How Combat Works
Combat is built on three actions:
- Auto-attack — your weapon fires automatically. Weapon type is class-locked: each class has its own fire pattern, range, and shot character. You do not aim the auto-attack; you aim your position.
- One active ability — your equipped Ability item grants a single active special. Each class has a pool of two class-specific ability items to choose from; equip one and that is your ability until you swap. Abilities cost MP to cast; your MP stat governs how often you can use them.
- Dodge — there is no dodge roll button. Survival is entirely about where you stand. Reading bullet patterns and staying out of them is the skill. A skilled player who dodges well beats an unskilled player in better gear.
The Five Classes
Each class is built around a distinct combat identity and trades one strength for a real weakness. No class is best at range, damage, and survivability at the same time.
| Class | Identity | What they trade |
|---|---|---|
| Firewall | Survivor / bruiser — front-line, team utility | Forgiving EHP; lower single-target burst |
| Exploit | Melee assassin — mark then burst | Top point-blank damage; dies if caught mid-rotation |
| Vector | Ranged boss-melter — long piercing lines | Longest range; immobile while outputting |
| Orchestrator | Summoner — commands a swarm of AI minions and a turret | Unique zone control; weakest direct personal damage |
| Hex | Glass-cannon caster — burst nuke and lifedrain | Top damage ceiling; bottom survivability (lowest EHP in the game) |
The glass-cannon contract on Hex is explicit and enforced: Hex’s nuke deals massive burst but is positioning-gated (whiffs on spread or moving targets) and Hex dies almost instantly to direct hits. No ability or gear combination removes this weakness. The same principle applies to every class — every option trades something.
Ability Pools
Each class can equip one of its two class-specific ability items:
- Firewall: Shield Bash (pierce burst + defensive window) or Berserk Banner (attack-speed window for self and team)
- Exploit: Kunai Mark (boomerang mark that amplifies autos on the target) or Star Burst (single-target burst with a mobility dash)
- Vector: Pierce Shot (longest-range piercing line) or Bomb-Escape (AoE blast plus a self-launch escape or slow zone)
- Orchestrator: Spirit Swarm (summons AI minions, +DEF per living minion) or Deploy Turret (places a stationary auto-firing construct)
- Hex: Spell Nuke (concentrated burst into a cluster) or Skull Drain (lifedrain that heals and deals AoE)
Swapping ability items is a gear decision — the item tier determines how hard the ability hits.
Loot Fairness — Threshold and Inspiration
Boss drops are gated by contribution, not raw damage. Every combat action emits a contribution score: damage dealt, hits tanked, enemies controlled, debuffs that amplified allies, and general participation. A role-fair normalization means strong support play scores comparably to strong DPS play.
To qualify for loot at a boss, you must have contributed meaningfully (the Threshold — the anti-leech gate). The exact contribution does not strictly cap your odds, but it does scale them: more contribution, better odds.
This design keeps every class economically viable in shared-realm play and removes the RotMG failure mode where only high-DPS classes earn good loot.
The Balance Oracle
A headless battle simulation runs AI pilots across every class, boss, and context to measure contribution and loot earned per class at matched skill. If any class or ability consistently dominates across multiple contexts, the sim flags it and numbers are adjusted before it becomes the established meta. The goal is a balanced, healthy meta — several viable top builds, no single oppressive pick. OPEN: exact ability tuning numbers are sim-determined and not final.