Team Fortress 2

Team Fortress 2

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[MvM] Tanks: Shredding Steel
By waltuh, put the bile away waltuh
An analysis and guide on the various Tanks in Valves Mann Up tours.
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Introduction
Tanks, a staple of MvM as we know it, to an experienced team trivial. But against an inexperienced team they can easily result in a multitude of failures. In this guide I aim to dissect all the Tanks in Valves Mann Up MvM tours and provide methods on how to deal with Tanks as any class.

For the purpose of simplicity, after the sections which provide information related to all Tanks, I will be including a section for every map. Within these map sections will be sub sections for each mission, listing all the Tanks in it, along with all relevant information regarding said Tanks.
Shared Stats
In this section I will be covering basic mechanical information which applies to every Tank within Valves Mann Up MvM mode, including their speed, what they can be affected by, and any other shared information not relevant to a specific class.

General Properties
As odd as it sounds, Tanks share a lot of properties with bosses (eg: Monoculus), although not all of these properties are the same and some have been specifically modified for the Tanks template. I have listed all the general properties I was able to discover (excluding Immunities, Resistances & Susceptibilities) below:
  • Tanks do not classify as buildings, robots or giants.
  • The noclip command does not work when colliding with tanks.
  • Unlike bosses, Tanks are assigned to a team (BLU).
  • Tanks can specifically clip through certain objects on their path.

Speed
While Tanks have a speed variable which can be modified, all Tanks within Valves MvM mode (including boot camp) move at 75 hammer units per second (1.42875 metres per second) or 25% of the base movement speed. For reference the Pyro moves at 100% of the base movement speed at 300 HUPS (5.715 MPS).

Size
Using what tools I have at my disposal I was able to get an approximate measurement on the size of a Tank based on it's hitbox. Bear in mind these numbers are approximate and may be a few hammer units off. These dimensions are as follows:
  • Length - 257 hammer units (4.89585 metres)
  • Width - 171 hammer units (3.25755 metres)
  • Height - 175 hammer units (3.33375 metres)

Crushing
Tanks only have 2 methods of actually harming anything, one of which only applies to buildings, and the other only applies to players/robots. These are as follows:
  • Players - If a player or is between a Tank and another object with collision in a way that would cause the players hitbox to collide with the tanks hitbox, it will cause the player to be instantly killed, bypassing all forms of resistance and immunity. This most commonly occurrs when a Tank is turning a corner and the player is standing at that corner.
  • Buildings - If an Engineer building is caught in a Tanks path as it moves over said building, the building will be instantly destroyed, regardless of it's health, resistances or immunities.
Note - Robots cannot be crushed by Tanks, in the rare instance where a robot is caught in a crush spot it will instead be pushed out of the way.

Immunities & Resistances
Tanks are immune to almost every status effect, crowd control effect and on hit effect in the game, and have some damage immunities and resistances. These are as follows:
  • Multi Source or Multi Class
    • Afterburn
    • Bleed
    • Headshot Crits
    • Health On Kill
    • Health On Hit
    • Knockback
    • Liquid Coating / Wet (Including Gas)
    • Marked-for-Death
    • Slows
    • Stomp Damage
    • Stuns
    • Taunt Kills (with one exception)
  • Scout
    • Back Scatter - Mini-crits from behind
    • Baby Face's Blaster - Boost Build
    • Soda Popper - Hype Build
    • Flying Guillotine - Impact Damage
    • Candy Cane - Health Pack on kill
    • Holy Mackeral - Hit and Kill Broadcast
    • Sandman - Projectile Impact Damage
  • Soldier
    • All Rocket Launchers - Rocket Specialist Speed Halt
    • Conch - Damage returned as health
  • Pyro
    • Backburner - Crits from behind
    • Gas Passer - Explode on Ignite
  • Demoman
    • Chargin' Targe / Splendid Screen / Tide Turner - Bash Damage
  • Heavy
    • All Miniguns - 75% of damage
    • Hou-Long Heater - Ring of flames damage
    • Holiday Punch - Force taunt
  • Engineer
    • Short Circuit - Alt-Fire Energy Ball
    • Teleporter - Telefrag (in the rare situation where a teleporter is below the tank, said teleporter will be destroyed upon using it)
    • Gunslinger - Third Successful Punch Crit
  • Medic
    • Ubersaw - Ubercharge gain on hit
    • Vita-saw - Organs collected on hit
  • Sniper
    • All Sniper Rifles - Explosive Headshot
  • Spy
    • All Knives - Backstab

Susceptibilities
There are a broad range of things that Tanks are Susceptible to, since they have barely any specific damage resistances. These susceptibilities are as follows:
  • All Blast Damage
  • All Bullet Damage (excluding Miniguns)
  • All Direct Fire Damage (excluding Hou-Long Heaters ring of flames)
  • All Melee Damage
  • 25% of All Heavy Minigun Damage
  • Mini-crit damage aplification (35% additional damage as critical damage)
  • Critical damage aplification (200% additional damage as critical damage)
  • Rage Building (Both Knockback Rage and Banner Rage can be built from damaging tanks)
  • Widowmaker Damage return as metal and 10% increased damage against Sentry Target
  • Equalizer/Escape Plan taunt damage (500 blast damage)
  • L'Etranger cloak on hit (15% cloak restored on hit)
Loadouts & Upgrades
In this section I will go over the best loadouts for destroying Tanks for each class, along with what upgrades are required for dealing as much Tank damage as possible.

Scout
Primary - Soda Popper [4150 total upgrade cost]
Secondary - Crit-a-Cola [1000 upgrade cost, 35% damage boost while active]
Primary Upgrades - +25% Damage x4, +50% Clip size x4, +50% Ammo Capacity x3 +10% Firing Speed x1
Secondary Upgrades - +15% Recharge Rate x4
Priority - +25% Damage = +10% Firing Speed > +50% Clip Size > +50% Ammo Capacity > +15% Recharge Rate
  • Note - Crit-a-Cola should only be used if Mad Milk is not needed.
  • Note 2 - See "[MvM] Ghost Upgrades: Bypassing Limits" for instructions on how to apply "+10% Firing Speed" to the Soda Popper.

Soldier
Primary - Beggars Bazooka [4750 total upgrade cost, 3150 with no clip size]
Secondary - Buff Banner [500 total upgrade cost]
Primary Upgrades - +25% Damage x4, +2 clip size x4, +50% Ammo Capacity x3, +20% Reload Speed x3, +10% Firing Speed x4
Secondary Upgrades - +25% Buff Duration x2
Priority - +20% Reload Speed > +25% Damage > +50% Ammo Capacity > +10% Firing Speed > +2 Clip Size > +25% Buff Duration
  • Note - The Beggars Bazooka should only be fully loaded before the application of Crit Canteens as the barrage can allow for many more rockets to be fired in short succession for quick bursts of damage. These Beggars Barrages increase in effectiveness with each "+2 clip size" upgrade purchased.
  • Note 2 - Instead of fully loading the Beggars it should be "tap fired". Tap firing is the process of loading one rocket and letting it fire, and repeating this process for higher damage.
  • Note 3 - "+25% Buff Duration" is bugged in a small way. This bug allows the Rage meter on any banner to be rebuilt for a few moments while the banner is still active at the end of it's duration. This only provides a noticeable effect to the Buff Banner, as the mini-crits it's buff provides can be used to build Rage much quicker.

Pyro
Primary - Phlogistinator [2350 total upgrade cost]
Secondary - Detonator [0 total upgrade cost]
Primary Upgrades - +25% Damage x4, +50% Ammo Capacity x3
Secondary Upgrades - none
Priority - +25% Damage > +50% Ammo Capacity
  • Note - If you use the detonator to flare jump on top of a Tank and then use the Phlogistinators alt-fire as you are about to fall off, the taunt animation will cancel and provide a longer usable Phlogistinator crit buff (as well as a brief moment of Uber).
  • Note 2 - As a Pyro the tank takes damage based on the oldest flame particle within it's hitbox. a result of this means that aiming straight forward will lessen damage due to the flames being subject to damage fall off. To fix this aim upwards as much as possible while still damaging the tank at point blank range from the front of it.

Demoman - Grenade Launcher Method
Primary - Stock Grenade Launcher [5900 total upgrade cost]
Primary Upgrades - +20% Damage x4, +2 clip size x4, +50% Ammo Capacity, +20% Reload Speed, +10% Firing Speed
Priority - +20% Reload Speed > +20% Damage > +10% Firing Speed > +2 clip size > +50% Ammo Capacity
  • Note - This method gives higher burst damage than the Scottish Resistance Method, but less consistent damage overall.
  • Note 2 - Requires much less precision than Scottish Resistance method due to grenades having no damage fall off on direct hits.

Demoman - Scottish Resistance Method
Secondary - Scottish Resistance [5250 total upgrade cost]
Secondary Upgrades - +20% Damage x4, +50% Clip Size, +50% Ammo Capacity x2, +20% Reload Speed x3, +10% Firing Speed x2
Priority - +20% Reload Speed > +10% Firing Speed > +20% Damage > +50% Clip Size > +50% Ammo Capacity
  • Note - Sticky Bombs suffer damage falloff based on how far the demo is from the sticky bomb when detonating. To maximise damage stay as close to the stickies as possible without causing self damage. (This only applies to tanks, or against any target when detonating stickies which have been active for less than 5 seconds)
  • Note 2 - Instead of laying traps and detonating them, or sticky spamming, the best method for high damage is the "overload" method. This method involves the Demo putting down 14 stickies, then continuing to fire, causing the first fired active sticky to self-detonate.
  • Note 3 - To further maximise damage, place and overload stickies as close at the side of the tank as possible. This deals much more damage than exploding stickies at the front, back, or under the tank.
  • Note 4 - This is the best method to use while maintaining optimal (meta) Demo gameplay, as meta Demo gameplay involves using the Demos Stickybomb launcher (and other variants of it) as their primary. Using it to create sticky traps then overloading them for high damage (especially when combined with canteens or kritzkrieg charges).
  • Note 5 - See "[MvM] Ghost Upgrades: Bypassing Limits" for instructions on how to apply a second "+10% Firing Speed" upgrade to the Scottish Resistance

Heavy
Primary - Brass Beast [2150 total upgrade cost]
Primary Upgrades - +10% Firing Speed x4, +50% Ammo Capacity x3
  • Note - This method does not deal a lot of damage and shouldn't be picked specifically to destroy Tanks. Instead Heavy in general is better staying on the front lines and allowing other classes to destroy Tanks. Heavies should only focus on destroying Tanks if he is not needed at the front.

Engineer
Primary - Widowmaker [400 total upgrade cost]
Melee - Jag [800 total upgrade cost]
Buildings - Sentry Gun, Disposable Sentry Gun [1200 total upgrade cost]
Primary upgrades - +10% Firing Speed x4
Melee Upgrades - +10% Attack Speed x4
Building Upgrades - +10% Sentry Firing Speed x2, +1 Disposable Sentry x1
Priority - +10% Firing Speed > +10% Sentry Firing Speed > +1 Disposable Sentry > +10% Attack Speed x4
  • Note - Crit canteens also double the firing speed of the users Sentry Gun while active.
  • Note 2 - While the jag has a repair penalty it does not incur extra metal costs for adding ammo to the Sentry Gun.

Medic
While the medic cannot deal a lot of direct Tank damage himself, he is capable of boosting another teammates Tank damage to extreme levels with the right upgrades and loadout. These are as follows:
Primary - Stock Syringe Gun [3050 total upgrade cost]
Secondary - Kritzkrieg [2850 total upgrade cost]
Melee - Ubersaw
Primary Upgrades - +50% Clip Size x4, +50% Ammo Capacity x3, +10% Firing Speed x4
Secondary Upgrades - +25% UberCharge Rate x3, Projectile Shield x2, +2s Uber Duration x3, Canteen Specialist x3
Other - Crit Canteens x3 (then buy more as required)
Priority - Canteen Specialist > Crit Canteens > +2s Uber Duration > +25% UberCharge Rate > Projectile Shield > +10% Firing Speed > +50% Clip Size > +50% Ammo Capacity
  • Note - If your engineer has the 2-Way Teleporter upgrade then use his teleporter to return to spawn to buy more crit canteens as required.
  • Note 2 - To increase damage even further make sure to use a crit canteen on one tank shredding target, then use the Kritzkriegs Ubercharge on a second teammate.
  • Note 3 - If "Projectile Shield" is purchased use it on the tank while using the Kritzkrieg Ubercharge.
  • Note 4 - When your Kritzkrieg Ubercharge has finished use crit canteens on a teammate, and while the canteen is active, switch to your Syringe Gun and shoot the tank with that.
  • Note 5 - Syringe Gun upgrades should only be purchased specifically if you have a large surplus of extra money, as most of your money as a medic should go towards crit canteens.
Loadouts & Upgrades Part 2
Sniper
Secondary - Cleaners Carbine [1575 total upgrade cost]
Melee - Bushwacka [800 total upgrade cost]
Secondary Upgrades - +50% Clip Size x4, +50% Ammo Capacity x3, +10% Firing Speed x4
Melee Upgrades - +10% Attack Speed x4
Priority - +10% Attack Speed > +10% Firing Speed > +50% Clip Size > +50% Ammo Capacity
  • Note - Use the cleaners carbine to build Crikey meter then activate it for Mini-crits. While mini-crits are active use the Bushwacka on the tank.

Spy
Primary - Diamondback [1575 total upgrade cost]
Primary Upgrades - +50% Clip Size x4, +50% Ammo Capacity x3, +10% Firing Speed x4
Priority - +10% Firing Speed > +50% Clip Size > +50% Ammo Capacity
  • Note - This method deals barely any Tank damage at all (spy has barely any Tank damage potential as a whole). As a spy it is better to focus on upgrading your knife and resistances, using these to focus on priority targets over damaging the Tank.
  • Note 2 - The Diamondback can hold a maximum of 35 crits. These crits can be gained by backstabbing robots or sapping Robot Engineer buildings.

Which does the most tank damage?
While the context of the mission, wave and the rest of your team should be considered when picking a class specifically for Tank shredding, there are 3 main classes which do the most Tank damage. These 3 classes are the most effective at specified credit thresholds due to requiring certain upgrades to maximise damage. This 3 highest damage Tank shredders are as follows:
  • When below 1600 credits - Engineer
  • When at 1600 credits and below 5500 credits - Pyro
  • When at 5500 credits and above - Soldier
Note - At around 3400 and above credits Pyro and Soldier are about equal in regards to consistent damage, but soldier has a lot more downtime due to requiring many more ammo stops than Pyro.
Note 2 - While Pyro and Soldier are equal in terms of consistent damage as per the note above, the reason I have put soldier as more effective at 5500 credits and above is because soldier is able to deal quick bursts of damage with fully loaded beggars barrages (as mentioned in the soldier loadout notes) when all required upgrades are purchased and combined with a source of crits. As well as this his downtimes are decreased significantly when "+50% ammo capacity" upgrades are purchased.
Note 3 - Soldiers tank destruction effectiveness can be greatly amplified when stacked together with other soldiers due to his ability to deal quick bursts of damage. This amplification is higher when stacking Soldiers than any other class, even at the lower 3000s credit range.
Note 4 - As soldier has a way of dealing quick bursts of damage at higher credit ranges, he will generally have quicker tank kill times than Pyro at said credit ranges on lower health tanks.
Note 5 - At 1200 credits Pyro and Engineer deal roughly the same tank damage, but engineer does not have any downtime for ammo, only to reload his sentry gun, whereas pyro has downtime when activating phlog crits in most scenarios.

Which should be avoided?
Most classes have ways of dealing decent Tank damage or boosting other teammates Tank damage in medics case. However, there are a few classes and methods which generally should be avoided due to either requiring specific upgrades for Tank shredding outside of the normal upgrade path or because they generally do not do nearly as much Tank damage as the classes listed in "Which does the most tank damage?" These are as follows and are in order of damage capacity:
  • Spy - Extremely Low damage, High Dedicated Investment
  • Heavy - Low damage
  • Sniper - Medium damage, Medium Dedicated Investment
Note - The Scottish Resistance Method deals less than the Grenade Launcher method, but requires no dedicated investment with standard meta Demo gameplay. The Grenade Launcher method should only be picked if all upgrades necessary for the Scottish Resistance or Stock Stickybomb Launcher are purchased already.

Scrapped Tank Shredding Methods
After a lot of testing with various tank shredding methods I was left with a few that I scrapped due to their lack of effectiveness in comparision to other methods available for the relevant class. For clarification I thought it necessary to list these scrapped methods and why they were scrapped:
  • Shortstop w/ Max Damage, Firing Speed & Clip Size [Scout] - Very close damage to the Soda Popper method for scout, it falls slightly behind in consistent damage but has higher burst damage making crit canteens more effective. However to achieve this damage requires 600 more credits than the Soda Popper method. Also requires a lot more ammo pickups since each shot does less damage but more shots can be fired in rapid succession.
  • Equalizer w/ Max Swing Speed [Soldier] - Requires 800 credits worth of upgrades specifically for Tank shredding. Also requires user being as close to 1hp as possible. Outdamaged by the Beggars method.
  • Scottmans Skullcutter w/ Max Swing Speed & Damage [Demo] - Requires 2400 credits worth of upgrades specifically for Tank shredding. Outdamaged by Grenade Launcher and Scottish Resistance Methods.
  • Buffalo Steak Sandvich w/ 2x 15% Recharge Rate & Warriors Spirit w/ Max Swing Speed - Requires 1300 credits worth of upgrades specifically for Tank shredding. Deals slightly less damage than the Brass Beast Method.
Note - Dealing damage to Tanks does not increase the random crit chance of the damage dealer like normal damage does. This reduces the theoritical effectiveness of the above scrapped melee based methods since random crit chance increases dramatically with melee weapons through the damage increasing method (from 15% at default to 60% at 800 damage in the last 20 seconds).
Map: Bigrock
Tank Route
Below is an overhead map of mvm_bigrock, with the route Tanks follow marked by the red line. Any ammo packs near the marked route have also been marked with a letter showing which type of ammo pack it is. These are as follows:
  • L - Large
  • M - Medium


Mecha Engine - Broken Parts
Tank #1
  • Wave - 2
  • Health - 40,000
  • Max credits at wave start - 2,900
  • Spawn sequence - Spawns 25 seconds after the wave starts.
Tank #2
  • Wave - 3
  • Health - 30,000
  • Max credits at wave start - 4,600
  • Spawn sequence - Spawns immediately after all of the Giant Rapid Fire Demomen have spawned.
Tank #3, #4 & #5
  • Wave - 6
  • Health - 130,000 (35,000 then 35,000 then 60,000)
  • Max credits at wave start - 8,150
  • Spawn sequence - First Tank spawns immediately after all of the Crit Scouts, Soldiers, Pyros, Demomen and Heavies have spawned. Second Tank spawns 30 seconds after the first. Third Tank spawns 25 seconds after all of the Crit Giant Deflector Heavies have spawned.

Mecha Engine - Bone Shaker
Tank #1
  • Wave - 2
  • Health - 35,000
  • Max credits at wave start - 2,200
  • Spawn sequence - Spawns 5 seconds after the wave starts.
Tank #2
  • Wave - 4
  • Health - 40,000
  • Max credits at wave start - 4,100
  • Spawn sequence - Spawns 40 seconds after the wave starts.
Tank #3 #4 & #5
  • Wave - 7
  • Health - 126,000 (40,000 then 40,000 then 46,000)
  • Max credits at wave start - 7,750
  • Spawn sequence - First Tank spawns immediately after the wave starts. Second Tank spawns 30 seconds after the first. Third Tank spawns 15 seconds after all of the Giant Rapid Fire Soldiers have spawned.
Map: Coal Town
Tank Route
Below is an overhead map of mvm_coaltown, with the route Tanks follow marked by the red line. Any ammo packs near the marked route have also been marked with a letter showing which type of ammo pack it is. These are as follows:
  • L - Large
  • M - Medium


Oil Spill - Cave-in
Tank #1
  • Wave - 2
  • Health - 17,500
  • Max credits at wave start - 1,100
  • Spawn sequence - Spawns 38 seconds after all of the Huntsman Snipers have spawned.
Tank #2, #3 & #4
  • Wave - 4
  • Health - 39,900 (13,300 each)
  • Max credits at wave start - 2,800
  • Spawn sequence - First Tank spawns 10 seconds after the wave starts. Second Tank spawns 38 seconds after the wave starts. Third Tank spawns 62 seconds after the wave starts.
Tank #5 & #6
  • Wave - 6
  • Health - 50,000 (25,000 each)
  • Max credits at wave start - 4,700
  • Spawn sequence - First Tank spawns 35 seconds after all of the KGB Heavyweight Champs have spawned. Second Tank spawns 110 seconds after all of the KGB Heavyweight Champs have spawned.

Oil Spill - Quarry
Tank #1
  • Wave - 1
  • Health - 21,000
  • Max credits at wave start - 400
  • Spawn sequence - Spawns immediately after the wave starts.
Tank #2
  • Wave - 5
  • Health - 35,000
  • Max credits at wave start - 3,700
  • Spawn sequence - Spawns immediately after the wave starts.
Tank #3
  • Wave - 6
  • Health - 16,000
  • Max credits at wave start - 4,800
  • Spawn sequence - Spawns 80 seconds after the wave starts.

Steel Trap - Ctrl+Alt+Destruction
Tank #1
  • Wave - 2
  • Health - 30,000
  • Max credits at wave start - 1,300
  • Spawn sequence - Spawns immediately after the wave starts.
Tank #2 & #3
  • Wave - 5
  • Health - 50,000 (25,000 each)
  • Max credits at wave start - 4,300
  • Spawn sequence - First Tank spawns immediately after the wave starts. Second Tank spawns 60 seconds after the wave starts.
Tank #4, #5 & #6
  • Wave - 7
  • Health - 75,000 (20,000 then 20,000 then 35,000)
  • Max credits at wave start - 7,100
  • Spawn sequence - First Tank spawns 20 seconds after all of the Giant Charged Soldiers have spawned. Second Tank spawns 50 seconds after all of the Giant Charged Soldiers have spawned. Third Tank spawns 10 seconds after all of the Giant Rapid Fire Soldiers have spawned.

Steel Trap - CPU Slaughter
Tank #1
  • Wave - 4
  • Health - 35,000
  • Max credits at wave start - 3,000
  • Spawn sequence - Spawns immediately after the wave starts.
Tank #2, #3 & #4
  • Wave - 6
  • Health - 70,000 (30,000 then 20,000 then 20,000)
  • Max credits at wave start - 5,600
  • Spawn sequence - First Tank spawns immediately after the wave starts. Second Tank spawns 20 seconds after all of the Giant Deflector Heavies have spawned. Third Tank spawns immediately after all of the Scouts have spawned.

Gear Grinder - Cataclysm
Tank #1
  • Wave - 3
  • Health - 35,000
  • Max credits at wave start - 2,200
  • Spawn sequence - Spawns immediately after the wave starts.
Tank #2, #3, #4 & #5
  • Wave - 4
  • Health - 80,000 (20,000 each)
  • Max credits at wave start - 3,200
  • Spawn sequence - First Tank spawns immediately after the wave starts. Each Tank after the first will spawn once every 30 seconds.
Tank #6, #7, #8, #9, #10 & #11
  • Wave - 7
  • Health - 145,000 (20,000 then 20,000 then 20,000 then 20,000 then 20,000 then 45,000)
  • Max credits at wave start - 5,750
  • Spawn sequence - First Tank spawns immediately after the wave starts. The next 4 Tanks afterwards spawn once every 30 seconds. Sixth Tank spawns 15 seconds after all of the Direct Hit Buff Banner Soldiers have spawned.
Map: Decoy
Tank Route
Below is an overhead map of mvm_decoy, with the route Tanks follow marked by the red line. Any ammo packs near the marked route have also been marked with a letter showing which type of ammo pack it is. These are as follows:
  • L - Large
  • M - Medium


Oil Spill - Doe's Doom
Tank #1
  • Wave - 2
  • Health - 24,000
  • Max credits at wave start - 1,300
  • Spawn sequence - Spawns immediately after the wave starts.
Tank #2 & #3
  • Wave - 7
  • Health - 40,000 (20,000 each)
  • Max credits at wave start - 5,975
  • Spawn sequence - First Tank spawns immediately after the wave starts. Second Tank spawns 11 seconds after the wave starts.

Oil Spill - Day of Wreckening
Tank #1
  • Wave - 2
  • Health - 25,000
  • Max credits at wave start - 1,100
  • Spawn sequence - Spawns 15 seconds after the wave starts.
Tank #2 & #3
  • Wave - 6
  • Health - 50,000 (25,000 each)
  • Max credits at wave start - 4,700
  • Spawn sequence - First Tank spawns 45 seconds after the first 13 Steel Gauntlets have spawned. Second Tank spawns 120 seconds after the first 13 Steel Gauntlets have spawned.

Steel Trap - Disk Deletion
Tank #1
  • Wave - 6
  • Health - 25,000
  • Max credits at wave start - 3,400
  • Spawn sequence - Spawns immediately after the wave starts.
Tank #2 & #3
  • Wave - 8
  • Health - 50,000 (25,000 each)
  • Max credits at wave start - 6,800
  • Spawn sequence - First Tank spawns immediately after the wave starts. Second Tank spawns 65 seconds after the first 5 Giant Heavies have spawned.

Steel Trap - Data Demolition
Tank #1
  • Wave - 3
  • Health - 25,000
  • Max credits at wave start - 2,000
  • Spawn sequence - Spawns 40 seconds after the first 2 Giant Demomen have spawned.
Tank #2 & #3
  • Wave - 4
  • Health - 50,000 (25,000 each)
  • Max credits at wave start - 2,900
  • Spawn sequence - First Tank spawns immediately after the wave starts. Second Tank spawns 60 seconds after the wave starts.
Tank #4, #5 & #6
  • Wave - 6
  • Health - 92,000 (32,000 then 30,000 then 30,000)
  • Max credits at wave start - 5,200
  • Spawn sequence - First Tank spawns immediately after the wave starts. Second Tank spawns 25 seconds after all of the Giant Demomen have spawned. Third Tank spawns 35 seconds after all of the Giant Deflector Heavies have spawned.

Mecha Engine - Disintegration
Tank #1
  • Wave - 2
  • Health - 18,000
  • Max credits at wave start - 1,300
  • Spawn sequence - Spawns 25 seconds after all of the Giant Demoknights have spawned.
Tank #2
  • Wave - 4
  • Health - 20,000
  • Max credits at wave start - 3,000
  • Spawn sequence - Spawns 10 seconds after the wave starts.
Tank #3, #4 & #5
  • Wave - 5
  • Health - 55,000 (15,000 then 15,000 then 25,000)
  • Max credits at wave start - 4,400
  • Spawn sequence - First Tank spawns immediately after the wave starts. Second Tank spawns 12 seconds after the wave starts. Third Tank spawns 65 seconds after all of the Scouts have spawned.

Gear Grinder - Desperation
Tank #1 & #2
  • Wave - 4
  • Health - 44,000 (22,000 then 22,000)
  • Max credits at wave start - 3,150
  • Spawn sequence - First Tank spawns immediately after the wave starts. Second Tank spawns 45 seconds after the first.
Tank #3 & #4
  • Wave - 7
  • Health - 80,000 (35,000 then 45,000)
  • Max credits at wave start - 6,350
  • Spawn sequence - First Tank spawns immediately after the wave starts. Second Tank spawns 50 seconds after all of the Giant Rapid Fire Soldiers have spawned.
Map: Mannworks
Tank Route
Below is an overhead map of mvm_mannworks, with the route Tanks follow marked by the red and green lines. Any ammo packs near the marked route have also been marked with a letter showing which type of ammo pack it is. These are as follows:
  • M - Medium


Oil Spill - Mean Machines
Tank #1
  • Wave - 3
  • Health - 26,000
  • Max credits at wave start - 2,000
  • Spawn sequence - Spawns immediately after the wave starts.
  • Route - Red
Tank #2 & #3
  • Wave - 5
  • Health - 28,000 (14,000 each)
  • Max credits at wave start - 3,650
  • Spawn sequence - Both spawn immediately after the wave starts.
  • Route - One Tank follows each route.

Oil Spill - Mannhunt
Tank #1
  • Wave - 3
  • Health - 20,000
  • Max credits at wave start - 2,200
  • Spawn sequence - Spawns 35 seconds after the wave starts.
  • Route - Red
Tank #2
  • Wave - 5
  • Health - 25,000
  • Max credits at wave start - 4,000
  • Spawn sequence - Spawns 20 seconds after all of the Heavyweight Champs have spawned.
  • Route - Red
Tank #3, #4, #5 #6 & #7
  • Wave - 6
  • Health - 50,000 (10,000 each)
  • Max credits at wave start - 5,600
  • Spawn sequence - First Tank spawns 30 seconds after all of the Giant Heavies have spawned. Second Tank spawns 35 seconds after all of the Giant Heavies have spawned. Third Tank spawns 80 seconds after all of the Giant Heavies have spawned. Fourth Tank spawns 85 seconds after all of the Giant Heavies have spawned. Fifth Tank spawns 100 seconds after all of the Giant Heavies have Spawned.
  • Route - First Tank follows Red. Second Tank follows Green. Third Tank follows Red. Forth Tank follows Green. Fifth Tank follows Red.

Steel Trap - Machine Massacre
Tank #1 & #2
  • Wave - 4
  • Health - 36,000 (18,000 each)
  • Max credits at wave start - 2,250
  • Spawn sequence - First Tank spawns immediately after the wave starts. Second tank spawns 20 seconds after the wave starts.
  • Route - First Tank follows Red. Second Tank follows Green.
Tank #3, #4, #5 & #6
  • Wave - 7
  • Health - 76,000 (18,000 then 18,000 then 20,000 then 20,000)
  • Max credits at wave start - 4,300
  • Spawn sequence - First and Second Tanks spawn Immediately after the wave starts. Third and Fourth Tanks spawn 25 seconds after all of the Giant Deflector Heavies have spawned.
  • Route - First Tank follows Green. Second Tank follows Red. Third Tank spawns follows Red. Fourth Tank follows Green.

Steel Trap - Mech Mutilation
Tank #1 & #2
  • Wave - 1
  • Health - 36,000 (18,000 each)
  • Max credits at wave start - 1,000
  • Spawn sequence - Both Tanks spawn 90 seconds after all of the Pyros have spawned.
  • Route - One Tank follows each route.
Tank #3 & #4
  • Wave - 3
  • Health - 40,000 (20,000 each)
  • Max credits at wave start - 3,900
  • Spawn sequence - Both Tanks spawn 30 seconds after all of the Stock Melee Scouts have spawned.
  • Route - One Tank follows each route.

Gear Grinder - Mannslaughter
Tank #1 & #2
  • Wave - 3
  • Health - 24,000 (12,000 each)
  • Max credits at wave start - 2,400
  • Spawn sequence - Both Tanks spawn immediately after the first 6 Super Scouts have spawned.
  • Route - One Tank follows each route.
Tank #3, #4, #5 & #6
  • Wave - 5
  • Health - 80,000 (20,000 each)
  • Max credits at wave start - 4,425
  • Spawn sequence - First and Second Tanks spawn immediately after the first 30 Pyros have spawned. Third and Fourth Tanks spawn immediately after all of the Steel Gauntlets have spawned.
  • Route - First Tank follows Red. Second Tank follows Green. Third Tank follows Red. Fourth Tank follows Green.
Map: Rottenburg
Tank Route
Below is an overhead map of mvm_rottenburg, with the route Tanks follow marked by the red and green lines. Any ammo packs near the marked route have also been marked with a letter showing which type of ammo pack it is. These are as follows:
  • L - Large
  • M - Medium


Two Cities - Hamlet Hostility
Tank #1
  • Wave - 3
  • Health - 35,000
  • Max credits at wave start - 2,700
  • Spawn sequence - Spawns immediately after all of the Super Scouts have spawned.
  • Route - Red
Tank #2
  • Wave - 5
  • Health - 35,000
  • Max credits at wave start - 4,600
  • Spawn sequence - Spawns immediately after all of the Stock Soldiers have spawned.
  • Route - Green
Tank #3, #4 & #5
  • Wave - 7
  • Health - 80,000 (30,000 then 25,000 then 25,000)
  • Max credits at wave start - 6,300
  • Spawn sequence - First Tank spawns 20 seconds after the wave starts. Second Tank spawns 40 seconds after the wave starts. Third Tank spawns 65 seconds after the wave starts.
  • Route - First Tank follows Red. Second Tank follows Green. Third Tank follows Red.

Two Cities - Bavarian Botbash
Tank #1
  • Wave - 2
  • Health - 35,000
  • Max credits at wave start - 2,400
  • Spawn sequence - Spawns 20 seconds after all of the Scouts have spawned.
  • Route - Red
Tank #2
  • Wave - 4
  • Health - 35,000
  • Max credits at wave start - 4,800
  • Spawn sequence - Spawns immediately after the first 30 Demoknights have spawned
  • Route - Green
Tank #3
  • Wave - 6
  • Health - 30,000
  • Max credits at wave start - 7,000
  • Spawn sequence - Spawns immediately after all of the (non-crit) Demomen have spawned.
  • Route - Green
Tank #4
  • Wave - 7
  • Health - 30,000
  • Max credits at wave start - 8,000
  • Spawn sequence - Spawns immediately after the wave starts.
  • Route - Red
Conclusion
With that we've reached the end. I never expected this guide to be as long as it ended up being. In fact I'm pretty sure this is my longest guide yet. Certainly took the longest (not that my own procrastination was helping my case).

Anyway, that's everything I know about all the Tanks in Valves Mann Up MvM mode. All of my information regarding tank destruction methods and the tanks properties were found through my own practical testing and a hell of a lot of it too. All the information regarding specific tanks themselves (eg: health, spawn sequence) were found through my own exploration of the MvM population files.

As far as I am aware everything in this guide is correct and optimal, aside from any portions which could be considered subjective (upgrade priority, scrapped methods, and some notes). However, if there is anything incorrect in this guide please let me know and I'll make every effort to correct any errors.

I hope this guide helps you in your tank shredding endeavours. Let me know what you thought, any criticism is greatly appreciated. Also feel free to leave any questions below, I will try to answer them if I am able to.
35 Comments
agentmaine 17 Sep, 2020 @ 11:33am 
@Beletrix np
waltuh, put the bile away waltuh  [author] 17 Sep, 2020 @ 8:38am 
@agentmaine
Yes a friend of mine pointed out the Air Strike, the only problem I have with the Air Strike is you need quite a bit of vertical space to use it which can be a pain on some maps. On top of that to optimise the burst fire with crits with it you have to sacrifice a banner. It's not a bad choice though, probably one of the most powerful burst damage tools alongside the Beggars Bazooka. I may test it and include it in the future as an alternative method for Soldier, thanks.
waltuh, put the bile away waltuh  [author] 17 Sep, 2020 @ 7:57am 
@Substitute
That is straight up wrong. The only way you could out DPS the Phlog with the DF is if you had a VERY high crit uptime, since the Phlog itself gets a pretty high crit uptime on it's own. Just to confirm that I tested it again, conditions for the test were: 30k health tank, +25% Damage x4, +50% Ammo Capacity x3, and Crit Canteens x3. Phlog killed the tank in 57 seconds and the DF killed it in 1 minute and 10 seconds.
Orange Madness 17 Sep, 2020 @ 7:29am 
Only beef I have with this guide is that the Dragons Furry actually does more damage to a tank because of the pressure rate recharge rate and DPS.
abelicio 16 Sep, 2020 @ 6:57pm 
oh I only skimmed through the guide
agentmaine 16 Sep, 2020 @ 5:15pm 
air strike (and a few clip size upgrades) + base jumper + crits canteen thats what i do and its very effective
waltuh, put the bile away waltuh  [author] 16 Sep, 2020 @ 9:59am 
@potage
I already answered that question in the "Crushing" sub-section within the "Shared Stats" section.
󠁳⁧⁧⁧ToiletBandicoot25 16 Sep, 2020 @ 9:37am 
Great guide, but a burning question remains unanswered: can tanks kill robots?
Cheesus Crust 16 Sep, 2020 @ 8:49am 
if you go behind the tank as it moves and fire righteous bison you can get some really good dmg
Diamond jozu 16 Sep, 2020 @ 1:01am 
wave 666 relies on a lot of damage class.if being a phlog pyro is a no go,ensure to have a soldier who can deal a lot of damage and has buff banner and gets some help from other teammates