Tyr has a good mix of tanks, and each one handles very differently on the battlefield. Some are built around speed and scouting, while others are better at sniping, flanking, holding a frontline, or forcing their way through enemy positions.

If you’re new to Tyr or tank games in general, it can be difficult to know what each tank is actually supposed to do. A fast tank isn’t necessarily meant to charge into every fight, and a heavily armored tank can still get punished badly if you expose the wrong side.

I’ve put together the main tank classes, attack styles, and individual tank roles below so you can get a better idea of what to expect from each vehicle.

Tyr All Tanks Guide and Best Playstyles – Classes, Build

If you’re new to Tyr, I strongly recommend playing through the tutorial first. It explains some important mechanics, especially spotting and shooting, which aren’t always obvious when you first start playing.

There are also a few things worth knowing before you jump into your next match.

Your Experience Is Saved

Any experience you earn is saved when you leave a match. If your tank gets destroyed, you don’t necessarily have to sit around and watch the rest of the battle.

You can leave and start another match, unless you want to see how the game ends or still have squadmates alive.

Salutes Give You Silver

Saluting other players gives you a small amount of Silver.

It’s worth getting into the habit of doing this because other players can return the favor. You can even send salutes to players from previous matches through your match history.

Level Every Tank

It can be tempting to pick one tank and use it exclusively, but Tyr gives you another reason to experiment.

You unlock components from other tanks as you level them, and you’ll eventually need to bring every tank to Level 20 if you want access to all of the game’s equipment.

Playing every tank also has another advantage: you’ll learn how they work. Knowing what an enemy tank can do makes it much easier to figure out how to fight it.

There Isn’t One Best Tank

Every tank has the potential to dominate a match.

So if you’re wondering which tank is the best, the simplest answer is the one you enjoy playing and can use effectively.

Tank Classes

Tyr’s tanks can generally be divided into six different classes:

• Scout
• Duelist
• Sniper
• Flanker
• Anchor
• Vanguard

Each class has a different job, so understanding the role is just as important as understanding the tank itself.

Scout

Scouts are the fastest and sneakiest tanks on the battlefield.

Their main job is to spot enemies without being spotted themselves. They usually have strong concealment, high speed, and excellent maneuverability.

As a Scout, you’ll often want to move toward the frontline, find a bush with good sightlines, and wait. You’re effectively the team’s eyes, so constantly check the minimap and make sure your team has good vision.

Don’t feel like you have to fire every time you spot something. Sometimes keeping an enemy revealed is more valuable than taking a shot and giving away your position.

Scouts in Tyr still have respectable firepower, though, so there will be plenty of opportunities to take shots while staying concealed.

Duelist

Duelists are essentially Scouts that are much more interested in fighting.

They retain the speed and maneuverability of Scouts, but their goal is usually to find an enemy tank and win a 1v1 fight.

They combine speed, armor, firepower, and abilities to accomplish this. Their camouflage is generally worse than a dedicated Scout, so you’ll usually operate just behind the frontline.

The biggest thing to remember is to avoid situations where multiple enemies can shoot you at once.

Find isolated targets, commit to the fight, and use your mobility to make it difficult for the enemy to land shots.

Sniper

Snipers do exactly what you’d expect.

Find a good position with long sightlines, preferably from a hill or another elevated area, and support your team from range.

Snipers generally have excellent firepower and penetration but aren’t particularly fast or well armored.

One important mistake to avoid is sitting in a perfect position while your team fights somewhere you can’t actually see. A sniper is still there to support the team, not simply to sit in one bush all match.

Flanker

Flankers are designed to get into positions where they can attack enemy tanks from the side or rear.

They generally have more health and armor than Scouts while retaining good mobility. Instead of looking specifically for 1v1 fights, Flankers are looking for good positions.

A successful flank can produce surprisingly high damage numbers because hitting side and rear armor is often much easier than attacking the front.

Pay attention to your team’s deployment and look for other fast tanks you can move with.

Anchor

Anchor tanks are designed to hold the frontline.

They typically have above-average armor, large health pools, slower movement, and abilities that make themselves or nearby allies harder to kill.

Anchors generally work best when grouped with other frontline tanks and pushing toward the enemy base.

Armor angling and positioning are extremely important. You might have enough armor to survive almost anything from the front, but that doesn’t help if you’re caught on a flank with no support.

Vanguard

Vanguards are another frontline class, but they are more focused on breaking through enemy positions.

They share the high health and armor of Anchor tanks, but their abilities are designed to help them push through formations and break stalemates.

A Vanguard should constantly look at the enemy deployment and search for opportunities to force a breakthrough.

The clock matters too. Sitting in an endless shootout isn’t always enough. When you see an opening, Vanguards are built to exploit it.

Attack Strategies

Tanks also have different attack strategies. The four main approaches are:

• Shoot and Scoot
• Brawling
• Hit and Run
• Bounce

Shoot and Scoot

This is the classic tank strategy.

Fire a shot, back away while the gun reloads, and repeat.

Most Shoot and Scoot tanks operate at medium or long range. Bushes are especially useful because you can fire from concealment and then reposition before the enemy can return fire.

Tyr also gives some tanks abilities that add another layer to this playstyle, but the basic idea remains the same: shoot, reposition, reload, and shoot again.

Brawling

Brawling is the opposite of Shoot and Scoot.

Instead of creating distance, you close the gap and fight until one tank is destroyed.

It sounds simple, but it’s actually one of the harder strategies to use properly. You need to understand your armor, the enemy’s weak points, turret rotation speeds, health pools, and the amount of damage both tanks can deal.

Good brawlers are constantly making quick calculations about whether an engagement is actually worth taking.

Hit and Run

Hit and Run sits between Shoot and Scoot and Brawling.

These tanks generally rely on burst damage and mobility. They get close enough to deliver their damage, then use their mobility or abilities to escape before the enemy can punish them.

Autoloaders are particularly suited to this strategy because they can unload several shots quickly before needing to spend a long time reloading.

Bounce

Bounce tanks rely on their armor rather than constantly retreating after firing.

The goal is to position and angle your armor so enemy shots fail to penetrate.

It’s worth spending time in Tyr’s armor viewer to understand which angles work against different cannon calibers. Some tanks that look almost impossible to penetrate can still have specific weak spots.

When you’re unsure, pointing directly toward the enemy generally gives you the best armor profile.

You should also practice the wiggle. Small WASD movements make tiny weak points harder for precision snipers to hit.

For example, Helio has strong frontal armor, but the periscope on top of its turret is much less protected and can be targeted from the front.

Tank Builds

Tyr also has skill trees and component slots, allowing you to build the same tank in different ways.

The general build categories are:

Ability Build

Focuses on:

• Energy generation
• Ability cooldown

Gun Build

Focuses on:

• Damage
• Accuracy
• Reload speed

Mobility Build

Focuses on:

• Speed
• Maneuverability

Hybrid Build

Combines two or more of the above approaches.

These aren’t strict rules. You can adjust your components and skill tree depending on how you want to play a particular tank.

Light Tanks

Light tanks are generally the fastest and least armored vehicles in Tyr.

Don’t mistake low armor for low damage, though. Their penetration is lower than heavier tanks, but their damage-per-second can still be extremely competitive.

Their combination of speed, DPS, and camouflage makes them especially dangerous when they reach the sides or rear of heavier tanks.

Light tanks also play a major role during the opening minutes of a match. The early scout war can determine which team controls the battlefield’s vision.

If your team has no light tanks while the enemy still has one, you’re at a serious disadvantage.

Alecto

Class: Duelist
Attack: Brawl
Build: Gun / Hybrid

Alecto is one of the most dangerous tanks in a 1v1 thanks to its blink ability and extremely fast reload.

When combined with the Weakness Analyzer, hitting a component or weak spot can reduce the reload time to around one second, allowing Alecto to put out an absurd amount of damage.

It isn’t heavily armored, but its frontal armor can surprisingly resist High Explosive shells. This can be useful because HE is commonly fired at light tanks.

The engine is an easy target, so use Q and E to strafe while circling your opponent. Try to keep your front facing the enemy while making it difficult for their cannon to track you.

The problem with Alecto is that it’s much less effective when you’re outnumbered. If several enemies can see you, they’ll usually prioritize you quickly.

How to Play Alecto

Alecto generally wants to deploy along a flank rather than sit back and snipe.

Its camouflage isn’t good enough to compete with proper Scouts, so let your team provide the initial spotting.

Look at the minimap and build an idea of where enemy tanks are and, just as importantly, where they aren’t.

The ideal target is an isolated tank on a flank. Shoot its track component when it is highlighted blue, then circle the target while attacking.

Prioritize:

• Enemy light tanks
• Snipers
• Isolated tanks

Ikarus

Class: Duelist
Attack: Hit and Run
Build: Gun / Hybrid

Yes, Tyr has a flying tank.

Ikarus is one of the most feared vehicles in the game because it can fly over hills and attack enemies from unexpected angles.

Its four-shot autocannon can produce impressive damage at close range, although using it effectively from a distance requires careful timing.

Ikarus can brawl with other light tanks, but its low health makes repeated trades dangerous. Its armor is practically nonexistent, meaning speed and surprise are its main defenses.

The Momentum Imparter component is particularly strong, adding 30 damage per shot against tanks moving over 40 kph. This also applies while flying, making a fast strafing attack extremely dangerous.

Another common option is HE ammunition, which sacrifices 5mm of penetration for 20% more damage.

How to Play Ikarus

Deploy like a Scout and use bushes to gather information.

Eventually, you’ll probably want to take to the air, but make sure the enemy team is distracted before doing so.

When flying, your nose follows the mouse cursor, while WASD provides maximum movement inputs relative to your camera.

Keep pressing the movement keys while airborne to make yourself harder to hit, then use your mouse to line up attack runs.

Try to level out during the final part of your boost so you have good speed during the glide. Launching from higher ground can also give you additional speed during a dive.

Top-down attacks are particularly useful because tank armor tends to be thinner from above.

Ikarus has only 50mm of penetration, so against tougher targets you’ll generally want to aim for side armor or components.

Prioritize:

• Enemy light tanks
• Snipers

Kestrel

Class: Scout
Attack: Shoot and Scoot
Build: Hybrid / Ability / Gun / Mobility

Kestrel is one of the most versatile light tanks in Tyr.

It combines speed, firepower, camouflage, armor, and a powerful spotting ability, allowing it to work in several different roles.

The most important part of Kestrel is its drone. When deployed, the drone spots enemies within its range, making it especially useful for exposing bush snipers.

The drone can also benefit from the +10% damage keystone, causing enemies inside its spotting circle to take increased damage.

The Synchronizer component is another standout option because it provides a 50% increase to energy generation from spotting assists.

This means good spotting can effectively help pay for the ability itself.

How to Play Kestrel

Watch the other Scouts during deployment and choose a position that gives your team good vision.

Elevated positions roughly one-third to one-half of the distance between your base and the enemy can work well.

Keep watching for tracers and learn the common bush-sniper positions on each map.

Your drone should be one of your main tools throughout the match.

Prioritize:

• Using your drone
• Enemy light tanks
• Snipers

Phantom

Class: Scout
Attack: Shoot and Scoot
Build: Mobility / Hybrid / Gun

Phantom is built around stealth.

This motorcycle-like tank has excellent camouflage and an invisibility ability, allowing it to appear in places where the enemy doesn’t expect it.

Its cannon is powerful but slow to reload, so you can either use it from range or take advantage of your stealth to move behind enemy lines.

The Drift Sparker is a standout component because it provides additional speed and fits Phantom’s highly mobile playstyle.

How to Play Phantom

Deploy as a Scout, preferably somewhere on a flank with plenty of bushes.

Phantom’s cannon is capable of dealing serious damage, but taking down another tank alone can be difficult.

Your main strengths are:

• Spotting from unexpected positions
• Taking opportunity shots
• Using invisibility to escape
• Attacking enemy components

Phantom is one of the harder tanks to play well, so avoid unnecessary fights and use its stealth to control where engagements happen.

Fuze

Class: Scout
Attack: Shoot and Scoot
Build: Ability / Gun / Hybrid

Fuze is one of Tyr’s Alpha tanks, so some of its mechanics may change.

For now, it has good camouflage, decent speed, and a respectable cannon.

HE ammunition can produce surprisingly high damage when fired into side components.

Fuze isn’t naturally great at brawling, but its Glom missiles give it some extra tools for close-range fights.

The Gloms also provide the game’s only AoE capability.

How to Play Fuze

Gloms have a bit of a learning curve.

A good approach is to fire them between cannon shots, especially after your first shot, to make use of the downtime created by your reload.

You can attach multiple Gloms to an enemy and detonate them with another Glom, or place them where you’re already planning to shoot.

The missiles don’t increase your spotting range in the same way cannon fire does, although attentive enemies can still follow their trails.

Deploy like a Scout and prioritize enemy light tanks and snipers.

Seeker

Class: Scout
Attack: Shoot and Scoot
Build: Hybrid / Mobility / Gun

Seeker is currently the fastest tank in the game and also carries an above-average cannon.

Its ability automatically searches for the nearest unspotted enemy within 400 meters.

The Seeker Bot doesn’t fully reveal the target, instead providing a visual ping, but this can become extremely powerful when combined with another tank’s spotting ability.

For example, combining a Seeker Bot ping with a Kestrel Drone can almost guarantee that the enemy gets spotted.

The major weakness is Seeker’s tracks. Roughly one-third of the tank is made up of tracks, making it particularly vulnerable to being tracked.

Since speed is one of its main defenses, losing mobility can be extremely dangerous.

How to Play Seeker

Deploy like a Scout and take advantage of your unmatched speed.

Your camouflage won’t beat dedicated Scouts, so look for forward bushes that aren’t easily connected to other spotting positions.

If an enemy appears ready to push you, use your speed to relocate.

Prioritize:

• Enemy light tanks
• Snipers

Medium Tanks

Medium tanks sit between the fast, lightly armored Scouts and the slower, heavily armored Heavy Tanks.

They cover a much wider range of playstyles than the other classes. Some are dedicated Snipers, while others are built for flanking or frontline fighting.

Compared with Light Tanks, Mediums generally have similar or lower DPS, better penetration, and more meaningful armor.

Because of that variety, it’s important to understand which kind of Medium you’re using before deciding whether to fight or retreat.

Arbalest

Class: Sniper
Attack: Shoot and Scoot
Build: Gun / Hybrid

Arbalest is one of the two Medium Snipers and is built around having an enormous cannon.

It has the highest damage per shot and its siege shot can knock out every module on a target when it has 130mm+ penetration.

That can include the tracks, leaving the enemy unable to use abilities and potentially immobilized.

The downside is that Arbalest sacrifices armor and concealment for this firepower.

Its turret has acceptable frontal armor, but the lower part of the tank is extremely weak and should not be exposed during a brawl.

How to Play Arbalest

Deploy behind your frontline, preferably in a bush.

Avoid showing your side because the engine compartment becomes an easy target.

When repositioning from a bush, try to remain facing the enemy and use Q and E to help with movement.

Your main job is to punish anything threatening to break through your team’s frontline.

Ark

Class: Sniper
Attack: Shoot and Scoot
Build: Gun / Hybrid

Ark is the other Medium Sniper and is one of the two Medium tanks available from the beginning.

Its cannon hits hard, while its ability allows it to disappear from spotting after creating a bush-like escape option.

The tank has practically no armor, so getting caught in the open is dangerous.

How to Play Ark

Look for an elevated position with good sightlines, preferably inside a bush.

If there isn’t a suitable bush, you can create one, but make sure you have a hill or another piece of cover nearby.

Ark’s 80mm penetration is enough to penetrate most tanks from reasonable frontal angles.

It can frequently end matches with very high damage numbers, but getting spotted can bring a large amount of return fire.

There’s also a vulnerable component at the base of the barrel. If it gets hit, you won’t be able to fire.

Avoid close combat unless you have a significant health advantage.

Prioritize enemies that threaten to break through your frontline.

Ranger

Class: Flanker
Attack: Brawl
Build: Hybrid / Mobility / Gun

Ranger is a highly mobile Medium built for aggressive flanking.

Its standout feature is the speed-boosting ramp, which allows it to launch the tank through the battlefield.

Ranger has good health, solid frontal armor, decent speed, and a respectable cannon.

It is particularly good at bullying Light Tanks, Snipers, and exposed backline vehicles.

How to Play Ranger

Flanking requires more planning than simply scouting or sniping.

If you know some teammates will follow you, plan a route and push it quickly.

Otherwise, watch how your team deploys and look for other fast tanks, such as Alecto or Tempest, that you can move with.

Once you reach midfield, decide whether to continue pushing or retreat and reposition based on the resistance you encounter.

When you encounter enemy Light Tanks, Ranger can aggressively close the distance and keep its front pointed toward them.

Continuously ramming a tank such as Kestrel can make it extremely difficult for the enemy to get useful shots.

Be careful with your sides, however. Ranger’s side armor is weak and is also a common location for enemies to track you.

Ranger is particularly useful for helping your team win the opening Scout battle.

Rook

Class: Anchor
Attack: Bounce
Build: Hybrid / Ability / Gun

Rook is the opposite of Ranger.

Instead of constantly moving around the battlefield, Rook wants to establish a strong defensive position and make it extremely difficult for enemies to push through.

Its armor layout is unusual. The turret is heavily armored, while the lower front section is much weaker.

There are two main ways to protect that weak area:

• Position yourself on a hill so only the turret is exposed.
• Build a wall in front of the tank.

Once properly positioned, the main vulnerable point is a small area near the base of the barrel.

Keep moving your aim point so enemies have a harder time hitting it.

Rook also has strong health and a usable cannon, but its side and rear armor aren’t nearly as impressive.

How to Play Rook

Deploy with your frontline and stay close enough to support them.

Once the enemy is spotted, find a position with good sightlines and some protection against flanking attacks.

Use your walls to lock down lanes and force enemies to trade health if they want to push through.

Rook can be extremely difficult to dislodge when properly positioned, and it still has enough speed to relocate when necessary.

Tempest

Class: Flanker
Attack: Shoot and Scoot / Hit and Run
Build: Gun / Hybrid / Mobility

Tempest is one of the more unusual tanks in Tyr.

It carries a five-round autoloader that can produce excellent damage while the magazine is loaded, but the base reload is around 20 seconds.

Its ability helps compensate for this by allowing Tempest to dump the magazine and teleport away.

Learning when to use that escape is a major part of mastering the tank.

The Shell Charger component is particularly interesting because a full stack can add more than 100 damage across an entire magazine.

Tempest doesn’t have especially good armor and has several exposed areas, so standing still and trading shots isn’t recommended.

Its tracks are also easy to hit. If the purple tracks are hit, you’ll be immobilized, but you won’t take damage from the hit itself.

How to Play Tempest

You can play Tempest like a traditional bush sniper or use it as an aggressive flanker.

One effective approach is to move up one flank from spawn, unload your magazine, teleport back, and then attack from the opposite flank.

If your teleport circle remains safe, you can effectively create your own flanking route across the map.

Prioritize:

• Component shots
• Light tanks
• Snipers

Valor

Class: Anchor
Attack: Bounce
Build: Ability / Hybrid / Mobility / Gun

Valor brings something unusual to the battlefield: healing.

It has a strong combination of armor and mobility and can heal allied tanks. With the right skill tree and components, including Power Converter, it can also heal itself.

Be careful when using the ability because it’s possible to accidentally heal an enemy.

Valor’s rounded armor makes it frustrating to penetrate, even with high-caliber cannons.

The wiggle technique is particularly effective here.

How to Play Valor

Follow other Heavy Tanks and support the frontline.

Take occasional shots at enemies whenever possible to generate energy, then use that energy to heal your teammates.

Valor works particularly well in prolonged frontline battles because it can combine damage, bounce assists, and healing assists.

Protect your Heavy Tanks and help them stay in the fight.

Deadeye

Class: Vanguard
Attack: Hit and Run
Build: Gun / Hybrid / Ability

Deadeye is currently the only Alpha Medium Tank and has a rather unusual design.

Its ability raises the turret several meters into the air. This can give you an excellent firing position, but it can also make Deadeye an obvious target.

Try to get your shots off quickly and press F to cancel the ability as soon as you’re finished.

The cannon itself is surprisingly strong, but firing two shots while hovering isn’t always ideal.

Deadeye’s armor is similar to Ranger’s in some respects, but its center section can be penetrated by shells with as little as 45mm HE penetration.

This leaves Deadeye with strong firepower but relatively poor defenses, without enough speed or camouflage to compensate.

How to Play Deadeye

During deployment, try to pair up with another frontline tank.

Look for positions behind a wall or hill where you can raise the turret, fire at distracted enemies, then drop back into cover and reload.

Your main priority should be enemies capable of flanking your team.

Heavy Tanks

Heavy Tanks are the largest and most heavily armored vehicles in Tyr.

They have the most health and armor and form the backbone of the team’s frontline.

That doesn’t mean they’re invincible. Heavy Tanks still require good positioning, armor angling, map knowledge, and constant attention to the minimap.

Atlas

Class: Anchor
Attack: Bounce
Build: Hybrid / Gun

Atlas is the biggest and heaviest tank in Tyr.

Its main strength is its enormous frontal armor. If you keep enemies within roughly a 45-degree cone in front of you, many incoming shells will struggle to penetrate.

The problem begins when enemies reach your sides. Atlas has large side armor that becomes much easier to attack, along with a convenient area where enemies can track you.

Its 80mm cannon provides enough firepower to steadily wear down opponents while your armor absorbs incoming fire.

The biggest threat is a faster tank getting around your side or rear. Light Tanks are particularly dangerous because they can move quickly enough to get around Atlas’s turret rotation.

How to Play Atlas

When deploying as a Heavy Tank, look at where your other Heavy Tanks are going and stay reasonably close to them.

You don’t need to stack directly on top of another tank, but you don’t want to leave your flank completely exposed either.

Choose a route that makes sense for your team’s composition and use your health when necessary to help force a push.

Most importantly, angle your armor.

Atlas is at its best when it can control the direction of the fight and lead the team toward a breakthrough.