In Depth: Stinger

[C.O.N.Q.U.E.R.O.R 3,845]

Ever since I purchased Stinger in the garage a fortnight ago, it has not ceased to amaze me of its capabilities. Stinger consists of the beautiful turret that is M2 Isida, the graceful Hornet M2 hull, a 25% protection module against Smoky, Railgun, and Vulcan, and the dazzling Fracture paint. Such a kit could be described as the epitome of what every team-oriented kit should be. In fact, Isida is often portrayed as the cornerstone upon which the rest of a team is built. Whether it be healing a teammate who is smuggling the opponents flag to your team's base, strengthening defenders around an ASL point, or even engaging with an enemy in hand-to-hand combat, Stinger has yet to fail me. Therefore, today I wish to pass on how you can maximise this kit's usefulness and utilise the Stinger kit to its full potential.

Stinger unlocks at the early rank of Warrant Officer 4 and contains Isida M2, Hornet M2, Shark T-B M2, and the glamorous Fracture paint. The fact that the aforementioned kit becomes available at such an early rank (relative to most other M2-level kits) alone is enough to persuade many tankers to purchase the kit; beyond this, though, is the incredibly low price and a top-tier M2 turret. Isida M2 has extremely good longevity, even if the hull it is mounted on doesn't. The only true disadvantage is the fact that Hornet M2 is listed on the lower spectrum in terms of hulls. The module is slightly at odds with the kit's style of play, since Isida is weaker against turrets like Shaft or Magnum, instead of mid-range turrets such as Vulcan and Smoky. All the same, the module is incredibly useful if you choose the correct maps to play on. The turret receives a high grade of 8 from me, the hull a 6, the module a 7, and the paint a 4 due to the lack of usefulness in terms of camouflage (on the other hand, it's a stunningly beautiful paint). Without including the paint, Stinger receives a solid grade of 7. This is a very respectable rating, considering the low price and unlock rank.

 

In the immensely popular CTF mode, the ultimate goal of an Isida is to heal the strongest attackers on your team. When on a raid, the first and foremost idea to remember is that teammates and the flag always come first: this means that you need to be prepared to block the path of any defender chasing after the flag-carrier. However, you should always do this at the last possible moment in order to maximise the amount of time that you stay alive, which in turn extends the amount of time you can heal the flag-bearer in. Once you begin acting as a roadblock, never turn tail and run or try to go back to healing your teammate. When you are acting as an obstacle, try to whittle down as much health as you can so any other supporters can finish the defenders off. With only about 1500 HP on Hornet M2, chances are that you will die quickly and your corpse will slow the enemy down for at least 2-3 seconds. But, if you survive, heal the flag-carrier first. Always be prepared to waste an overdrive on the flag-bearer, even if you yourself will die. Remember that the moment your team has secured a lead, your entire mindset should transform into a defensive-oriented healing machine. This means staying by your flag and healing as many people as you can. Try to heal as many different tankers as you can (within reason) so that each person can contribute to defense. Think: would you rather have 4 defenders each at 75% HP or 7 defenders that will die in a single Thunder blast? For CTF mode, I give Stinger a very high grade of 9.

 

In an all-out bloodfest, such as TDM, an Isida needs to stay behind cover as much as possible, even if that cover is just another teammate. Besides helping the other team increase their score, there are a full 10 seconds in which your teammates are defenseless. This translates into taking advantage of Isida's long beam range by healing teammates while never actually straying out from your protection. Mastering this skill is imperative to staying alive as an Isida. If an opposing sniper is targeting your cover, stay put until he either grows impatient and is prone to missing, or wait until a teammate reduces him to a pile of scraps. Focus on three or four strong snipers on your team, as it is practically impossible to 'focus' on any more than that without only healing your teammates in miniscule amounts. For TDM, I rate Stinger as a 7.5 due to it being easily one-shotted.

 

 

While CP mode can be quite interesting, Stinger kit is not the best choice. That said, it is an all-around kit, so let's see how we can use Stinger to its full abilities. The first thing that you need to accept in CP mode is that you are going to die. As in like, a lot. Like seven times a minute "a lot". If you want to keep your K/D high, either stick with TDM or don't buy Stinger. Having said that, dying is always inevitable in CP mode, but especially for Hornet M2, having the lowest overall HP of any M2 hull. However, since Hornet M2 is a light hull, it is extremely quick; the way to take advantage of this is to dart between each point, strengthening your teammates whenever you can. Never stay at the same point for more than ten seconds. The only situation in which you would is if a damaged opponent is coming toward the point that you are capturing; in any other position, do what I mentioned earlier. Otherwise, one control point will never get captured by the other team, but the others would be at a stalemate, or worse. Stinger receives a solid grade of 7.

 

 

The only mode that Stinger is just plain bad at is deathmatch. Short range turrets like Isida are simply outclassed by mid- and long-range turrets and Hornet is too weak of a hull to sustain itself. On the other hand, if you play in a large map with plenty of cover (such as Dusseldorf or Aleksandrovsk), you can sneak around in @Ninja fashion and murder other tankers from behind, since Isida M2 sports the highest DPS of any turret. I would recommend equipping a camouflaging paint in order to do this more easily. Remember to stay hidden and in the shadows as often as is possible to maximise your chances of winning. This mode is a mode where it is near essential to be able to drug, especially with a weaker kit such as Stinger. Due to low health, Stinger receives a stinging (Okay, okay, that was bad) rating of 4.5 in deathmatch mode.

 

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Overall, Stinger is an absolute beast in nearly every situation, be it tearing down the opponents health or even escaping with the flag. Does Stinger contain the best equipment for the best price? No, not by a long shot. However, for the price and the unlock rank, Stinger kit still remains one of the top choices for professional tankers today. As always, good luck on the battlefield, and I hope to see you again soon. Thanks for reading!

 

 

 

 

 

Edited December 22, 2017 by C.O.N.Q.U.E.R.O.R

[marc.jp_44 20,837]

Approved.

 

Nice piece. ^_^

I bought the kit on my alt but I don't really like Isida but I think your piece was pretty good but could've benefited with some more detail. Few changes:

• Minor structural changes, indented some of the headings (feel free to change if you don't like)
• Few small changes here and there.

Well done!

[Stratosphere 2,234]

^_^

[C.O.N.Q.U.E.R.O.R 3,845]

Approved.

 

Nice piece. ^_^

I bought the kit on my alt but I don't really like Isida but I think your piece was pretty good but could've benefited with some more detail. Few changes:

• Minor structural changes, indented some of the headings (feel free to change if you don't like)
• Few small changes here and there.

Well done!

I prefer the headings on the far left becauseit gives it more of an offset. Thanks, though ^_^

[marc.jp_44 20,837]

I prefer the headings on the far left becauseit gives it more of an offset. Thanks, though ^_^

Feel free to change it, I just wanted to try and spice the formatting up because I think you tried a tad too hard on your formatting, too many

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's. Also, big structural change I'd recommend - keep your hook (opening sentence(s) under the spoiler" short and sweet, then write an introduction as long as you want, then start the article. Having such a long intro looks bad. 

[C.O.N.Q.U.E.R.O.R 3,845]

Feel free to change it, I just wanted to try and spice the formatting up because I think you tried a tad too hard on your formatting, too many

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's. Also, big structural change I'd recommend - keep your hook (opening sentence(s) under the spoiler" short and sweet, then write an introduction as long as you want, then start the article. Having such a long intro looks bad. 

So something like this:

3-4 sentence intro

Hook and overview

 

Fine by me, I'll remove the one under Gameplay, thanks again!

Edited December 22, 2017 by C.O.N.Q.U.E.R.O.R

[SiLEnCeR.T0 143]

Nice piece I like it :)

[Mjro7 2,837]

Well Done

nice article :)

[mydoom.exe 5,154]

I bought the kit on my alt but I don't really like Isida but I think your piece was pretty good but could've benefited with some more detail.

but but but but but but but but but but but but but but butt but but but but but

 

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Lovely article, though ironically, it's a bit on the short side for something called "in depth". I understand though, there have been quite a few articles detailing Hornet and Isida on their unique capabilities.

 

Nice work, keep it up.

[Skills.n.Girls 767]

Introduction should be shorter, or even better - parts of it should be in the Overview.

You definitely need more images included here and there. Include tables and graphs.

After reading topic's title, this guide(?) should be more informative.

How can Stinger be better in TDM than CP in overall?

ASL?

 

Few changes and it'd be better. :)

[akiket 402]

I do not agree about DM. I hate playing in that mode, but it's still better than Railgun...

[Heles 9,220]

I do not agree about DM. I hate playing in that mode, but it's still better than Railgun...

Lol, same 

I kinda dislike that DM

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

Nice review

Pretty useful if players ask about buying the stinger kit 

Edited December 27, 2017 by Heles

[You.Have.to.die 519]

Excellent analysis of the stinger kit in various modes. However, more description on how this can be used effectively with supplies or specific maps - you could of written a lot - to evaluate the performance of the stinger kit.

 

Overall, well written article.

[Commander_Rose 327]

Well written!

[r_trooll15 827]

This makes me consider saving crystals for it