Brain Power and Surge
Brain Power (BP) is the match resource that pays for attacks and class abilities. Surge is a per-unit expertise counter that adds attack damage and, at higher levels, bonus BP.
Earning Brain Power
Section titled “Earning Brain Power”Of the questions you answer, only move questions pay BP: the optional bonus question after a free multiplayer/hot-seat move, and every move question in single-player (VS AI and campaign) — see Movement. The mandatory question before a point-of-interest capture in multiplayer, and the question for entering an enemy base’s zone, pay nothing.
A correct move question pays:
| Source | BP |
|---|---|
| Any correct answer | 1 |
| Bonus for a correct Tier 3 answer | +1 |
| Bonus at Surge 3 or higher | +1 |
| Bonus at Surge 5 (max), instead of +1 | +2 |
A correct answer outside your unit’s own domain earns +2 bonus BP on top of the above.
A player who has fewer units than any opponent, or can’t afford the cheapest attack, also earns 1 BP automatically at the start of their turn. You also gain Brain Power when one of your units is eliminated (the revenge boost — see Combat) and from some abilities, such as Sprint Retrospective’s refund. Several class passives add BP on top of a move question’s payout — see Abilities and classes.
Spending Brain Power
Section titled “Spending Brain Power”BP pays for:
- Attacking another unit or a base — see Combat for cost by difficulty.
- Casting a class’s active or ultimate ability — see Abilities and classes for cost per ability.
The cap
Section titled “The cap”Your BP can’t exceed a cap, set by match size and difficulty:
| Match size | Base cap |
|---|---|
| Tutorial | 10 |
| Small | 10 |
| Medium | 12 |
| Large | 16 |
| Difficulty | Cap multiplier |
|---|---|
| Junior | ×1 |
| Medior | ×1 |
| Senior | ×1.25 |
| Architect | ×1.5 |
Some points of interest raise your cap further while you control them — see Points of interest.
Surge is per unit, not per player. It changes on a move question: a correct one raises it by 1, up to a cap of 5; a wrong or skipped one halves it (rounded down), unless a class ability protects it. The AI/ML class’s Neural Strike ultimate also adds +2 Surge directly to its caster — see Abilities and classes.
Surge does two things:
- Adds bonus damage to that unit’s attacks — see Combat.
- Once it reaches the thresholds above, adds bonus BP to that unit’s correct answers.