The only and major reason i prefer the lighting is basically: "You play the lightning for low-profile and fast mobility" "I play the lighting because I have no friends for gunners on the MBT"
*gets in tank* *enemy tank shows up* *I fire a shot and missed* *enemy tank gets 5 shots in before I finish reloading my first shot* *spawns new tank* *Gets flipped over by 2 inch snow hill*
being a tanker is one of the best feelings in the game, but sometimes you just have an off night where you die to stupid circumstances three times in a row and decide you're done
Ya know it's funny, whenever I play warthunder this sorta thing is common sense, but in planetside due to it's arcadeyness it's not something you really stop to consider. And I guess that's kinda something I've noticed a lot about planetside, it's arcadyness appearance is actually really misleading sense when you get down to a lot of the finer details it is actually a pretty hardcore, strategic/tactical and in some aspects even realistic game. Almost like it's constantly teetering on that edge of "Do I want to be battlefield or do I want to be Arma?". And personally I would say it's good that it's a mix of both, but could maybe lean just a little bit more in both directions in some aspects.
Zoom on a skyguard is not such a good idea. The skyguard was nerfed to the point where the zoom becomes ineffective at ranges where it would be usefull. At the same time it ruins muscle memory. Getting used to using it without zoom gives you the ability to use something like night vision. It's just a minor point I wanted to bring up.
I've been maining the lightning with HEAT lately, it is such a treat. With stealth, racer and that small profile it is excellent at flanking, popping out of cover just long enough to pick off isolated MBTs and then dissapearing again. But the best part is allowing yourself to get "cornered" by overconfident harassers who assume you have crap DPM because most lightnings mounting the Python use AP. With proper positioning (so the fight happens at very close range), most 2-man harassers will go down before they realize what's happened to them, in a very satisfying inversion of the normal food chain.
As a Lightning Main I can concur with this. My one thing I would add is find yourself some folks to roll with around the battlefield, squadded up or not. They extend your lifetime in a Lightning by magnitudes.
Winning against an MBT with the Lightning is still possible, you just have to make them miss a few shots first ^^ Also getting in close and driving around the MBT fast enough can help, if the enemy panics he'll likely miss a few more shots. Playing as a Heavy can also be viable if you are running auto repair, so you can deci enemy armor as a finisher, should your tank go down. (Try jumping out of your tank when it's still not burning, so the enemy focuses on you, while you put 2 or 3 rockets into them. Just practise dodging tank shells a bit, also Catlike. If you win and your tank is still up, you can just pick it up again and it'll be at half health again, ready to tumble :P (works way too often in my opinion though ^^) If the enemy ignores you to kill your tank, you'll just get some free hits in)
If your fighting a magruder and you get the jump on him with the viper (rapid fire 75mm) you will win that engagement even if he has a gunner, dps on the viper is insane as long as your landing those shots and you keep the engagement to cqc
Thats good against a noob in a tank. For a veteran like me, it gets you killed along with your vechile because the counter is simple - you fire that RL, and I pop out with my rifle in hand and open fire, or I tank the shell and return an AP to you. Either way - against someone who has used this tactic before, its very hard to pull it off on a veteran tanker.
@Bart Dr The Lightning will need to get two shells into weak the spot before even getting hit to have a chance at winning. Ive ambushed Prowlers with a Lightning like this. Came up, derped right in the ass, they started turning around and I close in, keep their weak point in my sights. Two shells in before they even returned Fire, tanked the shells then ended it with a third shell right into the engine. Hard to do that to a veteran tanker. Even if you ambush them, you need to weak point to hit or your fucked usually. Or if you play the engagement to your rules and not theirs.
I love your guides so much. I have been trying to learn the lightning as I've had difficulty finding a good outfit. You released this guide at the perfect time.
Lightning is fun - especially when you go toe to toe against a MBT and crush them. You need experience for that though. Just last night, the TR was pushing hard on Amerish (Emerald Server) and this fully manned Dalton lib tried taking me on in my AP Lightning...the pilots mistake was flying around at a level where I could return fire - four shots and that Lib was gone, even with their Emergency Repair - AP shell cleaned right through his extra health instantly.
Jamers Shaw, give me a reply if you're interested in an outfit. You can come out and try our Emerald outfit, BTYR. We can talk further and get you in our discord!
Or, if you're an NC player, you are welcome to join mine. We go with rather small squad combat armor, air, support, and have held off large forces through a player-made bases. 22nd Engineering Battalion or 22BT. We tend to run weekly ops and just have fun.
These are some cool pointers/loadouts, thanks! I fell in love with the Lightning when I unlocked the Python AP and combined that with the higher speeds than MBTs to get into positions that I normally wouldn't consider. I probably didn't properly understand how to handle the Viper so maybe I'll revisit it one day. A few hours ago from writing this, I was playing on TR I think Connery, and we were losing the battle alert pretty badly on Indar. However we still had a good fight with the VS and I was doing pretty amazing in my Lightning, so much so that I got 3 bounties placed on me with 30 mins left of the alert and survived till the end while getting amazing kills. I think this is my largest kill streak in *any* scenario of PS2 to date. I was kinda lucky that the ESFs didn't completely focus me down, although I'd like to attribute that to our support on the attack, but I actually landed a couple shots on ESFs with my AP cannon. Those kinds of shots (and infantry shots) are sooooo satisfying. That's why when I run into an armor fight, I will 90% of the time pull a Lightning, unless I have a gunner then I'll pull a Harasser or MBT depending on the situation.
This is quality planetside content! This is the kind of thing new players can see that explains what the game its self does not, and help them feel like they can make a difference instead of being fodder.
good timing for the video Commander, was just getting destroyed over and over in my lightning, this will help a ton. I'm a beast in the prowler, but this, this is EPIC. I shall vanquish my enemies and collect their souls with easy mobility and fragile maneuvering. HERE I COME NC AND VS ARMOR COLUMNS.
Angling hills doesn't really work to well on the viper In return you get a tank that is a beast in cqc ambushes, and you have to adapt your play style to that
my anti infantry lightning is still an AP lightning because I don't rely on missing to kill. Keep in mind, if you're in a column, if you all shoot the same guy at once...he ain't gonna last, regardless of which cannon you took. (Well 'cept skyguard, but even two skyguards shooting the same aircraft is gonna make that guy not happy.)
So an interesting thing happened to me while we were taking an Amp station. We had an armor battle on the hill outside, and I was in a Lightning. We were holding the line and slowly pushing out way towards the station when the enemy pulls 3 Prowlers. I see them a bit too late and get caught out in the open, and I'm going "this is certain death" Then out of nowhere, I get rammed by a vanguard, which throws my tank out of their line of fire and into cover. It's like the Vanguard knew that I was in danger and got me out of there while using his shield to absorb the damage, before dipping back to the repair sundy I'd like to see another game where *that* can happen! I may be a new player, but I'm loving this game!
Biggest impact beside your loadouts and movement to me was joining a tanksquad everytime i go for vehicles. Especially as a beginner (still not have the AP) you will most likely not kill anything but you can contribute and support more experienced players and most important you will learn a lot more then going lonewolf.
Maxed out Stealth is a MUST when using the Lightning. Get behind an armored column then pick off 1 MBT or 1 Lightning then make a tactical retreat, come back to it later. They will often chase you, use the terrain to your advantage, place down tank mines if you're soloing and make a trap for them. Worked for me. Killed a 2/2 Magrider who got too confident.
I like to run flanker armour on my skygaurd since it reduces air to ground warhead damage allowing you to tank more damage from greedy liberators, but also you tend to get more tunnel vision in a skygaurd because you're looking down sights for longer whilst shooting on account of the large clip size and needing to constantly lead your shots. So you have more margin of error when infantry sneak up on you since you're also protected from infantry warheads too.
I love the heat cannon. It taught me to be more accurate to hit infantry also how to lead shots greatly. I find it the most enjoyable tank cannon to use. Fast and effective in the right hands
When running the Viper at range, it’s best to double tap. The accuracy of the second rapid fire shot isn’t as wonky as the third or fourth, and it keeps your damage higher than it normally would be.
I love using the Viper, it's always fun to see people expecting you to die quickly because "hurrr he's using the newbie gun, easy 1v1 ggwp" then they get totally out DPS at close range and die because they were overconfident
Heavy: Decimator+c4+mine detection+ammo printer Lightning: AP+self-repair+racing chasis+fire suppressor Cannon: Threat detection+reload time+ammo capacity This is my standart loadout and it works excelent for me, I'm kind of a tank player so ammo printer and maxed ammo capacity keeps me shooting for at least 20 minutes in a full vehicle battle Don't stay still, always keep moving, continuously change views to evade c4 fairies and use the threat detection on low visibility places
As someone who plays alone and isn't in a outfit, the Lightning is a godsend, since I can't guarantee I'll always have a gunner in other vehicles, and I can't fly an ESF to save my life I've tried a lot and I suck (and if you get in a Lib, Gal, or Valk, and I'm the pilot just cross your fingers and hope you don't die), and the Flash is to vulnerable for me, since I'll typically attach myself to an Ant, or try to range ahead of a friendly armor column, relying on Flanker Armor, the Racer Chassis and Smoke, to find targets and keep myself alive if it's something I can't handle, so I can get back to the column and hopefully a repair bus, since I'm not always a engineer when I go tanking, the Lightning has more or less become my best friend in a fight, and often I'd rather see them then a MBT, since it's the "Ol'reliable" of Planetside 2, since while it might not have a perks of higher health and a second gunner, it can do everything it's simply a matter of picking the right loadout for the job, now directed at newer players for unlocks, I'd unlock the Skyguard first for weapons, then your preference for gear, I run either the Viper or Skyguard depending on the situation along with Flanker Armor, Racer and Smoke, since with a Lightning the biggest advantage is that it's a very fast and very adaptable platform that only takes a single person to use at it's full potential unlike the Harasser, or Liberator. Side note: something neat to be added to the vehicle pool would be a dedicated Artillery vehicle, with two main weapon options, the usual cannons that tanks have and a rocket battery, with different perks, the Cannon for example might be able to shoot smoke rounds or a oversized Recon Dart ontop of it's basic shots at the cost of losing a 3rd of your max ammo for every secondary shot type taken (up to 2), while the rocket battery might be able to fire rockets that break up into a series of small ones, great for dealing with infantry and light armor but not so great with heavy armor, or larger rockets that are able to really put the hurt on armor, but are easily avoided by infantry and light armor, not to mention adding a dedicated artillery vehicle would also add a new dynamic to fights where they are present, especially with decent callouts from people doing the fighting, and it could help break stalemates in base fights, with a few well placed rockets or shells.
@@NK-qn6pq Smoke has been more useful for me, since I'm not normally fighting Lightnings and when I do, I typically have backup, since most of my targets tend to be Harassers, Ants or Sundies if I'm running the standard weapon, and not having to worry about getting spanked by Lock-On weapons while chasing is nice, the other 50% of the time I'm using a Lightning I'm using the Skyguard and I'm in the middle/back of a group or far off from the actual fighting on the ground, but as far as I'm concerned both are useful and I've just never had a situation where I needed to use Fire Suppression since in the few cases where it would have been useful it would have been just delaying the inevitable to give me a precious second or two to get out of the vehicle.
For fighting against a solid Air Corp, and duo AA team with a support Sundy is INCREDIBLELY effective (this is mainly for Unit Ops) solo, its still a very effective vehicle
The absolute best feeling in the world, using a lightning HESH or AP round to take down a Liberator trying to pull back, especially when they start trying to evade AA shooting at them.
ACtually, I calculated the TTKs and viper kills a lightning just a split second faster than AP at point blank. (10.6s TTK vs 10.8) Use AP. Oh, and 12:00 you wouldv'e escaped had the debris not hit you....
I run lightning 3rd view, with Viper, it took me a while to get the distances correctly, but its a joy and way more deadly being able to hit all shells on target, enemy AP lightnings stand no chance!
It is not my intention to be disrespectful, but I feel that all the explanation you give about the use of rays is not reflected at any time in the video, the closest thing is seen when "the vanguard column wobbles" (not to mention the numerical difference) They are eliminated by 50% by the first stalkers. In the first example of combat with another beam... only the faces are seen and again nothing of what you mention is used.
Before I even start the video, I just want to say I hope you cover the drifting maneuvers to swing yourself around an MBT to blow its exhaust up. If you do not cover the drift maneuver I may have to make a harasser and MBT murder video with the lightning. It is very circumstantial. Now, to hit play and enjoy. Edit: nice vid as always! Agreed. Never underestimate the default cannon.
Nope. You covered everything but the drift shots, how to farm infantry while overlooking a base, and how to be a skyguard mass-murderer. There is also the super secret move of how to patrick swayze an MBT so you can carry the MBT on top of you while unloading your gun into its bottom. Maybe I need to jump on my twitch stream each night to show these maneuvers for new players. :)
I normally hunt MBT's with my AP lightning, a lot of tank uses don't actually know how to respond to aggression and tend to panic shoot at you when you barrel towards them, so used to shooting into a spawn point... if you can get a lightning buddy you can absolutely cause mayhem on the back line.
yeah, Vanguards with blueberry drivers!!! I main the Vanguard and have seen so many of my teamates die to infantry, or even getting 1v1ed by lightnings!!
love the lightning. have done so ever since the magrider nurfs of 2013. the mag may have been buffed back into dominance. but nothing beats that lightning for my heart.
The Lightning can easily fight off cloaked Flashes, as it is so low to the ground. Killing them in a Vanguard is harder becuase of the high engine deck that limits your elevation to the back.
@@NK-qn6pq only can speak from personal experiences, as a NC main I don't go up against a vanguard that much, but I would rather fight a lighting over a prowler or mag anyday, all depends on how good the flash driver is vs the lighting driver. I flank hard and only attack lightings are are distracted so they don't give me problems
Allright, you have 23000 certs just sitting there. Why aren't you maxing everything out at this point? What is there to save for that will cost that much?
9:39 Be the NC. Strongest tanks, best guns, most players. Cannot strategize, super one track minded, lacks any sort of organization, consistently try’s the same thing over and over again no matter how many times it doesn’t work. The NC has SO much potential, and with a well organized unit they can easily take on both factions while out numbered. But if there is no unit, the entire faction has a single brain cell that they collectively share. Blueberries are SO stupid!
Hey Commander! As someone who's aurax'd the Lightning across all 3 factions and which remains my killing platform of choice, I give this training a double thumbs up! Your loadouts are mostly similar to mine, except on Skyguard, where Racer and Engagement Radar is part of my preferred arsenal. Speaking of anti-air, your guide doesn't go into it, but AP is excellent for this too, with some practice. I also like Proximity Radar with HESH for large bases where I can help smoke out infantry. And advanced-advanced training might look into how to deal with Harassers.
My AP build on my Lightning is my Anti-Harrasser build. I tend to chase them down and focus on them when they show up, only time its failed is when its a wolf-pack. A solo Lightning can only do so much. 3-4 AP shells and there isn't a Harrasser anymore.
As a person who is like a SUPER good harasser driver, if you are in a lightning and don’t have at least 2 other Lightning’s or a MBT nearby, I basically see you as an easy tanker to pick off.
2:20 - Come now, I will 1v1 a Magrider in my C75 Lightning any day of the week with the WARGBBGBGBL! maneuver. You know, the one where you charge them head on yelling WARGBGBGBLLLL!!! at the top of your lungs, slap 6 shells into them on the way in, reload as you drive *UNDER* them because they're floating, spin the turret, fire 6 more shots in their ass and call it a kill.
Make advansed training for ANT. It's very capable and underrated killing machine then in right hands. It's basically a harasser on steroids, with climbing ability of Magrider
Remember when they use their stealth module? That turns into an invisible kill bus. It's like a larger version of wraith flash but you don't need to be an infiltrator and it uses cotton instead of a regular cooldown
No, that's honestly the best anti-air the lightning has, after the skyguard got nerfed into the ground. Skyguard is good for scaring enemy air away, but if it's a halfway decent pilot you won't actually kill them, and 2 or 3 ESFs (or one liberator) will still win a battle of attrition against you. Landing an AP round on an ESF doesn't give them a chance to run, repair, and come back (though they'll probably just go pull a new one and come back).
PRO TIP... if you use c75 viper in close range and land all the shots you can win 1vs1 with any lightning even if that lightning use Ap cannon... another tip if you fight 1vs1 against a magrider stay in his belly and destroy that fucking flying ninja turtle
I have charged 2/2 MBTs in my Lightning - and taken them on and won but thats circumstantial, and because my Lightning is loaded for anti-armor purposes. Sneak up on a Prowler? It won't matter if he has a gunner, I have the advantage and he can't out maneuver me and I got the weak spot of his tank. I specialize in tank combat for the NC, so I've gotten pretty good on taking MBTs in the Lightning. :)
This works sometimes, but also screws up some other things. Here's an example: A2G ESFs and flak. When there's no flak, infantry get ground pounded to oblivion. When there is flak, the ESF can go from full to nothing in less time than the ESF takes to kill a single infantry. If both were nerfed, it would create a less toxic system.
The only and major reason i prefer the lighting is basically:
"You play the lightning for low-profile and fast mobility"
"I play the lighting because I have no friends for gunners on the MBT"
Hey we all play solo sometimes. Find a good outfit though, show up on ops nights, and you will have gunners though.
*gets in tank*
*enemy tank shows up*
*I fire a shot and missed*
*enemy tank gets 5 shots in before I finish reloading my first shot*
*spawns new tank*
*Gets flipped over by 2 inch snow hill*
Accurate
being a tanker is one of the best feelings in the game, but sometimes you just have an off night where you die to stupid circumstances three times in a row and decide you're done
PAIN 😢
Ya know it's funny, whenever I play warthunder this sorta thing is common sense, but in planetside due to it's arcadeyness it's not something you really stop to consider. And I guess that's kinda something I've noticed a lot about planetside, it's arcadyness appearance is actually really misleading sense when you get down to a lot of the finer details it is actually a pretty hardcore, strategic/tactical and in some aspects even realistic game. Almost like it's constantly teetering on that edge of "Do I want to be battlefield or do I want to be Arma?". And personally I would say it's good that it's a mix of both, but could maybe lean just a little bit more in both directions in some aspects.
Then suddenly you see a magrider gliding through the air as if it forgot its suppose to be a Tank and not an ESF
That EVE Online background music is such a nice touch
yes
what's the background music name?
Cyrius: pushes with 25 harasses
Also cyrius: it was the hills!!!
Zoom on a skyguard is not such a good idea. The skyguard was nerfed to the point where the zoom becomes ineffective at ranges where it would be usefull. At the same time it ruins muscle memory. Getting used to using it without zoom gives you the ability to use something like night vision.
It's just a minor point I wanted to bring up.
Skyguard is bad. Use AP!!!
@@NK-qn6pq As an ESF pilot, I agree!
I've been maining the lightning with HEAT lately, it is such a treat. With stealth, racer and that small profile it is excellent at flanking, popping out of cover just long enough to pick off isolated MBTs and then dissapearing again. But the best part is allowing yourself to get "cornered" by overconfident harassers who assume you have crap DPM because most lightnings mounting the Python use AP. With proper positioning (so the fight happens at very close range), most 2-man harassers will go down before they realize what's happened to them, in a very satisfying inversion of the normal food chain.
As a Lightning Main I can concur with this. My one thing I would add is find yourself some folks to roll with around the battlefield, squadded up or not. They extend your lifetime in a Lightning by magnitudes.
Can we get Advanced training on how to use Terran Vanguard?
Prowler *
@@roque87 Whoosh
Reflex Gamez tbf it’s a niche reddit thing if you haven’t seen it live
@@roque87 I second that.
Wat about the Terran VanRider
Winning against an MBT with the Lightning is still possible, you just have to make them miss a few shots first ^^
Also getting in close and driving around the MBT fast enough can help, if the enemy panics he'll likely miss a few more shots.
Playing as a Heavy can also be viable if you are running auto repair, so you can deci enemy armor as a finisher, should your tank go down. (Try jumping out of your tank when it's still not burning, so the enemy focuses on you, while you put 2 or 3 rockets into them. Just practise dodging tank shells a bit, also Catlike. If you win and your tank is still up, you can just pick it up again and it'll be at half health again, ready to tumble :P (works way too often in my opinion though ^^) If the enemy ignores you to kill your tank, you'll just get some free hits in)
I was about to lose so many times so a heavy doing that but freakin ghost rider the infil flash flattens him so often ots hilarious
If your fighting a magruder and you get the jump on him with the viper (rapid fire 75mm) you will win that engagement even if he has a gunner, dps on the viper is insane as long as your landing those shots and you keep the engagement to cqc
Magrider* my phone likes magruder better unfortunately
Thats good against a noob in a tank. For a veteran like me, it gets you killed along with your vechile because the counter is simple - you fire that RL, and I pop out with my rifle in hand and open fire, or I tank the shell and return an AP to you.
Either way - against someone who has used this tactic before, its very hard to pull it off on a veteran tanker.
@Bart Dr The Lightning will need to get two shells into weak the spot before even getting hit to have a chance at winning.
Ive ambushed Prowlers with a Lightning like this. Came up, derped right in the ass, they started turning around and I close in, keep their weak point in my sights.
Two shells in before they even returned Fire, tanked the shells then ended it with a third shell right into the engine.
Hard to do that to a veteran tanker.
Even if you ambush them, you need to weak point to hit or your fucked usually. Or if you play the engagement to your rules and not theirs.
I love your guides so much. I have been trying to learn the lightning as I've had difficulty finding a good outfit. You released this guide at the perfect time.
Glad you like them!
Lightning is fun - especially when you go toe to toe against a MBT and crush them. You need experience for that though.
Just last night, the TR was pushing hard on Amerish (Emerald Server) and this fully manned Dalton lib tried taking me on in my AP Lightning...the pilots mistake was flying around at a level where I could return fire - four shots and that Lib was gone, even with their Emergency Repair - AP shell cleaned right through his extra health instantly.
Jamers Shaw, give me a reply if you're interested in an outfit. You can come out and try our Emerald outfit, BTYR. We can talk further and get you in our discord!
Or, if you're an NC player, you are welcome to join mine. We go with rather small squad combat armor, air, support, and have held off large forces through a player-made bases.
22nd Engineering Battalion or 22BT.
We tend to run weekly ops and just have fun.
These are some cool pointers/loadouts, thanks! I fell in love with the Lightning when I unlocked the Python AP and combined that with the higher speeds than MBTs to get into positions that I normally wouldn't consider. I probably didn't properly understand how to handle the Viper so maybe I'll revisit it one day.
A few hours ago from writing this, I was playing on TR I think Connery, and we were losing the battle alert pretty badly on Indar. However we still had a good fight with the VS and I was doing pretty amazing in my Lightning, so much so that I got 3 bounties placed on me with 30 mins left of the alert and survived till the end while getting amazing kills. I think this is my largest kill streak in *any* scenario of PS2 to date. I was kinda lucky that the ESFs didn't completely focus me down, although I'd like to attribute that to our support on the attack, but I actually landed a couple shots on ESFs with my AP cannon. Those kinds of shots (and infantry shots) are sooooo satisfying. That's why when I run into an armor fight, I will 90% of the time pull a Lightning, unless I have a gunner then I'll pull a Harasser or MBT depending on the situation.
This is quality planetside content! This is the kind of thing new players can see that explains what the game its self does not, and help them feel like they can make a difference instead of being fodder.
good timing for the video Commander, was just getting destroyed over and over in my lightning, this will help a ton. I'm a beast in the prowler, but this, this is EPIC. I shall vanquish my enemies and collect their souls with easy mobility and fragile maneuvering. HERE I COME NC AND VS ARMOR COLUMNS.
C75 Viper is probably the best Surprise CQC option for the Lightining.
Also I miss the Drift Lightining.
Angling hills doesn't really work to well on the viper
In return you get a tank that is a beast in cqc ambushes, and you have to adapt your play style to that
my anti infantry lightning is still an AP lightning because I don't rely on missing to kill.
Keep in mind, if you're in a column, if you all shoot the same guy at once...he ain't gonna last, regardless of which cannon you took. (Well 'cept skyguard, but even two skyguards shooting the same aircraft is gonna make that guy not happy.)
Another awesome guide!!! Thank you for all your effort and time to help us new players out!
Excellent video! Thanks, Commander!
So an interesting thing happened to me while we were taking an Amp station. We had an armor battle on the hill outside, and I was in a Lightning. We were holding the line and slowly pushing out way towards the station when the enemy pulls 3 Prowlers. I see them a bit too late and get caught out in the open, and I'm going "this is certain death"
Then out of nowhere, I get rammed by a vanguard, which throws my tank out of their line of fire and into cover. It's like the Vanguard knew that I was in danger and got me out of there while using his shield to absorb the damage, before dipping back to the repair sundy
I'd like to see another game where *that* can happen! I may be a new player, but I'm loving this game!
Biggest impact beside your loadouts and movement to me was joining a tanksquad everytime i go for vehicles. Especially as a beginner (still not have the AP) you will most likely not kill anything but you can contribute and support more experienced players and most important you will learn a lot more then going lonewolf.
Maxed out Stealth is a MUST when using the Lightning. Get behind an armored column then pick off 1 MBT or 1 Lightning then make a tactical retreat, come back to it later. They will often chase you, use the terrain to your advantage, place down tank mines if you're soloing and make a trap for them. Worked for me. Killed a 2/2 Magrider who got too confident.
I like to run flanker armour on my skygaurd since it reduces air to ground warhead damage allowing you to tank more damage from greedy liberators, but also you tend to get more tunnel vision in a skygaurd because you're looking down sights for longer whilst shooting on account of the large clip size and needing to constantly lead your shots. So you have more margin of error when infantry sneak up on you since you're also protected from infantry warheads too.
I love the heat cannon. It taught me to be more accurate to hit infantry also how to lead shots greatly. I find it the most enjoyable tank cannon to use. Fast and effective in the right hands
When running the Viper at range, it’s best to double tap. The accuracy of the second rapid fire shot isn’t as wonky as the third or fourth, and it keeps your damage higher than it normally would be.
Jeeze, that lead on the liberator in the opening was insane.
Just last night i was wondering how to play lightning effectively.. Now i know thank you very much!
This video is inaccurate you didnt show the lightning tank flipping over 900000 times
:(
I love using the Viper, it's always fun to see people expecting you to die quickly because "hurrr he's using the newbie gun, easy 1v1 ggwp" then they get totally out DPS at close range and die because they were overconfident
Love the twisted barrel
Heavy: Decimator+c4+mine detection+ammo printer
Lightning: AP+self-repair+racing chasis+fire suppressor
Cannon: Threat detection+reload time+ammo capacity
This is my standart loadout and it works excelent for me, I'm kind of a tank player so ammo printer and maxed ammo capacity keeps me shooting for at least 20 minutes in a full vehicle battle
Don't stay still, always keep moving, continuously change views to evade c4 fairies and use the threat detection on low visibility places
As someone who plays alone and isn't in a outfit, the Lightning is a godsend, since I can't guarantee I'll always have a gunner in other vehicles, and I can't fly an ESF to save my life I've tried a lot and I suck (and if you get in a Lib, Gal, or Valk, and I'm the pilot just cross your fingers and hope you don't die), and the Flash is to vulnerable for me, since I'll typically attach myself to an Ant, or try to range ahead of a friendly armor column, relying on Flanker Armor, the Racer Chassis and Smoke, to find targets and keep myself alive if it's something I can't handle, so I can get back to the column and hopefully a repair bus,
since I'm not always a engineer when I go tanking, the Lightning has more or less become my best friend in a fight, and often I'd rather see them then a MBT, since it's the "Ol'reliable" of Planetside 2, since while it might not have a perks of higher health and a second gunner, it can do everything it's simply a matter of picking the right loadout for the job, now directed at newer players for unlocks, I'd unlock the Skyguard first for weapons, then your preference for gear, I run either the Viper or Skyguard depending on the situation along with Flanker Armor, Racer and Smoke, since with a Lightning the biggest advantage is that it's a very fast and very adaptable platform that only takes a single person to use at it's full potential unlike the Harasser, or Liberator.
Side note: something neat to be added to the vehicle pool would be a dedicated Artillery vehicle, with two main weapon options, the usual cannons that tanks have and a rocket battery, with different perks, the Cannon for example might be able to shoot smoke rounds or a oversized Recon Dart ontop of it's basic shots at the cost of losing a 3rd of your max ammo for every secondary shot type taken (up to 2), while the rocket battery might be able to fire rockets that break up into a series of small ones, great for dealing with infantry and light armor but not so great with heavy armor, or larger rockets that are able to really put the hurt on armor, but are easily avoided by infantry and light armor,
not to mention adding a dedicated artillery vehicle would also add a new dynamic to fights where they are present, especially with decent callouts from people doing the fighting, and it could help break stalemates in base fights, with a few well placed rockets or shells.
smoke does nothing, use Fire Suppression. A huge help in Lightning vs lightning fights
@@NK-qn6pq Smoke has been more useful for me, since I'm not normally fighting Lightnings and when I do, I typically have backup, since most of my targets tend to be Harassers, Ants or Sundies if I'm running the standard weapon, and not having to worry about getting spanked by Lock-On weapons while chasing is nice, the other 50% of the time I'm using a Lightning I'm using the Skyguard and I'm in the middle/back of a group or far off from the actual fighting on the ground,
but as far as I'm concerned both are useful and I've just never had a situation where I needed to use Fire Suppression since in the few cases where it would have been useful it would have been just delaying the inevitable to give me a precious second or two to get out of the vehicle.
For fighting against a solid Air Corp, and duo AA team with a support Sundy is INCREDIBLELY effective (this is mainly for Unit Ops) solo, its still a very effective vehicle
The absolute best feeling in the world, using a lightning HESH or AP round to take down a Liberator trying to pull back, especially when they start trying to evade AA shooting at them.
I'd say thought that you can go CQC, with racer instead of rival, you can outspeed and outrun people's aim quite easily. i usally do this.
ACtually, I calculated the TTKs and viper kills a lightning just a split second faster than AP at point blank. (10.6s TTK vs 10.8)
Use AP.
Oh, and 12:00 you wouldv'e escaped had the debris not hit you....
I love the lightning. So much fun
I run lightning 3rd view, with Viper, it took me a while to get the distances correctly, but its a joy and way more deadly being able to hit all shells on target, enemy AP lightnings stand no chance!
I think you should make a playlist with all the Advanced training
KEEP UP THE GREAT WORK BUDDY! LOVE YOUR VIDEOS SOO MUCH!😍😍
Oh cool, I've been meaning to see this!
How did you get that crosshair in third person
It is not my intention to be disrespectful, but I feel that all the explanation you give about the use of rays is not reflected at any time in the video, the closest thing is seen when "the vanguard column wobbles" (not to mention the numerical difference) They are eliminated by 50% by the first stalkers.
In the first example of combat with another beam... only the faces are seen and again nothing of what you mention is used.
Is that mostly a 2x being used? Seems totally necessary.
The revenge is taken.
Before I even start the video, I just want to say I hope you cover the drifting maneuvers to swing yourself around an MBT to blow its exhaust up. If you do not cover the drift maneuver I may have to make a harasser and MBT murder video with the lightning. It is very circumstantial. Now, to hit play and enjoy.
Edit: nice vid as always! Agreed. Never underestimate the default cannon.
Nope. You covered everything but the drift shots, how to farm infantry while overlooking a base, and how to be a skyguard mass-murderer.
There is also the super secret move of how to patrick swayze an MBT so you can carry the MBT on top of you while unloading your gun into its bottom.
Maybe I need to jump on my twitch stream each night to show these maneuvers for new players. :)
I really enjoy the intro music :)
I normally hunt MBT's with my AP lightning, a lot of tank uses don't actually know how to respond to aggression and tend to panic shoot at you when you barrel towards them, so used to shooting into a spawn point... if you can get a lightning buddy you can absolutely cause mayhem on the back line.
yeah, Vanguards with blueberry drivers!!!
I main the Vanguard and have seen so many of my teamates die to infantry, or even getting 1v1ed by lightnings!!
OMG EVE ONLINE BG MUSIC :3 TY MADE MY DAY!
12:05 Why aren't there health numbers below your lightning silhouette on the right? It shows the HP there for me
Old footage, the number was added fairly recently.
@@cleansweepgaming2564 it's useful so you know if you can take another hit or not.
I play PS2 with some of my family. we will usually pull lightnings as opposed to using MBTs and a pack of these things is mean as heck.
I've seen the glados achievement announcer in a lot of Planetside 2 videos but where do you get it?
Which song is that from EvE Online?
love the lightning. have done so ever since the magrider nurfs of 2013. the mag may have been buffed back into dominance. but nothing beats that lightning for my heart.
Great guide!
As a flash main, lighting tanks are my favorite diet ;).... Watch your rears fellas if you know there's a Fury Wraith flash about
The Lightning can easily fight off cloaked Flashes, as it is so low to the ground. Killing them in a Vanguard is harder becuase of the high engine deck that limits your elevation to the back.
@@NK-qn6pq only can speak from personal experiences, as a NC main I don't go up against a vanguard that much, but I would rather fight a lighting over a prowler or mag anyday, all depends on how good the flash driver is vs the lighting driver.
I flank hard and only attack lightings are are distracted so they don't give me problems
Also be prepared to get respawned if you ever dare try repairing your lightning in an enemy hex.
Yes default lightning gun viper is very nice
Allright, you have 23000 certs just sitting there. Why aren't you maxing everything out at this point? What is there to save for that will cost that much?
How do you get the overlay talked about at 8:50?
we may need an update to this but there is still plenty to learn from the video :)
Amazing tutorial!
but which tank has the highest DPM against ground vehicles(if viper which is second)?
fun light tank!
I'm more of a prowler tanker but I'll hit up the lighting every now and then
eve online music triggering my old wormhole nostalgia 😈
Can u do Harasser Armor Column next?
See you Planetside
I got a record kill streak 102 kills with the python hesh, no crossair, is dinamic, combat tank fast
skyguard?
how do you get the dot in the middle of the screen
How you added crosshair in 3rd person mode?
personely i cant remamber how i did it..but i set everything thats not TR..as red so it makes it easyer to id a rebel or a space cultist
Isn't it called Sweeper HUD?
EvE online music? very nice also great video, thanks once again
How do I get the 3rd person reticle overlay? that seems huge!
recursion tracker
9:39 Be the NC. Strongest tanks, best guns, most players.
Cannot strategize, super one track minded, lacks any sort of organization, consistently try’s the same thing over and over again no matter how many times it doesn’t work.
The NC has SO much potential, and with a well organized unit they can easily take on both factions while out numbered. But if there is no unit, the entire faction has a single brain cell that they collectively share.
Blueberries are SO stupid!
Commander can you do Main Battle Tanks next ?
I'd say Commander Cyrious eould make for an excellent tanker in WT
I dont have the enhanced targeting implant, where do i get it
Hey Commander! As someone who's aurax'd the Lightning across all 3 factions and which remains my killing platform of choice, I give this training a double thumbs up! Your loadouts are mostly similar to mine, except on Skyguard, where Racer and Engagement Radar is part of my preferred arsenal. Speaking of anti-air, your guide doesn't go into it, but AP is excellent for this too, with some practice. I also like Proximity Radar with HESH for large bases where I can help smoke out infantry. And advanced-advanced training might look into how to deal with Harassers.
My AP build on my Lightning is my Anti-Harrasser build. I tend to chase them down and focus on them when they show up, only time its failed is when its a wolf-pack. A solo Lightning can only do so much.
3-4 AP shells and there isn't a Harrasser anymore.
@@SoulKiller7Eternal Besides aircraft, killing Harassers is one of my joys playing as a Lightning. Their engagements are intense and so much fun
For me on ps4 it drive like it's driving on ice so I don't use it and I have no upgrade's. 2 to 3 year ago it was not like that
As a person who is like a SUPER good harasser driver, if you are in a lightning and don’t have at least 2 other Lightning’s or a MBT nearby, I basically see you as an easy tanker to pick off.
2:20 - Come now, I will 1v1 a Magrider in my C75 Lightning any day of the week with the WARGBBGBGBL! maneuver. You know, the one where you charge them head on yelling WARGBGBGBLLLL!!! at the top of your lungs, slap 6 shells into them on the way in, reload as you drive *UNDER* them because they're floating, spin the turret, fire 6 more shots in their ass and call it a kill.
Gotta beware drifting Lightnings too. B)
I kind of wish NS vehicles each had a faction specific weapon
ppl would complain that one or the other is OP
I actually took out a sythe with the viper XD. sythe got too low and I was able to hit it with my lightning tank
Awsm
Make advansed training for ANT. It's very capable and underrated killing machine then in right hands. It's basically a harasser on steroids, with climbing ability of Magrider
Remember when they use their stealth module? That turns into an invisible kill bus.
It's like a larger version of wraith flash but you don't need to be an infiltrator and it uses cotton instead of a regular cooldown
Those graphics look like he's playing PS2 on a PS2 dude
I can't deploy an ant its because im in ps4?
As long as Vanu in the Cobalt server ignore armor battles I'm going to ignore putting my certs into them. Such a shame though.
... and have the background music from EvE Online....
Need a turret guy for tanks!
With the story of planetside 2 if the tr didn’t start a war with the vs they might have won already
So wait I'm not supposed to snipe ESFs with the AP rounds.
No, that's honestly the best anti-air the lightning has, after the skyguard got nerfed into the ground. Skyguard is good for scaring enemy air away, but if it's a halfway decent pilot you won't actually kill them, and 2 or 3 ESFs (or one liberator) will still win a battle of attrition against you. Landing an AP round on an ESF doesn't give them a chance to run, repair, and come back (though they'll probably just go pull a new one and come back).
@@yautl1 tank guns are the best AA right now, with Python AP probably being the best AA tank gun (Vanni AP shoots too slow)
haha tank go boom
PRO TIP... if you use c75 viper in close range and land all the shots you can win 1vs1 with any lightning even if that lightning use Ap cannon... another tip if you fight 1vs1 against a magrider stay in his belly and destroy that fucking flying ninja turtle
Why am I here as a ps4 player
As am I.
Good quality content!
The only thing PS4 doesn't have is construction and... lol, high population
Ryan Casagrande The PS4 version is missing more than that.
I have charged 2/2 MBTs in my Lightning - and taken them on and won but thats circumstantial, and because my Lightning is loaded for anti-armor purposes. Sneak up on a Prowler? It won't matter if he has a gunner, I have the advantage and he can't out maneuver me and I got the weak spot of his tank.
I specialize in tank combat for the NC, so I've gotten pretty good on taking MBTs in the Lightning. :)
I kind of wish inside of nerfing everything under the sun they would just buff other things.....
This works sometimes, but also screws up some other things. Here's an example: A2G ESFs and flak. When there's no flak, infantry get ground pounded to oblivion. When there is flak, the ESF can go from full to nothing in less time than the ESF takes to kill a single infantry. If both were nerfed, it would create a less toxic system.
@@kittensattack
Hm.
MOAR DAKKA.
MAOR BUCKSHOTT.
MOAR SPANDEX.