Prowler Loadouts

I've started a new TR character with the intention of extracting VS tears with a Prowler. What do you artillery operators use for your Prowlers? I'm assuming it's worth it to go AP. Should I go Halberd for secondary? If I just want a machine to rack up as many kills and certs as I can, should I stick with HEAT for those infantry farms, or just go AP all the time?

Also, I've never been clear on what chassis helps climb better. I would think racer due to the acceleration, but I'm told rival increases traction. What should I use there?

AP+ Vulcan for pure anti-vehicle work. This combo will destroy any moving object quickly. I prefer AP for most situations. You can snipe infantry with AP rounds.

I remember a run where I got some competent gunner in my AP+Vulcan prowler and we destroyed soooo many tanks and sundies! I think we alone changed the tide of the battle in our favor. Yes - we got lucky that opposing team didn't have great coordination, but we were able to move in quickly destroy armor and leave area. Setting up with anchor in a tight path-way also can be extremely rewarding as vulcan will shred anything at close range.

HEAT & HE got way over nerfed.

So always use AP if you can.

As many kills and certs as possible:

- AP, max reload (obviously, zoom)
- Vulcan, max reload speed
- Stealth
- Racer chassis
- Anchor

Go behind enemy lines, lock down, take down as much **** as possible, retreat, rinse and repeat. High risk, high reward. Guaranteed LOTS of kills and if you learn how to snipe infantry you won't need HEAT or HE (and using HE makes you a pure victim for other tanks, even lightnings).

HUNT tanks, go to areas with lots of hills (Xelas-Onatha corridor is perfect) and hide behind them, charge through them, be on the front lines. Pick off lightnings, deploy and smash sunderers, flank enemy tanks and get behind them. If you get into 1v1 situations where you're most likely ******, just deploy and fire away and you'll still have a 50/50 chance of winning (also, deployed Prowler/Vulcan always wins against Shield/Enforcer Vanguard). Prowlers absolutely SIT on Magriders, get as close to them as possible and if possible, wedge yourself under them and shoot them in their belly.

Also if you want to climb better, drive backwards, greater traction.

An alternate way of getting as many kills and certs as possible is running HE + Marauder, but this is extremely, EXTREMELY, EXTREMELY niche. You need plenty of ally coverage, massive situational awareness to run like hell from any tank and bases with clustered enemies and a gunner you've got synergy with. But, when done right, a locked down HE + Marauder Prowler can hold off a ******* spawn room zerg on its own. VS Zergfits on Miller account for 70-80% of my HE Aurax AND my driver assists. ******* crazy.

AP is currently the only worthwhile gun.

Cert into lockdown mode and learn to aim with the ap and before you know it, you'll rack up kills sniping infantry.

I prefer rival, as I find the prowler fast enough as is, only use racer on the vanguard. I also run auto repair as i'm usually running solo, and being able to quickly rep the damage from a dumbfire or max weapon without having to stop firing is a great plus when going after infantry.
IMO stealth isn't as great on the prowler because the low dps negates the benefit of sneaking up on vehicles, where as sustained damage with lockdown from a distance is a better way to kill vehicles.

Have you experienced that situation in which you try to deploy your Sunderer, but you keep pushing the key and only works after several seconds? That's what happens with Anchor. So I don't understand how anybody suggests Anchor and Vulcan. You don't get THAT close and wait 5 seconds before shooting, because each moment is chance of being C4ed, or at least spotted and then become everyone's target.

Secondary, depends. Random gunner? Halberd or get a Walker. You need 2 hits to destroy ESFs with the main gun.

Chassis, just test on the VR. Racer is just 10KPH more at top tier, mainly works for hill climbing. Rival gets you a fast turn and decent backwards speed, which helps went you want to retreat.

Don't forget to put certs in the ammo!

Thanks, gents!

Don't underestimate the Halberd. It works better as a secondary if you plan on using the Prowler more as an artillery piece and for sniping at long range.

I would say lockdown (yes you need to fully cert into it), AP with max reload speed (yes the last 1k cert rank there as well), and go with a Halberd. The Vulcan is too close range to use with lockdown (use lockdown up close and you will get quickly C4'd or any enemy tank will just drive behind you.

Erm, the OP is asking for advice on long range bombardment and you're suggesting Vulcans.

Hrm.

If you want to know the performance statistics...

Prowler weapons by KPH:
HE (45.24)
AP (23.65) Ironically better than HEAT at AI work.
Halberd (21.05)
HEAT (20.6)
Vulcan (16.49)
Basilisk (10.07)

Prowler weapons by VKPH:
AP (12.91) Best AP MBT cannon by far
Vulcan (9.39)
Halberd (9.32) Worse than NC or VS Halberds
HEAT (6.06)
HE (4.22)
Basilisk (2.81)

So for primary weapons it doesn't look like there's ever a reason to go with HEAT. AP does better at both AI and AV work... even the Halberd gets more AI kills than the HEAT cannon!

For secondary weapons the Halberd seem preferable because it offers better AI performance while only being slightly worse than the Vulcan at AV work.

Of course those are stats for the "average" player, and your play style may or may not match that of the "average" Prowler crew!

If you want to limit yourself to one type of engagement listen to the guys saying halberd. If you want to be good or maybe great at prowling take this:
Racer 3 (there is no reason to not have racer on a prowler)
Stealth Maxed out (if you can't max it out start off with NAR till you can)
Max lockdown

AP (of course)
Vulcan

You will win most of your close range engagements, and retain the ability to wipe out enemy positions from afar with deploy.
Playing artillery is fun, but you need to be able to destroy vanguards in close range as well. BUT I digress, its more about what your gunner prefers so if you got a dedicated buddy ask him.

Like many have said already.

The basic core of a Prowler-setup goes like this. Play like this 90% of the time:

AP
Vulcan
Racer
Anchor Mode

This is the only 'true answer' and everything else is just wrong. End of story.

So for some individual 'variance':


Really the only variance that you can "decide yourself" is what to put in the defense slot.
Some say Stealth, some NAR, some even Proximity Radar. If really NEW character maybe even use the first levels of Mine Guard while you cert up the rest of the tankt. All option here CAN WORK - you must decide yourself what YOU like and adjust you gameplay around this. This is very PERSONAL and dont let ppl (pp like me) decide for you how you should choose the defense slot. The defense-slot is the least important aspect of any tank and therefor also the most 'individual' and most viable to experiment with. You can wait with maxing these options until your basic setup have decent upgrades.

But for normal, general play - never switch or tinker with the BASIC SETUP.

All you gotta do is just deploy it straight after you buy it. Ram the deploy key until it does, then afterwards it will deploy just fine.

If I unlocked the Halberd for my Vanguard, will it be unlocked for the prowler? Long shot, I know.

Thanks for the help, guys. I'll probably go with Racer, Lockdown, AP, and Halberd. Sill undecided on if I should go for stealth if I'm looking specifically for long range engagements.

Nope... something about ball bearings being the wrong size or something. It's like when I go to Home Depot with an advert from Lowes for their price matching thing but they point out that while it's fundamentally the exact same product the product code is different.

One benefit of Stealth that isn't related to direct combat is that it's slightly more difficult for aircraft to pick you out. Not saying that the reason justifies taking Stealth, but it can be something to consider.

Good point, Chingles. Is NAR or armor worth it over stealth for long range, people? Or should I stick with stealth?

One thing I found depressing while I was rolling around in my prowler today was the fact that you can't one-shot ESF's. I still blasted a scythe out of the air, but having to hit it twice made me sad.

If your intent is to extract VS tears, then you will be going against Magriders in your Prowler. For that you will need to get close and personal to reduce the effectiveness their advantages while increasing your own. So you will need racer and stealth to close that range and go unnoticed doing so. Also go AP with Vulcan (and a decent gunner that knows when to hold or fire at the right time) so you can lay down the maximum damage as quick as possible. Go with fire suppression, because you will trade damage and this will help come out on top in those clutch plays when you get caught off guard or judged the situation incorrectly. Then you just need to learn the terrain and the best way to use it. Look to clear the stragglers around the fight before moving in.

Just one question though - who is John Galt?