Waves

Survive for as long as you can

Waves is the survival mode of Mad Orbs: you alone against wave after wave of bots, with no end. It runs in your own browser, with no server and no other players, on the map CTF-Invaders. On the start screen, click the red Waves card. The goal is simple: get as far as you can. Your record is the highest wave you reached, and it goes to the ranking.

And no run is wasted: each one earns Cores, which you trade in the Workshop for upgrades that stay for good. Every run starts a little stronger than the one before, like in a roguelite.

First time? The Waves tutorial (in the start screen's Tutorial shortcut, and offered the first time you open the mode) shows in about two minutes, with nothing able to hurt you, the waves, the crates and their upgrades, the grenades and the molotov, the weapons that come out of the crates and the Bomb.

The rules

• Three lives (up to five with the Workshop). When you go down you are back by yourself 5 seconds later, while you have lives left. The clock of the wave stops while you are dead.
• You start with the sub machine gun (or the weapon a milestone gave you), the knives, 2 grenades and a molotov. Better weapons come from the crates.
• Each wave has a time limit: 30 seconds plus one per wave, up to a minute. When it runs out the next wave comes even if enemies are still alive, and they stay on the map.
• A short break between waves: 9 seconds (5 before the first one).
• The bots hunt you. They always know where you are and come for you, a little slower than you (70% of your speed). They don't break crates on purpose and don't take the power-ups. They come in at the map's edges: most on the side opposite you, a few elsewhere. About 4 in 10 charge right at you, and the brutes and the fast ones always do; the others, the sharpshooters and those with a sniper rifle fight from a distance.
• Your life comes from the crates: hardly any fallen bot drops a life pack (7%; the boss always does), and it gives back a quarter of your life. Below half your life, the crates give life much more often. The bots drop no grenades either: only the crates give them. And a fallen bot's weapon stays on the floor only now and then (7%; the boss's always does).
• They hit softer than in the other modes, a quarter of the damage, but every wave they hit harder and take longer to go down: on wave 10 they take as much as 1.6 times their life and hit 1.4 times as hard, on wave 20 2.3 and 1.8 times, on wave 40 3.7 and 2.6 times. The Enemies panel in the corner shows how strong they are now.
• More bots every wave: 3 on the first one, 12 on the tenth, 25 on the twentieth. They come in a few at a time (faster on the high waves, so the screen doesn't empty), and their aim gets better slowly: the first waves are there to get the hang of it. On wave 1 they deal half the damage and take more, back to normal by wave 5.
• Their weapons change: only sub machine guns at first, then shotguns from wave 4, dual machine guns from wave 7, chain guns from wave 10, sniper rifles from wave 13, bazookas from wave 16, and flame throwers and photon rifles from wave 20.
• A boss every ten waves: the eye, a big orb with more life that takes a fifth of the damage, with fewer bots around it up to wave 20 (from wave 30 they all come) and two escorts walking right beside it. It comes with the chain gun and the best aim of the wave: its bursts hit whoever stays in front of it, so run behind a wall and hit back when its gun runs hot and stops. Each time it comes back it is bigger and hits much harder. And it has more life: a little more on waves 30 and 40, much more on wave 50, and from then on each boss has more than the one before. Your shots take half from it of what they take from an ordinary bot. The record never goes past a boss still standing: reach wave 102 without bringing down the boss of 100 and the record stays at 99.
• Elites: from wave 10 some bots have a trait, shown by an icon before their name: a lightning bolt (fast: runs nearly as fast as you), crossed swords (brute: hits much harder and is a bit bigger), a crosshair (sharpshooter: hardly misses) or a shield (tank: takes much less damage). One bot in ten at first, more than half of them later on (and a little more each wave after 50, up to 80%), and from wave 30 some have two traits. Every elite is a darker red than the other bots, a little bigger, with more life and a little more attack and defense.
• The nuke bot: from wave 51 on, an orange bot comes running straight at you with the nuke stuck on its Orb (a bomb before its name), paying no attention to your Shadow or the risen dead, and it is as tough as the wave's boss. Close to you it arms: the siren sounds, it slows down, the countdown shows over its head and a red circle on the floor shows how far the blast reaches. Three seconds later it blows up and takes 70% of your whole health, the bar and the energy shield (the shield first), whatever your defense: run out of the circle, but inside it you move at half your speed (the dash keeps all of its own). Killed first, the nuke never goes off. One comes each wave, two from wave 75, three from 100, and one more every 25 waves, spread over the wave: the first right at its start, the last near its end.
• The bots go for you: they shoot you more than your Shadow and the risen dead, and the boss and the ones that hit from afar (sniper, photon, bazooka, grenades) nearly always you: don't stand still.

Crates and power-ups

Wooden crates appear on the map: three new ones at each break and one more every 20 seconds during a wave, up to six at once. They stop bullets and rockets, so they are also cover. Shoot them, blow them up or hit them with the knives: each one drops a power-up that waits 30 seconds on the floor. Roll over it to take it.

• Health: gives back half your life.
• Grenades: 2 grenades and a molotov more.
• New weapon: a stronger weapon falls on the floor. Press F over it to take it; it is yours until you go down.
• Speed, rapid fire, shield and fury last 15 seconds: 15% faster, 60% more shots, half the damage taken and double damage.
• Extra life: one more life, up to 5 (MAX shows on top).
• Bomb: a blast around you that drops every enemy on your screen, behind walls too, and the ones in sight up to 12 blocks away (tanks and the boss lose a part of their life), and breaks the crates nearby.

Some power-ups are permanent: they last until the end of the run, and each one you take adds a level.

• Attack speed, damage and speed: each level makes them a little higher.
• Resistance: each level takes a little off the damage you take.
• Poison shot: whoever your bullet hits keeps losing life for 3 seconds, and the kill is yours.
• Ice shot: whoever your bullet hits slows down for a second and a half. Poison and ice only come from bullets: fire, grenades, blasts and the knife don't carry them.

Cards

Each time you beat the boss (waves 10, 20, 30...), the game stops and shows 3 cards: pick one, and it lasts until the end of the run. At the end of waves 5, 15, 25... another choice comes, among the common cards only: the epic and legendary ones come from the boss alone. Taking a card you already have raises its level (up to 5), and one of the three cards is always one you have, to build your style. Sometimes it climbs 2 levels at once (the green card), and always when a new epic or legendary one shows up. The boss always brings a rare card (epic, or legendary from wave 40) and one of yours two levels up: the rare one, or two levels of yours? So every run turns out different. Some of them: Double Shot (a chance of a second shot right after), Parallel Shot and Fan Shot (more bullets), Piercing (bullets go through enemies), Critical (a 15% to 45% chance of double damage, not for grenades or molotovs), Vampire (life per kill), Berserker (more damage below 50% life), Dodge (an 8% to 32% chance that a shot misses you), Grenadier (grenades that come back by themselves), Kill Blast (an enemy you kill blows up and hurts the ones around it) and Ricochet (a hit jumps on to the nearest enemy). Rarer, with 3 levels: Shadow Ally (an Orb on your side that copies 50%, 75% or 100% of your upgrades by its level, fights near you, never gets in your way or in front of your shots, and comes back 8 seconds after falling) and Reflector Shield (every 10 seconds, for 6 seconds, a shield stops 50%, 75% or all of the enemies' damage by its level and sends their shots back, with a counter beside your grenades, and you keep shooting). From wave 40 the legendary ones may show up: Missile Rain (every 15 seconds, rockets fall from the sky on the enemies around you, without hurting you), Silver Bullet (now and then a bullet goes through everyone and drops ordinary enemies) and Necromancer (an enemy you kill may rise on your side for 10 seconds, one every 4 seconds at most). From wave 100 come the mythic cards, three levels each: the first boss from there offers the three together, and every boss after it one of them: Reaper (an enemy below 15%, 20% or 25% of its life falls to any hit of yours; the boss takes triple damage there), Phoenix (once a wave, the blow that would kill you brings you back with 50%, 75% or all of your life, 3 seconds untouchable, in a blast of fire that takes down the ordinary enemies around) and Orbital Beam (every 20 seconds, 1, 2 or 3 beams from the sky turn around you for 4 seconds, through the walls, burning every enemy they touch). Pick with a click or the keys 1, 2 and 3. With the bazooka and the photon the shot cards (Double, Parallel, Fan, Pierce and Ricochet) do less: each of their levels also adds damage to those two weapons (3% to the bazooka, 7% to the photon). Some cards are stats: Damage (+12%), Attack speed (+10%) and Defense (6% less damage taken), a level and with no top level. They come up now and then in any choice, and once every other card is at its top, the three choices are always these: you can keep growing stronger without end.

Cores and the Workshop

Every run ends with Cores, even the worst one. Each wave you survive gives Cores, more on the higher waves (17 for the first, 30 for the 10th, 44 for the 20th, 72 for the 40th), every 2 kills give 1, each boss beaten gives 60 and a new record 45 more. Leaving in the middle of a run counts too. Before you play, the Workshop (the Survival card on the start screen opens it) trades the Cores for permanent upgrades, with several levels each:

• Health: the bar grows 20 points a level, from 100 up to 200.
• Defence: 12% less damage from every hit, per level.
• Damage: 30% more per level; fire rate: 20%; speed: 6%. Each level you buy takes you further than the run before. Grenades get half of the damage bonuses.
• Mastery: Damage, Attack speed, Life and Defense don't stop at the top. After it come Mastery levels without end, each +5% (on Damage, +10%; on Defense, 5% less damage taken) and 12% dearer than the one before.
• Starting lives: one more life per level, up to five.
• Grenades: one more grenade each time you spawn.
• Crate luck: 10% more chance per level that a crate drops a permanent power-up.
• Crate healing: the life from the crates heals more (from 50% up to 100% of the bar).
• Breather: some health back after each wave cleared (30%, 50% and 70%).
• Second wind: a blow that would kill you leaves you with half your health, once a run for each level (up to 2).

At the top of the Workshop, your Power sums up how strong you start a run: attack (the starting weapon, damage and attack speed) and toughness (health, defence, shield, lives and the rest). A new player has 100, and each upgrade shows how much Power it adds before you buy it.

The Abilities tab has what only the Workshop gives. Each permanent power-up of a run stops at 5 levels; the Power-up limit allows 2 more levels per level bought, up to 21. And three abilities: the Dash (Shift, a burst of speed with a cooldown, during which nothing hits you), the Energy shield (takes part of a hit before your life does and comes back after 4 seconds without a hit) and the Shock wave (Q, hurts and throws back the enemies around you, its damage growing with the waves). On the high waves they make the difference. There is also Reroll cards: 1 to 3 rerolls a run, three other cards when none fits (R on the choice).

The Workshop also has a daily reward: come back every day for free Cores, more each day in a row (from 50 on the first to 200 on the seventh); miss a day and the week starts over.

The Cores and the upgrades stay in your browser and, if you sign in with Google, in your account, on any device.

Milestones, exclusive Orbs and checkpoints

Some waves are milestones: reach each one once and its prize is yours for good. The weapons to start a run with: the dual machine gun on wave 10, the chain gun on 20, the bazooka on 30 and the flame thrower on 40. The exclusive Orbs: Honeycomb on 15, Flames on 25 and Camo on 32. And some Orb styles open as you go: Stripes on 5, the 8 Ball on 8, Segments on 12, Beach Ball on 18, Nuclear on 22, Bricks on 28, Dots on 35, Checkers on 45, Globe on 60, Mad Orbs on 75 and The Eye on 90. They all show up in the Orb picker of the start screen and work in every mode, online too.

Past wave 100 there is more: the Vesuvius, a boss fight in the crater of a volcano. The volcano never leaves the middle of the map, and every attack is marked on the floor before it lands: a red line where a rocket will fly, a circle where a lava bomb or a missile from the sky will fall, a ring of fire with a gap to go through and, at the end, a beam that only a wall stops. Enemies keep coming in from the edges, and its lava burns. A few crates on the map give life, grenades and the 15-second power-ups (speed, rapid fire, shield, fury). It has three phases: at two thirds and at one third of its life it erupts and gets worse. It ends when it falls (your time is the result) or when your lives run out.

The Waves' Workshop doesn't count there: the Vesuvius has its own currency, Obsidian, earned only there (for the life you take from it, the phases you reach, the enemies you kill and each win), and its own workshop, the Forge. Its tab is in the Survival window, locked until your record gets past wave 100. The record has to be on your account and checked by the server. Its levels never end: winning one opens the next, and each level's volcano has 25% more life and damage, the enemies from the edges come stronger and the Obsidian pays 25% more. To keep up, the Forge's Damage, Attack speed, Life and Defense go on past their top (the Mastery, each level a little stronger and 12% dearer). The Vesuvius ranking (its tab on the start screen and in the full ranking) goes by the highest level won and, on a tie, the fastest time on it, once the server checks the win against the time it can be played in.

The crowns are a look only, worn on top of your Orb: bronze on wave 25, silver on 50, gold on 100 and platinum, a little bigger, on 200. Pick one (or none) in the Orb picker. Signed in, the other players see it online too, once the server has checked your record.

Waves 10, 20, 30... also become checkpoints, opened once you beat that wave: clear wave 10 (bringing its boss down) and you can start on wave 10 next time, beat wave 20 and you can start on 20, and so on. A checkpoint saves your build: starting on it, you get back the permanent crate upgrades and the cards (with their levels) the run had when that wave began (the last run that beat it). You play the checkpoint's wave and its boss again, and you win its card again. The skipped waves give no Cores.

Your record and the ranking

The record is the wave you were fighting when your last life went. On a tie, whoever reached it sooner wins: the time counts from the start of the run to the start of that wave, dead time included, and each death before it adds 30 seconds. Clearing a whole wave before its time runs out brings the next one sooner. A run begun at a checkpoint starts from your best time to reach it (kept for waves 10, 20, 30... and shown in the Workshop and in the Stats). At the end of a run you see the sum: the checkpoint you started from, the time played, the deaths' seconds and the total, with the checkpoints reached and a star where you beat your best time. It is kept in your browser and, if you sign in with Google, in your account; the Ranking on the start screen has a Survival tab with the best runs and the time of each. Esc pauses the run whenever you need.

Tips

• Keep moving. The bots come straight at you, so a loop around the blocks of the map keeps them in a line behind you, where every shot finds someone.
• In the Workshop, health and speed are good first buys: they keep you alive for more waves, and more waves mean more Cores.
• Use the breaks to break crates and pick up what they drop before the next wave arrives.
• Take the permanent power-ups early: a few levels of fire rate and resistance make the late waves possible.
• Throw grenades where the bots come in, while they are still bunched up.
• Keep the bomb and the fury for the boss waves or for when the map is full.
• A crate between you and a sniper is a wall: let it take the shots while you deal with the closest bots.

To know each weapon a crate may give you, see the weapons guide; more tips in the strategy guide.

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