★ Beginner’s Guide to Overdrives ☢️

[Viking4s 10,791]

 

Hello Tankers! In this quick guide we will answer all the basic questions about Overdrive, this powerful “Hull’s Ability” that offers you a significant advantage on the battlefield.

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The Overdrive feature is the most prevailing mechanic associated with the Hulls equipment and it provides distinctive abilities for every single one of them. Each ability greatly impacts multiple aspects of the gameplay and is available only a few times per game. Strategically deployed they could influence the outcome of the battle in your favour, consequently, mastering the Overdrive in and out is vital for any competitive player.

We will explain below its mode of operation - so you could get more of them per game - and will present their different effects - so you will be more effective when using and more prepared when facing them.

 

★ How Does Overdrive Operate?

The Overdrive has three distinct phases of operation: Charging, Ready for action and Power-up.

Charging 0% -> 100%

In the HTML5 version, the charging indicator is located on the left-hand bottom side and is depicted as a large white truncated circle. In the middle of it, is pictured the Hull’s ability with a different icon for each hull. A number expressed in percent (%) sitting below it indicates the current percentage of the charge. On the mobile version, the indicator is located on the right-hand side standing by the turret commands and is depicted in the same way for every hull: a small white circle which is progressively filled with a yellow donuts-like shape gauge, and the charging value is nested in the middle of it.
 

Overdrive charge indicator for Dictator’s hull: HTML5 (top) & Mobile (bottom).

 

The charge phase starts from 0% upon entering the battlefield, and onward the value increases steadily at a slow rate that varies from hull to hull. The slowest to charge is the Viking's Overdrive with only +12% per 30 seconds (100% in 260s / 4 minutes & 20s) and the fastest one is Juggernaut (TJR) with an impressive 100% within 40 seconds! Among the standard hulls, Wasp is the one that charges the fastest with more than twice and a half faster than Viking's rate: +30% per 30 seconds (100% in 100s). See the figure below with the charge time values which are for guidance only as they have been collected from experiments on the Matchmaking (MM) battlefield, and not from official sources.
 

Overdrive charge in second for each hull.

 

However, players can boost the charge by actively participating in the battle (all mode except for the Juggernaut hull in team battle mode destroying enemy tanks, healing teammates, capturing flags and control points or scoring rugby goals will reduce the time charge (expressed in percentage %). See the figure below with boost values which are for guidance only as they have been collected from experiments on the MM battlefield, and not from official sources.
 

Percentage boost values per battle actions and other means.

 

Additionally, the charge can be accelerated thanks to the Driver Drone, which is available at Warrant Officer 5. When equipped and operating, it reduces the recharge time each time you kill an enemy tank: with no micro upgrade = 10 seconds and 30 seconds when fully upgraded. Furthermore the Overdrive of the Dictator boosts overdrive of allies by +50% except for other Dictators hull. Last, but not least, by picking up the orangy Nuclear Energy supply box available on the map, you will instantly complete the charge of the Overdrive up to 100%. In the traditional combat modes (CTF, CP, TDM, ASL & DM) most maps sport one, however you can sometime find two on a specific map. Beware that its location on the map could vary from one battle mode to another. In Team Juggernaut (TJG) and Rugby mode (RGB) you will not find any of them.

Note: Within the special Solo Juggernaut (SJG) battle mode, the mighty Hull is an overpowered war machine with an enhanced charging system that gives an unfair increase of +25% per 10 seconds and +45% boost per kill. Needless to say, this enraged beast feeds on Overdrives to survive against the hounds.

To summarise, the more you participate in the battle, the faster you charge, therefore, the more often the Overdrive is available.

 

Ready for action
Once the progress indicator reaches 100 (%), your Overdrive is ready for use and the charge icon will glow orange. Additionally a special orange colored icon composed of an encircled star "★" appears above your tank. In the same manner, you will be able to see the Overdrive readiness of your allies too, but not of your enemies.

No star appears above your hull in the mobile version, instead, the charge indicator will be glowing with a light-orange colour and display the Tanki Online logo instead of numbers. 

Once the Overdrive’s charging phase is completed, it will not reset until it is powered by the player, therefore if you keep it too long you would not have time to make a new full charge.

 

Power-up
To activate your fully charged Overdrive, you must press the [shift] key, which is the activation key set per default on the PC version. If needed, you can customise it to a more appropriate key in the setting panel. In the mobile version, tap on the glowing yellow charge indicator to power up the Overdrive. The activation of the ability is accompanied by visual and sound effects, which is unique to each Hull. Once triggered, the star disappears, and the charge percentage decreases as it powers the Overdrive mechanics. Once the overdrive is fully spent the indicator will indicate 0% unless you died before the complete discharge, and in this case, it will start to increase again from the last level. To obtain another Overdrive, a new full charge is required. In the meanwhile, you can benefit from the Overdrive effect of an ally who shared it to the players present in its vicinity.
 

Visual effects of the overdrives on power-up.

 

 

★ What Are The Hull’s Abilities?

Each Hull has its own unique ability, which is different from the others. They differ in many aspects, such as the possibility to share its effect or not, the distance of action and the overall way they work. Some are based on basic game mechanics such as supplies activation/deactivation (Dictator, Hunter) and Health point recovery (Dictator, Titan), or turret fire rates and damage/shot rate increases (Viking), but others are altogether new features: a timed bomb (Wasp), a generator dome shield (Titan), invincibility (Mammoth), … Some of the abilities can be fully shared (Dictator) or partially (Hornet) or not at all: the effect remains to the tanker who activated it (Wasp, Hunter, …). Furthermore, the distance of action and effect varies from local (Hunter, Titan, Wasp) to the full map (Hornet).

Here under are listed the Hull’s Overdrives from the lightest hull (Wasp) to the heaviest (Juggernaut) with a short description of the ability, the visual effect when activated and if the ability is shared with allies.

 

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Icon	Hull	Ability	Visual effect	Share
	Wasp N2-Bomb	Offensive. Lay a bomb with a 3-second countdown that will severely damage and/or kill tanks.	A black bomb with a timer. The explosion produces a huge nuclear-mushroom cloud and a shockwave.	No
	Hornet Scout Radar	Supportive. - Reveals the position of enemy tanks through wall and obstacles. - Reveal health bars of enemy tanks and supplies activated. - Ignore enemy’s protection modules, double armor and Titan’s dome.	Hypnotics blue radio waves. Indicator localising far away enemy tanks.	Shows health bar to all allies.
	Viking Berserker Reactor	Offensive. Increase power for the turret with energy pool or fire rates for reloading turrets.	An orange & black vibrating cosmic energy storm cloud.	No
	Hunter Electromagnetic Pulse	Defensive. Deactivate enemy supplies and power-up Overdrives.  Halt enemy tanks for a couple of seconds and release flags or rugby ball (like pressing F).	Lightning discharges from your tank to the affected tanks.	No
	Dictator  Supplies Overload	Supportive. - Active all the supplies at once and for free: double armor, double damage, speed boost, repair kit and lay a mine. - Boost overdrive of allies by + 50% except for other Dictator. - Freeze enemy tanks in the vicinity.	Green Aurora effect emanating from the affected tanks.	Yes
	Titan Shield Generator	Supportive. Protect and constantly repair tank sheltered under the dome.	Lays a black device generating a massive protective honeycomb structure.	Yes
	Mammoth AT-Field	Offensive. - Hit points are instantly restored. - Freezing and burning effects are removed. - Incredible amount of damage are dealt to any enemies it touches. - The tank speed is increased.	Orange disc pulsates. Sparks are emitted in contact with enemy tanks.	No
	Juggernaut	Offensive. Create a strong shockwave and fully repairs the Juggernaut.	A blue sphere composed of glowing purple dots.	No

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★ Overdrives’ Interaction

The Overdrives not only influence the standard mechanics but also the Hull ability of enemies, consequently their interaction add more complexity to the game-play and you must know them if you don’t want to waste yours.

For example, if a Wasp switches on its Overdrive and lays a Bomb with the 3 seconds countdown. Within that time frame a Hunter comes along and uses its ability over the Wasp, consequently defusing the bomb, no explosion happens and voila! Hunter’s ability will be the one to watch out in battle as it annihilates the ability of many hulls: It defuses Wasp’s bomb, jams Viking’s firepower, removes Dictator’s supplies, switches off Titan’s dome generator and stalls Mammoth.
 

The other ability that renders powerless other Overdrives’ effect is the Titan’s, both his protective and generative shield is powerful enough to reduce the effect of others overdrive: Wasp, Viking, Dictator and Mammoth. On the other hand, it remains ineffective against Hornet’s overdrive.

See below a summary overview of the known interactions when the green hull power-up Overdrive first and second apart a red hull power-up its own.

Color legend - Red: Annihilate Ability - Purple: Reduces ability effect – Black: Ineffective interaction - Green: Green Hunter wins.

 

Conclusion, it is better to activate yours after the enemy did it.

 

★ Technical Details Summary

► Overdrive is available to all players, from Recruit to Legend
► The first charge starts at zero percent, from when you spawn for the first time and gradually increases as you play up to 100%.
► Self-destruction does not affect the charge percentage.
► Charging continues while re-spawning and changing equipment in the garage.
► Charging is reset to zero percent when changing hull.
► The Assault Driver Drone decreases the charging time per kill.
► The activation of Dictator's Overdrive will add 50% of the charge to ally's tank in its vicinity.
► Picking up the Nuclear Energy supply on the battlefield will fully charge the Overdrive.
► Charging speed rates varies from hull to hull. Team Juggernaut charging mechanics is faster than any other hulls.
► The Overdrive can only be activated when fully charged at 100%.
► When fully charge an orange star ★ will appears above your tank.
► You cannot see the star of your enemy.
► Overdrive is activated by pressing [shift] key on the keyboard or by tapping on the icon in the mobile version.
► The turret’s alteration, with increased damaged power and rates, will be deactivated during the power-up of the Viking’s Overdrive, therefore the ability will operate with the standard turret’s parameters.
► Each ability is linked to a specific hull, and differs for each hull.
► Some abilities can disable or moderate the effect of other opponent’s activated ability.
► When creating a PRO-battle, you can enable or disable the Overdrive.
► Overdrive is disabled by default in battles of special formats (except Parkour).

 

★ Further Reading and Videos

Forum launch announcement: Overdrives tomorrow!
Visual effect video: Overdrives presentation
TankiWiki: https://en.tankiwiki.com/Overdrive.
Special Newspaper article: Scrutinized: The All-New Overdrives!
Video 1: V-LOG 205 is live! (Video)
Video 2: V-LOG 197 is live! (Video)
Video 3: V-LOG 194 is live! (Video)
More Beginners' Guide available here: Welcome!

 Guide in German GUIDE: Overdrives

 

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Now that you know all the technical basics of the Overdrives, it is time to put this knowledge to good use and good luck!

 

See you later laggers.

Viking4s

Edited September 29, 2020 by Viking4s

[Flexoo 6,980]

With the new overdrives in the game, we present you this guide from the pen of experienced writer, @Viking4s. We hope you will find this editorials piece interesting and helpful. Enjoy!

[ZloyDanuJI 409]

 

you mixed up the one for viking and hunter

[ZloyDanuJI 409]

Additionally, the charge can be accelerated thanks to the Driver Drone, which is available at Warrant Officer 5. When equipped and operating, it reduces the recharge time each time you kill an enemy tank: with no micro upgrade = 10 seconds (equivalent to +3%) and 30 seconds (+11%) when fully upgraded. 

in the picture it says that without MUs it's +4% whereas you write that it's +3%? 

Edited April 11, 2019 by ZloyDanuJI

[ZloyDanuJI 409]

★ What Are The Hull’s Abilities?

 

Each Hull has its own unique ability, which is different from the others. They differ in many aspects, such as the possibility to share its effect or not, the distance of action and the overall way they work. Some are based on basic game mechanics such as supplies activation and HP recovery (Dictator, Hunter), or turret fire rates and power increases (Viking), but others are altogether new features: a timed bomb (Wasp), a generator dome shield (Titan), invincibility (Mammoth), … Some of the abilities can be fully shared (Dictator) or partially (Hornet) or not at all: the effect remains to the tanker who activated it (Wasp, Hunter, …). Furthermore, the distance of action and effect varies from local (Hunter, Titan, Wasp) to the full map (Hornet).

hunter does not activate supplies or recover hp

 

in tanki, power refers to the pushing power and acceleration stat

 

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other than that, i really liked this article. I can see that you really put in a lot of hard work to get useful stats that aren't officially released. this saves me a lot of time because i won't need to measure them myself. this sort of article is really invaluable as it contains stuff that we can't get in the wiki or anywhere else. 

[Viking4s 10,791]

I would like to thanks Maf for providing some of the data from MM, and Person_random for revision and proofread.

 

Basic charge rates used to be 11% per 30s. Now Viking is ~50% faster, Dictator is twice faster, and both Hornet and nearly 3 times faster.

 

Some video of the OD in action: Overdrives presentation

 

Image of the OD logo for use:

 

                     

Edited May 27, 2019 by Viking4s

[Person_Random 4,991]

Nice!

[AncientFire 1,894]

hunter's overdrive can also be used offensively also. grab a flag in assault mode, charge into enemy base, stun all enemies and easily capture it.

Same with rugby

 

and with CTF, go into enemy base, stun everyone around u, grab the flag and charge out

[THEMANKAI 17]

Viking have left the tanki still he is active. Wow! Number 2!

[warpig.uk 0]

I think Hunter is under-powered, too slow and often ineffective.  Perhaps the 'pulse should be instant, with a larger spread/range, and take-out the nearest opponent.  Most often hunter gets taken out before overdrive takes effect, enemies remain with supplies on, mammoth still destroys hunter with its overdrive.  Stun effect doesn't last long enough to take out enemy, often enemy un-freezes and takes out hunter anyway.  Not a good overdrive, choose a different hull.

[Yellow.HeaRT 0]

I think Hunter is under-powered, too slow and often ineffective. Perhaps the 'pulse should be instant, with a larger spread/range, and take-out the nearest opponent. Most often hunter gets taken out before overdrive takes effect, enemies remain with supplies on, mammoth still destroys hunter with its overdrive. Stun effect doesn't last long enough to take out enemy, often enemy un-freezes and takes out hunter anyway. Not a good overdrive, choose a different hull.

[Chaos1997 4]

A small note: You wrote that titan's OD can reduce the effect of mammoth's overdrive in the last few lines of the article, but this is not true. Getting in contact with an overdrived mammoth will make you take 999 damage per tick regardless of any kind of protection you can get... Unless you're a mammoth yourself.

[RIDDLER_8 5,552]

I like the new overdrives. It would be much better if all the new hull overdrives would become shareable with team mates in team battles. Why not improve overdrives by making each hull overdrive shareable with all team mates in team battles. That would be more effective when playing in any team battle.

[WinnerAtLarge 0]

I like the new overdrives. It would be much better if all the new hull overdrives would become shareable with team mates in team battles. Why not improve overdrives by making each hull overdrive shareable with all team mates in team battles. That would be more effective when playing in any team battle.

That would be insanely OP. Imagine, a viking uses its overdrive next to 5 teammates it would be impossible to play... only Dictators is shareable because it is very weak

Hunter takes to long to freeze tanks / destroy other overdrives, i have taken out hunters numerous times while they used their overdrive... 

If you ask me the most interesting part of the new overdrives will be golds, imagine you can use Wasps Bomb / Vikings OD and kill everyone, Hunters OD to stop everyone, Mammoths' and Titans' to just sit on the gold zone, Juggernaut to throw everyone away from gold etc.

Overall i like the update, besides for the fact they gave hornet a horrible overdrive :angry:  

[Michael828 816]

Overall i like the update, besides for the fact they gave hornet a horrible overdrive :angry:  

Hornet's overdrive is definitely not horrible. 30 seconds of having the ability to see where the enemies are, their hit points, and being able to deal full damage to anyone in the battle. Plus it also recharges fairly quickly.

[Flexoo 6,980]

Hornet's overdrive is definitely not horrible. 30 seconds of having the ability to see where the enemies are, their hit points, and being able to deal full damage to anyone in the battle. Plus it also recharges fairly quickly.

Agreed, it is actually quite powerful. You ignore all the module protections of the enemy as well as Double Armor supply which certainly helps with taking enemies down. Plus let's not forget about the fact it shares the effect of seeing enemies' location with teammates and that it recharges quite quick.

 

The only real problem is the fact that Hornet isn't anything hard to take down even with protections, so you really have to be very good with handling it.

[RIDDLER_8 5,552]

I like the overdrive update too. Hornet's overdrive is supposed to show the health bar of enemies as well as giving Hornet the ability to see enemies behind walls.

[R1DT 0]

hunters overdrive should be able to deactivate mines too

[warpig.uk 0]

You will like this as according to the TankiWIKI it does: https://en.tankiwiki.com/Overdrive#Hunter.27s_Overdrive_-_Electromagnetic_Pulse

 

 

 

Unfortunately the Wiki do not specify how it actually works, so you will have to try yourself to master this ability.

But it doesn't do it effectively in battle... a tank firing on you with all supplies still wins when you activate overdrive.  The range is very small and narrow, and the effect doesn't last long enough.  Of course, I realise theat Tanki has to implement un-balanced perameters initially, so that people spend crystals on different hulls.  For example, Titan's overdrive lasts ages and is a game winner for the whole team not just a way to beat one tank.  Wasp overdrive causes chaos and is a lot of fun.  Viking's overdrive can achieve mutiple kills.  Whereas Hunter is highly ineffective.  I look forward to some changes and a re-balance, but I won't hold my breath!

[warpig.uk 0]

Good response. Gives plenty to think about, thank you :-)

[u812ic 1,629]

There is one thing you forgot to add and is never included in any of the guides: Percentage rate of OD charging when on the losing team. As far as I can determine, it's rare to none, but that's not official. I'd like to see an official chart for the losing team or for the team that is getting spawn killed. All of the charts are the normal rates for the winning team. 

Edited April 19, 2019 by u812ic

[ZloyDanuJI 409]

There is one thing you forgot to add and is never included in any of the guides: Percentage rate of OD charging when on the losing team. As far as I can determine, it's rare to none, but that's not official. I'd like to see an official chart for the losing team or for the team that is getting spawn killed. All of the charts are the normal rates for the winning team. 

obviously, charging gets slowed down because you spend more time respawning than being in the battlefield... and the rate of getting killed is never constant so it'd be impossible to make a chart for when you're constantly getting killed. you can always calculate yourself by simply counting only the times you're in the battle and stop your timer when you die and only start again after you've spawned again.

 

If your comment was just to complain about bad game balance then go to complaint book. but of course if you couldn't figure this out yourself cause you're another one of those less evolved minds then you're welcome.

[master_howitzer 64]

For hornets overdrive, I wish the giant circle indicator for enemy tanks would be changed to small discrete red or blue arrow above the enemy so that I can see the tank off in the distance and it isnt blocked by the big stupid circle indicator. Its not bad for medium range, but the circle doesnt change size like the tank does, so the circle swallows up the view of the tank. Also do the same for teammates, sometime my view is messed up by teammates name and healthbar.

 

Also, I think its garbage that a thunder viking with NO double damage on can three or four shot me (medium hull 3000 health) even though I have full health, double armor, and always have my 50% thunder module on. And railgun two shots me without double damage, and I always have 50% railgun protection on. I am instantly dead if a flow gun barely clips me.

 

For the amount of time that vikings overdrive is a active, why isnt it enough that the viking overdrive only makes your turret shoot faster? Why does the damage have to be four or five times as much? Juggernaut mode must really suck right now. I bet all the striker module strikers in that mode are gone and replaced with flow guns, thunders and railguns all using viking. Probably some twins and ricochet viking. I have been friendly fired by twins viking overdrive like three times and it sucks.

 

I dont care if you disagree with me or call me unintelligible

[Initiate 1,306]

obviously, charging gets slowed down because you spend more time respawning than being in the battlefield... and the rate of getting killed is never constant so it'd be impossible to make a chart for when you're constantly getting killed. you can always calculate yourself by simply counting only the times you're in the battle and stop your timer when you die and only start again after you've spawned again.

 

If your comment was just to complain about bad game balance then go to complaint book. but of course if you couldn't figure this out yourself cause you're another one of those less evolved minds then you're welcome.

Hunter's OD is awesome with the right turret. With close range, it's often not really needed, as you can fight fire with fire, but long range, where you may be attacked just after you shoot and suffer a long reload, that's where it shines. OD them, pop a DD, and one-shot them.

 

Nope, he doesn't play so why would he read this? Furthermore this part of the forum is entrusted (by the CM and TO) to the reporters team to select article and advertise it if required.

 

Btw are you serious or joking? I can't tell, not that it matters for me, but one can easily misinterpret the first part of your message. 

 

You need a space after a full stop:  published."Mammouth,"

But it must be a mistake ;) Otherwise it should not be posted, if you catch my drift.

Ha ha, I was not joking, but unfortunately my space key is hard to press so sometimes I don't notice it. However, I would assume someone who knows English would have read this. This is a business - there has to be one person who hasn't read the article! And if anyone didn't catch that, I'm wondering what they're doing editing a news piece that is going public...

 

*Edit: sometimes I just scan my posts without really reading them.

Edited April 20, 2019 by Initiate

[Initiate 1,306]

The Game is the business, while the forum is a communication platform for the community. The platform do not generate money, in contrary TO pay to support it and maintain it. They would make lost of saving by just shutting it down.

The newspaper announcement is not prepared by the CM but a volunteer.

 

This is good to see that we are not the only one to make mistake while writing.

Lol, but the announcement is in-game also.