This is a guide that will help out new players by telling them the upsides and downsides to each orb and when/if they should choose them for the best bet at winning.
Definitive Guide to All Orbs
All credit goes to Jakkson K!
Stone
Stone is the most basic orb type in the game. Every run starts off with 3 of these bad boys, 4 in cruciball, and you can get more in orb selection or through events. They can also be offered in certain events specifically, so keeping them around can be good.
Their stats are:
- 2/4 > 3/6 > 4/8
No special abilities. Generally you want to remove most of them from your deck unless you are running Orbelisk. Surprisingly not the worst orb to have on you.
- Tier: D
Daggorb
This is the other orb you start with. Each run you get a single daggorb and it is seemingly rarer to obtain more through orb selection.
Their stats are:
- 1/7 > 1/10 > 1/13
No additional abilities.
Their high crit damage and potential is good, but their useless performance without a crit and tendency to overkill makes them less useful in my eyes then stones. Also Daggorbs lack any synergies or special events to my knowledge. Might be lighter than stones, but not very noticeable.
- Tier: F
Ball Lightning
Really Fun. Really Good. Obtained through orb selection or by embracing the lightning in the one event. Always take if you can justify.
Their Stats:
- 2/4
Can hit any enemy. On crit, hits all in column.
- Level 2: Hits 1 close by peg each peg hit.
- Level 3: now hits 2 close by pegs each peg hit.
Super high scaling potential with relics, though slightly worse than Orbsium with the special abilities, it can help gain crits and refreshes better and isn’t heavier. Also can hit more than one enemy on occasion.
- Tier: A+
Bob-orb
Bob-orb is one of the most interesting orbs in the game. Completely useless unless you have bomb synergy. Obtained through orb selection
Stats:
- 0/0
Turns every 8th peg into a bomb.
- Level 2: First peg hit becomes a bomb.
- Level 3: Turns every 6th peg into a bomb instead of 8th.
This orb has the best synergy with Multiball in the entire game, however what it really needs is bomb synergy relics and some base damage to really win a run. Quirky and fun, but not great.
- Tier: C
Bouldorb
Like a stone, but bigger. Now hits all enemies and requires a level 2 orbelisk to benefit from having this in your deck. Only obtainable from orb selection.
Their stats:
- 2/4 > 3/5 > 4/8
Pierces all enemies. Can only hit grounded enemies. It is big and heavy.
Now, grounded enemies aren’t that big of a deal currently. There are a couple in Act 1, none in Act 2, and only a few in Act 3. This means this is almost a hit everyone at pretty good damage. But Ircicle is better is almost every way. Bouldorb is too heavy to shoot very far and the magnetic doesn’t apply as heavily to it. And it being big doesn’t change much.
- Tier: B
Bramball
Do not take it unless you are lacking other options. This might be the weakest orb in the game. Obtained through orb selection.
Their Stats:
- 2/4 > 3/6 > 4/8
- Applies Bramble 2 > 3 > 4 on hit.
- Brambles deal 6 > 8 > 10 ?? per bramble level to passing enemies.
Brambles deal no damage, locking an enemy in place isn’t helpful all that much as they can still attack you. Weak damage and no pierce. I dare you to find me some case where Bramball helped you more than anything else. By rights it should be better than stone or rubborb, but it’s status effect is laughable at best, so I am keeping it in F tier.
- Tier: F
Darkness Eterball
This orb is just a stone that gives a debuff to enemies. Not great. Not terrible. Can keep you alive sometimes but no reason to take it if you don’t feel like you need it.
Their stats:
- 2/4 > 3/6 > 4/8
- Gives Blind 2 > 3 > 4 to enemy hit.
Blinded enemies have a little over 1/3 chance to miss you. Not great. Better than a stone by a large margin unlike some of these other stone-stat orbs. Take it if you want.
- Tier: C.
Doctorb
This is the healing orb, however its healing is less beneficial than nosforbatu, despite this one only being able to be used sparingly. Obtained through orb selection. Take if you don’t like the other options, can save a run later.
Their stats:
- 1/2
Deals no damage, instead heals you based on how much damage this would’ve done.
- Level 1: removed from deck after use.
- Level 2: can used once per battle.
- Level 3: ?? (haven’t gotten this yet, but I am assuming it can be used once per refresh like any other orb.)
This orb basically acts like a full heal, and is almost always better than just taking the hp.
- Tier: B
Echorb
An orb that I don’t have much experience with, however the later on in the game you are, the better it becomes. Obtained through orb selection.
Their Stats:
- 0/1
Hits all enemies. Echo: 15% > 30% > 45(?)%.
All in all, a good pierce option, especially when paired with orbs that can deal insane damage but lack pierce. Honestly, this might be stronger poltorbgeist and people are sleeping on it. Though it is seemingly rarer. Definitely take it if it is offered.
- Tier: S++
Egg
I have never gotten this orb. I do not know what it does, but apparently it is from the shake a tree event.
Infernorb
Infernorb is a decent all around orb with benefits and slightly outweigh the negatives. Obtained through orb selection or through the fireball event at the cost of 10 hp. Generally speaking take this orb if you are wanting to do a bomb build or if you are severely lacking in pierce damage and NEED bombs.
Their stats:
- 3/5 > 4/7 > 5/9
Very light. Detonates bombs in one hit. Deals 2 self damage when used.
The two self damage is honestly meaningless and can actually be helpful, the fact it is light is good to balance decks with heavy orbs, and the slightly above average stats are good. Short Fuse makes the bomb benefit actually worthless, but if you don’t have Short Fuse take at least one.
- Tier: B
Ircicle
Ircicle is honestly my favourite orb, and one of the only natural pierce options, but lacks any downside. Only obtained through orb selection.
Their stats:
- 2/4 > 3/5 > 4/6
Gets to pierce through the first peg hit. Pierces 1 enemy, but all enemies on a crit.
Like Daggorb, this is only really good on a crit, but that naturally damage is great and the only good, “Stone stats but has something else”. Never skip an Ircicle unless your deck is already too big. Having pierce in a deck is something you will never take for granted and never not need.
- Tier: A
Nosforbatu
The best healing option in the game, and sadly the least consistent damaging option. Good for self-damage synergies, the few that exist. Obtaining through orb selection. Always take one.
Their Stats:
- 1/2
Deals 15 self damage when fired, +7 per use this combat. Like Doctorb it heals instead of doing damage. And then deals damage based on the amount of missing hp you gained back.
- Level 1: deals 1x healed to targeted enemy.
- Level 2: deals 2x healed.
- Level 3: deals 2x healed to all enemies.
This is great for consistent healing and inconsistent damage. At least it is almost always a full heal, unless your skill is bad like Aliensrock.
- Tier: S
Matryorbshka
This is the most talked about orb from what I can gather. Don’t get me wrong, it is very fun and very easy to make gamebreaking, but also easy to make less than useless. Only obtained through orb selection.
Their stats:
- 1/2
Multiball 1 > 2 > 3.
This is the only orb currently to naturally have multiball, but oddly enough has anti-synergy with the multiball relic. The very low stats tend to become 0/0 with powerful boss relics, but even still the insane damage potential is ludicrous. However, dealing 37,950 damage to an enemy with a bit over 200 hp is kinda sad. (this actually happened to me)
Because it lacks the ability to hit multiple enemies and can trigger Red Bombs you may not want to activate, I am only putting it in S tier.
- Tier: S
Memorb
This is an interesting orb that is solid in almost every build, but never game changing. Obtained through orb selection.
Their stats:
- 1/2
Gains 0.34 bonus damage per peg hit this battle. Can target enemy enemy. Can only be used once per battle.
- Level 2: bonus damage increases to 0.5 per peg hit.
- Level 3: Can be used as many times per battle as needed.
This orb scales wildly in Matryorbshka and Orbsium builds, as the peg does not need to ‘pop’ to gain the bonus damage. That being said, it is a back-up orb. It is almost always better to have one of those two orbs than to use the Memorb. But take a Memorb if you need consistency.
- Tier: B
Omegorb
Now this is a fun orb. Honestly, I think it gets worse as it upgrades, but it is really quite good. I say take it unless you are using a matryorbshka without glorious suffering. Obtained through orb selection.
Their Stats:
- 5/9 > 7/11 > 9/13
Downgrades each peg it hits by 1 > 2 > 3 damage. Overflow.
This orb has anti-synergy with nearly everything, but it is very good still, at least at level one. The earlier levels are actually legitimately worse. And it becomes terrible if you get the relic that gives all orbs Overflow.
- Tier: B
Orbelisk
Orbelisk is a pure synergy orb that can cause you to rethink discarding all of your stones, or just realize the orbelisk is gimmicky at best. Obtained from the Obelisk event and orb selection.
Their stats:
- 0/0
Gets +1/+2 for each Stone in your deck. Hits all targets in a column.
- Level 2: Gets +1/+2 for each Bouldorb in your deck.
- Level 3: Gets +1/+2 for each Orbelisk in your deck.
This is actually a pretty interesting build idea, but it is so top heavy and requires deck bloat that it is terrible. Now you definitely can use Orbelisk is a winning run, but it can’t be the main focus, just extra coverage.
For scaling potential, it is better than any other orb and can get to some ludicrous damage numbers like 10/20, but that isn’t even that good.
- Tier: F
Orboros
This is good. Straight up good, if you can get it early enough and really work on it being the glue of your run, you can win. Obtained by giving all your orbs to the purple mirror at a cost of 5 hp.
Their Stats:
- 2/4 > 3/6 > 4/8
- Persist 3 > 4 > 5. Echo: 50%.
This has the potential to be the best orb in the game, however it is held back by a few things. One: no piercing. Two: You have to give up all orbs you have, which is a good thing early on. Three: Echo isn’t great on it’s own, it needs a more powerful orb to help it start the damage train easier.
- Tier: A
Orbsium
This is a fun orb I don’t see too many people talking about. It is only obtained through orb selection, but it is so good. Always take it if you can.
Their stats:
- 1/2
It is heavy and gets heavier the more you upgrade. Hits pegs a number of additional times equal to its level.
Orbsium might actually be stronger than Matryorbshka, it has the same stats, similar scaling potential, better synergies, and hits any enemy selected, rather than just the first enemy. It is also helpful in bomb synergies as it explodes bombs in one hit due to technically hitting the bombs 2-4 times.
The main gimmick here is that it hits pegs multiple times, which is instant rewards with Glorious SuffeRing, rather than needing refreshes like most orbs. Still there is the issue of single target damage, and the damage can’t even be put through as overkill.
- Tier: S
Oreb
The only thing I know about this orb is that it exists. I never got the event that gives it to you and it just seems like an unupgradeable stone. Please tell me that this actually does.
Their Stats:
- 2/4.
Does not upgrade.
Polterorbgeist
This is probably the most powerful orb in the game right now. Honestly I have been sleeping on it before now. Obtained through orb selection.
Their stats:
- 1/2 > 2/3 > 3/4
Passes through pegs while moving up (still hits them). Hits all enemies.
If you think Matryorbshka is broken, look at Polterobgeist. It has the same stats but instead of having multiball it hits all enemies, which is so useful. Now it isn’t an auto-win, you need support for it damagewise, but holy it is good. Too bad it is mostly outclassed by Echorb.
- Tier: S+
Refreshorb
This orb is an oddity. It has the potential of near unlimited damage potential on certain levels, but generally will be near worthless. Funny though it may seem. Obtained through orb selection.
Their stats:
- 1/2
Refresh the board every 6 pegs hit.
- Level 2: Refreshes the board on discard.
- Level 3: ??
Very useful to have one of these in a run, especially level 2+, but there are better orbs. It is like a safety net if your refreshes are impossible to hit.
- Tier: B
Reorbanizer
The weirdest and hardest to utilize orb. Completely rng. Take it if you lack refreshorb or refresh relics. Obtained through orb selection.
Their Stats:
- 2/5 > 3/7 > 4/9
Shuffle crits and refreshs every 5 > 4 > 3 pegs hit. Shuffles crits and refresh when discarded.
In my mind this is just a worse version of refreshorb. Although the higher than normal damage is appreciated, although for some unknown reason it got nerfed. Out of every orb in the game this one got a damage nerf, used to be a 2/6 i think.
- Tier: C-
Rubborb
What this orb lacks in gimmicks, special flair, or any zing, it makes up for in technical utility. Don’t pick it, it is only an ever so slightly better stone. Obtained in Orb Selection.
Their Stats:
- 2/4 > 3/6 > 4/8
Extra bouncy!
Bouncing more than normal can be helpful. Other than that it is literally just a stone without the benefits of literally being a stone.
- Tier: D
Splatorb
Splatorb is an interesting orb. Not too great, but does a lot of stuff right. Take it if you don’t have one already. Obtained through orb selection.
Their Stats:
- 2/4 > 3/6 > 4/8
Applies rubber slime to every 5 > 4 > 3 pegs hit. Rubber slimed pegs are durable and extra bouncy. I am pretty sure multiple sources of durable do not stack.
I love having a splatorb and I think it is very helpful in the longhaul. Not great on its own but can help other orbs out just a tad. Later on in the game it isn’t great.
- Tier: B
Swoltorb
This is a decent option. Honestly, not my go to choice but can be helpful. Take it if you have orbsium or matryorbshka. Obtained through orb selection.
Their Stats:
- 2/4
Upgrades each peg it hits by 1 > 2 > 3 damage.
This works really nicely with Gift That Keeps Giving or Glorious SuffeRing. Synergizes with most top-tier orbs. Itself is fairly weak and slow however.
- Tier: B
W.I.P.
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