Abilities & Stances
Every round an Icaroid can move and shoot, but some components or glyphs you bolt on grant abilities such as leaps, unit deployments, terrain reshaping, or distracting beacons. A few of these abilities are stances you toggle on and leave running. This guide explains the round-action slots an ability spends, the toggled stances that change how you fight, the limits that keep the strongest abilities in check, and what the abilities you'll meet most often actually do.
What an ability is
An ability an extra tool you can perform each round. It is separate from the built-in move and fire actions every Icaroid already has; you only get an ability if something on the frame provides it, whether that's a dedicated module, a mobility part, or an ichor glyph. When facing an enemy with a key ability, destroy its host component to disable the ability.
Action slots & cost
Each round an Icaroid has three independent action slots:
- Move - the normal step-by-step movement budget. See Movement & Positioning.
- Fire - shooting a weapon at a target.
- Ability - a third slot reserved for abilities, independent of move and fire.
Every ability declares which slots it consumes. An ability that consumes move
replaces your movement that round, one that consumes fire
replaces your attack action, and one that consumes only the ability slot can be
used alongside moving and firing.
| Consumes | What you give up | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Ability only | Nothing else - still move and fire this round. | Resonate, Drop Beacon, Fire Everything |
| Move | Your movement for the round. | Jump, Flow, Deploy / Limber |
| Fire | A weapon shot (some fire the carrier weapon anyway). | Raise Terrain, Deploy Mine |
| Move + Fire | Both - you only act through the ability this round. | Mining Repair |
Stances: toggled abilities
Most abilities resolve once and are done. A stance is different: it toggles a status effect on and leaves it running until you toggle it back off. You spend the slot to enter the stance, then it costs nothing to hold - but you also can't remove it without spending a slot to leave the stance.
Deploy / Limber
Deploy / Limber is the most common stance. Toggling it on anchors the Icaroid in place and applies Deployed; missile accuracy climbs sharply and indirect-fire weapons have less projectile scatter. The catch is you cannot move while deployed, and limbering up to move again costs your move slot on the round you break anchor. It's a powerful stance for artillery and snipers that want to plant themselves in a good location and pour on fire from long range at full accuracy, since you don't have to worry about accuracy loss from movement.
Cooldowns & uses
The most powerful abilities carry one of two resource limitations, so use them with care:
- Cooldown
- A number of rounds that must pass between uses. Jump and Charged Dash have a two round cooldown; Resonate waits three; but Flow only one. The clock starts the round you use it.
- Uses per battle
- A hard cap across the entire battle, no matter how long it runs. Placement abilities like Place Planet Siphon and Drop Beacon are usually limited to two deployments each, so place them where they'll count.
Abilities that do not consume a resource, such as Deploy / Limber and Raise Terrain, are limited only by the slots they cost and any power/ammo costs. You can use them every round you're willing to pay for them.
Movement abilities
These replace your normal move with a burst of motion that ordinary movement can't match. They'll allow you to clear difficult terrain, cross gaps, or break or engage contact with an important foe. They all consume the move slot and act during the movement phase, so you may fire normally in the same round.
| Ability | Reach | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Jump | 6 hexes | A burst leap that ignores terrain height entirely, ideal for crossing chasms and clearing obstacles. 2-round cooldown. |
| Flow | 5 hexes | A fluid surge that allows you to cross terrain of any kind, ignoring move penalties and the fall damage of steep descents. 1-round cooldown. |
| Charged Dash | 5 hexes | An electric rush that deals 30 electrical damage to enemies adjacent to the path it follows. 2-round cooldown. |
Jump clears the climb-height limit outright, making it the cleanest way off a ledge or over an impassable wall; Flow trades a hex of range to suppress the crash damage of a long drop and movement penalties of difficult terrain; Charged Dash turns repositioning into a small attack in its own right. Any of them are valuable to give heavy, immobile units an opportunity to get around or slip a unit into an unexpected position.
Terrain & placement
This family changes the terrain itself, raising and dropping elevation, or leaving destructible objects that provide bonuses or hazards to nearby units. Most consume the fire slot; the terrain-shaping weapons fire the weapon as part of the same action.
Reshaping the ground
| Ability | Effect on the map |
|---|---|
| Raise Terrain | Permanently raises the target hex by 3 elevation steps and deals heavy stability damage to anything standing on it. Used to build cover that can't be easily destroyed or threaten an enemy with a crash. |
| Resonance Quake | Permanently lowers half the tiles in a 2-hex radius by 1 height, dealing light stability damage across the area. Used to disrupt an enemy's movement plans, immobilize small enemies, and set enemies up for a crash. |
Both fire the carrier weapon as they work, and both inflict stability damage, which can cause a deadly a crash. Reshaped terrain is permanent, so a well-placed Raise Terrain can change sightlines for the rest of the battle.
Leaving things behind
| Ability | What it places |
|---|---|
| Deploy Mine | Fires an explosive mine to a hex; it stays hidden unless detected with indirect sensors, and explodes when something enters its tile. Fires the carrier weapon too. |
| Drop Beacon | Places a decoy structure enemies see through the fog as an Icaroid you control. 2 uses per battle. |
| Place Planet Siphon | Places a structure that boosts nearby friendly Chorus Icaroids' glyph effectiveness. 2 uses per battle. |
Placed objects are destructible and sit on the battlefield until killed. Deploy Mine denies a lane; Drop Beacon feeds the enemy a false target through the fog of war; Place Planet Siphon rewards building a glyph-heavy Chorus force around it.
Support & utility
Support abilities keep your own side running at optimal efficiency by sharing effects, mending structure, or rapidly manufacturing or sharing ammunition.
- Resonate
- Pulses out from the user, pushing your positive effects onto allies and your negative ones onto enemies within 3 hexes. Spends only the ability slot, but has a 3-round cooldown. Time this for when both your buffs and the enemy's debuffs are worth spreading. Best used on a durable, fast frame that can reach and survive a short-range engagement.
- Mining Repair
- Mines the surrounding terrain to repair this Icaroid's own structure. Consumes both move and fire and has a 2-round cooldown. Best used when not under direct fire.
- Fire Everything
- Overloads the ammo factories to replenish up to 40 ammo, but consumes 25% of the structure and armor of a random component. This ability is a dangerous gamble that should only be used as a last resort in extended engagements when your magazines run low on ammo.
Putting it together
Abilities can make or break a build. A long-range gun platform can become a powerful turret by using Deploy / Limber in a good location; a skirmisher often wants Jump or Flow to avoid charging enemies; an engineer can reshape the board with Raise Terrain and Deploy Mine before the enemy arrives.