Omega Strikers Playbook

The **Omega Strikers Playbook** can be accessed by clicking the book icon on the top-left corner of the lobby. The playbook contains sections as shown below.

It is recommended for new players to read through the playbook (or this page, for the unofficially-added glossary), to get an understanding of the game.

## The basics

A brief explanation of the main objective and rules of the game.

* Score 5 goals to win, but you must win by at least 2 goals
* Strike the Core in any direction, even if it's behind you
* Most abilities work on both enemy players and the Core
* K.O. enemies by knocking them out of the Arena!
* Staggered enemies are much easier to knock back
* Earn XP during a match to level up, increasing your stats

## Ranked Tiers

There are currently 8 Ranked Tiers, each with 3 sub-tiers (normal, Mid, High). When playing 3v3 Ranked, winning a game results in gaining LP, and losing a game results in losing LP. Gaining enough LP will promote you to the next sub-tier, or tier, in the list. (i.e. Rookie → Mid Rookie → High Rookie → Bronze → Mid Bronze → High Bronze ...)

* Placements ()
* Rookie ( →  → )
* Bronze ( →  → )
* Silver ( →  → )
* Gold ( →  → )
* Platinum ( →  → )
* Diamond ( →  → )
* Challenger ( →  → )
* Omega ()

## Glossary of terms

### Keywords

* **HIT**: Any ability or effect that damages and knocks back enemies. Abilities that work on allies also count as a hit
* **LIGHT HIT**: A type of hit that damages and briefly slows enemies, but deals no knockback to players unless they're Staggered. Generally deals low damage
* **MELEE HIT**: A type of hit that scales with the striker's size. Strikes, dashes and most short-ranged abilities are considered MELEE hits
* **MOVEMENT ABILITY**: A subset of abilities that involve some sort of Striker movement- namely a DASH, JUMP, BLINK or HASTE
* **DASH**: a type of MOVEMENT ABILITY that causes the Striker to dash in a fixed direction and speed
* **JUMP**: a type of MOVEMENT ABILITY that causes the Striker to jump vertically and land at a predetermined location
* **BLINK**: a type of MOVEMENT ABILITY that causes the player to teleport to a predetermined location. BLINKS can have a cast time, but the Striker does not physically travel to their destination
* **HASTE**: a type of MOVEMENT ABILITY that increases a Striker's Speed stat. Hastes usually have a duration
* **PROJECTILE**: a type of Striker ability that launches a ranged object into the game world
* **CREATION**: a player-generated object that persists in the game world for a limited time
* **BUFF**: a positive effect a Striker can grant themselves or an ally. Buffs usually have a duration
* **DEBUFF**: a negative effect a Striker can apply to enemy players or the Core. Debuffs usually have a duration
* **IMPACT**: A type of hit that is capable of affecting 2 or more targets simultaneously. Commonly referred to as "area of effect" or AOE
* **SECONDARY ABILITY**: an ability slot reserved for supplementary ability that supports a Striker's overall play style. Usually (but not always) a mobility tool
* **PRIMARY ABILITY**: an ability slot reserved for a Striker's main tool for interacting with the Core and other players
* **SPECIAL ABILITY**: an ability slot reserved for higher cooldown, higher impact abilities. In most game modes, this is unlocked at Level 2

### Base Stats

Base Stats are now divided into 3 tiers depending on the Striker's maximum Stagger. Stagger is the only Stat that is given upon leveling up. Every other stat of each Striker at present is currently identical.

* POWER: determines how much damage and knockback are applied to enemies. Every ability uses a multiplier to determine what percentage of a Striker's Power will contribute to its damage and knockback
* SPEED: determines a Striker's movement speed. Utilizes diminishing returns, which reduce the effectiveness of HASTE effects once a certain Speed is reached
* STAGGER: determines how much damage a Striker can take before becoming Staggered
* COOLDOWN RATE: determines a Striker's ability cooldowns. The cooldown rate value scales nonlinearly and is used to determine what percentage each ability's base cooldown should be reduced by
* KNOCKBACK RESISTANCE: determines a Striker's ability to ignore a percentage of the knockback they receive. This is one of the benefits gained from Goal Arc BUFF
* SIZE: determines a Striker's Strike ability radius, as well as their physical size. The size of some melee abilities scale with Striker size

### Status Effects

* **STUNNED**: prevents players from acting. Halts the movement of the Core and prevents it from moving again until the stun ends
* **BANISHED**: prevents players from using abilities. Makes affected Strikers and the Core untargetable and immune to other effects
* **KNOCKED**: pushes an enemy Striker in a direction and stuns them for the duration. Redirects the Core in a direction but does not stun it. Does not inherently cause DAMAGE.
* **KNOCKED OUT**: when a Striker is pushed off of the Arena, causing them to be removed from play and unable to act until they respawn
* **STAGGERED**: occurs once a Striker's Stagger Bar fills completely, causing them to temporarily take massive increased knockback. The Stagger Bar rapidly regenerates after becoming Staggered, but taking subsequent damage delays this effect
* **DAMAGE**: raises the target's Stagger Bar by some amount, but does not knock them back unless described as a HIT or KNOCKBACK
* **HIT**: a catch-all term that describes anything that causes an effect to occur on a target (DAMAGE, KNOCKBACK, BUFF, or DEBUFF)
* **ELUSIVE**: makes the Striker untargetable and immune to effects and abilities. However, any existing BUFF or DEBUFF will persist while elusive
* **IMMUNE**: makes the Striker untargetable and immune to effects and abilities other than BUFFS. This effect occurs briefly after a Striker respawns from a Knockout

### Mechanics and Terms

* **GOAL ARC**: the colored areas on either side of the Arena. Players standing within their team's Goal Arc receive a passive BUFF that grants a series of powerful effects. These include increased damage and knockback to nearby enemies, increased resistance to impairing effects, increased knockback resistance, and a reduced Strike cooldown
* **GOAL BARRIERS**: Physical objects that protect each team's net from being scored on. Each map has a different configuration and number of barriers. After the Core hits one, it will disappear for the remainder of the Round. Shortly after a team's last barrier falls, their Goal Gates will open, granting the enmey team the ability to score.
* **GOAL GATES**: movable walls that partially block the goal lines of the Arena. At the start of each round, the gates begin to open from their current position until the goal line is fully exposed. The faster a goal was scored in the previous round, the more closed the gates will start
* **EXPERIENCE**: points a Striker earns during a match, eventually causing them to Level Up. Experience accrues passively, but can also be earned for striking the core, making saves, collecting Power Orbs, earning Takedowns, scoring, or assisting a goal
* **LEVEL UP**: occurs when a player earns enough EXPERIENCE. Leveling Up increases a Striker's Power, Health, Speed, and Cooldown Rate. The max level a Striker can reach is 10
* **TAKEDOWN**: the act of earning a Knockout or assisting in the Knockout of an enemy player
* **ASSIST**: occurs when a Striker makes contact with the Core within three seconds of an ally scoring a goal
* **GEAR**: physical equipment that Strikers take with them into each match. During Striker Select, each player selects a piece of Gear to equip based on their Role. Gear typically helps define a player's preferred playstyle or strategy.
* **AWAKENING**: a powerful effect that augments your Striker's stats or abilities during a match. Awakenings are selected in different ways based on the Game Mode. In Competitive and Normal, players choose between 2 Awakenings during Striker Select, and have the chance to equip more over the course of the match based on their performance.
* **POWER ORBS**: powerful neutral objectives that spawn around the Arena at predetermined intervals. Each Striker touching an Orb restores a percentage of their Stagger Bar, earns a lump sum of Experience, and fills a portion of Energy Meter
* **ENERGY METER**: A resource that appears below each Striker's Stagger Bar in-game and is used to cast one of two additional abilities, use a portion of Energy to case EVADE, briefly becoming immune to damage and knockbacks. If cast at 100% Energy, this ability becomes ENERGY BURST. This causes you to Evade, knock back nearby enemies and gain total control fo the Core for a short time. Your next hit during this time sends the Core flying!

## Former Entries in Playbook

### (Former Strikers)

Clicking into each Striker displays their:

* Striker's Style (Training)
* ☆☆☆ Difficulty rating
* Skills information and details
* Player ("My") stats: Wins, KOs, Goals, Assists, Saves, MVPs
* Lore

### (Former) ★☆☆ Difficulty Strikers

A list of ★☆☆ Difficulty Strikers are also displayed as a recommendation for new users to try learning the game with: Kai, Dubu, Juno, Estelle, X, Era

The stats increase with level linearly, and fractions are *usually* rounded down.
The increment values tend to be shared across the cast.
Exceptions to base stats can be found on each Striker's individual page.

### (Former) Power Orbs

Power Orbs are powerful neutral objectives that spawn around the Arena at predetermined intervals. Each Striker touching an Orb restores a percentage of their Stagger Bar and earns a lump sum of Experience. They also gain a bonus effect based on the Orb's color, which is determined randomly during Striker Select. During striker select, the type of orb that will be spawned around the arena for the game will be displayed along with the chosen map. The orb type is chosen randomly.

Once in game, up to three power orbs will spawn on the arena at once at predetermined intervals. At first, only their spawn locations will be revealed, then after a short duration the orb itself will appear and become available to be claimed. A striker can claim an orb by touching it. Doing so will grant them Experience and restore a percentage of their Stagger bar. Depending on the type of orb selected to be spawned this game, the striker will also receive a bonus effect for a short duration.

There are five types of power orbs in the game:

* **ORANGE ORB**: Cause you to deal more damage for a few seconds.
* **GREEN ORB**: Grant a burst of Speed that decays over a few seconds.
* **BLUE ORB**: Restore an additional percentage of Stagger and grant increased size for a few seconds.
* **RED ORB**: Cause you to deal more knockback for a few seconds. Bonus is reduced by a percentage vs Core.
* **PURPLE ORB**: Reduce cooldowns by a percentage and grant Cooldown Rate for a few seconds.

### (Former) Keywords

* **MEDIUM HIT**: A type of hit that damages and knocks back enemies. Considered the standard hit power for most abilities
* **HEAVY HIT**: A type of hit that deals especially high damage and knockback, then slows enemy Strikers. Usually reserved for abilities with high cooldown or low reliability

### (Former Mechanics and Terms)

* **BASIC ABILITY**: a subset of abilities consisting of KEY, PRIMARY, and SECONDARY. Specifically excludes SPECIAL Abilities

## Unofficial glossary of terms

As the original Omega Strikers Playbook is non-comprehensive, below are the additional terms that are essential/useful for players to be aware of.

* **PING-PONG**: When two opposing players are standing extremely close together and hitting the Core directly into one another, resulting in it turning into a back-and-forth match of who has the better response time, lower skill cooldown, or lower ping. In most cases, this occurs directly in front of a goal. This is **NOT** recommended and is relatively disadvantageous to the goalie. Instead, it may be a better idea for the goalie to kick the Core at an angle (or even 90° up or down) to get the Core away from the goal.

* **CORE FLIP**: Another term used for **Energy Burst**. The term was first coined in this blog post detailing upcoming changes for the launch of Omega Strikers.