Spider Tanks Showcase: Junker
Today we’re diving into everything about arena strategy with the well-rounded Junker Body.
Welcome back for yet another Spider Tanks Showcase. Today we’re looking at the Junker! This balanced Body has a fairly even distribution of Armor, Speed and Energy. This allows it to bring tons of distinct strategies to the arena.
A Junker definitely isn’t Junk. In the arena, the extreme weaknesses of a very heavy or very light Body are often what gets you into trouble. Junker is the entire package wrapped into one, which means that opponents will have a hard time figuring out your vulnerabilities.
Since Junker’s stats are solid all the way around, it can vary up strategies to a changing battlefield easily. Different Abilities can further extend your “destructive range”, and it’s tough to find a Weapon combo that Junker can’t make work.
The All Arounder: Junker/Cannon
The versatility that Junker brings to the table means that you can adapt to a myriad of different situations. There’s few weapons that share that synergy as well as the Cannon.
Cannon is a real classic. Historians believe that they were originally invented on ancient Earth somewhere around the 12th century as a method of sending messages over large city walls. Today, they find new use in the arena as one of the most reliable instruments of destruction out there.
Cannon gives you three shots in the chamber, which will reload pretty quickly even while you shoot. This means that you can either utilize it for quick 3 shot bursts, or space out your fire for continual assault. With Junker’s ability to adapt to any challenge, this means that you can vary your strategy effectively to more situations. Nothing will catch you on uneven footing.
Cannon’s range is above average in the arena. While there are some things that may snipe you, dodging with Junker should be fairly easy. You don’t lumber around the battlefield like a Titan, and unlike some of the faster Bodies like Flea, Junker is cool and collected enough that you rarely lose control of it and end up where you don’t want to.
The biggest advantage of a Cannon is that you can close the distance or move away from enemies without hurting the effectiveness of your firepower. Junker’s four padded feet can do some fancy dancing to get you from point A to point B safely… all while you are still lighting up the opposition.
Mobile Assault: Junker/Gatling Gun
The Gatling Gun is a powerful Weapon in the hands of someone who knows how to use it, but it has some drawbacks that need to be strategically accounted for. Winding up the Weapon and reloading take a long time, often leaving you helpless in the meantime. You are also considerably slowed while firing, which means you have to be clever about your escape plan if things should go bad.
Protip: The reload button (default R) is your best friend with Gatling Gun. Any time you know you’ve got the time, reload that thing back to max so you never get caught sputtering out!
Junker is tough enough to take a few hits if you get stuck in a bad place while slowed or reloading. Junker is also fast enough to get out of that bad place quickly. This versatility can be amped up even further with Abilities like Speed Booster or Shield Drone.
Success with a Gatling Gun often depends on creating opportunities for clean shots where you can lay lots of rounds into your opponents. A solid medium Body like Junker is absolutely perfect for giving yourself the best tools to create those opportunities.
With a super heavy Tank, you may have to rely on opponents coming to you to feel your bullet rain. With a super light, fast Tank, you won’t catch many shots in a row on someone unless they mess up with some basic zig and zag fundamentals. Either way, you’re waiting on someone else to make a mistake. Junker lets you effectively take the fight to the opponent faster.
Front Line Artillery: Junker/Crossbow
This build suggestion is similar to the Gatling Gun, in that you use the versatility of Junker to account for the weaknesses in the Crossbow. A Crossbow isn’t overall weak (quite the opposite), but while you’re pulling back your bolt you’ll be significantly slowed.
Playing as a Crossbow on a heavier Tank often results in getting swarmed. Your opponents will know that you aren’t headed anywhere fast, and you’ll be even slower while firing. Crossbow in a lighter Tank lets you maneuver between shots, but your Speed may actually make it harder to hit your targets with more relative velocity to account for. Plus, you’re made of glass and only shoot one bolt at a time. One mistake and you’re component dust.
Junker gives you the best of both worlds. You have the durability to not be relegated to sniping from the back, and the Speed to dance around the majority of projectiles. This ability to function up close and in your face with a Crossbow can be devastating when you’re able to skewer all three opponents at once.
Run in circles and figure 8s with your Junker while firing and keep mixing up your pattern. As you improve with the ballistics of the Crossbow, you’ll be able to use your steady looping pattern as a way to estimate and time shots on moving enemies. This also lets you duck into safer areas regularly to pull that string back for a big shot once you pop back out into the fray.
The Junk Maker
The Junker may seem like a lukewarm sort of Body to those who crave the extreme at first, but there’s a lot to be said for balance in the arena.
Hopefully the few builds we’ve spotlighted here help you understand why Junker is a powerful force in the arena. As with every Body though, the best way to play with Junker is always the way that is the most fun for you!
At the time of this article, there are still some rarities of Junker available in the Gala Games Store!
Remember, you can always try out any Body or Weapon in the Shooting Range!
We’ll be back next week with all the force of Hurricane– the balanced levitator with a little extra Speed behind it.
Are you an ace Hurricane Pilot? Let us know your favorite builds on Discord or in the comments below for a chance to be featured next week!
