Ship Details (Part 9)

Ship Details (Part 9)

Reaper

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

Ship Class: Blitzkrieg
+

Main Weapon: Vengira Swarm

• Average DPS = 25
• Homing = Very Good
• Weapon Class = Continuous Stream
• Rate of Fire = Fast
• Projectile Speed = Medium
• Swarms of flies that come out from its branch-like structures that quickly home into their targets
  

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

• (-) Absolutely no defence.
• (-) Poor DPS from all of Vengira Swarm, LS and FL.
• (+) Aside from FL, the entire ship is automatic aiming, so there's no need to worry about hitting invaders so long LS is large enough of a size.
• Expect to dodge a lot, and go upfield or even circle around invaders frequently.
• (-) Very poor turret popping capability.
  • Vengira Swarm goes everywhere and hits everything without explicit turret targeting.
  • FL does help in turret popping but isn't abusable enough. It can only quickly pop off turrets from Herons and Eagles. Vultures' turrets will take longer since 1 FL will not pop it off.
  • LS helps slightly but not by much.

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

• Stay in the middle of the field between waves to try and maximize the Vengira Swarm.
• Always keep LS going whenever possible.
• Because of Vengira Swarm and LS being quick acting damage, it may not always be a good idea to use FL at the start of a wave. For early Acts, it can sometimes be better to just use LS and Vengira Swarm to finish off invaders.
  • Charging FL also stops the Vengira Swarm for a bit.
  • LS and the Vengira Swarm already on field might have severely damaged your targets by the time FL is charged.
  • Only use FL if against Ravens, don't use them against Sparrows.
• (+) Because Reaper is pretty much an automatic aiming ship, there's not much to take note of when speedrunning other than optimizing FL and also keeping LS up at all times.

Fun Factor: S-

• (+) Aside from FL that aims forward, the Vengira Swarm and LS are both automatic aiming.
  • This makes Reaper's gameplay quite stress free.
  • Simply fire FL at the start of a wave, then feel free to move around wherever you want.
• (+) Excellent visuals, with animated dragonfly-like wings and the Vengira Swarm is also awesome to watch in action.
• (=) Average ship core positioning.
• (-) Very muted Vengira Swarm impact sounds, you hear the crits louder than the impact sounds themselves.

Trivia

• The base form and apexes of Reaper were designed by Romano Molenaar.
• Reaper was only introduced into Phoenix 2 at v5.0.
• Reaper is the ship with the most animated visuals, where viewing the static ship at face value (in the ship selection screen) is nothing like viewing it in the ship view screen (after you tap on the ship card in the ship selection screen)
• Reaper doesn’t use thrusters to fly, unlike most ships. Instead, it uses its animated wings like a real dragonfly.
• It’s funny that this ship isn’t named Dragonfly instead, given its actual similarities to its real life counterpart.
• Coincidentally, there is an invader in the predecessor game of Phoenix 2, Phoenix HD, which is also named Reaper. There is no relationship between the 2 entities of the same name in both games. Here's how Reaper looked like in Phoenix HD:
  

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Apexes

Tau (LS Shield Breaker) - ¢40.000

Value: A
Cost vs Utility: A

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

• (+) Opens up viability in easier Shielded missions, especially laser heavy missions.

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

• (+) SB LS breaks shields pretty quickly so that the Vengira Swarm can go in and deal crit damage.

Fun Factor: S [+]

• (+) Expanded viability for Reaper in Shielded missions.

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Lambda (FL Lance Wake) - ¢30.000

Value: B-
Cost vs Utility: A

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

• (+) Slightly easier to pilot in bullet heavier missions.
  • Riding up FL is like riding VL.
  • This allows it to get out of some tight spots.
  • Given that FL is fairly abusable, this does help quite a bit.

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

Fun Factor: S- [No change]

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Luna

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: Close Combat
+

Main Weapon: Ataras Laser

• Average DPS = 37.5
• Laser Beams = 14
• Weapon Class = Uninterruptible Burst
• Reload Time = Medium
• 14 converging laser beams that get cut off at certain distances away from the ship. The diagram below describes the number of lasers that will hit an invader within that range. Each laser beam has the same damage.
  

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

• (=) Very unique Ataras Laser. As shown in the diagram above, the full 37.5 DPS is only dealt if the invader is within the range of all 14 of the individual lasers.
  • Damage scales accordingly if you are further than the range of the full 14 lasers.
• (+) Double Defences, PD and TP keep Luna alive for really long.
• (+) As long as you try your best to keep close to invaders, it is still acceptable if you are within the range of 10-14 lasers.
  • As you could see from the diagram, keeping within 14 lasers is not unreasonable since it is roughly 2 heights of Luna, which is quite a distance.
  • 12 lasers mean an approximate DPS of 32, which is already the standard for most straight firing ships.
  • 10 lasers mean an approximate DPS of 26.8, which is decent for how far away you are from the invaders.
  • As it is much easier to keep close to invaders in the initial part of the wave, it is easy to keep within 14 lasers for at least the first 2-3s or so.
• You would want to try to keep close at least for the initial part of the wave so that the shield of invaders can be downed quickly.
  • Use PD to try your best to keep close to invaders.
  • Afterwards, it is not as necessary to keep in close combat.
• (+) Excellent turret popping capability.
  • Going up close to invaders in the initial part of the wave downs the shields quickly.
  • After which, you can retreat and still pop off a turret with one burst so long you are within approximately 8 lasers range.
  • You can even pop off 2 turrets on a Vulture if you utilize the full 14 lasers.
• When invaders start to go down, use TP to go more upfield in order to collect the particles for more PD Aura.
  • Then you can repeat the process, use PD to stay close to invaders so that you can kill more invaders faster.
• (-) Weak to lasers.
  • Dense Raven crowds may carry many laser turrets, coupled with dart spreads. In these waves, it is necessary to TP near to these Ravens to clear off one side of lasers to survive.
  • In the event this is too difficult, TP is your only best bet to escape.
  • Sometimes, against laser spreads, it may be simply better to retreat all the way downfield.
    • This will sacrifice a lot of DPS but is essential to survival.

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

• (+) Extremely high DPS of the Ataras Laser.
  • Yet, it is so easy to handle so long you can stay at close range.
  • Both PD and TP, as well as the Ataras full damage range of 14 lasers makes it easy and pretty forgiving to stay in close enough range to always deal the full 37.5 DPS.
• (-) No other means to deal damage other than the Ataras Laser.
• (+) Extremely fast in invader takedowns.
  • 2 close up bursts of the Ataras Laser kills a shielded Eagle.
  • 1 close up burst of the Ataras Laser kills a shielded Heron.
  • 1 close up burst of the Ataras Laser kills 2 shielded Ravens.
  • 1 burst of the Ataras Laser can sweep early waves of only Sparrows easily.
• (+) Tears down shields very quickly.
  • 1 full close up burst of the Ataras Laser downs a Vulture's shield.
  • 2 full close up burst of the Ataras Laser downs a Condor's shield.
  • 3 full close up burst of the Ataras Laser downs a Roc's shield.
• (+) Use PD aggressively to stay in close range of invaders.
  • In the presence of dart spreads, you can still stay a bit further back and still deal the full 37.5 DPS.
  • This is also a good opportunity to alternate between using PD and grazing off the darts to regain the PD.
• Against shuriken launchers/spreads, pellet spreads/spinners, stay quite close but be prepared to retreat as PD depletes.
  • Once the shuriken launchers stop firing, use TP to get in close range of the invaders again.
• (+) TP can be used to pace the Ataras Laser.
  • After the last invader of a wave dies and the burst ends, charge up TP so that the Ataras Laser does not fire when the next wave of invaders have not fully arrived.
  • Then use TP to get up close to invaders and the Ataras Laser will fire, dealing the full close range of 37.5 DPS very effectively.
  • Bear in mind some waves have longer transitions (such as waves with a Vulture/Condor in front of everything else) so sometimes you can just let one burst of the Ataras Laser go off first before charging TP.
• (+) When stuck at one corner after destroying all the invaders at one side of the field, TP can be used to quickly get over to the other side to finish off the job.

Fun Factor: A+

• (+) Very easy to handle Ataras Laser, with a very comfortable rhythm to it.
• (+) Soothing and calming Ataras Laser impact sound. It sounds like a kick drum without the very low sub-bass frequencies.
• (=) Average ship core positioning.
• (+) Great handling of Luna overall, backed up by all of its Ataras Laser, PD and TP.

Trivia

• The base form and apexes of Luna were designed by Romano Molenaar.
• Luna was only introduced into Phoenix 2 at v5.0.
• The Tau Apex of Luna, being one of the most popular apexes, is commonly and affectionately referred to Tuna in Phoenix 2 communities.
• Luna's Omega Apex is the only Omega Apex so far that does not have a unique trait.
• Luna's main is 1 of only 2 main weapons where it stops halfway even without hitting any invader, since the Ataras lasers disappear after 2 of them meet each other at the center.
• Luna is the most expensive ship to fully ult and get both its apexes, coming in at ¢102.300 (¢3,000 for buying Luna, ¢9,300 for fully upgrading, ¢40,000 for the Tau Apex & ¢50,000 for the Omega Apex), assuming you buy everything with your own credits (including buying to unlock the ship itself).
• Luna is the icon of the album cover art for the Phoenix 2 Game Soundtrack Anthem to the Stars.
  
• Luna Tau is featured in the newest game preview video of Phoenix 2.

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Apexes

Tau (PD Bullet Detonator) - ¢40.000

Value: S+
Cost vs Utility: S

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

• (+) Even more viable for Shuriken/MIRV and Dart/MIRV missions.
• (+) Faster to destroy invaders due to the close combat fighting style of Luna, enabling Bullet Detonator to get more action.

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

• (+) Strongly synergizes with the close combat playstyle of Luna.
  • Actively encourages further aggression.
  • Getting even closer to invaders will take huge advantage of the Bullet Detonator apex ability.
  • The need to use PD to always stay in close range to maximize Luna's DPS is further rewarded by even more damage.
• (+) Use TP to get back into close range of invaders after retreating, due to shuriken launchers or dart spreads.
  • You can pick up particles more quickly as well, allowing you to spam more PD for even more Bullet Detonator apex ability damage.
• (=) Turret riding with this apex can be a bit difficult due to the forward firing nature of the Ataras Laser, which will eliminate the spinner itself quickly.
  • The solution is to turret ride at the side, or even better, on top of the turret.
  • This way of turret riding is generally a little bit more difficult.

Fun Factor: S+ [++]

• (+) The close synergy between maximizing the PD Bullet Detonator apex ability and the close combat style of Luna severely enhances how much more quickly this apex's damage capabilities can be realized.
• (+) Invaders going down a lot more quickly from the tons of damage caused by their own bullets is laughable, yet enjoyable as to how fast invaders go down.

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Omega (Teleport Explosive Arrival) - ¢50.000

Value: A+
Cost vs Utility: B

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

• (+) Faster to destroy invaders due to the close combat fighting style of Luna, to get more action.
• (-) Not able to take out Shielded Ravens in one Explosive Arrival TP.
  • However, once you arrive at your spot, a burst of Ataras Laser fires off immediately, thus quickly destroying the Raven(s) you TP onto.

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

• (+) Very strong synergy with the close combat fighting style of Luna.
  • TP in to deal the initial damage, which also allows the maximum DPS of the Ataras Laser to be realized.
• (-) An Explosive Arrival TP is insufficient to kill a shielded Raven,
  • May run into turret collision issues with the many Ravens' turrets.
• (+) Allows TP to be used in a very useful speedrunning way to deal damage, since TP isn't really used much in a speedrunning context for Luna, other than to get closer to invaders again after retreating.
• (+) TP can be used here and there as the wave progresses, especially for heavier waves, always allowing for additional DPS all the time.
  • Remember to allow TP to cool off after stressing it against Ravens at the start of the wave.
• (+) Very useful when sweeping early waves.
  • You can just TP onto the largest invader and this can reduce the number of Ataras Laser bursts needed to sweep the whole wave by 1.
  • Possible to use against Sparrows in early waves, but this is difficult since you need to go very near to Sparrows, and they can be all over the field.
  • Being able to eliminate 1 or 2 Sparrows when a wave starts means that it can be a bit easier to sweep the whole field with the Ataras Laser.

Fun Factor: S- [++]

• (+) Fun to deal great AoE damage against Ravens on field.
• (-) Pretty stressful to speedrun with this apex because target switching between heavily damaged shielded Ravens is very difficult without leaking damage from the powerful Ataras Laser.
• (+) Very cool aesthetic design.

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Zhetass

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

Ship Class: Double Defence
+

Main Weapon: Flux Array

• Average DPS = 31.25
• Weapon Class = Uninterruptible Burst
• Reload Time = Slow
• Single forward firing laser
  • Also has 2 spike structures at the sides of the ship which deal damage when on top of invaders (not able to be shown)
    

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

• (+) Phalanx is used primarily as a movement tool in order to allow Zhetass to move sideways to switch targets.
  • This can be a difficult task if you are not familiar with how to use Phalanx.
  • To do this, use diagonal shovels, then retreat back downfield at roughly the same speed as the bullets coming for you.
  • Be careful of boomerangs as you retreat downfield.
• (+) The same goes with PS, it can also be used to move sideways, in the absence of lasers in the wave.
• Phalanx should always be up whenever possible. This allows you to quickly extract yourself from the corner whenever threatened by too many bullets.
• (+) On top of the 31.25 DPS, the 4 spike structures, 2 on the left, 2 on the right, also deal 6.25 DPS at ult level. (The damage increases for each main weapon upgrade.)
  • To make use of this damage from the spikes, the spikes must be directly on top of an invader.
  • This makes it extremely difficult to make use of this extra damage and thus Zhetass DPS is still 31.25 DPS "with a bit of bonus at very specific times".
• (+) However, these spikes can be used against Sparrows that spill out continuous dart streams since it can be difficult to use the rather thin forward firing laser to eliminate these Sparrows.

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

• (+) Powerful Flux Array. Be sure to optimize it well.
  • The primary means of optimization is through the use of Phalanx to allow you to switch between targets effectively.
• (+) For even more optimization, if the next wave does not have useful results when using PS for laser reflect, you can use PS at the start of the wave to pace the Flux Array such that when the wave fully arrives, the Flux Array is ready to go.
• (+) Because Phalanx allows you to push forward, it can be very useful to push forward when faced with multiple laser spreads to maximize the laser catch rate and thus the laser reflection damage.
  • After the laser reflection is done, you can use PS Phase Out to go back downfield again.
• (+) Between bursts of Flux Array, you can use Zhetass' spikes to deal some extra damage to Eagles or larger since the downtime is quite long.
  • Don't risk killing yourself with it since the DPS of the spikes are very low anyway.
  • Against Sparrows, there's no point to use the spikes unless they are heavily damaged, being visibly on fire.
    • It's usually better to just finish them off with another burst of the Flux Array.
• It's a good idea to have Phalanx up at almost all times so that it's much easier to change targets.
• When faced under both laser and bullet fire, ensure to shovel to get rid of the Phalanx before the lasers fire so that you will not waste PS laser reflection damage.
• (+) The spikes can be used against invaders who are stripped of their shields and have not been hit by the Flux Array in some time, to prevent their shields from regenerating.
• Obviously, learning how to sweep with the Flux Array is important to optimizing speed for Zhetass.

Fun Factor: B

• (+) Good mobility provided by Phalanx.
• (-) Difficult to use Flux Array since visual or audio cues are not obvious on when the next burst is going to go off.
• (=) Average impact sounds from Flux Array.
• (+) It's kind of fun to use the spikes to eliminate Sparrows
  • This eliminates annoyance from dart streamer Sparrows.
• (-) Otherwise, Zhetass is a pretty unimpressive ship.
• (+) Pretty intuitive ship core positioning.

Trivia

• The base form and apexes of Zhetass were designed by Romano Molenaar.
• Zhetass was only introduced into Phoenix 2 at v5.0.
• Zhetass is slightly asymmetrical. Some of the blue (technically, light sea green) and green-cyan parts of Zhetass aren't mirrored.
• Before Zhetass was released in v5.0, a few teasers were released by the devs in Discord.
  
• Zhetass is the only ship that has a close combat / melee weapon in the form of its spikes which can deal minor damage to invaders.

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Apexes

Gamma (PS Supersize) - ¢15.000

Value: A
Cost vs Utility: S

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

• (+) Clears a bit more bullets with the Phase Out from the bigger PS.
• (+) Protects the Phalanx entirely in the case more shoveling can be still done after lasers fire.
  • Allows the full health of Phalanx to be always utilized properly.

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

• (+) Better laser coverage for possibly a bit more laser reflection damage.
• (+) Allows PS to always deal the full laser reflection damage back to invaders instead of worrying about Phalanx blocking off the lasers.
• (+) Protecting the currently deployed Phalanx allow for better mobility of Zhetass to continue optimizing its Flux Array after exiting PS, ensuring that Phalanx supply is enough.

Fun Factor: B+ [+]

• (+) No more awkwardness in deciding whether or not to deploy Phalanx in fear that you will not be able to deal laser reflection damage from PS.

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Beta (PS Focus) - ¢10.000

Value: B
Cost vs Utility: S

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

• (+) Huge increase to defence against invader lasers, since it is easy to reflect off bursts after bursts of lasers without using Phalanx to cover yourself.
  • This is especially so when Phalanx is weak to lasers and break easily.
• (+) Helps a lot in Shuriken/Pellet/Laser missions, since Phalanx can now be dedicated to eliminating bullets instead of trying to also protect against lasers.
• (+) Of course, allows you to use PS Phase Out more often in other missions where it is not too laser heavy.

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

• (+) Potentially more laser reflection damage on very laser heavy waves.
• (=) Since the first round of laser reflection damage will deal a lot of damage already, it's usually faster to just use the powerful Flux Array to finish off the wave after that.

Fun Factor: B [No significant change]

• (+) Can almost always reflect invader laser fire, which is always a sight to behold.

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Neni

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

Ship Class: Full Offence (FO)
+

Main Weapon: Photon Bolt

• Average DPS = 31.25
• Weapon Class = Uninterruptible Burst
• Rate of Fire = Very Fast
• Projectile Speed = Very Fast
• Reload Time = Medium
• 6 very thin, forward firing, projectiles that follow behind each other very closely
  

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

• (-) Very little defences, with only VL riding is your reliable defensive option, and ML is not a reliable way to get out of sticky situations for its long charge time.
• (+) VL riding is a very important skill for Neni, since it is an excellent last minute defence. Learn to use it well to escape a cluster of bullet mess headed your way. This solves many barricade issues and can cut through small shuriken clouds.
• (-) Difficult to use Photon Bolt, given it is very thin and the projectiles move very fast.
• (=) It takes 2 bursts of the Photon Bolt to take down a turret on a Vulture.
  • Due to how thin the Photon Bolt is, and how Neni does not have defences to keep it aligned to the turret, this can be difficult.
  • It is also possible to use 1 burst of the Photon Bolt and 1 VL to take down a turret if you need to get rid of a dangerous turret very quickly.
• (-) Chasing down Sparrows is very difficult, and Sparrows with lasers can be a huge problem.
  • Get rid of them with VL if required.

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

• (+) A versatile speedrunning ship with VL as AoE damage and ML as single target damage.
• (-) The Photon Bolt is considered weak and should be considered more as a supporting damage instead.
  • One burst of the Photon Bolt kills an armored Raven just nice.
  • One burst of the Photon Bolt coupled with one VL kills an Armored Heron. Of course, two bursts of the Photon Bolt also kills an Armored Heron.
• (-) The Photon Bolt particularly struggles against Sparrows since only 1 or 2 Sparrows can be eliminated per burst.
  • The RNG movement of Sparrows also make taking Sparrows down extremely difficult, making speedrunning early waves a ton of RNG.
• Fake charging ML here and there, in short durations (maybe at max around 1s), will be necessary to pace the Photon Bolt.
• Once the line of fire defined by Neni's Photon Bolt appears, you can start charging ML for the next wave if you are intending to use that burst of Photon Bolt to finish off the last invader on field.
  
  • Stay downfield when you fire off the last burst of Photon Bolt since it travels very fast.
• The line of fire defined by Neni just before it fires one burst of the Photon Bolt can be used to line up your VL shots, although it's kind of difficult to see it.
• Because the Photon Bolt is weak, it is often a good idea to throw a VL in the same column as the Photon Bolt, so long that column doesn't have a Raven or Sparrow at the very front.
• If you wish to charge a second ML for the wave (after the initial ML when the wave arrives), it's a good idea to wait a little longer to observe the purple line produced by Neni before charging ML since once that begins, one burst of the Photon Bolt will then fire even as ML charges.

Fun Factor: A-

• (-) Difficult to use Photon Bolt. The quick, compacted and fast bursts make it difficult to aim down Sparrows.
  
  • So yes, Sparrow hunting is not fun. At all.
• (+) Using VL to pierce through multiple invaders is fun.
• (+) Decent Photon Bolt impact sounds, they sound like they hit hard.
• (=) Average ship core positioning.

Trivia

• The base form and apexes of Neni were designed by Romano Molenaar.
• Neni was only introduced into Phoenix 2 at v5.0.
• Neni is one of the only few ships that has mechanical moving parts.
• Neni's main weapon, Photon Bolt, used to be one of the most unwieldy main weapons in the game, like Icarus since the burst duration is so short, yet the time between bursts is as long as Icarus. The firing rate of Neni was doubled in v5.2 (the number of projectiles in a single burst is split between the 2 new shorter bursts) and feels like a more normal ship to handle now.

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Apexes

Epsilon (VL Twin Lance) - ¢25.000

Value: A+
Cost vs Utility: A

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

• (+) Increased clearance space provided by the wider VL allows for easier VL riding.

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

• (+) Catches even more Sparrows when using VLs against them.
  • This means less chasing down of the remaining Sparrows on field, particularly on earlier Acts, making earlier Acts faster.
• (+) Also easier to catch more Ravens with a single VL.

Fun Factor: A [+]

• (+) Much less frustration in dealing against Sparrows since the wider VL has better chances of catching Sparrows in its wake.

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Delta (ML Armor Piercing) - ¢20.000

Value: A-
Cost vs Utility: S

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

• (+) Eliminates invaders a bit faster.

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

• (+) The thin spread and fast firing nature of the Photon Bolt makes it difficult for Neni to setup ML properly for the next wave to aim at the cockpit of invaders.
  • Thus, this apex negates the need for proper positioning.

Fun Factor: A- [No change]

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Xavis

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

Ship Class: Balanced
+

Main Weapon: Turbo Pods

• Average DPS = 31.25
• Spread = Very Narrow
• Weapon Class = 2 successive Uninterruptible Bursts
• Rate of Fire = Fast
• Projectile Speed = Fast
• Reload Time = Medium
• 2 alternating sets of 7 projectiles fired in a forward and zig-zag fashion
  

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

• (-) All of Xavis' damage mechanisms are strictly forward firing.
  • This makes it difficult to deal damage to invaders to the left and right of Xavis if not done quickly.
• (+) FL clears out a few Ravens at the start of the wave.
• (-) The rest of it is left to the Turbo Pods and IC.
• (+) IC does a decent job to stun some downfield invaders.
  • Meanwhile, the wave isn't front heavy, FL can punch a hole at one side to allow you to access some of the more upfield invaders.
  • Ravens still surviving after an FL, behind of a Vulture can pose a problem since it's difficult to go up there due to the limited space.
• After using FL, quickly go to work to stun the downfield invaders.
  • Then stun the other invaders behind them where possible.
• (=) The Turbo Pods are slightly difficult to use.
  • Use each side of the Turbo Pods to focus down on 2 turret of a Vulture, Condor or Roc.
  • Each side of the Turbo Pods has a slight spread, which makes turret popping difficult unless you go closer to these larger invaders.
• (-) Pretty difficult to stun upfield larger invaders.
  • You need to get rid of the smaller ones in front otherwise you won't get back your ICs to continue stunning the larger invader.
  • The smaller invaders in front may also make going back downfield harder, or even have turrets that can hit you from below.
  • This also means that it's hard to not have dangerous turrets on larger invaders not fire.

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

• (+) Use FL as frequently as possible. On most dense waves and sufficiently heavy waves, it is possible to use FL twice that wave, since the Turbo Pods and IC aren't particularly powerful anyway.
• Use IC against bunched up Ravens and Sparrows.
  • Especially Sparrows where possible, as the Turbo Pods' spread as well as left-right alternating nature make it hard to shoot down Sparrows.
• Allocating one side of the Turbo Pods for one Raven, and the other side for another Raven is not a bad idea so that you don't have to think too much about the left-right alternating nature of the Turbo Pods.

Fun Factor: B-

• (+) FL is quite fun to use.
• (-) Pretty difficult to use Turbo Pods.
  • The spread of each side of the Turbo Pods make it difficult to land shots from far away.
  • The left-right alternating nature of the Turbo Pods, as well as the horizontal distance between them can make it a bit confusing to use.
• (+) The Turbo Pods look like fireworks, and sound quite much like fireworks too.
• (-) Quite easy to get cornered due to the fact Xavis can't deal damage sideways.
• (=) Average ship core positioning.

Trivia

• The base form and apexes of Xavis were designed by Romano Molenaar.
• Xavis was only introduced into Phoenix 2 at v5.0.
• In the v6.2 update, the engine effects for Xavis were re-worked along with the UI update.

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Apexes

Alpha (IC Overcharge) - ¢5.000

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: B- [No change]

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Gamma (IC Blast Amplifier) - ¢15.000

Value: B
Cost vs Utility: A

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

• (+) Deals much better against denser waves, including Ravens and Sparrows.

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

• (+) Destroys denser waves significantly faster.
• (+) Destroys more Sparrows more easily with increased blast range of IC.
• (+) A bit faster against larger invaders such as Herons and Eagles too.

Fun Factor: B [+]

• (+) Much more responsive IC damage.

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Claymore

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

Ship Class: Close Combat
+

Main Weapon: Mirawave Cannons

• Average DPS = 25
• Homing = Perfect
• Weapon Class = Uninterruptible Burst
• Projectile Speed = Medium
• Reload Time = Medium
• 2 sets of 5 homing projectiles from each side of the ship
  

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

• (+) The automatic aiming of the Mirawave Cannons mean Claymore can be quite stress free most of the time.
• (+) TP gives it extreme flexibility to keep moving around.
• (+) Claymore is a ship that allows you to move around freely easily, especially with TP that allows you to just jump away from dangerous situations.
• (+) Really effective against Ravens. TP right in front of a Raven, then throw a GM right into their face and POOF, it is gone.
  • No need to worry about the Ravens counter attacking.
  • That being said, of course, don't TP right in front of them if dart launchers/spreads are firing.
  • Try to find a Raven to TP to where you can simply extract yourself rather than using a second TP to get yourself out, as this will put strain on TP.
• (+) Therefore, use GMs at close range where possible, using TP, since throwing them wildly at the start of a wave is a gamble in getting good results.
• (-) Not able to pop turret easily with the Mirawave Cannons.
  • However, TP allows you to get in close range of turrets to have a high chance to pop them off.
  • Don't use GMs to pop off turrets even though they do have an impact damage that can deal damage directly to the turret.
• Other than that, it's better to stay downfield to allow dodging space.
• You can also circle around invaders or stay upfield if you feel more comfortable up there, especially in laser heavy missions.
• You may find yourself TP-ing a few times in a wave especially when it is a heavy wave, so be careful of the build-up of charge time.

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

• (+) Go right on top of invaders and throw GM right into their face.
  • If you can, try not to use TP because charging TP actually wastes time.
    • This usually applies for throwing GMs right into the face of invaders who are more downfield, generally below the centerline of the field.
  • If you need to cross very quickly with quite a lot of bullets, especially bullets blocking your way, then yes, stress TP would be the best way to get around.
  • Blasting GMs right into the faces of invaders is the crux of going fast with Claymore.
• The Mirawave Cannons are just supporting damage, and being automatic aiming, there's no need to care about them, focus on landing GMs correctly.
• It's a good idea to land GMs on Herons and Eagles since the Mirawave Cannons will kill Herons after a GM is fired.
• On denser waves with mostly Ravens, try to instead pre-fire GMs so that they land on Ravens at the center and two sides of the field so they get taken out with just GMs, and save the Mirawave Cannons for the cleanup.
• The Mirawave Cannons take a slight bit of time to charge up, and the travel speed isn't that fast, so when the game first starts at 1-1, it may not be advantageous to engage touch straight away.
• Against upfield Ravens, especially behind a Vulture, just TP in and hit them with the GMs.
  • It's usually better to just TP to one side, then TP to the other side due to how closely packed they all are and a huge risk of being shot blank.
• (-) However, the weak DPS of the Mirawave Cannons put Claymore down a bit in terms of speed.
• (-) Since invader movement can be quite random, there can be a bit of speedrunning inconsistencies from catching a few more invaders or not.

Fun Factor: S

• (+) Easy to handle Mirawave Cannons. Just let them do their own thing.
• (+) Very free to move ship. Go wherever you want easily with automatic aiming of the Mirawave Cannons and TP.
• (+) You can also get "serious" and TP right into the thick of the action to blast GMs.
• (+) Landing these GMs correctly vaporizes Ravens quickly, which is very satisfying.
• (=) Average impact sounds from the Mirawave Cannons.
• (=) Average ship core positioning.

Trivia

• Claymore was only introduced into Phoenix 2 at v5.0.
• Claymore was based off a ship design by a young fan (slightly older than 5 years old) of Phoenix 2. He also sent a scanned version of a handwritten note to the devs. The drawing was then made into the actual ship by Rogier van de Beek, one of the designers who also designed many other ships and apexes. The GIF below shows the final ship super-imposed on the original drawing:
  

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Apexes

Lambda (GM Disintegrator Warhead) - ¢30.000

Value: S
Cost vs Utility: S

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

• (+) Significantly increases viability in Shuriken/MIRV missions.
• (+) Particularly useful against Caged MIRVs.
• (+) Perfect for close combat encounters, TP in without the worry of dying.
  • Just don't TP in when the dart launchers/spreads are firing because you will still die by getting into point blank range.
• (+) Wipes out boomerangs, MIRVs, pellets (including those released by MIRVs) and other slower bullets with lethal efficiency.
• (+) Able to use TP to launch GM precisely to hit at the correct timing, which makes the timing of bullet clearance more precise and predictable.

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

• (+) Allows you to do significantly more risky TP-ing to launch GMs.
• (+) Allows you in some cases to not use another TP, and instead just quickly move over to the other side to fire another GM as the Disintegrator Warhead eliminates the bullet wall for you.
• (+) Severely enhances the close combat style of Claymore by making it significantly safer to do so.

Fun Factor: S+ [+]

• (+) Love to blast GMs in the invader's face? This apex makes it so much easier to do that without much risk of dying.
• (+) Satisfying bullet clear from GMs.

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Delta (TP Extended Clearance) - ¢20.000

Value: B-
Cost vs Utility: B

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

• (+) Allows you to TP slightly further away from invaders when going in for the kill with TP-ing in to launch GMs.
• (+) Allows for better viability in Shuriken/MIRV missions.

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

Fun Factor: S [No change]

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Starless

Strong against: Shuriken/Pellet/Laser
Weak against: None in particular

Ship Class: Safer-FO
+

Main Weapon: Plasma Blasters

• Average DPS = 31.25
• Weapon Class = Uninterruptible Burst
• Rate of Fire = Fast
• Projectile Speed = Very Fast
• Reload Time = Slow
• 4 consecutive sets containing 5 sets (arranged in a upward chevron pattern) of 2 side-by-side projectiles
  

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

• (+) REMP gives Starless a fair bit of survivability from its ability to clear a sizable area of bullets.
• (+) The Plasma Blasters are great for turret popping.
  • One full burst pops off one turret on a Vulture.
  • The burst is fast traveling as well, so aiming is hardly an issue.
• (-) Difficult to aim the Plasma Blasters.
  • A burst of Plasma Blasters travels so fast.
  • it is very difficult to catch invaders spaced apart even slightly horizontally.
• Starless is a special case where you don't use REMP at the start of the wave.
  • This is because using it at the start of the wave to damage Ravens will likely cause their shield to regenerate anyway since the bursts of Starless have some cooldown time.
  • You can't chase down all the Ravens on field with such these fast moving bursts of the Plasma Blasters. At most, you can only catch 2 Ravens per burst.
• (=) The above point makes using REMP more defensively more common with Starless.
• (+) Since the Plasma Blasters and GMs are forward firing mechanisms, REMP can be used as a navigation tool when you are done dealing damage on one side of the field.
  • Since a lot of damage is concentrated to the front with GMs and the Plasma Blasters, you can move forward as you kill off one column of invaders, then charge REMP so that you can successfully move over to another column more easily, and also deal damage on the way.

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

• (+) The combination of AoE damage from both GM and REMP makes Starless pretty fast.
• (-) Bad synergy between all of the Plasma Blasters, GM and REMP.
  • GM is a very slow acting offense, because GM moves so slowly
  • Meanwhile, both REMP and the Plasma Blasters are fast acting offences because they either act quickly or travel very fast.
• (-) The problem is that, after releasing an REMP, a burst of the Plasma Blasters goes off immediately.
  • This means trying to aim the Plasma Blasters is pretty much impossible due to how short and fast the Plasma Blasters are. The Plasma Blasters will eliminate the invaders in front of you too quickly.
  • You also don't have a chance to fire GMs since most of the invaders in front of you are gone.
• The solution to speedrunning with Starless is unconventional.
  • Allow the Plasma Blasters to hit the largest invader on field first.
  • While the Plasma Blasters are going off, aim the GMs at the respective areas you wish to have it hit.
  • Finally, at the end of it all, charge REMP at the center of the field.
  • This solution applies for either dense waves or heavier waves.
    • If the wave is dense, just do your best to sweep the Plasma Blasters across.
• This solution is unfortunately the most optimal, but has several drawbacks.
  • Aiming GMs is difficult.
    • It is inevitable that there will be competing damage means between the Plasma Blasters and GM.
  • By the time REMP goes into action, which is after one burst of the Plasma Blasters, many invaders, especially Ravens, will be either gone or significantly weakened to the point REMP will have overkill damage.
• (+) There is one advantage, which is allowing you to setup a cleaner field for the next wave since REMP is used later.
• In a formation of 3 Ravens, use one GM on one Raven, then use the Plasma Blasters to clean up the other 2 Ravens.
• For waves with a Heron or Eagle and only Sparrows, use the Plasma Blasters to damage the larger invader, then fire off REMP to kill the Sparrows.
  • If there are Ravens in the action, use a GM to clear out one of them, and use the Plasma Blasters to clear out the other Raven(s) after charging REMP.

Fun Factor: A-

• The awkwardness of the main, Aura and Zen can make this ship pretty frustrating to play, particularly when it comes to GM usage. After releasing an REMP, the main immediately goes off, which destroys everything in front of you quite a fair amount of the time. Instinctively, however, after releasing REMP because GM is also only most useful at the start of the wave, you will want to dispose of them quickly. Unfortunately this makes the GMs completely miss because everything in front of you is gone.
• However, in very dense and/or heavy waves, there will still be invaders in front of you even after the main goes off (which happens after an REMP), and in these cases, GM will still hit something most of the time. This means such waves will get thinned out very quickly.

Trivia

• The base form and apexes of Starless were designed by Romano Molenaar.
• Starless was only introduced into Phoenix 2 at v5.0.
• Starless was one of only 2 ships that only had one apex when it was first released. The Sigma Apex was only available at v5.0.
• The Epsilon Apex was subsequently introduced at v5.0.1.
• Starless 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 Epsilon Apex features one huge thruster instead of 3 smaller thrusters. The Sigma Apex and the base form have the same thruster location/configuration.
• Starless Epsilon is featured in the newest game preview video of Phoenix 2.

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Apexes

Sigma (REMP High Damage) - ¢35.000

Value: A
Cost vs Utility: B

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

• (+) Kills Shielded Herons significantly faster.
• (+) Helps in wiping out a few more Ravens in the second burst of Plasma Blasters after exiting REMP (since the first burst goes off immediately after exiting REMP).
• (+) Wipes out Unprotected Ravens clean off the field.
  • Thus, viable in Unprotected missions as well.

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

• (+) Just deals more AoE damage in general across all invaders.
• (-) Doesn't change the fact that 2 more GMs (without additional damage from the Plasma Blasters) is still required to take out a Shielded Heron after being damaged by REMP.
• (-) Due to the speed of the Plasma Blasters, a few Ravens may still regenerate their shields.
  
  • You need to sweep all Ravens within 3 bursts of the Plasma Blasters after you exit REMP to make full use of this apex ability, and to not allow Ravens to regenerate their shields.
  • If the Ravens are all upfield, the benefit of this apex is hugely reduced unless there are more than 4 Ravens
    • Realistically, a sweep of the Plasma Blasters will affect at best 3 Ravens on one side of the field.
• (+) A lot more useful in Unprotected missions since GM + High Damage REMP combo can go really fast, especially when you no longer have Unprotected Ravens to deal with.
  • Use GMs on Herons and Eagles, while directing the Plasma Blasters on Vultures or larger.
  • Thus, charge REMP so that the Plasma Blasters will be unleashed on Vultures or larger after exiting REMP if possible.
    • Otherwise, the Plasma Blasters can be unleashed on Eagles.

Fun Factor: A+ [+]

• (+) Makes wiping out shielded Ravens easier only if there are a lot of them.
• (+) Great apex to take out on Unprotected missions since GM + High Damage REMP combo can really wreck Unprotected missions.

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Epsilon (GM High Capacity) - ¢25.000

Value: B-
Cost vs Utility: A

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

• (+) Useful in heavier waves such as 4 Eagle formations where separation of the Eagles are quite likely.
  • You can thus stockpile GMs and then quickly kill or weaken the Eagles significantly.
  • With 6 separate forms of AoE damage (5 from GM, 1 from REMP), you are pretty much guaranteed to wipe a heavy wave of many Eagles.

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

Fun Factor: A- [No change]

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Kibarrax

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

Ship Class: Blitzkrieg
+

Main Weapon: Umomu Lasers

• Average DPS = 31.25
• Weapon Class = Interruptible Burst
• Reload Time = Very Slow
• 2 forward firing lasers which are spaced far apart
  

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

• (-) Absolutely no forms of defence.
• (-) The Umomu Lasers are horizontally spaced far apart, which makes turret popping very difficult, even on a Vulture.
  • A full burst of the Umomu Lasers will pop off 2 turrets on one side of the Vulture when aimed correctly though.
  • Very difficult to aim correctly with no defences to keep it in place.
• (+) Surprisingly, this horizontally spaced distance of the Umomu Lasers is perfect to reach 2 difficult-to-reach turrets on a Roc.
  • However, it takes more than 1 burst of the Umomu Laser to pop them off.
  • It's just more efficient to barrel MS into the 2 difficult-to-reach turrets to pop them off.

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

• (+) MB vaporizes all Unprotected Ravens immediately.
  • And also Unprotected Herons, if MBc can be landed on them.
  • However, it is usually less possible to land MBc on Herons due to how some MB charge times get pretty long.
• One of the hardest part to master about Kibarrax is it's interruptible Umomu Lasers.
  • Used to maximum effect, the Umomu Lasers mean a load of difference since the cooldown period of the Umomu Lasers is very long, almost 2s long.
• The basics is to use MS to finish off the wave if you intend to charge MB for the next wave.
  • Don't use MS barreling if you intend to do this.
  • Of course, if you don't intend to charge MB for the next wave, MS barreling can work well, just make sure you can kill off the wave.
• In early waves, in Acts 1 - 2, you want to use the Umomu Lasers such that it is JUST enough to kill off wave 2 or wave 4. There are many techniques that can be involved here.
  • You want to try to use just enough Umomu Lasers to kill off the invaders.
    • Delay the Umomu Lasers between wave transitions by fake charging MB.
  • You want to make sure the Umomu Lasers is always hitting something.
  • Always try to fire MS in every wave where possible as well.
  • Be very careful of your particle uptake in these early waves.
    • Sometimes, you want to retreat more downfield and use less MS
    • You'll need to sacrifice MS needing to have some travel time to the invaders so that the next wave can have more MS to take it out with one burst of the Umomu Lasers and MS.
    • Make sure to target all invaders on field. To do this while not taking up too much particles, when the wave fully arrives, from the midfield, quickly go upfield very briefly to lock on to all invaders to fire MS.
  • If there is only one invader in that wave, such as a Heron or an Eagle, you want to MS barrel on it to kill it instantly and only waste a very small bit of Umomu Lasers to do that.
    • This particularly happens in wave 4 a lot. If this is the case, you want to drain the full burst of Umomu Lasers in wave 3 instead.
  • Sometimes, in wave 4, a huge part of the burst is still available, which is way more than enough to kill that wave 4. In that case, don't fake charge MB and allow some of the burst to be wasted so that you can start charging MB for the next Act more quickly.
• From Act 3 onwards, always make sure to drain a full burst of Umomu Lasers before charging MB. Fake charge MB if you need to between waves.
• Always make sure the Umomu Lasers are hitting something because 31.25 DPS is still quite a lot.
  • Land both Umomu Lasers on a Heron, or one of each Umomu Lasers on each Raven.
    • This is of course for waves that you don't intend to use MB on, since Ravens don't exist after an MB.
• As a general guide, a wave with anything more than or equal to 3 Herons, or 2 Eagles is a good wave to use MB and land MBc on 2 Herons/Eagles, or anything larger such as Vultures.
  • A wave with just 2 Eagles may or may not be a good idea to charge MB. This really depends on the next few waves.
• As another general guide, if you need anything more than 2 MS (doesn't need to be full size, just 2 MS) to finish off the wave, it is a sign to use MB for that wave.
• Sometimes, it is better than just land MB on the Vulture or Condor instead of landing it on Herons (that are together with a bunch of Ravens alongside) because it might be too risky, given the chance of turret collision.
• It is essential to also have great estimation to the point where you can drain the full burst of Umomu Lasers, and use the remaining MS to kill off a Condor or a Roc, so that you can land MBc at the correct place in the next wave (if applicable).
  • Use MS barreling to get rid of difficult-to-reach turrets on Condors and Rocs.
  • Use the nicely spaced apart Umomu Lasers to destroy the other 2 difficult-to-reach turrets.
  • Use the Umomu Lasers to get rid of any other 2 turrets where necessary, then standby to fire off MS and charge MB.
• It is not always advantageous to land MBc on Condors and Rocs if you are overfilling on particles too much.
  • Instead, charge more downfield to conserve particles since MS damage will likely outweigh the MBc damage.
• It is likely that if the welcoming party for a Roc contains dart launchers/spreads, you have no choice but to charge one MB to get rid of the invaders with these turrets.
  • Remember that T2 dart launchers are not of a threat when charging MB.
  • It is always recommended to charge MBc on the Roc where possible, so try to drain your MS on the previous wave.
  • In some cases, even though the welcoming party has dart launchers/spreads, if the interval is long enough and just right, you can dodge a burst or 2 from the darts and still land MBc on the Roc.
    • It is still recommended to wipe out the welcoming party only when the Roc fully arrives, as you will see later when using MS.
  • Otherwise, try your best to leave charging MB to wipe out the welcoming party just as the Roc fully arrives, so that you won't be overfilling on particles.
  • If you are able to land MBc on the Roc, using particles from the previous wave, barrel MS into the Roc.
  • Then with the particles from the destroyed invaders of the welcoming party, barrel MS again.
  • Reserve the third MS to finish off the Roc so that you can charge MB early for the next wave, if applicable.
• (+) Landing MBc on an Unprotected Vulture, using a full burst of Umomu Lasers, and firing off a full size MS kills it instantly.
  • Killing it instantly may not always be the best idea, sometimes you want to drain the full burst, go above or below the Vulture, fire off MS and charge MB.
  • However, if the Vulture has fast turrets, especially when it comes to MIRV Bloomers or pellet spinners (wall), then it is better to eliminate them instantly.
  • In this regard, it is even worth to charge MB for a wave that has only a single Vulture because of how deadly fast this combination is. Make sure you have a full Aura of MS.

Fun Factor: S

• (+) Hyper fast obliteration of invaders with Kibarrax is extremely fun.
• (+) MB blows Unprotected Ravens back to the void where they belong.
• (-) Pretty frustrating Umomu Lasers. The interruptible burst nature of the Umomu Lasers, as well as the pretty long duration of each burst make it difficult to exhaust a full burst of Kibarrax.
  • It is not uncommon to let go and charge MB, just to come out of MB and realize just a tiny fraction of the burst is remaining, which causes much frustration.
  • This simply takes a lot, a lot of practice with Kibarrax to get a full feel of knowing when you can let go to charge MB so you won't be faced with the above scenario.
• (-) The 2 Umomu Lasers being spaced very far apart makes aiming at smaller invaders difficult, especially against Ravens and Sparrows.
• (+) Great impact sounds from Umomu Lasers, which sounds like juicy crab meat oozing out. (WARNING! This hidden text might sound a little gross)
• (=) Average ship core positioning.

Trivia

• The base form and apexes of Kibarrax were designed by Romano Molenaar.
• Kibarrax was only introduced into Phoenix 2 at v5.0.
• Kibarrax is VERY SLIGHTLY asymmetrical. If you zoom in to the left and right sides of the ventilator holes beside the Umomu Lasers themselves, you can see that they are slightly different, the right side being a bit more distorted.
• Kibarrax is frequently referred to as Crab in Phoenix 2 communities since it looks like one, particularly the Lambda Apex.
• According to the dev, Kibarrax's Umomu lasers are of Amaterasu laser type, which means color on black.
• Before Kibarrax was released, there were some teasers on the Discord by the devs.
  
• Kibarrax is one of the 4 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 Epsilon Apex duplicates the middle thrusters of the base form into 2, just side-by-side, while bringing the other 2 thrusters closer to the middle 2 thrusters, but in an angled down fashion. The Lambda Apex similarly duplicates the middle thrusters of the base form, side-by-side, but brings the other thrusters on each side just right next to the middle 2 thrusters but horizontally all aligned.
• Kibarrax is amongst the most expensive Commonship to fully ult and get both its apexes, coming in at ¢64.800 (¢500 for buying Kibarrax, ¢9,300 for fully upgrading, ¢25,000 for the Epsilon Apex & ¢30,000 for the Lambda Apex), assuming you buy everything with your own credits (including buying to unlock the ship itself).
• Kibarrax's Umomu Lasers changed from an uninterruptible burst to an interruptible burst in the v5.5 update. It reduced the power of Kibarrax as the long main burst was one of the reasons it was almost undefeated.
• Kibarrax is the only ship that has an interruptible laser beam burst.

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Apexes

Epsilon (MB Extended Range) - ¢25.000

Value: S-
Cost vs Utility: B

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

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

• (+) Adds an extra layer of reliability when charging MB at unusual spots on the field, such as being upfield or being at one extreme side of the field, so that you can catch all the Ravens and Sparrows properly.

Fun Factor: S [No change]

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Lambda (MS Armor Piercing) - ¢30.000

Value: X
Cost vs Utility: X

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

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

• (+) AP MS is able to kill armored invaders significantly faster than normal MS on Unprotected invaders.
  • Even though MB won't be able to kill armored Ravens without MBc, a brief sweep from the Umomu Lasers (you may not need to exhaust the full burst) will do the job.
  • Otherwise, a small usable size of MS will also do well to eliminate them.
• (+) AP MS is so powerful that the Umomu Lasers are nothing more than just supporting damage just to supplement AP MS to eliminate the wave of invaders.
  • Still, definitely aim one side of the Umomu Lasers at the cockpit of Vultures, Condors and Rocs where possible.
  • This reduces the amount of MS Aura needed so the next wave is able to use more MS, which can make all the difference in not needing to wait for the cooldown time of the Umomu Lasers, or wasting a bit of time to get more MS Aura.
  • It may be hard to aim one of the Umomu Lasers on the Roc's cockpit because sometimes you need to get rid of some of the Roc's turrets in order be able to charge MB for the next wave (if applicable).
• (+) Like Unprotected Vultures, the combination of MBc on Vulture, a full burst of Umomu Lasers (one of them should be hitting the cockpit of the Vulture) and almost a full size of MS will kill the Armored Vulture instantly.
• Because the Umomu Lasers are HI, which are likely to suffer armor damage reduction, you will need to carefully plan and optimize the full burst of Umomu Lasers, especially on waves of later Acts.
  • Like Kibarrax on Unprotected missions, make sure you are always hitting something with the Umomu Lasers.
  • Use AP MS to finish off the job on the current wave so that you can charge MB on the next. Retreat all the way upfield if you have to.

Fun Factor: X [++]

• (+) Opens up new viability in Armored missions.
• (+) Crushes Armored invaders brutally with extreme speed.
• (+) Literally looks like a crab. So hail the crab rave!
  
  (Sorry, i couldn't resist)

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Banshee

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

Ship Class: Blitzkrieg
+

Main Weapon: Stormbringer

• Average DPS = 25
• Homing = Good
• Weapon Class = Interruptible Burst
• Rate of Fire = Medium
• Projectile Speed = Slow
• Reload Time = Slow
• 18 homing missiles that moves in sine waves
  

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

• (-) No defence at all.
• (-) Low DPS of the Stormbringer as well.
• (-) GMs are hard to aim, and with such low DPS, it's easy to get overwhelmed even in the end wave of a previous wave, so firing GMs very downfield may be quite common.
• (-) Very difficult to pop turrets with Banshee since it is automatic aiming.
  • It takes a slight while after the missiles of the Stormbringer are emitted to enable their homing capabilities.
  • The Stormbringer targets both cockpit of invaders and turrets.
  • There are 2 spawn points of the Stormbringer.
  • The projectiles of the Stormbringer goes out at 45° to each side, and has a curvy path.
  • By going near enough to turrets, the Stormbringer will shoot out to the turret, which can pop it off.
  • If you are too far from the invader, the Stormbringer might target the cockpit instead, which you should try to avoid.
• (-) The imperfect aiming of the Stormbringer does make it miss Sparrows occasionally.
• (+) The automatic aiming of the Stormbringer means you can circle around invaders where necessary.
• (+) FL is able to pop off a turret on a Vulture once the shield is downed.
  • Given that GM does well to deal against dense crowds, FL can be re-directed to popping off turrets.

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

• (+) Despite the low DPS of the Stormbringer, that really isn't the main point of Banshee. The double AoE damage of Banshee can be quite devastating.
• To alleviate the slightly wonky nature of the Stormbringer, you should go near to Herons to down their shields, before you use a GM to wipe it out.
• If the wave is dense enough, throw 2 or 3 GMs at one side of the field, and then quickly head over to the other side of the field and charge FL.
  • The combo will wreck Ravens on both sides and leave none or very few remaining. It even wrecks Sparrows due to the blast of GMs.
  • The Stormbringer will hopefully get rid of the Sparrows on the side you used FL one.
• If there are Eagles in the wave, then use GMs to get rid of the smaller invaders first (using Stormbringer to try and bring down the shields of Herons first), then use FL to weaken the Eagles after their shields are downed.
• Always aim GMs first, before charging FL.
• If GMs and one burst of the Stormbringer can kill the entire wave, then there's no point to charge FL since it wastes time and is also subject to RNG.
  • In early waves from Act 1 - 2, you should definitely use FL to eliminate 1 or 2 Ravens where possible.
  • However, do ensure that when you go into the next wave, you have at least 1 or 2 GMs on hand to repeat this cycle of using GMs first.
• One burst of the Stormbringer on a Shielded Vulture brings down its shield.
  • You can then use FL against the Vulture to pop off its turret.

Fun Factor: A+

• (+) Lots of AoE damage with Banshee from both GMs and FL.
• (+) The two means of AoE damage doesn't compete with each other due to how slow they are, so it's quite easy to allocate them properly.
• (-) You can miss GMs with Banshee frequently since it's hard to fire GMs near to invaders if you aren't speedrunning.
• (+) Very quick obliteration of invaders with GMs and FLs.
• (+) After the initial burst firing GMs and FL, the rest is pretty stress free since the Stormbringer is auto aiming.
• (-) Frustrating Stormbringer since it's very difficult to understand what it is aiming at, and difficult to control it.
• (=) Average Stormbringer impact sounds.
• (=) Average ship core positioning.

Trivia

• The base form and apexes of Banshee were designed by Romano Molenaar.
• Banshee was only introduced into Phoenix 2 at v5.0.
• Banshee is one of the only ships whose main weapon's name is only one word, where most main weapon names are two words.
• The Phi Apex of Banshee, being one of the most popular apexes, is commonly referred to Phishee in Phoenix 2 communities.
• Banshee was one of only 2 ships that only had one apex when it was first released. The Phi Apex was only available at v5.0.
• The Sigma Apex was subsequently introduced at v5.0.1.

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Apexes

Sigma (FL Expert Focus) - ¢35.000

Value: A
Cost vs Utility: A

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

• (+) Being able to fire FL more frequently allows you to pop off 2 turrets from a Vulture instead of just 1.
  • Also useful against Condors and Rocs since you can pop off more turrets effectively.

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

• (+) Allows FL to be fired after slightly more than 1 full burst of the Stormbringer.
• Remember that the charging time of FL is slightly reduced with this apex, so you have to adjust a bit on the timing to pre-charge FL.
• (-) By the time the GMs and the first FL has been exhausted, there's not much to use FL on anymore.
• (+) Fire off one FL on heavy waves at close range to catch 1 or 2 Ravens, then use GMs against the other Ravens and Herons.
  • If there are no Ravens but only Herons, then down the shield of the Heron, then use FL to kill it.
  • Then use a second FL on the Eagles after their shield is downed.
  • This can potentially save one GM.
• (+) Useful against waves with lots of Eagles, especially 4 or more.
• (+) Able to use 2 FLs against a Vulture, so slightly faster.
  • Obviously, a lot more for Condors and Rocs.

Fun Factor: A+ [No significant change]

• (+) Fun to spam more FLs.

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Phi (GM Disintegrator Warhead) - ¢45.000

Value: S
Cost vs Utility: A

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

• (+) Allows Banshee to survive bullet hell significantly better.
• (+) GMs can be used as defence, firing them off one at a time in missions with only bullets to ensure sufficient dodging space.
  • Not too difficult to aim GMs sporadically with the clearance space provided.
• (+) Particularly useful against Caged MIRVs.

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

• (+) Significantly easier to sweep the field with GMs, since the bullet clearance from GMs allow you to much more easily hop over to more Ravens or Herons to throw GMs at.
  • Due to the amount of GMs being thrown on field, and thus, the amount of bullet clearance, it is easy to keep the field clear of bullets from these smaller Ravens or Herons.
• (+) Particularly, against Herons, since it is ideal to use the Stormbringer to down the shield first, it is inevitable that some bullets will start to appear on field, making moving around the field to throw GMs difficult.
  • This apex alleviates that and allows for some leniency in taking a bit more time to strip Herons' shields.
  • Still, be careful of being shot at point blank range by Herons that have dart turrets, because even GM's bullet clearance can't save you from darts at point blank range.

Fun Factor: S- [++]

• (+) Much easier to play Banshee in missions with only bullets.
• (+) Satisfying bullet clear from GMs, and given the speed of Banshee, keeping up this bullet clearance is maangeable.

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Zimitr

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

Ship Class: Balanced
+

Main Weapon: Arurus Satellites

• Average DPS = 25
• Target Tracking = Instant
• Weapon Class = 8 Independent Uninterruptible Bursts
  
  • (Invader Triggered - Independent)
• Reload Time = Slow
• 8 independent laser beams
  

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

• (+) Has very balanced offensive and defensive capabilities from both SEMP and REMP.
• (+) The offensive aspect can wipe dense waves fairly quickly.
• (-) Impossible to control where the Arurus Satellites are targeting, which means very difficult to pop off turrets.
• (+) Use SEMP to clear out Sparrows so that the Arurus Satellites can target Ravens and above.
  • In the presence of Caged MIRVs, use SEMP on waves with less Sparrows.
    • Use SEMP at the moment the wave fully arrives so that the pattern of pellets released by Caged MIRVs are more predictable.
  • Use REMP to start waves with more Sparrows so that you have less to dodge.
    • This covers up for SEMP's weakness in such situations with a heavy presence of Caged MIRVs.
• The SB nature of the Arurus Satellites mean that you should try to strip invaders of their shields first before releasing REMP.
• After firing SEMP at the start of the wave, circle around the field to strip invaders of their shields as much as possible.
• Don't release REMP at the very end of the stun duration, since you still need time to collect particles to fire off another SEMP.
  • Only make a very quick roundabout around the invaders to let about one round of the Arurus Satellites to go off and then release the REMP.
• (-) Because the SEMP + REMP combo cannot eliminate Shielded Ravens, many Ravens on field mean that it is easy for several Ravens to re-generate their shields.
  • There will be some conflict of damage means between the Arurus Satellites and REMP.
• There is a way to try and alleviate the problem where SEMP + REMP cannot eliminate Shielded Ravens.
  • Try to finish off a wave by being downfield.
  • With a full size SEMP, start the next wave from as downfield as possible to be able to reach all invaders.
  • Fire the SEMP, then head upfield and collect particles from the previous wave.
  • Fire off the SEMP once it is big enough to eliminate as many Ravens as possible.
    • If it can't be big enough, at least collect all the blue particles, and try to collect as many green particles at the center of the field as possible.
  • This may still result in some Ravens still being around since the SEMP may not be big enough.
  • Of course, some of the Arurus Satellites will also activate and do nothing since the target Ravens have been already destroyed.

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

• (+) SEMP + REMP can make Zimitr quite fast.
• (-) The weak Arurus Satellites limits Zimitr's maximum potential.
• (-) You need to slightly pre-charge REMP against early waves of Sparrows only in order to prevent the Arurus Satellites from triggering.
  • This is tough, charge too late and the Arurus Satellites will trigger, wasting precious time in early waves.
  • Charge too early, and the REMP does no damage.
• (-) Very difficult to control the Arurus Satellites.
  • You'll need to go on top of invaders in order to reliably down the shields of larger invaders such as Eagles and Herons before you fire off an REMP to deal the most effective damage.
  • Use SEMP to stun all invaders at the start of the wave, then go on top of invaders to strip off their shields much more safely.
  • Try to go on top of a larger invader such as a Heron or Eagle, or not be near to Ravens since you don't want to target Ravens with the Arurus Satellites.
  • Be very careful of turret collision.
  • Once the shields of Herons and Eagles are downed, charge REMP near these larger invaders.
    • Remember to do this before the Ravens' shields re-generate.
    • By going near to larger invaders, you reduce the chances of the Arurus Satellites targeting the Ravens after exiting REMP.
  • Then, go over all the Ravens and eliminate them.

Fun Factor: B+

• (+) The SEMP + REMP combo is very fun to pull off since they complement with each other due to the fact they each do not deal a lot of AoE damage, and their added AoE damage is almost just enough to destroy Ravens.
• However, it is ALMOST just enough to destroy Shielded Ravens, which means they still survive, and because it can be difficult to have the main target the many Ravens on screen, some of them often regenerate their shields which gets a little annoying.

Trivia

• The base form and apexes of Zimitr were designed by Romano Molenaar.
• Zimitr was only introduced into Phoenix 2 at v5.0.

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Apexes

Delta (SEMP High Damage) - ¢20.000

Value: A+
Cost vs Utility: A

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

• (+) Finally destroys Shielded Ravens with a full size SEMP + REMP, so no more problems from Ravens re-generating their shields.

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

• (+) Wipes out Sparrows more easily in early waves.
  • However, the Arurus Satellites are still likely to trigger, thus wasting some time to reload.
  • At least, you don't have to wait for them to trigger, as while they lock on fast, they don't fire very quickly.
• (+) The SEMP + REMP combination now wipes out Shielded Ravens, which are very useful so that you don't have to go around the field to finish off severely damaged Ravens.
• (+) The Arurus Satellites can fully focus on other larger invaders, so some of the Arurus Satellites will not activate and do nothing.

Fun Factor: A [++]

• (+) The capability to wipe out Shielded Ravens with the SEMP + REMP combination is extremely satisfying.
• (+) Much less frustration in dealing against the impossible to control Arurus Satellites, especially against Shielded Ravens.

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Epsilon (REMP Extended Range) - ¢25.000

Value: B+
Cost vs Utility: B

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

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

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

• (+) Able to stay in front/behind larger invaders such as Herons and Eagles such that the Arurus Satellites will hit them instead of the Ravens, yet the REMP is still able to damage the Ravens and Sparrows in front/behind them.
  • Doing this has the advantage of being able to camp there for a while, so that you can receive more particles for a second SEMP to wipe out the Shielded Ravens.

Fun Factor: B+ [No significant change]

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