Playing the chaser
Flip the game round and you are the one hunting. The runner has twenty seconds to survive and you have twenty seconds to stop it. The faster the tag, the bigger the bonus.
PLAY CHASERHow the chaser plays
Pick CHASER on the menu tab before you press play. You steer the same way as the evader, by dragging anywhere on the screen, but your button does something different: instead of a dash you have a lunge. Press it and your disc winds up for a moment (a ring charges around it), then bursts forward in the direction you are steering. A lunge that connects is a tag. A lunge that misses leaves you committed and needing a few seconds before you can lunge again.
A round ends when you tag the runner or when the clock runs out. Tag it and you score, with more points the more time is left. Let it escape and it costs a life. You have four, as the evader does.
Cut it off, don't follow it
The single biggest improvement for a new chaser is to stop chasing. If you run straight at a runner that is as quick as you, you never close the gap; you just follow it round the arena until the clock runs out. Instead, aim at where it is going. Runners turn away from you, so if you come at it slightly from one side, it turns toward the other, and you can predict which way that is. Herd it toward a wall or a block, where it has fewer ways out, and lunge when it has to turn.
Blocks work for you as well as against you. A runner that dives behind a block has to come out on one side or the other. Don't follow it round. Wait on the side it is heading for, or go the short way and meet it.
When to lunge
- Lunge at close range, not long range. A lunge from far away gives the runner the whole wind-up to see it coming and step aside.
- Lunge when it has just turned or just dashed. A runner that has spent its dash can't dodge again for a moment. That is your window.
- Lunge into the corner it is being herded toward, not at the runner itself. If you have read its turn correctly, it runs into the lunge.
- Don't lunge to close distance. Moving is free; a missed lunge costs you seconds you don't have.
The runners you hunt
Like the chasers you face as the evader, the runners have personalities. The round intro names the one you are hunting and gives a hint.
THE SPRINTER
Raw speed and wide turns. You will not catch it in a straight line, but its turns are slow and wide, so cut the corner and meet it on the far side.
THE TRICKSTER
Jukes hard and dashes often. Bait the dash first: get close enough that it spends its dash, then lunge while it is recharging.
THE GHOST
Calm and watchful. It reads your wind-up early and won't fall for a snare. Lunge from closer than feels comfortable, so its early read doesn't buy it enough time.
THE ACROBAT
Hugs the walls and rebounds off them. Following it along a wall gets you nowhere; cut the angle and be where the rebound lands.
The climb on the chaser side
From round 14 every runner gets wilier: it spots your wind-up from further out and runs faster. From round 18 most rounds send out two runners. Catching one pays points and puts five seconds back on the clock, so the first tag buys you time for the second. Only a clean double escape costs a life, but letting even one get away halves your combo, and one clean round wins it back. Go for the one that is easier to trap first, use the extra five seconds, then hunt the other.
From round 25 the wildcard rounds begin on the chaser side too: orb rushes, blackouts, close quarters, frenzy and the marathon.
Chaser skills
Your skills arrive on the same schedule as the evader's, and they mirror them:
| Round | Skill | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| 3 | LONG LUNGE | Your lunge carries 40% further. |
| 8 | SECOND LUNGE | Two lunge charges: herd with one, strike with the other. |
| 12 | PERFECT POUNCE | Miss by a hair and the lunge refunds instantly. |
| 16 | SNARE | Lunges drop a glowing lure the runner drifts toward, then it snaps shut. |
| 20 | LEAPFROG | Lunges sail over blocks, swelling like a jump. |
| 24 | PRESSURE | Stay close and a ring fills around the runner. A full ring means it tires. |
SECOND LUNGE changes how you hunt more than any other: the first lunge doesn't have to tag, it only has to force the runner to dodge, and the second one catches it mid-dodge. PRESSURE rewards the same habit from the other end: stay close rather than lunging early, and the runner slows down by itself.
Orbs on the chaser side
Orbs work for you too, and some of them change meaning. Freeze slows the runner to a crawl for two seconds, which is usually a free tag if you are close. Speed gives you 22% more speed for three seconds. The orb that is a shield for the evader becomes OVERTIME for you: four more seconds on the clock. Race the runner to it; if it gets there first, it gets a shield that blocks your next tag. Details on the orbs page.
When the runner gets away
Once a run, an escape comes with a rescue: OVERTIME puts you straight back on the hunt from the same positions with eight seconds to land the tag. You can bank it with LATER and spend it on your last life. The SECOND CHANCE perk for chasers makes it twice a run.
PLAY QUAD CHASE