I finally got myself a TOW missile to experiment with the big change that came with the new update. It’s now a pretty interesting weapon, although still challenging to use and do well with.
First I tried it on a Deadman cabin, with a Daze and other modules to max out the damage. First impression is that an Apollo generator’s worth of modules makes a huge difference in the damage output. It has become something that’s actually a bit scary to get hit by now!
The Daze wasn’t particularly useful, because the slowdown effect makes it too hard to escape any enemy that has snuck up on you. Also, the reload buff isn’t that necessary, as in many cases it has finished reloading before the missile you just shot hits its target.
I’m going to try the booster build concept again once I get a second Hermes, and once I get myself a cockpit cabin.
Any other cabins you guys think I should try?
Tried it with hippogriff and some boosters next, and the cabin perk is pretty useful for finding targets. But found it too slow, even with a Hermes and two fused blastoffs.
Swapped in a harpy next, and tried to get it into CC range. This one worked better, although it didn’t seem like the cabin perk made a huge difference.
Finally I decided to try a slower build, and made an Icebox/goliath tank. So far this one does the most damage by far, even with a bit less energy for modules. Often getting well over a 1000 points of damage per missile.
I havent tried it since the changes, but if i had to venture a hypothetical build for it, id do a cockpit build with the TOW (20/33 energy), two Hermes (26/33), Finwhale (28/33), Jackie (31/33), and Doppler (33/33). Id bury the TOW behind the lip of the cabin, facing backwards. With the jackie and the cockpit, it would hit for a whopping 60% more damage, would be built to escape, keeps you aware of the enemy’s potential advance to your defenseless position (while providing a doppler for the team as well). If youre hitting 1000 with an icebox, id imagine you could hit 1200 or higher with this setup. And again, just the ability to GTFO at 180 kph as soon as you need to would keep its hit and run gameplay near max performance.
You could drop the finwhale down to a dunhorse (finwhale’s perk is mostly useless as getting shot if youre not moving means no perk, and a dun horse should get you to basically max spped, while costing one less energy) and lose the jackie to add an aegis for covering your getaway unscathed. But that +20% damage is hard to resist as well.
I’m not sure of the specifics. It’s hard to test, because you can’t really shoot it at the damage meter.
With icebox I was hitting above 1200 sometimes, but hard to say how much of that is the explosive radius,
Aiming it backwards on a fast build is an interesting idea, and one I will steal from you. Getting away from people is the biggest issue I’m having, although with my slow tank I ignore that strategy, and just use the tracks to tank damage, then rotate back at my attacker to shoot them at close range. Not ideal, but with a yeti I can keep repositioning to stay hidden.
The fast builds are a lot more fun to play though, and I think cockpit might be the ideal.
Wait, do higher rarity modules buff the damage more? My icebox tank had more legendary modules, so now I’m wondering if that was buffing the damage more than the cabin was?
Edit: just checked the notes, and it doesn’t say anything about rarity of modules. But is that how Yongwang works now? If so, then you might still be right.
This is the description. I don’t see anything about rarity, but you might still be right if Yongwang’s perk is impacted by the rarity of the modules:
Clarinet TOW
Added a perk that increases damage depending on the modules installed (similar to “Yongwang”).
Energy drain increased from 10 to 20 units.
PS increased from 1350 to 2700.
Added 150 points to damage upon hit and 100% penetration ability.
Reloading time increased from 7 to 10 sec.
Control of the vehicle now returns to the player in the second phase of the rocket’s flight (when the rocket is launched into unguided flight).
The time before you can transition from the first phase of the rocket’s flight to the second phase is reduced from 1 to 0.3 sec.
Sped up the return of control of the vehicle after the rocket has detonated.
Comment: a weak weapon with a unique mechanic. The parameters change and adding the perk should prevent the weapon from having inflated efficiency at low PS as it was before, but make it more relevant at medium and high PS. The rest of the changes were implemented to make gameplay more comfortable.
By the way, the increased penetration means that sometimes you can kill an enemy, and the missile keeps going. Fun when aiming at a group that’s trying to use a heavily damaged ally as a meat shield.
Edit: I found the notes for a Yongwang update that did skew the damage buff to the rarity of the modules. So that means this may be the case for TOW as well. I guess I’ll have to build a ramp and do some proper testing.
Yongwang
Previously, the perk increased damage for each energy point spent on modules by 6%. Now the bonus also depends on the rarity of modules: legendary — 6%, epic — 5%, special — 4%, rare — 3%, common — 2%.
Comment: the efficiency of the weapon was too high at a wide range of PS (7000–16000). The change aims to weaken the weapon at low PS and in “Clan confrontation”, but keep it relevant in battles at high PS.
So is it actually worth sitting venerable while piloting the missile? With Helicopters & all seems like it makes one the proverbial sitting duck. (No ducks were harmed in this comment)
I tried some from the exhibition they seemed better than before, But not as so much to rush out & craft one. But a step in the right direction!
It’s still very much a niche weapon, and not that effective in any PVE mode. I had a few zero point patrol matches yesterday, because my allies stomped all the bots before I could hit any.
But it’s also so different from all other weapons that it’s kind of exciting and new for me to play. Also very satisfying to hit an enemy who can’t see you.
I just noticed that the cockpit perk is only activated when you’re going 70kmh. Which could still work if it’s applied when you shoot, but could be an issue if it’s applied when the rocket actually hits, since you stop moving when guiding the missile.
I already got the extra Hermes, and I’m still going to grind out a Cockpit this week, so we’ll see if it works.
With buggy wheels and some momentum, I might be able to still use the perk even if you need to be moving when the missile hits.
