Ares
Ares is an unlockable Ship. Ares is four tiles wide and starts with Warp Prep, Ares Cannon, and Control Rods.
"A nimble warship with two cannons, which are manually toggled."
Strategy
The Ares sports a small frame of just 4 ship parts, and toggleable cannons, with the inactive one being Armored, giving it an excellent defensive profile as well as an easy time lining up shots on enemy ships. That plus its Max Shield of 5 makes it one of the best ships in the game to angle towards a Shield-based defensive build. Thanks to its toggleable cannons, you can usually spend your Evade for defense, and usually won't need to spend too much to find a spot where you don't take too much damage. Use your Toggle Cannon to hit the enemy, then armor sections getting hit by toggling the cannon.
This ship does have a notable downside — you'll draw 1 fewer card per turn due to Control Rods. This will make your deck significantly less reliable — it will take you longer to get through your deck, so key cards may take a while to reach your hand. In addition, it is more difficult than usual to find a good way to use your Energy. The fact that Shield and Evade can carry over from turn to turn really helps with how inconsistent your hands can be — all the more reason to lean towards a defensive build in this ship. Draft more expensive cards like Big Shield, Vamoose, Parry, or Battalion to give you more ways to spend Energy. Card draw is also helpful to give your Energy a good use. Conversely, strategies that involve spamming cheaper cards are less effective on this ship, and strategies that involve lining up cards together, like Overclock and a powerful Status, are harder to land on this ship. Infinite combos are also harder to reach on this ship because of its reduced card draw.
The Ares Cannon V2 gives you a powerful offensive option on this ship, letting you have 2 cannons active at the same time for when you need to double your damage output. (It can be a bit hard to use as part of an all-out offense build because of how this ship steers you towards defense in general.) It also lets you toggle your cannons as many times as you'd like in a turn, which is utility that's easy to take for granted but often lets you squeeze through tough turns.
Character-specific interactions:
- Dizzy: This is a perfect ship for a heavy Shield build, so he's right at home on this ship. Stunning is an excellent strategy on this ship too thanks to its profile and toggleable cannons.
- Riggs: Evade and card draw are both excellent on this ship. It doesn't need too much Evade compared to others, but can certainly use it well.
- Peri: She loves the togglable cannons on this ship, giving her flexibility on how to best fire at the enemy ship without spending Evade needlessly. She certainly enjoys War Mode too...
- Isaac: As he points out, his Midrow Objects can cover a larger section of this ship, potentially making its defense near-impenetrable. He also appreciates how its togglable cannons lets him shoot around his drones.
- Drake: She loves this ship's pirate look, and it's also a fine ship for her offensive firepower. The fact that it tends towards defense is somewhat of a minus for her, though, as it means she has to be careful with Heat. Its max hull isn't the best, so it isn't the best at gambiting hull.
- Max: Toggle Cannon can get in the way of his Admin Deploy, and its lack of card draw makes the combos he loves so much less reliable. It's also not the best ship for going infinite for the same reason.
- Books: The fact that this ship draws 4 cards makes her Crystal Shards not go as far (as you won't draw them as much), and her lack of expensive (by Energy) cards hurts too.
- CAT: Like Max, the lack of card draw hurts her ability to assemble combos. Her numerous 0 cost card upgrades and energy discounts don't go as far on this ship either.
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