Review [Issue 37] Changes to the Balance, Vol. 2

[Thekillerpenguin 1,731]

 
Many of you will remember my "Changes to the Balance: Assorted Tips" article from two months ago. Well, in the final days of June, another mass balance change was rolled out, and more recently, the three "elemental" turrets were changed too, so I feel obligated to provide you with another article in this series. With that aside, let's dig right in.
 
Let's get started on the turrets first:
 

Firebird's changes make it stronger in direct combat. The damage has been increased, the maximum burning time and range have been decreased, and the heating speed for all modifications is now standardized. While the damage increase is a definite buff, the decrease in maximum burning time and range is a nerf, but it's only something you'll be noticing at M3+, and 20 seconds of burning time is still very long. The uniform heating speed is a buff to lower modifications and a nerf to higher ones; M0 Firebird now heats up targets 5 times as quickly, but M3 Firebird's heating speed has been halved.
 
Lastly, it now deals damage every quarter second instead of every half second. This means that there will be less "wasted" damage if an enemy escapes from your reach before the damage interval can happen.

• At higher modifications, don't rely too much on afterburn to destroy targets. You won't heat up your enemies as quickly, so they won't be burning for as long, and that equates to less afterburn damage.
• The buff to damage mean that you can be more aggressive in combat. It won't take as long to destroy your opponents if you can roast them continuously.
• However, the range decrease means that you need to get closer to your targets to fight effectively. Stay quick on your treads while being wary of mines or other obstructions.

Freeze has been changed a lot, once again. First and foremost, the freezing effect is much more potent, which corrects a common complaint about the previous balance change. This comes at the cost of freezing time and freezing speed- it takes significantly longer to freeze your opponents, and they defrost in a measly 4 seconds.
 
The range has been increased significantly, and it deals damage twice as often. It also comes with 50% more energy, which means that you can attack for 9 seconds before running dry instead of 6. Overall, Freeze is a lot more potent now, but it's more punishing if you let your opponents escape.

• Freeze is now capable of slowing down flag carriers very well, like it used to. It's more effective for defense because of that.
• The increased amount of energy means that it can do a lot more damage in one "clip", which corrects another common complaint about the previous iteration of Freeze.
• Due to the decrease in freezing rate and increase in defrosting rate, it's important to keep your opponents in range. If they escape, they will be back on their feet in no time.
• If you've been attacked by a Freeze, finding a friendly Firebird or Isida is less urgent. If you're not in immediate peril, you can wait out the freezing effects.

Isida hasn't been changed too much. The range has been decreased by a very small amount, and it now deals damage twice as often, so you won't be as frustrated if your lock on is broken in between damage intervals.

• Get a little bit closer to your targets, friendly or otherwise.

Twins has been changed by a little bit. M0 and M1 Twins have had their damage reduced by a small amount, while M2 and up have had their damage increased by a little bit.

• It now performs more consistently at all ranks. You shouldn't notice a very large difference.

Hammer has been tweaked once again. Damage at M0 and M1 has been increased by a small amount, but it's been decreased slightly at the other modifications. Its rate of fire has been decreased (still the same at M3+) and its reloading speed has been increased.

• Hammer is still very powerful at close range, but you should note the adjustments in damage and the nerfs in rate of fire and reloading speed. It will take a bit longer to destroy enemies, and you will be vulnerable for longer while reloading. Be more cautious when playing and have an escape plan.

Ricochet has been nerfed slightly. It has had reductions to its impact force and damage, but these are pretty minor.

• Be a little bit more cautious in battle; while Ricochet is still devastatingly powerful at close and medium ranges, it is still a slightly weaker than before. Otherwise, you won't need to change your tactics.

Vulcan has been changed a bit. Its damage has been increased, while the time that it takes for the barrel to spin up has been decreased. To compensate, it now takes an extra half second to stop spinning after you let go of the space bar.

• The increased damage and decreased spin-up time are welcome buffs. It's still not as powerful as it was when it was initially introduced, but these are still improvements. You can play more aggressively.
• The extra time spin-down time means that you'll be more vulnerable whenever you stop firing. Consider retreating into any available cover if you need to stop firing to cool down. Also, when switching targets, consider keeping the spacebar held down if you can afford to take some damage from afterburn- it will take longer to cool off and start firing again, during which an enemy can exit your line of sight.

Smoky has had a few adjustments to its stats. The normal damage and critical damage have been tweaked at various modifications, but these changes are fairly small, and you likely won't notice them much. The most noticeable change lies in the range- the range at M0-M3 has been increased.

• Smoky is slightly weaker in damage (critical and normal) at M0 and M1, while it is slightly stronger in those respects at M2-M3. Be somewhat more careful if you're using a M0 or M1 Smoky, and you can be more aggressive with a M2 or M3 Smoky.
• Smoky's range has been increased significantly at M0 and M1, and less so at M2 and M3. It actually has more range than Thunder now. This means that you can do a respectable amount of damage at longer ranges, and you're not limited to close-medium range combat. I've always thought that Smoky being described as a long range weapon in the garage description was an overstatement, but because of this update, that's not too far from the truth.

Thunder's changes seem to reverse some of the changes in the previous update. Its splash damage is more powerful now, but the damage has been reduced slightly to compensate.

• The decrease in direct damage is minor, but it is noticeable in combat. Because of this, Thunder is less powerful against single targets.
• The increase in splash damage is quite noticeable. Splash damage will now do a minimum of 25% base damage instead of 10%, which is a pretty significant difference. As such, it's better for crowd control. If you see lots of enemies clustered up, attack if possible.

Railgun has not been changed at all.
 

Shaft has undergone a lot of changes. The arcade damage has been reduced, the sniping damage has been increased, the scope now zooms more slowly, and it now reloads more quickly.

• The reduced power of arcade shots means that defending yourself with arcade shots alone is a going to be a bit harder. Kill steals will also be less common.
• The increase in sniping damage is quite beneficial. While you'll still be only capable of one-shotting Hornets and Wasps, it will let you destroy damaged medium and heavy hulls more often.
• The slower scope zoom is a double edged sword. While it will take longer for your shots to reach full power (leaving you more vulnerable), you'll have more situational awareness- for instance, if an enemy pops out to attack you while you're zooming in, since you won't be zoomed in as much while charging, you might be able to spot them and put a sniper round in their hull.
• The increased reload speed is always nice. It will let you shoot more often.
• I would suggest learning how to quick-snipe if you haven't already. The other changes really make quick-sniping more powerful; they're more damaging (thanks to the scope damage buff) and easier to aim at close range (thanks to the slower zooming). With the decrease in arcade shot damage, quick-sniping is more beneficial than ever for self defense or attacking.

---

 

Hulls haven't changed a whole lot.

• Wasp and Hornet are unchanged.
• Hunter, Viking, and Dictator are now faster at all modifications except M3+. This makes them more suited for flag capturing and attacking. You can play more offensively with those hulls.
• Titan and Mammoth have once against received a significant speed buff at all modifications except M3+. This makes them faster and, in my opinion, less boring to play. They're still not good for flag capturing (duh) and fast attacking, but they should be easier to drive, and it won't take an eternity to reach the front lines.

That's it for this article. Have any tips or comments? Post them below. Thanks for reading, and I'll see you next time!
 

Edited July 29, 2017 by Hexed
fixed mistake

[deafeat1 271]

Nice one TKP :) I love you

[iamthebadboy2 168]

Nice article! Love it.

[Cor7y 13,862]

Wait what ? Firebird's range has been decreased, not increased.

[Sleek 43]

Thx for all the great tips, TKP. I now know how to use my Smoky and my Thunder :D

[NoahYacoub2002 1]

meh i have a little complainement about freeze: you freeze enemies slower and they unfreeze faster: then what,s the points? that is not very normal for a freezing weapon i think or the unfreezing has to be slower: or the freezing has to go faster: or else it,s effect isn,t very usefull right?

and BTW i think hornet has to get like 5% more speed and 3% faster acceleration and wasp needs like 6/7% more armor and it needs 11% weight increase.

 

this whas my opinion i hope you will do this changes tanki and good luck :)

[splitterpoint 10,986]

• I would suggest learning how to quick-snipe if you haven't already.

 

By the way, awesome article M9!

[Mad-shafter 0]

Not popular, but very nice. Tanki claims that balance is important, but they dont do anything about rail and hornet. I am posting on the alt of @Rico_Viking_9000 because it is banned. Nice topic.

[Darren4Turbo 4,913]

Nice :)