review Smoky Revamped: An In-Depth Review

[Person_Random 4,991]

Coming up second in line on the HD series, Smoky hits the Tanki catwalk along with a posse of snazzy new augments. Let’s take a look at the changes right here!

Tanki has surprised us with a world of changes, starting off hot for January. We've documented some of the other larger ones in another article, but this one's all for the new and reworked Smoky: its new look and strong new augments. We’ll start with a look at the completely remodeled Smoky skin. Let’s compare the old and new right here!
 

 Unboxing Smoky HD

Yeap, it's a new and high polygon count Smoky skin, looking fresh.

Ah, Smoky, old and new. New Smoky is on the right.

Spoiler

Smoky the Platypus!!!11!!!!111!!!

In my opinion, the shooting effect of Smoky HD is what really stands out, but the still motion design looks a bit awkward. It’s definitely gotten a more modernized take, but I still think that it looks a bit raw and unfinished. A little polish and a final finish would be nice. Perhaps it could be created into the great and almighty platypus (as mentioned above) and earn itself a completely new description. But overall, it's definitely a nice and fresh look. I do wish that it did look a bit similar to the old Smoky as it feels quite foreign, but the animation most definitely makes up for that, doesn't it?

And with this new release came a group of five strong augments. Let's take a look at the new augments and test them out. Let's see how they stack up in terms of power against the current augments in-game as well as the precarious overall balance at the moment. Onward!
 

New Smoky Augments

As mentioned above, Smoky HD brought along 5 new augments: Paralyzing Rounds, EMP Rounds, Rubberized Rounds, Explosive Rounds, and Sorted Ammunition. We've already seen some of the same in previous concepts: Hopper and Hunter for Paralyzing Rounds (technically, they're hullls, but the concept has already been given out), Gauss for EMP, Vulcan for Rubberized Rounds, Thunder, Twins, and Ricochet for splash damage/Explosive Rounds, but they are expected to be a fresh addition to Smoky. Meanwhile, the fifth Augment, Sorted Ammunition, is a completely new concept I'm excited to see in action though it's probably not likely that I'll use or find it given that the augments are exclusive to Ultra Containers, which I have none of. Nevertheless, it'll still be an interesting ride; let's get to testing them out and ranking them!

Testing Methodology: I lined up with Smoky and whatever hull I felt fit (for the most part, Viking, Wasp, Hunter, and Titan) and played a couple typical battles in MM. The scores and stats were taken for each combo. Yeap, that's pretty much it. Now, let's get to the review, shall we?

 

 #5: Rubberized Rounds

First Impressions: Not very applicable in my opinion as I don’t see a lot of use for Ricocheting Smoky shots. However, it can definitely be used strategically in battle, especially in situations where Smoky might not be able to have much firepower (in a cramped spot, in a corner).

Test Drive: I really wasn't able to get the rubberized feature to work during any of my test battles, most unfortunately. I did get a few chances to take a look at the effect in private tests. Given the fast pace of a battle, it's not the easiest to implement. I feel like with a few more battles, I might overcome the learning curve and get to get more ricocheted Smoky shots on target. We'll see.

Spoiler

Bottom Line: It's a cool little augment, but as with some of the other augments, such as Ricochet's AP augment, it comes with a bit of a learning curve. This time, being able to find a strategic ricochet in the heat of battle will allow you to succeed. Overall, it's not bad, but given the unpractical applications of the augment, it's better for a party trick rather than a heated MM battle.

 

 

 #4: Sorted Ammunition

First Impressions: It's a quirky little augment and an interesting concept - you get a critical shot precisely on every fourth shot. About gameplay, it also seems decent. I believe it'll be quite helpful for people who might miss shots as it's easier to get critical shots with more on-target shots in a row.

Test Drive: Honestly, I didn't see a lot of big differences until later on. This was the first turret augment I tested, so I thought I didn't get that many extra critical hits with my performances. But then I got to test out the other augments, and suddenly, I started longing for the routine critical shots from Sorted Ammunition. It's quite the silent augment - no huge changes, just a couple of extra critical hits.

Spoiler

Bottom Line: A silent but deadly augment. It automates the process of getting critical hits and makes it easier to track when you can get some additional damage, great for skilled players, who can track shots and get optimal returns from their augment, and less gifted people like me, who end up missing shots and losing the chance of hitting a streak and getting several critical hits in succession. Definitely a good augment: a novel concept as well as a useful augment; however, it's not quite noticeable, so that's why it's not much higher on the list.

 

 #3: Explosive Rounds

First Impressions: This augment brings the splash damage effect to Smoky; however, given its small caliber, I thought that the splash damage was going to be quite laughable as it had been for similar augments. The augments for Ricochet and Twins were quite useless, in my opinion. With Smoky's even smaller shot, it would likely do peanuts for splash damage and be the joke of the century.

Test Drive: I had plenty of fun grouping and getting a few games in with Explosive Rounds. While it seemed completely useless to me before, it was actually quite the opposite. Instead of dealing a trivial amount of damage, I was able to get several great shots with the splash damage - it didn't quite kill, but it was still effective in dealing lethal damage across the board.

Spoiler

Hmm... check out this strange third test. It's a surprise.

Bottom Line: It's a promising augment; I feel that with more practice and strategy, it'll definitely be one of the best Smoky augments out there. Find a cluster of tanks, latch onto one, and deal a devastating amount of damage. This very splash damage augment, which has experienced weak performances on other turrets, actually turns out decent with Smoky, but it's certainly not the best - it just doesn't do the job as well as Thunder or Gauss.

#2: EMP Rounds

First Impressions: It’s a fair trade-off: 5 seconds of EMP for a 15% damage cut. Sounds decent, but you just need to make sure you can hit enemies for a kill - get into a kill streak and you're set.

Test Drive: It was definitely as I had predicted. Once again, it was very much the same as the above Paralyzing Rounds. I had a pretty rough experience of being tossed around by Magnums on the offensive side of Bobruisk ASL in one of them, so my performance overall was really poor. However, I had one bright moment when I had the chance to really take out one of those Magnums with a very lucky EMP round. Once again, my performance went on the rise - I got my only kills and got another EMP streak, which motivated me to stay in the battle and keep on testing. 

Spoiler

Bottom Line: Let's be honest, the EMP Salvo for Gauss is much more powerful, but if you have this in place of Salvo, it's still a great augment. But once again, you’ll need to be on target for a while and the EMPs will come marching in. Otherwise, you’ll be doomed to be overpowered by your opponents. 

 

 #1: Paralyzing Rounds

First Impressions: It does cut down on critical chances and damages quite a bit, but there is a nice 3-second Stun effect keeping your enemy in place. In my opinion, it’ll be one of the more decent ones, but you’ll need to make sure you can continue hitting your enemy (whether by continuing to attack him or evading death) to have it be powerful. It all depends on the time that the enemy is stunned.

Test Drive: I had a couple of tests with this augment and it was definitely one of my favorites. I didn’t get that many criticals, which was expected of the augment, but when I did, it was a continual uptrend - I got onto a hot streak and began hitting more enemies, stunning more of them, charging up my overdrive, and it was just a better battle for a while. Great but slightly nonlinear gameplay experience.

Spoiler

Bottom Line: Overall, definitely a fun and great augment to try out, but it's not the absolute best out of them all - it's good, but not great (for instance, Autocannon is a bit more frustrating to deal with). Despite this, it’s quite the augment to annoy Hoppers and the best of the new drop - get ready to pull out your “No u” card and completely shut them down in battle!

Note: The Stun effect from the critical hit of this augment does NOT cause enemies to drop flags or rugby balls. If it doesn't suit your needs, you may ask for a refund here.

And there you have it: a quick unboxing of Smoky HD as well as a definitive ranking of the turret's augments, old and new. Hopefully you enjoyed reading this review and know which Smoky augments to invest in (or pray to drop from containers) now. We're off for now; be sure to let us know what you thought of the article and changes right here!

[Person_Random 4,991]

Let's take a look at Smoky 2.0 and its new augments - Person_Random gets into deep detail about the augment drops, ensuring that you know which augment you should invest time into. Check it out right now!

P.S. Special thanks to @Spy for spectating this wonderful shot and @Dosheg for helping with the banner - thanks for making this release great!

[Tanker-Arthur 2,971]

On 1/30/2021 at 1:24 AM, Person_Random said:

Perhaps it could be created into the great and almighty platypus

Missed opportunity for Smoky XT

Vulcan XT was already modeled after a snake, Smoky would've been better as a Platypus :D