Morphblade – Tips and Tricks

Overview

Some tips and tricks for people just starting out with Morphblade. I’ll outline a few strategies I’ve used to consistently get to Wave 40-50, within just a couple days.

General Tips

Some things to keep in mind when you’re just starting out:

• Some tile upgrades are more powerful than others.
• It can be valuable to establish a “Stronghold” early on, and return to it each wave.
• You want to choose a strategy and stick with it. Decide where you will start each wave, and how you will take down each of the 12 types of enemies.
• Don’t teleport to get out of a sticky spot, unless you’ve thought about how to finish the wave from where you land.
• Blackbirds are extremely useful – use them to upgrade out-of-the-way tiles that would take forever to upgrade normally. Instant teleport back from the edge? Yes please.
• I’ll add some more as I think of them.

Ranking Tiles and Upgrades

Here’s my personal experience on what each tile is useful for, and roughly how many of each you want to have around. It’s ordered roughly by how many of each tile I like to have in a base, and how I’ll pick which tiles to add. Totally opinion-based, your strategy may vary.

• Teleport: These can be a life-saver. As a rule, once I’ve built a strong core and repair station, I’ll add teleports whenever I have to add a tile. By abusing the AI pathfinding, you can forever jerk the enemies around, and create an opening to heal up or pick them off one by one.
  Upgrades, in order of priority:
  • Teleport
  • Repair
  • Hammer
  • Arrow
  • Blades
  • Acid
• Repair: Essential. No way to get past the first few waves without one, since you’ll have to take the occasional hit once enemies start swarming. Try to position these strategically, next to insta-ports, and upgrade to get the shield bonus as early as possible.
  Upgrades, in order of priority:
  • Repair
  • Teleport
  • Blades
  • Arrow
  • Hammer
  • Acid
• Hammer: Versatile, intuitive, and the best tile (IMO) to build a stronghold around. You start with one in the centre, which can be upgraded after the first six waves if you’re careful. Try to get Acid as the first upgrade, to take out the early armoured enemies without having to rely on an Acid tile. Fully-upgraded, you can camp out on a hammer tile for a good few waves in the mid-early game.
  Upgrades, in order of priority:
  • Acid
  • Arrow
  • Repair
  • Teleport
  • Blades
  • Hammer
• Arrow: Flexible, allow mobility, and great for long-range killing when upgraded. Position these carefully two tiles apart and you can scoot around the map without taking damage.
  Upgrades, in order of priority:
  • Arrow
  • Acid
  • Repair
  • Teleport
  • Blades
  • Hammer
• Blades: Somewhat underrated, and tricky to figure out, blades scattered around the map are great to flee to for safety when you’re stranded away from repairs and teleports. They can kill and push multiple enemies if you’re surrounded, and it’s worth keeping a few around.
  Upgrades, in order of priority:
  • Repair
  • Arrow
  • Acid
  • Teleport
  • Hammer
  • Blades
• Acid: I’m not gonna lie – I’ve found Acid both essential and tricky to work with. When you have to destroy that one armoured enemy, getting them positioned on just the right tile is a pain in the ass, and it’s often just easier to keep one Acid tile and upgrade the tiles around it to copy the ability. But later in the game, when nearly all the enemies are explosive, doubled Acid tiles are the only way to keep getting upgrades without tearing your base to shreds.
  Upgrades, in order of priority:
  • Acid
  • Blades
  • Hammer
  • Teleport
  • Repair
  • Arrow

The “Stronghold” Strategy

Just a disclaimer – this is my personal strategy that I started using after about five hours into Morphblade, if you’ve got a different one I’d love to hear it.

This strategy works as follows:
Develop your starting Hammer until it’s fully or nearly fully-upgraded. Add the teleport upgrade early, and choose the first tiles around it to have the upgrades you’ll need later on: teleport, range, and repair. Nearby, create an upgraded Repair tile with the Repair and Teleport upgrades. As the map grows, add mobility wherever possible: Teleports and Arrows. These allow you to move around the map quickly and without taking damage. When a Blackbird appears, try to lure it onto a Teleport that can be upgraded with another Teleport, creating more and more “insta-ports”, and add Hammer upgrades to these as well.

The aim of this strategy is to reach a point where your map is basically ringed by Teleports, allowing you to hop around without taking damage, and use Teleport and Hammer upgrades to bump off armoured and explosive enemies first. Finally, use your Stronghold’s Hammer to destroy the non-explosive enemies, and teleport to your repair centre before the next wave starts.

Strengths:

• Easy to execute
• Consistent, not RNG dependent
• Great for beginners (AKA me)
• Relatively foolproof

Weaknesses:

• Repetitive. You’ll be Teleport-dodging waves of enemies, and bumping – not killing – most of the explosive ones.
• Requires attention, one wrong Teleport could strand you or trap you in crossfire.
• Slower than more offensive strategies
• Risky, if one of your carefully upgraded tiles is destroyed by an explosive bug.

Wrap-Up

These are my thoughts after putting about 10 hours into Morphblade, and watching a couple Let’s Plays. Let me know if you’ve got a different strategy that works for you. I’m going to try to add screenshots if I remember to take them while I’m playing. And thanks for reading!