the outer barrier, with your ship's core just outside the outer edge of the barrier.
  • In this way, you may even be able to make use of MBc to completely destroy Herons or heavily damage Eagles.
• (+) You can charge MB every wave Act 4 and onwards.
  • Remember you can always take it slowly at the end of the wave.
• (+) Easy to pop off turrets with the Uqtor Bolts.
  • You don't even need to be so near to the turrets since the fast traveling speed of the Uqtor Bolts is so reliable.
  • The short horizontal distance between the streams of Uqtor Bolts also mean that landing both streams of Uqtor Bolts is very easy.
  • That being said, don't stand too far away since the Uqtor Bolts will suddenly cut their speed after a while.
• (+) Against lasers, a barrier around yourself works very well.
  • The accumulation of barriers upfield also protect you well.
  • Always standby a small barrier at hand when there are many lasers on larger invaders.
• (=) Aim to land MBc on Eagles where possible since Qhelqod does struggle against Eagles slightly.
• (-) Obviously, Qhelqod struggles with Rocs and Condors.
  • You'll just have to graze as much as you can to pull off small barriers.
  • Leave one barrier at hand for the next wave, if applicable.

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

• (+) Crushes all Unprotected Ravens and even Unprotected Herons.
  • Barrier also makes it easy to land MBc on Herons.
• (-) The fast traveling speed of the Uqtor Bolts make it a bit harder to deploy barriers upfield quickly before the last invader dies.
  • Take out the most upfield invaders last.
  • If the upfield invaders are all gone, then it'll be a better idea to instead deploy barrier such that when you charge MB at the most optimal place, your ship's core would be just below the upper edge of the barrier around yourself.
• (+) Very easy to pull off MB after MB due to the reliable nature of Barrier to defend against bullets for the duration of MB charging.
  • Generally, an MB for every wave Act 4 and above.
  • That being said, for some waves that only feature one Eagle and just Sparrows, it's just not worthwhile charging an MB.
    • Some waves like one Eagle and 2 Ravens may not be worth charging MB if the next 2 waves will go down too quickly as well.
• Try to sneak in a few barriers upfield, especially when dealing against larger invaders, so that you'll have an easier time setting up MB for the next wave.
  • In the case the upfield barrier can't hold, always ensure you have the smallest deployable barrier at hand.
• (+) Fast traveling speed of the Uqtor Bolts which are easy to handle.
  • The Uqtor Bolts do suddenly slow down after a certain distance traveled, but it's not too much of an issue.
  • Easy to optimize the Uqtor Bolts, barring the slight leak of some projectiles when switching targets.
    • Once again, not too much of an issue since all Ravens and Sparrows would have already disappeared from MB.
    • In early waves, target switching is important, but the projectiles of Uqtor Bolts aren't particularly very powerful so missing a few projectiles isn't a huge downer.
• Try not to deploy additional barriers downfield as that will hinder setting up MB for the next wave.
  • The Uqtor Bolts are fast and powerful enough for you to have enough downfield space to dodge bullets and lasers.
  • Yet, you do not need to go up close to invaders all the time if all barriers are down, because the time difference is small if you are near or slightly further away from invaders.
• (-) It's actually not a great idea to go up close to Ravens to hit the Uqtor Bolts, as the very fast speed of the Uqtor Bolts can sometimes go right through Ravens and miss them entirely.

Fun Factor: A+

• (+) Ease of MB setups make obliterating Ravens easy and very satsifying.
• (+) Great impact sounds from the Uqtor Bolts.
• (-) Going too near Ravens can sometimes make the Uqtor Bolts slip past them.
• (+) Easy to handle Uqtor Bolts, although the Uqtor Bolts slowing down after some point is a bit strange, but generally manageable.
• (=) Average ship core positioning.

Trivia

• The base form and apexes of Qhelqod were designed by Rogier van de Beek.
• Qhelqod was only introduced into Phoenix 2 at v4.1.
• Qhelqod is the only ship that starts with the letter "Q".
• The Gamma Apex of Qhelqod, being one of the most popular apexes, is commonly referred to Gamqod or Gamqhod (the latter is a supposedly miswritten version that is somehow used frequently) in Phoenix 2 communities.
• Before Qhelqod was released in v4.1, there was a teaser screenshot on Discord by the devs.
  
• Qhelqod's Uqtor Bolts is the only weapon where its projectiles that slow down after travelling a certain distance.
• Qhelqod is one of the 4 ships in the game where its apexes have a different thruster configuration/location than its original base form. In particular, the Gamma Apex has 6 smaller thrusters instead of one huge thruster. The Beta Apex and the base form have identical thruster location/configuration.
• Qhelqod Gamma is one of the only ships that is non-full offensive that has gotten a BoB, which is possible in some laser heavy missions.

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Apexes

Beta (MB EMP Core) - ¢10.000

Value: B-
Cost vs Utility: A

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

• (+) Helps on some rare occasions where you can rush forward after charging an MB to place barrier slightly more upfield more safely.

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

Fun Factor: A+ [No change]

_{Back to All Ships/Apexes}

Gamma (Barrier Reflector) - ¢15.000

Value: X
Cost vs Utility: X

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

• (+) Extremely viable in all laser heavy missions, even those of a different invader affinity.
• (+) Place all barriers downfield to reflect lasers like no tomorrow.
• (+) Being able to place multiple barriers downfield mean always keeping up the laser reflection.
  • MB also helps a ton in sustaining the particles required to keep on placing new barriers.

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

• (+) Placing barriers at the end of a wave, before the invader lasers fire has a key advantage in being able to charge MB, such that the remaining invaders who fire the lasers are obliterated by the laser reflection damage, which allows the next wave to come in with MB charged finish.
  • When this is being done, ensure that you kill off invaders who are not useful in dealing laser reflection damage, and also try to deal enough damage to bigger invaders such that the reflected lasers will kill them.
• (+) In Unprotected laser heavy missions, a unique strategy can be applied such that the lasers from Ravens (and Herons that you intend to land MBc on) can still be utilized for laser reflection damage.
  • Let the wave arrive first, then charge MB at the appropriate place such that you won't die.
    • This is more likely to be under the protection of barriers, as you will see later.
  • Let the invaders fire their lasers and for the laser to fade away, then release MB to destroy all the Ravens (and any Herons you landed MBc on)
    • Because you need to survive an entire round of lasers, it is unlikely to be able to be able to charge MBc on Herons upfield unless they are very near to your barriers.
  • This method is very useful especially against upfield Ravens that have lasers that are useful for laser reflection damage.
• (+) The extreme synergy in letting barriers do the laser reflection work passively after they are deployed, and then charging MB works together very well.
• Place barriers such that laser MIRVs can be triggered without the hitting the barriers, yet you are able to catch as many lasers from these laser MIRVs.
  • This can sometimes involve placing barriers slightly more upfield if the MIRV Bloomers or Spreads are more upfield.

Fun Factor: X [++++]

• (+) Extreme massacre of all invaders in laser heavy missions is incredibly satisfying.
  • Even Condors and Rocs aren't really spared, as they go down much faster as well.
  • It might take slightly longer for Condors and Rocs in Laser/Shuriken missions though, since these invaders might be equipped with more shuriken launchers/spreads.

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Nimbus

Strong against: Dart/Pellet, Shuriken/Pellet, Shuriken/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: Versatile
+

Main Weapon: Twin Disintegrators

• Average DPS = 31.25
• Weapon Class = 2 Independent Uninterruptible Bursts
  
  • (Cone Triggered - Independent)
• Reload Time = Medium
• 2 independent forward firing lasers that only fire when separately, are in range of a target
  

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

• (+) The Twin Disintegrators are extremely capable of popping off turrets. One burst of both disintegrator lasers is enough to pop off a turret.
  • With SEMP, it makes it very easy to entirely strip a Vulture of 2 turrets before the stun expires.
• (+) If you can only afford one SEMP, take out the dangerous turrets first.
• (+) If you can afford 2 SEMPs, take out the fast firing turrets first, like boomerangs or darts.
  • Then take out the dangerous turrets.
  • Leave DDMBs for last because they really don't matter for Nimbus.
• (+) The Cone Triggered nature of the Twin Disintegrators means you hardly leak DPS other than when switching targets after the burst continues on even after the invader targeted dies.
• (-) Beware of Nimbus' off-sync Twin Disintegrators which can occur when you do not properly position yourself below invaders, or after exiting an REMP.
  • Try to ensure that you are directly in front of an invader, even Ravens or Sparrows, as off-sync lasers are very difficult to handle.
  • The best solution is to fire SEMP first, allow the Twin Disintegrators to both fire off at the same time, then charge REMP.
  • When charging REMP, make sure you are charging underneath a turret so that the Twin Disintegrators stay synced.
  • Firing SEMP first allows you to more easily where turrets are when a new wave arrives so you can position yourself appropriately.
• If they do indeed go off-sync, there is usually no point to reset them to bring them back into sync, as that'll happen naturally between wave or Act transitions. Just live on with it.
• (-) Can't target the hull of Condors and Rocs.
  • This means if you are cornered to the extreme corner, the Twin Disintegrators won't fire, which is a massive problem.
• During the stun time, focus on eliminating the smaller invaders first, then move on to the larger ones.
  • In this way, when the stun time is just about to expire, where you can fire off another SEMP and repeat this process.
• (+) No problem with Rocs or Condors.
  • Stay downfield, and aim the Twin Disintegrators such that one of them is directly in front of a difficult-to-reach turret, and the other is on one of the front row of turrets.
  • Stay in that position and allow the Twin Disintegrators to go to work.
  • A crit means both turrets will go down after one burst.
  • Otherwise, it will require 2 bursts of the Twin Disintegrators to eliminate both turrets.
  • Try to reserve enough particles for a second SEMP, as that will mean being able to destroy 2 of these difficult-to-reach turrets, which will make survival much easier.
  • Remember that DDMBs are trivial for Nimbus since it will never be upfield when fighting a Roc or Condor anyway.
• (+) REMP can be used on defence in heavier waves. If the wave has only Eagles or larger on field, then reserve REMP for defence, and just fire off SEMP first to try your best to kill one Eagle first.
• (+) Reserve REMP for waves with lots of Sparrows equipped with Caged MIRVs.
  • This is especially for earlier waves since the dodging space isn't a lot and Sparrows are more frequent in earlier waves.
  • You can cool off REMP between waves.
  • If there are only Sparrows with Caged MIRVs in that wave, you can opt to kill all but one Sparrow, and then cool off REMP.
• Use REMP to eliminate annoying dart streamer Sparrow infested waves.
  • This will leave you with enough SEMP for the next wave since these waves don't provide enough particles.
  • You can then stun all the invaders in the next wave long enough for a second SEMP.
  • Then fire that second SEMP and charge REMP (only if there are still quite a lot of invaders left).
  • If there aren't many left, reserve REMP for the next wave.
• In Shuriken/MIRV missions, launch SEMP before REMP because you want to make sure the Sparrows die first.
  • REMP then gets rid of the pellets from Caged MIRVs, along with all the annoying Ravens that fire MIRVs so fast.
  • Prioritize to hit the optimal REMP so that all Ravens will be destroyed since MIRV Launchers can get very annoying.
  • If there are still remaining Ravens, eliminate them first. Then eliminate Herons.
  • Then eliminate shuriken launchers closer downfield.

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

• (+) With 2 forms of AoE damage, Nimbus is a beast at crowd destruction.
  • In particular, the SEMP + REMP combo straight out crushes Unprotected Ravens.
• (+) Depending on how you like it, you can go 2 ways to utilize this powerful SEMP + REMP combination.
• The more common way is to use REMP first, then immediately follow up with SEMP to wipe out all Unprotected Ravens on field.
  • Because SEMP keeps the field rather clean of bullets, you can then go about killing everything else after that.
  • Eliminate the smaller ones next, which includes Herons. Then the Eagles.
• If the field is full of bullets, use SEMP first to stop more bullets from flooding the field.
  • Use the stun time to eliminate to damage larger invaders, such as Eagles and Vultures. Leave the Herons alone if possible.
    • We want to maximize the AoE damage of REMP on Herons since the remaining health of Herons after SEMP + REMP would be too low in that there will be overspill damage from one burst of the Twin Disintegrators.
  • Find your way to the center of the field as quickly as possible and charge REMP in the center of the field to get rid of all the Ravens.
• It is important to have both sides of the Twin Disintegrators to go off at the same time. Always make sure you are well aligned to any turret such that both Twin Disintegrators will fire together.
  • This can mean that when charging REMP, you should be just under a turret just before the wave fully arrives, then charge REMP.
  • When you exit REMP, both sides of the Twin Disintegrators will fire at that turret so they will be well synchronized.
  • To deal with de-synchronized Twin Disintegrators severely hurts speedrunning.
• (-) Try your best to avoid the cockpit of Vultures. The way the Twin Disintegrators work is that each of its disintegrator laser only fires when there is a target it can aim at, namely either cockpits or turrets.
  • The detection of the Vulture's cockpit isn't a 100% reliable, unfortunately.
• (-) Because of the way the Twin Disintegrators work, do not go near to invaders or Nimbus will not fire.
• For missions with Caged MIRVs, reserve your REMP for waves with more Sparrows.
  • Using SEMP will leave a mess of bullets on field.
  • Use SEMP on waves with lesser Sparrows, then use REMP on the next wave is a great idea to go fast and also ensure safety.
  • However, dodging between the pellets released by Caged MIRVs to set up REMP will be difficult.
• In early waves, learn to sweep well with the Twin Disintegrators.
  • One sweep will at most wipe out 3 Ravens if all are damaged by an SEMP close to full size.
  • Usually, one sweep will only wipe out 2 Ravens damaged by SEMP.
  • Wiping out 4 Sparrows on field, all side-by-side, with the Twin Disintegrators can be difficult if they separate, but is possible.
  • Wiping out 3 Sparrows on field, or 4 Sparrows in a square formation, is easy and possible.
    • Sweep with the Twin Disintegrators instead of using REMP in this case, and reserve REMP for the wave after that, even if it's wave 1-1
    • Unless wave 1-2 is also 3 Sparrows, then just use REMP on wave 1-1.

Fun Factor: S

• (+) Both SEMP and REMP's AoE damage is very fun to pull off, especially when used in conjunction.
• (+) Crushing Unprotected Ravens from the SEMP + REMP combo is super satisfying.
• (+) Super easy to setup the SEMP from REMP, or REMP from SEMP since they complement each other so well.
• (=) Mixed feelings in the handling of the Twin Disintegrators.
  • The Cone Triggered mechanism sometimes makes it hard to synchronize both Twin Disintegrators to fire at a turret.
  • Also quite difficult to understand how the Twin Disintegrators would work initially.
  • When fully synchronized, they are very easy and straightforward to handle, and it is easy to sweep across the field with them.
• (=) Average Twin Disintegrators impact sound, they sound quite powerful but are pretty muted.
• (-) Very awkward ship core positioning.
  • The complicated design of Nimbus also makes it hard to track the ship's core.

Trivia

• The base form of Nimbus and Nimbus Epsilon were designed by Rogier van de Beek.
• Nimbus was only introduced into Phoenix 2 at v4.2.
• The Sigma Apex of Nimbus, being one of the most popular apexes, is sometimes referred to Sigbus in Phoenix 2 communities.
• Before Nimbus was released in v4.2, the dev teased a screenshot on the Discord.
  
• Nimbus is the only ship where the firing of the main is asymmetrical (Levels 1-3) and does not appear to follow any discernible pattern.
• Nimbus has the most unique thruster system in the game, as it does not use modern or futuristic engines to produce cool looking afterburners. Instead, it uses an early jet engine which produces a lot of smoke.
• Unlike the other ships and apexes in the game that were all designed by Romano Molenaar and Rogier van de Beek, the design of Nimbus Sigma was done entirely by the dev himself as he didn't like the sketches for some other apexes, and had an idea himself.
• Here's an apex design of Nimbus that had a very cool icy theme to it that was never used:
  

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Apexes

Sigma (SEMP High Damage) - ¢35.000

Value: X
Cost vs Utility: X

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

• (+) Kills invaders significantly faster.
• (+) Viable even in Shielded and Armored missions, since a full size SEMP + REMP wipes out Ravens of any affinity.

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

• (+) Able to use even a 1/3 of full sized SEMPs to wipe out Sparrows.
• (+) Able to use 1/2 full sized SEMPs + REMP to wipe out Unprotected Ravens.
• (+) Easy to wipe out 3 Unprotected Ravens damaged by an SEMP by sweeping with the Twin Disintegrators in early waves.
• (+) 2 full sized SEMPs wipe out Unprotected Ravens completely
  • In dense waves of Ravens (and Sparrows) only, you don't even need an REMP anymore.
• (+) A good size of SEMP is able to allow you to more easily sweep the Twin Disintegrators to completely destroy all 2 or 3 Ravens in early waves.
• By carefully regulating the intake of particles, you are constantly able to wipe out Unprotected Ravens easily.

Fun Factor: S+ [+]

• (+) Obliterating Sparrows and Ravens much more easily and more frequently is incredibly satisfying.

_{Back to All Ships/Apexes}

Epsilon (REMP Extended Range) - ¢25.000

Value: A-
Cost vs Utility: A

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

• (+) Better bullet clearing capabilities.
• (+) More safe in killing upfield Sparrows and Ravens with REMP.

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

• (+) Able to stay behind larger invaders such that the Twin Disintegrators can get into action immediately after firing REMP, yet still be able to reach all upfield invaders.

Fun Factor: S [No change]

_{Back to All Ships/Apexes}

Widget

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

Ship Class: Defensive
+

Main Weapon: Omni Projectors

• Average DPS = 25
• Laser Beams = 6
• Weapon Class = 2 independent Uninterruptible Bursts
• Reload Time = Slow
• 2 independent sets of 3 lasers fired from the ship's left side that immediately switch to the next target once target is destroyed, preferentially targeting the left side
  

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

• (+) Having 2 forms of defensive abilities, Widget is able to keep up for quite some time. However, PD will not last long and PS has very limited bullet clearing capabilities.
• It is thus essential to try your best to graze off darts to rebuild your PD.
• (+) PS to deal against lasers.
• (+) Better against missions where there are less slow moving bullets but more fast moving bullets like darts and boomerangs.
  • Both PD and PS are able to effectively deal against boomerangs in particular.
• (+) PS is able to deal with shuriken clouds to some extent since the PS Phase Out can eliminate a small cluster of them to escape. Choose very carefully when you exit PS such that you can Phase Out through the shuriken cloud. The same also goes for boomerangs.
• (-) Struggles against pellet spinners since these pellets are spread out, move slowly and can quickly flood the screen.
• (+) PD is able to give you nearly absolute freedom in moving around in laser missions, since MIRV Defence of PD allows you to only worry about spread and tracking lasers. Beware of pellet spreads, however, as those will drain your PD fast. Use sparingly to get past pellet walls.
• (-) Less than ideal Omni Projectors target the left side of the field more than the right.
  • In waves with an Eagle on the right side of the field, it will continue to survive for a very long time, which can be detrimental to survival if the Eagle has a dangerous middle turret (or just dangerous turrets in general).
  • Not to mention, if there are many Ravens downfield, up to 4 Ravens may even survive for a very long time, which means another 8 turrets on field to deal with for a long time.
• (-) Random targeting nature of the Omni Projectors with a slight spread of how it targets turrets means it's ineffective at turret popping.
• (-) Possible to slightly force the Omni Projectors to hit some invaders on the right side of the field by being on the extreme right side of the field, and trying to be closer to the invaders, but this is very unreliable.
• It is generally better to stay on the left side because this will eliminate the left side of invaders faster rather than staying on the right side and possibly spreading your DPS too thin among both sides of invaders.

Speedrunning (Daily Missions): C
Speedrunning (Community Missions): C

• (-) No offensive abilities.
• (-) Completely automatic aiming with weak DPS.
  • Using PS to try and pace the Omni Projectors is very difficult because the 2 Omni Projectors that fire off the lasers aren't even synced up to each other.
• (+) In laser heavy missions, PS laser reflection damage gives a slight boost to speed.

Fun Factor: C

• (-) There's not much to do with Widget other than to dodge bullets and use your Aura and Zen when threatened.
• (+) Fun to reflect lasers using PS.
• (+) Great impact sounds from the Omni Projectors.
• (+) Quite fun to watch the lasers from the Omni Projectors, like a mini light show.
• (-) Frustrating targeting mechanism of the Omni Projectors since they don't target the right side of the field.
• (+) Kind of a stress free ship otherwise, with reasonable degree of freedom to move around (at least, on the left side of the field).
  • RIP left hand users though, since there's less estate space on your device since you would probably use your left hand's finger to pilot the ship. Or a stylus on your left hand, which blocks a bit of your view on the left side of the field.
• (+) Pretty easy ship core positioning, being in the center body of the ship which is also a circle shape.

Trivia

• The base form and apexes of Widget were designed by Rogier van de Beek.
• Widget was only introduced into Phoenix 2 at v4.2.
• Before Widget was released in v4.2, there were a couple of teaser screenshots by the devs on Discord. The rightmost image is tagged as "t34s3" by the dev on Discord, which is still unknown what the code really means.
  
• Widget is asymmetrical, unlike most ships.
• Widget is the only ship that makes a sound when the weapon fires WITHOUT hitting any invaders. It is much softer than the impact sounds of the Omni Projectors, and you can hear it by activating the PD tutorial for Widget.
• WARNING! Don't try to see this for yourself unless you are absolutely sure that you can unsee it, because trying this will NEVER make you look at Widget the same way again. Rotated 90º clockwise, Widget looks like some kind of weird cartoon helicopter with cartoon eyes. You can even somewhat make our a mouth as well. Except it looks a little bit strange for a bicopter helicopter/duocopter design (because the 2 turbofans don't look like they are side-by-side, also 1 looks bigger than the other). Widget's closest parallel is probably the Aerospatiale SA-2 Samson from the Avatar movie series. However, the devs have confirmed that there are no inspirations from this fictional bicopter helicopter/duocopter.
  

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Apexes

Delta (PS Super Reflect) - ¢20.000

Value: B+
Cost vs Utility: B

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

• (+) Super Reflect makes up for the Omni Projector's weak DPS against Condors and Rocs.
• (+) PD helps in making slightly safer Super Reflect setups.

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

• (+) Very powerful apex against waves with many lasers situated upfield, this apex can deal against heavy waves very effectively.
• (+) Any laser heavy wave is bound to be vaporized, especially if the lasers are coming from upfield.
  • Be always alert however, since sometimes the super reflected laser goes straight back to the turret and eliminates the source of the super reflected laser.
• (+) On some occasions, it can even be beneficial to instead stress charge Super Reflect such that it destroys heavier waves faster. This usually applies against waves with laser MIRVs as you can sit on top of a laser MIRV as it is triggered to Super Reflect all of its 5 or 9 lasers. This requires experimentation, and obviously, a lot of skill to know when to charge a PS Super Reflect that has not cooled down completely.

Fun Factor: B- [++]

• (-) Difficult to land Super Reflect due to how the loud sounds from the Omni Projectors can sometimes mask the sound of invader lasers firing.
  • This is one of the harder Super Reflect apexes to play.
• (+) The additional lines on the body of Widget (only for this apex) lights up like electrical tubes, which is pretty cool.

_{Back to All Ships/Apexes}

Tau (PD Bullet Detonator) - ¢40.000

Value: A-
Cost vs Utility: A

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

• (+) Can help eliminate some invaders a bit faster in the initial part of a wave.
• (-) Not too easy to utilize the PD Bullet Detonator ability due to Widget's weak DPS.

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

• (+) Very powerful against bullet heavy missions, especially Shuriken/MIRV missions.
• (+) The automatic aiming nature of the Omni Projectors make this apex extremely suitable for turret riding since no DPS is lost.
• (+) If you can't turret ride, you can also be a lot more upfield so that bullets produced are quickly eliminated by PD before the bullets exit the range of the invader.
• (+) Furthermore, the problem of the Omni Projectors which is a left-to-right aiming system actually works in favor of Bullet Detonator, as the spawn point of the Omni Projector lasers are way outside of the turret, which allows you to not destroy the spinner that is producing the bullets to keep up both PD and the Bullet Detonator damage.

Fun Factor: B [++]

• (+) Actively encourages turret riding which is very risky but also very well rewarded.
• (+) Crushing invaders very quickly with PD Bullet Detonator when turret riding is done right is extremely satisfying.
• (+) This is a very different playstyle for Widget which has huge rewards.
• (-) If you cannot turret ride well, then this Bullet Detonator apex is very difficult to realize its effects properly due to the lackluster DPS of the Omni Projectors which makes filling up PD fast difficult.

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