guide [BDay] The ultimate guide to Overdrives

[LOLKILLERTOTHEDEATH 1,921]

Overdrives. Whether you're all for them or fundamentally opposed to them, they undeniably have a significant impact in matches in today's Tanki gameplay. So much so that a few good uses of your hull's overdrive are more than capable of turning the tide of battle and wreaking havoc upon your enemies. In this guide, I'll be going over overdrives and providing tips on how to use each one.

 

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How to use Wasp's Overdrive: This hull's overdrive is an N2 bomb which deals 9999 damage at the center of the explosion and a decent radius of 25 meters. It is worth noting that the damage decreases as you get further from the center. Capable of blowing almost anything to smithereens, this is an overdrive which can be extremely dangerous in the right hands or just wholly wasted in the wrong ones. The most significant limitation is perhaps the 3-second timer before the bomb detonates, which calls for a little anticipation on the user's part. Generally speaking, you'll want to use this overdrive more confined spaces. Do your best to make sure enemies are temporarily immobilized (this can be done if you can cause freeze status effects or if you ram your hull against the enemy). Most of the time, sneaking around enemies and buildings is the best idea to make the best use of this overdrive. The 3-second timer gives most players enough time to escape, so you'll want to approach enemies in a way which so that you are outside of their field of vision initially, plant the bomb, and make yourself visible to your enemy. If done right, your enemy won't see the bomb until it is too late, and having incorrectly assumed that you were passing by will fall to the devastating blast soon. Additionally, Wasp's overdrive can also come in handy to discourage enemies from moving to or passing by a particular place. For example, if your teammate has taken the flag in CTF and you're trying to prevent the enemy from reaching them, planting a bomb will cause the enemies to retreat initially or try and find another way to your teammate. This use isn't optimal in terms of racking up kills, but it can help your team. Lastly, if you want to do some crowd control at locations which players will be (such as gold box drops), then Wasp's bomb can rack up kills and maybe even help you catch a gold box. With overdrive now being shown to other users, stealth is more important than ever when trying to drop your bomb.

How to deal with Wasp's overdrive: Wasp's overdrive can be dealt with in a multitude of ways. The most effective way to deal with it is to simply get out of the blast radius. This seems really obvious, but many players don't bother doing it for some reason. If this isn't possible, then try to take cover behind something, ideally the nearest prop that completely conceals your tank. The said prop must also be able to intercept the blast. What I mean by this is that when the explosion happens, it should stop at the prop in a way such that the only method by which it can damage you is by moving around the prop somehow. Generally, walls or pipes do a good job at this. Additionally, if the need for you to survive is dire (you are about to bring down an enemy with a flag, and a Wasp player drops a bomb, or during a gold box), you can use Hunter or Titan's Overdrives to deactivate said bomb. This usually isn't a good idea in the case of Titan because you want to pick a spot from where you can lay down suppressive fire or for Hunter when stealing flags, for example. Given the new mechanic of Status effects being displayed, if a Wasp user comes close to you when they don't have to (such as Railgun or Shaft users), and they happen to have their overdrive ready, it would be best to put in place some countermeasures.

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How to use Hornet's Overdrive: By far one of the most deadly overdrives, this one will allow you to ignore enemy protections (from modules, double armor, or drones) and show you the health of all enemies as well as their location. This overdrive is so insanely powerful that you can very easily bring down the toughest of enemies if you use it correctly. It is also pretty easy to waste if you activate it against too many enemies in close proximity. One of the most important things with this overdrive is mastering your ability to sneak around buildings and props to deal extreme amounts of damage before retreating into the shadows again. This overdrive's ability isn't supposed to be used for head-on assaults into the enemy base to bring down multiple enemies. If you try to do that, you'll most likely get destroyed. Instead, use the ability to see enemies to pick your targets and engage them. The goal isn't finesse or elegance; you want to end the fight as soon as possible in your favor. Thus, bothering with flashy fighting styles (such as trick shots with Railgun) is of little to no use. Instead, keep it simple and rack up kills with the 20-second window the overdrive gives you. Also, know when it's a good time to activate your overdrive. If you use it when you are low on health or don't have double damage, you're wasting your overdrive because you will probably die quickly in the case of the former or not get kills. What you ideally want to do when spawning is to activate double armor, speed boost, and then double damage. Once you have double damage equipped and are midway to the enemy base, activate your overdrive and kill away. It's also worth noting that using this overdrive will get you a lot of enemies, so use the ability to see the relative locations of enemies to make sure you don't have enemies sneaking up on you. Your enemies seeing your overdrive status isn't really important because you don't need to get close to them to use your overdrive, unlike with Wasp. Needless to say, if you do find that you have to get close to your enemy, it is a good idea to sneak around buildings and ambush them rather than head-on attack.

How to counter Hornet's overdrive: Hornet's overdrive is more or less impossible to fully counter (unlike Wasp's bomb, for example), but there are migratory techniques you can use to help make it a little better. If the Hornet user is using long-ranged turrets, that means long reload times. In this case, you have to make them miss their shot somehow (whether it be through aiming at the corners of their hull or taking cover) and then launching an unstoppable assault. In the case of mid-ranged turrets, waiting them out is a good tactic. By this, I mean hiding behind a wall or house for the duration of their overdrive. It's only 20 seconds of time being lost, so it usually won't matter that much. Against short-ranged turrets, your only real option is to keep attacking them and hopefully kill or cripple them so that they are no longer a threat to teammates. There's always the option of doing everything you can to destroy them, but in most instances, Hornet users tend to know what they're doing, and since they can see your location and health, manage to destroy you first. Whether you see that a Hornet has its overdrive ready to use or not doesn't really matter that much. However, if you can, it's best to destroy any enemies with their overdrive ready to use.

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How to use Hunter's overdrive: Hunter has an extremely powerful ability. It is capable of removing any active supplies, forcing a recharge time of 5 seconds on the supplies of enemies, stopping shooting (such as the charge-up of a Railgun or the reload of a Thunder) while also preventing enemies from moving for 3 seconds in a 25-meter radius. It is worth noting that Hunter's overdrive requires a 1.1-second interval to activate. If killed during this time period, your overdrive won't have any effect on enemies. Hunter's overdrive also sees by far the most disgraceful wastage from most players. I cannot tell you how many times I just spawned in a match with a Titan and Hunter user in close proximity and became a victim to Hunter's overdrive. Wasting your overdrive to kill an enemy who just spawned is simply disgraceful. It's like using gold coins to play arcade games. The overdrive isn't meant for a quick kill or two. It's meant to be far more powerful than that. When used properly, Hunter's overdrive is capable of instilling fear in the hearts of attackers and defenders alike. There are players who really use this overdrive well, but most of the time, I see players just completely waste it. The best way to use this overdrive is when you actually need to prevent enemies from scoring goals or capturing flags, or even when you want to catch a gold box. This particular overdrive doesn't really require stealth, although if you can be stealthy, then you will leave your enemies completely flabbergasted as you destroy them with ease. This overdrive should be used to shake off pursuers or attackers when you have taken the flag, are trying to capture a flag, or are trying to score a goal. Conversely, it should be used to stop enemies from doing the same. It can also be used to paralyze hoards of enemies and destroy them. What it should not be used for is to kill defenseless players who could be dealt with without your overdrive.

How to counter Hunter's overdrive: The easiest way to counter Hunter's overdrive is to be proactive and stay away from Hunter users, especially if they have a long-ranged turret and are approaching you. If this isn't possible, keep in mind that there is a delay between a Hunter activating their overdrive and you being helpless. If you can destroy the Hunter as its overdrive is activating in the 1.1-second window, you won't be forced to deal with its effects. The only other effective counter is the Stun or EMP immunity augmentations. The stun immunity augmentation will prevent you from getting stunned and dropping any objects, but you will lose your supplies. The EMP immunity augmentation will prevent you from losing your supplies, but you will get stunned and drop any objects you are holding. In an analogy, Stun immunity is akin to Tony Stark's suit being rendered helpless and him being forced to fight without one, whereas EMP immunity is akin to Tony Stark being knocked out in his suit without it suffering critical damage (such as in Avengers Endgame). What you pick is completely up to you, but EMP immunity has the additional benefit of rendering Gauss' Electromagnetic Salvo useless, which makes it less situational.

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How to use Viking's overdrive: By far, my favorite overdrive, this one will give you an infinite magazine, increase the rate of fire, increase range of effective fire, further amplify damage or healing, increase impact force while reducing recoil and possibly trigger special effects for 7 seconds. The special effects depend on the turret. In the case of Vulcan, you can start firing instantly, and overheating is removed. In the case of Striker, Gauss, and Shaft, you fire arcade shots. In the case of Striker, that is to say, that you can only fire single rockets. Lastly, all shots for Magnum are at 100% power. This overdrive is exceptionally powerful and is more than capable of turning the tide of battle if used correctly. It is also wasted a lot of time in battle for some strange reason. The point of this overdrive is to quickly wreck as many enemies as possible. Thus, you should activate it only when you are near three or more enemies, have full or near full health, and have double damage and double armor equipped. Once you do this, keep some level of situational awareness and target enemies that are most dangerous first, leaving enemies who are driving away for later. Also, know that the power granted by this overdrive can quickly backfire if you don't mind your surroundings and accidentally destroy yourself. This overdrive is also the easiest way to bring down a Juggernaut user quickly. Using this overdrive will make you a target very quickly, so make sure you don't activate it if there are too many enemies near you. Lastly, no small level of complacency will work in terms of enemies. Don't spare that tanker which was going away, because the slightest mistake will ruin your overdrive more or less completely and prevent you from racking up kills. The ability for enemies to see how ready your overdrive is will not significantly impact the use of the overdrive itself. Unlike Hornet or Wasp's overdrives, this one is meant to stand out and be bold, so you might as well look the part too.

How to counter Viking's overdrive: This overdrive isn't very difficult to counter if you manage to not die within the first two or so seconds. The easiest way to mess up a Viking's overdrive is to aim at the corner of their hull. Quite often, they will be disoriented and angry. This will mean that they won't aim properly. It will take at least two or so seconds for them to finally aim at you with long-ranged, mid-ranged, or short-ranged turrets, and that will more or less ruin their overdrive. As for melee-ranged turrets, a similar strategy can work if you execute it. However, the melee-ranged turrets can be tougher to deal with, especially Firebird. Other than messing up the aim or driving of the enemy, simply taking cover works just as well as retreating. Essentially, if they can't see you, then they can't kill you unless they can inflict splash damage. If possible, you want to get them to self-destruct or go very close to them if your fate is sealed. That way, they don't kill many teammates. Whether or not a Viking's overdrive is ready to use generally won't tell you if you should retreat or not any more than the turret they use.

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How to use Dictator's overdrive: Dictator's overdrive is by far the most passive one available and requires the least work (if any at all). This overdrive will activate repair kits, double damage, double armor, nitro, and drop a mine while boosting their overdrive by 50% for allies within 20 meters of you while slowing down enemies temporarily in the same range. It's worth noting that you get ten extra score points for each ally you manage to hit with your overdrive. Sharing is caring, both for teammates and your battle score. Generally speaking, this overdrive can allow you to have reinforcements to help you. For example, if you have three teammates nearby who are quite badly damaged and trying to stop enemies from capturing flags, you can help them. Another great use of this overdrive is for gold boxes or capturing flags or scoring goals. The overdrive essentially acts as a second, more powerful repair kit with its ability to slow down enemies, which can be greatly helpful if you are trying to escape with a flag. In the case of gold boxes, Dictator is a great choice, and you can catch the gold box while most likely helping your teammates. Whether enemies can see your overdrive being ready to use or not has little if any effect on your ability to use the overdrive well.

How to counter Dictator's overdrive: There really isn't much need to counter a Dictator's overdrive in most instances because it won't instantly kill you. Nonetheless, if you still are interested in it, you can always use Hunter's overdrive (assuming the Dictator doesn't have the EMP immunity hull augmentation) or, more traditionally, you can just destroy them as quickly as possible to minimize the benefit of their supplies. A Dictator using its overdrive isn't going to be able to change the tide of battle by itself in most instances, not to mention the vast majority of the time Dictators will stay in their base to use their overdrive on as many people as possible. Similarly, stealth really has nothing to do with Dictator's overdrive.

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How to use Titan's overdrive: Titan's overdrive generates a sphere with a radius of 20 meters. The sphere itself will last for 20 seconds while protecting you from 90% incoming damage. It also disables other protective domes in a 35-meter radius of your sphere. Titan's protective dome will also deactivate a Wasp's bomb. However, if the bomb is dropped after the dome is deployed, then it will still deal full damage. Hunter's overdrive disables Titan's dome while the overdrives of Hornet and Mammoth can deal serious damage inside it. In terms of optimizing the use of the overdrive itself, it's important to deploy it in a place that sees a fairly high amount of enemy tanks. If you deploy it in some secluded corner just to beat a Viking's overdrive, then you'd be wasting. Once the dome is active, most players will simply ignore you and keep going, so destroying them might be a bit more challenging. Barring this, there isn't really much to the overdrive itself. What is most important is how and when you use this overdrive. If you're playing against a random team of enemies, there will most likely be at least a few Wasps, Hornets, Hunters, or Mammoths. These four hulls have overdrives, which can completely ruin your overdrive by destroying you or disabling your shield. The key to dealing with Wasp's has been outlined earlier, and whether or not you have the dome active changes absolutely nothing. In the case of a Hornet user, the easiest thing to do is see when they are using their overdrives. Once their overdrive finishes, they can't do anything to your shield, which makes it a good time to deploy it. Against Hunters, you'll want to check their overdrive status. If they have an overdrive ready and are not too far off, don't use your overdrive. Titan users can really take a situation where you were supposed to dominate and turn it on you. If another Titan deploys their overdrive, then your dome will be disabled. Thus, where possible, don't be the first to deploy a dome against a team with multiple Titan users. Against a Mammoth, a similar thing should be done as what you did against Hunters.

How to counter Titan's overdrive: Titan's overdrive can easily be countered using Wasp, Hornet, Hunter, Titan, or Mammoth's overdrive. Generally speaking, these will also help you get additional kills too because most enemies tend to go into the dome. If you use your dome, you can also counter another Titan's dome. Barring this, if you're unwilling or unable to use your overdrive, you can hide somewhere or just go in a different direction. Once the dome is up, there isn't much you really can do without using the overdrives of the aforementioned five hulls.

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How to use Mammoth's overdrive: Mammoth's overdrive, or the touch of death, as I've nicknamed it, creates an AT field (I have no clue what that is. @Person_Random might be able to offer explanations) which has a range of 7.5 meters. It lasts 7 seconds and deals 3996 damage per second while speeding up your hull by 50%, restoring you to full health, and removing and status effects (such as burning or freezing). This overdrive is insanely powerful, and if used correctly, can work wonders. With this kind of destructive ability, you'll want to activate the overdrive in a relatively confined space with multiple enemies so you can annihilate them quickly. This overdrive is exceptionally useful for crowd control due to the serious damage dealt every second, along with Mammoth's ability to push things, thus allowing you to push past destroyed tanks and reach enemies that aren't destroyed faster. The best use for this is when you want to mess with the shield of a Titan user or during a gold box. If you're capturing your flag or scoring a goal, then using this overdrive will get enemies to move out of your way while the additional speed should see you through to your goal. The easiest way to waste this overdrive is to use it as a repair kit. It can deal 3996 damage per second, and it is a complete waste if you decide to use the overdrive just as a repair kit. Instead, try and attack as many enemies as possible using the great damage and higher speed. Enemies will usually try to evade you frantically, compromising their view of their surroundings. Use this to your advantage and keep shooting at them while you are using your overdrive. If they don't die due to the massive damage per second, they'll die due to the discombobulation and damage caused by your shooting them.

How to counter Mammoth's overdrive: Mammoth's overdrive is relatively similar to that of Hunter in terms of how you counter it. If you see a Mammoth user come too close and have their overdrive ready to deploy, get out of there while you still can. Once the overdrive is active, the Mammoth will be unstoppable up close and personal, so you want to retreat while attacking them. The 50% speed boost is quite significant, so don't overlook it. At the same time, though, Mammoth still won't be moving extremely quickly, so evading is still an option. In this instance, if you're willing to use overdrives Viking or Hunter will most likely be able to stop the Mammoth of they don't get destroyed first. If a Mammoth can use or is using their overdrive, you should always try to destroy them as soon as possible, but from a distance.

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Conclusion: I hope that this guide has been helpful to you in terms of how to optimally use your overdrives as well as how to counter (or at least mitigate) the effects of other overdrives. Also, in part, I was extremely annoyed by the number of Hunters who waste their overdrive for no apparent reason.

[Person_Random 4,991]

21 hours ago, Ap3xA1pha said:

Time to add Ares and Hopper...

Good idea

[Intercept-1 80]

On 9/23/2020 at 12:35 PM, Ap3xA1pha said:

I also have an idea for another "ultimate guide". I notice that many newer players ask about drones and since they can be a bit daunting in terms of exactly how they work, it would be cool if, perhaps as part of the next special edition of the TO Newspaper, an "ultimate guide to drones" be published... or maybe such a guide already exists? Idk but that would be interesting to see.

Wait. What are drones and why do I have to use them?

[Intercept-1 80]

1 minute ago, At_Shin said:

Drones are like tank pets.

They will give statistical boost to your tank. Check the wiki to find more about them. You can also visit the drone section in your tanki garage.

I know, I know. I was just joking around. I have like 1100 batteries just chilling in my garage. I don't feel the need to buy a drone, because I don't want to commit to 300 crystals for 1 minute or use.

[Intercept-1 80]

Just now, At_Shin said:

Good choice. I had done the same as you. And while my batteries we're chillin' my drones were levelin'. So, I manager to save up to 6,000 batteries (actually more than that).

Now, I rule the Kunger DM battles with Adrenaline Gauss + Hornet + Driver drone level 8. I don't use drones in normal MM battles much, but during events, I go crazy with them.

You monster..... Boy, I don't wanna be facing you in matchmaking anytime soon hehe. My poor hunter will get pulverized, and my titan will just be a high-density brick.