Game Mechanics: Weapons

Welcome, and thanks for checking in, Agents.

This section will include general information on my personal favorites of Ingress' items, the various kinds of weapons that are available for use in the game. All of them are used for attacking the Resonators on a particular Portal, and in some cases, even turning all of the Portal's Resonators and Mods into your own! So, without further ado, let's begin.

                       

The first and most commonly used weapons of the game are Exotic Matter Pulses, also known as XMPs and Bursters. They are accessed for use in one of two ways. First, the player may select the item from their inventory via the   OPS   button, and click the   FIRE   command. This will bring up the XMP firing menu. Alternatively, an Agent may long-press on their Scanner Map View and swipe upward to select   FIRE XMP  . This will also bring up the XMP firing menu.

Listed below is the XMP firing menu. As can be seen, it shows all of an Agent's available XMPs, as well as how many of each XMP the player has in their inventory. Swiping left or right will select the XMP to be fired, and pressing   FIRE   will consume the XMP to launch an attack. Note that XM is consumed when firing an XP, and more XM is required for higher-level XMPs.

Once an XMP has been fired, its effects can be seen as the attack wave of the XMP comes out from the player's location (the point at which the XMP is fired). 

Higher level XMPs have a wider attack radius. The attack radius of an XMP can be checked at any time by selecting the XMP from the   OPS   menu. (See L8 XMP image above.) When selecting a low-level XMP to fire, remember the orange 40m effective range circle around the player. Compare the range of the XMP to the circle to determine whether or not the XMP will hit your intended target. (Higher level XMPs have much larger ranges, so this is not as necessary.) Finally, it is important to note that XMPs are most effective at the center of their blast radius, and lose damage capability the farther away they are from their point of origin (the location of the Agent at the time the XMP was fired).

When an XMP hits an enemy Resonator on the map, an orange damage number will appear, such as -15%. This shows the amount of that particular Resonator's maximum Energy capacity that it has taken in damage from the XMP that was fired. If a damage number appears with an exclamation point, such as !-45%, then the Resonator has landed a critical hit, dealing bonus damage to the Resonator. When a Resonator has no remaining Energy, it is destroyed, will disappear from view, and give off a high-pitched destruction sound.

This is more or less the entirety of the basic mechanics behind XMPs. Finer aspects of XMPs, such as strategies for use, will be discussed in a later post.

The next type of weapon that can be used in the game is called an Ultra Strike, pictured below.

An Ultra Strike functions in a similar fashion to a regular XMP, in that it is fired to destroy enemy Resonators. However, Ultra Strikes possess a special feature: they are extremely powerful and have a greatly enhanced critical hit chance, but are only effective extremely close to their point of origin. For example, even though the effective range lists 30m for the above Level 8 Ultra Strike, objects that are not in the immediate vicinity of the point of origin will take little to no damage. The advantage of Ultra Strikes is that they can be used to, in many cases, instantaneously destroy a Resonator that is in its area of greatest damage, and are also extremely effective for destroying Portal Mods.

Although their use is very specialized, Ultra Strikes are an extremely potent weapon, and are a force to be reckoned with if used properly.

This sums up the two most common weapons used in Ingress. The remaining weapons are extremely rare, but undeniably powerful.

The two other weapons are known as the ADA Refactor and the JARVIS Virus. These weapons consume 1000 XM times the portal's level when used, and can be used to reverse the alignment of a Resistance-controlled or Enlightened-controlled Portal to that of the opposing faction, depending on which of the weapons is being used. It is important to note, however, that unlike destroying Resonators with XMPs, and Deploying new Resonators, using an ADA Refactor or JARVIS Virus does not earn the Agent any AP. The details of each are listed below.

What makes each of these weapons so powerful is their ability to take control of an enemy Portal, without giving the enemy a chance to recharge or defend the Portal; it is simply "swapped". In addition, ALL Resonators that were deployed on the Portal, as well as ALL of its Portal Mods, become the property of the Agent that used the ADA Refactor or JARVIS Virus. Players of the now controlling Agent's faction can still Deploy new Resonators and Portal Mods if slots are available, Upgrade Resonators that are currently present, and Recharge Resonators that are already Deployed.

In order to use an ADA Refactor or JARVIS Virus, an Agent must access their inventory via opening the usual   OPS   menu, selecting the ADA Refactor or JARVIS Virus, and clicking   USE  . The Agent will then see their Scanner Map View, their 40m effective radius, and any nearby Portals in the area. Once a Portal is within range, the Agent may select   FIRE   to consume the weapon, and will see the Portal being taken over. Once the screen flashes white, the attack is complete.

Finally, swapping a Portal using an ADA Refactor or JARVIS Virus has a cooldown time. Once a Portal has been swapped using one of these items, the Portal cannot be swapped again for 1 hour. Attempting to do so will waste the XM used, as well as the ADA Refactor or JARVIS Virus.

This concludes my discussion of the basic game mechanics of weapons that are available for use in Ingress. More specific details, extra strategies, and additional information will be discussed in a later post. Check back to this page as often as needed to answer any questions about weapons, or feel free to shoot me a message in game at @EliteFerrex with any questions. I hope this information serves you well.

Good luck out there--it's time to move, Agent!