RyuForce's Tips for Tank in Crossfire

So people believe the Tank may be the most underpower class in the game. Tank has the most votes as of now.

This is far from the truth as I do great with him on most of the maps since day one! With the right strategy any enemy can easily fall to your deadly attacks. I aim to help you find that strategy by explaining how I use each weapon and skill while dealing with the enemies and turrets you must face to get to that moneyball. (So long as your close or far away) Also bare with me, I rarely do strategy guides so feel free to tell me what I missed. Oh and sorry about any grammar or spelling issues. It was late when I made this. Without further delay...

The weapons:
Jet Gun: Primary weapon of the Tank, it is more powerful the closer you are to your opponent but has limited range. Press the secondary function button to do a spin area of effect attack but forces you to reload. Also has afterburn effect that can kill assassins who barely escaped or the lucky guy who finished you off. (Afterburn only does little bit of damage so don't expect it to always work) Does great damage against bots,pros, turrets, firebases and Jackbots (use product grenades to help deal with the last three) so long as your close enough. Stick close to any enemy, even the gunner and they will not last long as they burn...yes burn! Hahahaha errr ahem.
TIP: Death Blossom (spin attack) Is great to finish off enemies and to attack approaching assassins. Death Blossom is great at instantly killing off black bots too!

Rail Gun: Secondary weapon that is very accurate and nice in damage but is fired from the hip and can be slow without high fire rate endorsement. Many tanks love this gun but I prefer the Jet Gun. Still if someone escapes the Jet Gun you can switch and finish them with this gun if your skilled (or lucky) enough. Great at taking out bots and big pros far away. That deployed gunner will be lucky to react and escape from the rail gun while you are safely away from his minigun range. Secondary function is a grapple but is not that useful other then to finish off a weak pro or to quick kill a bot.

The Skills:
Product Grenade: Nice and useful grenade that requires lots of practice to hit small pros with but is great on very big targets. (jackbots, turrets, bots, gunners etc.) This grenade is really effective at level two as anything it hits is stunned except pros who are blinded with annoying ads and force to hear Mickey randomly talking about the ads which makes it harder to hear what is going on. This Grenade is super effective against turrets by far more then many realize. Use the Grenade on a turret, dash it, then unload your jet gun to destroy all turrets except rockit turrets passed level 1. They also help with bots and jackbots by slowing them down with the stun effect. Use them on jackbots so your friends can destroy them, or deploy in front of it while it is stunned and jet gun away...if your daring enough.
TIP: Use it to keep the jackbot helpless. At level three you can spam them often and they do freeze the jackbot. With the help of an assassin, it may never get the chance to attack!

Deploy: Highly under estimated but not super amazing, this one is a favorite of mine for it's level 2 quick health recover. After a fight or when retreating, you can deploy and quickly heal to be ready for another fight in seconds without the health recovery endorsement. For example, you barely survived enemies attacking you while near their base. You duck behind cover but know it won't take long before someone comes after you. Instead of retreating, you can deploy and have your health get full in seconds, ready for the vengeful pros quickly. Other uses is to attack turrets or jackbots without anyone stopping you early with moves such as a grapple attack or the Gunner's Slam. (slam still does slow movement in case you undeploy early) That's right your immune to grapple! The cheap attack does not hurt you and they waste their time. At level 3 you don't have to worry about reloading though honestly it is only useful for attacking a jackbot directly (once again only if your bold and suicidal enough) or the moneyball. Downside is obviously your vulnerable from back attacks. HOWEVER you can press the jump button to activate your jets, burning any one foolish enough to stand right behind you. Small damage but better then nothing.
TIP: Deploying in front of a downed Moneyball is fatal...to the moneyball! Especially if your juiced.

Charge: Simple this move is. You charge forward, damaging all who dare to stand in your way! At level three you can knock them away and down a bit, making them easier to ring out or stun long enough to burn with jet gun. This is also a very good tool to chase enemies with or when fighting turrets. (product grenade+dash+jet gun=turret's nightmare!) Not only that, even tanks need to make a run for it (when your out ranged, of course) and the dash will help you reach safety to deploy and heal or escape being in a spot where you can easily get mowed down. Max this out quickly for moving around better.
TIP:Charge is very useful against an assassin as a followup to them grappling you. Course make sure to hit them with a jet gun too!

Passive: Simply put, Level 2 gives you health and a health recovery boost. Level 3 gives you more health. Both are very useful to increase your survivability as a Tank, so get these as quick as you can.

Vs Pro Tips:
Tank: Gasp! He knows every move you have. He must clearly be your dark side! Even so it is all about out lasting and out smarting them. Use the rail gun when far from one and the product grenade so it is harder for him to do the same. If in medium range, product grenade then charge in for a jet gun attack. Careful though as he can always charge back!

Gunner: Time to fight him Tiki style! Gunner is the last enemy you want to fight in medium range but when close and far, you are in the good zone. Rail gun him when he is away from the jet gun and product grenade him as well. However make sure to have cover as he can still easily Swiss cheese you. When close he is in your game! Use all you got (cept deploy and rail) to out do him but beware of his slam attack and mingun. If you can, always try to flank or surprise the Gunner with your jet gun. Odds are he will not be able to respond fast enough to kill you. If his slam however is giving you too much trouble, product grenade, deploy near him and unleash the fire then. If your fast enough his slam will not push you away, however you are very vulnerable if he starts firing on you so try to rush in from an angle that is not in front of the minigun of death.

Assault: Beware! This guy has a lot of counters against you. For one you should try to get close to fight him unless your real good with the rail gun. Use your jet gun to drain his health fast and be ready to dodge or endure a dash or explosive from him. Use your charge to keep close if he tries to fly away or let him go if you doubt you can keep up or reach him in time. His health is not to high so enough time with the jet gun can easily stop him.
Warning: His level 3 charge BEATS all of your charge attacks. If you both charge each other and he has this level, he will break yours, grapple you and throw you away.

Assassin: You are their worse nightmare. The kind of person she hates because she knows you will 'own' her. (usually) First off with good armor endorsement and level three passive you will survive a back or front attack from them. However they can still out do you if you get cocky. Use your charge or death blossom to make quick work of them and use the rail only if they ran to far away to finish quickly. If they use the shurikens on you, stay in cover and watch as they bounce. It is sometimes better to let them come to you instead of chase them. Even if you have to be stabbed in the face.

Support: Okay we gonna bomb you with air strikes now! Watch out for those air strikes and his shot gun. If he hits you with the air strike, your only hope is to take cover under some object so it does not land on you. Otherwise kill as much as you can before your death sentence finishes you. Take them from behind to quickly dispose of them or charge and jet gun them while making sure he is not close enough to damage you greatly with the shot gun or easily stick you with the air strike. In fact he is the only guy you want to keep a bit of distance with the jet gun of other then the assault when he can charge grapple you. As for the firebase, focus on it first with the product grenade then to rush and hit it directly with the jet gun. You should out last it even if the Support is healing it. If that does not work, try to wound it with the rail gun from safety then go in to finish them both off.

Sniper: Now facing him is like Yin and Yang, alpha and Omega, Ranged and Close. He is everything you are not and you are everything he is not. As you can guess, fighting far away is not a very good idea. In grenade three you may never have much of a chance to kill him if he camps his base but can distract and scare him to hide with a few good rail gun shots. In places where he is easier to reach, try to approach him from a side he is not looking and avoid the freeze traps at all cost. Once you are close just make sure to not be close enough for his grapple and he should drop fast. If he does grapple try to rush (not recklessly) to get close again. Flak should not be much of an issue unless you deploy. At which if he caught you in deploy he probably will win anyway unless he is in jet gun range or a real bad sniper. At extreme range, avoid him. At long or medium range jump around, sway and fly to make it hard for him to line up the shot as you close in. Never run straight! At close...well you should know what to do. Hint, it involves charging and jet guns.

Vs Bots and Turrets:

Turrets: Being a bit redundant here but want to hammer in my point. All turrets except rockit turrets pass level one should not be a problem for you on their own. Get level two product grenade, good health either through armor endorsement and/or passive health boost, dash ready and your jet gun full to deal with them. Throw the grenade to stun it, dash to it and unleash an up close jet gun attack until destroyed. Even the firebases can easily fall to this while being healed. (just minimized as much damage you take as possible such as letting bots or other players distract the firebase until you can get in on it) If you juice just rush in and blow them up one by one. For the level 2 and 3 Rockit turrets, you will either need help or juice to destroy them. Unless your super daring, super awesome, and very very very very lucky!

Most bots: This does not go without saying but just jet gun them close or rail gun from far away. To clear out a group of them, use the death blossom spin attack move. Attack Gap shots ASAP with the rail gun which should kill in two or three shots. Other buyable bots, just keep a slight distance so they can't hit you and spray them and shoot them as you wish.

Jackbots: There are two ways to deal with him. Fight like a hero and take him on close up or be a coward and take him far away. (note that you are not an actual coward for taking the coward way. XP )
Hero: Product grenade the Jackbot, rush in, deploy and spray with your jet gun, constantly using your grenade when you can. Deploy 3 helps here as you don't have to worry about waiting for a reload. Careful though if done when the enemy is nearby as you can easily be done in. If timed well, the jackbot may not give you to much trouble.
Coward: Rail gun and product grenade. Your far far far less likely to die but it takes much longer to finish him with the rail.
Actually a good tactic is to combine both. Rail gun the jackbot while he is far away and once he gets closer to you and your team, rush in, deploy and use the jet gun!

Other Tips:
1.) Support is a good friend. Him over healing a tank can allow him to easily push into a base. As support, I once helped a Tank rush in and destroy their moneyball in less then three minutes!
2.) Your not immortal! Close but not close enough. Take time to hide and heal when you can. Deploy can speed up that waiting time at the cost of being slightly easier to flank.
3.) Get passive 3 as soon as you can to make sure even a sword back attack from an assassin will not kill you instantly.
4.) I start out getting Passive 2 and Deploy 2 (hey I actually like deploy!) then work for product grenade next. Charge last. However I go for Passive 3, Charge 3, Grenade 3, then deploy 3 in that order after that. This is how I do it, you don't have to do it this way.
5.) Bouncers make great cover! These rushing bots that you can summon can be very distracting, allowing you to flank or rush foes that try to kill it first. If they ignore it, they are punished by its grapple.
6.) Onward my brothers! The Tank is great for pushing your bots. Use him to destroy the enemy bots then when close enough attack their turrets that are distracted on the bots. Assassins who are great against bots can easily be stopped by a tank!
7.) Juiced Tanks are unstoppable! Okay not really but are very devastating to a base. All turrets, players, bots, and the moneyball fall quick to your jet gun, allowing you to easily clear half the enemy base before it wears off. So if you get juice, try to get to their base and wreck it.
8.) Be very cautious on Steel Peel. It is very open and leaves you very easy to ambush. Use the little cover there is to your advantage!
9.) DeadStretch's idea. Use the rail gun to harrass from afar then product grenade, dash up and attack with the jet gun. If your fast enough or time it right, they will be wounded as you unleash the fire on them. Works best on Big targets but anyone can be beaten up by this move.

Ryu's Endorsements:
Here is my build as a Tank.
Gold Armor: Max health on the person with the highest health? Now it makes sense to all, how I survive so much! You can survive all attacks easily but be warn as grapple throws can still ring you out and a combination of attacks can still do you in!
Sliver Rate of Fire: I heard somewhere that Rate of Fire actually effect both your Rail gun and Jet Gun! Even if it does not effect your Jet gun, it still helps your rail gun as you can fire far more and clear bots and turrets safely.
Bronze Clip or reload speed or etc: Really there is a lot to choose from that works here. I started with reload speed for quicker times inbetween Death Blossom and rail shots. However I did end up liking the clip increase more as you can fire the jet gun much longer without a need to reload which can help in its own right. Most endorsements won't go wrong here but I don't recommend speed or accuracy. Accuracy will only effect the Rail and it is pretty effective as is and speed can be picked up as you kill bots and pros.
Galaxy010's Suggestion: Switch Rate of Fire with Armor to do more damage. You take a bit less hits but should still be able to survive assassinations. With higher rate of fire, your jet gun and rail gun will be very deadly! Also for bronze you might want to use clip or reload boost to cover the quick use of ammo.


Well I hope this guide helps players out and proves that even the Tank is a deadly asset to any team. Feel free to put in your own thoughts or ask questions. As long as you don't act to harsh, I will gladly help you out or respond to your comment. Now remember your training and you will survive.
Warning:Just because you remember your training, it does not mean that you will survive.

Good tips, one thing about the Gunner, up close dont underestimate a level 3 slam attack. I use this a lot when up close (especially through walls) as this stuns Pros and also can easilt ring out.......

Thanks and I agree. It is great for easy ring outs and making assassins who failed to kill you regret it. Still, surprise is the key to stop the Gunner which since they are slow is not as hard as one would think. Even for a slow tank.

I must admit my Gunner can be slow. A full 360 takes about 3 full matches lol

Yep speed is his weakness. lol. Course it is fair since he can destroy anyone foolish enough to stand in front of him. I do enjoy playing as him a lot. He can take out turrets quick from afar while the tank can take them quicker from close up.

Great guide. Lots of great tips in here for everyone. Full with common and not-so common knowledge. I recently enjoyed playing Tank and didn't know about the Deploy trick. I'll have to try it out.

I run a different Endorsement setup but heavily use my Jetgun in combination with his Jet Charge skill. I use the railgun as an annoyance lvl 2 nade them charge towards them them set them on fire, spin to finish them off.

[Edit]
Oops forget to add the sponsors. lol
Gold Armor
Silver Reload
Bronze Health/Skill Regen. I recently started using skill regen for obvious reasons.

This is a pretty nice trick right here as if your fast enough you can use the rail to wound and the jet gun to finish. He does switch between guns at a nice speed like everyone else.

As for deploy it does tell you that it gives you health recovery boost at level 2, just like Passive which I just noticed. If your lucky, someone can wound you from a distance but if you hide, can heal most or all of it back before they can reach you to finish you off.

Now as for those sponsors, nice alternate setup there but I personally don't use skill regen for the tank only because when everything reaches level 3, they restore fast.

With my setup only the Product Grenade and Class Skill are level 3. Level 2 charge and I didn't use the Deploy. I like to have extra cash to base defense and spawning bots. I also like to play the middle. The only time I really go offensive is when I juice and I only go after their highest level turrets then retreat.
:ugeek:

Huh, I usually get them all to three and still have cash to defend. Course it always depends on the situations and battles. Many assassins fall to me but keep rushing me regardless of the odds and bots give good cash. Course you probably have money for back up or upgrade rockit turrets a lot. Sadly I am an impulse buyer and tend to use my money quickly either for turrets or upgrades and a few times the bouncers.


One thing I love about the tank is that he can play offensive and defense well. I love frontline battles (so long as I am not in wide open) and sabotage by destroying the turrets one at a time. But sticking to the middle is great for keeping bots moving forward and keeping sneaky pros from trying to sabotage your base. Same with defending at your base as well. He is more versatile in his roles them some think.

EDITED:
when the annihilator is up I try to activate it ASAP. This is because if your pushing bots into their base, the annihilator will ruin you. This also drains my cash sometimes so it is late game when I do have full stats.

Yea I upgrade early buy skills later except product grenade 2. I buy that at the start then bot farm to upgrade one of the starting Rock-Its to lvl2. I like to spawn Bouncers and run with them clearing bots as they goes after Pros.

Meat shield for the win! Yeah rock-it turrets are very pricey, when I am pretty much the only one buying turrets, their is a rare chance of us getting these but they are very helpful.

I main tank and approve of this guide. It's very well written and good. I do have one suggestion though, and that would be switch RoF and Armor. RoF Gold makes a HUGE difference compard to Silver, and yes it DOES affect the Jet Gun, making you kill incredibly fast. Armor silver is still enough to survive msot assassinations.

I think I did this once before but with faster reload at the time so I had to reload too often, did not like it for that. However now that I think about it, that would go great with Clip. Thanks for pointing that out.

Edit: I tried it out and it is a GREAT Offensive build for the Tank. I thought the rate they died before was good but this is better.