Guide to Team Juggernaut - Attack (Part I)

[Tokamak 1,021]

Hello Tankers! In this special Guide for Team Juggernaut battle mode, I will touch upon the Beast’s strengths and weaknesses. Buckle up for a wild ride!
___________________________________________________________________________________________________

Introduction

Winning in Juggernaut team mode requires you to complete one objective: Kill more enemy Juggernauts than they kill yours. In practice, it means that your team has to focus on two imperatives tasks. The first mission is to defend your Juggernaut and do everything in your power to keep it alive, however, this is only 50% of your objective. I explained in detail this mission in this newspaper article: Guide to Team Juggernaut - Defence. Your second mission is to kill at least one more of the opponent Juggernaut than they achieve. By completing this, you will complete 100% of the objective. I will touch upon the best way to perform the first mission in a separate article and I will cover now the second mission: How to conduct an effective attack to successfully defeat the Juggernaut?

Well the answer is composed of two parts: 
1/ Understand your prey - this means knowing its strengths and weaknesses, so you can find ways to adapt and overcome the former and exploit the latter. 
2/ Set a winning strategy to hunt it down; in other words, do not attack it blindly.

In this guide, the first part of the answer will be covered to keep it short. I will review the strong and weak points of the beast by looking at its equipment stats and mechanics features: Super-turret, super-hull, and super-overdrive. The second tactical part would be covered in a second installment.

The Beast

The super-tank is no simple tank; it is the most powerful equipment on the battlefield: a combination made of three unique and powerful state-of-the-art pieces of machinery solely available in this mode: The lethal Terminator turret, the fast and resilient Juggernaut hull, and the restoring Overdrive. 

The two Railgun barrels of the super-turret Terminator are like the deadly fangs of a saber tooth tiger that wound and kill weak prey in one bite. In addition, the reach of the salvo from the Rocket Launcher challenges the larger minions and the big boss. This super-turret is mounted on the Juggernaut, the super-hull that provides an unusually high level of health allowing it to survive many sustained attacks and mines. Another strength of the motorised vehicle is its speed; it can easily escape light hulls with melee-type turrets and Wasp’s N2-Bomb. Last but not least, its Overdrive swipes away opponents that are too clingy and recovers the beast’s health to 100%. 

Indeed, the Juggernaut is a really tough cookie, but of course, not as tough as Godmode_ON himself. That demon remains number one with his 99% protection module against all turrets, but that is a story for another day.

The Terminator Turret

The Terminator turret is composed of a pair of Railgun barrels with a higher firing speed, and a rocket launcher that fires up to 6 homing rockets after a short target acquisition. The turret operates the Railgun when the player short-presses the spacebar (arcade mode) and can switch to the rocket launcher mode when the player holds down the spacebar: A pair of missile launchers will be deployed on both sides of the turret body, and the laser with its lock panel will be activated. When a target is acquired, a swarm of missiles is automatically launched, rushing at the target and readjusting course as it moves. 

Tables damages per Mark (Mk) equipment - Hasta la vista, baby!

 Strength: Railgun High DPS and Penetration %
As mentioned in the Defence guide, Terminator’s damages are unique; there is no existing protection module against it. All players are all on the same foot, and your Railgun and Striker module protections are ineffective against the Terminator's special weapons. The damage done is high; light hulls are easily one-shot-killed if no Double Armor on.

The Railgun barrels has no weakness. It shoots fast, and with a penetration factor of 100%, the shell travels through several tanks without losing power and reaches the target at any range.  

Terminator's DPS is so high that it one-shot kills light-hulls at low Marks and medium-hulls at Mark 7.
 

> Adapt and Overcome
Reduce: There are different means to reduce the strength of the Terminator's bite.
 - Use Double Armor supplies to halve damages to your tanks with a direct 50% reduction of damages (200% armor equivalency).
 - Equip any Drone that provides a basic passive protection reduces damage from 1 to 5% or even better, Brutus - from 1 to 10%.
 - Equip a drone with active protection ability: Defender - from 55.5% to 66.6% (225% to 300% armor equivalency) or Crisis from 60.0% to 66.6% (250% to 300% armor equivalency).
 - Seek protection under the Dome of Titan’s Overdrive, with its 90% damage reduction, it is almost like an adamantine cloak.

Options available to reduce damages from the Terminator.
 

Avoid: Use stealth and precaution to avoid damage.
 - Avoid direct confrontation and consider approaching the Juggernaut from behind or the flank. 
 - Use a covert pathway and move when the Juggernaut is distracted/looking away.
 - Always keep an escape route nearby and/or a protective wall to retreat from a salvo’s strike.

Live longer: Keep your health high as long as possible before facing the beast; by doing so, you will be able to inflict more damage and keep it busy longer.
 - Use Overdrives with regeneration abilities: Dictator (4 000 HP recovery maximum), Mammoth (100% HP recovery), and Ares (100% HP recovery if you manage to follow the orb long enough (+2 000 HP per second)). 
 - Attack in conjunction with allies equipped with Support Drones with Repair kit recovery sharing: Mechanic (4 000 HP) and Supplier. 
 - Use Repair kit (4 000 HP recovery maximum),
 - Use a Lifeguard drone with the reviving ability (from 250 to 3 000 HP recovery).

 
Options available to help you stay alive longer.

 Weaknesses: Salvo lock on process and rocket self-damage

The deadly salvo requires time for the target acquisition and then its fire automatically. During that time, a laser sight focuses on the victim. 
Self-damage from rockets’ splash damage.

> Exploit

Move around to disrupt the locking system by finding and using natural obstacles on the map to evade the laser: Buildings, buttes, walls, allies’ and enemies’ tanks alike. If somehow, it managed to lock onto you and the salvo is fired at you, any obstacle will intercept the missiles; it's even better when the missiles hit the enemy tank as it would be destabilised by the impact force.
If the distance between you and the Juggernaut is quite short (below 10 meters – 2 hunter-hull lengths), the distance is pretty close so splash damage will harm itself. The damage of a missile is stronger and wider than the one from Striker. You can use this tactic when attacking or defending your own Juggernaut.

Splash damages percentage (%) compared to distance (m) to the explosion,
Terminator’s missiles is represented in white and Striker’s missile is in Green. 

 

 The Juggernaut Hull 

Under its hood, a powerful engine on steroids powers the super-hull that makes it the quickest tank on the battlefield. Additionally, its reinforced hull is fitted by default with all the status effect immunities and equipped with the protection modules that the player was wearing at its time of death. Don’t forget that the beast is always on Double Armor and Speed Boost; therefore, it does not need to look for these drops on the battlefield. However, it can pick up the repair kit and get up to 4 000 HP recovery.

Top speed, health points (HP) per Mark equipment and versus repair kit.

 Strength: Hull Great HP
The heavily armoured super-hull has a very high level of health points (HP) from 5 000 for Mark 1 to 20 000 HP for Mark 7+, which means that it is quite resilient and that you will need to confront it for a long time before completely gut all his life.

> Adapt & Overcome

In order to lower its health. you need to stay alive as long as possible when facing it and at full throttle if possible (e.g. with Double damage and/or with Overdrive).
 - Always fight the beast with Double Armor to double your life expectancy.
 - Always shoot with Double Damage on to cause the maximum damage in the shortest time.
 - Attack with an Overdrive that provides increased damages (e.g. Viking, Dictator, Mammoth…) and/or heals you.
 - Always keep a Repair kit ready to extend your time of fighting. 
 - Remove the Repair Kit from the enemy base, it is one less option for it to recover (this option is more efficient with low Mk battles).
 - Search and destroy the local Isida or Dictator before attacking the big boss.

Viking's OD is the best to create massive amounts of damage in a short time. 
 

 Strength: Top Speed and Pace
With its top speed, it reaches the opposite side of the map in seconds, evading light hull raids and finding shelter in a blink of an eye. To give you an idea of its staggering pace the Juggernaut Mark 1 (16 m/s) is as fast as Mark 7 Wasp and Mark 7+ Hornet both with speed boost (16.1 m/s)). And the Mark 7+ Wasp is as fast as Mark 4 Juggernaut (16.8 m/s). With the October's update, the super-tank is now immune to Stun and Cold effect, which make it impossible to stop or even slow down by the mean of the overdrive of Hunter (Stun effect), Hopper (Stun effect) and Dictator (Cold effect).

> Adapt & Overcome
Block, corner or impediment the beast movement by using its oversized super-hull against itself.
- Block pathways and exits with heavy hulls, best to be done with overdrives such as Mammoth OD and Titan’s dome. 
- If you are the lucky one who owns the Hull augment Heavy Construction, use it to block it against the wall or over a bridge, with luck it will land upside down. Another possibility is to push it into a self-destruct zone (either the edge of the map or a ditch); however, despite killing it (and owning a kill point) you won’t be awarded the experience point nor battle score point, so not the best option in my opinion. 

 

 Weakness: Heavy Tank
Like other tanks it cannot unflip itself, even when lying on the side as the Railgun recoil is not strong enough. 

> Exploit
Trying to flip the monster is not an easy task, and when it happens it is mostly due to the bad driving of the player being the wheel than your doing. However there are some tricks that would work:
  - With hull Augment Heavy Construction, push the super-tank off the edge of cliffs and bridges. If you do not have it, then use Mammoth or Titan with your Overdrive on to push or block the beast.
  - Use Wasp N2-Bomb blast effect to flip it upside down. The timing and position are key as the super-hull needs to be in the blast zone and have one part of its hull slightly above the ground (when rocking or shooting). If the beast is on an elevated area (ramps or butt) it will work too.
  - Your Juggernaut’s overdrive is the best tool to flip its nemesis or to block it, but remember it comes with a risk: A bad timing with the enemy overdrive and you will be the first one flying away and being flipped.

Wasp bomb blast flipping a Juggernaut.

 Weakness: Long and Large Tank
The super-hull is super long and super wide; despite having some maps altered to fit its monstrous side there are still some ramps and corridors that are just barely wide enough for it to get into, but narrow enough to be near impossible to manoeuvre in it. The driver will have to be cautious not to fall from a ramp or to avoid bumping into corners of walls and buildings.

> Exploit 
  - Drive or shoot from these tricky areas, as in case of pursuit it will be at a disadvantage. It will help you buy precious time for your survival.
  - Drive through busy bridges as traffic will prevent it reaches to the other side. The more congested the area the better, especially if packed with other enemies’ tanks, that way, you will be able to create chaos and have minions rammed by their big boss.

Juggernaut stranded in narrow corridors, ramps and tight corners. 

 Strength: Heat, Cold, EMP, AP and Stun Immunity Hull Augments
Since the introduction of hull’s Augment in May and October 2020, the Juggernaut is protected not by one but five hull Augments! This is really unfair as the Heat and Cold render inoperative damage from heat and the slowing effect from the cold: no more chances to BBQ it or stone freeze it. This means also that both the turret Freeze and turret's Augments with Cold abilities, such as Shock freeze (Freeze) and Cryo rounds (Smoky) are inadequate to hunt the beast. Same applies to the ones with heat properties (a.k.a. after-burn) both from the Firebird turret and the turret’s Augments with Heat properties such as Compact fuel tanks (Firebird), Dragon's Breath (Hammer), Incendiary rounds (Smoky) and Incendiary band (Vulcan). Turret and turret augment with EMP ability remain useless as we could never reset supplies since the creation of the battle mode. No more stunning (from overdrives of Hunter and Hopper) and no more ignore protection Module from Hornet overdrive (armour-piercing effect) and the new turret Augment with AP properties. 

> Adapt and Overcome
There are two way to overcome this: 
# First is to avoid using overdrives and turret Augments whose main ability and properties are ignored by the monster:
  - Do not use any of the nine Armour-Piercing Augments launched during Halloween 2020; and the Hornet overdrive.
  - Do not use the two Cold ones: Shock freeze (Freeze) and Cryo rounds (Smoky); and the Dictator overdrive.
  - Do not use the four Heat series: Compact fuel tanks (Firebird), Dragon's Breath (Hammer), Incendiary rounds (Smoky) and Incendiary band (Vulcan); and the Hopper overdrive.
  - Do not use the EMP from Gauss's Electromagnetic salvo Augment, instead use the standard equipment or Adrenaline Augment.
  - Do not use the Stun from Hopper and Hunter overdrives.

# Second is to trade them, when possible, for direct damage from the turret by using another turret Augment or the turret.
  - Trade Heat effect to 100% direct damage by equipping your Firebird with Incendiary mix Augment, but no more after-burn.
  - Trade Cold effect to 100% direct damage by equipping your Freeze with Corrosive mix Augment, but no more slowing down (which was reduced by 50% anyway).

With Turret Augments increase damages per tick and disable heat/cold effect.

 Weakness: No Garage Access
The Juggernaut cannot change the protection modules that he inherited when becoming one.

> Exploit
Turret adaptation: When possible change your turret with a strong one that the Juggernaut has no protection against. 
Hull adaptation: If you do not have an alternative turret option, then equip your tank with Hornet and attack the Juggernaut with overdrive on. If you do not have an alternative turret option or Hornet equipped with a hull that provides damage that has no protection module: Wasp N2-bomb and Mammoth’s Overdrive. Unfortunate, these two options require you to get close to the Beast.

Check his protection and adapt if you see an opportunity with your current garage option.
 

 The Juggernaut Overdrive 
This feature is vital for the beast's survival as it restores its health to the fullest once activated. It also blasts away any enemies in its vicinity and clear temporally danger from melee turrets and clingy enemies’ tanks. 
 

 Strength: Blasting Shock-wave
The explosion shock-wave, any hull in its vicinity of action is sent flying away: Wasp and Juggernaut alike.

> Adapt and Overcome
The obvious course of action is to stay outside the zone of activity, which is easier said than done. Therefore identify the safe distance which is about 10 to 15 meters especially if you use short-range and medium range turrets or want to lay a N2-bomb. 
Melee turret needs to be patient, your opportunity window is right after it has spent its overdrive, you have 40 seconds. However, if your objective is to kill it then I would wait about 20-25 seconds before attacking to allow other long-range turrets to deal it consequent damages. Even better if a Hornet activated the radar you can see its health and attack when its health is low (~25% left).

Check Juggernaut for its yellow star! If its overdrive is ready, stay at a safe distance (from its rear or flank),
fire to maintain pressure and to wear down its health to force him to use its overdrive.  

 Weakness: Overdrive Time Charge
The Overdrives take 40 seconds to fully recharge; this is the time-window opportunity you have to take it down.
 
> Exploit
Your best strategy should aim at killing it before the 40 seconds mark and make sure it has not shorted that time (from Dictator overdrive or energy box). 
  - Kill or distract Dictators, to prevent them to share their Overdrive with the beast, which would have then benefited from the 50% increase charge bonus. Focus on the first 20 to 30 seconds after the activation, to minimise the bonus.
  - Prevent the beast to access the Nuclear Energy drop and shorten the recharge time. Block its way or simply take the Nuclear energy box before it does, even if you are close to full charge completion.  
  - If you have not killed it before that deadline and you have no supplies left or you are low on energy, then you should take some distance, sort your tank and plan the next attack. Or you can still attack from afar or under the cover of a Titan’s dome.
 

 Strength: Health Points Recovery Process
The overdrive fully heals the Juggernaut and there is no process to stop it when the process was activated.

> Adapt & Overcome
If you missed the 40 seconds time window to kill it, then carry on attacking relentlessly, it is a war of attrition. However, deploying a specific strategy that suits you and the specificity of the on-going battle will be more efficient to prevent the Juggernaut to survive another charge, and this is what we will cover in the next chapter! 

 Conclusion 
The beast is not a monster, it has weaknesses that, when properly exploited, will lead to its timely demise. To severely wound it, and ultimately put it down, one should constantly apply every tips and tricks from this article, with time and practice it will become an instinctive process. However, the enemy team would also have skilled players that would set up a strong line of defence, therefore you need to perfect your attack, and to be better and faster than them… The best way for a minion to do that is to develop an adequate hunting strategy that would be efficient! Of course, being the Juggernaut gives you better and stronger tools, therefore use them wisely and keep in mind that you are also under attack. Sometimes, the Juggernaut is better at supporting the team by eliminating the strongest enemy minions to soften the enemy defence clearing the path for your own minions. 
As each battle brings its complications and opportunities (e.g Team composition, map layout, bracket rank range, new Juggernaut...) a strategy adaptation during the game is often required. The next article will cover this part by focusing and reviewing hunting strategies. 

 

___________________________________________________________________________________________________

Thanks for reading this article. Now you know all the technical weaknesses and strong points of the Team Juggernaut, so it is time to put this knowledge to good use. Good hunting. 
 

    Токамáк

My other published articles:
> Guide to Team Juggernaut - Defence [EN]
> [Review] Augments Vs. Drones [EN & FR]

[Tidebreaker 1,669]

Approved.

Slightly on the long side, complete with many images and great formatting. 

Yes. Yes. Yes. This is exactly how a guide should be. You have a strong opening, and of course you discuss every possible aspect in detail, making the body just about perfect too. Finally, you have a great, encouraging conclusion to end things off. That's all while having very good visual representation to help readers visualize exactly what you mean.

Well done. There's not a single thing left over to teach about the art of TJR, which is insane considering you mentioned absolutely everything in one article.

I'll be waiting for your next articles!

Edits: Some minor edits

[Venerable 2,970]

I loved the fact that you recovered from the shock you got due to the recent changes made to Juggernaut. You managed to incorporate all the changes in your guide and keep it relevant. 

Great guide, yet again!

 

And btw Tide, it's great to see a non-random Reporter approving articles in the AWS, ngl :x

[Tokamak 1,021]

1 minute ago, Venerable said:

I loved the fact that you recovered from the shock you got due to the recent changes made to Juggernaut. You managed to incorporate all the changes in your guide and keep it relevant. 

Great guide, yet again!

Thanks. I had to adapt and amend yes, to try to keep it relevant for longer, til Hazel-nut change everything again. 
I also secretly amended the TJR Defence's guide too to reflect the changes.