Let's Discuss Shaft!

[Thekillerpenguin 1,731]

You do realize I have to go get the flags, stop the enemy from taking our flag (Shaft can do this), chase the enemy shooting at him when he has our flag (Shaft can do this), while you sit there getting your kills. And I have to try and maneuver to the enemy base without getting killed and then get their flag without getting killed, then make my way back to our base while getting shot while you sit there and look through your scope (good Shafts will snipe defenders and cover you on the way back). Then at the end of the game, you are the leader in points!. (almost never happens unless the team as a whole is bad)

I agree that some Shafts act like what seems to have happened in your experience (i.e. staring a single spot and not moving for the entire match, being generally useless), but to write all Shafts off as useless is inaccurate. When using Shaft in CTFs, I typically figure out if my team needs defense (in which case I will watch over friendly territory and our flag) or fire support (in which case I will move up and snipe defenders). I will also keep an eye on any teammate with the flag if they are running into trouble regardless of my position, and snipe enemy flag carriers, which allows teammates to more easily return the flag. A good Shaft can scare the enemy team into staying in cover instead of attacking or exposing themselves, which frees up other defenders to join the fight.

 

Having too many Shafts or having bad Shafts is bad for a team, but a good Shaft is highly useful and not a liability.

[theteramessanger_PRO 1]

I find the shaft to be a powerful zoning tool. For example on Rio map, a Shaft can block off an entire route to the flag (i.e. beach, rooftop). The laser beam is terrifying, and sends most tanks scrambling for cover.

Edited June 27, 2016 by theteramessanger_PRO

[FogOfWar_XXX 793]

coward snipers: Get you a turret, any turret, and go fight the enemy.

 

You do realize I have to go get the flags, stop the enemy from taking our flag, chase the enemy shooting at him when he has our flag, while you sit there getting your kills. And I have to try and maneuver to the enemy base without getting killed and then get their flag without getting killed, then make my way back to our base while getting shot while you sit there and look through your scope. Then at the end of the game, you are the leader in points!.

 

Why do I need to be cooperative to you and save you from enemy tanks while I do the work and you sit? Answer please?

 

"get the flags"

 

Well, it's not a Shaft's job, but we do it, when the rest of the team is morbidly useless, otherwise, it's us that makes sure YOU don't die on the way home.  We line up the shot that kills that one consistent case defender that's using "princess power" and better equipment to make sure you never delver that flag.  It's usually a shaft between you and the defender and delivering a flag on any medium and large map.

 

"stop the enemy from taking our flag"

 

That's what we do, shut down drugged up attackers.  There is no better weapon than a Shaft to suck the wind out of an enemies offensive.  On most maps, you find that Shafts generally do the majority of flag defense, especially at higher ranks, those shafts usually double duty, but their primary goal is keeping the flag safe.

 

"chase the enemy shooting at him when he has our flag"

 

And again, after we cap an enemy with a full charge, most good Shafts will be able to predict the return path home of the offender, and if they lived through the full charge, we line up another one along the way, hoping YOU will be there to get the flag when we pop them, which ironically I have found more often than not to be the case.  Interceptors that are chasing flag carriers get strange the closer our flag gets to the enemy base, like you guys debate whether or not to go in.  As a Shaft, I can't tell how many times I have taken the flag from a runner, and then sat there and watched, killing enemy after enemy who tries to pick it up while I wait for a team mate to go get the forsaken thing.

 

As @Thekillerpenguin said, we cut paths for you flag runners, freeing up the way for your returns.  Hell, he and I have been on opposing teams and literally have had to have mini wars between ourselves, on a few occasions, to finally have one team with a path that's free of Shafts (he usually beat me at this cat and mouse game too).  At your rank, there are precious few "settlers" left, so your complaints are pretty much you don't like campers.  Camping, when done right, will keep the team humming along for a long time and the enemy team frustrated to no end.  I camp endlessly on several maps, and can pull in 3rd place and have one of the highest K/Ds, because I kill flag runners and shut down interceptors all game long from one location.  There are other games where the enemy tactics do not permit, so I do something else.  This whole no "camping" business needs to be left alone.  That's what Shafts are for.  In fact, I'm guessing YOU get shut down quite a bit by shafts, and that's the real gripe here.

 

So, next time, how about you play and not worry about the Shafts and raise your points and K/D without looking outwards to others to resolve your problems.

Edited June 27, 2016 by FogOfWar_XXX

[WitheredBonnie 3]

Hi! I have made guides for "Freeze" and "Railgun" already, please check them out too, but this guide is about "Shaft".

 

Shaft is a sniper and could be in arcade mode without the scope, of course arcade mode does less damage, but does a considerable amount of damage and a pretty good reload, another thing to keep in mind is arcade mode is very risky.

 

Pros:

High Damage

Has A Scope

Infinite Range

High Knock-back

 

Cons:

Low Turn Speed

Low Fire Rate

Slow Reload

Please Tell If I missed any!

 

Shaft has a variety of hulls to use, heavy hulls are for camping and shooting, light-medium hulls are for parkour to get to camping areas. Usually camping with shaft gives you the upper hand as you are hidden and lurk in the shadows picking off prey.

 

Combinations:

Wasp+Shaft: Not THE best choice, but is Okay for getting to camping spots.

Hornet+Shaft: Better choice, if someone finds you camping, you have decent health to hold them off and is maneuverable to get to camping areas.

Hunter+Shaft: Looks unusual, but again good for parkouring to spots and has decent health.

Viking+Shaft: Not the best for parkouring to places for camping, but very steady with lots of health.

Dictator+Shaft: Looks extremely unusual and rare, this is if you want less armor and more speed when camping.

Titan+Shaft: With this combo it's not necessary to camp, you have tons of health and a heavy gun to go with it.

Mammoth+Shaft: The same as titan, no need to camp unless you need to.

 

 

Here's a quick video showing a nice camping spot.

 

Keep in mind, arcade mode does a considerable amount of damage but 4-3x less than sniper mode.

 

 

Thanks! Give me feedback! -WitheredBonnie

[Maf 32,314]

Hi! I have made guides for "Freeze" and "Railgun" already, please check them out too, but this guide is about "Shaft".

Topic merged

[Paddy-Tanker 27]

I think shaft should have a higher impact force, since it deals the highest damage. I also think that in scope mode you can see light reflecting off of shafts scope instead of having a laser, in night maps you would see shaft scope glowing red or blue depending on your team. This would make shaft more popular again. Tanki developers if your reading this, please consider these features or at least allow people to try this in the test server.

[The-Operator219 1,929]

I think it should be able to shoot down supply boxes in enemy territory by hitting the parachute.

[greatesttankbattle 22]

I find that Shaft do a good job of scaring players and not killing. If you play rio map and on the blue side there's a sniper on the beach side you can prevent red team from ever advancing on that side the reason is because of the laser everyone can see it and avoids it. If you are lucky you can kill some spawning players but most of the time they make it before they become solid. Shafts play more of a Psychological role than a physical role.

[NewbieCake 3,067]

Takes me back to 2014. A nice game with Shaft and a complainer (he was a Viking/Fire, what was he going to do?) who didn't like getting his HP sliced out. GG

 

[Gordiel_Belizar 4]

shafts be like... go to a ctf brest, get brother to play isida, rack up kill... its boring, its skill-less, and it's an agony if you miss.

the design of shaft is mediocre... but i cant complain

and the bullet is shaped like an oversized, glow-in-the-dark keloid scar... i mean... why the heck does that look like THAT?? :( 

[Paddy-Tanker 27]

i love this weapon, i have it. a key to using it is being able to snipe quickly, if you know how to do this than you can dominate :)

[Desty 275]

Any shafters here who play with keyboard? Do you guys see random rotation of shaft after dying? Feels like button is stuck and without pressing anything yourself it just keeps rotating? You can fix it by pressing button which is ''stuck'' and it will get ''unstuck'' right away? So annoying tho and  I am quite sure it should not be like that.

[HaloScorpionV2 438]

I use my keyboard, since it is easier (for me) as an agressive shafter to be able to move and shoot quickly. I use mouse controlls for camping, since tanks would be farther away, and would require me to be more accurate.

[HaloScorpionV2 438]

Add a poll for keyboard vs mouse controls please!!!

[The-Operator219 1,929]

Mouse controls suck eggs.

Seriously, maneuvering is a pain with them on. >:1

[Thekillerpenguin 1,731]

I use keyboard controls exclusively. I will admit that mouse controls are nice for long-range sniping and long term camping, but in heated battles, my reflexes work much better with keyboard controls- I can "sweep" my aim and let go when an opponent is in my crosshairs. I've found that it's harder for me to do those kind of reactive, twitch shots with the mouse.

 

The key advantage of mouse controls in my experience is the ability to hide your laser sight by aiming at the ground, holding right click, and then being able to aim in a pretty good radius while the laser sight is still hidden. You can then acquire an enemy, let go of right click, wait for the crosshairs to line up, and let go of left click to fire, all at optimal speed.

[HaloScorpionV2 438]

The best part of mouse controls is the ability to look around you without turning your turret--hold right click and drag around your tank! :O

[FogOfWar_XXX 793]

I use keyboard controls exclusively. I will admit that mouse controls are nice for long-range sniping and long term camping, but in heated battles, my reflexes work much better with keyboard controls- I can "sweep" my aim and let go when an opponent is in my crosshairs. I've found that it's harder for me to do those kind of reactive, twitch shots with the mouse.

 

The key advantage of mouse controls in my experience is the ability to hide your laser sight by aiming at the ground, holding right click, and then being able to aim in a pretty good radius while the laser sight is still hidden. You can then acquire an enemy, let go of right click, wait for the crosshairs to line up, and let go of left click to fire, all at optimal speed.

I agree, I tried mouse control for all of 5 minutes once, and that was it really, maybe even less.  It was quirky and the fast reactive shots just don't seem to happen as well as with the keyboard.  I had not thought of locking the laser up before though.  This explains a few things now to me of how some shafts had been popping me so easily with turrets turned and seeing me and engaging quite so quick.  This mouse laser lock is I suppose a decent trick now that I wrap my head around it.

 

(btw, props for Sat and Sun, proved it again, you can play on anything, zero drug and you were killing it, thanks for sticking around to, helped fill the map)

[The-Operator219 1,929]

So I tried it with mouse controls again to make sure I wasn't mistaken, and yes, it's freakin' terrible.

Maybe I'm just used to the arrow keys, but I don't like that the turret just kind of goes in whatever direction it wants while I'm moving around.

Holding down left click helps, and I like the trick you can use to hide your laser with it, but that doesn't cut it for me.

I use sophisticated movements with grace to avoid breakdancing beside cover while trying to duck behind it.

Even with the aforementioned left click feature, I move with the grace of a highly intoxicated elephant on a tightrope.

Maybe it's just not for me, but I prefer the usual arrow keys over mouse controls.

[Desty 275]

Keyboard all the way!

 

After getting full m4 shaft, I started playing with it more. I always loved rail, thunder and hammer, learning shaft was proper challenge. Lack of auto-aim really makes it difficult to get kills in close range battles. Not impossible tho. In my honest opinion, doing research about enemy tank is the key to get proper results in DM or CTF battles. That ''R'' button update makes playing with shaft so much easier, as you know which tank you can 1 hit in scope mode with lesser energy used - so you have possibility to recharge faster and already get another kill. 

 

When I started with shaft, I was ALWAYS somewhere middle with score. But after 30 hours of gameplay, I always end up being TOP 3, doesnt matter which map or game type.

 

Biggest challenge have always been POLY dm. As you really need to act fast, mostly in close range. And non scope mode is PERFECT for getting fast kills, can also say kill stealing.

 

I did yesterday best score EVER in poly dm - 72 kills 4 deaths, but was too late to get image from that. But here is somewhat good result aswell:

Edited July 23, 2016 by Desty

[The-Operator219 1,929]

So um... I caught a goldbox with a Titan-Shaft.

My question is, should I shoot for M1 Shaft or save for Viking?

I plan to get both, but I'd like an idea of my priorities.

[Amagi 1,728]

Amazing result my friend! I wanna be on the same battle as you someday ;)

[Desty 275]

Amazing result my friend! I wanna be on the same battle as you someday ;)

We sure will, had one another shaft doing POLY DM, dominated properly(he requested to block name):

 

 

Here is final image, I will post, not sure if you can do alot better than this:

Edited July 25, 2016 by Desty

[Thekillerpenguin 1,731]

http://prnt.sc/bwzu1k

 

And people still don't use Shaft protection. Even with only 9 MUs, M3 Shaft is a killing machine. ^_^

[HaloScorpionV2 438]

hunter or viking m4?