RAT's first time pushing with TARANTULAS

[@BillyMcMorran]

Game offers RAT a choice of opening specialists - “Well, what the fuck?” 😂

[@CompleteNewbie]

Next t-shirt needs to be "What is this shit?"

[@ExogalacticMushroomQuantumTech]

"there has to be some situation where it's good, let's force it"🤣

[@BuzzaB77]

What is the spider's role. I still don't understand yet. Is it supposed to be a 200 cost arclight?

[@SurreyEZ]

It's a chaff clear unit that has pretty bad chaff clear. But it tanks A LOT so even if your enemy connects big stuff to it, it takes a lot of time to die. It also has enough damage to kill same level 200 cost units. And it's chaff clear (vs crawlers, not vs fangs), survivability and damage will get a huge boost from spider mines. So early rounds even though your chaff clear is low, the tarantulas tank so much that it doesn't matter that they clear slow, then come the mines and the unit receives the huge power spike. So it's a hybrid unit, similar to sledgehammer but different.

[@jasonwiles7832]

That EMP was CLUTCH. Exactly what you needed!

[@iRiDiKi]

When you have a start like the one you had in the first game, going all units on one side is how I redeem it. Even when you lose a tower, having all your units together is gonna win the first round or two and set you up in a position to counter what's coming next. I'm just new, though - it just makes sense to me to have everything together at first.

[@WolfDGreyJr]

okay here's the REAL reason why so many people are confused on the tarantula: it fills really different roles at different points in the game. Early on, an unupgraded tarantula clears chaff almost exactly as fast as an arclight, except you can position it forward way more easily and it's far more reliable in every way. It *dumpsters* sledges/badgers instead of getting stuck on them, it tanks snipers like a boss, it ignores the tunneling crawler upgrade, and can deal with drops like level 3 fangs/level 2 mustangs/general HP upgrades that meme on arclight breakpoints. Midgame, I think their real strength is stopping a lot of crucial units from leveling, especially compared to levelled sledgehammers. Wraiths get outright cockblocked with how much they rely on their splash, Mustangs rarely get to slaughter fangs, and if marksmen/phoenixes lose, they get 0 XP instead of having killed half a pack of sledges. Spider mines also give like 1.5 crawlers worth of XP too, which is very funny to me Lategame, tons of things about them falls apart if your opponent plays well, and you have to build and place them very differently for them not to suck. Having lower range than Arclights suuucks, not just because late-game chaff clear needs to start very quickly, but because being closer means spending way more time turning, and that's their main time-sink if movement's not an issue. I don't think mech range makes turning faster, but the dps bonus the range upgrade gives is really underrated. Their low AoE really hurts late-game when they're massed, and I honestly think the Tarantula has the only genuinely great HE tech. The breakpoints after the damage reduction are still great at level 1, you don't compromise the role you have by that point, and HE + range is only 650 credits. I think where the spider mines really shine is defending against a rush, especially one with steel balls

[@DimirGarage]

Thumbnail straight outta Bloomburrow 😂

[@IIIJG52]

So not just me then huh :D .

[@rufolocod]

for a rat oriented channel the rat needs to be way bigger

[@COCCOMOJOE]

I've been watching you're video's and was able to go from 200 mmr to 600. still climbing as well.

[@SurreyEZ]

good job !

[@Most_hated_dork]

I started trusting spiders a little bit when I saw steelsane play them in standard, tried it out, it was okay, not the worst I usually sell out of them if I’m going aggro unless I really need the chaff clear, like sometimes when I’m trying fang gaming and the enemy is spamming replicate crawlers Great to see you build your comps around them and how they can work for tempo

[@WaltzActual]

That thumbnail is pretty neat

[@BillyMcMorran]

Good to see you learning the tarantoola.

[@BillyMcMorran]

What do you think about staggering the Tarantula with the Sabertooth? Both similar size, one for chaff and one for the single DPS. You can put heal on both. I’ve tried it and had some success but it is inconsistent. I’m not the best but it has potential.

[@HateMachinist]

Spiders are pretty good if you can get ranks on them. I feel like they benefit more from rankups than other units, especially with the spiderling and field-repair upgrades.

[@KevinKemp11]

IMO the best play for spiders is to push with them to negate their lack of speed. They need levels to be effective through midgame, which is fairly trivial to get with them if you start the game with them, since they destroy most units early game. Mines are a bad upgrade for them in almost any situation, though. Get range if opponent tries to play back. A common play against them (at least at my elo) is stormbreakers, but regen or a level lead counters that pretty hard. Many times you can win before late game, but if not, they're just mediocre chaff clear and decent tanks.

[@sidders1943]

I generally like to run AA on tarantulas just because it's usually cheaper than buying Mustangs if you already have a vanilla spider on board. Same reason I run AA tech on arclights. I think the fact that it is in your tech also tends to dissuade your opponent from going air units in the first place, but maybe I'm wrong about that. I generally quite like starting spiders because two spiders with armour kind of require some sort of response.

[@jkostelo]

In that last game, why didn't he build chaff clear? A few scorpions with range / siege? That way the chaff is out of the way of the sabertooths.

[@darksniper1n]

I feel like the answer in the last game when the opponent clicked multi melter might have just been a melter with range, your chaff clear was significantly better than his.

[@SteveB-nx2uo]

tarantula to me is a 'stop the bleeding unit' and cheap tank / soaker. great to have one on a side you are planning on neglecting, but for me it is primarily "a flood of light ground units are here" and I don't have another answer and dont want to invest into a 400 cost vulcan spider mines also scale with the tarantula, meaning they are hard to kill - soak more damage and do more damage. tarantula with range is pretty great unit, it takes a lot of EXP to level them but once you get levels on them they are pretty crazy. though I would drop armor and opt for armor piercing rounds for damage tarantula isnt bad, but a steel ball is the direct counter to it.

[@IsaacCoverstone]

Why not center POV above the map instead of the wonky skewed angle? I like the game option that lets you zoom out further and see the whole thing at once.

[@Arbeta10000]

Did they change spider mine at all since release? I remember it exploding on your own units a lot when I first tried it, so I took it off after a few games since it seemed too expensive for what it did

[@SurreyEZ]

no they didn't

[@markos50100]

They do well with mostly ranged units. You don't really want melee units or have them fighting against melee units for the same reason.

[@Kuzmorgo]

I actually like Tarantulas quite a lot, I think they are a bit underrated. But I go range asap, and mech rage later. I tech spider mines only situationally. I find that if I can get some early levels on them, they can absolutely carry. Otherwise just sell out.

[@discodojo3136]

Love this, I never go spiders lol

[@SurreyEZ]

me neither !

[@markos50100]

Spiders are great. But just like every counter, dealing with heavy hitters, lazers, or aerial are it's main weakness. But a leveled one can deal with a lot on ground units alone.

[@Mast3rB3ard]

nah that thumbnail is a violation

[@ipatchymakouli415]

its a masterpiece

[@shakacien]

Rat, I know what the thoughts are about it: But, hear me out: Anti Armor Tarantulas early game make Tanks edible for these guys.

[@shakacien]

And steelballs, and Farseers, and, in limited testing, they level hard enough to kill weak giants pretty good when they're Red-leveled.

[@shakacien]

& the unironically good specialist for the (very probably quite bad) Tarantula Carry build imo: Speed Specialist.

[@SurreyEZ]

Well I think it could be good if you keep building tarantulas and before you have any tech comes a unit drops with a lot of chaff clearing options then take the chaff clear and go AP bullets on the tarantula

[@simontollin2004]

​@@shakacien a spider start with quick supply is even better, then you have 4 of them in round 1

[@Triumph633]

The problem with spider mines is that they dont give any kill XP. If you get spider mines early you starve your board of XP. Its way better to get this tech on level 2 or 3. But in general Tarantula carry does not work imo, I tried it many times and its just to hard to make it work.

[@EzerReborn]

4 legs. Tarantula is a quadrober. 😂

[@Spade444]

Would hackers have helped against the last match board?

[@SurreyEZ]

If I predict he will pick the sledge drop and build more of them and go hackers on the same turn then yes think, later or earlier not good. On the last turn i think i just needed spider range and 2 more missile to have better chaff clear at certain positions

[@Ratsputin]

I feel like i need to grab range and mines before they even do anything

[@GozOfMetal]

What if in a future patch the hacker gets some love with fortified target lock?

[@SurreyEZ]

well that would be crazy! But i think hacker is going into the garbage bin. There was been a lot of talk to remove the hacker from the game

[@GozOfMetal]

@@SurreyEZ i d be very sad then, It s one of my favourite unit, even if nearly unplayable

[@GozOfMetal]

​@@SurreyEZ trash talk time!!! What of the hacker remains the same unit stealer and gets some support techs like shield buffing, thorn damage and enemy shield absorbtion?