So you saw the icon, and given that you wanna score big, came to this guide for advice.
Well, you came to the right place! Within this guide, I'll be teaching you the tips and tricks I, and some of the community uses to make sure they're able to walk away with 30+ million points per (most) song(s), and climb up those leaderboards like nobody's business!

I can seem rather daunting at first, especially if you're more familiar with the first game, given that there's a whole new system to learn here. Why, even the tiniest change of detail can completely change how a game can play! But don't worry, this guide will hopefully teach you the ways of Beat Hazard 2, and the ways to score big!

• Song Selection and Open Mic
  
• The Ship to Pick
  
• Money Mangement
  
• Perk Weapons
  
• Enemy Strats
  
• Modules and Generated Ships
  
• And More

In case the title didn't tip you off, Beat Hazard 2 is primarily a music game. If you're seasoned with the first game, you should be good to go, though it'll never hurt to retrieve a few more! After all, having a massive music library is one of the key goals to getting you to that fabled top 1000-100s!

"But I don't own many songs,I stream them." you might say, and let's just say there's a reason Open Mic was one of the most request additions to BH2! Amazon Music, Spotify, Pandora, IHeartRadio, your own music livestreams, if it can be streamed, you can ride it to the very end and amass your points!

However, those those of you wanting to amass a big library of songs, and don't want to hassle with streaming services, there are alternatives available... but the one that won't land me in hot water (maybe) is buying the albums directly from the artist.

Although your top priority is picking the songs you like and going from there, look for songs that are more than 3 minutes long, has a deep bass, and doesn't have too many silent or low-activity sections of songs, much like techo, dubstep, or house music would have, which works best with BH2.

If you're sticking to the Standard Ship, skip this part.

The ship hangar has definitely seen some new... well, ships arrive, each one carrying their own playstyle and feel. This list below will cover all of the vanilla ships, and what my recommendation would be for them.


"Tried and tested."

This is the stock ship you start with when you begin BH2. It's pretty much the jack of all stats, not excelling at anything, you don't have to really chew up your special weapons for anything, either.


"A ship where all the firepower is focused in a single tight beam."

As the name implies, this ship fires only one beam, but what a beam it is! This ship is essentially perfect for dealing with large ships and giant ship bosses. You will have to learn how to accurately aim when you're dealing with a large crowd of small ships and when you're getting a snake boss, though.


"Hazards come in all directions, so this ship fires in all directions.

Crowd Control: The Ship. Considering how hectic Zen gets, and how much the game likes to sic those ring-formation enemies at you, if you don't mind being a bit weaker than normal for bosses that require sustained firepower, this ship works wonders!


"A slow and difficult ship to handle with monstrous firepower."

For some, mobility isn't all that important for dealing with the massive amounts of enemies you'll be facing when out and about the battlefield. That being said, if you don't mind having a massive and slow hitbox in exchange for six beams of pure destruction and boss-killing, this will be one you'll wanna stick to.


"Stellar Tom Cat"

This is a ship that sweeps the beams (they turn independently in a set pattern while you fire or not), turning it's beams into a cone of destruction. It's... not very impressive, and unless you're going for all the Shaow Ops missions, this is a ship that doesn't bring all too much too the table.

Refer to this section when you've got enough money, which will be discussed in another section

First off, if you haven't already, unlock the COLOR and POW perks and upgrade them fully, since much like it's predecessor, you'll seriously need to be at your most powerful if you wanna get past Zen, something you'll need to unlock after that, after Suicidal and Apocalyptic. You'll also wanna focus on upgrading as much of your score perks as you can, one multiplier can make or break a high score, even the seemingly useless x1 multipliers.

You'll also need perk weapons unless you're going for a challenge run. While there's noting stopping you from picking any 'ol perk weapon and making the most out of them, my personal favorite is the Reflect Shield, one that although doesn't add extra ass-kicking, renders you entirely invincible to any kind of attack for a few seconds, a few seconds being all it takes for a ship to get overwhelmed and explode.

Space Junk

These hunks of scrap metal from destroyed ships and rocks fly from one side of the screen to the other, and don't pose any real threat, unless in huge numbers. Break as many of these seemingly useless piles as you can, they have a much higher chance for a really good bonus than normal enemies do.

The Scout

This is the least threatening ship you'll have to deal with. When they're brought out on the field, the only way they can really harm you is if you run into them. They also have decent amount of numbers, but they won't really be much of a problem after the intro to a song is over.

The Fighter

These guys, much like Scouts, look like they don't do much but float around, but these guys are equipped with photon blasters (the slow red dots that fly in a straight line), which can put you in quite in a pickle if enough of them are fired. Since photons cannot be shot at, deal with these guys first if they ever show up.

The Bomber
Although they're not anymore tougher than their Fighter and Scout cousins, these guys carry homing missiles that fire ever-so periodically, and if your ship isn't prepared to deal with huge amounts of them, these guys could ruin a perfectly good run. Deal with them after taking out higher-priority enemies before they start plopping out missiles.

The Swarm
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Appearing every so often, these guys telegraph their appearance and form a ring around the playfield that can be shot out of. While these guys by themselves aren't dangerous, they do a real nasty number when paired with a more dangerous enemy, like a Rapier Beam Cuiser or a Cobra Attack Ship.

The Stalker
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A near-twin cousin to the Pulsar, these guys show up in groups every so often to pull your ship towards itself, as to restrict your movement and allow the other ships to get a clean target, potentially spelling your end. They have decent armor, but you'll probably wanna deal with the bigger guys first before they take your chance to take the Stalker(s) down.

The Pulsar
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A near-twin cousin to the Stalker, these guys show up in groups every so often to push your ship away from itself, often into other hazards like a big group of small-tier ships, a stray Space Junk, or right next to a bigger ship that can easily blow you away if you're next to it. They have decent armor, but you'll probably wanna deal with the bigger guys first before they take your chance to take the Pulsar(s) down.

The Miner
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What's supposed to be blowing up asteroids is now waltzing over to your playfield, showing up in telegraphed groups and dropping mines that although don't kill, disable the ability to fire your beams for a few seconds if one single mine gets to your ship. Like other support ships, they really can't do much by themselves, especially considering their projectiles are harmless (but annoying), but with other bigger, more dangerous ships, they can really screw you over if left unchecked.

The ECM Corvette
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A functional cousin to the Miner, these guys carry a long-ranged ECM beam that can disable your beams and weapons for a surprisingly long duration. Make sure you keep your distance when dealing with this one, using a ship with low firepower spread if possible, otherwise you'll be finding yourself without an attack when the big guys (or a huge amount of the little guys) come knocking on the hull.

The Reaper
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Like Scouts, they don't do much but float around and get in your way with a much bigger hitbox. What sets them apart, however, is that when they die, they launch out a number of homing missiles around itself as an attempt of taking you down with them, spawning up to 16-20 if you're on Zen! Deal with these guys carefully, and with plenty of perk weapons to help you if possible.

The Bulldog
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Tough and uncaring, these bulky brawnies form up in lines, firing a triplet of photons every so often. They also arrive in telegraphed groups. much like the Puslars/Stalkers, Miners, EMC Corvettes, and The Swarm. Hopefully you've got good firepower or a perk weapon dedicated to dealing with them if they ever show up.

The Heavy Barrage Cruiser
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These big guys, forming in telegraphed groups, are much bigger and tougher to destroy than the Bulldogs. They can't really move and can barely aim at you, but they make up for with an impressive barrage of 4-pack rockets. These persistent predators need quite a bit of firepower in order to take them out, but having a wide spread of firepower defangs the rocket when dealing with them as well, so make that of what you will.

The Cobra Attack Ship
Don't let their unimpressive size and weak form fool you, these tricky troublemakers bear a missile turret that fires a direct upgrade to the homing missile: a Cobra missile that takes an indirect, wiggly path right over to you and is much tougher to destroy than their zergling cousins. Destroy these guys as fast as possible before their firepower ruins your run.
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The Rapier Beam Cruiser
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The absolute worst of the bunch. The destroyer of many a run. The only threat that can carry a beam and aim it right at you. The Rapier Beam Cruiser. These nasty fellows form at then center of the screen in packs up to five, and have a shield you need to whittle down before you can have at them. Have a perk weapon ready if you ever have to deal with them.


Giant Enemy Ship
"INCOMING MASS: [number] KILOTONS"
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Giant Serpent
"INCOMING MASS: UNIDENTIFIED OBJECT"
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if you're sticking to the Standard Ship, feel free to skip this part.

Once you've got enough money to buy all the perks, most of what you'll be spending your money on will be Generated Ships, discovered after you finish a long-enough song. The companies that sell you these sorts of ships run as thus:

• General Industries (Affordable Destruction!): These are probably the first ships you'll buy, going for about $10K-$15K than the usual $20-$50K. These ships don't deviate all that much from the Standard Ship, having stats that don't stray all to far from 1, making them the "jack-of-all-stats", if you will.
  
• Blazer Labs (You Can't Dodge Light Speed!): These eggheads (like the author of this guide) specialize in ships that fire extremely fast, ensuring that if you'll always hit your target whenever you aim at something. Blazer ships don't tend to be the fastest, aren't heavy hitters, and sometimes handle like poop, but as long as you're able to aim well enough, those shouldn't be much of a problem.
  
• War Bringer Cartel (Annihilation!): With extremely powerful and decently fast bullets, these guys allow to to scorch enemies and bosses alike without having to see them for more than a few seconds. Of course, firepower like this comes at a price, mostly with handling and pickup repulsion, but such is life when you've got crazy-good guns.
  
• Brute Inc (Why Bring A Gun When You Can Have A Nuke?): With 4-6 beams of pure firepower and decently strong bullets, the ships this company produces will outfire even the absolute worst of the bunch, including the bosses. They're pretty big and slow, and sometimes has poor deceleration, but as long as you've got the firepower, you've got it in the can!
  
• Mosquito Systems (Fast, Small, Agile): If you don't mind sacrificing some your firepower and handling in exchange for a tiny ship that can easily weave through even the thickest of projectile storms, these guys have you covered. Mosquito ships aren't really all that well-aquainted dealing with anything that needs any amount of sustained fire, such as large bosses or the Rapier Beams, but as long as you're good at dodging stuff, you'll pull though.
  
• Cra$y Thief Hackers (Greed Is Good!): At first glance, you might pass these guys off, as their stats are usually inferior to General Industries, and even if they don't, they still kinda suck at firepower in general. But the one big saving grace for the reverse-engineers is that Thief ships have an insane pickup magnetism, making it easy to grab perk weapons, score multipliers, and cash! ...You still might wanna grab a few modules for these ships, though.
  
• Scorched Earth (Indiscriminate Carnage!): Most of Scorched Earth produces are ships with fast bullets, decently well-rounded other stats, and a really, really wide range of fire. It will grow annoying having to get close to bosses to really do anything to them, but at least you don't have to aim all that much when dealing with anything else.

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• Don't be afraid to get close to the enemy, even if they have the dreaded Cobra Missiles.
  
• If you have Shields, don't be afraid to get a little reckless when they're in use, any refected projectile can be put to your use!
  
• It's always a good idea to hold out for a couple of Shadow Op missions if there's a generated/Workshop ship that has a Rare or Legendary module.
  
• Pickup attraction is a must if you're going for really high multipliers and scores, likewise any pickup repellants are more trouble than what they're worth should be rectified with Pickup Force modules if you have them, especially if you're getting a Legendary module.
  
• Even if you lack the skill, the best advice of all is to simply have fun with what you like, leaderboards are just that, boards that tell you who got the most points in sequential order.

[This guide is still under much needed progress as I need to gather screenshots and more information about the game, and the game's also actively updating as I go along, so please stay patient with me while this hopefully comes together!]