Greetings my fellow guardians. And good day. Today I will be discussing a matter that many people here do not know. I'm talking about orbs. Did you know that there are two types of orbs? Big and small. Big orbs take 8 to fully charge a super. Small ones take 16. "But Embracing, what do you mean by big and small orbs?" Glad you asked! You see, each subclass makes a different size of orbs. The following subclasses create large orbs: Sunsinger, Defender, Striker, Voidwalker, and Gunslinger. Here's a quick breakdown on how this works...
Sunsinger- Any kill while in radiance generates orbs. Melees, grenades, and of course regular kills. In addition, the Sunburst perk has the ability to create two more orbs. All are large orbs.
Defender- The Ward of Dawn immediately creates two orbs upon deployment. An additional three can be created through the use of gift of the void. The perk for force barrier, gift of light, creates additional orbs on melee kills, while the ability is active. HOWEVER, the iron harvest perk, which grants orbs through the method of heavy kills, generates smaller orb.
Striker- Probably the simplest of these big orbers. The Fist of Havoc generates large orbs. Nothing more to say.
Voidwalker- Another simple one. Nova bomb creates large orbs. Nothing more to say. (It has been rumored that lance and shatter affect the amount of orbs created. This is being tested by myself and a few friends.)
Gunslinger- Last big orber. The Golden Gun creates large orbs. Simply all there is.
Now we get to the remaining classes. Stormcaller, Nightstalker, Sunbreaker, and Blade Dancer. Let's discuss...
Stormcaller- The Stormtrance super generates a mix of both large and small orbs. Depending on the amount of lightning you out into an enemy. The longer and enemy is exposed, the larger the orbs. This is why larger enemies, such as centurions or captains or minotaurs or Knights, drop larger orbs than shanks, dregs, acolytes, etc.
Nightstalker- Perhaps the most controversial orb maker here. This orb machine, or so it appears, makes small orbs and large orbs. Upon initial super use, two large orbs are generated. Each additional enemy tethered spawns another orb. With the Light of the Pack perk, up to 8 more small orbs can be created when tethered enemies are defeated. (9 with the Crest of Alpha Lupi)
Sunbreaker- This subclass simply makes small orbs. (A test is underway to prove wether or not suncharge affects orb generation.)
Blade Dancer- These guys make nothing but small orbs. Nothing else to say.
Now that we have discussed the subclasses, let's talk about relics and armor. I'll be brief.
All artifacts that spawn orbs, be it by melee, grenade or precision kills, make small orbs.
Armor from the Vault of Glass, Crotas End, and Kings Fall, I.e. Vex striker, Vexbreaker, etc., make small orbs.
This concludes our lesson in orbology! Any questions? Feel free to ask.
(This post is of course subject to change. All negative comments will be removed. These are the results of nearly four weeks of testing so please, rude comments to yourself.)
Edit 1: Thanks for the replies so far! Hope everyone that reads can benefit from this.
Edit 2: Left one way of making orbs out! Boltcaster does spawn small orbs with its perk.
Edit 3: Left out Telesto! It creates small orbs. Shout out to my friend who pointed this out.
Edit 4: Oh my goodness I'm trending. Thank you all for your support!
Edit 5: Another thing to note about orbs is the process we have decided to call orb dilution. It is the process by which orbs created by allies in turn spawn smaller, less super yielding orbs, when the super is cast.
Edit 6: I'd like to thank you all for the support. My team and I are working right now to add videos of our research to YouTube. All vids should be done by the end of the month at the latest. Will post the links here when that happens.
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I knew about big and small orbs during my first strikes that I played.......
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Quite eloquently put, Guardian!
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I love picking up my own orbs. Its hilarious.
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Theres people that didn't know this .... -blam!-ing casuals
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Very informative, thank you.
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I figure this out when a kid was using Telesto in a strike. I thought it was only Telesto, though. Thanks for the information.
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I've seen how some orbs give 'more juice' than others, but wasn't sure why. Great lesson!
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Edited by CallMeCrimson: 1/8/2016 7:35:43 AMI got my PhD in orbology yesterday and I now make [b]£47583[/b] a day! See how you can get yours at www. 0rb4liFe. c o m
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Thanks for the info! I had no idea...
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Cheers dude - I've though some orbs looks smaller, but haven't questioned it. Is this post-ttk?
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Edited by aNudistBuddhist: 1/8/2016 12:20:43 PMI thought the orb size depended on how many orbs any subclass makes during any particular event. So when you start a mission, the orbs you generate are large, but by the end, they become smaller in order to prevent you and your fireteam from constantly trading off orbs to super your way quickly through objectives. Edit: Just found a few articles on Reddit. When you charge your super by killing enemies or waiting for the super to charge by itself, the orbs you generate are large. But if you charge your super with your fireteam's orbs, then you produce small orbs.
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Great post, man. Thanks.
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I knew it! My friends and I joke about like, " Your Orbs sucked! My super didn't even move!" We knew something was up!
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Amazing, I knew something was up with orbs but didn't know it was this In depth.
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Wow, a useful post. Thank you for taking the time to do this.
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Wow, super intriguing. Quality post. +1
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I still think my armor generates big orbs. I mean, its the best eva!
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interesting...
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Great post and contribution to the community, Guardian! Well done!
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Nice post! My clanmates were discussing how orbs seemed smaller to them (I suppose it was the small type that had happened to be formed during a strike) and I had no idea what they were talking about.
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Does Obsidian Mind have any effect on the size of Orbs a Voidwalker produces after repeated Nova Bombs?
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Bump Great post
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so by maxing out intellect, having at least 4 bubble titans, and having crest of alpha lupi could constantly recharge their super or no?
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Sir, sir? siiiiir? Two questions: - skyburner annex & heavy kills: small orbs, right? - If I max intellect, do I get more super energy form an orb than if I don't?
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Great post. Its stupid that bladedancer makes small orbs. "The longer and enemy is exposed, the larger the orbs. This is why larger enemies, such as centurions or captains or minotaurs or Knights, drop larger orbs than shanks, dregs, acolytes, etc." Are you sure this has to do with the time of exposure and not just the type of enemy? Killing majors generates more orbs I believe.