Missiles

## Overview

Missiles are among the most common projectiles in the game. A single missile doesn't pose a very large threat, however they almost always come in pairs. If the player doesn't have a way to reliably evade missiles, they can very easily become the end of a run.

Missiles differ from homing shots in that they follow their individual homing target, not units themselves. They can also run out of fuel, which will have them fall to the ground relatively harmlessly.

## Missile Types

Missiles come in two main types:

**Homing Missiles** follow a square homing mark. These have superior turn and boost speed and can pursue units for a long time with their 30s fuel reserve. They exist as both a player and enemy variant. The enemy variant can be redirected at hostile targets. It deals 8 explosive dmg in a small radius, enough that any subsequent hit will usually overwhelm low level player shields.

**Cruise Missiles** have lower turn rate, boost speed and fuel reserve (15s), but will detonate in a larger explosion immediately if they miss their target. Cruise missiles can not be redirected at enemies.

## Strategy

There are numerous methods of evading and disposing of missiles. There isn't really a best way to dispose of missiles. All of these strategies are circumstantial and may only sometimes be helpful.

* Jumping will force nearby homing locks away from the player, which can give you some breathing room while being tracked. Some items can increase this effect.
* If the player jumps while the lock-on reticle of the missile is over an enemy, the missile will be tricked into following that enemy instead. Enemies which have very large hitboxes are especially useful for this. This only works on homing missiles.
* Cruise missiles will detonate as soon as they miss the player, that is if they player moves out of their 90° targeting cone. Jumping right through them will usually have them detonate without causing harm to the player. This can also be used to damage enemies.
* A missile which hits a piece of terrain will be destroyed. Flying low to the ground, into the top clouds, or close to floating islands will usually destroy the missiles. This can also be used to damage enemies, especially on the ground.
* A melee weapon can deflect a missile in the same way it can deflect any other projectile. Missiles deflected this way will not lock-on to any enemies, and instead will just fly off in the direction of the melee strike.
* A fighter with jump deflection can deflect missiles in the same way.
* The barrier active can also deflect missiles.
* The DMZ Field active will immediately destroy all projectiles in the air.
* The Spacemelon Jam active will cause any missiles following the player to lose their lock-on, causing them to fall to the ground as if out of fuel.
* The Emission Mask passive also has missiles loose track of the player this way within 5 seconds after being fired.
* Sector shield and orbital shield plate can easily tank missile hits.
* Firing a flare will cause the missile to lose its lock on the player. The Flares active and the periodic flares passive are two ways to fire flares. Flying through player flares can also have the missile switch target to the flare.
* Flying near a store ship with missiles targeting you will cause the store ship to fire flares. The missiles might not lose their lock-on unless you fly directly into a flare. This can only be done once per zone.
* Having drones will often cause a missile to target them instead of you.