In this how to play PunBall guide I will talk about my strategies for this game. I will explain a bit about the different enemies and upgrades, what they do and which ones to prioritize up to stage 10. But first a small introduction of the game.
What is PunBall?
PunBall is an Android game that combines an Arkanoid (also known as break-out) style gameplay with RPG elements and arcade-type upgrades. Arkanoid is an old-school game in which you control a paddle trying to keep one or more balls in the playing field. The balls bounce through the field destroying bricks when hitting them. Yeah, I know, I could have just skipped explaining what Arkanoid is and just explain how to play this game. But Arkanoid is just such a fun game and it hits me right in the nostalgia.
In PunBall the paddle is replaced with a hero, which you cannot actually move around yourself. Instead of moving around keeping the bouncing ball going you just have a number of balls which you get to shoot in a direction you decide. When the balls bounce back you will move automatically to catch them.
The bricks are replaced with different types of enemies, each with their own powers and characteristics. The enemies are placed in a random spot on the top line, and move down a spot every turn, just like in space invaders! Each enemy has a number of hitpoints, and depending on the type of ball and the strength of the ball the hitpoints (HP) get reduced an amount on impact, at 0HP the enemy dies.
The point of the game is to kill all the enemies and eventually an end-boss will show up after a set amount of rounds. After defeating the boss you move on to the next stage.
During the game you will receive various upgrades in the form of special balls, extra balls or other power-ups.
What are the enemies?
There’s a bunch of enemies in this game. I will list them here in kill-order. The number 1 in this list is first priority to kill dead!
Skeleton Wizard
This is public enemy number 1. The Skeleton Wizard will spawn a skeleton every turn, which can quickly fill up the field when multiple of this guy are around. It needs to die as soon as possible.
Pea Shooter
Kill on sight. This guys starts shooting peas at you for damage the moment he is in game. Multiples of these guys can cause massive damage. Later one you will encounter the Double Gun Pea Shooter, who shoots 2 peas at you!!
Healer
These guys are pretty annoying. They heal the weakest guy on the field, which includes themselves. If you get the chance to kill them, do not hesitate!
Sand Man and Slime
These guys split up in 2 new smaller junior versions of themselves when killed, quickly filling up the room and leaving no space for you to make your combos. Kill as many as fast as possible. The juniors can be easily recognized by their one cyclopean eye and have lower kill priority than senior!
Ninja
Ninja gets invisible every other turn, which means your balls can pass through the space he’s in. This can be great sometimes to get your balls into hard to reach places. He shoots shuriken at you when not invisible through. Too many of these on the field at the same time can become quite the annoyance.
Note about the Ninja Boss! Just like the regular ninjas, the boss fades in and out every other turn, which can drag the fight out. To maximize your damage try to set him on fire, as the fire damage will also hit him while he’s faded out.
Shielder
Shielder has a shield protecting him from attacks on the front. Luckily for us he still has 3 other sides, so hit him there to kill him. He can get in the way fast though when a few of these guys start to fill up the front rows, so better kill him before he gets a chance to block your balls.
Berserker
Meet berserker. He’s not so horrible, except at some point he will put a flower in his hair which will upset him. And when he reaches you he will slap pretty you in the face pretty hard for laughing at him and his beautiful flower.
Just a note about the Berserker Boss! you will encounter him in Stage 12 and in contrast to all other bosses, this guy will slowly advance towards you and once he reaches you he will headbutt you into oblivion. The strategy is to keep him away. Use Iceballs as much as possible in Stage 12!
Skeleton
Not a very exciting character. When he reaches you he will hit you for damage and disappear. Better kill before he reaches you.
Spider
Jumps around on the field each round. Can be annoyingly in the way sometimes.
Power-Ups
Now that we have the baddies all sorted and out of the way, let’s talk a bit about power-ups! There are a few types of power ups, which I will explain as I go down my top list of favorites. These power-ups can be collected by hitting the blue questionmark block with a ball.
Always try to prioritize area-of-effect (AOE) damage and combo powerups. These 2 will deal maximum damage to all enemies. Also when shooting your balls, try to aim it so that you get maximum combo, because all the combo damage really adds up!
Missiles
This is by far my favorite power-up. Why? Well, as a powerful AOE attack these rockets go everywhere in the field with no regards to baddies standing in their way, they just fly over them. Which is great to hit those guys in the back. When given the choice I always pick these.
There are a few types of the missile ball, and all of them are great. I haven’t had it happen that more than 1 type of missile is offered as an upgrade at the same time, so I am not sure if this is a possibility.
The basic Missile Ball is offered the most often and is just a regular ball added to your inventory, except it has a chance to go off and fly at other enemies. Then there’s the Upgrade Missile, which actually transforms 2 of your inventory balls into regular Missile Balls. There is a death missile, which fires of 3 missiles when a baddy dies and finally we have the Missile Chaser, which launches 3 missiles every 40 combo you hit. Lastly, there’s also an upgrade called Missile Master (sorry, no pic) which upgrades the strength of your Missiles
Lightning
Another nice AOE upgrade, which should be prioritized to get. The lightning hits a group of enemies who are close to each other. This is really awesome to get clusters of baddies out of the way
For this type of upgrade there’s again the same 5 variations as with the missiles. The upgrade is missing in this images, but is certainly available as an option.
Lasers
Lasers are fun. They come in various forms like the Lightning and the Missiles. The damage all enemies in a straight line, either horizontally or vertically, depending on which laser you have. These are also a type of AOE and are high priority to get.
The Bomb
The bomb, pretty much like Lightning hits a bunch of enemies at the same time. But while the Lightning ball just keeps on going after the impact, the Bomb literally explodes and disappears. So it’s a one-time use only, which makes it slightly less awesome than the Lightning ball.
There is the regular Bomb Ball that explodes on impact, but there’s also the Combo Bom which I really do not understand why they did not call it a Bombo (missed opportunity for a pun here!) The Combo Bomb gets dropped on a random enemy out of nowhere after you make enough combo points, which can be quite effective sometimes for reaching those enemies at the back.
Fireball
This is actually my favorite direct-damage upgrade, which I always pick of no AOE alternatives are available. This ball only damages the guy it impacts,but it also has a chance to set him on fire. There will be extra fire damage dealt to that guy at the end of the turn. The fire can last multiple turns, making it a very good direct damage ball
Iceball
IceballIceballs are very nice as they can literally freeze up an enemy, preventing him from moving or shooting peas at you. These are very important for winning in stage 12, where you will have to defeat the Berserker Boss!
Drillball
The drillball is funny in that it does not bounce of enemy’s, it just goes straight through them dealing damage to all guys he’s drilling through. Can be very useful when the field is getting filled up. Aside from that it’s better to leave this one be because it will not give you combo’s, and combo’s are what you want to maximize your damage output
Sniperball
This one is meh.. This ball is just a regular ball except for the further away the enemy, the more damage it does. Which is meh..
The Stinkers
There’s a bunch of power-ups that grant you more HP, Extra Life, Extra Recovery, etc… these are utterly useless and should never ever be picked! In this game you need to focus on dealing damage as much as possible. If there’s ever a point in this game where you would actually be needing these, you have already lost..
Conclusion
There are many more power-ups available in this game, I have only listed the most important ones. The rest are all some variations on what I have described. As a general rule, when choosing your power-ups, keep this order of priority in mind: AOE –> Combo –> Direct Damage –> Forget anything else 🙂
There’s actually a lot more nuances to this game. You will end up encountering areas where parts are obscured by scenery for example. You will be able to upgrade your character through gear, XP and pets. And many more elements are available in this game. I will probably do a write-up of those things, but for now, this article has reached its end.
Do you have any questions, or stuff to add? Feel free to leave a comment and I’ll might just get back to you 😀
