Portal

Portal

Portals are phenomena that throw lots of Exotic Matter (XM) into this world. If it is captured with a Resonator  it will align to the Faction and be available for linking. The colour of a Portal indicates which Faction is in control of it: Blue for the Resistance , Green for the Enlightened , and red for Machina. Non-controlled Portals are grey/white in colour. Portals are rated by levels, L1 - L8, based on the average level of Resonators . Moving into proximity of a Portal will allow the Agent to select the Portal and have access to different actions through the Portal menu.

Portal Info

Portal information window

When a Portal comes into action range of the Agent's Scanner, selecting it will bring up an information about that Portal. The Portal Level will be displayed on the upper left, and the name and description are on the top, as well as the image of the Portal. Under that image are the mods that are deployed on that Portal. The set of actions are found on the bottom of the Scanner, and change depending on the Portal's alignment. The number of keys in the inventory to that Portal is also displayed, on the bottom left.

Portal Level

See also: Resonator (Portal deployment strategies)

Portal level is simply the average level of its eight Resonator  slots, rounded down. For example, a Portal with 7 × L8 and 1 × L7 Resonators  has an average (8 + 8 + 8 + 8 + 8 + 8 + 8 + 7) / 8 = 7.875 and this is rounded down to a L7 Portal.

Many qualities of Portals scale with the level of the Portal: The level of items dropped from hacking; the length of Links created from the Portal (also increased by Link Amps , see Link for details); the amount of XM lost when the Portal zaps an enemy Agent (also increased by Force Amps ).

Notably, Portal's toughness is not dependent on the Portal level -- but instead depends on the energy of individual Resonators  and mitigation provided by Portal Shields  and Links.

Agent Level	Deployed Resonators	Portal Level		Agent Levels	Deployed Resonators	Portal Level
Level 1​	L1 L1 L1 L1 L1 L1 L1 L1	L1 (1.0)		2 × L7	L7 L7 L6 L6 L6 L6 L5 L5	L6 (6)
Level 2​	L2 L2 L2 L2 L1 L1 L1 L1	L1 (1.5)		L7 + L8	L8 L7 L7 L6 L6 L6 L6 L5	L6 (6.375)
Level 3​	L3 L3 L3 L3 L2 L2 L2 L2	L2 (2.5)		2 × L8	L8 L8 L7 L7 L6 L6 L6 L6	L6 (6.75)
Level 4​	L4 L4 L4 L4 L3 L3 L3 L3	L3 (3.5)		3 × L8	L8 L8 L8 L7 L7 L7 L6 L6	L7 (7.125)
Level 5​	L5 L5 L4 L4 L4 L4 L3 L3	L4 (4.0)		4 × L8	L8 L8 L8 L8 L7 L7 L7 L7	L7 (7.5)
Level 6​	L6 L6 L5 L5 L4 L4 L4 L4	L4 (4.75)		5 × L8	L8 L8 L8 L8 L8 L7 L7 L7	L7 (7.625)
Level 7​	L7 L6 L6 L5 L5 L4 L4 L4	L5 (5.125)		6 × L8	L8 L8 L8 L8 L8 L8 L7 L7	L7 (7.75)
Level 8​	L8 L7 L6 L6 L5 L5 L4 L4	L5 (5.625)		7 × L8	L8 L8 L8 L8 L8 L8 L8 L7	L7 (7.875)
				8 × L8	L8 L8 L8 L8 L8 L8 L8 L8	L8 (8.0)

Hacking

Main article: Hacking

Hacking is done to gain items and, in case of hostile Portals AP. By hacking a friendly Portal the Agent will receive items, but will not be rewarded with AP while for hacking enemy Portals the Agent will be awarded 100 AP, but carry the risk of being attacked by the Portal. Upon the first Hack the Agent will generally receive a Portal Key  for that Portal, but no more will be awarded while still holding the Portal Key  to that Portal, outside of specifically requesting one during a Glyph Hack during the Command-phase. Any Agent can hack a Portal once every five minutes up to four times before Burnout (4 hours). Burnout lasts for 4 hours from the time of the first Hack. The use of Heat Sink  and Multi-Hack  Mods change the cool-down timer and Burnout rate, respectively. Hacking a Portal costs XM, based on the level of the Portal.

Holding down the 'Hack'-button, rather than tapping it, will allow the Agent to select between different hacking modes, one is Glyph hacking, which will give the Agent a bonus on the amount of Items they receive if they correctly input the Glyph Sequence they receive, another which specifically requests a Portal Key  and the last specifically requesting not to receive a Portal Key .

Decay, Damage and Recharging

Main article: Recharging

Resonators  are powered by XM. Resonators  start with a full charge, but the XM charge decays at a rate of 15% per day. The time they decay is the time they were originally captured. Flip Cards do not have an effect on this time.

Attacks on Resonators  by XMP Bursters  also reduce their XM charge. Resonators  will be destroyed when their charge reaches 0 XM. If a Portal loses all Resonators , it is neutralized.

Portal Resonators  can be recharged until full by any friendly Agent at the cost of the Scanner's XM. Recharging grants 10 AP. All the Resonators  in the area can be recharged at once or individually. Generally, recharging requires that the Agent be in influence range, or in possession of the Portal's Portal Key .

Portals can be recharged remotely if the Agent has the Portal Key  to the Portal. The farther the Agent is from the Portal, the less efficient the recharge will be. The efficiency drops off at a linear rate and does not drop below 50%. If an Agent is farther than their recharge range, the Portal cannot be recharged remotely.

The rate at which recharge efficiency reduces, as a function of range, is the following:

Efficiency = 100 - 0.0333 x Range

Please note that, to be completely correct, the efficiency found with the formula needs to be rounded to the first decimal place, up if the second decimal digit is 5 or above, down if it is 4 or below. The coefficient of the Range is actually a periodic number, but using it with at least three significant digits gives a perfect approximation.

(Please note this formula was found by experimental methods, using data from Portal Keys  from 0.01 to 84km. If you discover it is somewhat incorrect please help the Wiki by correcting it.)

Destroying a Portal

Destroying a Portal gives a fixed chance for the Portal Keys  used to create Links from this Portal to appear at the feet of the Agent. When a Portal is destroyed, it will become neutral, and in order to capture it, an Agent will have to put only one Resonator  to capture it, but you will not be able to create Links and Control Fields Δ if the Portal does not have all 8 Resonators  slots filled.

Medals

The following Medals can be earned by visiting and hacking unique Portals:

Bronze	Silver	Gold	Platinum	Onyx
100	1 000	2 000	10 000	30 000

The following Medals can be earned by capturing Portals:

Bronze	Silver	Gold	Platinum	Onyx
100	1 000	5 000	15 000	40 000

The following Medals can be earned by capturing unique Portals:

Bronze	Silver	Gold	Platinum	Onyx
20	200	1 000	5 000	20 000

The following Medals was earnable by successfully submitting new Portals to the Portal network:

Bronze	Silver	Gold	Platinum	Onyx
10	50	200	500	5 000

• The Seer-medal was earned by discovering and successfully submitting new Portals and was discontinued on 31. December 2014. (Portals submitted before that deadline are accepted and it still count towards the Medal)

Creating a Portal

New Portals can be submitted by Agents Level 10​ or higher. As of June 2017, Portal submissions can be rated by other Agent on the Niantic Wayfarer website (previously OPR). Portal submissions require a location, an image, an support image, a description and a small amount of text to explain why it should be a Portal.

Portal submission was temporarily suspended from 02. September 2015 until 25. September 2017.

Instructions

Submitting a Portal through the Scanner is done by the following steps:

1. Open the main menu and choose "Nominations".
2. Ensure the target's location. (Sometimes the GPS does not get the best placement and the orientation may be off.)
3. Take a picture of the nomination. Ensuring the whole of the location without including any people and in good lighting will produce the best image.
4. Take a picture of the surroundings of the nomination to show that the place is safe.
5. Once the images has been taken, the Agent will then need to enter a title and description. These should be as unique as possible without being lengthy.
6. Finally, write a short text to explain why your nomination should be a Portal.
7. Submit the Portal. An e-mail will be sent to the Agent. When the Portal is submitted, you will receive a "confirmation" e-mail sent by Ingress Nominations that you successfully submitted a Portal, and you will receive a 2nd mail when (and if) your Portal was accepted into Niantic Wayfarer.

*Note that your submission can be edited later on the Wayfarer website

Improve the Chances of Approval

Consider the following for improved chances of creating a new Portal:

1. Location with a cool story, a place in history, or educational value.
2. A cool piece of art or unique architecture.
3. A hidden gem or hyper-local spot.
4. A community gathering place.
5. Taking a clear, bright photo (candidates do not necessarily have to be visually impressive to meet acceptance criteria).

*Location, Details, Image can be updated if need be from the Scanner, unless it is a historical site. Then you have to go to http://www.hmdb.org/, however, just like original submissions, they have to be approved first.

Please note that Portal submissions will take several weeks to a few months to be confirmed (sometimes, years).