SWARMCORE · FIRST-MATCH GUIDE
Grow. Aim. Return safely.
Your swarm is both ammunition and protection. Learn the basic loop in Solo Lab, then practise against AI before taking it into a Live match.
1. Set comfortable controls
On the introduction screen, enter a callsign and open Settings to check your control scheme. Desktop supports mouse steering, keyboard-only, WASD + mouse and arrow keys + mouse. Check which scheme is selected before assuming a key has stopped responding.
On a phone, try landscape if your fingers cover too much of the arena. You should be able to steer with one thumb and aim with the other.
2. The Tension Arc: charge, release, recover
Move through loose energy to grow your swarm. You need at least 15 swarm to fire an Arc. The HUD shows the outgoing cost and how much may return, so check it before taking another shot from a nearly empty core.
Hold the charge control until the ring builds, point at open space and release. Some of your particles leave as the shot. Keep watching until they return: the return target follows your moving core. Repeat while moving sideways after release. You can bend the return path across a rival instead of relying only on the outward hit.
Charging compresses your swarm and provides protection, but a full charge releases automatically. A missed shot is not necessarily a total loss if its surviving particles return; a badly timed shot still leaves you weaker while they are away.
3. Keep an escape budget
If you need Phase Hop, reserve its 8-swarm cost. Repulse needs 10 and only works at close range. Pressing Q while the rival is far away will not rescue an overextended chase.
For a first practice exercise, approach an AI rival, fire once, move away and recover your shot. Then try Q when an opponent comes close. Learn the distances without stacking every action at once.
Read the safe-zone edge
The red region drains swarm and can break a weakened core. Moving into it to collect a few sparks can cost more than those sparks are worth. Turn back early, especially after firing or being pushed. In timed matches the contraction schedule depends on the arena; the current boundary is a better guide than memorising one match’s timing.
Layers are not particles
In standard timed matches, strong hits against a weakened exposed rival can fracture protective core layers. In Live, losing the final layer ends your run and the server sends your result; the room can continue for the other players. Endless tracks lives instead and ends a run when they are exhausted. Read the mode comparison before expecting the same death or reward rules everywhere.
4. Choose an upgrade for the problem you have
Prepare two choices for each tier in Mutation Lab before a run. That is a deck of possibilities, not ten active mutations at spawn. When evolution lights up, open the choice and pick the available upgrade you need. Live play keeps running, so make space before reading the options.
Long Jump supports repositioning, Closed Loop supports returning pulses, and Repulsor Coil supports close-range pushes. The complete mutation guide lists every current effect and starting plans. Mutation power is not bought with real money.
5. Move from practice to Live
Solo Lab has no rivals or rewards. Practice adds AI opponents; Daily challenge gives the day’s shared arena. These are learning modes, not ranked Core Shard farms. To earn shards, complete an eligible ranked Live multiplayer run and let the server save the result.
Look for LIVE and AI labels to distinguish human participants from computer fill. A private room is for invited play and remains unranked. Endless has no bots. For your first Live match, focus on recovering shots and returning to safety rather than chasing every opponent.
If something does not behave as expected
- ARC will not fire
- Check the swarm count, selected control scheme and cooldown. Hold and release rather than tapping repeatedly.
- A skin changes in the preview but not in the match
- Previewing does not buy or equip it. Check ownership and the Equipped state. See the collection guide.
- Live looks jerky
- Compare Practice on the same device. If both are rough, try closing other game tabs and lowering visual quality in Settings. If only Live is rough, connection latency or instability may be involved even when download speed is high.
- A run ended or a reward did not save
- Check the mode and result screen. Only eligible ranked Live awards shards. If the core disappears without a result or the interface gets stuck, send the mode, device, approximate time and screenshot through Send feedback or email info@desigame.eu.