Hello! I am Ceph, your guide to higher-level content in Beat Hazard and a former Top 10 player. This guide is geared towards familiarizing yourself with the different enemies, the tips and tricks that the pros use, and how to crank huge scores out.

This is a guide intended for:

• New players.
  
• Players looking to improve.
  
• Players who want to consistently top charts on Daily and Lightning challenges.
  
• Players who already have a good handle on the game, but are not sure where to go from there.

This guide will help users of almost all skill levels with the exceptions being those who already know everything here.

And with that being said, let's pick apart the inner workings of how to get ridiculous scores in Beat Hazard 2!

The first and biggest thing I hear a lot is "I can't get good at this game! It's too hard!".

I'm here to tell you that's a load of dogs***. You CAN get good at this game. Everyone starts somewhere; everyone starts small, everyone starts bad. EVERYONE starts bad. Nobody is good at this game right away. I started on Normal 50% and could barely beat it; now I'm running Zen 300% tracks with no items OR extra lives and topping the charts on half of them (more on that near the end of this guide).

You. Can. Do. This.

YOU are the only person stopping you from being good at this game. You have to want to improve badly enough that you will break past that incredibly detrimental mindset and realize that yes, it is possible to improve and throw down on that scoreboard with some of the best.

If you don't have the willpower to get better, you never will get better. Keep this in mind through this whole guide.

This is not meant to be harsh. This is a reality check to make sure you understand what you are going after and that the only person stopping you is yourself.

You will fail. You will learn. But if you keep at it, you will eventually get it - some of these are not "overnight skills".

First up, we have the Small Fries. These are the smaller ships that generally pose little threat when dealt with quickly, but allowing these enemies to stack up will quickly end a run.

• Asteroids
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Asteroids; the most common enemy at the start and end of a track. These guys are just mindless chunks of space junk that don't really do anything besides fly in a straight line. However, they have their own set of pros and cons.
  Pros
  
  • Fantastic source of score multipliers
    
  • Easy to destroy, even in large numbers
    
  • Usually alone or with other Small Fries
  Cons
  
  • When ignored, can overwhelm a player quickly
    
  • Splits into more asteroids on destruction that fan out
  
  
• Scouts
  
  
  
  
  
  Usually the first enemy with player-responsive behavior that one encounters in Beat Hazard, Scouts are easily the most numerous enemies on any given track, especially near the start and end. These guys have one unique strength, and that's numbers.
  Pros
  
  • Fantastic source of score multipliers
    
  • Easy to destroy, even in large numbers
    
  • Usually alone or with other Small Fries
  Cons
  
  • Usually spawns in separated groups, forcing a player to spread firepower
    
  • A single ignored Scout can snipe the player when they least expect it (on higher difficulties)
  
  
• Fighters
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Fighters are the backbone of the Small Fry arsenal. Most players mistake them for just a beefier version of the Scout, but unlike Scouts, these guys pack a nasty surprise; they can fire photons, which you can't just shoot down like a Reaper missile.
  Pros
  
  • Decent source of multipliers in large numbers
    
  • Easy to destroy, even in large numbers
    
  • Very long delay until they begin shooting photons
  Cons
  
  • Can't shoot down photons, so must be dodged
    
  • Ignoring a group of these guys will quickly make half the screen a no-go zone (or kill you on the spot)
    
  • Particularly nasty in tandem with The Swarm
  
  
• Bombers
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Bombers are the missile-loaded cousins of the Fighters. Whilst Fighters shoot photons, Bombers shoot little homing missiles at roughly the same interval as the Fighters. You can actually shoot these down, though, so they're a little less scary.
  Pros
  
  • Okay-ish source of score multipliers
    
  • Easy to destroy, even in large numbers
    
  • Usually alone or paired with Fighters
  Cons
  
  • When ignored, can quickly end a run
    
  • Particularly nasty in tandem with The Swarm
  
  
• The Swarm
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  The Swarm are a unique enemy; unlike the other Small Fries, which spawn in rather haphazard locations with little pattern behind their madness, The Swarm always spawn in a large oval that encompasses a good portion of the screen. They have no guns, however their real strength comes in the ability to block bullets for other otherwise unassuming ships.
  Pros
  
  • No guns
    
  • Easy to destroy with enough firepower
  Cons
  
  • Blocks shots for other more dangerous ships
    
  • Particularly nasty with Bulldogs, Bombers, and Fighters

Next we have the Medium Puppies. These guys are mid-weight fighters that are generally useless on their own, but when paired with a Small Fry or another Medium Puppy, they become a real pain in the ass.

• Stalkers
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Stalkers are one of the weakest Medium Puppies, not packing any firepower of their own. Literally. They have no damaging weaponry aside from body-slamming you. However, their magnetizing tractor beam can hold you still long enough for another ship to spell your doom.
  Pros
  
  • No damaging guns
    
  • Easy to destroy
    
  • Useless on their own
  Cons
  
  • Dangerous when combined with Small Fries, especially Asteroids
    
  • Particularly nasty when paired with Reapers and ECM Corvettes
  
  
• Pulsars
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Pulsars are the opposite of Stalkers; instead of pulling you close, these beams push you away!
  Pros
  
  • No damaging guns
    
  • Easy to destroy
    
  • Useless on their own
  Cons
  
  • Dangerous when combined with Small Fries, especially Fighters
    
  • Particularly nasty when paired with ECM Corvettes
  
  
• Miners
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Miners are one of the most underestimated enemies in the game. Many poor players have made the mistake of allowing a single mine to touch them, instantly ending the run seconds later to a ship they couldn't shoot down. Be wary of these and never let them hang around for too long!
  Pros
  
  • No damaging guns
    
  • Easy to destroy
    
  • Spawns very predictably
  Cons
  
  • Dangerous when combined with The Swarm
    
  • Especially nasty when paired with Rapier Beam Cruisers
  
  
• EMC Corvettes
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  EMC Corvettes are another underestimated enemy, but not nearly as much as the Miner. EMC Corvettes have a laser that doesn't repel or pull you, instead it disables your guns. It has a surprisingly long reach once it has latched on, and letting one tag you is usually very, very bad.
  Pros
  
  • No damaging guns
    
  • Easy to destroy
  Cons
  
  • Super dangerous up close (or in groups that you can't avoid)
    
  • Particularly nasty when paired with Bulldogs
  
  
• Reapers
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Reapers are the one enemy that will send lots of players into a panic on Zen 300%. Don't panic! They are another enemy that can be dealt with similarly to EMC Corvettes, but with some added finesse.
  Pros
  
  • No damaging guns
    
  • Behaves similarly to Scouts
    
  • Useless when not destroyed
  Cons
  
  • Rather large hitboxes
    
  • Particularly nasty when paired with Heavy Barrage Cruisers
    
  • Explodes into clusters of seeking missiles on death

Next we have the Big Dogs. These guys, no matter when or where they spawn, always are a threat. You generally never want to leave one unattended, and lots of them grouping up will make you an easy target for any Small Fries or Medium Puppies. These guys generally have lots of health and are usually a total pain to kill in any number over four or five.

• Bulldogs
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Bulldogs are one of the most dangerous enemies when left unattended for one simple reason: a triplet of photons, aimed right at you (most of the time). With large amounts of HP compared to other ships, Bulldogs can usually take enough bullets to give you one volley of photons before death.
  Pros
  
  • Slow
    
  • Easy to hit
  Cons
  
  • Rather large hitboxes
    
  • Fires photon triplets
    
  • Unusually large amounts of health
    
  • Especially nasty when paired with The Swarm
  
  
• Heavy Barrage Cruisers
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Heavy Barrage Cruisers are Reapers, if they decided to actually fire their missiles in dumbfire mode. Dangerous in numbers, a single Heavy Barrage Cruiser doesn't mean much, but groups of them mean trouble.
  Pros
  
  • Slow
    
  • Easy to hit
    
  • Decently long delay before firing (usually)
  Cons
  
  • Rather large hitboxes
    
  • Fires volleys of quadruple dumbfire missiles
    
  • Unusually large amounts of health
    
  • Groups of them can be hard to out-gun
  
  
• Cobra Attack Ships
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Lots of people sleep on this ship, but don't be fooled. This nasty little dude shoots the same seeking rockets that the Reaper does, but with one notable difference: these rockets are shielded, requiring numerous hits to destroy. These rockets squirm back and forth across your screen, taking an unorthodox path in an effort to blow you up by catching you off guard.
  Pros
  
  • Easy to hit
    
  • Low health for a Big Dog
  Cons
  
  • Seeking shielded missiles
    
  • Quick for a Big Dog
  
  
• Rapier Beam Cruisers
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Rapier Beam Cruisers are one of the most infamous enemies in the game, and for good reason. These guys are the only non-boss enemy in the game that can take a laser, aim it straight at you, and pull the trigger with deadly accuracy on slower ships. Take extreme caution with these, as they spawn in groups of 4-6 in the center. Spawning with shields to boot, these are a chore to take care of, and can end runs early if not properly dealt with.
  Pros
  
  • Incredibly slow
    
  • Easy to hit
    
  • Laser has a "spool-up" period
    
  • Once fired, laser cannot turn
  Cons
  
  • Laser is super accurate during "spool-up" period
    
  • Enormous amounts of health on the shield (compared to other Big Dogs)
    
  • Decent health
    
  • Especially nasty when paired with The Swarm, Miners, or Asteroids

Periodically throughout a track, bosses will spawn. It usually alerts the player with a warning akin to this:
"INCOMING MASS: [number] KILOTONS" or "INCOMING MASS: UNIDENTIFIED OBJECT".
These are bosses! They come in two flavors; the big dudes and the snakes.
The big dudes look something like this:
And the snakes look something akin to this:
Regular bosses will always spawn with a shield. Snakes will not spawn with shields. When either one spawns, however, it will clear the screen of asteroids, missiles, cobra missiles, and photons. Anything destroyed by a boss spawn does not give points! Be aware of this.

As a Beat Hazard 2 pilot, you have several ship choices. You have the default ships and generated ships. Default ships are all available to you by, well, default. Generated ships drop from substantial length tracks (2m+) and are sold by one of these companies.

• General Industries: Usually a simple ship with little stat weighting, General Industries are generic ships that don't really have any specialty, but don't fail in any specific aspect. Generally worth whatever you pay for them.
  
• Blazer Labs: One of the most fun ship categories, Blazer Labs have completely ridiculous bullet speeds and above average movement speed. However, watch your firepower; it will likely be a little lackluster.
  
• War Bringer Cartel: Quick bullets that hit hard on a reasonably-sized ship with decent movement is the trademark sign of a War Bringer Cartel. This class is my personal favorite when it comes to topping charts.
  
• Brute Inc: Damage. This should be the first phrase that comes to mind when you think of a Brute Inc. These have 6 color beams instead of the usual 4 (most of the time), and have seriously powerful guns, but they are usually large, slow, and have poor movement stats.
  
• Mosquito Systems: Microscopic ships with extreme movement speed denote this ship class! Personally, I vehemently hate this class, but some people love them and find success with them! But you must pay a price for this speed and tiny size; you lose a lot of firepower.
  
• Cra$y Thief Hackers: These rather unassuming ships look kinda strange at first, however their pickup force is their trick up their sleeve. Don't underestimate it; it can net you all sorts of stuff you otherwise couldn't get, like a hiding score multiplier or weapon pickup!
  
• Scorched Earth: Crowd Control comes to mind when using a Scorched Earth ship. These things dish pain in, quite literally, a 180 degree cone. However, thanks to spreading out their firepower over the entire screen, they cannot focus down any single target very well.

You can purchase these after beating any substantial length (2m+) track. If you already own the ship, it won't let you purchase it since you already own it.

First, we will look at a few mistakes newcomers and some pros alike make and how to avoid them.

• Mistake #1: Asteroids Aren't Dangerous.
  Asteroids have the highest K/D ratio on me, I swear to all that is holy. These things will piss you off more than any one enemy in this game VERY fast if you don't take care of them appropriately. DO NOT ignore them.
  
• Mistake #2: I'll Max My Money Perk Out Later.
  Don't do this!! Max it first. This gives you free money just for existing. It will make unlocking all the perks just a little easier - if you wait to unlock this last, it's useless.
  
• Mistake #3: Crazy Thief Hackers Are Useless.
  They are far from useless. On most non-Zen+ challenges, CTs are a lot closer to being meta than you'd think - especially after the heavy SMM nerf.
  
• Mistake #4: Spawnkilling Bosses/Barrages/Cobras.
  DO NOT DO THIS! When you kill a boss immediately, you might be losing out on a lot of potential points - try to drag it until your multiplier is 500x+ before going for the kill. If this proves to be too hard, then shoot for 450x - but your end goal should be 500x+ on a boss kill. I personally don't kill until I can hit 540-550x, if possible. Spawnkilling Barrages/Cobras is a terrible idea because the missiles they shoot give points - more on that later.

Modules are super important! They can make or break a build. We will get more into build-crafting later.

You need to do your ships' Shadow Missions to get modules. See that little card on the side of any given ship you own?
You want to complete two of your ship's Shadow Missions. Your Shadow Missions are those four cards in the ship's information screen.
Once completing two of the four, you'll unlock that ship's Module on the right for use in your builds! This is important, especially for getting those top scores!

I cannot stress this enough: NEGATIVE STATS ARE FINE. Negative stats will hurt you, sure, but they will not define your rise or fall. They simply help define how your ship is supposed to be played.

One such example is another top player, TMSC9000. He uses ships with 0.95+ deceleration sometimes, and to great effect, topping some charts left and right with them. He does not let the negative stats get in the way of how he plays - he adapts to it and uses it to his advantage. One player, Rodiuh, actually prefers 0.98 deceleration, since it feels all slide-y and he likes that a lot.

There are, however, a couple good stat baselines if you do not know where to start:
Acceleration: 2.0
Deceleration: 0.90
Top Speed: 15.00
Bullet Speed: 1.0 (This one can be any <1.4 value, honestly. It is the ultimate throw-away stat.)
Bullet Damage: 1.8
Pickup Force: 0.40

Some general tips when making a build:

• Start multiplier modules are no longer necessary. Just don't let your start multiplier get TOO far in the negative (-5 or lower).
  
• A good spread of stats is a good place to start - don't overspecialize where you don't need to.
  
• Never. Run. Auto. Aim. Worst card ever. Auto aim does not do ANYTHING for you. Not even on ships that shoot 360 degrees. Auto aim is the WORST card for high-level tracks.
  
• Asteroid Deflect is cool, but not worth it. Don't run Asteroid Deflect; learn to deal with asteroids BEFORE they become a problem. I swear it is doable, even if hard at times.
  
• ALWAYS HAVE POSITIVE PICKUP FORCE. That is the new definitive stat now. You should have at least 1 Pickup Force card if you are not using a Crazy Thief Hacker.

Now all this is great, but what are some good tracks that have ships with good modules?
Well, don't worry, I've got you covered!

I will list one legendary card for each category (in the case of Asteroid Deflect and Auto Aim, I will list the best I own), along with the ship it drops and a link to the song on Spotify.

• Deceleration
  Fierce Velocity - Physical (Dua Lipa)[open.spotify.com]
  
• Bullet Speed
  Furious Madness - Dreamer (Throttle)[open.spotify.com]
  
• Asteroid Deflect
  Vicious Serpent - Circles (KDrew)[open.spotify.com]
  
• Pickup Force
  Vicious Carrier - Why Worry (Duality)[open.spotify.com]
  
• Bullet Damage
  Hell Nova - Only You (Dexter King)[open.spotify.com]
  
• Acceleration
  Neutron Wave - Mind of a Maniac (Lil Boosie)[open.spotify.com]
  
• Start Multiplier
  Radiant Hornet - Real Thing (LeBrock)[open.spotify.com]
  
• Auto Aim
  Radial Rapier - Master of Tides (Lindsey Stirling)[open.spotify.com]
  
• Top Speed
  Majestic Roar Mk.4 - Harder than Steel (The Megas)[open.spotify.com]

For those who want a different way to get these, the #1 legacy player, Lone Night Raven (with help from LucK_), has created a document detailing a list of songs that drop legendary modules. Look through that if you want any here![docs.google.com]

Some tracks I have noticed drop pretty good amounts of XP. Here's a few of them.
Gamma Unchained (The Megas)[open.spotify.com]
Diamonds (RMCM)[open.spotify.com]
Neo-Tokyo (Scandroid)[open.spotify.com]
Fighters (Conro)[open.spotify.com]

However, making an entire section dedicated to just that isn't very helpful, so this is a combo section!

Some rules of thumb to always keep in mind:

• Not every last scoring perk is necessary, but you do want most of them!
  
• Expand your library! The more tracks you play, the better.
  
• Play tracks over 3 minutes in length for better results (and ships, since they don't drop on short tracks).
  
• Practice fighting bosses in Bosh Rush! This will give you the experience needed to deal with all the boss's weaponry when the time comes.
  
• Pickup Force is a must have.
  
• The Dare Devil multiplier is REALLY GOOD. Use it at the start of the track, at the very least, twice.
  I personally dare devil no less than 4 times on smaller ships, 3 times on larger ones.

I'll just briefly discuss some top-scoring strategies we have used in higher-level play to top charts.

If the start of a track spawns only bombers and asteroids, keep in mind that bombers have a missile cap - once they have launched 10-20ish missiles, they will stop firing them and the current missiles will keep trying to hit you. You can just keep dodging these safely to Dare Devil almost for free.

DON'T KILL BARRAGES, COBRAS, OR BOSSES WITH SPAWNERS/MISSILES/MINES INSTANTLY. Let them hang around for a minute and blow up whatever they spew out! All that stuff counts towards your points. This is how the Beat Hazard 2 Theme's score got so high - we left the bosses alive until the very end of the track, at which point we annihilated all of them at once!

Don't Dare Devil when you are at 500x multiplier - you actually lose 1 multiplier thanks to multiplier decay. Once you hit 500x, there's rarely a reason to Dare Devil.

Don't EMP Reapers. They won't spew missiles when destroyed, meaning no points from the missiles.

Leaving a group of enemies alive for a while is a good strategy - if you leave a group of enemies alive and you're at 300x, then start killing them at 450x, you will get far more points. This seems fairly obvious, but the impatience in some people is ridiculous.

Don't let groups of Stalkers/Repulsers stack up in a corner somewhere - this has ended me so fast just because I underestimated how strong their push/pull beams are.

If you're having trouble with some huge laser bosses, try turning one around - you can do this by going around the back of the boss as it's spawning in.

Of course, take all of this with a grain of salt. These are simply my findings (with some continuations of matrixDecemberween's guide) and how to top scoreboards based on experience. I encourage you to experiment with variations of this guide's suggestions, but some big takeaways for top-scoring are this:

• Dare Devil multipliers are one of the keys to a massive score. These can snowball into a massive multiplier later on down the line.
  
• MAKE SURE MOST SCORE PERKS ARE ON.
  
• It's okay to have negative stats! Just make sure they don't sink your build.