Phoenix
Do you know how valuable the ship on the front cover is?
Basic Info
- No: 19
- Ship: Phoenix
- Affinity: Shield Breaking
- Type: Double Defense
- Main Weapon: Helix Cannon
- Aura: Bullet EMP
- Zen: Personal Shield
- Rarity: Rare
- Price: 1500
- Main Description: 2 sets of forward firing projectiles that have changing horizontal distance between them in a helix pattern.
- Upgrade Info:
| Level | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | Ult |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DPS | 25.00 | 26.25 | 27.50 | 28.75 | 30.00 | 31.25 |
- Test Results:
| Main | Aura | Zen | Survival | Survival Tier | Speedrun | Speedrun Tier | Fun | Fun Tier |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 117.27 | 100.36 | 70.91 | 52.91 | S | 37.64 | A- | 40.91 | A |
| APEX1 | APEX2 | Base Score | Base Rank | Low Score | Hi Score | Apex Rank | Final Score | FinalRank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 74.18 | 32.00 | 288.55 | 21 | 320.55 | 362.73 | 15 | 494.18 | 13 |
- Main Weapon Illustration:
Survival
- Despite the fact the 2 defences it has don't quite have a synergy, their near mutual exclusiveness makes it so defensive and covers Phoenix insanely well.
- BEMP itself is already such a good Aura since you can literally spam it even when empty since it automatically regenerates a bit after use (even without grazing).
- Despite their near mutual exclusiveness, BEMP can be used to cover while PS is recovering after its usage, particularly in laser missions. Use PS to reflect the first round of lasers, then use BEMP to cover yourself just when the second round of lasers is about to fire (assuming the invaders in that wave still exist, of course) in order to reset them. This is particular useful in Roc fights since you can continuously alternate between the 2 abilities, between the Roc's laser cycles, without too much of an issue.
- PS can also be a great solution to boomerangs in the absence of lasers in that wave since using BEMP may affect boomerang turrets and cause them to fire again immediately (due to the reset stun), leaving you almost defenceless.
- After using PS, if the wave is still too bullet dense in that you are unable to use Phase Out to jump to a safer spot, a very good strategy is to make use of PS Phase Out to push forward and then immediately use BEMP. You might want to be prepared as this move may result in what it appears to be a time speed-up which may disorientate you.
- The main weapon is capable of popping off turrets as it is quite highly focused.
- Unfortunately, a front heavy wave, especially those with many varieties of turrets, meaning boomerangs, spinners, MIRVs and lasers spell trouble as the Double Defence can only last you so long against the onslaught of everything. These kind of waves are generally very rare but if it hits, you'll have to rely on savaging the remaining particles floating around on screen (coupled with your fully size BEMP at the start) to constantly fire off small BEMPs to save yourself, using PS very tactfully for Phase Out to eliminate bullets.
Speedrun
- Double Defence means it isn't quite capable of speedrunning. However, in laser missions, the sometimes massive amount of lasers does increase its speed by the insane laser reflect damage. The number of lasers in General Shield missions can sometimes be quite a lot which does increase DPS.
- Optimizing its main is rather key, and the main is pretty damaging and quite capable of killing rather quickly. Switching targets very fast minimizes the DPS spill and allows for some rather fast times although it won't definitely be the fastest.
Fun
- A classic for many returning players sure make it a vintage and invokes a feeling of deja vu. Even though most of the Phoenix's weapons are taken out, the most classic and unique helix cannon is retained.
- Phoenix is a very easy to handle ship due to its straightforward nature, which makes it pretty fun to play at times.
- The classic Helix Cannon makes a pretty interesting sound.
Trivia
- Phoenix is one of the 5 ships that got brought over from Phoenix 2's predecessor game, Phoenix HD (Phoenix, Shogun, Trinity, Mirage, Corsair).
- Phoenix is also the only ship from Phoenix HD that received the ship rarity of Rare while the other 4 ships from Phoenix HD are Super Rare in rarity.
- It is possible that the decision of the Aura and Zen of Phoenix are directly influenced from the pick-ups in Phoenix HD itself. There is a pick-up which clears all bullets currently on screen, and another pick-up that deploys a personal shield around your ship, although it is completely mobile, but lasts only a short while (about the same max duration of PS though).
- Both Phoenix apexes are 2 of the 4 apexes that have an additional hidden change to them, adding the vintage missiles from Phoenix HD to the main. The missiles are additional DPS on top of the base 31.25 DPS, making Phoenix apexes very worthwhile to get, and is also a vintage purpose. 2 missiles kill a Sparrow.
- For obvious reasons, Phoenix is the very symbol of Phoenix 2 and is featured everywhere on online Phoenix 2 places. The loading screen and cover banner for the web reddit of Phoenix 2 feature a 3D perspective of Phoenix.
- You can also view some additional renders and versions on the classic ship Phoenix in the following link: https://www.behance.net/gallery/713649/Phoenix
APEX 1
- Name: Destructive Wave
- Type: Aura
- Description: An Enhanced Bullet EMP that also deals damage to Invaders.
- Interpretation: Bullet EMP deals at most 10 damage to invaders within range.
- Form: Delta
- Price: 20000
- Score: 4.64 / 5
Both APEXes of Phoenix will give two additional missiles as output. The increase in DPS from the extra vintage missiles already make this apex really good, as the continuous stream of the main weapon can sometimes be difficult to estimate when to quickly switch target to another invader. The vintage missiles are thus able to clean up and kill off whatever you may have overestimated. Just bear in mind that the missiles may take some time to travel to the severely weakened targets so it can sometimes take some time to clear them off at the end of the wave. However, it is very useful when running very low on BEMP and you are unable to reach that side of the screen.
Other than that, the destructive BEMP is extremely useful in eliminating Sparrows. The continuous stream of the main which isn't very damaging in terms of damage per projectile means that it can be difficult to do a quick sweep of all Sparrows on screen, and doing a slower sweep risks leaking some DPS. This can be extremely useful in Sparrow heavy waves where you no longer need to worry about leaking DPS and can go much faster. It can also help severely in waves with annoying continuous dart streamer Sparrows that are everywhere and/or hiding behind other invaders. One BEMP and they are all gone. Another thing about Phoenix is because of it's heavy defense oriented nature, there are just times you don't quite need the BEMP especially when in certain waves where you can just inch your way around the field to avoid the darts, you can start using BEMP for damage. A recommended practice is to try and strip the shields of even Ravens before launching BEMP to damage them to first take advantage of the SB nature of its main, unless you are faced with Sparrows at the front of the wave. Because of the significantly ease of optimizing the main and the decent AoE damage provided by BEMP, this apex actually turns Phoenix into a very respectable speedrunner, especially on days where General Shield missions get very hard. It can also be used to speedrun community missions where crowds are extremely prevalent.
APEX 2
- Name: Supersize
- Type: Zen
- Description: Aegis amplifiers create an extra large Personal Shield.
- Interpretation: The size of the Personal Shield is increased by 50%.
- Form: Beta
- Price: 10000
- Score: 2.00 / 5
Both APEXes of Phoenix will give two additional missiles as output. The increase in DPS from the extra vintage missiles already make this apex really good, as the continuous stream of the main weapon can sometimes be difficult to estimate when to quickly switch target to another invader. The vintage missiles are thus able to clean up and kill off whatever you may have overestimated. Just bear in mind that the missiles may take some time to travel to the severely weakened targets so it can sometimes take some time to clear them off at the end of the wave. However, it is very useful when running very low on BEMP and you are unable to reach that side of the screen.
In fact, the supersize shield is quite redundant for the Phoenix, because the Phoenix's shield is already sufficient. However, by increasing the shield size by 50%, this APEX can do something in certain situations. For example, you can reflect more lasers from a roc when using the Personal Shield. If you reflect more laser MIRVs, it may be easier to kill Roc with only one reflection.