How to beat a vanguard as a prowler?

Most tactics dont dork
I really want to find a way to beat a vanguard 1vs1
1/2 1/2
Flanking-mostly impossible due to inf support or other vanguard support
Straight on assault-sucide
Lockdown- he can go to cover and kite you

Most of the tactics are usually really nanite expensive and i would like to find a good and efficient way

You max stealth and pick your battles.

https://gfycat.com/OrderlyFairLemur

So what you're saying is run basically?

Thats the point i dont see a reason how we can run from them if were spotted

Strategy 1:
Sit close to cover, open fire.
If Vanguard pops shield, return to cover and repair.
After 8 seconds, crush Vanguard.

"but the Vanguard will move up and kill me!"
No he wont, besides, if he does move up you can get at his flank and backside, reducing the shield and increasing your dps advantage. Additionally the chance that said Vanguard will be attacked by more sources increases exponentially when he approaches you which is why Vanguards, and any MBT for that matter, rarely ever try to use such a tactic.

Tactic 2:
Do you really need more tactics? Bait him towards you and use superior speed&maneuverability to beat him. If possible, get a Vulcan and a gunner to truly humiliate him.

Tactic 3:
Its rarely ever impossible to flank any tank, and infantry are even more rarely a problem. Rather than try and flank using the immediate terrain, take a detour. Then just set up, deploy and annihilate. If you are afraid enemies will find and retaliate too quickly (a real possibility if you use an AP Lightning instead of a Prowler for example) then you can wait and pick off damaged vehicles, this reduces the chance they'll notice you killed them from another direction. HE used to be good for this as you could also pick off repaircrews as they exit the vehicle. Now with HE being more powerful vs tanks its even better.

If you can show me how you do it i would be really glad because its always been a one sided battle for me

I'll assume you're new but there really isn't any way for getting better at tanking fast, just like infantry, its all about battle experience. I run full stealth because I know how to read the map a bit better. A 1/2 mbt is a higher hp lightning, while a 2/2 mbt with a decent driver/gunner is a killing machine. But the first thing you need to do is gun for an experienced driver. A good prowler driver is someone who isn't content sitting in the middle of his zerg shelling back at the enemy, usually some of the better prowler I know use full stealth to get to the side or flank of the enemy armour and rain hell on them.

1.Don't chase the harraser/magrider over hilly reagion into their line. Dodging fire and harrasing is their specialty, chasing mean you overextend and hence will get ganged on by their team.

2.Don't fight a vanguard 1v1 or with 2/2 gunners at close range, they are still king of 1v1 close range. What they are bad at is chasing and DPS, so trade blows and retreat to repair, second time around if he already used his shield and you're winning the DPS fight, rush him IFF he alone. If hes close enough to rush you,without you being able to fully repair, it means you got to close to him in the first place.

3.Don't trade blows with a prowler at long range, thats his specialty unless you outnumber and can focus fire him. Inversely, assume you main Tr, lock-down is still a very powerful ability used correctly, be like a sniper and never stay in one place for too long. Even without lockdown a prowler DPS along with something like the vulcan top is still strong enough to crush the magrider or 2 lightnings head on.

4.Look at where you are on the map, and look at where friendlies are, if you're unexperienced its much safer to stay with the zerg before venturing out alone. Push with your infantry or other tanks, never alone.

it's worth noting that you should always carry tank mines when tanking, because if you want to kill a tank of higher crew 2/2 with your 1/2 tank, you can bait them with their arrogance.

find a good hill that you can traverse easy both ways(good in the sense you can do the next part) place the tank mines in a spot where a tank rolling up the hill will hit the crest of the hill and gravity will pull them down partly on the other side right on top of the mines, shoot at the enemy tank near the hill and trade shots as you retreat up and over the hill, they will be encouraged to chase you up the hill seeing you are only 1/2.

even if they see the mines slightly before the point of no return, they won't be able to traverse ether gun to shoot it and with you hammering the enemy tank with shells they won't want to hop out to shoot the mines and instead will retreat back down the hill, then you decide if you want to continue the engagement or try to evade them.

i used that strategy tons of times when i was working on my lightning AP/HEAT/HE and a 2/2 tank showed up to spoil things.

Depends on (1) map area, (2) loadout, (3) enemy loadout, (4) area population, ... long story short, it depends on a crapload of things that you will learn over time. The key point here is situational awareness, defeating a Vanguard can be easy if you know your stuff.

Some generic tips*:

• If you are in full Lockdown when you get the first shot on the Vanguard, you win in mid-to-long range (unless it can retreat to cover, so pick your engagements)

• If you get the first shot at a Vanguard from behind with Lockdown, you virtually always win (he usually won't even have time to even react in any meaningful manner)

• Vanguards (Magriders too) hard-counter Lockdown by charging at your flank, have a few Tank Mines dropped around your sides (your foe doesn't have to run on it, it's enough if it has to come to a full stop and reverse, at that point you burned him)

• Fire Suppression + Vulcan + Stealth + Rival Combat Chassis is brutal on Hossin

• Know and cover your escape routes, as well as routes from which you expect flanking, with Tank Mines (you don't have to kill with them, damaging + having a warning system is also very useful)

• If a Vanguard gets you from behind, you can almost always let it go and just eject and run

• Avoid open-field mid-range encounters: this range is long enough so that you can't use the Prowler's speed to flank, but short enough so that you can't rely on well-prepared Lockdown to outperform

• If you expect close-to-mid range encounters, have Stealth, or you are dead to any competent tanker pair

• Only charge a Vanguard if you are most definitely certain that you can unload at least 4 shells into its ärse before it gets its 3rd shot out (and make sure you'll have enough room to maneuver to keep staying behind it), Fire Suppression is good for this playstyle

(*all assuming no interference from second Vanguard/Lightning or infantry/air, maxed out Prowler, AV gunner, and raw berserk 1-on-1 headbutting)

Stealth and go for the rear. If you're really concerned about fighting armor be sure to bring the AP turret. It sucks but the one less shot to kill means one less reload which means it cuts 3.75 seconds off your TTK.

1. Shoot the Vanguard a few times until it pops its shield.
2. Drive behind cover and repair
3. Vanguard now has no shield and only slightly more health (assuming they even repaired while you did). You have nearly twice the DPS, even without lockdown. Destroy the Vanguard.

Guess I'm confused about why you are not able to pull this off.

How is your accuracy? Do you bracket quickly (first shot too high/low, but second always hits) ?

The shield is super easy to deal with. Pull 3m behind cover and take a moment to repair while it's up. Come back out swinging.

That really shouldn't be the deal breaker though. You can slug it out with him. If hit most of your shots and maneuver enough to make him miss a couple of his it should be close every time.

You all act like the vanguard pilot is an idiot. If he is halfway smart, he will leave the fight after you go behind cover...and come back when his shield is ready again. If he catches you close enough(and he can use the terrain too..not just you) you won't be able to go back into cover.

I love the idea that you just need to hit a few more projectiles than he does. THAT is what is called balance...no...really...

Fact is 1vs.1(same skill expected) on open terrain and you lose. 1vs1 in close combat and you lose. 1vs1 against a smart pilot and you lose. Only chance to win is if the vanguard pilot is less skilled, stupid or has his shield on cooldown. But relax TR...you at least got it better than VS...cause they can't even fight a prowler 1on1. ;-)

Err - have you ever driven a Vanguard ? It's not easy to 'leave' a fight - especially against the sprinter we all know as the Prowler. Honestly it accelerates as fast as Lonesome George, you could go and have a coffee and still catch it up. (In fairness - this is where stealth really comes into its own).

Getting the Vanguard to pop its shield then retreat / hide for a bit is a pretty standard approach.

More often than not, it's the situation that will decide any MBT v MBT engagement - stack the odds in your favor by employing the tactics others have suggested and jobs a good'un.

Finally to the OP - if you think an uncerted / low certed Prowler is bad - you should really try a similar Magrider / Vanguard.

yeah i know the vs got it alot worse

but still i want to concentrate on prowler vs vanguard

so far stealth was more viable and still not as effective as i would like it to be
killing vanguards seems to be hard even in 2 vs 1 and 3 vs 2 battles(2 days ago 2 vanguards killed 8 prowlers(fully certed) with me in a small charge against use and we barely got 1 of them while we got destroyed with a hill advantage)

it seems like the best option to take out vanguards is not on a prowler but on 3 harrasers vs a vanguard
sadly this is the only consistent way of taking them down right now without wasting 900 nanites to take out one vanguard

if they would make the vanguard as expensive as 500 550 it would seem more fair towards the tr and vs as well(i dont think a nerf would handle it well)
or make the vanguards get more shield as they are more certed(not 65% from the begining but 20 then 40 then 50 then 55 then 60% as the prowler doesnt get its deploy dps in the first cert or to make the deploy to be able to move but im not that experienced so... you know you decide on that matter)

anyway the prowlers seem to be not mbt in the tr due to the lack of 1vs1 ability

so they should be used as snipers?

i did manage to get vanguards from a distance but that not possible most of the time in small battles and they usually just get to cover after i used up most of my ammo

and yes im missing shots at medium range but not at close range(less than 100 meters)
kiting techniques seem to be less efficient as well so that strategy is out

im still not giving up so help me out abit

LOL. Leave the fight and come back when his shield is ready again.... when? Like tomorrow or next respawn? Have you ever actually seen a vanguard driver be able to use his shield twice in one fight? Rephrase... use twice in one fight against someone who can actually shoot?

And yes... you need to hit with a few more projectiles than he does. I mean fark man... you only fire them at double the rate... or quadruple depending on lockdown. So yeah, land a few more projectiles.

YOU are acting like the PROWLER driver is an idiot. If so, he's gonna die. What else are you expecting to hear?

We have discussion after discussion about MBTs. The Vanguard does not come out top in these discussions but good arguments are made that it's still close. Then you come along with some grand idea that it's impossible to kill a vanguard with a prowler in a 1v1.

Eyeroll to you sir. Eyeroll. And good day.

Just don't let the game's clumsiest tank corner you into an inescapable situation. Vanguard won't be able to pursue you or flush you out of cover alone unless you truly are brawling it out 1v1 in middle of nowhere.

Vanguard's biggest disadvantages are against other things than tanks anyway, which is why you'll need all the less of 1v1 mentality(especially since tanks weren't designed to just 1v1 one another)

So the Vanguard for NC, becomes more expensive than the Liberator.
While packing the slowest reload, less damage than a prowler, massive sides, longest repair times, highest velocity round (generally), and being entirely reliant on the Shield...
So the NC can pull less tanks, against the TR & VS..

The TR MBT is an artillery tank.
It focuses on firepower.

VS's MBT is an agility-based tank.
It focuses on mobility, to evade, and ambush.

The NC's MBT is the endurance tank.
It is designed to endure; It is the only MBT who's entire focus requires their ability to be used, just to achieve it.

If you manage to empty your entire Prowler's ammo supply, and miss shots that easily..
You don't deserve to face-tank the Vanguard down, as if You weren't facing the tank built for it.


TR has firepower.
Learn to use it, not just ram your tank into everything you see.
Vanguard is designed to endure.
Don't try to face-tank the damn thing, shot for shot, without considering any tactics.
No vanguard thinks to out-volley fire a Prowler.
Nor does either think to out strafe the Magrider.

I'm sure you'll find answers for all your questions concerning the Vanguard if you invest some time in using it.