Boom Beach Scorchers and Tanks Guide

Boom Beach Scorchers and Tanks Guide by GARAT

Hi everyone. Again me ,with a guide. This time we are going to cover our biggest and baddest tank, and his little friends. The Scorchers and Tanks – Scanks!

As always, I hope you have a good read. This guide is not meant to be used by players that already are HQ 20 (tho I will make a section for them too) and have already everything maxed, but by guys who are in development, like to use tanks and want an interesting addition tot heir game.

If you have a comment and would like to share it with the community , pleas do. You will get full credits for it , with your Nick in bold and your comment(s) in italic. Bear in mind , this text is not a “be all ,end all” type of a thing and if you do not agree with the info presented – share that to ! The sum of our knowledge will give the reader a better understanding of the game.

Enjoy!

1.0. Big ,Scary tank

Scorcher is a huge tank with tons of health that goes around the enemy base attracting enemy firepower and setting everything on fire ! Cool ! It sounds better then it is , but you can make it work. Not a single troops in BB works on auto pilot and so too the Sc needs support and skill to utilize.

1.1.The Stats

Scorchers have huge amounts of hit points . Huge. Even at first lvl , it can really take a beating and live to dish it out. It moves very fast for a tank – and will outpace your tank force. Most of the time this is an advantage, sometimes however ti comes as a downside.

Flamer on the tank is rather weak for such a huge,expensive piece. You can’t have everything.
It has moderate range and goes on firing the thing over multiple buildings ,setting them on fire. Just like the building flamer, it has burning dmg over a period of five seconds .

A Scorcher takes up 21 cargo space in the LC- meaning you need lvl 17 crafts to use a Scorcher.
It takes 12 GBE to deploy one.

1.2. Basic Scorcher Army Concepts

To my knowledge, Scorchers have been, up to this point used in the following combinations:
– with Zookas
– with Heavies
– with Hooka
– with Tmed
– with Grenadiers
– with Warriors

All of those combos ,have been more or less successful in taking down certain opponents . One of the funniest combos perhaps is Scorcher + Grenadiers ( drunken tanks + drunken Scotsmen – what’s not to love ? ) . Scorcher + Zooka is IMHO perhaps the best of them – for a single reason …opponent towers target the Scorchers, while Zookas destroy EVERYTHING !

The above are ,some more some less, great fun – but I’m going to talk about purely Scorchers + Tanks (no medics). I do encourage you guys to try the other combos as well – who cares if you loose some battles as long as you have fun while doing it. It has potential to grow into a strategy . We will explore Scanks as a raiding army concept that aims to get you the resources you need for a major upgrade with minimal casualties on the way.

1.3. The Nature of the Beast

Scorcher is a beast. It’s a huge , fast moving tank that (when upgraded) devours stuff with it’s flamer and attracts all the attention. Understanding how it works is prerequisite to making it work.
Scorcher description suggests it has a “short attention span” . Yes, that is true . How does that thing act then . Some of the normal things it does:
– it will normally move towards a flare (just like every troop except medic)
– it will normally engage the nearest building it sees
In principle, it’s just an ordinary troop like any other . There are exceptions…

1.4. Nothin’ but a Hound Dog

At a randomly selected point in time, after spending a couple of seconds near it’s target ,it will wonder off to engage a new target before it has the current one destroyed . This usually kicks in after he spent 3-5 sec near it.
The new target will be within a certain range (similar to Boom cannon range) . We will call this range the Distance of Gore, or shorter DOG.

Within Dog, a new target is chosen randomly (I cannot confirm this as there is no way of checking it to be undoubtedly sure) . If there is no target within Dog, Scorcher will stay there and flame it’s target to death – and once it’s dead it will move towards the nearest possible target anywhere on the map . Just like all other troops except the medics.

Important note: If you put a smoke template onto a Scorcher, Dog is disabled while the smoke is on. In other words, if you want a Scorcher to stop and take a break ( and sometimes you do- later on that) – just a smoke. It’s fairly cheap, starting with 2 GBE for the first one, 3 GBE for the second etc. Remember that.

1.5. If it’s Good,take 3

As we will cover a bit later in more detail, good things come in pairs or trios. A single Scorcher is rahter easy to take down if you deploy only one. As it progresses forward , pretty much the whole base is firing at it ….and it goes down . Taking 2 Scorchers makes this process last twice as long. Taking 3 makes it more then 3 times long. The logic is that 3 Scorchers not only have soo much health, Dog works easy enough for the defense if it’s attacked by one Scorcher. If 3 start running all over the place , they leave towers’ ranges and new enter new ones.

What this means in practice is that the first Sc is taking fire from say 2 cannons, a mortar and a sniper. If it where alone, no matter where it goes everything (while in range ) fires at it. Once the other 2 start moving towers start changing targets. So cannons are firing at a healthy Sc instead of finishing off a wounded one. The wounded one is taking fire from a mortar (and it can take it no problem).

The whole thing starts being very chaotic , and this is where you as a commander start to show your skill in reading the patterns . Before I go into great detail, let us talk about the army in specifics.

2.0. The Scank Pack

With 7 Landing crafts at your disposal (before HQ 20 and the 8th becomes available) the setup I suggest is:
– 3 LCs with a Scorcher each (Alpha male, and 2 Beta males)
– 4 LCs with 2 Tanks each (the Pack)

No medics. No medics. Yes, no medics. If you take them , you will loose them very quickly . This is everything you need. It goes without saying that the Tanks and Scorchers should be as upgraded as possible. I have started using this setup with Scorchers being lvl 2 and Tanks lvl 11. Without a doubt, the higher the better.
I have tried a single Scorcher and all tanks. It didn’t work as planned – I was losing tanks. Scorcher was attracting too much heat and had to be bailed out too often .

I also tried 4 Scorchers and 6 tanks. This was too heavy on GBE, as it takes 60 GBE just to deploy the whole thing. Tank firepower was inadequate .

2.1. Medics

They are not to be used. Their AI is not compatible with Scorchers in this setup. Scorchers are faster and more aggressive then tanks and will rampage into the enemy lines (ahh the feeling! ) , and will take some hits on the way in. Nothing major. The problem is , medics start running into the fire too. And this results in dead medics. It’s not like you where unlucky or anything. The WILL get killed. Mortars, Snipers, Cannons – you name it.
Leave them at home. They have no place here.

2.2. Roles within a Pack

Every member of the pack has its role within it. Scorchers are there to:
– push forward (this is a good thing, up to a point)
– take the heavy hits
– muscle through a base and hit the underbelly
– damage multiple targets

Tanks have a different role then within traditional Tmed:
– they are here to take a few hits here and there (as you cannot prevent this)
– finish off dented defenses
– provide the major part of the firepower

2.3. Scorchers’ role in detail

Pushing forward is what you want

Yes. Your Pack doesn’t have infinite staying power that medics provide , and time is NOT on your side. You WANT to get in there and fame things ASAP (as soon as possible) . The sooner the SCs break a hole in the defense, the sooner they will torch a few easy targets and get you the cheap GBE which is then used for a number of things .

If your force is not pushing forward early on (and you can see that the Pack is not destroying the front defenses fast – your attack will not end without casualties unless you can pull off a trick or two . I have more then a couple of them for you- later.

15 seconds. If you haven’t destroyed at least 6-9 GBE in the first 15 seconds from the point of landing – plan B kicks in. Remember that.

Take the Heavy hits

You are concerned over 2 types of buildings , and none other.
Boom Cannons and Shock launchers. Boom cannons will seriously endanger your Pack- take them out with GB if you can. If a BCs is near a beach – you’re in luck. Flare it and Shock it as soon as the army lands. Tanks will murder it . If it does fire , you where either too early, too late , or the Shock is not upgraded enough. Boom cannons should never ,ever be allowed to fire more then (and if ) once . If someone was being “smart” and put a BC to protect a flank from standard Tmed, you will first take the other flank , then use GB to rocket that thing if need be.

Shock launchers are not big problem. Turns out they work quite different against Scanks. See, like any other tower they fire at the first thing they see- and that should be…a Scorcher. The rest of the pack is a bit behind (Scorcher is pushing forward) . He can freely shock a single Scorcher. If it does, it didn’t stop it form dealing flame (secondary) dmg to whatever is near the SC . It didn’t stop it from taking the Heavy hits. It only stopped pushing forward.

It’s no big deal 4/5 times. It only IS a big deal if you are trying to flank with the whole pack . If it hits you on the way, it will miss the Scorcher and hit tanks. Not good. Smoke them to avoid this, or rocket the SL first.
The rest of the weapons are completely uninteresting to you. Ignore them unless they are cannons and are firing at your tanks instead of SCs. Wisely positioned Shocks from GB go a long way. Aim for the cannons,no exceptions.

Snipers ,mortar ,Mgs,flamers, Rockets launcghers are of no interest to you. They fire at Scorchers 90% of the time.

A lvl 2 Scorcher has roughly 27 k hit points wihtout TH MP help,or boosts. Do you really care about 2 sniper towers firing at it? Unless they are high lvl , I bet you don’t.

Muscle Through a Base and Hit the Underbelly

You are halfway through an enemy base, but will be short on GBE soon. You do not want to loose any troops and so you need a plan B. The enemy base has a weak spot, one that is rarely fully taken advantage off – the production buildings are way in the back.

They are safe from most armies as there are many towers in the way, boom mines to boot etc . That’s what whoever constructed the base was aiming for. Scanks put a wrench into this plan. You flare to the side , then all the way up. Scorchers take some hits along the way, so you put some smoke here and there to protect them from the hardest weapons.

They are really fast , and will get to those production buildings very ,very soon. No tower can touch them and save those buildings. Scorchers make short work of those , you use the free energy and you take down the base.
No other army can do that move so bluntly . Tmed might try, but tanks are slow and the base might kill medics if you try that.

Damage to Multiple Targets

Does exactly what it says on the box. Scorchers flame things and move on,tanks clean up. It’s perfect. You can play into this plan with barrage before you start. Damaging multiple buildings is a better idea then killing some. If you damage many, Scorchers will make short work of them. The faster they kill , the more dmg to SCs is prevented . You can go as far as to call it pseudo medkit.

2.4. Tanks’ role in the Pack

Tanks are usually main battle units, there to take hits for others and to dish it out. They are far from the best dmg dealing troops in BB , when you consider LC space (Zookas for example do far more dmg) . The synergy between Scorchers and Tanks is in a couple of facts:
– both have far more HT then the average troop
– both ignore most defenses (see above)
– both need GBE to deploy (this is not a possitive thing but still)

This tactic is unique as SCs and Tanks can only pull it off. Zookas would be a great choice, except for their inability to sustain the lightest firepower .Anything can kill a zooka. They would be almost completely safe from firepower if you only attacked from the front, but as soon as you try fancy moves…it would be harder to pull of then with Hooka to begin with.

Tanks’ role is therefore – that of the zookas in Hooka,and some more.

Take a few hits here and there

The enemy base is already under fire from your tanks.Scorcher nearby is still taking some fire from a Sniper nearby and is entering red zone with his HP. To save it , you can either flare it back or cover it with smoke or medkit.

Flaring would generally be a good idea, but the tanks firing at the HQ would then also obey the flare and reposition and stop firing. Nope

Medkit on the Scorcher would also be a good idea if it where Heavies. Scorcher might (and will) run off. Plus the Medkit is better on multiple targets. Nope again

Putting smoke over Scorcher saves it from enemy firepower. Good. Cheap, and repeatable . It does mean the Sniper will now start firing at the tanks – who cares ? They are tanks , they can take it .

If we had Grenadiers or Zookas in the same situation as the Tanks here, this would result in some casualties for sure.

Finish off Dented defenses

That’s right. Scorcher sets it on fire, tanks finish it off. When everything goes right, it’s like Hooka on steroids .

Provide the Major part of the Firepower

When deploying against a base that has only a few sniper towers and economy buildings up front , first unload tanks. They will destroy those, and roll slowly forward. In the meantime, Scorchers are let loose !!! Just before your Tanks would reach the enemy second line (with cannons in it) Scorchers are there. Ta-Ta-Tada-TA-TAAA !!!!!

“I love the smell of napalm in the morning”
Tanks are much needed to kill anything. they outrange and outnumber Scorchers . They are doing the heavy lifting when it comes to destroying stuff. Flaring key enemy buildings is still king if you really want something dead NOW.

3.0. The Beastmaster

Among all that chaos that will unfold as soon as you let those Scorcher off the chain, there has to be a way to control the flow of things And there is. Leading your pack will be tricky until you get the hang of it. Here are a few things you can do to make it more simple.

3.1. Pack tactics

Just like a Tmed force , you should not let your army separate and go after individual targets. By that , I mean largely the Scorchers. Always keep an eye on all 3 Scorchers ,at all times !
Your SCs will surely be in one of the 3 situations at any time.

1. Flamin’ – The Scorcher in question has engaged a soft target (one that cannot kill him anytime soon) and is taking hits for the team from nearby towers. He is hopping to nearby buildings and generally being useful , doing it’s job . Tanks behind it are destroying those towers one by one . Everything’s fine.

2. Moving – The Scorcher is on the move to a new target within “DOG” .He set the buildings around it on fire and they will soon be destroyed. SC might go somewhere where it will not be safe from the heavy stuff. Keep an eye on it’s movement. If it wonders off to a place that will prevent Tanks to support it (too far away, or engaging individual targets) , or a place with too much heat – use the short time it will take the SC to get where it wants to go to consider your options. Is it too early to flare the whole army to a safer point and restart the attack. Should we for the “Underbelly” ? Do we simply smoke the SC and wait for the fights around it to unfold?

3. Under heavy fire – SC has entered the range of several cannons, or (God forbid) a Boom cannon and is about to blow soon if you don’t act. Smoke it for starters, then use the smoke to think. Smoking it is done by default. Then you can think.

It goes without saying that the SC CANNOT stay there !!! The more your smoke is upgraded , the better of course .

When playing Scanks, you are actually looking at SCs 80% of the time. If your deployment was correct, and the Tanks are fairly upgraded – you can ignore them and concentrate on SCs.
The whole concept is built around the idea that not many things CAN destroy a Scorcher, let alone 3- and tanks are solid all around troops.

Never separate your Scorchers ! No matter how good it looks, even if they are winning – rally them multiple times if they wander off too far. You do this to save up GBE. If they are separated, and you are using shocks (as is advisable) , your Tanks might not be in position to fully take advantage off the shock.

If the whole Pack is in the same general area, it will chew through the base very quickly. When flaring, aim for a spot that will allow the Tanks to fire and destroy things as soon as they are there. Scorchers are fast,they will be quick off the mark and on target .

In addition to all this most Tmed tactics work with Scanks too . Check the other guides , for example the one by Cammoisland is a great read.

4.0. Supporting the Pack

First off you will need GBE Master piece and several Guardians, plus an upgraded Gun Boat. Considering the fact that you need :
– 36 GBE to deploy 3 Scorchers
– 16 to deploy 8 tanks

You will be hard pressed NOT to use gun boat abilities before you land. I advise against not using GB. If you need that extra Artillery / Barrage to get that last boom cannon before you land, but you cannot deploy the whole army , so be it.

You will take the GBE from the enemy and send in the reinforcements later. Logic would imply that you deploy all the Scorchers and then as many tanks as you can, but this is wrong.

Correct way to do is to deploy all TANKS you can, and as many Scorchers as you can. Why?

In a situation where you need GBE fast, and you have to choose, you choose the dmg dealing troops first.
Deploying 6 tanks costs 12 GBE, just as one Scorcher. They will soon earn you 12 GBE to deploy the Scorcher too. It is a fast tanks and will catch the rest of the army up quickly.

Learn by hart how much GBE you need to deploy your army in any combination. Never go below 2 Scorchers deployed however.

4.1. Max Your Gun Boat

Do it. You need all the GBE you can have . A new lvl of gun boat seems like only 2 extra points, but sometimes it’s 3. By that I mean the math of the GBE statues might give you an extra point , because of the percentages.
+ 30% of 40 is less the + 30% of 42.

4.2. Smoke,Shock, Flare, Artillery, Barrage
Max them all. You will use them EVERY game.

5.0. Statues

A Scank pack makes great use of :
– Gun boat energy Master Piece
– 2 Gun boat energy Guardians
– Troop Health & Dmg master pieces

This is a default setup. From that point on it’s your call. Troop dmg guardians are a thing. Additional GBE guardians are overrated . Troop Health ones are underrated .

Here’s an idea,if you really want to make grown men cry: What if we had maxed 3 Scorchers and the following:
– Troop Health master piece +30%
– 2-3 Troop Health Guardians with a total of + 40%
Then we boost the MP and we have +60% from MP + 40% from Guardians = total +100%
Maxed Scorchers have 40k Hit point on their own. These would have 80k.
Such Scorchers have more Hit points (each!) then a lvl 16 HQ building.

A lvl 14 Boom cannon, unboosted ,does 4k dmg per shot. It would take …20… shots to kill that Scorcher. And you have 3 of them. Let that sink in for a moment here….

Or Alternatively , we could build the opposite setup – one that is more adept at supporting other armies. In other words going for extra dmg. That way , Scorchers and Tanks do heaps of dmg , hence speeding up the time needed to destroy the entire base . So that leaves less time to enemy towers to act.
Your call.

6.0. Plan of the Pack Attack

In order to use Scanks to full effect – one needs a solid plan . I made a list of all the steps needed to get through a raid without casualties :

1. Scout the enemy base . First thing to look for is Boom cannons and Ice statues . Placement of Boom cannons is key here. The ones at the very front can be shocked. The ones in the middle , and in the way of the Pack have to be destroyed by Gun boat. The ones in the back can be kept for later. Artillery and Barrage .
2. Decide your attack vector . Look for a nice easy place to start. Anywhere where there are a few easy targets to fill your GBE is a good choice.
3. Do you need to flank? If so, sent the Tanks first or SCs will outrun them
4. Count to number of high lvl cannons in your path – they will get dented with rockets or shocked. Plan for it.
5. If the base is near the beach, Scorchers deploy first .If it’s far, Tanks deploy first.
6. If you are short on GBE and cannot deploy everyone (you spent it on destroying key Boom cannons) – Deploy at least 2 Scorchers and as many tanks as you can
7. Never flare specific buildings while approaching , unless they are Boom cannons. Always flare to a spot from which your tanks can easily start destroying stuff as soon as they get there
8. Flaring to a target rich area is a good idea, unless those are un-shocked cannons
9. When you are halfway in, go for the underbelly if you can
10. If not start considering a spot near the HQ where your tanks will sit and destroy it. Take out dangerous stuff around it , and flare
11. Schorchers will again take the heat – save them with smoke
12. Scorchers do NOT go “ADD” on you while the smoke lasts
13. Enjoy the sight of coins flying into the air !!!

Thanks guys for your time. I hope you liked the guide and will find it useful. And I hope Scanks will be as much fun for you as they are for me.