Strategy guide
From your first match to the top of the scoreboard
Mad Orbs is easy to start and hard to master. This guide explains the mechanics that decide a fight, the ones the game inherited from Babo Violent 2, and how to use them. If you are new, start with How to play.
Movement: play with the momentum
Your Orb is a ball, not a soldier. It takes a moment to pick up speed, keeps rolling when you let go of the keys and skids in the turns. Fighting well starts with that:
- Never stand still in the open. Shots are instant, so the only defence against them is to be hard to hit. Keep a sideways movement while you shoot, around your target.
- Brake early. To stop behind a wall, let go of the key (or press the opposite one) a little before it, or you will roll out the other side.
- Change direction often. A straight line is easy to follow; short zigzags make the other player correct the aim all the time.
- Use the walls. Rolling into a wall stops you at once, which helps to turn a corner fast.
The counterweight aim
The camera doesn't stay on your Orb: it follows a point between your Orb and the mouse cursor. Moving the mouse away drags the view to that side, and the world moves under the cursor, so the aim ends up almost twice as far as the cursor, with a soft delay. That is the "counterweight" of the original game, and it has two uses:
- Look before you go. Point the cursor where you are heading: you will see who is there before they see you.
- Small, steady movements. Big jerks of the mouse swing the whole view. Short, calm corrections hit more.
- The sniper rifle loves distance. Aiming far raises the camera, and a shot taken that way becomes 3 bullets, 60 damage instead of 40.
Online, what you see is what you hit: the game checks your shots against where the enemy was on your screen, within your ping. Keep the aim on the target, even with a high ping.
The right weapon for each range
- Up close: the shotgun (5 pellets in a cone, up to 7 blocks), the flame thrower (up to 8 blocks, goes through Orbs) and the knives (60 damage). Inside a corridor or a tight room, they win.
- Medium range: the sub machine gun, the dual machine gun and the chain gun. The chain gun has the highest damage over time, but it overheats: let go of the trigger now and then.
- Long range: the sniper rifle and the photon rifle. The photon goes through every Orb in a line, which is great in corridors and team fights.
- Area: the bazooka, 85 damage in a radius of 2 blocks. A second click blows the rocket up in the air, next to someone hiding. Never fire it at a wall right in front of you.
Choose with the map in mind: small arenas like DM-MiniArena and DM-Arena reward the shotgun and the flame thrower; open fields like DM-Field reward the sniper. The maps guide has tips for each one, and the weapons guide has every number.
Grenades, molotovs and the secondary weapon
- Grenades and molotovs land where you aim: the cursor close to your Orb, a short throw; far away, the longest one.
- Every life starts with 2 grenades and a molotov. Grenades bounce: throw them at a wall to reach someone behind a corner.
- The molotov leaves fire on the floor for a while. Use it to block a door, a corridor or your flag.
- The knives are for players who like to get close; the nuke bot explodes 3 seconds after it is released, 6 blocks around, great to clear a room or defend a base; the shield halves the damage for a moment, and wins close duels.
Items on the floor
- Whoever goes down drops a health pack (half a life), their weapon and the grenades they had left. After a fight, collect it all.
- Press F over a weapon to swap yours for it: a good way to get a bazooka or a sniper rifle in the middle of the match.
- Items don't last: a health pack stays 20 seconds, grenades 25 and a weapon 30. They blink in their last 5 seconds.
Respawn and streaks
You are back 5 seconds after going down. The death screen lets you change weapons for the next life: if someone keeps beating you with a shotgun, take one too, or keep your distance with a rifle. Kills in a row are announced (Double Kill, Triple Kill, Dominating, Unstoppable), and ending someone's streak of three or more is a great way to change a match. Killing the player who took you down last is a Revenge Kill.
Team Deathmatch
- Teammates can't hurt each other: throw grenades and fire the bazooka into the crowd without fear.
- Move in pairs. Two Orbs shooting at the same target win almost every duel, and a lone chaser is an easy kill.
- Cross your fire: if a teammate holds one door, cover the other angle instead of the same one.
Capture the Flag
- Split the jobs: someone defends the base, someone holds the middle, the rest attack.
- Your flag must be at home to score. If both teams hold the other's flag, the first job is to kill their carrier and return yours by touching it.
- The carrier avoids fights. Their job is to get home; the others clear the way and block the chasers.
- Kill the carrier first. The flag falls where they go down, and whoever touches their own flag on the floor sends it back home.
- A molotov or a nuke bot at the entrance of your base buys a lot of time.