Barrier is a very powerful ability that allows its user to generate near-impenetrable barriers.
Description[]
As its name implies, Barrier allows its user to create translucent force-fields capable of blocking attacks. However, unlike traditional force-fields, Barrier has the special property of reflecting damage, granting the ability a surprising amount of offensive capabilities.
Arlo's forcefields are usually dome-shaped, but are smaller shield like constructs at lower levels.
Valerie has a much more sharp and jagged variation that can form a crystal like shell or form into a movable wall.
They are lightly tinted of the user's signature colour.
Usage[]
- Force Field: The primary use of this ability. These nearly-impenetrable constructs are translucent but tinted with the user's signature colour.[1] At mid-tier levels, these usually manifest as basic shields (similar to Lennon's disks, but less versatile), providing only a limited range of protection.[2] Higher-tier users can create whole domes or rhombuses that can be used to fully encompass themselves for protection or imprison opponents.
- Damage Reflection: The primary offensive capability of this ability. Barriers cause attackers to take reflective damage by injuring them relatively to how much force they hit a Barrier with, even when cracked. However, this does not seem to be the case with Projectile Generation abilities as shown when John hit Arlo's Barrier with Energy Beam and didn't seem to take damage.
- Invulnerability: In high-tiers, Barrier manifests passively by giving high-tiers physical invulnerability. Not only can Arlo shake off a punch straight to the face, but he apparently feels no pain. John has commented that Arlo's jaw feels like steel. Furthermore, Arlo has shown that his durability can withstand ability-based attacks as shown during his battle against John.[1] According to a recent Q&A with Uru-chan, Arlo's passive, on its own, grants him a 6.5 defense stat.
- Barrier Fazing: Users of Barrier can create openings in their force-fields to let themselves or others walk through the barriers.[3]
- Force-Field Size Manipulation: Arlo has displayed that he can manipulate the size of his Barriers at will. This allows him to create larger force-fields to protect allies or shrink his barriers to crush foes from within.
- Enhanced Strength: Arlo has shown that his physical strength is considerably higher than normal, and was capable of overpowering Isen, who is capable of stopping a semi-truck with his bare hands, without breaking a sweat. Uru-chan has stated in her fireside chat that Arlo is capable of withstanding a blow from a massive moving vehicle.
- Multiple Barriers : An advanced user can throw up more than a single Barrier. Naturally, without training the Barriers will be weaker and drain the aura of the user.
- Barrier Walls (Valerie only): Valerie's variation can form a longer flattened walls made out of multiple interconnected shields used for containment.
- Barrier Push : An advanced technique that allows users to launch one of their standard barriers towards a distant opponent or target. These projectile shields can push enemies they strike like a bulldozer.
- Electro-vine Barrier (John only): By combining Barrier with Conjure: Vines and Lightning (Electric Vines), John can produce a barrier capable of controlling giant vines enhanced with electricity. He can use the Electric Vines to both attack and defend his barrier.
Strengths and Weaknesses[]
The Barrier ability is the pinnacle of defensive abilities in unORDINARY as it is nearly unbreakable and can cause damage without the user having to physically do anything. Thanks to the versatility of Barrier, users can not only defend themselves and inflict damage by reflecting attacks, but users can also trap their opponents in nigh unbreakable force-fields and can resize said force-fields at will.
At elite-tier levels or above, Barrier users can even contain individuals with abilities that specialize in phasing through solid objects. Arlo demonstrated this when a woman with couldn't use her Portals ability to escape the bubble he trapped her in.[4]
Offensive usage of Barriers requires more practice, as users aren't naturally suited for going on the offense. An experienced user like Valerie has the proficiency to send her Barriers hurtling towards opponents, eliminating the need for her to wait for enemies to attack her and suffer recoil. Arlo started to practice the technique after seeing his aunt perform it during the raid.[5]
Arlo has also shown the ability to create up to three barriers to trap enemies or protect himself or both, whereas Valerie can create dozens.
So far, the only way to penetrate a Barrier is for a more powerful ability user to break through with force. Only three individuals have ever pierced Arlo's Barrier; Rei, Seraphina and John. Of those three, only Seraphina has managed to break through Barriers reinforced through advanced techniques.
Tiers[]
At a god-tier level, Uru-chan implied that a user's force-field can withstand being rammed by a semi-truck.
Once they reach somewhere around level 7, they can seemingly transform their barrier or alter its shape, giving it a sharper form and texture, judging by how Valerie uses hers. They are also seemingly able to use multiple smaller shields that they could group together in a cluster wall, using attack and defense at the same time akin to Conjure: Disks.
At a high-tier level, Arlo developed a passive effect that takes the form of increased physical defense. With this passive, currently, he can easily swat away John's wind blades without the need to activate his ability.
At an elite-tier level, Arlo was able to weaponize a fork, causing it to break the wall by throwing it, possibly by enhancing it with his Barrier.[6]
At a mid-tier level, it is implied to be harder for the user to be able to make a perfect dome barrier, aspiring them to make a partial, shield-like barrier instead.[2] Additionally, the Barrier is able to be taken down by attacks from multiple other mid-tiers[2] or a moving van[7].
Weakness[]
These Barriers are not unbreakable and breaking a Barrier can seriously injure the user, as seen whenever barrier breaks, they cough up blood.[8] Any damage done to said Barrier will be retained for the duration of the battle. It also should be noted that a Barrier user can safely break another user's Barrier by blocking all reflective damage as shown when John broke Arlo's Barrier.[9] It seems that some projectile-based abilities, like Arcane Shot, do not reflect on the caster.
It has also been explained by Arlo that the more barriers he has up, the less durable they become, hence why he hasn't developed this feature of his ability much and only has one barrier up at a time to focus more on defense.