other To Buy or Not To Buy: The March I Challenge Battle Pass

[Tidebreaker 1,669]

Just last week, several quite interesting things were teased with the release of V-LOG 290. While there was some news about the new Turret, Tesla, arguably the most important news was regarding the new March Challenge I. The general response to it has been pretty good thus far, but what does that mean for you? Should you invest your hard-earned Tankoins in this new Challenge? Well, allow me to answer you at the end of this review ... with a very simple Yes or No.

[Tidebreaker 1,669]

Let me tell you something - while the recent Challenges have been improving steadily, this one really sets itself apart from the rest. For a while, we've had Challenges with multiple Cold Immunities, and if you've done all of those, you should have Cold Immunity for Wasp, Hornet, Hopper, Hunter, Dictator, Titan, and Mammoth - an overwhelming 7 out of 10 hulls.

Obviously, this move was questionable to many players, but now that we're getting other types of hull augments, the interest in Challenges has increased quite a bit. This was especially present for the Challenge that had AP Immunity for Viking, as well as the most recent one, with Heat Immunity for Crusader.

Alrighty, let's get back on topic. Like I said, this Challenge is truly revolutionary. But why so? Well, quite simply...because we have absolutely phenomenal augments up for grabs this time around that will literally change the way you play the game.

However, let's leave the best for last, and focus on the other rewards first. As usual, you get

• 100,000 crystals 
• 100 Tankoins 
• 200 Repair Kits
• 325 of the other 4 core supplies
• 350 Batteries
• 23 Containers 
• 1 Skin Container

So far, everything's consistent, as it should be. By the end of the Challenge, you'll probably have gained upwards of 250,000 crystals and 40 containers, and you'll be all set to give your garage a hefty boost. And who knows - your containers might just give you something really good!

Now, let's talk about paints.

Upon reaching Tier 7 (420 stars), you will receive the Spring Bouquet paint, which I consider to be a far better alternative to In Love and First Kiss. It's colorful, vibrant, and carries across the return of spring really well.

There's also an animated paint - Pixel Plasma, unlocked at Tier 33 (1980 stars), and was originally introduced in May Challenge II from last year. If Ruby or Cherry was to ever become animated, it would most likely look something like this. It's easily one of the best Battle Pass paints of 2021, and synergizes extremely well with either red or violet shot effects. While it's not at the level of Green Quads, it's still a solid paint that actually looks great with many types of equipment.

So far, so good. Let's move on.

[Tidebreaker 1,669]

Now, for the highlight of the review, which I am 100% sure you have all been waiting for - the augments, unique to this Battle Pass. Things have changed quite a bit over the last couple of months, with hull augments being added into Challenges all the way back from June of last year. After that, we had a hull augment per Challenge for the rest of the year, until this year's January Challenge I rolled around, ditching one of the 3 turret augments and instead replacing that with another hull augment. While the move was questionable at first due to the first couple of these Challenges having an absurd amount of Cold Immunities, people started appreciating that hull augments were becoming increasingly easier to get. And finally, two months later, here we are, getting our first Legendary tier augment in the Challenge.

Let's start from basics, though, and cover the one single buyable turret augment present in this Challenge. That is none other than Heavy Capacitors for Shaft, and I actually have a lot to talk about here. Heavy Capacitors is generally regarded to be one of the worse augments for Shaft, but in the right hands, it is the most lethal damager in the game due to it being able to fire extremely high calibre shots. However, this comes at the cost of having stupidly low scoping speed, forcing you to play it at very long ranges and to camp somewhere in a corner.

When I said that this has lethality, I mean it. In fact, when we're excluding Cyclone Striker and Terminator entirely, this is the highest damaging turret in game per shot, allowing you to one-shot every type of hull as well as take a very significant chunk out of a Juggernaut, if not destroy it outright. I have many memories with this in Solo Juggernaut roughly 2 years ago, as I would camouflage myself with Hornet, Shaft, and Urban, and wait for a bit until I could connect the shot and end their streak right there and then.

While the augment is thought by many to be outclassed by the others such as Light Capacitors or Adrenaline, I'd say it's still every bit as lethal as it has been for years. If you happen to go up against a skilled Heavy Capacitors user, be very terrified. This augment is not meant to be taken lightly on the receiving end.

 

Moving on to the first of the hull augments available - Heat Immunity for Dictator. This is an augment I have actually saved up for and bought on my smaller account, as I myself know just how beautifully this hull and augment combo works. Heat Immunity these days is a necessity, and if you're looking to start using Vulcan, then look no further than Dictator. I had actually been planning to buy this hull augment on the Birthday Sales on my main account, but I'm glad that I don't have to now.

Given that this is a Heat Immunity augment, I don't think I really need to explain to you how it works - it just throws the concept of heating straight out of the window and allows you to render any of the Incendiary augments as well as Firebird's afterburn useless. Then there's the whole Vulcan thing, but we know how that works. If you would like to go on long streaks with this and Vulcan, I recommend you use Adrenaline and the Driver drone to get your Overdrive very quickly. There's also Defender, which I consider overkill, but if you want to use that, then it could prove quite effective as well. 

There's a very good reason why I had this augment in the wishlist for both of my accounts, and now you know why. I hope that with this, Dictator's popularity can finally start to pick up, as it's really just a top tier hull throughout.

 

I want you to try to imagine a special ability that an enemy uses against you to pretty much cripple you and reward them with a free kill every single time. This is essentially the Stun effect, which

• forces you to a stop for 3 whole seconds
• does not allow you to use supplies in response
• blocks you from using your own Overdrive in retaliation
• forcefully stops you from firing any turret, and takes you out of Shaft's scoping mode as well as halting Railgun's chargeup
• kills the engines of the hoverhulls, making them fall onto the ground and slide as if they were on ice
• drops the CTF flag, ASL flag, and RGB ball.

It should be very clear from this that the Stun effect is currently one of the most powerful effects in the game, if not the most powerful effect. This amplified with the introduction of Stun augments for turrets makes this status effect very lethal to go up against. Regardless of whether you're hit by a Hunter or a Hopper's Overdrive, the chances of you surviving the engagement are slim at best.

But what if I told you that there is an absolutely genius counter to all of these? One that doesn't just flip the tables, but pretty much slams their move right back into them at full force?

Introducing: Stun Immunity for Hunter.You don't just go against the rules of getting Stunned, oh no no. You strike them down outright.

That's right - I'm saying that in this Challenge with many awesome augments, this one is the best. If you get zapped by a Hunter, you can literally do the same thing in reverse, and what once was certain death for you, is now an almost-guaranteed win for you instead. This is almost on par with Dictator's Stun Immunity, which is even more effective due to it cancelling Hunter's Overdrive entirely.

And let's not talk about just how ridiculously funny it is to use against Hopper users:

Spoiler

Credits to @Akame

This allows you to do a variety of things - from just retaining control of your tank and supplies (in the case an encounter with a Hopper), all the way to becoming a near-unstoppable force in modes like Assault and CTF. And of course, it's absolutely fantastic for baiting Hoppers, Hunters, and even the players who have the new, elusive Stun augments for Smoky and Railgun.

To me, Hunter's Stun Immunity is probably the best thing in this Challenge, with Dictator's Heat Immunity following closely behind. While I will miss the absolute joy of getting it out of Containers on both my accounts and being a member of a very small subset of people who owned this augment, I am glad that it will finally have a chance to shine in the spotlight.

 

Like I said, the reason why this Challenge is so revolutionary is all because it introduces the first legendary rarity turret augment, this being Magnum's Armor-piercing Core. This augment is...interesting to say the least. In order for the AP effect to activate, you need to score a direct hit in order for the effect to activate. Of course, this is not an easy a task as it was in the days with Reinforced Gun Carriage, as the barrel is now permanently fixed at a 12 degree incline upwards, making it very difficult to use for beginners.

However, once you get enough of a feel for it, you can do things like this:

Spoiler

Credits to @Piety

I mentioned how the description of AP Magnum states that you need to get a direct hit on people in order to apply the effect to them. However, this is...not always the case. In my experience, this is very inconsistent. Sometimes, it doesn't AP at all. Sometimes, it applies the effect to multiple people, like you saw in the GIF above. However, most of the time, it will AP a single target just fine.

When I first received this augment, I tossed it away, thinking it was trash after trying it in battle with a very underleveled Magnum. However, after receiving Crisis, I got around to giving this another go, and I can confidently say that it is one of the most rewarding augments in the game. It took me around an hour to start hitting my shots, but from then on, it was surprisingly easy to hit direct hits and eliminate people quickly.

In short, Magnum's designated Armor-piercing Core is one of the three AP augments which I consider to be extremely skill dependent, the others being Striker and Ricochet. This will not be a fun experience at first for anyone learning how to land direct hits with the new Magnum. There is no maybe, there is no but if, because that will be your impression at first. However, practice makes perfect. As soon as you overcome that steep learning curve, you've got some very smooth sailing ahead of you. I expect most people to use this augment for one battle and drop it because they want to use something simpler like Mortar.

Given that you're reading this article, I know you're not most people. I know that you have it within you to learn and master this augment, but the journey will not be easy. If you're looking for something simpler to use, this is not the augment for you. You either give it your fullest, or you don't bother with it from the beginning. I feel this can be compared to Railgun's Round Stabilization in a way, as both provide a good type of challenge for the user. In fact, this augment was the only thing that gave me the incentive to finally start upgrading Magnum on my account.

At the start of this Challenge, we wondered if we were getting AP for Gauss or AP for Magnum. I'm happy that it was the latter, as Gauss is already broken to begin with, and this would just make Gauss users even more horrendous to go up against. For the first legendary augment introduced into Challenges, it's definitely a balanced one, unlike some of the others which would break the game if they were ever to come to Challenges. This also sets up very high expectations for the next Battle Pass, and I have no doubt that those expectations will be met in full next time around as well.

[Tidebreaker 1,669]

At the beginning of this article, I made you a promise that I would tell you whether you should buy this Battle Pass or not. I like to keep my promises, so here goes.

If you haven't understood by now that this Battle Pass has some of the best equipment in the entire game, then I don't know what other argument I can use to convince you. This is one of the best Battle Passes in many months, and each of these items opens an entire new world of playstyles that you never even knew existed.

My verdict for this Battle Pass is a resounding yes. With two great turret augments and two more utterly stunning hull augments, this Challenge has some of the best gear in the game, for a very low price. If you have the tankoins saved up already, don't hesitate and buy the Battle Pass immediately. However, if you can't get the Battle Pass this time around, then I genuinely do feel sorry for you, as you are missing out on something truly revolutionary.

I hope that this article helped you in your decisions, and I wish you all the best in your future Tanki endeavors that are soon to come.

 

Have a good day!

 

Tidebreaker

[Person_Random 4,991]

Twice a month, we're blessed with Challenges - an opportunity to collect stars and stay on top of the ever-changing Tankiconomy. A battle pass helps boost the chances of you besting the newest banes to balances, bringing you snazzy paints and skins, extra containers, and top-tier augments, but of course, no rewards come without a price. So should you invest your hard-earned Tankoins into this challenge's Battle Pass? Tidebreaker takes the stats into consideration and helps you figure it out.

[mjmj5558 2,346]

Guess what - i have 428 tankoins now - and i was thinking to buy or not to buy this pass few hours ago - and then, i got the answer from here. Thanks for it, awasome article!

[Spy 14,687]

Great article!

[Towns 574]

Rip, I only have 175 tankoins... guess I got to buy more.

 

Except I already had Dictator Heat Immunity since like October last year or something. :(

Edited March 8, 2021 by Towns
:(

[Dignify 12]

The rewards from this challenge are actually amazing! I have saved up 500 Tankions and I am ready to buy the Battle Pass. I already have Vulcan, now I just need Incendiary Band and Dictator Mk7 to start abusing this combo. 

Oh yeah btw I am @yyang_tanki.

Edited March 8, 2021 by Dignify

[FrozenRailgun 1,771]

That title reminds me "To be , or not to be. That is the question."

[SONIC-BOOM 326]

6 hours ago, Person_Random said:

Twice a month, we're blessed with Challenges - an opportunity to collect stars and stay on top of the ever-changing Tankiconomy. A battle pass helps boost the chances of you besting the newest banes to balances, bringing you snazzy paints and skins, extra containers, and top-tier augments, but of course, no rewards come without a price. So should you invest your hard-earned Tankoins into this challenge's Battle Pass? Tidebreaker takes the stats into consideration and helps you figure it out.

Nothing to figure out if you have half a brain.

$$$$$$$$$$ that's the goal of everything the devs do.

This $ more than anything rules TO.

How about blessing us with a balanced game.

Now wouldn't that be something.

Tell you what mod @Tidebreaker how about giving us the pro's and con's of TO in its entirety, break it all down for us and see how many of each you get.

I already no the outcome, but i would like to get your HONEST opinion on the entire game.......EVERYTHING. From the shop to the garage and everything in-between.

 

[Tidebreaker 1,669]

46 minutes ago, SONIC-BOOM said:

 

 

Hi. As you may know, I don't actually decide what gets put in the game. Believe me, if I got to play a key role in game balance, I would immediately nerf the worst offenders (yes, even the ones that F2P people abuse) straight into the ground.

I have a fair amount of complaints, some very major, others rather minor. Maybe in the future, I might do such an article discussing all the pros and cons. Before that, I have something else I want to write about, that should hopefully appeal to an even bigger audience.

[Tanker-Arthur 2,971]

On 2/26/2021 at 2:59 PM, Tidebreaker said:

For the first legendary augment introduced into Challenges, it's definitely a balanced one

Kinda seems like AP Magnum would be overpowered against people using Default Magnum or Magnum's Harpoon or Magnum's post 2020 Reinforced Gun Carriage.

[Dignify 12]

On 2/26/2021 at 10:24 AM, Tidebreaker said:

If Ruby or Cherry was to ever become animated, it would most likely look something like this.

Yay! Another helper impersonation paint :3

Spoiler

Pls no ban pls!

 

[Tidebreaker 1,669]

37 minutes ago, Tanker-Arthur said:

Kinda seems like AP Magnum would be overpowered against people using Default Magnum or Magnum's Harpoon or Magnum's post 2020 Reinforced Gun Carriage.

It's offset by the sheer difficulty of using it if you haven't used post-nerf Magnum yet. A lot of people drop out of using it because it's too hard for them, which I perfectly understand.

[Tanker-Arthur 2,971]

Just now, Tidebreaker said:

It's offset by the sheer difficulty of using it if you haven't used post-nerf Magnum yet. A lot of people drop out of using it because it's too hard for them, which I perfectly understand.

True.....

But lets say you have two people, both of which have mastered post-nerf Magnum.....

One of them has normal post-nerf Magnum, with no Augments equipped.

The other has AP Magnum.

 

Unless the battle had supplies disabled and none of them were using Magnum protection modules (in which both players would be evenly matched), the AP Magnum player would be far superior to the normal Magnum player.

[Poppy 422]

On 2/26/2021 at 8:59 PM, Tidebreaker said:

Sometimes, it applies the effect to multiple people, like you saw in the GIF above.

I'm angry I didn't I know this before. I was gonna ask why but I checked wiki real quick and found out:

Projectile radius (m)

1.00

1.00

1.00

1.00

1.00

1.00

1.00

1.00

Next sales I guess.

[SONIC-BOOM 326]

7 hours ago, Tidebreaker said:

Hi. As you may know, I don't actually decide what gets put in the game. Believe me, if I got to play a key role in game balance, I would immediately nerf the worst offenders (yes, even the ones that F2P people abuse) straight into the ground.

I have a fair amount of complaints, some very major, others rather minor. Maybe in the future, I might do such an article discussing all the pros and cons. Before that, I have something else I want to write about, that should hopefully appeal to an even bigger audience.

Fair enough.

And the worst offenders would get no nerf.........they would just get discarded. Not that i'm signaling any particular piece of equipment out mind you...

I realise what i am asking you to do is MASSIVE. For you to take on this monumental task of the pros & cons, which imo will have a bigger appeal as it is what affects game play on a daily basis, for most part in a negative way. I look forward to your next post.

 

[a-pr0-from-greece 22]

Nice Article!

[superior1KING 68]

I used my tankoins on challenge of january , now i feel sad.........

But i hope there will be a challenge better than this next time

[TheRealHZFJ 707]

No, we ain't blessed with challenges now. When u bring back monthly challenges then it will be great, but until then challenges are on really thin ice which is cracking 

Edited March 10, 2021 by TheRealHZFJ

[DivergentBot 23]

It would be a good idea to increase thr amount of tiers. Instead of 50 make it 75 or so. It would be even more attractive. Also maybe increase the ammount of paints you get. 2animated paints would be even more attractive. And the cherry on top would be to keep the bp on the same price.

 

[Files 40]

@Tidebreaker Nice Job Man I want more interesting articles like this :) 

I can't buy the battle pass but the price is actually not that expensive when looking towards the rewards 

 

[DMR 676]

We can't even have just 100 tankoins. And now developpers noticed that not lot of people buy tankoins with real money, so they beg us. I got better update make battle pass can be buy with crystals.

[Iron_Man 2,376]

Great article @Tidebreaker I really enjoyed reading it!

Spoiler

Sorry for the late response

 

Edited March 10, 2021 by Ironmantonystark