Complete list of Shells (as of August 2014)

ATTACK SHELLS

-Scorch (Cost: 4)
Deals 3 damage to an enemy champion

-Chaos (Cost: 5)
Deals 3 damage to all champions

-Blaze (Cost: 6, Rare)
Deals 4 damage to an enemy champion

-Get off my Porch! (Cost:8, Rare)
Kills an enemy on your baseline

-Scorching Zone (Cost: 8, Rare)
All characters in 3x3 area take 3 damage

-Aether Discharge (Cost: 10, Rare)
Deals 3 direct damage to enemy ship

-Exitus (Cost: 10, Rare)
Kill an enemy champion

-Light em Up (Cost: 10, Rare)
Deals 3 damage to all enemy champions

SUPPORT SHELLS

-Healing (Cost: 1)
Restore 3 hitpoints of a friendly champion

-Comeback (Cost: 3, Rare)
Restore all hitpoints of a friendly champion

-Upper (Cost: 3)
Selected friendly character gets 2 Aether and 3 health

-Group Healing (Cost: 3)
Selected friendly character and adjacent friendly characters get 3 health

-Healing Zone (Cost: 4, Rare)
All characters in 3x3 area get 3 health

-Team Healing (Cost: 5)
All friendly characters get 3 health

-Team Comeback (Cost: 6, Rare)
All friendly characters are fully healed

-Team Upper (Cost: 7, Rare)
All friendly characters get 2 Aether and 3 Health

TRICK SHELLS

-Blink (Cost: 3)
Teleport to a tile within 3 tiles

-Bait & Switch (Cost: 4, Rare)
Swap positions with another champion

-Shockwave (Cost: 5)
Knockback all champions adjacent to a friendly champion

-Backdoor (Cost: 6, Rare)
Teleport to a tile on the enemy’s baseline

-Teleport (Cost: 7)
Teleport to any tile of the map

-Mega Shockwave (Cost: 9, Rare)
All characters adjacent to friendly character are knocked back 2 tiles

AETHER CONTROL SHELLS

-Earthing (Cost: 1)
Removes all AEther from an enemy champion

-Charging (Cost: 2)
Selected friendly character gets 2 Aether

-Charging Zone (Cost: 3)
All characters in 3x3 area get 2 Aether

-Dead Zone (Cost: 3)
All characters in 3x3 area lose all aether

-Ready to Blow (Cost: 4, Rare)
Fills up a friendly champion’s AEther to 5

-Escalation (Cost: 4)
All characters get 5 Aether

-Team Charging (Cost: 4, Rare)
All friendly characters get 2 Aether

-Team Earthing (Cost: 4, Rare)
All enemy characters lose all Aether

-Team Boost (Cost: 7, Rare)
All friendly characters get 5 Aether

SHELL STRATEGY DISCUSSION

Under construction

Intro:

For a shell loadout, it is usually map specific, but I recommend a cumulative cost of 14-18 aether for all 3 shells. That is the average aether, I would say, that you gain within a match. Play around with the total cost, increase it if you're playing on a map with aether tiles.

I've seen someone use 23 shell loadout before and used all 3, but I wouldn't say that is common in all matches, and it was on Dearborne with 2 ship aether tiles. Going too high means you risk not being able to use all 3 shells against your opponent, and going too low means you don't capitalize on all the potential ship aether you can expend.

Basic Loadouts:

Starting out, I would recommend using 1 high-cost shell, 1 medium-cost shell, and 1 low-cost shell. That way, you always have an option at any range of aether you have. Here are the tiers of cost.

1-3: Healing, Earthing, Charging, Charging Zone, Deadzone, Full Comeback, Blink, Group Healing, Upper
4-6: Team Charging, Team Earthing, Team Healing, Team Comeback, Healing Zone, Escalation, B&S, Scorch, RTB, Chaos, Shockwave, Blaze, Backdoor
7-10: Team Boost, Team Upper, Teleport, Get off my Porch, Scorching Zone, Mega Shockwave, Aether Discharge, Exitus, Light em Up

Map-specific Loadouts:

You should definitely cater your shell loadout to the map you're playing on. If it has extra ship aether tiles, increase your cumulative cost to 18-20. If it has high quick-damage beginnings (e.g. New Detroit), might want to carry low cost Healing or Damage shells. Each map has its own quirks, so you'll have to adapt your shells strategy to it, here are some quick notes on each map.

Dome Argus: 2 ship aether tiles. lots of ways to knock off opponent (off side or into death tiles). shockwave is great, as well as offensive (backdoor/teleport) shells because it is a wide map. Bring shell counters to backdoor and teleport, such as GOMP or Exitus or Blaze/Scorch.

South Pole: High action in the middle, since many champions are concentrated in one area may consider Zone shells (3x3 effect). Similar to Dome Argus, bring offensive movement shells as well as defensive ones to counter enemy's backdoor champs.

New Detroit: Damage shells are highly effective on this map, no healing tiles and very small map leads to fast damage. Healing shells can turn the tide on the caether side.

Dearborne Heights: 2 ship aether tiles. Long drawn out skirmishes, with champs running back and forth onto healing tiles. Shockwave is also very effective on this map, coupled with the Arc ship.

Mount Whitney: 2 ship aether tiles. Movement and knockback shells are pretty effective. This map is shaped for quicker ship damage, so possibly bring a ship killer (Bloody Mary) with Aether Discharge.

Gate to Lost Angels: Damage shells (and conversely healing shells) would be pretty effective on this map. Backdoor/Teleport is also very useful on this map, as it is harder to defend your left side.

Midships: Small enough map that allows common double movement to place a champion beside enemy ship. I'd recommend shells to kill backdoor enemy units, as well as healing/aether buffing shells to keep your units in the fight longer.