Javelin boosters generate heat while sprinting, hovering, or flying and can eventually overheat. Extend the time it takes to overheat by equipping specialized components, or by cleverly using the environment to cool off. Flying into water or through waterfalls is a good way to quickly rid a javelin of excess heat.
If not overheated, flight can be engaged any time while a javelin is in the air. Javelins fly in the direction they are facing.
Underwater, a javelin is limited only by its oxygen supply. That supply can be extended through component upgrades. The controls for swimming work like flying—javelins swim in the direction they are facing.

You can increase the health of your javelin's armor and shields by acquiring more powerful items. Some items increase the damage that your javelin inflicts. Inscriptions and consumables can also enhance your health and damage. Enemies will scale relative to your current difficulty setting and your pilot level. Each type of javelin has base armor and shield values that scale relative to your pilot level and the highest-rarity item equipped. A javelin's defenses are bolstered by each equipped component, increasing both armor and shields. Components with higher power levels will provide greater defenses.
Damage levels for weapons and gear are scaled relative to the item's power level.
Enemy health and damage will scale relative to your difficulty setting and pilot level. They also scale relative to each player, meaning the same enemy will often show different values for two players who are grouped together.

Weapons and gear launch various attacks on enemies, including unique combos that can cause devastating damage. Gear that apply status effects are known as primers, and have this icon: . An experienced Freelancer knows that strategic use of the right gear can control the battle and defeat the enemy.
FIRE: Sets enemies on fire. Causes them to burn and take additional damage over time.
ICE: Freezes enemies. Restricts their movement for the duration of the effect.
ELECTRICAL: Electrifies enemies and turns them into conduits that disperse arcs of electricity and shock nearby enemies.
ACID: Lowers enemy resistances and increases their damage vulnerability.
Weapon and gear that apply status effects have a Status stat in the Forge which indicates how quickly the status is applied. Different enemies have varying resistances that protect them from particular effects, and determine how long each takes to apply.
When an enemy has an effect on them—shown as a nameplate icon: , , , —launch a combo with weapons or gear that have the detonator property. These are indicated by this icon: . Different types of combos and effects will produce damaging results.
IMPACT: The Impact Combo consumes the energy of the Status Effect to do a large amount of damage of the same type, so the Fire Status Effect will do a burst of Fire damage.
EXPLOSION: The Explosion Combo consumes the power of the Status Effect to trigger an explosion of the same type of the Status Effect, dealing matching damage to enemies caught in the blast.
CHAIN: The Combo deals damage and spreads the Status Effect to nearby enemies.
AURA: This Combo deals damage and surrounds you with an aura matching the Status Effect, applying the Status Effect to enemies nearby.

• The Ranger has a double-jump capability. Hold [JUMP BUTTON] on the first jump to increase air time. This will not increase air time on the second jump.
• The Ranger ultimate is Micro-Missiles. At full power, activate [ULTIMATE BUTTON] to identify and paint all threats in the targeting area. Then fire [FIRE WEAPON BUTTON] to release a barrage of missiles at all targets.
• The Ranger can jump farther by sprinting and jumping.
• The Ranger has a dash that can be used on the ground and in the air.
• The Ranger's barrel roll can be used while flying to avoid locked-on projectiles.
• The Ranger has an automated shield layer that will regenerate after a short delay (when not taking damage).
• The Ranger is the second-most agile suit.
• The Ranger is a jack-of-all-trades javelin.

• The Storm has a single-jump capability. Hold [JUMP BUTTON] to increase air time.
• The Storm ultimate is Elemental Storm. At full power, activate [ULTIMATE BUTTON] to become immune to damage and master the elements. Firing [FIRE WEAPON BUTTON] will conjure an elemental storm at the targeted location and apply the matching effect to anyone inside. Shortly after, a meteor will strike the area, dealing massive damage and applying the Chain Combo.
• The Storm allows for a descending float to course-correct your jump by tapping [JUMP BUTTON] after the jump. Hold [JUMP BUTTON] to extend the float time.
• The Storm can jump farther by sprinting and jumping.
• The Storm has a teleport capability that can be used on the ground or in the air to avoid attacks.
• The Storm has a spherical kinesis shield.
• The Storm's shield protects it from effects and prevents the Storm from stumbling when hit.
• The Storm's shield gets amplified and takes reduced damage while the Storm is hovering.
• The Storm can hover the longest of any javelin.
• The Storm is the second-least agile suit.
• The Storm has devastating firepower and area-of-effect attacks, but low defensive capability.

• The Colossus has double-jump capability. Hold [JUMP BUTTON] on either jump to increase air time. Quickly re-engage [JUMP BUTTON] to trigger a quick-boost to reach maximum altitude much faster.
• The Colossus ultimate is Siege Cannon. At full power, the Colossus can deploy a massive, collapsible cannon [ULTIMATE BUTTON] that fires [FIRE WEAPON BUTTON] powerful, explosive shells with devastating results.
• The Colossus can jump farther by sprinting and jumping.
• When the Colossus lands from a high altitude, nearby enemies take damage. This stacks with the air-melee, so a Colossus air-melee from a higher altitude deals more damage than a lower one.
• The Colossus has a shield that can be used on the ground and in the air. The shield protects against front damage in a 180-degree arc.
• Sprint or fly into enemies with the Colossus shield to bash smaller foes.
• A melee with the Colossus shield will perform a shield slam against an enemy.
• The Colossus is the least agile javelin.
• The Colossus takes less damage than other javelins.
• The Colossus has more armor than other javelins.

• The Interceptor has triple-jump capability. Hold [JUMP BUTTON] to increase the air time of the first jump. The second and third jumps have set heights.
• The Interceptor's ultimate is Assassin's Blades. At full power, activate [ULTIMATE BUTTON] to empower blades. Striking enemies while empowered [FIRE WEAPON BUTTON]/ [MELEE BUTTON] will leave after-images that continue to do damage even after the Interceptor has moved to the next threat.
• The Interceptor can jump farther by sprinting and jumping.
• The Interceptor has a chain-dash that can be used on the ground or in the air. Hold [DASH BUTTON] while moving to allow the Interceptor to chain-dash as many as three times.
• The Interceptor's extra-spinning barrel roll can be used while flying to avoid locked-on projectiles.
• The Interceptor has an automated shield layer that will regenerate faster with quicker movement.
• The Interceptor is the most agile suit.