How combat works (and how to win it)
The turn-based combat rules, a bit of strategy, and two ways to make your viruses stronger: leveling up their species and changing their attacks.
Combat in Virus Battle is turn-based. Each turn you pick one of your virus's 3 attacks and the server resolves what happens. Easy to learn, with a lot of depth underneath.
The basic rules
- 1 versus 1. Each virus has 3 attacks to choose from.
- You get 15 seconds per turn. If you don't choose, the system picks an attack for you (no going AFK).
- You win by dropping the enemy to 0 HP. No cooldown between matches — chain as many as you like.
The twist: it's not all about speed
You might think the fastest virus always strikes first. Not quite. The turn resolves in two phases:
- Priority phase — Defensive and interception plays resolve first: Viral Reflect, Viral Membrane and Preemptive Strike. That's how a slow tank can raise a shield before it takes the hit.
- Normal phase — Then standard attacks, ordered by speed.
This keeps speed from dominating everything and opens the door to reading your opponent: are they going to attack, or defend?
Effects resolve at the end of the turn
Poison, regeneration, shields and debuffs tick at the close of the turn, not in the moment. The practical upshot? A freshly applied poison starts dealing damage next turn — plan with that in mind.
Three strategy ideas
- Every type has a counter. Tanks fall to poison and piercing (they ignore defense). Speedsters suffer against speed debuffs. Read your opponent and pick the right attack.
- Save your cooldown attacks. The strongest hits take time to recharge. Don't waste a Massive Charge on a full-HP enemy.
- Close with finishers. Execution and Predator Instinct hit harder against wounded foes. Preemptive Strike never misses. Save the kill blow for when it really counts.
Make your viruses stronger
Combat doesn't end with the match. There are two ways to improve your viruses between battles:
1. Level up their species (the Lab)
Each species gathers XP as you use it. On level-up, all the viruses of that species in your inventory gain permanent stat bonuses (HP, attack, defense or speed). In other words: the more you play with NOXIR, the stronger all of your NOXIRs become — even the ones you catch later.
There are milestones at levels 5, 10, 15, 20 and 25 with bigger rewards you claim by hand — some let you choose which stat to raise.
2. Change a virus's attacks
Not sold on one of your virus's 3 attacks? You can re-roll it: for a few coins, that attack is swapped for another from the moves its species can learn. That's how you fine-tune a virus until it's exactly what you want — say, giving a Parasite the poison it was missing to crack tanks.
That's the essentials for fighting. In the last post of the series we'll see where to put all of this to use: the two game modes, PvP and PvE, and what each one rewards. See you on the battlefield!