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Pellets

The most common bullets with the most diverse threats.

There are 3 types of pellet turrets: ordinary turrets, bullet spinners, and pellet wall.

  • hank: Extremely simple energy (nope)

Tiers and Patterns - Pellet Fixed​

  • Tier 0 (Figure 1): Bullets will not be fired immediately. After a period of waiting, 3 consecutive bullets without gaps will be fired.
    • It looks like a Tier 1 dart but it's even weaker than tier 1.
  • Tier 1 (Figure 1): Immediately fire 5 consecutive bullets forward without gaps.
  • Tier 2 (Figure 2): Immediately fires a horizontal row of 5 bullets forward. Because it is not facing exactly forward, gaps may appear after very long flights.
  • Tier 3 (Figure 3): After a period of waiting, fire 3 rounds of fan-shaped bullets, divided into 7 lines.
  • Tier 4 (Figure 4): After a period of waiting, fire 5 rounds of fan-shaped bullets without gaps, divided into 9 lines.

Pellets are very generic bullets are there is generally no defensive Aura or Zen that is best against them. It depends on situation on what is the best defence.

For launchers, they appear as mostly harmless since the volume of pellets they produce is generally low. However, these quickly get annoying when mixed with other types of pellet turrets as pellet launchers are fired at random positions, and they can blend into pellet streams, making them very difficult to spot. They can be a common cause of death due to the fact they are easily masked. Be very observant for pellets, especially when wedging yourself inbetween bullet streams (whether pellets or darts). Prepare your defensive options such as BEMP or PD to eliminate these misaligned pellets if you get trapped, because it is a very real possibility. CF also helps to get yourself out but it is sometimes not reliable since such pellets from launchers can be everywhere. Otherwise, be prepared to dodge between very tight gaps, sometimes even between 2 pellets side by side (fired by a T2 pellet launcher).

In speedrunning, these pellet launchers are annoying and should be gotten rid of, particularly on Ravens or Herons. For Vultures and above, as they do not move much, they are generally not a threat and you should not destroy them.

In community missions, it will appear in its ancient form - Pellet Spreads. For pellet spreads, be very careful of how you approach them. Multiple pellet spread turrets mean that you must be very careful to enter any one of the more appropriate pockets defined by the pellet lanes since pellet lanes have no break in continuity until they stop firing. Generally, the pockets in the middle of the field are safer than pockets at the side of the field. However, this relies quite a bit on RNG as invaders may position themselves differently when they fire the pellet streams. Next, never assume pellet lanes are straight. They are nearly never so and even though the pellet lanes appear as though they are one straight line, more often than not, they are not perfectly straight. This means that charging MB or ML between waves is a big problem. Be sure to estimate that the end of the pellet stream will not hit your core before proceeding to charge MB or ML. You may wish to be careful about firing off an ult level BEMP as resetting pellet spreads will cause them to fire again immediately, particularly when the pellet spread turrets are in their cooldown state.

In speedrunning, pellet spreads are also a joy as they are easy to graze, particularly you can position yourself such that even more than 2 pellet lanes are able to graze by your core and you get tons of free aura. Do not destroy pellet spreads as it is usually not difficult to find a comfortable pocket to sit in.

Tiers and Patterns - Pellet Spinner​

  • Tier 1 (Figure 1): After a period of charging, multiple rounds of bullets are fired in all directions at a density of 20 bullets per round.
  • Tier 2 (Figure 2): After a period of charging, multiple rounds of bullets are fired in all directions at a density of 35 bullets per round.
  • Tier 3 (Figure 3): After a period of charging, multiple rounds of bullets are fired in all directions at a density of 50 bullets per round.
  • Tier 4 (Figure 4): After a period of charging, multiple rounds of bullets are fired in all directions at a density of 72 bullets per round. Unlike the first three Tiers, it spirals and fires bullets continuously in all directions.

For pellet spinners, you need to quickly find a small safe diamond spot inbetween 4 streams of pellets where you can hide in if you are unable to pop off one of the pellet turrets quickly enough for the spinners to flood the field. You usually must do this last minute and you must only move to this safe spot at the last minute otherwise other bullets will stack upon you which will reach your safe spot. A good idea is to very quickly swap sides of the field just as the pellet streams from pellet spinners are about to reach you. Again, never assume pellet streams are straight, particularly for T4 pellet spinners where the diamond spot is very small and tight, which means a high margin of error. Be careful when charging MB or ML once again, and ensure that the end of the pellet streams will not hit your core. As pellet streams from pellet spinners usually last quite long, be prepared to graze off the streams so that you can recharge your defensive Auras to deal with other bullets from other tracking turrets. Using a BEMP which can be accumulated from grazing pellet streams is a good idea to reset pellet spinners.

In speedrunning, T1 & T2 pellet spinners are generally quite safe and you should not destroy them. However, T3 & T4 pellet spinners produce such tightly clustered streams of pellets, that it is usually recommended you destroy one of them quickly before it gets to fire, unless you are capable enough to handle them, or have defensive options with you.

A good way to deal with the pellet spinners is inside graze. It is an efficient way to obtain energy while avoiding dodging a large number of dense bullets. When the bullet is fired, there is a certain distance between it and the muzzle, so we can cleverly use this dead space to graze the bullet. The specific position requires more practice to find. The key point is to find a delicate balance between the turret and the bullet.

Tiers and Patterns - Pellet Wall​

  • Tier 0 (Figure 1): After a short period of charging, build a wall consisting of 5 bullets at a time, and stack 10 groups of walls in a spiral.
  • Tier 1 (Figure 1): After a short period of charging, stack 2 walls consisting of 5 bullets at a time, and stack 16 groups of walls in a spiral.
  • Tier 2 (Figure 2): After a short period of charging, stack 3 walls consisting of 9~12 bullets each time, and stack 10 groups of walls in a spiral.
  • Tier 3 (Figure 3): After a short period of charging, stack 4 walls consisting of 16 bullets each time, and stack 10 groups of walls in a spiral.
  • Tier 4 (Figure 4): After a short period of charging, stack 5 walls consisting of 40 bullets each time, and stack 6 groups of walls in a spiral.

Pellet Wall is another form of spinner. The biggest difference between it and ordinary spinner is that the bullets are pushed towards you in a horizontal row at the same time. It can easily corner you when handled incorrectly or mixed with other bullets. If you don't have sufficient bullet-clearing skills, it's best to prioritize popping one or more Pellet Wall to avoid being stuck in a corner.

Corresponding to the threat is its huge gain. A row of bullets from the wall is a easy target to graze. Usually you just need to aim at one side of a wall and pull quickly to the other side to graze a lot of energy. Usually we choose from left to right because the walls are stacked counterclockwise. But you should also be careful not to neglect dodging bullets. The farther away you are, the wider the wall is, so it is best to graze and move very close to the wall. At this time, the gap between the walls is very large (especially for Tier 3 and 4 Pellet Wall) . When you are too far away, the bullets can easily line up and block the entire space in front of you.

A rarely known feature​

Maybe you have noticed that the T2 pellet wall is a bit different from other tiers, it is labelled as “9~12” bullets. In fact, it is not just the number of bullets that is different, but the shape of the wall is also different.

First, T1 and T3 pellet walls have some perfect features. Most of the time, the walls' patterns are regular, and the position of each wall is the same. This means that you can easily avoid the walls by standing in the gap between the walls, rather than wandering in between the maze. As shown in the figure below, the walls are clearly divided into two parts, and the threat level is relatively low.

But the T2 pellet wall is different, the difference of the bullet numbers may lead to a big change of the wall's pattern.

  • If the wall has 9 bullets, it will form a beautiful interval structure, and you can clearly see the channel in between the wall.
  • If the wall has 10 bullets, the wall will shift a bit at the second round, you need to twist a bit to avoid it.
  • If the wall has 11 bullets, there are already interlaced patterns for walls, you have to dodge one wall to survive.
  • If the wall has 12 bullets, the walls are completely interlaced, which means it's really hard to dodge.

In general, the vultures will be equipped with 2 same spinners. If it's a wall, make sure that you can pop one first, because the interlaced walls will easily block you.