Beginners' Guide to Drones

[Viking4s 10,791]

Hello Tankers, in this quick guide we will answer all the basic questions about Drones, those cute flying miniatures equipment.

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By now, you must have seen in battles some strange bird or flying robot hovering friendly by the side of tanks. These oddities are Drones! They are the new equipment added to the game by Tanki Online. In total twelve of them have been announced in V-log 171 and … well I can’t wait, I want one too. But how to get one set and running?  What do they actually do? How much do they cost?
 
 
How can I get a Drone?
This new equipment is available in the garage via the new tab called Drones, which is located between the Hulls and the Protection tabs. The sixteen new pieces of equipment become available at different ranks, and the lowest rank to unlock the very first set is Sergeant which is at about 7 100 experience points. As your rank increases, new set would be unlocked up to the rank of Legend (new drone Hyperion). 
 

Drones' tab in garage.

 

Drones status in garage: Drone equipped, drone upgrading, drone bought (Brutus is undergoing a micro upgrade), drone unlocked and drone locked.

One important thing to know about Drones: they run on batteries.
 
 
What are batteries?
The batteries are consumables that are the unique power source of the Drone, without them your airborne companion cannot work, even if you've equipped your tank with it.

A battery - garage view.
 

All drones will consume one battery per minute. Yes, you heard it right, in a full 8 minute battle you will have consumed 8 battery-supplies. Consequently you better use the Drones only at critical moments, unless you can afford them.
 

Supplies' tab in garage.

 
These new supplies can be bought in the garage just like the other supplies (repair kit, ...). On the supplies menu they are located on the far-right side after the Gold Box supplies. You can also get them by opening containers, as rewards from the weekly chain, mission rewards and TO contests, or by purchasing them from the shop.

 

Batteries - battle icon (right-hand side). It will be highlighted in blue when drone is active.

 

  
How to get it set and running?
 Easy, to use a Drone in battle, firstly you have to equip your tank with one and secondly you have to check if you have enough batteries in your garage. 

> Go to your garage
> In the Drones tab buy one of available Drones;
> Equip your tank with it;
> Go to your supply tab and check the number of Batteries. If you don’t have any you will need to buy some, otherwise it will not work;
> Exit garage and play.

 

In the garage lobby you can see a drone is equipped (top) or not equipped (bottom).

 
To stop using the Drone (and batteries), go back to your garage and unequip it. If you were in battle, removing your companion will trigger the self-destruct mechanism the same way as when you change any other equipment. Once it is  removed the consumption of batteries will stop. The change of Drones is limited by a 3 minute cool-down, therefore you cannot change them too many times and you are only allowed to equip one at the time.

When you used up all your battery supply the drone will not be activated in battle, you will not see it. Additionally, in the garage a red interdiction sign will blink over your drone in the tank display panel. To activate the drones again, you need to buy new battery supplies. 
 

 
 
What do they do?
The Drones mainly boost the time and stats of existing supplies or other game mechanics like the Overdrive. For example one can increase the time of use of any active supplies (Engineer), another can boost the overdrive charge (Drive), and another provides temporally free supplies when respawning (Trooper). Additionally, some support Drones can share those benefits to teammates around them (Mechanic, Supplier).
 
Although they have different functionalities, their boosting effect is triggered when you perform a specific action such as killing tanks, using a supply or simply dying. The whole Drone family is split in 4 categories: basic, offensive, defensive and support. Here under is listed the current equipment available sorted by category, with a short description of the Boost and how to trigger them. The table also displays if the boost can be shared with other players. 
 

 

For further technical details and rank unlock with the precise stats check the wiki: Drones. 
 
 
How much a Drone cost?
The cost depends of the level of unlock following a simple rule, the higher the rank unlock, the more expensive the Drone becomes. For example, the first drone available "Brutus" cost 1 000 crystals and is unlocked at the rank of Sergeant, while the second sets cost 20 000 crystals each and are available at Warrant Officer 1.

+ Recruit = Ultra-containers (drone Crisis)
+ Corporal = 750  (drone Brutus)
+ Sergeant Major, Warrant Officer 1 & 2  = 20 000
+ Warrant Officer 4, 5 & Third Lieutenant = 50 000 
+ First Lieutenant, Captain & Major = 90 000 
+ Colonel, Brigadier & Major General  = 140 000 
+ General, Marshal, Field Marshal  = 200 000 
+ Legend = 320 000 (drone Hyperion)

 
However, the final cost does not stop here as the 20 micro-upgrades (MU), associated with Drone stats improvement, bring an additional cost of 1 million   (except for Brutus with 500 000  required only). Yeap, can be relatively cheap to buy but will be very expensive to MU. If you are in a hurry and decide to pay for the extra speed-up cost, then you can add 2 millions  to the later total cost (except for Brutus with 1 million ).

 
 
Further reading and videos
TankiWiki: https://en.tankiwiki.com/Drones (MU cost, settings, ...)
Special Newspaper article: Scrutinized: Drones, Batteries & Modules 
Video 1: V-log #171 
Video 2: V-log #175
Video 3: V-log #187
Video 4: V-log #213
Video 5: V-log #229

 Guide in German: GUIDE: Drohnen

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Now you know all the technical basics of Drones. Enjoy playing with your new friend.

Edited July 13, 2020 by Viking4s

[cryptor 589]

Nice!All informations from drones! :wub:  :wub: 

[LittleWillie 3,199]

You did a great job of reducing your article to the bare essentials.  More wheat/less chaff.

 

On cost you hit the main points.  The cost ios in the mu ladder not in buying the drone.

 

On that note I would add just one more player hint type blurb. Something like, Drones are very expensive to operate as well because Battery cost is very high.  Generally speaking Drones at low MU levels are too inefficient to justify the cost of operation..

[GuidoFawkes 2,361]

1st picture is misleading... makes it seem as though we can use multiple drones at a time

[Benefactor 6,888]

Don't use drones where you don't want them active, like casually hanging out in parkour battles. They will activate themselves and use up batteries.

[thunderousrailgunner 1,934]

wow and I thought no one would see the banner details amidst of this wonderful article.. my bad :/

Excellent work ;)

[r_Issimo2 1,495]

Decide carefully before buying Drones and Batteries. It's complicated and expensive. And we don't even have all Drones yet.

 

Batteries cost 300 crystals each and only last a minute, that says a lot, that is 3000 crystals in a 10 minute battle. You can manage usage of course.

 

I would say that Drones and Batteries are not for beginners.

[DinKonahe 117]

I have 100 batteries or more, but I want to get my drones. I must increase my rank first.

 

#Got125Batteries_inSecondContainer

[Mustard 531]

Very good read, keep making articles and guides like this for new players, please.

It would be greatly appreciated!

[Mjro7 2,837]

Well Done Vik !

[Fear.Me 2]

Never ever use drones unless you are a buyer, See a drone is not much expensive but the batteries are. Take an example that 1 battery costs 300 crystals and lasts for 1 minute, can you score as much score in 1 minute to equal the cost of 1 battery, U use 10 batteries in 1 battle equals to 3000 crystals used, do u earn more than 3000 thousand crystals in one battle, i do not think so.

[ATLGASTATESPORTSFANx 3]

Can drones be seen by other players? I saw this Warrant Officer who kept overdriving between about a few seconds and a minute and I suspect it was a drone that sped up overdriving.

Edited August 25, 2018 by ATLGASTATESPORTSFANx

[lukey0 27,543]

Can drones be seen by other players? I saw this Warrant Officer who kept overdriving between about a few seconds and a minute and I suspect it was a drone that sped up overdriving.

Drones can be seen by everyone, the enemy team included. In your case the player you saw would have been using the Driver drone. It speeds up the charge rate of Overdrive. 

[Pythor 1,354]

Good article. Hope this is helpful for new tankers.

[Guest]

Don't buy a drone until you get an m2 combo, or else feel miserable throughout your warrant officer, lieutenant, and major ranks. 

[r_Kakpo1 4]

Wow thanks for the guide, i was really confused with these thingies, i guess now i can cope with them. ^_^

[gokuMI6 1,290]

Don't buy a drone until you get an m2 combo, or else feel miserable throughout your warrant officer, lieutenant, and major ranks. 

The Trooper will be okay also Assault 

[killertank456 1]

Good morning Tanki player but yes people have drones in we know how to use them so no offense this is helpful and not helpful because drones do cause alot of crystals and batteries are the key figure to use them.If you just bought a drone then just read the tilte amd whats its purpose and what does the drone do.

[poatat 0]

 

I thought they changed it so that you use one battery per the amount of time it has is shown in the info about the drone. Does the assault drone have 12 minutes? then when you kill an enemy with a drug do you have to use a new battery?

[Adab 2,898]

Good guide, explains a lot! well-made for beginners!

[poatat 0]

Each battery works for one minute. The drone will consume one battery every minute as long as it is equipped, even if the drone is not showing. So if you have it on for a full 8 minutes battle you will have used 8 batteries. When a battery is consumed you will here a small sound.

It is not 12 minutes but 12 seconds.

Make sure you read attentively the wiki.

ok, Thanks! 

[Dranz 6]

Good  

[radhika 0]

hello sir i want to open drones i am ecxited

[Hate 5,582]

hello sir i want to open drones i am ecxited

Hello, fellow tanker. ^_^ 

 

Drones are very expensive. You can buy them from the garage with crystals or from the Shop. I would advise you to not get every drone you possibly can. Usually, drones are good if used properly but also very expensive, especially the batteries they use. If I was in your place, I would have focused on ranking up and saving as many crystals as I possibly can and not buying every kit I see or every modification. 

[Rando.m 12]

I know all drones have their place and lend themselves to specific tank rigs and playing styles, but what is your favorite?   for M1?  M2?

Edited March 10, 2019 by Rando.m