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.

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)

Donating and Chaining

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

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

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 and Leilla). Chaining is most commonly used to boost the strength of Mylla & Youlla, granting levels of Shifta and Deband past the usual maximum of 30 (up to a maximum of level 81 Shifta and Deband, 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	P1:	Farlla	P1:	Pilla	P1:	Farlla	P1:	Estlla	P1:	Golla
									P2:	Pilla	P2:	Mylla & Youlla
					P2:	Golla	P2:	Mylla & Youlla
	P2:	Pilla	P2:	Farlla					P3:	Leilla	P3:	Golla
					P3:	Mylla & Youlla	P3:	Mylla & Youlla
									P4:	Mylla & Youlla	P4:	Mylla & Youlla
Result	Success		Fail		Success		Fail		Success		Success
Details	Farlla and Pilla will both strike enemies with increased damage.		Farlla will only strike once, at regular damage.		Pilla and Golla will strike with increased damage; all players will receive Shifta & Deband level 61.		Farlla will strike with increased damage; players 1 and 3 will only receive Shifta & Deband level 41, while player 2 receives no buff.		Estlla and Pilla will strike with increased damage; all players will be healed by Leilla and receive Shifta & Deband level 81.		Golla will strike twice; all players will receive Shifta & Deband level 81.

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 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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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. Level = 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.

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)