Weapons

Guns

Space +Ctrl

Fast-firing bullets that scale from level 1 to 4. Higher levels hit harder and fly faster, Multifire spreads them three wide, and the Bouncing Bullets prize makes them bounce off walls (B switches the bounce on and off). Bullets do no damage to rock. Upgrade by collecting green Xenite.

Cannon

Tab +Enter

Heavy bombs that explode on impact, their blast a little wider at each level. Bombs blast craters in rock, and bombs that hit walls throw shrapnel in every direction (more at each level: 2, 4, 6, then 8 shards; the Cerberus's ice bombs throw none), which chips the rock around them, clears tight spaces and catches several enemies at once. Every hit knocks a ship back, harder the more damage it does, so a bomb kicks harder than a bullet and a blast throws ships hardest near its centre.

Drops stationary mines that explode like bombs, rock-breaking blast included. Mines have a level of their own, from 1 to 4, separate from your cannon's, and green prizes raise it. They do not move, which makes them ideal for area denial and traps.

Hold for a temporary speed boost to chase down a target or escape a losing fight. It eats 350 a second out of your energy recharge, so most ships lose energy while it burns, and long burns leave you low; a ship with a high recharge can just about keep up. You can fire your guns and cannon as usual while it burns.

Cloak

C

Vanish from enemy screens to set up an ambush; you still show on their minimap. It only switches on at full energy, and it drains more than you recharge. Firing any weapon or using an item drops it, and it then stays off for five seconds, full energy or not; a Rocket or a Portal only moves you, so those keep it. Taking a hit drops it too. Only the Arachne and the Shade can cloak.

Stealth

G

Drop off the enemy minimap while staying visible on screen. You stop recharging while it is on. Any ship can pick it up, and the Shade starts with it.

X-Radar

X

Shows stealthed enemies on your minimap. It costs three quarters of your energy recharge while it is on. Any ship can pick it up, and the Arachne starts with it.

Anti-Warp

V

While it is on, no other ship within a wide ring around you can warp out, so a beaten enemy can't escape. Everyone can see the ring. It costs energy while it runs; any ship can pick it up.

Multifire

M

Spreads your bullets into a wider pattern of three. Each bullet hits as hard as ever, but a volley costs three times the energy (four times on the Griffon). Better coverage against evasive targets; best in close dogfights.

See Mines

F

The Hydra's own: while it is on, every mine nearby shows on your minimap, enemy mines included, so you can read a minefield before you fly into it.

The Icarus's own: while it is on, your guns and cannon fire backward instead of forward, at the usual energy, and their kick pushes you on. Bullets meet anyone chasing you at full speed, and rear bombs hang in your wake as traps.

The Cerberus's bombs and mines freeze a ship's energy recharge for a moment on a hit, so a frozen pilot can't shield up again.

Rockets

3

A five-second speed burst, faster than the afterburner and free of its energy cost. Every ship launches with three, and green prizes give more: use them to close distance, escape, or cross the map.

Repel

1

A shockwave that pushes away nearby enemy shots and ships, and turns enemy mines into drifting bombs. It never touches your own shots, and needs a moment to recharge between uses. A lifesaver when surrounded.

Burst

2

A 360-degree spray of shrapnel around your ship. Devastating in close quarters when several enemies are nearby; its shards ricochet off walls.

Brick

5

Drops a wall across your path, just behind you, eight blocks long and two thick. Ships and shots stop at it like any wall, so it blocks a chaser or seals a corridor, and it stays part of the arena until bombs, mines or shrapnel break it down (it is half as tough as rock). The Pegasus starts with three.

Decoy

6

Launches a hologram of your ship that flies on at your speed and turns whenever you turn, so it looks piloted. Shots pass through it and it never shows on the minimap; it bounces off walls like a real ship and flickers out after thirty seconds, or the moment you are destroyed. The Cerberus starts with three.

Portal

7

Drops a portal where you are, for a minute. Warp (Q, at full energy) then takes you back to it instead of somewhere random, once: the trip uses it up. Set one at home, then fight anywhere. If rock has grown over it, you land just beside it, and the storm closes any portal it covers. Only you see it brightly; others see a faint shimmer.

Thor

4

A heavy missile that flies straight through rock and asteroids, leaving them whole, and explodes like a top-level bomb when it finds a ship. There is no hiding behind cover from a Thor.

Terraformer

8

A seed that builds land. Fire it and, where it strikes a ship or a wall or runs out of range, a rock formation about 1,000 px across grows in your element's look, shoving ships aside and setting off any mines it covers. It grows right over blasted and cracked rock, mending it in your look, and always leaves a passage through. It costs a quarter of your energy. Where the ground is already mostly rock, nothing grows, and the seed is spent. Bombs can break it down again.