Rookie
Use the slower enemy speed and lower boss health to learn route planning, teleporter checks, projectile timing, and boss phases. The score factor is lower, but a clean longer run can still outperform an early Nightmare exit.
What each difficulty actually changes
| Mode | Regular enemy speed | Boss health | Scaled score rewards |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rookie | 82% | 80% | 85% |
| Arcade | 100% | 100% | 100% |
| Nightmare | 124% | 120% | 140% |
The score factor applies to regular-enemy eliminations, survival ticks, wave-clear rewards, and boss-defeat rewards. It does not multiply near-miss points, perfect-wave bonuses, or the 1,000-point overflow reward for collecting Extra Life at the life cap.
Difficulty does not change your three starting lives, player movement speed, regular-enemy base health, power-up durations, authored enemy pools, boss order, combo rules, or the requirement to defeat a living boss before the wave advances.
Choosing the right mode
Arcade
The reference balance for enemy speed, boss health, and scoring. It is the clearest place to compare your decisions with the formulas in the scoring guide.
Nightmare
Regular enemies move 24% faster than Arcade, bosses have 20% more health, and scaled rewards use ×1.4. Choose it after you can read mixed enemy lanes without relying on late reactions.
What mode cannot solve
All modes use the same wave plan. Snipers still hold range, mines still occupy old routes, and bosses still enter their faster phases. Pattern knowledge remains the main survival tool.
How XP and levels work
XP is awarded when a run ends. The run reward is:
Run XP = 3 × regular enemies destroyed + 35 × current wave + 80 × bosses defeated.
Difficulty and final score do not directly multiply XP. Your displayed level is calculated from total device-local XP: Level = floor(√(XP ÷ 180)) + 1. The threshold for Level N is (N − 1)² × 180 XP, so later levels require progressively more total XP.
Levels are a progression display. They do not raise weapon damage, lives, speed, combo limits, or pickup power.
Where coins come from
- Regular enemies: at least 1 coin per elimination, using floor(base enemy points ÷ 90). Higher-value families can award 2 or 3.
- Wave clear: 5 + floor(wave number ÷ 2) coins.
- Boss defeat: 80 + 3 × the current wave number coins.
- Achievements: a one-time reward between 50 and 800 coins, depending on the achievement.
- Daily mission: one completion reward from the current rotating mission, between 220 and 260 coins.
Difficulty, combo, Score Multiplier, and quick boss kills do not multiply coins. Coins unlock cosmetic orb skins and trails only; they cannot purchase combat power. See every price and milestone in Achievements & Rewards.
What persists—and where
Your callsign, personal best, highest wave, XP, coin balance, completed achievements, owned and selected cosmetics, daily mission state, run count, and settings are saved in browser storage on the current device. They are not a cross-device account.
Clearing site data, using a different browser profile, or moving to another device starts a fresh local profile. It does not delete completed scores already accepted by the global leaderboard. Conversely, playing without a server-created online session can still update local progress, but that run cannot become a verified global score.
The daily mission is chosen from the current UTC date. When the UTC day changes, the stored daily mission progress is replaced by the new day’s mission on the next profile load.
A progression plan that improves play
- Learn the early enemy sequence on Rookie without treating score as the goal.
- Move to Arcade and practice preserving a combo while keeping a safe route.
- Use daily missions as focused drills: kills for target uptime, waves for survival, bosses for encounter consistency, and score for complete-run discipline.
- Try Nightmare when faster movement no longer forces panic corrections. The reward factor only matters if the run stays alive.
Play Neon Blitz, review the controls, or prepare for later patterns in the Bosses & Waves guide.
Mechanics note: This guide is maintained against the current Neon Blitz production implementation and is updated when relevant mechanics materially change.
Continue learning the arena
Browse every player guide, or continue with one of these field manuals: