How is the actual state of the prowler?

Discussion in 'PlanetSide 2 Gameplay Discussion' started by Necrocio, Mar 21, 2023.

  1. Necrocio

    Title says. I always played with infantry,so i Guess that the next time i play the game i will play with a vehicle and since the prowler is my favorite,i will upgrade first all classes and then play with a vehicle,since the next time i play ps2,hopefully ps3,with the terran faction,i will use the prowler vehicle,i welcome any típs from veteran prowler players. Tyvm.
  2. LodeTria

    It's still the strongest, easiest to use tank in the game.
    Tip wise when vangords activate their shield, retreat behind cover and wait it out.
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  3. Necrocio

    Ok tyvm. Also playing with the prowler,is a must to play the engineer class is not it? Also the default ammo of the prowler are the best or there are others better? Tyvm again.
  4. LodeTria

    Yes you should almost always be an engineer when doing vehicle stuff with a maxed out rep tool. Other stuff is nice but not nearly as important, such as tankmines, c4, av mana turret, ammo implant, Explosives implant. They are good, but lower in priority.

    AP is generally the best gun, so you should unlock that first. You should also get a halberd topgun so people might actually gun for you, since the default basilisk is just a miserable time and commonly associated with "noob" tanks. Ammo reserves don't need to go past 5 when certing them.

    On the chassis side, you have 3 slots which each have their choices.

    Utility: It's either fire suppression or Barrage. Both have good use cases and can be good in certain situations. Smoke is kinda usless.

    Defence: Most people go with stealth, since it removes you from the minimap at max level allowing you to sneak around quite a bit easier. Nanite Auto Repair can have some use if your playing solo and passivly. The others are niche playstyles and should be left alone till you have certs to spare.

    Performance: Both are pretty good on the prowler, just go to vr and see which you prefer.

    The most importnt thing however, is finding someone else to play with. It gets alot more fun having someone in your topgun you know and can communicate with. Outfits are usually a good source for this. Rarely you can make friends with a pub gunner and have a good time, tho pub gunner quality is the most extreme variable.
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  5. Necrocio

    WoW tyvm again for that info,i put this thread in favorites so i can check in a time later. ....!
  6. xLluisett

    Well,seems that finally i get my old account back. I am necrocio and in this account i have a ns operative br 70,with stuff bought with real money. Time to work on updating the mbt with ns if theres any. Tyvm.
  7. AuricStarSand

    The Prowler is mostly the worst tank of the game for most players, & for one player out of 6 years it's the best tank.

    It's def not the " easiest to use " tank, that'd be the Magrider.

    For general players the ranks are

    1) Magrider
    2) Vanguard
    3) Prowler

    For these tank threads you'll have vets making excuses for the prowler, then every single time after they make excuses for the prowler, I hop onto the game, & see all my allies get their prowlers destroyed non stop.

    Alot of people base their prowler experience off their own skills, tho when you see how your teamates are fairing with the prowler, it's never as good as the other 2 tanks.

    Last prowler thread I had people telling me, that I'm using Rampart Barrier wrong or how it's effectiveness is used for niche ways. Yet when you hop on the game after that thread, still no ally is using the barrier for jack nothing. Besides 0.1% of the time.

    Yet on the other hand, the best tank pro I've ever seen was a Prowler, with barrage skill & gatekeeper 2ndary. Who ran down magriders, and easily killed them, while his 2nd gunner lit the magrider's tails. & Out dpsed all the magriders. Yet most Prowler pro's don't run down magriders 20 feet behind them, getting the jump on them with 120 fps spidey sense super fast main gun turning eliteness.

    So just because one guy out of 6 years of playing I've seen, was able to use a prowler like a mad man. Doesn't mean the new players, average player, moderate vet, or majority of TR are using Prowler anything near that. I'm not even able to. & I'm the best magrider & even more so harasser main of my server, yet my prowler box awareness skills are so so.

    My magrider is able to kill 10 vehicles without dying often, most of the times less, yet sometimes more.
    Prowler usually scores 2 vehicles kills, sometimes more, & often zero. Prowler is the weakest verse enemy HA.
    Prowler requires the most repairing, when HA AV pepper the box. If you drive a prowler around Nasons A point, expect HA to non stop shoot you with troll launchers.

    Most don't even run after enemy magriders with their prowler that effectively, they just snipe. Else die before getting any kills. For sure Magriders are winning verse prowlers so often, that many times no TR pulls a tank at all, even if 3 to 6 magriders surround the base. Because the prowlers die before they even get out of the terminal bay road.

    I've main'ed VS for the majority of my PS2 time, so I never realized how much more OP the Magrider was. I use to title my reign with Magrider a " Magrider crusade " now I know, that it wasn't even warranted. Wasn't that honorable. As magrider is too easy to manueaver & juke everyone.

    Many times it's easier to just place some c4 via a deployable flash & deliver pizza to the 2 magriders, rather than try to duel them with a prowler. Since with the c4 flash, you're not having enemy HA hit your box on wheels with multiple launchers

    While I play TR, running after a magrider as a foot soldier, to place some C4, so many magriders have reversed floated away and shot me, they juke most infantry c4. That right there is enough op'ness as no other tank jukes enemy c4 easily.

    You may be the best tank as a Prowler, if and only if you're the one elite pro I saw 2 years ago, who yes 1) Has Barrage Skill 2) Gatekeeper friend 2nd gunner 3) Gets the jump on magrider's tail's from nearby roads & 4) has the situational awareness of a god with 100+fps.

    Yet for everyone else. The majority of TR drivers, no, they are the weakest. & most of them die before even leaving the vehi term road. Every time, thus even weaker then Vanguards who at least survive the vehi term road & vanguards who at least soak some HA AV. So medium tier vet magrider's win the field.
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  8. Demigan

    Please ignore this guy. The Prowler has been the best or second best tank whenever we looked up stats, including on the lower end of the skill spectrum.

    Most of his post is ramblings and theorycrafting without actual experience behind it. Like that use of the rampart barrier he mentioned was batcrap crazy. He even goes so far as to claim things that are absolutely wrong and can be verified in-game in seconds but still holds on to those lies as if his life depends on it.
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  9. AuricStarSand

    Without experience? Dude I'd be able to play PS2 right now, & see all the my allies doing way worst than you seem to believe.

    If you believe average medium tier vets, even remotely drives a prowler as good as the average medium tier magrider, you're missing something.

    As for Vanguard, they at least use their shield x10 more often than people use anchored mode, barrage, or rampart.

    Maybe this is server dependent & your server has better prowler drivers. US west sure hasn't had them. All the pro TR tank drivers left last summer, else summer before that. & many vets switched to NC since Outfit Wars.

    If I was dueling another tank with a battle sunderer, the magrider is able to kite float reverse away, when the sunderer is on fire. & you hop out as a engi and try to c4 the magrider, he kites your engi floating 40 yards away. & as for vanguards they soak some sunderer bulldog dps. The anchored ability won't help there. So prowler is the weakest verse battle bus.

    Prowler seems to be weakest verse c4 & HA launchers. Since magriders have the option to juke from c4 & ha launchers. & nc shield soak ha av & c4. So prowlers weakest verse c4 & ha. Leading prowler to need repairs the most, have to repair prowler more than my magrider, have to repair prowler more than my harasser.

    As for driving? Vanguard may drive the same. Yet gives players more time to learn to drive, with shield. & since it looks similar to a Abrams tank, they enjoy the style of driving more. & magrider obviously the easiest of the 3 to learn to maneuver & drive well.
  10. Necrocio

    Omg,with those comments i guess i play infantry like i always played. Prowler is good,prowler is bad,my god,i will play the infantry classes like i always did. My first empire choice is Vanu at first,rethinked about TR for the prowler but after read those things,i guess i will play the Vanu,it is my first choice at the end.
  11. BreakerP16

    Hard disagree, I main a tank on all 3 factions with my Magrider being the LEAST upgraded and I get better result with the Magrider than both other tanks.

    Let's start with the things that make the Magrider the best:

    Strafing: Mobility in a tank on tank engagement is king, health/armor/shields are secondary to the ability to dodge hits. While other tanks can also dodge, they can only do so on mostly flat ground (without sliding) and by exposing the weaker side armor. The magrider can keep the front plate forwards while dodging and can do so on far steeper terrain while having a smaller target profile. The greater the distance, the easier it is to dodge.

    Climbing/Positioning advantage: with many bases being hidden by mountains, most tanks can barely do anything to support base capture, but many of those mountains can be scaled by a Magrider, granting superior utility and better positioning when against other MBTs. This ability, by itself can allow one or two Magriders to destroy entire armor column over time.

    Magburner (Boost): The third big advantage of the Magrider is the boost, it allows even better climbing, can be used to chase down harassers, flashes and damaged MBT or get out of dodge quick and making sure the Magrider has the initiative and dictates the pace of the fight.

    Perihelion: The new MBT weapon for the VS is honestly underwhelming on paper, but when paired with the dodge and mobility playstyle makes for a deadly weapon since you don't have to factor bullet drop at range and can focus on abusing the Magrider's other advantages while clicking the enemy tank.

    Oh yeah and shots can pass under the tank, because isn't that fun for the enemy.


    Now that the massive response is out of the way let's address the main topic: The Prowler.

    Honestly, it's my least favorite. While the tank is fast and can dish out INSANE damage with the barrage ability, the bullet drop on it is bad and to deal damage with the tank requires more accuracy than when playing a Vanguard or Magrider as you will need to land more hits to kill. (The prowler has the lowest damage per shot of any MBT baring the Perihelion on the Magrider. with it's AP dealing 600dmg/shot while the magrider deals 750/shot and vanguard deals 850/shot.) This tank punishes misses hard but can honestly out DPS anything else.

    This coupled with, in my opinion, the hardest to use shell arc makes the anchor almost mandatory and like I said, mobility is king and the prowler's main ability requires it to give up any and all mobility, even worst is the deploy time which feels like an eternity in combat. Couple this with the largest tank frame in the game and it has trouble going to places even the vanguard can go and is the easiest target for enemy tanks and air.

    The deployment shield is honestly not worth the certs as it just increases the tank's target profile even more, allowing for enemies to hit you from the safety of cover.

    On paper the Prowler is insane, in practice, it's hard to use, unwieldy and generally comes out last in both fun and power.

    My final tank hierarchy goes as follows: Magrider by a mile, followed by the Vanguard and very slightly behind is the Prowler.

    Don't get me wrong, all of them are fun to use and you might prefer the "Stay back and snipe" approach that the prowler excels at compared to the high mobility weaving of the Magriders or the slow methodic push of a Vanguard. I still play all 3 and find all of them fun in their own way. I could go on and praise and rant on all 3 faction MBTs but this is long enough as it is.

    Please note that I have yet to ever try the Chimera and so nothing about it was mentioned here.

    EDIT: I wanted to adress this but forgot to in the main post.
    Engagement radar is also good to deal with C4 light assault or engineers flanking and placing mines. All around I find it helps newer tank player learn what situation a
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  12. Demigan

    Just because YOU get better results with one over the other does not mean EVERYONE is the same.

    If we look at the overall statistics the Prowler and Magrider are close to each other in performance. Your personal subjective experiences and scores aren’t indicative of what everyone will achieve.
  13. Necrocio

    Ok thanks to everyone. I will play to the TR faction and try the prowler after upgrade my 5 main infantry classes,the first one the medic. But i will try the prowler yes or yes,at the end my favorite faction for good looks is TR. And thanks again all,i read all opinions. I will try the prowler after reach br 70 or so. Tyvm all.
  14. Demigan

    Just jump into a tank every once in a while.

    The Lightning is by all rights a worse tank than the MBT counterparts. Just the loss of the topgun is a massive downgrade. But the Lightning remains a good tank despite it. In all 3 MBT’s you can achieve good things, just as you can achieve good things in the Lightning. Hell the Lightning is secretly the best equalizer in the game due to its cost/effectiveness which wipes out many of the differences between the MBT’s.

    Put it another way, even if you pick the worst MBT a bad tank is still a tank and powerful. Some are just more powerful than others, but if you look at the battlefield there’s an awful lot of targets that aren’t MBT’s to fight.
  15. Necrocio

    Now what put me nervous independentment the faction i choose,is the fact that the pc players want the console versión closed.