Daily Missions

A comprehensive list of every mission type.

This page provides you with Technical Details & General Approach to each Mission Type, detailed Mission Rewards, strategies for each Daily Mission Type

Notice: The mission debriefing for all 3 types of missions, Daily, Community and Specialist, will only come at the fastest, 15 minutes after the mission reset time.

Since the editor himself doesn't like the community missions, you can visit this page to get a full view of community missions, including the currently active communities as well as their refresh time of community missions.

Briefing

The configurations of daily missions are more and more ridiculous nowadays. For instance, Doomsday MIRVs may appear in Laser Spam missions (a mixture of both pellet and laser MIRVs, in mission type 6), and all Ravens in MIRV Spam missions may be equipped with level 2 MIRV launchers.

There are a total of 10 ranks (excluding Rookie), each containing three missions of different difficulties. The mission difficulties for each color are in the order of DCB, CBA and BAS. The highest rank, Marshal, works similarly except the difficulties are SS, SSS and SSSS. If you failed to clear any one of the three missions, you will be demoted to the lower rank. Some players choose not to go to Marshal, because the difficulty bump from Commander to Marshal is huge, hence, it’s a wise choice. When you clear all three missions in your current rank, you will be promoted to the next rank.

The icons for ranks are shown below:

The ranks, from left to right, are Cadet, Ensign, Sergeant, Ace, Lieutenant, Captain, Colonel, Major, Commander and Marshal

Bronze ranks include Cadet, Ensign and Sergeant, Silver ranks include Ace, Lieutenant and Captain and Gold ranks include Colonel, Major and Commander. Marshal is classified separately.

Daily leaderboards are split for Bronze and Silver ranks (from Cadet to Captain), which means that you can only place on any one of the many leaderboards (no one knows how many). For ranks Colonel and above (Gold ranks), there is only one leaderboard.

You will not be eligible for promotion or demotion if you did not attempt any of the three daily missions that day. You are considered to have not attempted the mission if you did not kill a single invader in the mission. This means you can start the mission, but opt to quit before any invader in wave 1-1 dies. This technique is sometimes useful if you know the mission for that day is too difficult for you. Thus, you may choose to not attempt it afterwards.

Daily missions reset at exactly 12am GMT+0 / UTC+0 every day. You are rewarded with 10 credits for every wave you cleared. The rewarded credits per wave are same for all ranks.

The daily missions follow a very specific 20-day cycle, which includes 8 different types of missions. This can have very important implications since you might want to know the difficulty of the next mission. The exact order is shown in a table in the next section.

Unfortunately, you can no longer distinguish different mission types through mission intel. For example, if the icon for MIRVs appears, the mission can be either MIRV Spam or Bullet Hellspawn (since darts don’t have their dedicated mission intel icon). You have to play the mission to know its type.

Invader Weaponry Notes are notes which are specific to the mission type that differentiate it from other missions in terms of invader turret layouts. In the strategies for each mission type below, if an Aura or Zen is not mentioned, it means it is neutral against that mission type, which means it works fine but it has no particular advantage or disadvantage which caters to that mission type.

Please note that there are reasons why some ships are repeated in multiple sections, while others get less mention. For example, a ship/Apex in the speed-running section may not always make it over to the fun section because while it does go fast, it may be frustratingly hard to actually do so. A final note on this, despite my best efforts to put ships and Apexes carefully into each section, I may accidentally omit a few ships/Apexes and mis-classify a few because there are simply too many ships and Apexes. You are free to contact me and dispute it. I will assure you that I will look into your feedback with careful consideration.

This guide will only go into the mission types without considering the affinities in the strategies explained below. However, the recommended set of ships that can be used will still be included.

Overview of Mission Types

In total, there are 8 common mission types (mostly named by myself):

1. Mixed turrets (MT): The most comprehensive mission type. It has nearly all types of turrets, including tracking darts, (speed) lasers, boomerangs, shurikens, spinners, MIRV Bloomers, and so on. This mission type has 2 variations. Type A: pellet MIRVs + normal lasers + all other bullet types. Type B: laser MIRVs + speed lasers + all other bullet types. The hell Dovacoon whom we love is such missions with caged MIRVs.

2. Bullet Boomerang (BB): The mission type that requires skills. It has tracking darts, boomerangs, shurikens, spinners and MIRV Bloomers. Note that lasers are not present in this mission type, which means that all MIRVs are pellet MIRVs, increasing the difficulty of dodging.

3. Bullet Laser (BL): This mission type is not very hard. It features plenty of lasers (a few speed lasers) and tracking darts. MIRVs are laser MIRVs. Since the field is mixed with lasers and darts, you should be careful to not get blocked.

4. MIRV Spam (MS): This mission type requires your skills and patience. Nearly all turrets are MIRV launchers and Bloomers. Doomsday Bombs, Doomsday MIRVs and max-level shuriken launchers (patterned) are also included. MIRVs are pellet MIRVs. This mission type has 2 variations. Type A: Level 1 MIRV launchers + shuriken launchers (forward scattering), without Doomsday weaponry. Type B: Level 2 MIRV launchers + shuriken launchers (patterned) + Doomsday weaponry. It is recommended that you use ships with bullet clearing capabilities, unless you intentionally want to develop consistent dodging skills.

5. Laser Spam (LS): A joyful mission type with relatively low difficulty. Nearly all turrets are laser turrets. Note that speed lasers are not present in this mission type, but MIRV Bloomers and shurikens may still appear. MIRVs are laser MIRVs. Due to the possible presence of Doomsday MIRVs, you should be careful when the field is mixed with both laser and pellet MIRVs.

6. Laser Maze (LM): An annoying mission type. Almost all turrets are either regular laser turrets or speed laser turrets. Occasionally, boomerang launchers and spinners appear. MIRVs are laser MIRVs. Due to the heavy mix of regular and speed laser turrets, lasers don’t fire in sync, therefore speed-running ships and ships/Apexes with laser reflecting capabilities are both great countermeasures.

7. Bullet Hellspawn (BH): A variant of MIRV Spam. It made its first appearance in daily mission 2818-S2. This mission type only features turrets that fire pellets, darts and pellet MIRVs (without boomerangs or shurikens). Therefore, various types of dart turrets, (wall) spinners and MIRV Bloomers will appear. It is recommended that you use ships with bullet clearing capabilities

8. Boomerang Spam (BR): A mission type beyond expression. Nearly all turrets are boomerang turrets. Dart turrets don’t appear. Shuriken launchers and MIRV launchers may appear sometimes. MIRVs are pellet MIRVs. You have to be familiar with boomerangs when facing with such missions.

Sparrows with caged MIRVs may appear in all mission types mentioned above, so be careful not to graze fiercely and die to prepare survival skills.

Tips: Weapon set A features older versions of turrets (such as darts, boomerangs, pellets and regular lasers), while weapon set B features newer turrets (such as speed lasers, patterned shurikens and Doomsday weaponry).

No.	Name	Pellet	Dart	Shuriken	Boomerang	Laser	Speed Laser	Bullet MIRV	Laser MIRV	DDB	DDL	DDMIRV
1A	Mixed Turrets	√	√	√	√	√
1B	Mixed Turrets	√	√	√	√	√	√			√	√
2	Bullet Boomerang	√	√	√	√			?
3	Bullet Laser	√	√	√		√	?				?
4A	MIRV Spam	√		√				√
4B	MIRV Spam	√		√				√		√		√
5	Laser Spam	√		√		√			√	?		?
6A	Laser Maze			√		√	?				√
6B	Laser Maze			√		√	√		√		√
7A	Bullet Hellspawn	√	√					√
7B	Bullet Hellspawn	√	√	√				√
8	Boomerang Spam	√		√	√			√		√

Mission Cycle (2023-09-14)

The remainder of the mission number divided by 20 corresponds to the number of the mission type. For example, for mission 2826, the remainder 6 corresponds to mission type 6. Missions feature Caged MIRVs are marked with bold font.

No.	SS	Affinity	Map	SSS	Affinity	Map	SSSS	Affinity	Map
1	4B-MIRV Spam	Hull	ZA	3-Bullet Laser	Armored	BS
2	2-Bullet Boomerang	Armored	Arc				4B-MIRV Spam	Armored	CM
3	1A-Mixed Turrets	Shielded	GP	5-Laser Spam	Hull	PA
4	1B-Mixed Turrets	Armored	DF				2-Bullet Boomerang	Armored	ZA
5	6A-Laser Maze	Armored	BS	2-Bullet Boomerang	Armored	Arc
6	7A-Bullet Hellspawn	Armored	CM				5-Laser Spam	Hull	BS
7	1A-Mixed Turrets	Shielded	GP	8-Boomerang Spam	Hull	DF
8	4A-MIRV Spam	Armored	Arc				1B-Mixed Turrets	Hull	DF
9	5-Laser Spam	Hull	ZA	1B-Mixed Turrets	Shielded	GP
10	1B-Mixed Turrets	Shielded	GP				5-Laser Spam	Armored	DF
11	5-Laser Spam	Armored	Arc	1B-Mixed Turrets	Armored	BS
12	2-Bullet Boomerang	Hull	ZA				1A-Mixed Turrets	Shielded	GP
13	1B-Mixed Turrets	Shielded	CM	4-MIRV Spam	Shielded	PA
14	4B-MIRV Spam	Hull	BS				4A-MIRV Spam	Armored	ZA
15	2-Bullet Boomerang	Armored	ZA	5-Laser Spam	Shielded	Arc
16	8-Boomerang Spam	Hull	DF				1B-Mixed Turrets	Shielded	PA
17	5-Laser Spam	Shielded	GP	1A-Mixed Turrets	Armored	ZA
18	1A-Mixed Turrets	Armored	ZA				6A-Laser Maze	Shielded	Arc
19	7A-Bullet Hellspawn	Shielded	Arc	3-Bullet Laser	Shielded	CM
20	3-Bullet Laser	Shielded	CM				7A-Bullet Hellspawn	Shielded	Arc

Mission Types

We will introduce each mission types. First we will give a debrief of each mission type, then we will give a detailed instructions on how to complete each mission. The difficulties are noted as: Easy, Medium, Hard, Very Hard.

1. Mixed Turrets

• Possible icons (A):

  

• Possible icons (B):

  

• Bullet Type: Pellets, Darts, Shurikens, Boomerangs, (Speed) Lasers, (Type B) Doomsdays

• Laser Density: Low

• Bullet Density: High

• Difficulty: Very Hard

• Brief Description: These missions feature all kinds of bullets except for laser MIRVs. Everything is thrown at you in plentiful quantities. Where MIRVs and boomerangs are more prevalent, the difficulty gets even harder. (Prepared to be bombarded behind when retreating into MIRVs or sometimes even offscreen boomerangs.)

This type of mission features pretty much every bullet imaginable, with extreme density, forcing you to dodge nimbly in tight spaces. Meanwhile, due to the presence of different laser turrets, you have to accurately predict safe spots， which is very demanding for both survival and speed-running ships.

Generally speaking, darts are often paired with shurikens, so it’s important to have an effective means of defense. BEMP or Phalanx shoveling allow you to clear large amounts of bullets. REMP can also be used to create safe spots. Sometimes, when confronted by MIRV launchers or Bloomers, you need to first make sure that you have a sufficient Aura size from energy gathered in the previous wave, then either eliminate the most dangerous turret, or create breathing space on one side of the field as soon as possible.

As a piece of advice, because of the presence of so many different types of turrets, you may want to quickly eliminate all turrets of one type. It is recommended that you destroy boomerang and laser turrets first, since darts and shurikens blocking your way are likely to draw all your attention, which makes dodging other fast bullets and lasers almost impossible. Meanwhile, smaller invaders from a dense wave should be quickly destroyed because they are good sources of energy particles. Alongside the destruction of their pesky turrets, the pressure from bullets is effectively relieved.

Speed-running is quite demanding in terms of your basic skills, because the assortment of almost every weapon in the game always causes a lot of trouble. No matter survival or speed-running, defensive abilities are a must. BEMP is a solid choice. However, you should use it with care, because speed laser and boomerang turrets will immediately fire after the reset. Therefore, sometimes medium-sized BEMPs are more effective than large ones. As for REMP, you need to use it pre-emptively instead of using it when invaders have already fired their shots, because the 0.4s charge time is enough for those fast bullets to hit you.

Barriers and Phalanx work quite well. Barriers are usually able to block off a burst of boomerangs, while Phalanx shoveling clears a whole mess of bullets in front of you. Both of which are fragile though, so you have to fully utilize their Phase Out times. Although PS provides invincibility, using it in waves featuring dense tracking darts is not recommended, because they fire constantly and you will have to face them eventually. If you are not using it to reflect lasers, blocking a burst of enemy fire (such as from spinners) or using it as an eraser, then PS shouldn’t be used frequently.

Dealing with Rocs in this mission can be a total nightmare, as many Rocs come equipped with ridiculous amount of boomerang turrets, all situated at the front row of the Roc. The back row can be equally deadly, featuring spinners, MIRV Spreads or Bloomers, or even Doomsday Weapons. If you do not come prepared with a defensive Aura or TP, the situation will become out of control very quickly. Priority would be to always eliminate certain types of turrets first, especially for ships with sources of burst damage such as VL or MS. You need to quickly figure out which type of turrets are the most dangerous, in order to destroy them as soon as the Roc hits the field, without the need of energy conservation. Eliminating all turrets on one side will relieve pressure by quite a lot.

2. Bullet Boomerang

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• Bullet Type: Pellets, Darts, Shurikens, Boomerangs

• Laser Density: None

• Bullet Density: Very High

• Difficulty: Hard

• Brief Description: Don’t underestimate this mission type, because even though only the icon for boomerangs shows up in the mission intel, other types of bullets also appear. Thankfully, MIRVs are not one of them. But the bad news is that rows of darts and shurikens bombard you continuously. It’s a fast-paced mission type with high bullet density, which is challenging for all types of ships.

Be prepared for all types of bullets when you play these missions. All enemy bullet combinations you can think of have a chance to appear, except for MIRVs. Therefore, your goal is to skillfully dodge all of those incoming bullets to clear the mission.

Similar to Bullet Buffet missions, turrets like shuriken or dart launchers are all high levels. Meanwhile, be careful of other high-level turrets such as wall spinners, as they always cause hindrance. Generally speaking, since these missions feature most types of bullets, darts as a single bullet type are not very dense. Therefore, despite a screen full of bullets, only about half of them are really threatening.

Not much advice can be provided for speed-running. Most of the time you will be using a speed-running ship with a defensive ability like REMP. Except for last minute defense when bullets surround you completely, you should be using it offensively. If you are using an FO ship, waves with heavy darts are likely to spell trouble. In order to deal with that, you have to memorize wave compositions to choose in advance which waves to charge Zens in, such as MB. If some waves feature very few dart turrets, you might want to destroy them first, then use an offensive Aura to clean up the remaining invaders while charging Zen for next wave earlier. Or, you can just simply use your Zen to damage them directly.

With the absence of lasers and MIRVs, you can choose from a variety of survival ships, because you only have to use your defense against impending bullets. Consequently, classic bullet clearing abilities such as BEMP, or indirect survival abilities such as SEMP all work quite well here. It is safe to say that as long as you are familiar with the ship of your choice, you have a good chance of clearing the mission. Obviously, ships with neither burst damage nor survival capabilities (KD doesn’t count as it only slows down time) are not recommended. There shortcoming lies in the fact that no matter the invader configuration, they have to withstand at least a whole round of enemy fire. Thus, impenetrable wall spinners mark their doom.

3. Bullet Laser

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• Bullet Type: Pellets, Darts, Shurikens, (Speed) Lasers

• Laser Density: Medium

• Bullet Density: High

• Difficulty: Medium

• Brief Description: Don’t be deceived by mission intel, as sometimes there’s only an icon for lasers, while the mission actually features darts and shurikens, both of which are too common to be included in the mission intel. Most lasers are regular lasers, with intermediate difficulty. Speed-running is recommended for players with some experience.

In fact, there are two variations, one with speed lasers and one without. Overall, it’s a rather straightforward mission type because it only features darts and lasers, mixed with some pellets.

If speed lasers don’t make appearance, then congratulations, as all invader firepower are patterned, including lasers which you have plenty of time to escape from. Generally speaking, such configuration of enemy weaponry is of intermediate difficulty for both survival and speed-running. For speed-runners, you only have to worry about the patterned darts, because most of the time, Ravens equipped with laser turrets can be destroyed quickly. When facing large invaders such as Condor, since they move very slowly, you can bait all lasers to one side and safely dodge darts on the other. Overall, energy particles are abundant and the difficulty isn’t high either, meaning that this mission type is suitable for MS and VL ship speed-runners to hone their skills.

If you are more of a survival player, back row laser turrets are your first priority. For ships with stun abilities such as SEMP or Ult BEMP, it’s usually better to first eliminate invaders with the biggest threat during the first round of stun. Threats are situation dependent, as sometimes it’s the back row raven crowd with laser turrets, while other times it might be Eagles with max level dart turrets. Other than that, the combination of lasers and bullets can be quite deadly, as most defensive Auras can’t handle both at the same time. This is where CF and PS shines, because they are effective against both types of enemy firepower.

The strategies above work fine for normal lasers, but what if the mission features speed lasers? Well, the situation becomes more complicated. As you may have experienced before, speed lasers’ firing is like someone shooting you in the back, taking you out without you even noticing. Isn’t it annoying?

Therefore, burst damage is hugely important. Wouldn't it be nice if you could wipe those dirty invaders all out at once? However, that’s easier said than done. Because in reality, you may be forced to cancel MB charging at the last minute, and MLs may not even have a chance to fire.

This is where REMP comes into play, as its charge time is even lower than the 1s charge time of speed lasers. A REMP paired with an offensive Aura decimates a small invader crowd. Barriers and Phalanx are useful too. Despite fragile, they create temporary safe spots to buy you enough time to charge high AoE damage Zens such as MB. TP doesn’t work quite well here, as the pace is very fast and you are likely to be hit during the time slow when you are busy picking arrival destinations.

For speed-running, since most fast ships are either FO or Offensive, safety should be your first concern. After that, the dangerous combination of darts and speed lasers means that you need to study the synergies between your ship’s main weapon, Aura and Zen thoroughly, in order to exploit its damage potential to quickly kill the invader with the highest threat. You might also want to charge Zens inside of invader crowds or up-field, to take advantage of the fact that speed lasers require lock-on to fire.

All in all, these missions are quite frustrating, as you have to constantly keep an eye on invaders’ attack pace. One last advice, if you unfortunately have to use a ship without burst damage, fighting from up-field to bottom sometimes works surprisingly well.

4. MIRV Spam

• Possible icons (A):

  

• Possible icons (B):

  

• Bullet Type: Pellets, Shurikens, Bullet MIRV

• Laser Density: None

• Bullet Density: Very High

• Difficulty: Hard

• Brief Description: MIRVs are littered everywhere in this mission type. Invaders fire MIRVs and Shurikens at the highest fire rate. While their attack pattern is simple, the slow traveling bullets can easily trap you in a corner. Ships with multiple means of defense are able to handle such missions quite well. However, in Specialist missions where ship choices are limited, it’s a different story.

In fact, this type of mission is rather soothing. No darts, no boomerangs, just a screen filled with slow bullets. MIRVs usually spell trouble in other mission types, while in here they are only accompanied by shurikens, which means no other fast bullets can pin you down all of a sudden. But don’t let your guard down, because both type of bullets will flood the field in no time.

As long as you have a suitable means of defense, surviving such missions is quite straightforward. As for REMP, unlike the normal way to use it as a wave opener, you should instead wait for the moment all MIRVs are just about to fire, then release your touch to trigger REMP, dealing damage while clearing most MIRVs. If you are more of a PD user, in weapon set A, MIRV launchers are typically level 1 which fire as soon as the invaders carrying them are in place, this means that PD is able to take care of MIRVs quickly. While in weapon set B, MIRV launchers are level 2 which fire two MIRVs consecutively after a short delay, so you will have to wait patiently and time PD usage so that MIRVs are eliminated the moment they spawn.

Shurikens usually cause more trouble because they are fired in enormous quantities, thus inevitably linger on the battlefield. PD starts to suffer, so you should now use it to cut through a shuriken cloud to reach the other end of the field where bullets are less crowded. The same also applies for other defensive abilities. However, if you have BEMP PD, you can pretty much just breeze through the entire mission. In fact, you can stay still, and tap screen whenever you feel a slight bit of threat from approaching bullets, and BEMP PD will get you covered without a sweat.

If you are more of a BEMP user, it is recommended that you learn to graze MIRVs. You can release BEMP the moment you graze an MIRV, to wipe out most bullets on the field effectively. It’s a very powerful technique that allows you to absolutely dominate these missions once you master it. But take note that Eagles are often equipped with annoying shuriken launchers, so they should be eliminated first after BEMP usage. MIRV grazing applies to Phalanx as well, as a successful MIRV graze will give you quite a lot of energy to fill up its counters. You can then utilize it to shovel more bullets and similarly focus your firepower to destroy Eagles.

Barriers are fragile and break easily against a whole mess of bullets. Hence, you should try to encapsulate invaders up-field to take advantage of the inner lining. CF is quite hard to use too, because without bullet clearing capabilities, you still have to face a bullet hell once the invincibility period wears off.

So, does it mean that ships without defensive capabilities are unable to clear such missions whatsoever? It really depends. If the ship lacks damage output, then it might be a serious challenge. If you are left with no choice (say, a Specialist mission), you should try to eliminate invaders on one side first, to create more breathing space on that side for survival. In addition, try to focus all your firepower on the invader that poses the most immediate threat, be it a Raven or an Eagle. Next, just dodge slowly and fully utilize whatever defensive means you have, then hope for the best. Obviously, for ships with low DPS and poor defensive capabilities such as Ogon, you should try to beat as many waves as you can, instead of hoping for quick clears.

Speed-running is a whole different story. Isn't it exciting to think about? The fundamental of speed-running is to attack more fiercely than invaders, meaning you have to be very skilled with the ship you are using. Take Kibarrax as an example, you have to unleash the combo of your main weapon, MS and MBc on a Vulture with MIRV Bloomers as soon as it reaches the field, to delete it straight away, and then eliminate the remaining invaders quickly under the premise of safety. Thus, it is not recommended for beginners to use speed-running ships in this mission type. However, if you want to improve proficiency with a ship or practice positioning, it is highly recommended that you use offensive oriented ships in such missions.

5. Laser Spam

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• Bullet Type: Lasers, Shurikens, Laser MIRV

• Laser Density: Very High

• Bullet Density: Medium

• Difficulty: Easy

• Brief Description: In this mission type, invaders are equipped with a variety of laser turrets, though speed lasers rarely appear. While lasers come plentifully, take note that both forward scattering and patterned shurikens are also very common, so don’t let your guard down.

In fact, despite its rather intimidating name, the difficulty is generally very low. These missions rarely feature speed lasers, which means that all laser turrets need to charge up before firing. During their charge-up, you are pretty much safe, which allows you to deal whatever damage you have to invaders freely.

Speed-running ships are undoubtedly the most practical in this mission type, due to the low bullet density. In fact, you can even charge MB or ML after invaders’ arrival on the field, to kill most of them through burst damage, and the remaining invaders hardly pose any threat. Therefore, when such mission appears, please don't waste it as it’s good opportunity for speed-running practices.

Contrarily, survival ships will have a bit of trouble in these missions. Defensive Auras like BEMP or PD are less effective. Apart from being able to clear laser MIRVs, they are mostly useless against lasers (except for Ult BEMP’s 0.6s stun), rendering energy pretty much useless. REMP becomes an offensive Zen, as the 20 damage (30 damage with REMP High Damage Apex) with Ult upgrade is more beneficial than its bullet clearing capabilities. Besides, even if you have defensive abilities, you don’t have to use them, instead, just go to one of the top corners of the screen to avoid a whole round of laser fire if no laser MIRVs are present. Doing so allows you to negate almost all invader firepower.

PS is mediocre at best. Some might say that PS is able to reflect lasers, sometimes even one-shotting Condors and Rocs. That is correct, but what else? PS has an almost instant charge time (with sufficient cooldown), while regular enemy lasers only fire after a 3s charge up time. Compared with other means of dealing direct burst damage such as MS, PS is noticeably less efficient. In addition, when using PS to reflect lasers, you are usually confined to the bottom of the field (for tracking lasers), point blank range with turrets (for laser spreads) or the area with the most laser MIRV coverage (for laser MIRV Bloomers), all of which are not easy to do.

However, PS Super Reflect Apex is another story. Basically, lasers reflected during the first 0.5s after PS activation deal 5 times the normal reflected damage. Note that the 0.5s counts from the moment PS is activated, not when you start charging. This is obviously a rhythm that takes practice to grasp. As a result, it’s not very beginner friendly. Even experienced players miss the timing sometimes.

Reflector Apex for Barriers is highly recommended. Unlike PS, Barriers cover a much wider area, therefore they are able to reflect most if not all lasers on the field, maximizing damage output. Meanwhile, you can charge offensive Zens in side of a Barrier as per usual, making it really versatile as it has both offensive and defensive aspects. However, it is not recommended to use Barriers without a Reflector Apex. The same goes for Phalanx.

6. Laser Maze

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• Bullet Type: Lasers, Speed Lasers, Pellets

• Laser Density: High

• Bullet Density: Low

• Difficulty: Easy

• Brief Description: This type of mission features a variety of configurations of lasers. Although laser MIRVs rarely make an appearance, you should still be aware of speed lasers spread out all across the screen. Pellets don’t appear frequently, but if they do appear in the form of pellet spinners or wall spinners, then they should be destroyed first.

Laser Maze and Laser Festival can be treated as two variations of the same mission type, difference being speed laser appear in the former while laser MIRVs appear in the latter. Neither type of MIRVs is featured in Laser Maze missions, which makes it even easier than Laser Festival missions in terms of invader weaponry, allowing for more diverse strategies.

A classic Laser Maze is simply made up of a variety of regular laser turrets. Similar to Laser Festival, its difficulty is relatively low as there are hardly any bullets. Therefore, you can play at your own will, but speed-running ships are again highly recommended, because no enemy weapon configuration can effectively stop you.

Take note that sometimes, pellet spinners or wall spinner make appearance. These are the only turrets that pose major threat. Don’t hesitate to deal with Eagles or Vultures equipped with them first, as you rarely have a chance to slow down and graze the bullets emitted from them. If you really want to graze them, you can leave at most one of these turrets alive and try to inside-graze it as it’s the most efficient way of grazing. After all, dodging lasers and bullets at the same time is no easy task and can go south easily.

Most of the time, you are not likely to come across a Laser Maze mission full of regular lasers, rather, speed lasers come in plentiful quantities. Luckily, after the mission revamp, speed lasers appear less frequently (while Specialist missions are pretty much unchanged), especially in other mission types. However, speed lasers can appear as the major laser type in Laser Maze missions, causing great hindrance. For speed-running, try to charge offensive Zens alongside the edge or in the center of the screen, to avoid direct contact with speed lasers. For survival, you should utilize the edge of the field wisely and dash horizontally from the extreme side of the field to the other, to create more breathing space.

7. Bullet Hellspawn

• Possible icons (A):

  

• Bullet Type: Pellets, Darts, Bullet MIRV

• Laser Density: None

• Bullet Density: Very High

• Difficulty: Very Hard

• Brief Description: The mission intel of this type of mission is very deceptive, as it tricks you into thinking it’s a MIRV/Shuriken mission, while darts appear in large numbers. Bullets of different speeds flood the field quickly, blocking your movement and limiting your skill usage.

You may have heard of this saying in your school days: The basics to the extreme is difficult. This type of mission is the perfect embodiment of that, as it only features darts and pellets. However, while darts only come from dart related turrets, pellets can be emitted from pellet launchers or dangerous MIRVs and wall spinners.

Due to the heavy presence of darts, speed-running becomes troublesome, though some top players may still be able to come up with creative ways to deal with them. No matter your ship choice, FO ships are not recommended, because speed optimization on every wave is so hard when the mission features dense invader crowds all the way through. Generally speaking, speed-running ships with bullet clearing capabilities are more sensible choices, such as ships with REMP (direct bullet clearance in a large area) or/and VL (partial bullet clearance in a straight line).

As for survival-oriented players, without the bother of lasers and shurikens, any ship with bullet clearing capabilities is worth trying. In Marshal rank missions, try to graze as much as you can if the bullet density is manageable, because the extra energy boosts survivability even further. Additionally, try not to stay in a corner for too long, as dense bullets will overwhelm you eventually, blocking all exits. Also, don’t count on Barriers or Phalanxes to block everything for you because they break quickly against such onslaught of bullets.

8. Boomerang Spam

• Possible icons:

  

• Bullet Type: Shurikens, Boomerangs

• Laser Density: None

• Bullet Density: Medium

• Difficulty: Medium

• Brief Description: Almost all turrets in this mission type are boomerang turrets, occasionally coupled with shuriken launchers. If you are familiar with boomerangs’ flight path, such missions are basically cakewalks.

Although annoying in other mission types, boomerangs are easier to deal with if it’s the only type of enemy firepower. In fact, you can settle down in the center of the screen, because boomerang turrets are very inaccurate close up. Then, you can simply wait for them to fly past you and out of the screen, meanwhile, you can deal damage to invaders rather safely.

This mission type is very suitable for speed-running. You can spam offensive Auras and Zens in the center of the screen because it’s a safe spot. If you are using a VL ship, be sure to make horizontal dashes frequently, to bait boomerangs and create safe spot on the other side of the field. However, since boomerangs tend to curve back shortly after they left the field, sometimes you need to keep distance from the edge of the screen. After all, no one likes being hit by boomerangs coming from nowhere.

Survival ships will also have an easier time, because the dash technique mentioned above also applies. If your main weapon is perfect homing, you can stay in the center of the screen to focus on dodging pellets and shurikens. Overall, the choice is up to you, so long as you don’t navigate through those fast-traveling boomerangs, you will likely survive and clear the mission.