Upgrades

While getting XP, players will gain a single upgrade point each time they level up. They can use it for any of the seven upgrade categories, and you can spend a maximum of eight points into each category. The points can help to improve your copter.

There are three informal upgrade assignments categorized in the defly community, hybrid, builder and shooter. Each of these builds have a bias towards a set of upgrades. Builders use max Build distance, Tower Shield and Tower Health. Shooters use max Bullet Speed, Bullet Range and Reload Speed. Hybrids is a combination of skills and can be shooter heavy or build heavy.

Explanation of every skill

1. Player Speed: Higher levels increase your movement speed. This skill is good for dodging bullets, running away, chasing players or moving around the map quickly.
2. Bullet Speed: How fast your bullets move. This is very important for fighting if you focus on using your guns because players can pretty easily dodge slow bullets.
3. Bullet Range: How far your bullets go before disappearing. Upgrading this helps with clearing towers and also helps you fight other players. Increasing distance also increases how long the bullet will stay active if it is bouncing around inside the enemy’s base, which increases the chances for a ricochet hit.
4. Reload Speed: Upgrade this skill in order to be able to shoot faster. It is very important for clearing enemy towers and fighting.
5. Build Distance: How far away from your helicopter you can build towers. At the maximum level, this allows you to stay inside your base and still build towers outside. You can build towers more quickly than you can move, but it is really only useful if you have already upgraded Tower Health and Shield.
6. Tower Shield: Higher shield levels will improve the duration of the shields. If such a shield is activated, the tower will become temporarily invincible. Tip: In most cases it is better to maximize Tower Health before Tower Shield.
7. Tower Health: Upgrading this will lead to a higher amount of bullets it takes to destroy your towers. This is one of the most important skills because it allows you to create strong bases that are hard to infiltrate. Your towers can be destroyed with a single bullet if Tower Health is at level 0 while it takes five bullets at level 8. Note that your towers only increase in HP every other level, so a level 4 and 5 tower both have 3 HP. Therefore, if you upgrade your tower health, it should always be an even number (otherwise you’re just wasting a point). Also note that the enemy gains more XP from destroying your towers if they have more HP.

Types of helicopters

Even though you can upgrade anything you like, there are different types of helicopters. The most common ones are shown here.

Basics

Fast Builder		Shooter
Player Speed:	___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___	Player Speed:	___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
Bullet Speed:	___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___	Bullet Speed:	___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
Bullet Range:	___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___	Bullet Range:	___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
Reload Speed:	___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___	Reload Speed:	___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
Build Distance:	___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___	Build Distance:	___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
Tower Shield:	___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___	Tower Shield:	___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
Tower Health:	___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___	Tower Health:	___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___

Hybrids

Since those types are not the only ways possible, there is an infinite amount of hybrid types. The most helpful ones are following:

Sniper		Tactical
Player Speed:	___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___	Player Speed:	___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
Bullet Speed:	___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___	Bullet Speed:	___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
Bullet Range:	___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___	Bullet Range:	___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
Reload Speed:	___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___	Reload Speed:	___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
Build Distance:	___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___	Build Distance:	___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
Tower Shield:	___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___	Tower Shield:	___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
Tower Health:	___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___	Tower Health:	___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
Destroyer		Full Builder
Player Speed:	___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___	Player Speed:	___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
Bullet Speed:	___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___	Bullet Speed:	___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
Bullet Range:	___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___	Bullet Range:	___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
Reload Speed:	___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___	Reload Speed:	___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
Build Distance:	___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___	Build Distance:	___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
Tower Shield:	___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___	Tower Shield:	___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
Tower Health:	___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___	Tower Health:	___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___

The orange points with a lower opacity show that you have to put either three points in Tower Shield or in Tower Health. Note that a third point in Tower Health is a complete waste of a point. A level 2 and level 3 tower both only have 2 HP. Tower Health should always be upgraded to an even number.

Superpower choices

You will want to change superpowers depending on your upgrades. For example, it would be bad to have the Full Builder Hybrid type but still have dual fire. You want to amplify your best abilities. Dual fire goes with shooter, speed boost goes with shooter or builder, clone goes usually with shooter, flashbang can be both, and teleport is for shooter.