Photon Blasts

From Ephinea PSO Wiki
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.

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.pngGolla 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)

Donating and Chaining[edit | edit source]

Photon Blasts may have their effects increased by other players in two ways:

  • Donating, where a player contributes up to 30 points from their own Photon Blast gauge
  • Chaining, where a player uses their own Photon Blast consecutively with another

Donating[edit | edit source]

When a player initiates a Photon Blast, other players within the same room have the opportunity to contribute their own Photon Blast gauge, up to a maximum of 30, by donating before the startup animation of the first Photon Blast finishes and the Photon Blast (or Blasts, if a chain happens as well) begins.

With keyboard controls, the default input to donate to Photon Blasts is the End key, which donates 10 PB per press (to a maximum of three presses for 30 PB). On other control schemes (i.e. controllers), the input will be the top button on the action palette (whichever button brings up the Word Select/Symbol Chat menu).

Donating to a Photon Blast increases the damage or effects of the Photon Blast (or Blasts) used, and also extends its effects to any player that donated.

Chaining[edit | edit source]

When a player initiates a Photon Blast, other players within the same room have the opportunity to "chain" their Photon Blasts with them by activating their own Photon Blasts before the startup animation of the first Photon Blast finishes and the Photon Blast (or Blasts) begins.

When chaining Photon Blasts, any Photon Blast used in the chain must not be used twice in a row. If this happens, the first player to use that Photon Blast in the chain will have the Blast "stolen" from them, and they will not receive the benefits of the chain.

When performed correctly, the Photon Blasts will occur consecutively in the sequence they were initiated, with the starting Photon Blast being denoted by a "1" indicator next to HP bar of the player that started the chain, a "2" next to the second player, and so on.

Like donating, chaining Photon Blasts greatly increases the damage or effects of the Photon Blasts used in the chain, and also extends their effects to players that participate in the chain (in the case of Mylla & Youlla.pngMylla & Youlla and Leilla.pngLeilla). Chaining is most commonly used to boost the strength of Mylla & Youlla.pngMylla & Youlla, granting levels of Shifta.pngShifta and Deband.pngDeband past the usual maximum of 30 (up to a maximum of level 81 Shifta.pngShifta and Deband.pngDeband, obtained through a 4-way Photon Blast chain). and spread the application of the buff to players other than the user.

Photon Blast chain examples:
Example 1 Example 2 Example 3 Example 4 Example 5 Example 6
Chain 2-way 3-way 4-way
Blasts P1: Farlla.pngFarlla P1: Farlla.pngFarlla P1: Pilla.pngPilla P1: Farlla.pngFarlla P1: Estlla.pngEstlla P1: Golla.pngGolla
P2: Pilla.pngPilla P2: Mylla & Youlla.pngMylla & Youlla
P2: Golla.pngGolla P2: Mylla & Youlla.pngMylla & Youlla
P2: Pilla.pngPilla P2: Farlla.pngFarlla P3: Leilla.pngLeilla P3: Golla.pngGolla
P3: Mylla & Youlla.pngMylla & Youlla P3: Mylla & Youlla.pngMylla & Youlla
P4: Mylla & Youlla.pngMylla & Youlla P4: Mylla & Youlla.pngMylla & Youlla
Result Success Fail Success Fail Success Success
Details Farlla.pngFarlla and Pilla.pngPilla will both strike enemies with increased damage. Farlla.pngFarlla will only strike once, at regular damage. Pilla.pngPilla and Golla.pngGolla will strike with increased damage; all players will receive Shifta.pngShifta & Deband.pngDeband level 61. Farlla.pngFarlla will strike with increased damage; players 1 and 3 will only receive Shifta.pngShifta & Deband.pngDeband level 41, while player 2 receives no buff. Estlla.pngEstlla and Pilla.pngPilla will strike with increased damage; all players will be healed by Leilla.pngLeilla and receive Shifta.pngShifta & Deband.pngDeband level 81. Golla.pngGolla will strike twice; all players will receive Shifta.pngShifta & Deband.pngDeband level 81.

Photon Blast Strength[edit | edit source]

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.pngGrants.

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.pngShifta and Deband.pngDeband 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 profession 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.pngFarlla[edit | edit source]

Spinning attack that hits all nearby enemies.

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

Estlla.pngEstlla[edit | edit source]

Linear attack that strikes enemies in front.

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

Golla.pngGolla[edit | edit source]

Concentrated attack that focuses one enemy.

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

Pilla.pngPilla[edit | edit source]

Aerial attack that hits nearby enemies.

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

Leilla.pngLeilla[edit | edit source]

Restores health of a player.

When the Photon Blast is initiated, either Anti.pngAnti or Reverser.pngReverser 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.pngResta using a base power calculated below.

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

Mylla & Youlla.pngMylla & Youlla[edit | edit source]

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.pngShifta and Deband.pngDeband for the party. When the Photon Blast is initiated, either Anti.pngAnti or Reverser.pngReverser 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.pngShifta and Deband.pngDeband of a level calculated by the formula below. Players that are revived by this Photon Blast chain will not receive Shifta and Deband.

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

Trivia[edit | edit source]

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.

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