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Auras and Zens Comparison

Too close to call. Which one suits me best?

On this page, we will be comparing some similar Auras and Zens and see how they fare against each other. Apexes are not considered in the baseline comparison, but will be mentioned if relevant. Some Auras and Zens are not included because they are too different from others, but feel free to submit your suggestions on what can be compared! Some comparisons are clear cut and don't need so much explanation and will be briefly touched on.

SEMP vs IC​

  • Score: 8.09 / 4.73

  • Comments: If it’s in older versions where IC hasn’t been nerfed, the two would be more comparable. Because SEMP works better in dense waves while IC works better with heavy waves, particularly against boss invaders which are Condors and Rocs. And in heavy waves, if a crowd of invaders got caught in IC’s radius, they would all be stunned nicely. But IC was nerfed so that a single shot cannot stun all turrets on an invader, making it unable to stun enough turrets even if it hits a crowd of invaders. Therefore, clear win for SEMP.

VL vs GM​

  • Score: 9.18 / 6.36

  • Comments: VL clearly wins. With Tungsten Warhead Apex that GM has, GM has a closer fighting chance with VL, although, still not quite as powerful as VL sweeps faster and eliminates most of the bullet problems that Tungsten Warhead Apex can’t solve at all.

VL vs FL

  • Score: 9.18 / 6.09

  • VL clearly wins, even with the Lance Wake Apex FL has.

BEMP vs PD

  • Score: 8.36 / 4.91

  1. Majority of time, the answer would be BEMP. Especially in the higher ranks, where bullet density is extremely high, BEMP will work better since it disregards how many bullets there are, so long they are in range of the Aura, they will be eliminated. However, PD performs adequately if the bullet density isn’t so high. Furthermore, PD doesn't deplete all in one go which allows you to still clear bullets even after using PD for a while. However, PD works much better against dense Sparrow waves which come equipped with MIRV Deathonators. This is because unless you have a Destructive Wave Apex, Sparrows will die one or few at a time, making it difficult to get rid of all their pellets at once.

  2. PD can also be better if you simply need to position yourself laterally slightly. BEMP is more of a panic button when there are just too many bullets on field and too much going on you need a break from it all. PD allows you to position yourself to one side without burning too much Aura, while BEMP can sometimes be an overkill and clear too much space where not necessary. When you need to move laterally again slightly, with PD you would still have enough Aura to move sideways, while with BEMP, bullets may now block your way.

  3. PD is usually better against faster bullets since they come in less quantities and PD will hold up longer against them. However, darts may still be very plentiful and BEMP may work better when faced with a massive dart barrage. Against boomerangs however, PD usually works much better. In General/Boomerang missions, waves that do not feature pellets or shurikens will see PD dominate over BEMP.

  4. PD also works better for speed-running, since it is not a one-time use, which can be used to continuously keep the part of the field around you clear of bullets by spam tapping PD (don't hold on to PD), allowing you to get closer to invaders to optimize your main (or use REMP) with less worry that you will run out of Aura to defend yourself. Most BEMP ships are more defensive while several PD ships are offensive ships.

  5. In higher ranks, BEMP works better than PD due to high bullet density, which overall eliminates more bullets than PD. For extremely desperate survivability where you are desperately grazing off bullets and forced to use the minimum Aura size, both BEMP and PD work well, although BEMP might be just marginally better with its slightly larger size.

  6. With the BEMP PD Apex that PD has, this makes PD far superior to BEMP, but only in MIRV/Shuriken missions, since the energy to bullet elimination/Aura consumption is way less than BEMP. In other missions, the rather slow acting nature and the small radius for each laser of BEMP PD makes PD quite difficult to use. Granted, it is likely you will never run out of Aura due to the slow Aura depletion rate, but it makes you more vulnerable to fast moving bullets, which is the same problem that BEMP has. A skilled user will be able to survive indefinitely against a bullet entourage by skillfully avoiding the faster bullets (although darts will be a huge problem since you have to dodge them, since BEMP PD won't help you eliminate them). Unfortunately, while it seems like BEMP PD is still great at surviving against bullets, it fails very badly against any form of laser fire, since the slow acting nature of BEMP PD makes strafing fast enough to even avoid slow tracking lasers or invaders moving about with spread lasers very difficult. In contrast, BEMP can usually clear enough space to strafe effectively enough to avoid laser fire.

BEMP vs Phalanx​

  • Score: 8.36 / 4.18

  1. BEMP will usually excel over Phalanx. However, Phalanx works well in waves with dense bullets. When you have BEMP, after using it once, you would run out of defensive options (unless you have a defensive Zen), and grazing bullets tightly will result in only a small radius to use in desperate bursts. This is usually not useful against faster bullets such as darts, where a small BEMP does almost nothing. In contrast, with Phalanx, you are able to effectively pull off 6 decently sized BEMPs, which holds you up for a longer duration to get rid of the heavy invaders in front. That being said, it is possible to conserve enough particles for a second decently sized BEMP to last you long enough. However, after using the second BEMP, you are on your own to dodge and graze tight, especially against boss invaders which are Condors and Rocs.

  2. Both Auras work well with long charging Zens such as ML and MB, since they both protect you long enough to charge Zens completely. With Phalanx however, you will likely need to sacrifice that one charge to do so. The same can be said for BEMP, where after using BEMP you would have no defenses left. That being said, it's usually not a problem for BEMP since particles would be available for you after charging such a Zen. Take note that both Auras will not always guarantee your safety depending on bullet speed (for both Auras), bullet density (for Phalanx) and clearance space (for both Auras).

Barrier vs Phalanx​

  • Score: 6.00 / 4.18
  • Comments: Barrier. Almost always. The only time where Phalanx might be better is against a bullet hell, where Barrier will only last once, while Phalanx can get you out of tight situations for up to 6 times. Unlike BEMP however, a small Barrier works wonders. The smallest Barrier will block off a large barrage of bullets, and even withstand against one burst of lasers under almost all circumstances. Even though it will start to fade almost immediately, it is this fading duration, or Phase Out duration, which will keep you protected for quite a while. Be sure to trap a few bullets from lanes so that you can continue to graze off them to try to get another Barrier up as soon as possible. Just take note unlike BEMP, it is much harder to get the minimum Aura size for Barrier compared to BEMP. Also be careful if you are under very heavy laser fire, as the Phase Out of Barrier may not last against the heavy laser barrage. In contrast, Phalanx in such situations can simply shovel away from that spot to strafe and avoid the heavy laser fire at the last minute. When faced with neat bullet lanes such as from darts or pellets, Barrier will still likely hold up from grazing and you can quickly deploy the minimum size, although Phalanx will likely do a better job. However, against a mess of bullets such as shurikens and pellets from MIRVs or MIRV Deathonators, Barrier is very unlikely to save you, where Phalanx can. That being said, an upfield Barrier allows you to have sufficient time to get rid of frontline invaders before it fades and you run out of the spare barrier you have at hand. Lastly, both are weak against DD weapons so it's not really worth mentioning. However, it is easier to control your Phalanx and not have it be in range of a DD weapon compared to Barrier.

MS vs LS​

  • Score: 9.09 / 5.45

  1. There's no contest that MS is way better than LS. MS deals more damage than LS and deals its damage in a much shorter time, which also implies a less likelihood of particle overflow. In contrast, LS is extremely likely to result in particle overflow, which wastes particles. There are a few small LS advantages over MS, but it mainly lies in the fact that you can see LS as a low-skill MS：

    1. No need to worry about initial targeting for LS. Release early and forget. In fact, release before the next wave even arrives

    2. MS requires lock-on duration which may be small, but sometimes significant when you are dodging bullets. - About lock-on, differences in lock-on speed differs from invader to invader: Sparrows lock on faster than Vultures. Sometimes this can mean a difference between locking on to upfield invaders.

    3. Turret priority targeting: LS eliminates turrets, MS usually doesn't, MS is generally just pure damage.

    The last point in particular, is what makes LS possibly better in very heavy waves, such as Vulture or Condor front waves, or waves with a Roc in it. It makes survivability easier. However, such scenarios are usually rare. For Vulture front waves, killing the Vulture faster is still generally a better idea than eliminating its turrets, but for ships with low main DPS and without an offensive Zen, LS may be beneficial.

  2. So, what's the point of LS anyway? According to the dev EL:

info

In concept, MS is more like a 'need-it-right-now' damage burst weapon, the speed of the missiles and their homing behavior determine how good it is at that. Then there are other factors that influence how much of that total damage you will effectively have. Missiles hit the wrong target (that might be in their path), they hit targets simultaneously (that might not need that many missiles) and the missiles themselves deal damage in chunks (that might be more than the target needs to be destroyed). Please re-read these factors to make sure they are super clear, because these are what make this ability.

LS is more like an ‘I-need-some-help-clearing-this-and-recovering’ ability, it increases your total damage output for a relatively long time. The lasers deal a fixed rate of damage during their entire lifetime. How long it lasts and how the damage is distributed mainly determines how good this ability is. Sure, higher DPS per beam is always better, but that just creates imbalance. The distribution is important because it helps a lot if LS clears the small enemies and turrets, removing as much threat as possible and freeing up new energy to pick up. The maximum duration is the way it is because it is feasible to gather 100 Energy during that time and activate a new LS when the current one is done.

These are aspects the MS cannot do well. Sure, it can target turrets, but not hit them reliably and for smaller enemies, same thing.

For both these abilities you can see that Ultimate and Apex abilities are generally designed to emphasize their unique aspects and abilities. Some are meant to break the rules a bit. These abilities are not the same and never will be.

BEMP vs REMP​

  • Score: 8.36 / 9.09

  1. Both abilities clear bullets, however, their usage is quite different. Particularly, REMP is meant to be used as a wave opener, dealing as much AoE damage as possible. In contrast, BEMP's first usage only comes when you are sufficiently threatened. Aside from the first usage in a wave, both abilities play a similar role as the wave progresses.

  2. In this comparison, we will discuss about waves that are at least heavy or dense since REMP won't be used more than once (as a wave opener) otherwise, which makes REMP more of an offensive ability instead of a defensive ability that BEMP is, which makes the comparison inappropriate. In a heavy and/or dense wave, the way to use BEMP is still very straightforward, just use it whenever threatened. However, for REMP, there are 2 ways to go about it. In a heavy wave, for the purpose of survival, it is generally better to reserve REMP purely as defense, since the overall AoE damage on few invaders won't do very much. In such cases, it is possible to use REMP twice defensively. In contrast, BEMP has a huge radius with an added advantage of being able to reset deadly spinners and lasers. This is a huge plus point which REMP does not have. As the wave drags on however, you will usually only be able to pull off smaller BEMPs which usually aren't sufficient to clear a huge space or reset turrets. However, with the ability to graze for Aura, BEMP will usually work pretty well against dart or bullet lanes. On the other hand, REMP will work better against slower moving bullets such as shurikens. It is also better against boomerangs than BEMP is, since the clearance range is decent enough to eliminate quite a few boomerangs. However, REMP doesn't usually eliminate all of them, which still requires you to dodge a fair bit, but it's still much better than BEMP which can't really do anything at this point.

  3. However, with the Destructive Wave Apex, BEMP becomes much better than REMP since its much wider AoE damage range, even though the damage is only up to 10, is much better than REMP's smaller AoE damage range. While some waves may only have most of the invaders in a range small enough for REMP to cover, the quick refilling nature of BEMP, especially after BEMP gains damage capabilities, make BEMP able to deal additional damage to deal more damage overall.

  4. The Extended Range Apex for REMP makes it much more on par with BEMP, since the second REMP in a wave can clear out a lot more space than tiny BEMPs, relieving much more space. This makes REMP on par with BEMP when faced with bullet lanes (since BEMP has the capability to graze for Aura).

MB vs REMP​

  • Score: 9.18 / 9.09

  1. Both Zens have some form of AoE damage, although REMP does have a smaller range with smaller AoE damage. However, MB has absolutely no form of bullet clearance (disregarding MBc BEMP). In Daily missions, the high presence of dense waves usually makes MB better since it's mostly about killing fast before the wave overwhelms you. Therefore, MB’s effect really boils down to how heavy the wave is, as MB will fail against heavier waves, where it doesn't change much how the same amounts of bullets will still come your way whether or not you charge MB. Another problem of MB is how slow it takes to charge, which usually makes charging MB confined nearer to the bottom of the screen. On the other hand, REMP is pretty much able to be charged anywhere on screen. This raises the issue of dealing AoE damage upfield. For MB, despite it being quite far reaching, it may be unable to take out annoying Sparrows or damage Ravens located far upfield. In contrast, REMP usually has no problems doing that.

  2. Another problem with MB lies in how long it takes to charge. The significant 2s of charge time compared to REMP's 0.6s makes charging MB during difficult wave transitions almost impossible, particularly when dealing with leftover darts, pellets, MIRVs, and sometimes even boomerangs (which can be difficult to trace all their paths in the next 2s). This makes REMP actually still usable in such transitions, while charging MB almost impossible, which means REMP has the potential to still deal some AoE damage (although not much due to inappropriate positioning). REMP can also be used more often than MB. However, that being said, the second REMP in a wave is usually used defensively, and the amount of AoE damage is very small, if not none.

  3. MB is better against dense waves, while REMP is more balanced and performs equally well against both dense as well as heavy waves. The Extended Range Apex for MB helps out in the issue of dealing AoE damage upfield, but doesn't completely solve it. That being said, it makes MB slightly more viable compared to REMP. The Extended Range Apex for REMP helps out in its bullet clearing aspect, making it even better as a tool of survival compared to no defense provided by MB. However, it doesn't help much to compete against MB's damage aspect. Separately, it helps slightly when wave transitions get tough, a characteristic which MB doesn't really have.

  4. With the MBc BEMP Apex for MB, it doesn't really change much since the MB Apex doesn't help very much. The long charging time for MB also means that whatever is being cleared is likely not very desirable (since you won't really know what bullets will reach that small MBc region in 2 whole seconds, which is a long time) and the small MBc area isn't very big to consider the bullet clearance even significant. However, with the High Damage REMP Apex, REMP is clearly much better than MB since it deals the same amount of AoE damage in much shorter time. The radius of REMP is generally also enough to cover all if not most of the invader crowd. The significantly shorter charging time of REMP allows it to be charged anywhere (especially if you are skilled enough), unlike MB, which makes charging wherever you want very difficult except in rare circumstances, which almost guarantees maximum coverage, usually covering all you need.

  5. With the Compressed Blast Apex for MB against the High Damage REMP Apex, High Damage REMP works better in Unprotected missions since Ravens get obliterated anyway. MBc is able to destroy Unprotected Herons either way, which makes Compressed Blast not too useful, especially when MB takes significantly longer to charge. However, in other invader affinities, Compressed Blast usually works better since it completely obliterates any affinity of Ravens (and Ravens being extremely common in dense waves) and severely damages Herons, compared to High Damage REMP which not only does not completely eliminate Ravens, but does not deal as much damage to Herons. The heavily damaged Ravens still require either an Aura or your main to destroy them, which wastes time. Compressed Blast will also work much better against a crowd of Herons and Eagles.

ML vs Nightfury​

  • Score: 7.55 / 6.45

  1. ML is almost always the clear winner. It is significantly much more abusable and can be used with a higher frequency compared to Nightfury. The Nightfury suffers from a very long charge time of 2.3s compared to ML's 1.9s. The 0.4s is significant and can mean all the difference in a dart or boomerang hitting you. In heavy and dense waves, it is even possible to pull off 2 MLs in that wave while you never see that happening with the Nightfury. In fact, it may sometimes be not possible to pull off a Nightfury at the start of a medium (or above) wave due to the long charge time and faster bullets compared to ML, where it is almost usually possible to do so. However, Nightfury is better than ML in one mission type, MIRV/Shuriken missions. In these missions, bullets move so slowly that 0.4s is not very significant. The number of times Nightfury can be abused is generally about once a heavy and/or dense wave, and can be used in medium waves if the next wave does not call for a Nightfury to be used. In the heaviest and densest wave, Nightfury can be abused up to 3 times (not recommended). Even though overall, the damage output provided by Nightfury compared to ML may pale slightly due to the fact ML can be abused twice in a heavy wave, the main selling point which makes Nightfury more effective than ML is the defense it provides, particularly, the bullet clearance. The very huge bullet clearance space provided by Nightfury clears out enormous amounts of MIRVs and shurikens, much more than ML. On the other hand, ML's bullet clearance only serves as a way for you to ride up the ML to collect the particles from destroyed invaders.

  2. The enormous condensed damage in a Nightfury of 300 is also almost always guaranteed to clear out all invaders on the side of the field you fire the Nightfury, provided there isn't a Vulture or above. Even with a Vulture, it is likely the Nightfury will pop off the turrets on the Vulture (and even 2 of the Condor's side turrets). This is very important in MIRV/Shuriken missions since remaining invaders on one side on the field will still continue to pump in MIRVs from MIRV Launchers, which will still cause the entire field to be flooded with MIRVs. Nightfury eliminates that problem, while for ML, it really depends on how heavy or dense the wave is, as well as relying on RNG to hit some Ravens on that side you fire ML on. ML doesn't guarantee your safety on that side of the field you fire ML, while Nightfury will. Pulling off a second ML incurs another 2.4s which adds up to 4.3s to almost guarantee clearing off that side of the field, compared to using just 2.3s (or say up to 3s from incomplete cooldown) by using Nightfury. And again, RNG comes into play whether you will clear off all the Ravens, or miss one or two of them. In addition, the rapid movement of invaders can cause ML to be less optimal than intended, especially when the wave is dense but not heavy. This may cause Ravens to dodge your ML and waste some damage. On the other hand, Nightfury doesn't care, so long you don't charge it in a corner and cause some of the beam width to be close to or beyond the edge of the playable field, you are sure to hit anything in front of you. You can say Nightfury never misses, so long you don't charge it at such a bad position, while ML is subject to RNG and can miss even though you think you charge it at the right position, due to the fact the charging time allows invaders to shift around.