Honest opinion on the VS Mag Rider?

Hey there!

What do you all think about the VS Mag Rider?
Just to get a little bit of a discussion going in regards to piloting it / fighting against it and generally its presence on the map.

Do you think its maneuverability is a good compromise for its bullet drop / damage output compared to other tanks?
Have you actually engaged a target where maneuverability has given you an upper edge?

Is the boost comparable to anchor or shield? if so, how did you escape / Saw someone escape or perhaps use it offensively?

How about the secondaries that can go on it, The Saron? or the latest addition, Aphelion? or the PPA?
Good things? comparable to the gatekeeper? vulcan? enforcer?

Just want to get a broader perspective on whether or not people like / dislike it.

As a vanu player I use magrider much as a gunner/driver have lumifiber with it. Well this tank is fun but very situational if you face enemy tank in close range face to face you probably gonna die unless those enemys are newbies withount upgrades and low skilled. To be good with magrider you have to engage enemy tanks from behind. To be OP with magrider you have to take advantage from terrain (mountains/hills) where you can hide from enemys and where they can"t reach you.

The Magrider is easily the most unique of and interesting main battle tank in both playing experience, and overall concept; it hovers and can, (eventually), reach any location, provided that the inclination allows, (this gives it a considerable advantage over enemies in the sense that it can reach locations other tanks cannot). The Magrider can also strafe from side to side unlike the other MBTs, while keeping its front to the enemy, (reducing damage coefficient and keeping your main gun pointed towards your target), and the strafing allows it to race from cover to cover and evade rockets & tank shells. Furthermore, to add to its uniqueness, it also has an afterburner you can invest in, which allows it to reach speeds unrivalled by another land vehicle other than the Harasser for a brief amount of time, making it even more evasive, and adding to its capabilities that it can climb and reach locations other ground vehicles cannot.

It pays a great price for all these unique traits though: its main gun is mounted frontally with no main armament turret traverse, and can only move up and down with limited gun elevation - unlike the Prowler and the Vanguard, the Magrider cannot defend itself against aircraft with its primary armament. Moreover, the main gun is also mounted distressingly low on the chassis: this makes chest-high walls one of your worst enemies and makes shooting over small inclines nearly impossible. Unlike the Prowler and to some extent the Vanguard, the Magrider cannot reliably hull-down with its main gun, and relies on its secondary armament more for compromising situations. The tank itself also rotates very slowly - slower then the turrets on any other MBT; if a Magrider is caught from behind it has a greater chance of being knocked out and henceforth destroyed than any other MBT. To make matters worse the rear hit-box of the Magrider is vertically the largest of any MBT, making it easier to hit from a distance and from the air. As a result, the Magrider relies very much on its secondary weapon and gunner for survival and dealing damage, and more so than the other two MBTs.

Which brings us to the matter of the Magrider's unique anti vehicle secondary weapon, the Saron Heavy Rail Beam, (or Saron HRB, for short). Quite honestly it is the second best of all three, (beaten by the MR11 Gatekeeper, though this is still a formidable gun, and back in its day was quite the overpowered weapon, to say the least). It is a single-shot rail gun with long range, high accuracy and enough damage to one-shot most infantry, (or at least two-shot them at any rate), shred through tanks and carve through their armour, and if you can land the shot, seriously damage a fighter. It functions as a second main gun in the simplest terms and covers the weakness of Magrider's main gun. Another good gun that has recently been introduced is the Aphelion - the one I prefer. This is like a VS Vulcan clone with an interesting effect that, with charged fire, has a burst effect with a large firing cone, (i.e. the burst is fired as a horizontal line of bullets that disperse with distance), and is very capable against infantry and vehicles alike. This weapon, like the Saron, has no bullet drop, and these are your best bets when driving a Magrider - they are the most used and the most successful in battle, all-in-all. Plus, they look good, sound awesome, and are brilliant guns that compensate for the Magrider's main weaknesses.

Overall, the Magrider fares the best of any MBT in areas with a great deal of cover and in smaller engagements due to its ability to evade fire and escape situations which would destroy any other MBT, though as the scale of the engagement increases the Magrider sharply dips in effectiveness. The main gun being mounted in the hull as a fixed weapon, its slow turning speed, and reliance on strafing and cover mean the Prowler and Vanguard will both beat it in larger scale battles unless the Magrider makes liberal use of its ability to attack from unexpected angles. They are also by far the worst MBTs for a siege, their low mounted guns mean fences and low obstructions are a serious issue and there are many ways to exploit their large rear hit-box by attacking from rooftops or windows. Magriders will also almost always lose brawls, because other tanks can drive underneath them, stay there, (or avoid the Magrider's main gun), and finish him from below. However, the Magrider can tactically advantage itself with its climbing abilities and afterburner, which result in suitable suppressing fire onto enemy facilities because it can climb mountains that overlook enemy territory - a huge advantage for supporting attacking team-mates.

I hope this helps!
Cyn.

I think it's an overpowered, annoying curse on the game.

Its mobility makes up for its bullet drop and damage output several times over.

From my experience, I can go four hours regularly, sometimes without ever getting out to repair, because I often self repair before I get hit again.

It's ridiculous that this thing is allowed to exist in its current state. But at least the gatekeeper shut it down a bit, a long awaited nerf, although indirect.

The NC don't have much from their own vehicles to face it, but they have the ravens.

As for the Magburner, no...it's not comparable to the others because it functions too differently.

The Aegis shield is part of the NC's defensive capabilities, it makes sense. The Anchor mode for the Prowler is part of the TR's orientation around suppression and ridiculous firepower.

The Magburner is more of a means of escape, or hunting down opponents. Which means where a Vanguard or Prowler would be destroyed, the Magrider can jump to safety if it's close. Or where a Prowler or Vanguard can't pursue a Harasser, the Magrider can get the critical few seconds it needs, to get the kill.

But as far as I know, Magburner has never really been useful outside of that, and dashing behind cover when you're locked on.

So overall, how it feels fighting it?

It feels like a nightmare sometimes, you really just love it when you kill one, but I also hate them, because they are ridiculous machines.

And how it feels piloting it...strange.

Mainly because you never really get to pilot hover tanks, and here you are, and it does perform a lot different than normal tanks. But I also feel like a God, because it's hard to kill my Magrider.

As a Lightning, the Magrider seems like the most dangerous out of the three MBTs.

Vanguards are slow and rather easy to avoid or escape. No reason to try and go head-to-head with them. Just disappear.
Prowlers of course are lethal... but you kinda expect that out of them. They hit hard and are reasonably speedy. But a locked-down Prowler is rather easy to avoid.

Magriders though... those will pop out from over a ridge that you thought was secure. And due to not being slowed down by terrain, they are the most difficult to lose in a chase.

Statistically to a Lightning, Prowlers kill the most per hour of usage, followed by the Magrider. The Vanguard is the least threatening tank to a Lightning.

Lightning Deaths/MBT Hours Played
Prowler AP- 120.4 (50,178/416.8)
Magrider AP- 108.5 (36,459/336.1)
Vanguard AP- 102.7 (41,685/405.7)

People hate it because it is VS. Doesn't matter what the stats say, if VS has it, it is OP because it "feels" OP. It should nerfed so it doesn't have the mobility, DPS, or HP. Then it will be balanced because it will make them TR/NC sh***ers* feel better about themselves.

* Most of TR/NC are not like this but there are a few loud and proud forumside warriors here who just love to get their hyperbole on.

Magrider is annoying, nothing more. 9/10 times in a 1v1 fight, the Magrider will bite the dust (ADADAing really only works against players who don't aim well in tanks, and over large distances the Magrider's velocity is too low to compete). The only strength it really has is flanking, there they can make an impact, but still, most able/experienced drivers won't allow themselves to get blindsided.

Prowler = Vanguard > Magrider tbh

Have you even used the Saron? It is a 6 mag gun and it does not one shot infantry, nor does it two shot them. It's 3 shots without Nano or shield and only on direct hit so no spamming it due to cof bloom...

I said most infantry - a shot to the head from the Saron on an Infiltrator, for example, will kill him, whereas against something with more health it will not. Of course, shots to the head on any infantry with this weapon is an extreme rarity, though often one shot is enough to disable enemy shields depending on the range of engagement and what class they're playing, (for instance, a class with less health/shields such as the Infiltrator or a Light Assault). Furthermore, at point blank ranges, the Saron will often reliably two-hit kill infantry units.

Also, you don't seem to understand that when I say "single-shot", I mean that it is not fully automatic; you have to keep clicking to keep the gun firing, (semi-automatic). I know that it is a 6-shot weapon, and I have used the Saron quite a bit. In my experience with it, you can and often will two-shot enemy infantry units, and in some cases one-shot them if you are lucky enough to hit them in the head - a rarity when using this gun, though a possibility nonetheless.

It mirrors my experience with prowlers and magriders. Prowler just destroys ****, but you can make reasonable assumptions about the vectors of attack, try maneuvering to avoid long LoS, etc. When I see a magrider in midrange and there is nothing stopping it from advancing like an established frontline with a lot of firepower to back it up, I know I can write off my ride in that very moment. Trading blows is useless, because it's an MBT with a hp and firepower advantage, you won't outmaneuver it either and if it smells your blood it can dash with magburn and finish the job easily. And even if you have the initiative and positional advantage things can go south fast, just lose traction for a second in a rough terrain and slide in a ridiculous manner exposing your weak armor. One shot to the *** and the tables are turned. Did I mention that traction of brick tanks ******* sucks?
Magrider is MBHarasser and i hate harassers for their ability to dictate the encounter with nominally superior vehicles.

I dislike driving the magrider. I love being a gunner for one, though. I stopped pumping certs into my magrider simply because it doesn't pay off. There's simply too much terrain where the magrider is at a heavy disadvantage. In case of enemy armor, I don't bother and just grab some other form of AV, simply because it's more effective than using the actual VS tank to fight tanks.

Yes, it can get into neat spots, but that's rarely useful beyond farming infantry. I severely dislike the afterburner as well. It'll so rarely save you, only real use is boosting it into the aforementioned neat spots. I'm sure there's lots of people who will disagree, but I can't help feel what I feel about the magrider being an inferior tank to the Prowler and Vanguard.

The problem with Harassers is they are annoying as hell but i cant say they arnt balance they can easily outmaneuver you but they are damaged by everything and require at least two people to function as anything other than a mobile turret the problem is they would technically lose every fight if their opponent didnt miss any shots but lets be real how realistic is that they are a 2 person crew that means 1 person focused entirely on evasive maneuvers and 1 focused entirely on killing you as to where in a lightning one person has to try and do both and will do neither nearly as well as a harasser.

on another note i think lightnings need to be cheaper they dont have the same firepower as an ESF but cost the same but they are better than harassers for 1 man crews so i dont think they need to be buffed just made a bit more inexpensive

No it will not. It doesn't have a headshot multiplier.


Anyway, if people want information on the magrider, or any of the MBTs there's a handy dandy subreddit for it.

https://www.reddit.com/r/planetsidearmor/wiki/armorpedia

The Magrider is a good tank, but just like the other tanks. You need to fight in regards to its strengths rather than expecting you can fight however you want or like a NC Vanguard or a TR Prowler. Same with the other two tanks as well. On the Magrider I recommend using the Rival combat chassie in order to increase its main strengths. Increased strafing and reverse, which also makes it easier to climb hills via... reversing and strafing.

Do you think its maneuverability is a good compromise for its bullet drop / damage output compared to other tanks? YES
Have you actually engaged a target where maneuverability has given you an upper edge? YES

Is the boost comparable to anchor or shield? YES, and just like the NC shield most of the time its a "get out of dodge" ability. Not an attack ability. Using Mag burn in another combat oriented way is obviously not recommended unless the enemy is clearly losing and trying to escape (not just baiting you on to a AT mine). You also only need Mag burn at level 1 to be effective.

How about the secondaries? They are alright. Not as good as TR, but better than NC options.
The Saron is arguably better than the Halberd and better than the Enforcer (If you are NC, use the Halberd instead), but not on par with the Vulcan or current OP Gate Keeper. Both the Aphelion and PPA are were they should be on a tank, but the Aphelion is a bit OP on the Harasser in my view once "spun up". They are both better than the NC version, but not as good as the TR versions.

What are the biggest threats to the Magrider?
The long range camping Gate Keeper and Phoenix swarms (more than one focus fire). If a Magrider pilot is too stupid to understand when he should back off in regards to facing those weapons in a overall disadvantageous situation. They will most likely die and feel the Magrider is under powered, but its actually just their tactics that are. (What is OP about the Gate Keeper btw is that no weapon can really fight back against it at very long range..., but that will be nerfed at some stage.) Otherwise long range engagements is more about skill and support rather than weapon easy of use and TTK.

This isn't true, the real projectile comes out of the camera and not the actual gun (what comes out of the gun then tries to line itself up with the true projectile). The camera on the Magrider seems about even with the Prowler in terms of height with the Vanguard being the lowest (meaning it is actually the worst to hull-down).

'Damaged by everything' is an overrated downside. I'd risk saying that the vast majority of their deaths is from AV capable weapons either way because they don't have to accept your small arms plinking, they are the fastest ground vehicle and have turbo. If they die to an LMG they were greedy plain and simple (and lucky to not be dead already), which i assume is a par for course for harasser users at this point, as they rarely get punished for overextending compared to pretty much everything else in the game (thanks built-in turbo -_-). It's alpha strike or forget it.
Perfect play in a lightning merely staves off a decent harasser crew for maybe 20 seconds, sooner or later "they caught me slippin' " and it takes at least 3 shots to gib them which takes approximately as much time as you have.

The problem i have with the current state of harassers is that they kill viability of flanking in lightnings that are supposedly made for it (relatively fast and maneuverable, not that awesome at tanking damage). You cannot separate from the mechazerg in a lightning because the very first harasser you meet will happily take the trade and win.
I think that harassers being able to win in a straight 1v1 against a lightning is ultimately damaging as the lightnings effectively lack the tactical niche. MBTs and harassers are all you'll ever need, they cover everything and do it better.

true. Lightning is pathetic in cost effectiveness compared to on man armies (ESFs) and harassers that should rather be called face-melters that cost 75 per head.

That said ....







The magrider does have a unique disadvantage as far as aiming up is concerned, made worse by the lower velocity (and not helped by the lack of a turret).

my honest opinion:

I LOVE the magrider.. the most fun tank to drive...

It helps if you play other tanks, to see what they can and cannot do..

Also, plenty of great videos on youtube from some excellent MagRiders.. watch and learn.

Oh, and change your mouse vehicle turning up.. makes the Mag turn faster..

Good luck.

I like the concept of the Magrider, I.E. A FLOATING/STRAFING TANK, but I chose TR in the end and now hate them. I always seem to run into them whilst en-route to my next waypoint and can never bring them down. They strafe out of the way of my rocket launcher and I have been crushed by magriders a fair amount (as in literally ran over by them). In contrast, I don't think I've ever SEEN a vanguard (I only have 15 hours game time though, I can't say much).

Purely based on all the opinions I flew over whilst choosing an empire, the Magrider is one of the best ground vehicles out there, and definitely worth using if you're a VS player.

Oh for ***** sake, for the damn last time, Magrider is in fact OP, the weapons are not that bad as you think, regarding you can SLIDE or even FALL without nearly ANY damage. You can just as easily dodge projectiles just as you move, even at close range VERY quickly. BUT WAIT, did I mention the secondary gun? Including the new Vanu maggy gun, you can double your output from a medium distance range! And compare to a Vanguard, which has nearly ZERO range due to a admittedly horrible main gun, even worse can be said for its secondaries, aside from NS guns provided, which has almost ZERO range(BTW, I mean the AP ones, C85 canister doesn't count). And Prowlers? OH JOY! Just snipe all the NC from 350-600m away! While the NC has a pitiful 200-500m of range effectiveness. And out performed by faster Magriders and Prowlers. I don't even NEED a damn graph or data. All of you damn know the fact, but never admit how pitiful Vanguards often are. Any counter arguements? Because if so, to Magrider speed, you have MAGBURNERS, and for the TR, you have a tank lock that hakes most shots at range nearly insta hit. Damage profiles don't matter at this point in range terms. TR tanks look like their dmg is bad, but they have a clip size of TWO, Vanguards almost never have the bullet velocity range, due to Prowlers locking on and easily out-ranging Vanguards anyways.