It’s time for Santa’s annual vacation, and we hear he’s spending his time spreading cheer and devastation in the arena.

Hello arena family, and welcome back to another Spider Tanks Showcase. Today, we’re wrapping up the holiday season with a special Hero Tank that was far too busy with other duties last week to make an appearance. What better way to kick off the off time of year for this chillingly powerful Tank then with some jolly destruction in the arena?

That’s right, today we’re spending some time with Santa’s Slay. This Tank’s fabrication template was based on Santa Claws– the savage ruler and administer of justice during a series of large and seemingly unrelated festivals surrounding the hibernal solstice of ancient Earth.

Santa lurked in chimneys throughout the world every year, watching everyone– intent on rewarding or punishing each human based on their actions throughout the year in his own twisted brand of holiday justice.

In this tradition, Santa’s Slay also terrorizes its naughty enemies while simultaneously treating its nice allies to some year round holiday perks. It can be easy to underestimate a Tank adorned with snowflakes that has unnervingly wide-eyed elves hanging off of it… but you shouldn’t do that. Santa was once one of the most powerful entities on planet Earth, and his Slay can easily prove to be one of the most powerful in the arena any day of the year.

Santa’s Slay careens around the battlefield in a way that may often seem chaotic to the untrained eye, but master Pilots will know that its swooping, rolling patterns aren’t as much of a weakness as they seem. Its limited movement options somewhat define its playstyle, but not as much as the awesome power of the Snowballer Weapon that comes atop this premade Hero Tank combo.

North Pole Permafrost: Santa’s Slay/Snowballer

Like the Nomad or Snoop’s Bumpin’ Lowrider, the Slay Body isn’t omnidirectional– it will have to move forward or backwards, turning to accommodate each movement. It builds up serious momentum and will continue forward for a moment even when you turn another direction. This means that the best Pilots will operate Santa’s slay without often stopping their forward movement . Loops and donuts are familiar patterns for a Slay, since that means that they can fire off in any direction at surprising speeds.

Why surprising speed? Now we’re getting into The Snowballer. This Weapon will shoot up to two snowball projectiles at a time. They have very decent range and will cross most gaps in the map, such as crevasses or water hazards. They have a relatively limited rate of fire but deal tremendous damage. Perhaps even more importantly than their ability to demolish Tanks, however, is the ice trails that these projectiles leave behind.

The Snowballer will slow any opponent it hits slightly for a short time, but it will also leave ice tracks on the ground tracing the projectile’s path. These will linger for a bit, and any enemy caught on them will be slowed. In addition, any ally on top of them will skate forward with boosted Speed. This means that a Santa’s Slay with good map awareness can effectively control both the allied and enemy movement throughout the match if they are clever about it.

Everybody Chill

This ice trail of Snowballer also boosts your speed, so suddenly one of the slower Tanks in any garage can just cruise across their own ice tracks and push their ride up to some pretty respectable sprint speeds. Combine that with the fact that anyone who may be following you will be slowed on your trail, and suddenly the Slay’s Speed doesn’t seem too lacking.

It can not be overstated how important movement is in virtually any match in the arena. Consistent victory comes from teams that limit the movement of other teams, forcing them to fight on unfavorable terms. Often this just comes from positioning, but Santa’s Slay takes a much more direct approach.

This is why you’ll regularly see Santa’s Slays in matches where their kills and score may not be massive, but they were absolutely essential to victory. Their ability to both buff allies and debuff enemies at the same time is extremely powerful, and regularly makes them useful in a critical support role in teams, even as they are cranking out insane damage.

Due to its movement limitations, a Slay may not be able to dance close range with a more agile Tank and always hold its own. A good Slay Pilot, however, will stay in motion continuously so the opponent can never guess which way they’ll break off. Ice trails let you break these close encounters when you choose… and if the enemy decides to follow you, they’ll be facing your frigid assault on shaky ground.

Sack Full of Toys

Like other Hero Tank combos, Santa’s Slay comes with both the Snowballer Weapon and the Santa’s Slay body. We’ve already discussed a lot of the ways that these two complement each other, but they can each also shine when used apart.

The Slay itself is very similar to the Nomad. Its stats provide the exact same support, though some Pilots will prefer the way one handles over the other. This means that you can use the Santa’s Slay Body with any of the combos that you’d typically use Nomad with. Check out our breakdown on that Body for some great ideas!

The Snowballer offers something a little more unique to your Tank builds. This Weapon is totally different than other since it can buff your team while also debuffing and damaging your enemies, so there are tons of fun ways to play it.

You could put it on a heavier Tank to absolutely dominate positioning in game modes like King of the Hill or Chicken Chaser. Even playing this in a Titan, your ice sheets will help you maneuver to offset some of your lacking Speed, but you’ll be even more capable of directing traffic throughout the Map.

Another option that may get a little crazy sometimes but can be very effective is to slap your Snowballer on a super fast little Tank. You essentially have an extra boost of speed in your pocket whenever you want it, and percentage speed boosts from things like ice paths and Speed Boosters speed up a faster Tank far more than they do a more bulky Body. You’re going to be really, really fast… make sure you can handle it.

We Wish You Merry Battles

Like other non-omnidirectional movement Tanks, some Pilots may have trouble adjusting their playstyle to Santa’s Slay at first. Once you put in some practice with this Hero Tank though, it brings a lot to the battlefield. Don’t let all the jolly accents on that sleigh fool you– Santa’s here to slay!

Unfortunately no Saanta’s Slay are currently available in the Spider Tanks Store, but they can still be found on the official Spider Tanks OpenSea collection!

Like always, the best Tank combo for you is the one you enjoy the most. There are a huge variety of Tank Parts available in Spider Tanks. Knowing more about each Tank Part not only helps you find the perfect build for you, but also to know what you’ll be facing out there in the arena.

Next week, we’ll be featuring the biggest Tank out there– it’s Titan’s turn on the Spider Tanks Showcase. If you have any ways you love to play a Titan, let us know in the comments below or on Discord. You could also tweet an epic Titan clip at us with the hashtag #STShowcase, and your clip may be featured in next week’s edition!