review Vulcan: SMG or Peashooter?

[Tidebreaker 1,669]

 

According to the statistics of 2019, the least played turret was Vulcan. This was most likely due to it being uninteresting to play with for most tankers as well as having fairly inconsistent damage and pretty high recoil. With the tracer fire addition to Gauss and then Thunder, we all knew it was a matter of time before they would come for Vulcan and Smoky. So how has Vulcan's change affected it? Has it changed for the better or the worse? Find out in this relatively short article - I guarantee you it'll be worth your time.

Links to the subsections of this article below:

Turret stat changes

Alteration changes

Wasp-Vulcan with RAT

Dictator-Vulcan with SSR

Titan-Vulcan with IB

Void with RR

Vulcan vs Shark

Conclusions

[Tidebreaker 1,669]

Turret stat changes

The first thing I'll take a look at is how Vulcan's stats have changed from a technical point of view. As we all know, Vulcan got a tracer fire change, which means that instead of it just being a laser, every shot actually travels through time and space. But the question remains: Did this change make Vulcan better or not? Let's find out.

Damage: Split up into fixed damage per bullet @ 750-1200 RPM

Buckle in, because this game aspect was fairly complex in terms of changes. Without dragging you into numbers, I can tell you that Vulcan became weaker at the Mk1 level than it was pre-update at M0, but it became much more powerful in all the other modifications in comparison to its old counterpart. While you might think that the damage is very low as per game data, this is damage per bullet, which are fired from 12.5 bullets/sec all the way to 20 bullets/sec, so you're actually doing some insane damage. This also allows you to have the highest DpS in the game at a 1000, on par with Isida.

Damage after overheating: the overheat penalty has been removed, allowing you to hit for full damage once again

Most Vulcan users agreed that the overheating nerf was a bit too much, although it was necessary to kill Incendiary Band usage at that moment in time. However, it was quite inconvenient to have to stop firing every 8 seconds or so and to then start up again. No longer. This also allows Incendiary Band to make somewhat of a return, albeit not to the extent of when it was first released.

Impact force: Instead of a 500% increase in between Mk1 and Mk8, it is now a constant 200 at all modifications (better at lower modifications but worse at higher modifications)

Vulcan officially had the highest increase in terms of impact force, and while you'd think that those small bullets wouldn't do much, they stack up so fast. I can't tell you how hard it is when you're in Shaft's scope mode and you get a Vulcan chipping away at you while also messing up your aim. Nowadays, you'll have constant impact force, which means that it's better at weaker modifications but worse at higher modifications when compared to pre-update Vulcan.

Recoil: Instead of a 500% increase between Mk1 and Mk8, is now a constant 50 at all modifications (low recoil is better for engagements but worse for Parkour)

In straight firefights, you'll want to keep recoil to a minimum, especially if you have such a high fire rate. While that can help you to not get flipped over, this also creates the problem of you not being able to get yourself back on your tracks when flipped sideways using Wasp. Don't waste your time, just accept the death and move on.

Reload (rate of fire): Improves by 60% from Mk1 to Mk8 (750 RPM --> 1200 RPM)

Vulcan has always been the turret with the fastest fire rate, but I didn't know just how fast it really was until I started writing this article. At Mk1, it fires at 750, which is your average assault rifle/submachine gun. But once you get it maxed, it fires at a monstrous 1200. Very few submachine guns in human history can achieve that. The fact that the fire rate increases by 60% from Mk1 to 8 is also quite impressive, being above average for turrets of its type.

Barrel startup: Instead of a 33% reduction in between Mk1 and Mk8, is now a constant 1 second at all modifications

Compared to the old Vulcan, you are now able to start firing much faster, which helps so much when you get caught off guard. While it may not be instant, you should be able to survive given that you can line up your shots correctly. Shooting Speed Regulator can make this near instant, but some Vulcan users for some reason like to steer clear of this. I don't know why, but that's their decision, i guess.

Bullet velocity: 250 ms^-1 - slightly faster than Gauss

Don't think that those bullets travel slow, because they actually travel pretty fast. Sure, they move significantly slower than that of Thunder's or soon-to-be Smoky's, but this should allow you to maintain fire on someone up to medium-long range. The only way you'll get a long-range kill on, say, Highways, is if the target is completely still, which is 99% of the time not going to be the case if they aren't in Shaft scope mode. While the bullets don't drop off due to a finite kinetic energy, don't expect this to be a laserbeam.

Each of the other mechanics have since stayed the same.

[Tidebreaker 1,669]

Alteration changes

Next up, let's look at changes to each of Vulcan's alterations as well as the new one, Rubberized Rounds. 

(Reinforced Aiming Transmission): Turret now rotates at full speed when firing

This alteration allows you to turn your turret faster at the expense of vertical autoaim, which in Vulcan's case is quite a detriment. As you'll see in the next section, it can be incredibly effective if paired with light hulls, as you'll be engaging opponents even closer there. Like I said, though, you will not be able to hit targets up high or down low, which has always been a strength of Vulcan since day one. Make sure to stay aware of that, and I think you'll start to enjoy this alteration a lot.

(Incendiary Band): Damage penalty removed, projectile speed penalty added, heating rate noticeably increased

The nightmare that was the pre-nerf Vulcan has returned. While there has been a penalty on projectile speed, the damage penalty due to overheating has since been removed, and the heating rate has been noticeably increased, being nowhere near the 0.07% that the ingame announcement. During testing, it became clear that Incendiary Band can give Compact fuel tanks a run for its money in terms of heating rate, as only a couple of shots gave five extra afterburn ticks. Do not dismiss Incendiary Band players nowadays; they are incredibly dangerous.

(Shooting Speed Regulator): Barrel startup/slowdown are now near instant, reload time is near instant, fire rate is decreased

This is the literal definition of an almost-neverending laserbeam. You press space and it will gladly start shooting. When stopping your hellfire in order to avoid the afterburn, you can slow down the barrel and wind it back up again within a second. The only problem that it has is its damage being decreased due to a smaller fire rate, but that's really not a big issue if you have such an insane fire rate. I love this alteration, although some others don't. While it may not seem like a worthwhile alteration to buy because of its pricetag, it feels incredibly satisfying to use, which is why I would recommend it to any up-and-coming Vulcan user who's looking for a new experience.

(Rubberized Rounds): Much easier to ricochet your bullets, can now ricochet off of multiple surfaces, projectile speed is decreased

The rip-off version of Ricochet. I had high hopes for this alteration, but it seems to have just about as many applications as Hammer's ricochet effect: close to none. I can agree that this is a good alteration for bouncing off of flat walls, especially in tunnels found in Silence or Industrial Zone. But then the question rises: Where else? And the answer is pretty much 'nowhere'. Not only that, but it also having a projectile speed decrease makes this alteration less than desirable in general, and definitely not worth the $100. Guess you didn't miss out on much if you didn't buy the bundle.

[Tidebreaker 1,669]

Wasp-Vulcan with RAT

So as you can see, there are no changes that have made Vulcan directly worse. On paper, these changes now allow you to reload a little bit faster, start up the barrel much faster and to deal full damage to anyone even when overheating. The question is whether this is also true in performance. 

When I went to test out the new Vulcan, I tried a setup which was suggested by the one and only @TheCongoSpider - Wasp-Vulcan along with the Reinforced Aiming Transmission alteration. As you know, it has been buffed and now has full turret rotation at its disposal. It doesn't stop there. This combo is simply incredible for making a quick getaway with the flag or circling heavy hulls with ease. With a very high rate of fire, you can literally fly by someone and melt them. The recoil reduction can both help you out and be a curse - when I played with Wasp and flipped sideways, I simply couldn't get up. Like at all. It's much easier to keep your Wasp stable when your recoil is minimal, so you can concentrate on circling those Titans with no problem at all. 

While this combo was fun for me to play with, I personally could never really master it. However, Congo did, and he supplied some images of just what monstrosity this could unleash:

Spoiler

Yeah. Nothing much that I can say about this...

[Tidebreaker 1,669]

Dictator-Vulcan with SSR

The next setup I used was one that I used before the massive Vulcan change quite frequently, Dictator-Vulcan with Shooting Speed Regulator. I don't know what it is about this combo that I like so much, but it's just the ultimate team support package that really proves itself in ASL and RGB. Earning Overdrives is as easy as locking onto someone with Gauss - you just keep nailing people down with that high fire rate and you'll see them go down one by one. After all, a 15% reduction in fire rate is really not that much if you still have over a 1000 rounds a minute hurtling towards your enemies.

I primarily used this in three modes - ASL, RGB, and SGE. Dictators are always a massive help to the team in ASL regardless of which team you are playing as. As long as you can deliver some Rugby balls to the enemy base, your Overdrive earning will go off the charts. Siege is also an amazing way to earn Overdrives, allowing you to have a Supplies Overload ready pretty much every time you capture a point. With this, you can easily boost your battle score by about 100 or maybe even 200 points!

So why am I recommending this combo now? It's because Dictator pairs extremely well with Vulcan (it is very comfortable and feels smooth) and it's really fun to use against whole teams when you're the one leading the charge.

Here's Congo's attempt up top and mine at the bottom (mine are before the Vulcan update, it should tell you just how powerful it already was before)

Spoiler

 

My attempts (bear in mind this was pre update, so it should give you an understanding of how it should play out now):

[Tidebreaker 1,669]

Titan-Vulcan with IB

And of course, we get to the last and probably the most notorious Vulcan combo you can find at mid-ranks - Titan-Vulcan with Incendiary Band. I think that every one of you reading this knows just how dangerous and overpowered this combination was upon launch and I'm sure that some of you are happy for it to come back to its former glory. I'm not sure if you've tried it these days, but I don't think it will take long for people to catch on about how powerful it is right now.

To test it out, I went into ASL and got a match on the red team and just absolutely crushed the defending team. It got to the point where I had a dome ready every time I went to attack. I just kept overheating and setting others on fire from my dome and no one could stop it. After the battle, I looked at my score, and then went to my mirror to look at myself in disgust. That humiliation was a bit too much for my liking, even when I was the one who had demolished their attempts to defend their base.

Would I recommend this to anyone? Yes. The only thing that you might want to watch out for is not equipping a Firebird module, as it really helps you survive for longer. Other than that, you should probably stick to playing ASL or SGE, as you'll be most useful to your teammates there.

Spoiler

I felt that one battle of humiliation for the enemies was enough to prove my point.

 

[Tidebreaker 1,669]

Void with RR

You're probably asking, "What do you mean by Void?" Umm, yeah, about that. If you remember where I talked about each of the alterations for Vulcan and how they changed? I said that Rubberized Rounds wasn't really that good. I went around with some potential Rubberized Rounds combos, but I could never click with it the same way I could with the other 3 combos I mentioned. It just feels disappointing and unnecessary to say the least, so I just decided to skip out on this section and label it "Void", because this combo really doesn't feel powerful in MM.

I wish I didn't have to say all this, but it had to be said. It's sad, really - it had great potential.

[Tidebreaker 1,669]

    

Vulcan vs Shark

Let's also look at how Vulcan can go up against its respective module, Shark. Compared to some other turrets, you'll see that Vulcan is sort of in the middle, not being completely screwed over by the Shark module, but not demolishing Shark users as well. At 40% and up, you can see that the module is doing something against Vulcan (unlike Lion, Fox, and Dolphin) and can extend your lifespan by quite a lot. With that being said, you are not totally immune to getting whittled down, which is good for you using the turret but not so much for the poor guy on the other side. I'd say that Shark is your benchmark module which sets the example of what it should be doing, and it's definitely worth it in the long run. Make sure to get it in kits, though - upgrading modules is insanely expensive these days.

[Tidebreaker 1,669]

Conclusions

To end everything off, I'd like to go back to the very origin of this article - the title. As you've probably understood by now, Vulcan is definitely not a peashooter, but is it deserving of the status of SMG? By definition, an SMG (submachine gun) has a high fire rate as well as being more lightweight than assault rifles but shooting smaller calibre bullets than ARs and being effective only at close and medium range. Given that Vulcan is the only actual full-auto weapon that fires bullets in Tanki, it has the problem of not being able to relate to any other turret. Is that a bad thing though? Not at all.

Based on the observations I've made, I can safely say that todays Vulcan is an AR/SMG hybrid. While it struggles to hit targets at long range, it has the incredibly high fire rate of an SMG as well as the medium-range accuracy of an assault rifle that can drop people within mere seconds. 

In conclusion, this is a turret that welcomes noobs with open arms while pleasing the hardcore Vulcan lovers, and its change to tracer fire has surely made it a top-tier turret in today's meta. It pairs incredibly well with some hulls as well as having great alterations, albeit some of them expensive. Once, I could have seen an argument for it being a peashooter. No longer. With just a little bit of practice, you can bring more pain to people than Sans does in the Judgement Hall.

Maybe one day, you'll get off that Railgun and buy Vulcan.

Then you'll see that Vulcan is nothing short of a demon.

 

Signing off,

Tidebreaker

[kaisdf 3,320]

At long last, we at the Newspaper have been testing out the new Vulcan - has it benefitted from the balance changes? How does it fare in Matchmaking today?

 

Have you played with the new Vulcan? What do you think of it?

[3dL 454]

Nice ❤

[Sacrifice 2,278]

I actually like vulcan but when it still manages to ruin my K/D even when I am behind a wall, the first thought that comes to my mind is:

 

 

HACKERRR

A part from that, its pretty awesome. I really like the new update. My mk1 Vulcan has really enraged many players (Not just the enemy team.. It has enraged my own teammates too). 

 

Edited March 20, 2020 by Sacrifice
The above spoiler is a joke. Please treat it as such. :D

[foxer_XXX 135]

I like my Vulcan - after the update, I think it's much better - I can do a lot more with it now (this includes destroying enemy tanks, my tank, etc.). Really makes me feel like Vulcan is all I need (and of course, a good hull - Titan or Dictator is what I use). So, all in all, I like the update for Vulcan

[JESUSaves2 98]

i think it got better cause it does more damage at close range and it is a medium/close gun it was and is not a long range gun like gauss/shaft/rail so therefore it got a boost in the range where it is more efective

[vulcanrage 22]

I use mine with fully upgraded brutus. Vulcan fully upgraded. Titan fully upgraded. 

It works... so very, very, well. 

My most appreciative part of this review is the number of bullets/damage per sec. So this thing is in fact a beast. 

Now, don't get me wrong. Is this the most powerful thing? No. I use titan vulcan. And it is great. But hunter firebirds od still kill me with ease. Hornet Gauss od, well basically anything hornet OD kills me with ease. But vulcan is certainly better equipped now to deal with other problematic tanks. 

Not much mention in this review about the angles. I.e. 60 degree angle and greater. Map shots of where and how this is best implemented. 

Ok one other thing I wanted to add and maybe I'm slightly biased not sure. So though I'm a vulcan through and through, I have some affection for twins. I really like it. But now I just wonder, has vulcan made twins obsolete? And what about Rico? These things were high damage pelters at mid range and are meant to be beasts in their own right. But does vulcan now overshadow these?

Perhaps rico in its full onslaught of ricochets still has its power. But how do ricochets and twins feel with facing vulcans?

At mid range... they are in their domain. But playing twins I feel you can somewhat not avoid missing 25% of your shots due to engagements with skilled opponents. I don't say this in an amateurish way, I could land some pretty nifty twins shots even with both me and my opponent moving. But inevitably you will miss the odd shot. Maybe not 25, by only 12.5 percent of shots missed. That's fair. But vulcan is so much more focussed than that now. 

In thinking about it... the rotation of vulcan is not effective like that of rico and twins at closer range. Also, twins can pair with hunter or viking and whirl around a titan vulcan doing cut throat damage. But just feel on edge about the effects to the mid range heavy hitters in this game. 

I don't feel vulcan has taken away from hammer gameplay at all. Just think maybe twins and rico are not quite the menacing threat they once were.

 

I agree with the shark assessment. Playing vulcan before, I felt ok because you just never faced vulcan protection. The turret did its job the way I needed it to, it was good. But there was a certain lacking to the gameplay of vulcan. This is better, but vulcan protection doesn't make the turret unusable. It negates the damage, but it will get the job done.

 

[vulcanrage 22]

I wanted to add, after having just played a game as vulcan wasp... but first some admissions.

My wasp sadly is not fully upgraded. Its mk7 9/20. Will upgrade it to 10/20 tonight. So this is not at full power.

But this combo does work. Like... it works. And this is going in as vulcan player with no experience really as wasp.

I've tested wasp out.. but it just wasn't my play style. With short range turrets mostly. 

The main thing to just make me rage is when I'm one shot. What is the point when you go out, and get on the field and a single shot from a rail, shaft, gauss, thunder, hammer, magnum or double shot from any number of other turrets just finish you. I just can't deal. Sigh.

So, the main problem ones i have, i got protections against. Except Gauss. Gauss hornet is a pain. 

But back to vulcan wasp. Especially when my wasp is 20.20, I realize the extra few hit points maybe isn't earth shattering, but I'll take all the health I can get. And when I've played it a bit more, with different settings, and I'm used to the adjusted angle sway from the wasp tank upon stopping, moving, sudden jolts left and right. How the turret rocks and adjusts its aim. I just don't know it as well for this hull. But mainly, I see this working with open concept maps where you aren't bogged in, or forced into spots the enemy can just pin you down. 

 

Just had a great rugby game with it, and actually, I've never been crazy about the whole wasp OD. A bomb? Come on... But with vulcan wasp, I really feel this thing compliments the turret. And it's weird to say, because I go in thinking, all wasp hulls have this play style of you get in a spot where setting the bomb off does it thing, and the hull/OD as a combo you do your thing. So why is it that Vulcan Wasp is an especially good combo? Well, from my initial viewpoint, is wasp in combo with a short range turret just isn't getting the full effective power of what vulcan wasp does. Vulcan wasp you go into a region, you set off that bomb and you are firing the whole time at the targets not affected by the bomb. You go in as fire wasp, isida wasp, and freeze wasp... well the bomb is taking out the only targets you can hit. Maybe I didn't fully appreciate this mode of play playing my boring titan vulcan. I just see wasps and I'm like, ok hit and run, set up my dome move around a building if I can.. if I die I die.

 

But I think vulcan wasp put a bit of pep in my step. I'm must like, I've got a mid range weapon, with a killer short range effect? In the rugby Game, I had sort of this surreal moment where the rugby was being dropped, and 2 opponents where closing in, and 2 opponents were further back offering ranged support. Me and a few teammates were going to the rugby, and were gonna get there slightly first. i zipped by the rugby, letting a viking vulcan pick it up, and dropped the bomb as I approached the 2 incoming opponents, while shooting at the farther away ones. The close ones both blew up, giving my teammates clear travel out of the drop zone, and I proceeded to kill one of the other opponents at range. Then I got in kinda close with the other, and duked it out. I might have killed him or he might have killed me. But it was an entirely different experience I hadn't had in tanki before. I can't lead a charge as titan vulcan. I'm so slow. I'm definitely good support. I got bulk and health, and fire power. But I can only clear the lane way of the drop zone. Once the viking gets ahead of me and goes to score... my ability to support him is gone (taking into account different maps of course). But the speed of the scorers, at best if they fail I can come in try to pick up the ball arriving late and kill any survivors but sometimes it just doesn't work.

 

But it was just a great feel, to lead the charge, drop the bomb while still shooting at the rail killing him, then going for the other opponent. The speed at which I could engage and distract 4 enemies, was certainly an attention grabber for me. Like right in the game as I was playing I'm just realizing all the possibilities this hull is affording me. 

 

Congospider certainly gets all the credit here. I'm just adding to what he's already observed. Getting a bit of fun from it. And I have to play this more, for the next week or so see how I do. I mean... yeah theres this downside where I walk into some enemies, ... and I just die. No health. And that isn't something I mesh well with. But sucking up the odd spawns where I don't get much of anything done because of a rail one shot on me, a hammer flipping me etc, if you get the angles and are able to be the mosquito that kinda just distracts the enemies while your teammates do some of the heavier work, you can really be a real pain to the enemy at distance and when you need to, dart in at close range drop the bomb and keep going without missing a beat. 

 

Really enjoyed being active at the close range OD effect, and my mid range turret, just feeling part of the action at every moment. Pretty cool. And the agile nature of wasp let me really use corners/buildings as navigable protections that really were oblivious to me as titan vulcan. 

 

For the sake of buying wasp just to use with vulcan, I'm still on the fence about full endorsement. I had always planned to upgrade the wasp/isida combo for the odd game. But hey, vulcan wasp just works. 

[Tethorakismeno 56]

I have to say this was a nice and very informative article. Let me thank you for that.

However you never said anything about vulcan/mammoth combination. Why? Is it so worthless to write something about it?

I mostly use V/M combo with IB alt.

Also let me say that real Vulcan "Hand of God" can fire almost 6000 rpm and it's actually a Minigun. Not sub nor light machinegun.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M61_Vulcan

Edited March 21, 2020 by Tethorakismeno

[LyT 222]

How you write this long articles?

[Benefactor 6,888]

2 hours ago, S.M.S.M said:

How you write this long articles?

Probably him trying to use every word in his vocabulary.

[Sacrifice 2,278]

2 hours ago, S.M.S.M said:

How you write this long articles?

Guides are meant to be lengthy. Additionally, once you start writing a lot, it becomes a norm. But my guy here is blessed with a serious talent.

[SulfuricAcid 504]

On 3/17/2020 at 8:28 AM, Tidebreaker said:

Don't think that those bullets travel slow, because they actually travel pretty fast. Sure, they move significantly slower than that of
Thunder's or soon-to-be Smoky's.

Smoky will be changed. lets hope its bullets fly faster than thunder.!!!

Edited March 21, 2020 by SulfuricAcid

[Dayfly 15]

Nice read, thank you!

I dusted off the big V/M + IB and gave it a stretch earlier... and got smooshed. It was Jugg though, so maybe not the best choice and my Mammy isn't so strong. Not gonna forget about it though, just need some gear upgrades and I think it'll be fun down the line.

[Hex 11,520]

This was a good and informative read. I haven't had the time to properly take Vulcan for a stroll in Matchmaking battles but can already get a grip of what to expect from this article. Nicely formatted as well.

[Viking4s 10,791]

The sound it makes is weird, too mechanical, developer forgot about the sound of the gun powder...
Peashooter at low ranks. SMG at legend rank.

[Tidebreaker 1,669]

Thanks for all the positive comments! Love you all!