The Grot Mega-tank (from now on referred to as GMT) is a powerful but cumbersome beast of a vehicle in the Speed Freeks. In this guide I am going to try and go over what I believe to be its strengths and weaknesses and how to utilize them from what I have learned so far.
Guide to Grot Mega Tank
By Cybercobra
The Basics
The GMT has a large array of weaponry at its disposal combined with a large amount of health at the cost of mobility and a large easy to hit size.
First let’s take a look at its primary weaponry.
- Front shotgun (1)
A straightforward shotgun that will deal considerable damage up-close, but quickly become ineffective at range due to the spread of its projectiles. These projectiles also bounce several times off any terrain they hit, meaning they can fire around corners or a missed shot might bounce off a wall back into the target.
Use up close to pump damage into your opponents, at range it can be fired over the battlefield to deal minor damage and prevent opponents healing by hitting them, resetting their timer to health, or it can be fired at a fleeing opponent to try and slowly chip them down.
Note its slow fire-rate but high damage per shot.
The shotgun can only fire towards the front half of the GMT.
- Rear machine gun (2)
A simple machine gun mounted on the back that deals consistent but middling damage, its range is decent and is fairly accurate.
Good for firing at enemies at mid range that would be out of range of the shotgun or for peppering opponents that are chasing you. while it won’t deal good damage it will consistently reset heal timers while dealing some damage and in general being annoying.
The machine gun can only fire towards the rear half of the GMT.
- Side guns (3)
Two machine guns mounted on the sides, similar to the rear machine gun but with a smaller angle at which they can fire and a slightly different fire-rate (possibly also damage).
They can only fire in a limited angle towards their respective mounted sides.
- Overall
This full set means that you have a suboptimal but functional weapon in every possible direction from the tank, meaning that you can always at the very least shoot at your enemies. nowhere is truly safe around a GMT.
An important thing to note is the overlap between the gun firing angles, the shotgun and rear machine gun can fire at slightly over half of their respective sides, meaning that with the side machine guns, you can fire all 3 weapon types at a single enemy if you angle your sides towards them, generally referred to as “broadsiding” allowing you to deal heavy damage while circling an enemy or blocking a path
A single weapon is subpar compared to other vehicles. all 3 combined is some of the highest DPS in the game. though note this is only when up-close, as none of the weapons are particularly accurate.
Next up let’s look at the abilities.
- Grot plough (4)
The GMT’s brawling weapon, allowing disruption of the enemies movement, burst damage, and launching of enemies and teammates..
It is an ability with two attacks.
The first happens when it’s button is pressed down. the plough will be raised, launching *anything* directly in front of it into the air.
This has a variety of uses from launching enemies to leave them helplessly in the air as your team and you shoot them when they can’t dodge. launching enemies away to save yourself or a teammate. launching teammates to get them to higher platforms, letting them sniper while midair or otherwise get them to safety, or launching teammates because they are being annoying and need to get out of the way.
The second and truly important part happens then you let go of the button.
The plough slams down, dealing a large amount of damage to anything under it and launching them away, often spinning them out and bringing them to a dead stop.
Combined with the fact that the weapon on your front is your shotgun which is also at its most powerful up-close and personal and a devastating close-mid range barrage to your sides you have yourself a heavy melee bruiser.
With proper use of the plough and your weapons you can 1v1 practically any other vehicle in the game (provided they are not able to make space between them and you.) and heavily disrupt your opposition.
The slam is generally the more powerful of the two parts and the one you want to be using the most, with launching (while very funny) being more situational, and the slam being extremely potent.
Try to crush enemies into walls to reduce their chance of escaping, as the crush does push them away from you, potentially putting them out of your effective range.
Remember that you can HOLD the button down to prepare the slam by keeping the plough lifted.
The slam also has a deceptively large range. keep this in mind.
Also remember that if you are repeatedly slamming the plough on enemies, to back off for just a bit to let the plough go up without launching your victim to potential safety.
With its extremely low cooldown of only 2 seconds you want to be using this as much as you can.
Note that due to your slow turn rate it might be worth it to just broadside someone down if you are already facing them with your side.
- Missile (5)
Simple and straightforward, press the button, and the grot at the top of the tank will launch a missile towards where you are aiming, dealing significant damage on impact in a small explosion. The missile is fairly slow but fast enough to quickly catch up to any vehicle, so remember to lead your shots.
It having a fairly low cooldown means you generally want to throw this out whenever you think you can hit an enemy with it.
The most notable moments to use it is when you are about to slam someone, using it to add to your burst damage, or to pick off low health enemies attempting to flee, and to add damage to anything you are broadsiding.
Do note that it can not fire behind you and that it has a limited lifespan flying through the air, after a certain range it simply explodes midair.
- Grot repairs
As simple as can be, press the button and over the course of a couple seconds you get some life back.
Pop whenever you have some health missing or are under attack. save it if you are about to heal up thanks to natural regeneration anyway.
- Boost
A simple button that is vital to your gameplay.
Hold the button and go fasta. That’s simple enough.
It’s where you spend your boost meter that matters. as your main strengths require you to be close by, make sure to save your boost for the fights. not to say never use it unless its in a fight but try to make sure you have full boost when you reach the fight.
It is also usually better to use it to build up speed going down hill, rather than use it to go uphill. (and as a side note, the GMT prefers going down slopes over ramps to build speed)
use it to rapidly approach enemies to try and crunch them with the plough and shotgun, rush to an ally’s aid by blocking or launching their enemy, or to get out of a sticky situation.
- Handbrake turn
Another vital part of the GMT’s gameplay.
The GMT normally turns extremely slowly, leaving it vulnerable to being outmaneuvered by the faster vehicles.
This is solved with the handbrake turn, allowing you to quickly spin the heavy tank on the spot.
To perform this move, hold forward and either left or right making sure to keep them held down, THEN you hold the handbrake button. After a short moment the tank will start to rapidly spin, let go of the handbrake when you are pointed where you want to be and tada: you can now make sure your front/side is always facing the enemy, or surprise enemies coming up behind you.
Note that the time it takes for your tank to start turning is reduced the faster you are going.
So if you are being chased for example it might be worthwhile to hit the boost for a moment to build speed to make the turn more sudden.
Also keep in mind your surroundings, hitting anything will stop your spin. so stick to more open areas and try to avoid putting yourself close to walls.
With all this in mind here is a image to roughly showcase where the GMT is most and least dangerous:
Know Your Strengths
Now that we have the basic kit in our heads you can already see a general gameplan.
The GMT is king of area denial, its large size, health bar, and aggressive upclose potential in both damage and disruption means that just being near one is a massive hazard
Its wide arrange of weaponry allow it to scatter bullets all over a battlefield, making it hard for enemies to heal up in view of one no matter the angle, its broadside being a dangerous flood of bullets and the area directly in front of it being a Extremely disruptive hazard area.
And while it’s primarily a close range vehicle, the missile and machine guns allow it to aid fights happening too far for the rest of its weaponry.
Overall the GMT’s strength is contesting whatever area it is currently in. catching enemies attempting to sneak by by stopping them dead in their tracks with either a flip or crush and then rushing them down, bullying them with constant stuns and burst damage and high DPS.
Its large size also means it can act as emergency cover for teammates and its ability to launch teammates allows for all kinds of shenanigans, getting them onto high platforms or out of harm’s way and more.
The GMT’s favorite home is wherever the enemy wants to be, denying them easy access to the area, such as directly on the point in Deff Rally, guaranteed to have plenty of open space to spin around and using its bulk and threat to contest anyone attempting to claim the point, or the bomb spawns/pathways to the stompa’s in Kill Konvoy. Denying enemy bomb runners the bomb or an easy approach.
Know Your Weaknesses
With such strengths comes a healthy dose of weaknesses.
The GMT is near ineffective at long ranges, its only saving grace being a large inaccurate machine gun at the back and a still range limited missile on a cooldown.
Its large size means it is VERY easy to hit, and while you have a decent health pool and a self heal you will still quickly find yourself melting when focused.
Its very long shape means it is easy to pin to prevent it spinning around, and has great trouble pulling away from having its side pinned to a wall compared to smaller cars.
It is also very weak from the back, it only has the machine gun which deals middling damage at best, whereas at the sides it can use all 3 weapons, and at the front it has the shotgun and plough, combined with the missile launcher not being able to fire backwards.
And while broadsiding deals great damage up-close, it is still very inaccurate overall and will usually get out DPS’d by most vehicles if they are not decently close.
Know Your Enemies
You will be facing a wide variety of enemy vehicles and each has their own strengths and weaknesses, so best to know what you are up against and how you match up with them.
While overall many of them CAN deal with you in a vacuum by simply keeping their distance, do keep in mind the battlefield is a hectic place. and it’s your job to make it as hectic for them as you can. you are the problem. work with your team make it a bad one for them.
Looted Wagon
A heavy duty sniper, at range it will happily chunk away at your health bar with its cannon and machine gun array.
Up close it can somewat keep up with you damage wise but overall should lose, the tricky part is it being able to retreat while firing on you, keeping itself away from your plough if you chase, and getting out of your range if you try to broadside.
Overall it’s not a great matchup but you have advantages, it being fairly big means you can pressure from greater ranges than usual and its low speed means it will have a harder time getting away from you and your overwhelming dakka.
Your sheer bulk also means you provide your team with cover from its sniper fire, meaning that while you won’t always win a 1v1, your existence is still a nightmare for them. forced to stay at range and reducing the effectiveness of their firepower by blocking their shots and eating the damage with your chunky healthpool. and upclose a wagon that tries to go toe to toe with a GMT will leave heavily damaged even if it wins, meaning it is easy pickings for your team.
Their grot rocket will find you an easy target but once more that is damage you can take, and your teammates often can not.
At range provide cover for your team and otherwise stay out of their sightlines.
Up-close bully them with plough slams and broadsiding them down, they will lose up-close.
Grot Mega Tank
The mirror matchup is in reality very simple, simply blast the other one with all your weapons and try to get them to spin out with the plough if you can get close.
If the enemy GMT has a healer, try to flip the GMT away while you deal with them.
Other than that it’s just a DPS race, try to get in more damage than them with good slams and broadsiding. as neither of you most likely have the mobility to escape the other.
If you can, retreat to a teammate to gank up on them.
Deffkilla Wartrike
The GMT’s favorite matchup.
The GMT’s main weakness is getting in close to use its deadly plough and weapons.
And here we have a squishy vehicle dedicated to getting in your face.
Now that’s not to say that it’s free, the trike still hurts and can be a real pain if they get in on you when you are looking elsewhere, so always keep an eye out for them, remember to use the handbrake spin to keep your plough angled towards them and make them regret getting close.
A wartrike hit by a slam and missile is nearly always a dead wartrike. or at the very least, severely crippled and easy pickings for you or your team.
Your presence will make life hell for a wartrike, bully them whenever they try to go for your teammates.
Kustom Boosta Blasta
A rustrating and very difficult matchup because up close their jump can be tricky to deal with and at range your bulk and speed means they can harass and chunk you down with ease.
If you catch a boosta, you will have to bait the jump and broadside or position yourself to catch them with a plough slam as they land if you are able. At range your large size means the Blasta can simply chunk your health away with its slow but deadly projectiles and aside from taking cover there is very little you can do about it as chasing them often just means you don’t have the health to win when you do reach them.
However they are not particularly tough when caught out, they have good damage but not that much health and their only escape is a vertical jump. Simply grind them down. without a range advantage and if you can deal with the jump, the only thing they have is a high damage output. Which you should be able to overcome. But do NOT chase them unless they are on low health, simply let them leave, they will just whittle you down as they race away.
The worst thing they can do is simply snipe you as you try to fight other things and this will ruin your day, always be on the lookout for them.
Boomdakka Snazzwagon
Tied with the Blasta for your worst nightmare, while you can fight them if you can catch them with the plough or a good broadside, like the Blasta, they don’t need to get close. and their machinegun HURTS, and the GMT’s sluggish nature and size means they have no trouble hitting every shot on you. they can sit outside your optimal range or on a platform above and simply melt you down. primary targets to take out.
However their limited firing angle means that if they run from you and you chase them, they cannot shoot you and you can shoot them. could turn things into an advantageous situation.
Luckily their smoke is not as big a problem for you as you unleash such a massive armada of dakka that it’s easy to track their position by virtue of the fact that the game tells you if you hit them, just spraying into the smoke will give you a good general idea of where they are.
Rukkatrukk squigbuggy
Less problematic to you than most, as your aggressive in their face nature and heavy bulk means the squigbuggy’s will have trouble healing whatever you are bullying due to the simple fact of you being in the way. Other than that there’s nothing special to be said, it’s a healer. take it out if you can, its top priority.
Special note that a squigbuggy on your team is your best friend, your large size making it easy for them to land their full healing salvo’s on you and allowing you to keep in the middle of the fight where you want to be.
Try your best to guard them, get between them and the enemy, providing them with cover and a bigger target as you broadside the enemy. bully anyone that tries to get at them with your guns and plough.
Always thank your healer.
Shokkjump Dragsta
A tricky sod that can make things painfull, their speed and extremely long ranged attacks means that you will most likely not be able to touch them unless they are VERY brave and try to get close themselves.
However if you catch one by intercepting one around a corner for example you can very quickly deal HEAVY damage and interrupt whatever path they were taking. Their warp ability means they will most likely get away but that is time they need to spend licking their wounds and are easily picked off by your teammates.
On Deff Rally this one’s for your teammates to deal with, and for you to try and avoid and mitigate their damage. On Kill Konvoy you are well equipped to deal with one coming in as a bomb runner if you can take them by surprise, use corners and hills to catch them as their best means of escape makes them drop the bomb. Though if they do get past you you will not be able to do much to them and it can be hard to finish the job. So best not to rely on just you for catching them.
Strategy
Your general strategy as the GMT is going to be hang out around the point or bomb spawns and your teammates and bully anything that gets close, stick with your team so you don’t get focused down, and try to intercept any bomb runners heading for your stompa and help protect your bombrunners by harassing anyone going after them.
On Kill Konvoy remember you can pick up the bomb to deny it for enemies and drop it to pass it onto teammates. While your teammates are making their bomb run it can be a good idea to make a guess on where the next bomb will spawn and head there ahead of time to secure the next bomb, or to get into position to intercept enemy bomb runners should your boys fail and the enemy gets the bomb.
Save your boost to rush down anything that gets close while prepping your plough and use the slam attack to crunch and spinout your opponents while hammering them with the shotgun and missiles and broadside them when they make some space or you get them cornered.
In the meantime broadside your enemies, sending as much lead their way as you can while becoming portable cover for your teammates.
Use your selfheal to mitigate as much damage as you can.
Use the missile to either add to your burst damage, pick off stragglers, or aid other fights.
Generally on Deff Rally you want to keep circling the point to both make it more tricky for snipers and to keep your speed up so you can handbrake turn more quickly,
On Kill Konvoy you want to be gathering and defending bombs and pass them over to your faster teammates when they arrive, or simply getting into the fray and becoming a problem for your enemy and intercepting enemy bomb runners.
Always keep an eye on your surroundings, both to spot snipers so you can take cover or provide cover to teammates, and to spot incoming enemies so you can spin to face them in time.
Get in your enemies faces as much as possible, bully them.
Chaos is your friend, anyone can spot a massive tank barreling towards them, this is however not true if they are looking at something else already as you come in. corners likewise allow you to hide your approach until it is too late.
If a teammate is in trouble, consider flipping them to safety, or crushing whatever is attacking them to make it spin out or simply flip them away.
Make sure you are always shooting in the general direction of a low health enemy, the shotgun’s bouncy projectiles and the machinegun’s rapid fire means you have a good likelihood of hitting something, and that prevents them from using their natural regeneration.
If you catch someone unaware of you however, hold your fire for as long as you can until you get right and close to them, that way they have less time to react and get away.
If an enemy decides to flee and you cannot reasonably catch them and kill them in good time. consider simply letting them leave and focusing on the rest of their team with your friends.
Sometimes simply creating an advantageous situation is enough by forcing enemies out of the fight, leaving their friends ripe for the krumping.
And remember to utilize the handbrake spin, you can become surprisingly agile and it is vital for preventing getting ganked.
I also can not overstate the importance of learning how to move. how to keep your momentum going, how to turn on a dime and how to keep yourself mobile and agile.
You might be playing a slow tank but do NOT play it slow.
Remember, you are the king of the ring, punish anyone trying to get close, and stick with your teammates or you might find that your big health bar can disappear real quick from focused fire.
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