For this spotlight, we’re heading slow and steady towards victory with the Tortoise! This reptilian wrecker comes with the Blade Spinner– deadly from both near and far.
Welcome back to another edition of the Spider Tanks Showcase! This time we’re giving you a close up view on a community favorite and a serious force to be reckoned with in the arena.
This showcase is all about Tortoise. It keeps itself protected in combat with plenty of Armor, but it can also snap out of its shell at a moment’s notice to gobble up unsuspecting Tanks. Don’t underestimate this massive machine.
Tortoise isn’t as impenetrably Armored as Titan, but it still boasts more protection than nearly every other Body out there. The small tradeoff it makes in Armor compared to the biggest Tanks is made up for by a little extra Speed.
Tortoise also has a very respectable Energy– close to that of Nomad or Santa’s Slay. More maneuverability and the ability to use more Abilities means this Tortoise can adapt to situations far more effectively than a lot of other heavy Tanks in the arena.
The Hare’s Nightmare: Tortoise/Blade Spinner
A Tortoise isn’t just another heavy Tank Body with a cool, half-shell style. As a Hero Tank, Tortoise comes as a package deal with its signature Blade Spinner Weapon. This makes it a beastly build in the arena straight out of the box. Tortoise’s slow and methodical movements are complemented by Blade Spinner’s unique attack style and blindingly fast projectile speed.
The Blade Spinner launches out a single spinning blade of death that can be charged up to control its distance. They’ll zip out of your Tortoise’s mouth and decelerate as they rush towards the opponent, with their range depending on how long you charge your shot. Once they reach the max distance, they’ll slow down and turn about. They are just as deadly on the way back to Tortoise’s waiting maw as they were coming out. This not only means a Pilot that’s skilled at firing a Blade Spinner can hit another Tank twice with one shot, but means you can absolutely devastate your opponents if you fire perfectly to make the blade stop and reverse right on top of them.
It can take some Pilots a little while to get used to the very different feel of Blade Spinner… but opponents will also have trouble adapting to it! Especially in frenzied assaults, opponents exert so much effort dodging the shots coming from one side that they can often forget to look for what’s coming back at them from behind.
Slow and Steady Wins the Brawl
Tortoise may be slow compared to most other Tanks, but with a Weapon that fires as far as Blade Spinner does, that can sometimes be an advantage. A Tortoise Pilot that’s well practiced with the Blade Spinner can snipe someone from behind the protection of other Tanks nearly all the way across the arena, but when pressed they can still be deadly at close range.
Blade Spinner’s projectiles shoot at much higher velocity than most other Weapons. With how fast blades spit out the mouth of Tortoise, an opponent may not even have a chance to dodge a full strength blade before it gets to them.
Shots taken right at an opponent could hit multiple times, but can be dodged much more easily since they slow as they approach. These big hits are worth it if you can reliably pull them off — A well placed direct hit could shred a Tank to scrap even from full Armor. You also have the freedom to blast the enemy at full power so they just can’t get out of the way though. Knowing how to use this versatility is the key to really excelling with Tortoise.
A Blade Spinner won’t fire very quickly though, and with very long shots your projectile may be a long time returning to your mouth. This means it’s important to know your capabilities and time your shots right. A Tortoise with a Blade Spinner can be the bane of an opposing team in the hands of someone who knows what they’re doing, but without practice you may miss too many opportunities to deal damage.
Tinkering with the Tortoise Combo
Both Tortoise and Blade Spinner are solid Tank Parts, and they can be used to great effect with other Parts in your Garage. Tortoise itself is a nice choice for someone who wants a heavy Tank with good Energy, but would rather have a little more maneuverability than the lumbering Titan and wants to avoid the more limited movement of a Tank like Nomad.
While it doesn’t move a lot faster than Titan, that little bit of extra speed makes a world of difference — especially when you’re up against another big hunk of metal. Its huge Armored shell is great at keeping it in one piece, which can give you a lot more flexibility in how you play your favorite Weapons.
Blade Spinner with a different Body can be a lot of fun as well. With how fast and far it can shoot, imagine a tiny, zippy Tank like Flea firing spinning blades across the arena! No one in the arena is safe from a fast combo with a Blade Spinner like this, but it can be incredibly hard to have the precision that this Weapon requires while moving too fast. Most Pilots will find that a medium Body like Muzzle is a much better fit for a more mobile Blade Spinner build.
Some Tortoise Tanks are still for sale in the Spider Tanks Store! Keep an eye out, and you may even catch one on a daily Tanksgiving sale through the end of November!
The Glorious Tortoise
Squaring up across the arena from a Tortoise can be intimidating, but having one on your side could be a huge asset. This Tank isn’t easy to master, but hopefully this feature has given you some insight into how you can dominate the arena with this Hero Tank.
You haven’t heard the last of us here at the Spider Tanks Showcase! We’ll be back later this week with some festive holiday poultry, arena style. We don’t have any turkeys in the arena, but the people of the galaxy still tell the tales of the mighty chicken of old Earth– the greatest alpha predator the universe has ever seen.
That’s right! When we come back we’re going to have a discussion about the Alpha Executioner, and it’s going to be finger-lickingly explosive! Let us know your favorite strategies with this mighty bird in the comments below or in Discord… or you can always tweet a clip to us with the hashtag #STShowcase!
