Game Flow
This is where the magic happens: where the brilliance in Atlas Reactor lies. While the tutorial in Atlas Reactor introduces some basic concepts (and the dashing fellow on your left), my goal here is to explain a few basic things so your first game will seem a little less overwhelming.Decision Mode
A match is made up of a number of individual rounds. In each round, you will usually choose one ability to use and issue a move order (there are exceptions to both) during Decision mode. In a normal game, this lasts 20 seconds and you have a time bank that allows you to go over this limit by 5 seconds twice within a single match. Note that you must click "Lock in" or your orders will not be accepted.When playing solo vs Bots (as in the tutorial) the timer displays, but you can take as long as you like. This helps get used to the timer. When you are beginning play, and you aren't really thinking about what your next turn might be and spending time trying to remember things like which power does what, this timer will feel very limiting, but don't despair. Once you start to get a handle on the basics and are thinking ahead to the next turn a little bit, the timer will become much less stressful. I promise!
Notice that you can see what your teammates will be doing. You can see their weapon/ability arcs, where they are moving (white lines), and more. As you gain experience, you will be able to make better use of this info. Also notice that you can see how much energy your teammates and enemies have (the yellow bar below their health).
Each ability takes place in a specific phase, depending on what it does. Choosing which ability to use in a given situation is a major part of the strategy. Let's go through the phases in order. Keep in mind that within a phase, everything happens simultaneously (this is not entirely true, but the technicalities are a more advanced topic).
Prep phase is the home of most heals and buffs as well as some debuffs. There are also abilities that can be used in this phase that have the potential to apply damage later on, such as traps.
Dash phase is critical to Atlas Reactor because it is the only way to move prior to Blast phase. Most characters (freelancers or lancers) have a dash in their abilities. Others have none while some have two. You will also have one dash catalyst regardless of which freelancer you play, which will be covered in a bit.
Choosing when to dash is important to survival, but don't worry too much if you have trouble at the start. Learning the abilities of the other freelancers will help you anticipate how much damage you might be taking in a round. If you are in line of sight of a couple of enemies with full energy bars (which means they could be using their ultimates) it might be a good time to dash out.
Dashes appear as yellow lines during Decision mode. Note that in most cases, if you Dash, you don't also get a move that round. The freelancer Kaigin is a major exception.
Blast phase is relatively straightforward: your big badda boom damage occurs here. Many ultimates fall into this category. Keep an eye out for red lines during Decision mode which show where characters might get knocked back to.
During Decision mode, you will plan out where you will move at the end of the round. A solid line shows how far you can go and a dashed line shows movement range if you don't use an active ability (sprinting).
Only movement/sprinting is allowed during the first round of a match or the first round after you respawn. Sprinting can also be useful during a match if you find yourself out of position (e.g. unable to attack anyone on the outside of where fighting is occurring) or to grab power-ups.
Note that this is planned movement. All sorts of things can interfere with that, from roots, slows, and knockbacks, to simply having other characters get in the way.
You can follow another character by right-clicking on them during Decision. Right-click again to try to move to the spot they currently occupy. Pay close attention to the use of waypoints in the tutorial. They are really handy to avoid traps, grab buffs, etc.
I think it's a natural tendency to chose the ability you are using, then select movement, but you can actually do this in any order. If you want to let teammates know where you are moving right away, plot that out first.
Catalysts
Catalysts are supplemental items/abilities available to every freelancer. You will always enter a match with three catalysts, one from each of the Prep, Dash, and Blast phases. There are several choices for each category and they can be pre-selected on a per-freelancer basis.
Each catalyst can be used once during a match. Some of these, such as the Prep catalyst "Turtle Tech", are Free (see below). Regardless, only one catalyst may be used during any single round.
Free Actions
Some abilities and catalysts are marked as free. Free actions don't take up your single active ability choice in a round. You can use one or more free actions and still use an active ability or sprint, which makes these very powerful/useful.
Simple, Right?
So that's the basic game flow: Decision ➜ Prep ➜ Dash ➜ Blast ➜ Move. This continues until one team accrues five kills or 20 rounds have elapsed.It seems pretty simple when you break it down this way, but the brilliance of Atlas Reactor arises out of having eight characters interacting within this structure, each choosing a phase to act in, trying to anticipate what your enemies are about to do. When you dash at the right time, anticipate an opponent's move and place a trap at just the right spot, or line up an attack just perfectly to hit multiple enemies, it feels great. And conversely, when things go sideways, you know what you did wrong (especially once you start to learn the various character abilities).
There's definitely a learning curve, but soon you will start to realize that Rask is about to knock you backward, or where Nix is probably hiding, or that Zuki is about to drop her ultimate and it might be best to dash away.
Enough Talk
There are more pointers on the "Tips" tab, but if you want to go ahead and jump in, let me rundown how accounts work real quick.
Atlas Reactor is NOT free to play, but it might look like it when you first create an account. You will have a selection of characters available each week (different for each player). Progress you make with each character is retained and you can acquire skins/taunts/etc. like anyone else. Ranked play and custom games are not available in free mode.
Getting a Friend Key
A 7-day full unlock is available that will let you play any character you want, so you can decide if you enjoy playing enough to want to purchase the full game.
The best way to get one of these codes is to (surprise) get one from a friend that already plays. That way, they get cool goodies if you end up playing/buying the game. If you like Atlas Reactor, make sure you do the same thing and give your code to your friends. Once in game, you will find it on the recruit tab.
The next way to get a key is to use the Recruit-A-Friend Randomizer on Reddit. This will give you a random code from another player.
If neither of those options are to your liking for some reason and this website was helpful to you, you can use my key, which is: TM7KTJDYQKRJKPN9K9XX
Once you have a code, you can enter it by clicking "Redeem Code" at the top of the Glyph launcher window.
See you in game and have fun!
