Magrider vs Vanguard

I'm having absolutely no difficulties in destroying Prowlers with my Mag, but when it comes to Vanguards the fights seem downright unfair. Basically the only situation where a single Prowler can beat me and my driver in a fight is when he gets close with the Vulcan which is about 10% of the time, but fighting a Vanguard is basically having to destroy two Prowlers due to its shield.

Now I know that the "proper" way to fight Vanguards is from range, with Saron or Halberd but this kind of scenario isn't really fair since at long range fights the Vanguard can just get to cover and effectively bail out from the fight.

I suppose people who drive Prowlers are asking themselves the same thing when facing Magriders, so is it all rock-paper-scissors when it comes to the 3 MBTs or is there a viable tactic/scenario I can work for to get the upper hand against Vanguards when in a Mag?

Nope.


Engaging a vanguard up close isnt exactly the best of ideas but try to magburn past him then pummel his rear (as wrong as that may sound)

Swagburner just needs a massive buff, allowing horizontal movement and much larger amount of fuel

I don't agree about a "massive" buff, but it definitely NEEDS to become omnidirectional.
Currently the Magrider shows that SOE is really confused and doesn't know what to do with faction traits, as the Mag's cannon has the biggest drop and slowest velocity in a faction where there shouldn't be drop.

But this isn't a "buff the Mag" thread, me and my brother do exceptionally well against Prowlers, but it seems that the Vanguard is downright better in tank to tank combat.

Think how we feel in prowlers buds. just double up on them or at least have a good gunner.

I hate Magrider pilots who stay 150m+ away from me and shell me while strafing. There's basically no way I'm hitting them with my main gun unless I'm using AP shells, and even then I rely on my gunner (or myself swapping seats) to output some consistent damage to the Mag because the secondary guns have a higher velocity. Then once they get damaged enough they'll hide behind a rock and then start it all over again. Vanguard vs. Mag is about the greatest stalemate battle you can have in a tank. It's very balanced. Just yeah don't get too close cause that's when the Vanguard has the edge.

The Vanguard has far more armor and does more AP damage than the Magrider. It IS a downright better for tank vs. tank combat.

Vanguard also have insane front armor, I forget the numbers but if you don't focus on getting hits up his tail pipe, you'll probably lose.

May I ask one sincere question.
I see lots of Vanu complain that Vanguards are very tough to kill.

How do you deal with AP - Vulcan Prowlers then? These things shred other things to pieces in seconds. Hell even almighty Vanguard shield lasts only 3 secs instead of 8.

I can only imagine how fast Magriders die to that beasts.

It may not make much sense and I agree with that sentiment, but it's for balance reasons. The Magrider used to have faster projectile and less drop than Prowler/Vanguard and it was too powerful. Prowlers and Vanguards couldn't land a shot on the strafing Mag while the Mag had free xp from shooting at a stationary target incapable of lolstrafing. The Prowler/Vanguard shell velocities were buffed in the name of balance, and they're both better tanks because of it. Yeah the projectile drop may suck, but it brings everyone into balance. You have the hardest tank to hit and you are firing at the easiest tanks to hit, balance is a b****.

As a vanguard driver, the Magriders I have the most trouble with know their surroundings well.

Try to have higher ground. Use cover and strafe often and spastically; don't use the same strafe pattern.

Don't get to close on your own. Your better off plinking it from mid range then charging in on it due to the shield.

Try to trick the driver into using his shield early. A shot from behind can get this done or a volley of shots from your secondary cause damage quickly and can also scare the vanguard into shielding. Once the shield is used game on use magburn to get in better killing position or behind it.

Vanguard IS the 1v1 dominant tank, AI it's basically useless... Have you ever seen a Vanguard with HE?

I personally find Magriders a bigger threat than Prowlers. Until the Prowler deploys at least.

A few times back in Beta when I was still trying factions out, yeah. Oh, the days of HE dominance and Zephyr maniacs.

The vulcan has a short effective range and most prowler gunners will use it far too early and give you time to back off. But yes, if they get in close the vulcan will shred the magrider too, faster then the main gun. Honestly though, I haven't seen it that often. Or vulcan harassers for that matter.

Vangards are more of a challenge because of the shield. You basically can't fully engage unless you know the shield is on cool down. So basically you hide and stalk until you see an advantage.

I would say stick to medium range when fighting Prowlers. Its too close to lock down, and also to far for the Vulcan to be extremely effective.

You should never be going 1v1 in a tank. Always have a wingman. Basic Tanker stuff.

Lol no. These things were nerfed, errr, slapped on the wrist for a reason. Their terrain exploitation, Saron, and strafing are still far too powerful of tools for a single tank to have. The Vulcan is OP on the prowler, but that tank is semi-manageable. Which brings us back to the same old issue: the vanguard has crap secondary weapons, still. The enforcer is meh, and the modified is a joke.

Given that an AP/Vulcan Prowler outruns, outguns and outranges a single Magrider with FPC/Saron, our best chance is to take them from behind, and even then itll probably be 60/40 in thier favor.

Aaaaand exactly what RPS benefit does the prowler have over Vanguard? We have the same exact issue as you do. Going at a vanguard head on is 80% of the time suicide or pretty close to it. And if they have the shield then you're completely pooed. The only "advantage" prowlers seem to have is turn tail and run but that's not what I call "winning a fight"

Today I was running on my Mag with a friend and we blew up tons of Prowlers and Vanguards. There is no doubt that the Vanguard is a tougher opponent. Especially if equipped with AP cannon. We paid close attention to what cannon they had. If it was AP and the Vanguard knew we were there and faced the front armor towards us, we escaped.

My Magrider setup is this:
AP main cannon with maxed reload speed + thermal
Saron with maxed reload + thermal
Maxed out stealth
Maxed magburner
Maxed Rival chassis

Our tactic was to just use the stealth in order to get behind enemy tanks. All I can say about Stealth is why on earth do I see so few using it?! Its absolutely redicilous how well we can sneak up on enemy with it.

Anyways the plan against Vanguards was that we got behind them as close as possible and I fired the main cannon and my gunner unloaded the Saron on rear armor at the same time. We always managed to get full damage in before the shield went on. Once that happened I tryed to to strafe around it and keep his rear armor on sight while waiting for the shield to shut down. If it managed to turn around I used magburner to jump over it. And then we finished it off. Usually we lost about half the health in the process especialky if Vanguard had AP cannon.

Against Prowlers with that tactic it was a no brainer who wins the fight once we managed to land first shots on rear armor, but against Vanguard there was always this fear we might still lose. But Iam ok with the fact Vanguards being the best on tank vs tank combat.

Prowlers are the best against infantry and therefore they usually run with HE or HEAT cannon = easy XP for my Mag.