[Issue 64] [Guide] The Updated Ultimate Guide to Twins

[Blackdrakon30 2,943]

 
Welcome tankers! Today we're going to talk in-depth about Twins. This turret has been around for quite a while in Tanki Online and has undergone numerous changes in the past few months. However, it still remains the deadly dual-barreled weapon that flips Wasps over and spreads colorful chaos throughout the battlefield. Let's take a look at the cover-all guide for the Twins turret!
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History and Recent Changes
 
According to the Russian Wiki, Twins was the among the first round of turrets to be introduced into the game, along with Railgun, Smoky and Firebird, meaning that it is among the oldest turrets currently in Tanki. These were all released in the beta version of Tanki Online, on May the 8th 2009. Originally, the "punch" from Twins was much higher than it is today - and due to complaints it was nerfed soon after. However, it still remained as one of the most powerful weapons in the game at that time, with the M3 version available for purchase at the cost of only 500 crystals.
 
After the economy rebalance - which multiplied the crystal cost by 10, Twins experienced a re-buff which saw its power increased again, much to the annoyance of many tankers who promptly complained. However, Twins was left as it was despite their efforts. Twins has always been a favorite among many tankers, due to its infinite ammunition and solid firing rate. It has remained largely unchanged up until recently, where recent rebalances and additions saw its role change dramatically.
 
Twins has been long regarded as one of the "noob sprayer" weapons, seeing as it had unlimited ammunition. You'd regularly see a Twins simply firing constantly, known as "brick playing". Tankers with low skill levels loved this pre-update Twins as the lack of self-damage meant that one could rush an opponent and pummel them to death. This was a highly-annoying tactic, and was often used by low-ranked tankers.
 
In the recent rebalance updates, splash damage was introduced to Twins, which now deals self-damage at close range. This means the tactics above usually doesn't end well for the Twins, as the amount of damage dealt to itself is actually quite high. Of course, you can pay 50 000 crystals to remove this. But since many players can't afford the extra 50 000 in addition to the Twins itself, new playing styles must be used.
 
Twins was altered in other ways other than the addition of splash damage in the recent adjustment of turret statistics. Positive changes including increasing the projectile radius (easier to hit enemies) and boosting the weak damage output. Negatives were nerfs to the horizontal and vertical auto-aim angles. Of course, these new statistics had to be added to accommodate the splash damage effect slightly better. The splash radius is actually very small, and only tanks very close to the target will feel anything. There is now also an explosion impact force, which changes depending on the modification level.
 
Twins boasts two alterations, one providing superior range and projectile speed at the cost of reload, while the other removes the splash damage. Both of these are M1 Updates and cannot be used together. The first alteration provides Twins with the range to become a threat in the midfield, and makes the user immune recoil damage, as he/she are no longer required to be near the opponent. The second alteration reverts Twins back to its "glory days" and lets it become a short range pummeling weapon once again. Both are extremely useful for Twins.
 
Statistics

 

Twins M0                              Twins M1                              Twins M2                              Twins M3

 

 

- Table of Statistics -

 

 

 

The table above, obtained from the official Tanki Wiki page, displays all the statistics relating to the Twins turret at the varying modification levels. Twins has several key features that you are most likely familiar with. These are near-instant reload time, dual barrels, high impact force, limited range and splash damage. The turret has a excellent damage output in a close-range situations because of its high sustained Damage per Second (DPS). However, Twins lacks the ability to deal massive instant damage (Like Shaft or Railgun) and therefore struggles to beat tanks being healed by an Isida or Repair Kit. The dual barrels alternate shots, always starting from the right barrel upon respawning (like Striker).
 
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Turret Profile:

 High damage over time, low instant damage
Small splash damage radius
High impact force
Moderate recoil
Short to moderate range
Unlimited reload
Dual barrels 
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Gamemode Performance
 
DM Battles: Twins is a strong presence in Deathmatch, owing much to its excellent stamina, high damage and respectable range. This makes it an excellent option for maps of most sizes, but is best on medium-sized DM maps like Polygon. It partners well with supplies which makes drugging a potent tactic. Twins is overall one of the most deadly turrets in a Deathmatch battle.

 

TDM Battles: TDM is pretty similar to DM, but is essentially CTF without the flag. Twins is quite good in TDM thanks to providing excellent damage, but the bigger issue is just that there aren't enough Team Deathmatch battles for this to be particularly relevant. When in a TDM battle, it usually tends to play the role of a midfielder on medium sized maps.
 

CTF Battles: Capture the Flag mode is where Twins really shines. It begins to see usage as a suppression and defense weapon as compared to the raw damage and endurance. More of this will be discussed in the gameplay guide further down in this article.

 

CP Battles: Overall, Twins is a great turret for control points because it sports respectable range with high damage. The unending ammunition makes it extremely easy to halt the advance of enemies who might attempt to reclaim a point. Twins is especially good in Polygon CP thanks to being put at a comfortable range factor, while being able to take advantage of the new splash damage to deal heavy damage to hordes of opponents camping in the center.
 
 
 
Twins Combinations

 

Twins is a very powerful turret on most hulls excluding Wasp and Hornet. In the spoiler tab below, you can find a list of all the possible tanks using Twins, each with a picture and a brief description of their role in battle and general usability. Below that we have a little bit about the product kits that come with this turret.
 

 

- All Twins Combinations -

 

 

Twins / Wasp

 

 

 

Twins struggles on Wasp due to self damage and high recoil on such a light turret. Additionally, Twins relies on outliving the opponent to accumulate damage, which is fairly contradictory with Wasp's low health stat. Due to these factors that reduce its capability in battle, this has become known as a "mult" combination. It is most notorious for the unofficial "sumo" format.
 

 

 

 

Twins / Hornet

 

 

 

 

Twins is somewhat better than Wasp on Hornet thanks to more stability, but is still less than ideal due to the splash damage and the issue with longevity. Twins can be used along with Hornet to provide a quick scout tank that provides powerful offensive support on medium to large maps, but is generally not recommended outside of that role. Overall seen as a weaker combination.
 

 

 

 

Twins / Hunter

 

 

 

 

Twins with Hunter plays as a strong midfielder, similarly to Viking and Dictator. They can play offensive or defensive support roles well too because of respectable health coupled with good speed for outrunning enemy players. More suited to Medium maps, and is a strong combination due to these complimentary statistics.
 

 

 

 

Twins / Viking

 

 

 

 

This is easily the second best if not the best combination involving Twins. It plays similarly to Hunter for the same reasons, but Viking tends to be used more offensively as Viking prefers to take advantage of its respectable speed statistic. This tank can allow the player to have a speed with stable and low profile for offensive strikes, while also having the ample health for usage on defense. Overall these factors couple excellently with Twins' statistics, making it a threat anywhere within the battlefield of any medium maps.
 

 

 

 

Twins / Dictator

 

 

 

 

I can't say that I personally have that much experience with the Twins and Dictator combination at any level above M1 after the update, but it tends to play similarly to Hunter with Twins. They both focus on height and moderate statistics. Dictator's back-set turret doesn't help Twins out much unfortunately due to the dual barrels, but it is still an extremely respectable combination.
 

 

 

 

Twins / Titan

 

 

 

 

Twins with Titan is a powerful defensive behemoth. The weight and health coupled with the impact and endurance-based damage from Twins combined to make a deadly combination. Overall most suited towards defense, or maybe defensive support in some scenarios. It is slow and struggles when participating in all other roles unless using supplies. This is an incredibly strong duo.
 

 

 

 

Twins / Mammoth

 

 

 

 

Twins and Mammoth is one of the most famed combinations in the game. A legendary defensive combination; the Mammoth combination still remains one of the most notorious defensive tanks. The massive healthpoints of Mammoth, along with high pushing power, make it one of the most ideal flag-camper options in any area not exposed to long-range opponents using the likes of Thunder, Railgun, and Shaft. Mammoth's bulk generally lets the user maximize the benefits of Twins' unending reload, and lets the user take more Twins splash damage without facing self-destruction. However, this combination is slow enough that it cannot play any other role than defense except on the smaller maps in the game, where it can be used on defensive support normally or any role when using supplies. It is usually considered to be the best combination for Twins, or at the very least second behind Viking.

 

 

 

 

 

In total, Twins comes in nine product kits. Not including the M0 Kits, the following kits are all the ones that contain the turret Twins: Corsair, Fighter, Jam, Minotaur, Ram, Cardinal, Destroyer, Vandal, and Master of Taiga. The most famed of these are likely Fighter, Minotaur, and Destroyer kits, all of which are extremely powerful for their ranks. Minotaur is easily the most notorious for being absurdly good when bought immediately after unlocking, due to the raw force behind M2 Twins and M2 Viking at a mere rank of First Lieutenant. Overall Twins tends to be an extremely good turret to get prior to its unlock rank thanks to having fairly consistently good statistics for whatever modification level it is at.
 
 
 
Gameplay Guide
 

 

Roles in Battle

In general, Twins is notorious for its ability to quickly whittle down an opponent's health, or for its suppression roles in Capture the Flag and Control Point gamemode. Overall, Twins is best being the key defense player, supporting the main defense/attackers. The self-damage makes it slightly less than ideal for attacking, despite being good; plus, the range is too short to be used on a midfield (sans those of medium or small maps like Noise). A role of supporting a team's offense suits Twins perfectly because it has enough power and endurance to clear out enemy bases so that an attacker can easily grab the enemy and get out while the opponents are respawning. Defense is the classic role of Twins, and is still excellent. The splash damage and suppression abilities make it very difficult to enter the base where there is a Twins guarding. Finally, Twins can support the defense by keeping away large swarms of enemies that a turret like Smoky or Vulcan may struggle against. 
 

Supplies

Twins is excellent with all the supplies. In general, Twins is best used when on heavy hulls because it relies on endurance in order to bring down the opponent's health. It cannot rely on sudden spurts of damage such as Railgun and Shaft, and therefore is better suited towards trying to last as long as possible. Repair Kits and Double Armors both compliment this need because they can essentially quadruple the tank's longevity, providing it with more time to deal out deadly plasma blasts. Twins is also excellent with a Double Power because it aids Twins in suppression of enemy forces. With a Double Power, Twins can tear heavy hulls apart much quicker to avoid having any enemies escape. And of course, anyone likes the Gold Box supply, regardless of turret. :ph34r: 
 
Maps

Twins is best on small to medium maps. It doesn't like extremely small maps like Island anymore because it ends up dealing self-damage more often, but performs well on moderately small maps such as Noise and Station. It plays best on maps like Noise, Rio, and Polygon that have open areas to prevent close range conflict, while still being close enough to let the Twins do lots of damage. Large maps can be played on, especially when using Twins' range alteration, but the damage still drops off and the movement speed of the plasma orbs make it less than ideal. Vulcan, Striker, Thunder, or Smoky are nearly always superior at long-ranged suppression, especially Vulcan. 
 

Match-ups

Twins is powerful for fighting turrets like Railgun when in a mid-range situation because it can easily knock off its aim and make the Railgun miss. It is great at demolishing light hulls due to the hefty impact force and high damage, and fairly good at killing medium hulls as well. On the other hand, Twins is somewhat lacking against heavy hulls when not using a Double Damage. Twins generally relies on outlasting the opponent, so if the opponent has more health than the person using Twins, it quickly becomes much less likely for the Twins user to emerge victoriously from that matchup.
 
Additionally, Twins is lacking against every long range turret due to the range limitation. It has an especially challenging time versus players who use Smoky, Thunder, and Striker. Firebirds, Isidas, Freezes and Hammers also pressure Twins in short range situations because they get in close to deal massive damage, while simultaneously forcing the Twins to take self-damage. Note that the weakness to long range turrets is irrelevant if the Twins can close the distance, and the weakness to short range turrets can be worked around by creating more distance. If Twins is in the ideal distance range from the other turrets, it can almost always win. Thunder is one of the few exceptions and arguably one of the most difficult enemy turrets for a Twins to bypass. It can use 'Peek-a-boo' tactics while occupying a similar range zone. Remember that regardless of the match-up in question, Twins needs to maintain distance from its target while simultaneously not being too far away. Maintaining this ideal spacing between the Twins and target is vital to it winning against any opponent.
 

Protection Modules
Modules with Twins protection are ideal when using Twins because they can significantly reduce self-damage when in close range situations. Thunder protection and other long-range turret protection is often appreciated as well. Short ranged protections can be useful, but a Twins user should attempt to avoid close combat situations in the first place. Some modules that work well with Twins are Kodiak T-C (Twins/Railgun/Thunder), Ursa T-A (Twins/Smoky/Shaft), Shark T-D (Twins/Thunder/Vulcan), and Ursa T-E (Twins/Smoky/Railgun). They all prove fairly useful by providing protection against long or medium-ranged attacks as you attempt to approach the opponent, and then have Twins protection for shielding from enemies and your own damage. Some other decent modules are Lion T-F, Kodiak T-G, and (for close range protection) Lion T-A.
 
 
Conclusion
 
There you have it! We've now looked at a short history of the turret, the statistics and features of new Twins, its ability to play in the four different game modes of Tanki Online, its performance on each hull and then several smaller pieces of advice and information. It may have been changed but I think deep down it's still that same powerful turret we all knew from before the rebalancing. Now you know all about the Twins turret (if you didn't already know about it :ph34r: ), so let's head back into the battlefield and get some score! 
 
 
 

Until next time!

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Edited May 18, 2017 by Blackdrakon30

[marc.jp_44 20,837]

It was a bit briefer than I expected but nevertheless a good read.

 

                                       

New signature?

[Blackdrakon30 2,943]

It was a bit briefer than I expected but nevertheless a good read.

 

New signature?

Just a signature I'm testing out; courtesy of TunisianFighter. I tried to keep the article a little shorter since a lot of people don't prefer longer articles. Not that this one got many reads either

 

Edit: Swapped back to my old signature. The new one was nice but just didn't feel right.

Edited May 18, 2017 by Blackdrakon30

[marc.jp_44 20,837]

Just a signature I'm testing out; courtesy of TunisianFighter. I tried to keep the article a little shorter since a lot of people don't prefer longer articles. Not that this one got many reads either

It's a cool signature but doesn't really suit your nickname.

[Musa 5,352]

I am in hate with twins forever. ._.

[eSport 486]

Simply love it... Viking m3 next then... TWINS xD

Its always so good

[Amagi 1,728]

Does Twins really need a guide anyway? It's basically a point and shoot and wait till the enemy dies.  :P

 

Just kidding, awesome work. Really fleshed out the details there. Im considering wether to get this turret or the module against it ;P

Edited May 11, 2017 by Stinger911

[CuT_TheRe_HeaRTs_OuT 640]

Nice article about my favorite turret. mammoth twins was the most powerful twins combo before 

They rebalanced the hull categories and titan mammoth now have same health at m4. given

Titan agility compared to mammoth and same health,i think that titan/twins is the most powerful

Twins combo right now, that is till the devs give heavy hulls new character.

[DarkVengeance 31]

High Impact Force? Impact force comes in four categories, at M3 MU 20: 

 

Insane   Magnum Shell Detonation     900  A league of its own

 

High      Magnum Direct Shot             700

            Shaft Sniper                           650

            Rail                                        650

            Hammer                                630

 

Mid      Thunder Shell Detonation      340

           Thunder Direct Shot               340

           Smoky                                    330

           Vulcan                                    300

           Striker Rocket Detonation      300

           Striker Direct Hit                     300

 

Low     Rico                                       200

           Twin Plasma                         160

 

None    Fire                                          0

            Freeze                                     0

            Isida                                         0

 

As you can see, Twin Plasma have the lowest impact force available. Please do your research before posting articles that are meant to be authoritive and are likely to mislead noobs.

 

Further, the most noteworthy point about the new Twin Plasma turret is its insanely high D.p/s. Average D.p/s is 412 at M3 MU. This calculation is not exact as there is insufficient data on Fire heating rate and damage in the Wiki to include this in the calculation. Twin Plasma cannons an M3 MU 20 have a D.p/s of 830.19 p/s. It is immensely OP, and due for a nerf no doubt, so I would caution any low ranked player against investing in Twins on this ground.

 

 

Dark Vengeance

Edited May 14, 2017 by DarkVengeance

[Amagi 1,728]

High Impact Force? Impact force comes in four categories, at M3 MU 20: 

 

Insane   Magnum Shell Detonation     900  A league of its own

 

High      Magnum Direct Shot             700

            Shaft Sniper                           650

            Rail                                        650

            Hammer                                630

 

Mid      Thunder Shell Detonation      340

           Thunder Direct Shot               340

           Smoky                                    330

           Vulcan                                    300

           Striker Rocket Detonation      300

           Striker Direct Hit                     300

 

Low     Rico                                       200

           Twin Plasma                         160

 

None    Fire                                          0

            Freeze                                     0

            Isida                                         0

 

As you can see, Twin Plasma have the lowest impact force available. Please do your research before posting articles that are meant to be authoritive and are likely to mislead noobs.

I think what the guide wants to say is that Twins has a very high overall impact force in relation to its fire rate. You get 1 magnum shot per ~5 Seconds while you're receiving 3-4 plasma balls per second. Plus the chance of a Magnum shot hitting you is pretty slim but with Twins, you're receiving a constant barrage. Just goes to show that you cannot judge a turret's performance on numbers alone.

[Blackdrakon30 2,943]

High Impact Force? Impact force comes in four categories, at M3 MU 20: 

 

 

Insane   Magnum Shell Detonation     900  A league of its own

 

High      Magnum Direct Shot             700

            Shaft Sniper                           650

            Rail                                        650

            Hammer                                630

 

Mid      Thunder Shell Detonation      340

           Thunder Direct Shot               340

           Smoky                                    330

           Vulcan                                    300

           Striker Rocket Detonation      300

           Striker Direct Hit                     300

 

Low     Rico                                       200

           Twin Plasma                         160

 

None    Fire                                          0

            Freeze                                     0

            Isida                                         0

 

 

As you can see, Twin Plasma have the lowest impact force available. Please do your research before posting articles that are meant to be authoritive and are likely to mislead noobs.

I think what the guide wants to say is that Twins has a very high overall impact force in relation to its fire rate. You get 1 magnum shot per ~5 Seconds while you're receiving 3-4 plasma balls per second. Plus the chance of a Magnum shot hitting you is pretty slim but with Twins, you're receiving a constant barrage. Just goes to show that you cannot judge a turret's performance on numbers alone.

Stinger is correct. I'm referring to overall impact force and etc. Obviously Twins has a minuscule impact force if you are measuring it as per individual shot. Impact force per shot is a fairly worthless statistic for Twins, because you're not ever going to be trying to shoot a single plasma blast at an opponent.

[DarkVengeance 31]

Fair Enough. Most articles make reference to Damage per second, and just use the raw score when it comes to Impact Force, I assumed you were doing the same. You have an interesting point and a new metric it seems, one that can be added to the usual calculations.

 

If im correct, Impact Force/Second at M3 MU20 is as follows:

 

Insane

 

Twin Plasma                      755   ImpF/s

 

High

 

Rico                                  400     ImpF/s

 

Mid

 

Hammer                             220    ImpF/s

Smoky                               220    ImpF/s

Magnum Shell Detonation    180    ImpF/s

Striker Direct hit                  167    ImpF/s

Striker Rocket Detonation    167    ImpF/s

Rail                                    162.5 ImpF/s

Thunder Direct Hit               142    ImpF/s

Thunder Shell Detonation     142    ImpF/s

Magnum Direct hit               140    ImpF/s

 

Low

 

Shaft Arcade                        95    ImpF/s

Shaft Sniper                         76.5 ImpF/s

 

None

 

Fire                                        0   ImpF/s

Freeze                                   0    ImpF/s

Isida                                      0    ImpF/s

 

 

Leaving out Vulcan, as it is not clear what 'Impact Force 300' is in reference to, not likely each bullet as this would have an enemy tank spinning around

 

My apologies for saying that you may be misleading new players, the numbers bear you out

 

 

Dark Vengeance

Edited May 16, 2017 by DarkVengeance

[DENGER-GURU-CHRISH 0]

this is good but near place we have to use so distance is not that much better    :rolleyes:

Edited May 16, 2017 by DENGER-GURU-CHRISH

[TTK_229 1,080]

Who is a better Twins: @LIMITFULL or @Blackdrakon30? I honestly want to know which of my clanmates is better.

 

BD30: me B)

Edited May 29, 2017 by Blackdrakon30

[railguniz4noobz 2,394]

A more complete guide to twins:

[Amagi 1,728]

^^

 

Dude that joke is like, 7 years old. 

Edited May 29, 2017 by Stinger911