Photon Blasts

A Mag with three Photon Blasts

Photon Blasts are special attacks Mags can perform. Photon Blasts can only be used after a Mag has reached level 10 and has learned its first Photon Blast, and only once the Mag's Photon Blast gauge has reached 100, with the gauge increasing through either dealing or receiving damage.

Once the player has built to 100 Photon Blast (commonly abbreviated "PB"), the Photon Blast can be unleashed by pressing the appropriate button on the alternate palette; any other actions assigned to the alternate palette will become unavailable until a Photon Blast is used, the Mag is unequipped, or the player returns to Pioneer 2.

When a player initiates a Photon Blast, nearby players may also use their own Photon Blasts during the player's starting animation to cause a Photon Blast Chain (referred to as Chaining.) Chained Photon Blasts have greatly improved effects, and this is commonly used to boost the level of Shifta and Deband given by Mylla and Youlla well over 30, and spread the application of the buff to players other than the user. Blasts do not need to be the same type to partake in a Chain.

Every Mag can learn up to a maximum of three Photon Blasts. Photon Blasts are learned at levels 10, 35, and 50. It is possible for a Mag to have less than three Photon Blasts if, during evolution, it learns a Photon Blast it has already learned (e.g. if a Mag learns the Photon Blast Golla at level 35, then evolves at level 50 into a Mag that learns it again). If the Mag does not learn a Photon Blast at level 50, it may learn another one if it evolves again into another Mag that has a Photon Blast not previously learned.

PB gain formulas

Action	Formula
Damage dealt	Damage dealt / (character level * 15.0)
Damage taken	(Damage taken * 20.0) / (character level * 15.0)

Photon Blast Strength

Each Photon Blast has a formula for calculating its strength. This calculation depends on the Mag and the stats of the character that's observed as going first in the Photon Blast chain. After performing this calculation specific to the Photon Blast type, the game then modifies the strength of the Photon Blast using a formula that considers the PB amount and the number of PBs in the chain.

All Photon Blast damage is considered light-based damage, similar to Grants.

Note that all Photon Blast damage, healing, and status effects are done entirely client-side. Due to latency or desync, a chain can sometimes appear incorrect for a player, which can result in inconsistent Shifta and Deband levels on that player's client.

• Base Strength = The first calculation performed specific to the PB.
• PB Strength = The strength of the PB after accounting for other PBs and donations.
• PB amount = The amount of Photon Blast gauge seen by the player that went first. This is typically 100 or 100 plus some amount of donated PB.
• Number of PBs = The number of Photon Blasts observed in the chain.
• Mag Synchro = The synchro of the first player's Mag.
• Mag IQ = The IQ of the first player's Mag.
• ATP = The sum of the first player's base ATP with Shifta and their ATP from equipped items. This excludes the class variance and uses the minimum ATP for weapons.
• EVP = The first player's EVP stat.
• ATA = The first player's ATA stat.
• MST = The first player's MST stat.

The calculations below perform integer truncation after finishing each line.

Farlla

Spinning attack that hits all nearby enemies.

Base Strength = (Mag Synchro) * ATP * 0.025 + (Mag IQ) * 2.5 + 500.0
PB Strength = (Base Strength) * (PB amount) * (Number of PBs) * 0.01 + MST
Damage = ((PB Strength) / 5) * ((100 - (Enemy ELT)) / 100)

Estlla

Linear attack that strikes enemies in front.

Base Strength = (Mag Synchro) * EVP * 0.15 + (Mag IQ) * 15.0 + 350.0
PB Strength = (Base Strength) * (PB amount) * (Number of PBs) * 0.01 + MST
Damage = ((PB Strength) / 5) * ((100 - (Enemy ELT)) / 100)

Golla

Concentrated attack that focuses one enemy.

Base Strength = (Mag Synchro) * ATP * 0.075 + (Mag IQ) * 7.5 + 1200.0
PB Strength = (Base Strength) * (PB amount) * (Number of PBs) * 0.01 + MST
Damage = ((PB Strength) / 5) * ((100 - (Enemy ELT)) / 100)

Pilla

Aerial attack that hits nearby enemies.

Base Strength = (Mag Synchro) * ATP * 0.075 + (Mag IQ) * 7.5 + 1200.0
PB Strength = (Base Strength) * (PB amount) * (Number of PBs) * 0.01 + MST
Damage = ((PB Strength) / 5) * ((100 - (Enemy ELT)) / 100)

Leilla

Restores health of a player.

When the Photon Blast is initiated, either Anti or Reverser is cast on each player in the chain depending if the player is alive or not. Then, for players that were alive, they will receive Resta using a base power calculated below.

Base Strength = (Mag IQ) * 0.5 + 150.0
Resta Power = (Base Strength) * (PB amount) * (Number of PBs) * 0.01
Amount Healed = (MST * 0.5) + (Resta Power)

Mylla & Youlla

Raises attack and defense status of a player.

This Photon Blast (commonly referred to as "Twins") is most often used to provide high-level Shifta and Deband for the party. When the Photon Blast is initiated, either Anti or Reverser is cast on each player in the chain depending if the player is alive or not. Then, for players that were alive, they will receive Shifta and Deband of a level calculated by the formula below. Players that are revived by this Photon Blast chain will not receive Shifta and Deband.

1 + ((PB amount) * (Number of PBs) * 0.01) * ((Mag IQ) * 0.1)

Trivia

Pilla is a direct upgrade in strength compared to Farlla, as Pilla uses the same calculation as Golla. This is likely a mistake in Pilla's base power, or a bug in the mapping of Photon Blasts to calculations inside the client. There is an unused Photon Blast damage calculation that would match to an internal identifier for Pilla, but Pilla is instead mapped to Golla's calculation.

The unused Photon Blast calculation is provided below, where "X" is either 500 or 1200, depending on which should be the correct Pilla base power.

Base Strength = (Mag Synchro) * ATA * 0.075 * (Mag IQ) * 7.5 + X
PB Strength = (Base Strength) * (PB amount) * (Number of PBs) * 0.01 + MST
Damage = ((PB Strength) / 5) * ((100 - (Enemy ELT)) / 100)