Game Guide
Ionstorm — complete guide
Everything a seasoned player needs: weapon stats at every level, how evolutions unlock, enemy values, and the mechanics behind Rift Signals and the boss cycle.
Overview
How it works
Move
Touch anywhere to place a virtual joystick. Drag to move your ship. Your weapons auto-fire — your only decision is position.
Level up
Enemies drop emerald XP gems. Collect enough to level up. Every level-up offers three choices: take one. You can hold up to four weapons and four passives.
Enemy scaling
Enemy HP and damage scale continuously with game time. Mites appear from the start; Darts arrive around 40 s; Husks at 90 s; Titans at 3 min.
Survive
Your integrity is your health. Enemies damage on contact. A short invincibility window (0.6 s) activates after each hit. Zero integrity ends the run.
Weapons
Five weapons, five levels each
You start with Pulse Bolt at level 1. Additional weapons appear as level-up choices. Each weapon can be upgraded up to level 5. Reaching level 5 while holding its paired passive triggers an Evolution (see below).
Pulse Bolt
Auto-fires bolts at the nearest enemy. The starter weapon — reliable at all stages of a run.
| Level | Damage | Rate (shots/s) | Projectiles | Pierce |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 12 | 1.4 | 1 | 0 |
| 2 | 17 | 1.65 | 1 | 0 |
| 3 | 23 | 1.9 | 2 | 1 |
| 4 | 30 | 2.2 | 2 | 1 |
| 5 ★ | 40 | 2.6 | 3 | 2 |
Evolution: Flak Burst — pair with Core Plating. Adds 3 extra shots, broader spread, +20% damage.
Ion Shards
Crystal shards orbit you and deal damage on contact. Passive — no cooldown. Works best when you move through the horde.
| Level | Damage | Shards | Orbit radius |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 8 | 1 | 70 |
| 2 | 10 | 2 | 76 |
| 3 | 14 | 3 | 84 |
| 4 | 18 | 3 | 94 |
| 5 ★ | 24 | 4 | 106 |
Evolution: Shard Storm — pair with Tractor Field. Shards multiply and actively seek enemies.
Arc Lightning
Fires a bolt that chains through clustered enemies. Devastating when the horde packs tight.
| Level | Damage | Cooldown (s) | Chains |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 12 | 1.60 | 3 |
| 2 | 16 | 1.45 | 4 |
| 3 | 22 | 1.30 | 5 |
| 4 | 28 | 1.15 | 6 |
| 5 ★ | 38 | 1.00 | 8 |
Evolution: Chain Storm — pair with Hyperclock. Relentless arcing field; rate and chain count surge.
Nova Ring
Periodic shockwave that deals damage and knocks the horde back. Buys breathing room when overwhelmed.
| Level | Damage | Cooldown (s) | Radius |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 15 | 3.20 | 130 |
| 2 | 20 | 3.00 | 155 |
| 3 | 28 | 2.70 | 185 |
| 4 | 36 | 2.45 | 215 |
| 5 ★ | 50 | 2.20 | 260 |
Evolution: Singularity — pair with Overcharge. Becomes a collapsing crush field; highest single-weapon DPS in the game.
Plasma Lance
A piercing beam that skewers entire columns. Infinite pierce — hits every enemy in a line per shot.
| Level | Damage | Cooldown (s) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 14 | 1.40 |
| 2 | 19 | 1.27 |
| 3 | 26 | 1.14 |
| 4 | 34 | 1.00 |
| 5 ★ | 46 | 0.88 |
Evolution: Railgun — pair with Thrusters. Fires three parallel beams per shot.
Passives
Six passive upgrades
Passives stack multiplicatively with each other. Each can be taken multiple times; effects compound per level. Passives also unlock evolutions — see the next section.
Overcharge
+10% weapon damage per level. Scales every weapon simultaneously. Pairs with Nova Ring for Singularity.
Hyperclock
+10% attack speed (fire rate) per level. Applies to all weapons at once. Pairs with Arc Lightning for Chain Storm.
Thrusters
+8% move speed per level. Staying mobile is survival — more speed means more XP vacuuming and less damage taken. Pairs with Plasma Lance for Railgun.
Core Plating
+20 max integrity and immediately heals 20 on pickup. Can be taken multiple times for compounding max HP. Pairs with Pulse Bolt for Flak Burst.
Tractor Field
+40% pickup range per level. Dramatically accelerates XP collection — you level faster without steering into gems. Pairs with Ion Shards for Shard Storm.
Nanoswarm
+1 integrity regenerated per second, per level. Counteracts chip damage over long runs. Stacks well with Core Plating for a durable build.
Evolutions
Five evolved weapon forms
When a weapon reaches level 5 and you hold its paired passive at level 1 or higher, the weapon automatically evolves into a super-form for the rest of the run. Each weapon has exactly one evolution path — plan around it early.
Flak Burst
Wide scatter volley. Adds 3 bonus shots, broader spread, +20% damage. Turns the corridor weapon into a cone shotgun.
Shard Storm
Shards multiply and seek. Becomes an active homing weapon rather than a contact ring — the orbit becomes a storm.
Chain Storm
Relentless arcing field. Fire rate and chain count surge. Against packed hordes this is the highest-hitting evolved form.
Singularity
Collapsing crush field. The shockwave radius and damage both increase dramatically. Overcharge stacks amplify it further.
Railgun
Piercing triple-beam. Fires three parallel columns per shot. At high enemy density the beams hit stacked targets repeatedly.
Enemies
Four enemy types
All base stats below. In-game HP and damage scale continuously with game time — these are the starting values at t = 0.
| Enemy | Base HP | Speed | Contact damage | XP value | Appears at |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mite | 8 | 55 | 8 | 1 | Game start |
| Dart | 6 | 135 | 6 | 1 | ~40 s |
| Husk | 30 | 38 | 14 | 3 | ~90 s |
| Titan | 120 | 28 | 22 | 8 | ~3 min |
Elite variants spawn occasionally at any stage. They are visually larger, more threatening, and award significantly more XP. Elites are worth chasing — the XP advantage compounds across the rest of the run.
Special mechanic
Rift Signals
What it is
A Rift Signal is an off-screen objective marker that appears roughly every 90–115 seconds. An arrow on the edge of the screen points toward it.
Engage it
Move toward the marker until you're within range. This spawns a Rift Guardian — a powerful elite enemy — and starts a 46-second fight timer.
Kill it
Destroy the Rift Guardian within 46 seconds. On kill: 18 XP gems scatter around the rift position plus a healing pickup drops.
Miss it
If 46 seconds pass without a kill — or you never engage the marker before it expires — the rift closes with no reward.
Worth the detour? Almost always yes. The XP gem burst is one of the largest single-event level-up accelerators in the game. Rift Signals are especially powerful early when a level-up means a second weapon slot.
The boss cycle
The Collapsar
First appearance
The Collapsar arrives at 6:00 minutes. It cannot be avoided — it comes to you. The horde keeps spawning during the fight.
Kill it
Defeat the Collapsar and the run continues. A stronger version returns every 2.5 minutes. Each cycle is harder than the last.
Minions
The boss spawns enemy minions throughout the fight. Prioritize movement over fighting minions — keep cycling the arena so your weapons handle them passively.
Build check
The boss cycle is the hardest check your loadout faces. Runs that survive past the second or third Collapsar are well-built. Most good runs start cracking here.
Strategy
Build paths and tips
- 01 Commit to one evolution early. Pick a weapon and its matching passive as your first two investments. A half-built loadout of five level-2 weapons is weaker than two well-leveled weapons approaching evolution.
- 02 Singularity (Nova + Overcharge) is the strongest solo evolution. The radius expansion means it clears the screen at max level. If you land Overcharge stacks first, the knockback buys time to collect more Overcharge — it snowballs.
- 03 Tractor Field is underrated. +40% pickup range means you level up faster without steering through the horde. Faster levels means faster weapon upgrades, which enables evolutions sooner. Treat it like a speed multiplier for the whole run.
- 04 Always engage Rift Signals. The XP gem burst is too large to skip. Even if the fight is tight, the level-up you bank pays back in weapon damage for the rest of the run.
- 05 Arc Lightning needs dense packs to shine. Don't take it if you're planning a fast-movement Thrusters build — you'll kite the horde apart and the chains have nothing to jump to. Pair it with Nova Ring to cluster enemies first, then arc.
- 06 Dart enemies deal less damage but move faster than Mites. They appear around 40 s. Plasma Lance or Pulse Bolt handle them best — Ion Shards can miss fast-moving targets at low orbit radius.