What are some differences in tactics and playstyle when using Thunder and Gauss?

[Generalissimo 40]

Gauss is my favorite and main turret. It's great to kill unsuspecting campers and overall just great IMO. Very simple and basic, great for an all around turret to do everything on the map. Thunder is even more "simple" as it doesn't have the special lock on feature. My Gauss is MK7+20 while my Thunder is MK1. However I just unlocked EMP augment for thunder, arguably one the best augment although Thunder with its recent buff has tons of good augments (Vacuum, Hyperspeed, and Pulsar), however EMP is probably up there with them. And definitely the best augment I have for a turret along with Gauss Armor piercing. But EMP is better than Armor piercing, specially since quite a lot of people tend to have armor piercing protection. 

Anyway nonetheless, I was just thinking, as both Gauss and Thunder are similar turrets. What are some tactical differences in using them? How would a players playstyle differ when using the 2 turrets? Lets discuss guys. 

[yuvraj007 302]

Gauss doesn't even require any tactics & skills to play unlike thunder. The lock on feature was carefully designed for noob players who can't aim.

Pair it with Crisis & Ares and sit in one place. You're good to go & rank in Top 3 without any skills.

 

[Hypersomnia 1,695]

Completely agree with Yuvraj007. Gauss after its recent "buff" its completely braindead since now you have no time lock on. If you're being a moving sniper and actually help your teammates (yes im Gauss main and thats what i do in MM after its braindead buff i use Hornet + Gauss and move all over the map) then gauss is cool and you should not switch to thunder but if you camp in the same place being the "smart" one then switch to thunder just so we can have 1 less braindead camper in MM.

[TheCongoSpider 8,942]

On 11/22/2022 at 12:05 PM, Generalissimo said:

My Gauss is MK7+20 while my Thunder is MK1. However I just unlocked EMP augment for thunder, arguably one the best augment although Thunder with its recent buff has tons of good augments (Vacuum, Hyperspeed, and Pulsar), however EMP is probably up there with them. And definitely the best augment I have for a turret along with Gauss Armor piercing. But EMP is better than Armor piercing, specially since quite a lot of people tend to have armor piercing protection. 

Anyway nonetheless, I was just thinking, as both Gauss and Thunder are similar turrets. What are some tactical differences in using them? How would a players playstyle differ when using the 2 turrets? Lets discuss guys. 

It would have been easier to answer if status Thunders did not have the -25% critical damage penalty. I don't have EMP Thunder but I've fought a few of them (two F2Ps, one person a part of a sweatsquad) and I can see that it would be similar to AP Thunder, which I have. Status Thunders push Thunder down a damage barrier and have them require an extra shot against someone on equal footing. The upside for this is you're no longer punished for hitting enemies with the 50% splash. The other garage Thunders have a potential consequence for missing hits. 

 

The best I can sum it up is that the current Gauss has an edge over normal Thunder. You have near instant acquisition that can be used to one-shot players a second before they could activate DA, something you couldn't do before. Someone going around a corner? Quickly hit them with high damage and you're reloading out of combat. Salvo spamming currently isn't discouraged. The time it takes to salvo spam is similar to before the rework so there isn't really anything lost and you shoot it faster at the beginning. Status Gausses have guaranteed status applications in a wide area that's great for helping the team as well. 

If you're not salvo spamming, then you're probably running around the map and mixing arcade and salvo hits. Gauss differs from Thunder here in that Thunder is a constant flow of shots whereas Gauss can weaken a target and then release a big damage shot quickly that can finish off the target. If they don't, then it is left defenseless for 5+ seconds. 

Thunder right now is being carried by its premium augments when you look at its power level among other stronger turrets. Its unique garage augments are in a dire state with one being decent, another being weaker than it should be and the last one being unplayable. Vacuum blows everything out of the water with its damage potential that is easy to achieve. Strict Ammunition Load with more critical hits and a faster firing rate which plays into my first sentence in the reply. Adaptive Reload with no damage penalty and a faster firing rate. Hyperspeed dealing dangerous damage across large maps. 

Thunder has the trait of advancing it's critical chance on misses which you'd see me trying to utilise in the video, handy for status Thunders as they can activate a critical hit everywhere in the splash radius. Status Thunders aren't perfect augments unfortunately. It would be very good if they did not have the damage penalty but having it means you do risk losing some kills while gaining others. Here are two videos of me using AP Thunder and AP Gauss that ended early. They react differently to the situations they get themselves in. It's not ideal that they were played in vastly different game modes and map but it was just to show how the gameplay differed between them as that's what you asked. 

 

 

 

 

Edited November 22, 2022 by TheCongoSpider

[DaringDeer 656]

With current version of gauss, which I strongly, strongly, strongly detest, there is almost no reason to not use salvos constantly and hide while reloading.  The scenarios I can think of to use arcade shots is when you have supercritical effect or when you have a target almost dead who is very close to you to avoid self damage from salvo.

Thunder is going to play differently because the rhythm of the shots is faster than gauss's salvos.  Thunder requires you to expose yourself more and has damage fall off compared to gauss salvo so you need to be closer to be most effective.  Thunder Hyperspeed gameplay is close to Gauss's salvo-focused gameplay.

Thunder EMP is nice augment but it's much worse than Hyperspeed (big maps) or Vacuum (small/mid maps).  Unless you have a bunch of crystals you don't know what to do with, I wouldn't suggest upgrading Thunder from Mk1 to Mk7/8 for that augment.

[alkyng 3,080]

In general, I always have a feel that thunder is like a median turret, who is sitting in the middle, with no interesting or OP features, which is boring through the time.  Me as a person, I get quickly bored from things and like to change (like my android ROM), and in tanki turrets I like to change through my turrets. Weirdly thunder players are using it as a main, and don't get bored, while in real even for more interesting turrets like ricochet you get bored if you don't change.

I think thunder should stay as-is (weak), as it may be just the straightforward in the game.  Back into the topic, gauss was deadly OP in its release, but I don't know about its current state, I think it's fine, but stronger than thunder.

[Newnewnew 92]

Just get gauss protection (one of the most common protections i see)

95% of ppl i see already have emp immunity or ap immunity so that negates gauss's strongest augments. 

Thunder's crystal augments are not up to par but yes like others said, its premium augments are able to make it more relevant nowadays. Hyperspeed rounds and vacuum rounds are insanely powerful. Even 50% protection means nothing against them if they are used properly.

Tbh i could care less if I was hit by a gauss with full protection against it 

Also if you spawn in a open map with great gauss potential, you dont have to suffer through the entire battle, just leave and find a more suitable map

Edited November 22, 2022 by Newnewnew

[Spy 14,687]

On 11/22/2022 at 7:31 PM, yuvraj007 said:

Gauss doesn't even require any tactics & skills to play unlike thunder. The lock on feature was carefully designed for noob players who can't aim.

I agree to a certain degree - Thunder does require more skill but to get the maximum performance from every turret you must know how to use it properly first and that inlcudes Gauss too.