DeadBots - A Tank Guide

I have an updated guide at this location.

I decided to put my Tank guide here since it's very different then those already posted. If you want to see two other great Tank guides here are the links:
Im Hudson's Guide to the Ability Spam Tank
MCxShammas' Tank Tutorial

Contents:
1. Main Objective
2. Endorsements
3. Skills
4. General Gameplay

1. Main Objective
This play style does not focus on using the rail gun or chasing Pros around. Also this build does not buy turrets. The Main Objective is to push, push, push the bot lanes. That's right lanes I push both. Each map has a different "sweet spot" for this Tank to play.

2. Endorsements
Gold - Armor (GobiNumb)
Silver - Reload Speed (Secrets of the Reloading Masters)
Bronze - Skill Recovery (Focus All)

GobiNumb - Add 100 health. The main reason I use this is because I don't upgrade passive to level 3. Also since the class is an easy target due to pushing the extra health is needed.

Secrets of the Reloading Masters - -26% Reload Time. It's all about the Death Blossom. Takes out the enemy bots extremely fast and also discourages Assassins.

Focus All - -20% Recharge Time. Since we are pushing both lanes the Charge is used to get around faster.

3. Skills
This build takes use of all his skills. I know many think the deploy is useless but not the way I use it.

Product Grenade 3 - What can I say about this skill that already hasn't. Since we are pushing the lanes it is perfect to stop (stun) one lane while you take out the other.

One thing to note that although we are pushing lanes non-juiced the Tank can disable one side of the enemy base. The product grenade it great for stunning a Rock-It while you lay waste with the Jetgun.

Deploy 2 - It may be a bit hard to use deploy offensive but it's great for defense. The health regen while deployed is very useful in tough situations. It's very useful since we are not upgrading passive to level 3.

Charge 2 - The most important skill with this build. Not only used against enemies but also for increased mobility. I use it to quickly get to where I need to go as well as close the distance for my Jetgun/Death Blossom.

You can check Im Hudson's guide for a more detailed skills overview.

Skill Order
Match start - Product Grenade 2 and Charge 2
Deploy 2
Passive 2
Product Grenade 3

All cash earned is used for Hazards mainly ejectors. Juice is only really needed to break tight defense.

4. General Gameplay
Now like I said we are not chasing down Pros so don't expect an impressive k/d but do expect to make the most money aka become MVP. It's all about clearing the lanes so your bots have no obstructions, besides Pros. Depending upon the map you can stop both enemy bot lanes right from the beginning. Grenade III is the only map that is tricky to move quickly between both lanes and it requires the use of all the jump pads.

To quote Im Hudson: "Grenade any pro that even thinks about fighting you. It is very demoralizing to be hit with a face full of stickers any time they catch a glimpse of you. Even without the cluster bomb, the disorienting effect is usually enough to make them retreat or take lethal damage from you or your teammates."

If I feel that a Pro is coming that way to try and take care of me not only do I nade them I charge also and lay waste with a Death Blossom followed by a full clip of jet fuel. The reason why I DB first is so when the patch is released I will be used to it and deal maximum damage but for now it's just to get in the habit. The silver reload makes sure you aren't wasting time reloading.

Don't be afraid to flee a battle since our main goal is pushing the bot lane. It's better to go hide and deploy then to die, respawn then work your way back down the line. This is where Deploy becomes very useful. I'll run behind cover and deploy. For one to Regen. health the other is basically a trap. If they were there to kill you changes are they will follow you and being Deployed will do more damage and make them back off. They will eventually get what you are doing and no longer follow. I know I said we don't chase Pros but that doesn't mean we don't kill or try to kill them. You have a job and if they try to stop you by all means show'em whos boss.

Now we explain our main goal, killing bots. All I can say is Death Blossom. Other then you own abilities the ejectors are more useful than people give em credit for. The Annihilator is great and all but it has a minute cooldown. I prefer the ejectors although each has it's own area.

Damaging the Moneyball. This is one of the only times I whip out the railgun. I sit back, usually outside of the enemy base, and just keep doing damage to the Moneyball. Even when I am juiced I'll stay back and the reason is simple. Players won't expect it. Most players feel the need to be right on the Moneyball when it's down to deal damage. So that means the enemy team would expect it.

That's the basic outline of how I play Tank. I would have liked to go into more detail but at the moment there are "distractions" happening around me. When I get a change I will revise and clear this up.

Haha, I've been cited in a guide. I'm FAMOUS!

A good start to this type of tank. I really like the usage of charge + death blossom and THEN jet gunning them (a combo that is virtually impossible without reload speed upgrades against anyone with half a brain, which is why I'm even more excited for this patch now) A couple of things worth mentioning:

-Support's bot aura (or possibly bot aura + overhealing) allows waves to survive a death blossom. Not much of an issue since you have Silver reload speed, but still worth considering.

-Does gold armor + passive 2 let you survive assassin backstabs?

-With gold armor, you can get considerably more usage out of Deploy's unspoken passive effect: you become the only pro in the game to build juice by RECEIVING damage.

-I feel that product 3 is a great great GREAT bot clearing tool that most tanks don't use. If correctly aimed, it is capable of taking down an entire wave of bots from any distance on the map. This greatly helps you sustain a push in one lane while holding a line in the other, and is pretty much my secret weapon when I'm split up from my friends and making games last till overtime because somehow this fatty is pushing 2 lanes at once.

-"Tank jumping" seems mandatory to compensate for lack of speed endorsements (and is still amazing even WITH speed endorsements).

-How do you adjust on steelpeel/ammo mule having to constantly deal with Snipers and explosive rounds while you are usually death blossoming near bots? On these maps I usually jet pack in, blossom, then charge back in the opposite direction the second the bots are destroyed. Even then, against good snipers IE: Unicorn/taterz, I pretty much have to resort to the rail gun + grenade unless a support runs with me.

I approve of what is written so far.

-Support's bot aura: This is where the Product Grenade is most useful because not only does it stop them from moving it hurts them enough that when I DB most will die. Those that didn't will have a slither of life the jetgun will finish.

-Does gold armor + passive 2 let you survive assassin backstabs? Yes. Of course against the dagger and the Katana. That's just a straight backstab though. Lately I've noticed a few Assassin hit me with the S.Launcher first then lunge grapple. Sometimes I die, sometimes I don't.

-Deploy's unspoken passive effect: I try to deploy with no enemy Pros around so I can recover health faster so I don't really benefit from that effect.

-How do you adjust on steelpeel/ammo mule This is where those "sweet spots" I was talking about come into play. Since I am basically trying to control the center of the map.

Steel Peel - It's all about the back path for leaving you base and straight in the front for pushing. I rarely leave or push out the front of my base only to PG the bot line and off the jump pad to take care of Firebases. Those circular rooms to the side is where I "camp out." I also like to use the center pillars to dodge sniper fire. Again this is why Product Grenade 3 is, Imo, the best level 3 skill in the game. Simply for what it does to bots and turrets.

Ammo Mule - It's all about the Under-tunnel and confusion. That fact that it's small and open means Snipers don't have to move much. The one downside about the tunnel is that your grenade is very hard to line up w/out hover-jumping. The only time I go on top of the center is if there are enemy firebases in the center, which there normally is, lol. I just nade and instead of charging in I'm just jumping down so I still Death Blossom first. Another key to this map is hitting the ejectors first because a big part of the map is an ejector pad.

Thanks for the mention! I used to use this strategy to end games quickly, because it works so well. Most people don't even pay attention to you pushing the lane and they don't realize until their ball is down.

I posted recently about playing a "tanky" tank and this guide is very similar to how I play, but I normally stick to one lane and switch to killing pros at their base. I'll give your less aggressive, lane switching style a try.

I'd be temped to drop Reload and use Speed instead. The default reload speed is pretty decent and you can jump/jet pack around while it reloads to confuse the opponent. I'd say you'd get more overall benefit from the massive mobility boost that comes with silver speed considering your playstyle.

Personally I never upgrade Deploy but put product grenade, passive and charge up to 3. Gold armour + passive 3 + speed means you can retreat and heal easily enough without the help of Deploy. Charge 3 always seems to save me against gunners mid-range (grenade, close the gap, charge - the knockdown is needed for you to jet gun them to death before you die)

Just my opinion/playstyle of course. And to be honest I've switched back to Im Hudson's gold RoF playstyle recently.

Thanks for taking the time to write the guide. It's inspired my to "go tanky" again. I'll try your playstyle tonight with your endorsement choice and mine and report back tomorrow

Yea your "tanky" guide is what inspired me to type this up. I still have to revise/edit it but I'm too lazy.

Anyways, I actually stopped upgrading Deploy and started going with Passive 3. With my playstyle I try to be as mobile as possible and actually thought about making a 2nd build using Speed. Deploying , of course, has you "stuck" at a spot and I found retreating to Deploy benefited the enemy more then it did for me. I also tend to sit on a lot of extra cash for hazards and such. I started experimenting with upgrades and orders. I'll have to give charge 3 another shot and try your little tip.

I typed a fairly long reply to this at work today and forgot to post it

Short version:
I experimented with all sorts of endorsement combinations last night. Many of them were wildly unsuccessful I eventually settled on this for my "tanky" tank:

Gold skill recharge, Silver armour, Bronze health recharge

Upgrades: prod 2, prod 3, charge 2, passive 2, charge 3, passive 3

Similar playstyle to the original post. Lane pushing, bot and turret killing are the main focus. The super fast recharging product grenade is almost a primary weapon. Charge is great for finishing a pro or quickly escaping to recover health and lure pros into close quarters.

The reduced mobility of no Speed endorsement is made up for with pickups. Cash comes fast from all the bot killing, as does Juice, which means an end to the enemy's higher level turrets. The lower level ones are easy enough to kill with prod grenade/jet gun.

So basically a build that can take a lot of damage, retreat and heal quickly, kill most pros easily in close quarters, and harass and often kill distant pros with prod grenade and the occasional rail gun shot. It's getting late and it's time to play. I'll post more details at a later date.