Opka.io has quickly become my favorite .io game and I admit I’ve been paying a bit more attention to the game’s intricacies than the average player. I want to win, and if you want to win in any game you have to be aware of what it has to offer.
The passive and active skill combinations in Opka.io only go so far in terms of available combinations, but each one affects how a round plays out — and not only the combination of skills you choose. Every player’s abilities will affect how a round plays out, and you want to have a combination you can rely on and play well.
Have you noticed that a round goes slower if there are other players with the Shield or Chill active skills? How about how hectic a round gets early when there are other players using Cannon? Your and your opponents’ selections have huge effects on the pace of a game, and with that knowledge in mind you can choose a skill combination that works for you.
This guide is meant to lay out the active and passive skills along with some advice on using them, skill build combinations, and a few combinations to avoid. Opka.io may not track your wins and losses but you still want to win, and I want you to win too (unless you’re playing against me).
Active skills
Clone
Clone is very strong. When a ball hits your paddle when Clone is activated it splits off into two balls, and neither of them disappear from the field until they do damage to someone.
This skill, much like Cannon, will have a huge effect on how many balls are in play at a time. The difference lies in Clone’s ability to spit out several extra balls all at once when you’ve activated the skill just before you hit several balls back out, while with Cannon you can add new balls consistently throughout the round.
This skill takes a longer amount of time to charge, but the paddle stays activated longer than some other skills.
Chill
This active simply slows balls that hit your paddle while Chill is activated. That sounds pretty boring, but slow balls can throw other players off when they also have a few fast-moving ones coming at them at the same time.
The downside here is that balls affected by Chill return to normal once they’ve hit another player’s paddle. This is a fast-charging skill, but does not affect your paddle for long when activated.
Fireball
Fireball makes it so any balls that hit your paddle when activated will catch fire and do an extra point of damage if they hit another player.
I would rank Fireball very low among other skills. It doesn’t take a long time to charge but your paddle does not stay activated for long and the ball returns to normal once it’s hit another player’s paddle.
Cannon
Cannon is a very underrated skill. Unlike any other, it gives almost direct control over how many balls are out at a time thanks to its very low cooldown time.
Because Cannon has such a low cooldown by default you don’t need to pair it with passives like Survivor and Sniper to use it often and well.
The trick to using Cannon well is firing new balls out each time the skill is up until a few players have died, after that time you stick to shooting them when you feel there aren’t enough balls on the field to kill other players effectively. Be careful not to shoot out so many balls not even you can handle them.
Shield
The nervous player’s best friend, Shield blocks all incoming balls for a few seconds.
This active skill is great if you’re not confident in your ability to block several incoming balls at once, but once you’re better at the game it becomes less valuable. Shield’s effectiveness goes down once you get skilled at blocking.
Shield has a long cooldown time, much like Clone and Fireball.
Passive skills
Extra Lives
This skill does exactly what it sounds like in giving you extra lives that round.
Extra Lives is sort of a crutch skill. It’s great when you’re new and not confident in your abilities but as you get better you may find yourself wanting to be more aggressive or defensive, which means you’ll be choosing different passives.
Still, though. Who can complain about having three extra lives?
Survivor
Survivor is an intensely useful skill for players who are better than average at blocking and staying alive until they’re one of the last 4 or 5 left.
This skill increases your active skill’s recharge rate (lowers the cooldown) as other players die out. With each death comes more opportunities to use your active, and that is exactly what makes Survivor so good.
Between Sniper and Survivor, Survivor wins. When it’s just you and two or three other players, you’re not guaranteed to score often so Sniper’s passive isn’t as useful. Survivor is most powerful at that point, making it the better of the two for long rounds.
Extender
This is one of two passive skills that change the way you move your paddle, the second one being Portal.
With Extender your paddle doubles in size when you touch the sides of your play area, which can make blocking easier once you master using this passive.
Getting used to your paddle extending and learning to move to the opposite side of your play area quickly takes getting used to. This passive definitely isn’t for everyone.
Sniper
A passive much like Survivor but with less staying power, Sniper increases your active skill recharge rate when you deal damage to other players, but that increase resets if you take damage.
Sniper is a real gamble passive for two reasons. First, because the reset when you get hit makes this only work well when you’re lucky (and skilled) enough not to get hit for long periods. Second is because you score far less near the end of a round when it’s down to you and a couple other people, and it’s likely you’re going to get hit when a round gets to that point.
Sniper is all around less reliable than Survivor.
Portal
Portal is like Extender in that it gives you another way to maneuver your paddle, and also like Extender it takes a lot of getting used to (but less so).
This passive turns the sides of your play area into portals, which means you move your paddle into one side and it comes out the other — which makes it easier to block balls, especially when things get hectic.
As mentioned it does take getting used to, but it is easier to get a handle on than Extender by a long shot.
Ability combination builds
You can certainly mix and match your skills any way you like, but these are my personal favorites. They have done me well since I’ve started playing Opka.io.
Clone + Survivor
My second favorite combination. This build aims for dominating once five or more other players have died. Survivor ensures that Clone will be up faster when the game is down to you and a couple other people, and Clone itself makes the field more hectic for everyone involved. This is a build for more confident players.
Shield + Survivor
This is a good combination when you do well early on, but have a lot of trouble when there are a lot of balls on the field. Survivor means Shield will be available more often when a number of other players have died, which is the best time to have Shield available. This is a good build for less confident or new players.
Portal or Extra Lives + Chill
Portal is the easier to get used to between it and Extender, and as a defensive passive it goes great with Chill. Chill itself may seem less than exciting, but it does an amazing job of slowing the game down both when everyone is alive and after some have dropped off. If you don’t like using Portal, swap it with Extra Lives to live longer. Chill is a long game ability. This is a build for players of all skill levels.
Cannon + Extra Lives
This is an extremely powerful combination, provided you are good enough at blocking. Cannon lets you control how many balls are on the field during the entire round, and Extra Lives ensures you can survive even with a ton of balls bouncing around. Shoot out a ton of balls early on but once other players start dying off, only shoot them if you aren’t having a hard time. I’ve never gotten less than third place with this build, and if you’re good you’ll do just as well. This build is difficult for all but skilled players.
Not recommended combinations
- Shield + Extender or Portal – This may sound like a good idea, but this type of combination has no benefits. You’ll be able to block more easily (if you’re good with Extender or Portal) but players who are good and are using a potent combination will easily outlive you as Shield has such a long cooldown.
- Clone + Sniper – I end up trying this one every day and it never goes as well as Clone with Survivor. You need the persistent cooldown reduction Survivor gives to make Clone work with it in long rounds.
- Cannon + Sniper or Survivor – You just do not need to be shooting balls that often. You’ll get yourself killed more often than not using this type of build.
- Fireball + anything – Fireball is completely useless when a round is down to you and two or three other people because the fire effect goes away when a ball even hits a dead player’s closed field.
There’s not a ton to know about the skills available in Opka.io, but they’re not all that obvious because of the game’s pacing. Hopefully this guide has shed some light on how the skills work and how you can synergize them to work for your playstyle. Get out there and do your best, test out the builds highlighted here, and bulk up on your Opka-ing skills.
Published: Sep 16, 2016 01:58 pm