Tanks deploy skill.

Am I the only one who just doesn't find this skill all that useful? The tanks weapons just dont seem suitable for it.

Every time I use deploy as a Tank I die. I don't know why anyone would ever use it, its makes you a super easy target and doesn't have enough bonuses to make it worth it.

Am I wrong on this? :|

sure you can upgrade skill so it replenishes health really quickly, also you can use the deploy to get a load of juice from turrets that shoot you whilst not losing much health, then juice and destroy everything

I only ever use it for the health replenish.

And for railgunning turrets occasionally, but that always ends bad for me.

I'd imagine the skill is best used in conjunction with a Support and a L3.3 Firebase. I have a gunner friend who deploys (with the headshield, of course) in that arrangement with me as a Support and does exceedingly well.

Presumably, the Tank could do something similar, but I don't know any reliable Tank players.

Some people like to run around a corner and deploy to quickly regenerate, but I mainly see it as a death sentence.

Sometimes I'll use it to juice the moneyball though, to prevent anything from interrupting me for that last bit of damage for the win

Tank deploy is the only skill in the game that allows you to gain juice while being damaged.

and it gives you insane health regen to, so you can run away and come back quicker

I suppose, but it still feels pretty useless most of the time.

Yeah it gives better regen but by the time I go into the stance, I have been killed :\

It's too situational, why most players don't use it. I suggest it be tweaked so it can be used while on the move.

It is very situational, but in those situations, it is very useful.

(Note: The juice gain rate from lazer blazers has been nerfed to some degree on the PC. I don't know how long it takes now. It still is a fine tool while sieging because it makes you immune to crowd control and ring outs, in addition to the juice gain, damage reduction, and quick health recovery.)

I'd still say its not worth taking to level 3 in 95% of circumstances in crossfire. Deploy 2 is very useful for sustaining pushes though (and is INSANE with gold/silver health recovery.)

Great vid hudson, I had no idea the skill even did that.

But see, its that kinda stuff that makes me wish it were re-evaluated. That wasn't the intended use, that's someone cheating the system.

yes but the risk you run while doing so is massive, head crabs, air strikes, a gunner jumping in front of you and destroying you, someone coming up behind you, its a high risk high reward, the new PC members have a LOT to learn

This is nerfed on PC or something, I tried this a lot tonight and the Juice barely goes up at all, and you die.

Let's be fair, here: the risk of those things is relatively minor. A headcrab isn't going to kill a juiced tank, an air strike can be countered by stepping under cover (which is available on 99% of maps quite near turrets) and good map awareness/teammate coverage makes it very unlikely you'll be flanked. Even Assassins aren't keen on stabbing a Tank in the back.

That's the problem: it's, at best, medium risk, and very high reward. And, as someone else pointed out, clearly not working as was originally intended. No other class can use enemy turrets as charging stations. It's not that Laser turrets are exactly devastating to begin with, but this kind of tactic is part of why they move from "unwise" to "idiotic" to build.

There's a reason it was nerfed, and I'm glad we're one small step towards making all four turret-building choices reasonable again.

Taunt in front of a lazer turret with almost any other class and you will be building juice the same way the tank does........there's a reason why i said the new people have a lot to learn, EVERY class can do it, its just a different way, plus if theres a support near the turrets and he's smart enough to run RoF expect a shotgun to the face so there's an even higher chance of death.

A few things:

-The video I posted was pre-laserblazer nerf. (Before the PC beta even launched, the laser blazers did a LOT more damage to pros, making it extremely dangerous to attempt this).

-Before the laserblazer nerf, I talked to the creative director in game and asked him about deploy tactics I had come across. As far as laserblazers granting juice, he seemed to indicate that this was a legitimate use of the skill, and that enemies who allowed a tank to sit stationary in front if their turrets deserved to get juiced on.

-Uber then nerfed the damage laserblazers did to pros, because hacked 3.3 laser blazers were cheaper than level 1 rocket turrets, AND more effective. However, it seems that uber did not take into the consideration what effect this would have on deploy/taunting mechanics, because the juice gain rate for both of these actions was based on the number of times attacked, not the amount of damage done. Deploy/Taunting in front of laserbasers went from risk/reward to FREE JUICE BATTERY 4 ALL.

-The PC patch to this reduced the juice gain rate for both taunting and deploy when used against laserblazers, but uber made no mention of the juice gain rate from deploying in front of laser based bots like blackjacks and slims, and I imagine you can still pull juice off of a pack of gremlins and/or buzzers while deployed.

it works with gremlins, i've done it once on the PC beta, i love assassins that spawn them when i play tank