A live air battle in your browser
Skyad is a free dogfighting game that runs in any modern browser, with nothing to install. You join one shared battle that never stops, shoot down other pilots with guns and lock-on missiles, and try to stay alive as long as you can.
Every life starts at level 1. Your best single life of the week puts you on the leaderboard, and the top 10 planes fly with sponsor banners. When a top-10 pilot is offline, their plane keeps fighting as an AI "ace".
Before your first battle
- Tutorial: a short guided flight, offline, that teaches steering, guns, missiles and how to dodge them.
- Practice vs AI: fly any airframe with any stats against AI pilots. It isn't scored, and nothing you do there counts.
Controls
Keyboard and mouse on a computer; on-screen buttons on a phone or tablet.
- Steer
- Arrow keys or WASD. Pull back (↓ or S) to climb and push (↑ or W) to dive, like a real control stick. On touch, drag.
- Guns
- Space, J or left click. Aim at the amber diamond in front of the enemy, not at the plane itself. Guns overheat if you hold them too long.
- Missile
- Keep a target in front of you until it says LOCK, then press F, K or right click.
- Boost
- Shift. It also tightens your turn.
- Flares
- Q. A missile chasing you goes for the flare instead. The flare bar refills over time.
- Barrel roll
- Double-tap left or right to slide out of a stream of bullets, or shake off a missile up close.
- Sound
- M turns music and sound on or off.
Staying alive
- Missile warning? Turn hard and boost straight away, then drop a flare. A missile that's already close is easier to dodge with a barrel roll.
- Clouds are cover. Inside a cloud nobody can lock on to you, and missiles chasing you lose track.
- Repair kits. Fly through a green cross to get back 40 health.
- Don't fly straight for long. A plane that flies in a straight line is the easiest target in the sky.
Levels and airframes
Shooting down planes, helping with a kill, and flying through gold and blue XP rings earns XP. Each level gives you a point to spend on one of eight stats: self-heal, max health, speed, turning, damage, shoot longer, missile refill and lock-on.
Your plane grows as you level up. At level 2 you pick a starter line (guns, missiles or speed), at level 4 its next step, at level 8 one of five classes, and at level 16 a specialisation: 22 planes in all, each with its own weapon. Levels reset when your life ends, so every life is a fresh climb. Shoot down a top-10 plane and you inherit its XP.
The weekly leaderboard
Your score is your best single life in the week. Seasons reset every Monday at 00:00 Korea time (Sunday 15:00 UTC). The top 10 carry sponsor banners for that week.
AI pilots
When there aren't enough players online, AI pilots fill the empty seats so there is always a fight. They are always labelled AI, on the leaderboard and in the battle. We never present them as real people.
Is it free?
Yes. Each life starts after one short ad. If you'd rather skip ads, a subscription gives unlimited ad-free lives for US$2.99 a month, and you can cancel any time. Nothing in Skyad is pay-to-win.
Sponsors
Businesses can put their banner on one of the top-10 planes for a week. They buy a rank and a slot, not a particular player, and every banner is reviewed by a person before it goes live. See Advertise. They can also book one of five one-second spots in the short sponsor break before each free life.
Who makes Skyad
Skyad is made by Digital Native Co. Questions, bug reports and feedback are welcome: see Contact.