The only new vehicle in multiplayer is the Mantis... and it is a hell of a lot of fun. I have jumped into the Mantis probably a dozen times so far... here's what I'm thinking for a basic strategy.

Fighting With A Mantis
When using the Mantis you should primarily be using the turret and saving the rockets for closer calls. Use the turret on ground pounders from a moderate distance and they'll drop pretty quick. If a ground pounder gets close enough for you to worry about getting stunned use the rockets with the turret to cut them down quicker. Also, I like having the rockets fully loaded so I can fire multiple rockets if necessary. When you fire all 5 it will automatically reload, (You cannot reload without firing them all), - if you can help it don't leave just 1 or 2 rockets ready to fire.

Pace yourself when firing with the turret it does overheat quickly, quicker than the warthog turret. If your turret overheats and you're getting overwhelmed use the rockets that you've saved to backup your overheated turret.

Using the Mantis to fight against other vehicles is essential. I like overwhelming the enemy vehicle with both the turret and rockets when the vehicle is within range. If you can unload all of the rockets into an enemy Warthog along with constant turret fire you should be able to shred the hog.

Long range combat with the Mantis is really only reliable as team shooting. Don't even bother firing the rockets long range unless you can lead your shot with skill.

I have yet to use the Mantis (Smash!?) stomp with any success. I attempted to stomp a ground pounder who was getting close and I ended up getting boarded still. You cannot stomp to one side or the other, it will always be a straight forward stomp. I don't think attempting to stomp someone directly below will work. When using the Mantis Smash... It takes 2 stomps to kill a Warthog. 1 stomp to kill a Ghost or Mongoose. Destroying vehicles with a stomp WILL damage your Mantis! I think it's so extreme that if you have some damage on you before you stomp a hog you will blow up with it.

The Mantis is MOST VULNERABLE to the plasma pistol in my opinion. When the Mantis is stunned you cannot fire like you can with the hog. You are completely frozen and helpless until it wears off. Team support would be very effective in maintaining your Mantis. Once you are boarded consider yourself done - I have attempted shooting nearby walls to kill the boarder like I've done in the past with a Wraith or Tank and it doesn't work since you can only fire forwards and the boarder will always be on the back. I've yet to see a teammate shoot a boarder off of the Mantis and have the Mantis still survive - I'm sure it's possible.

I tested out the Mantis against a few undamaged vehicles... below is what it took for a total kill. Using the turret or team shooting will speed up the process.
Warthog - 4 Rockets
Banshee - 3 Rockets
Mongoose - 4 Rockets
Ghost - 3 Rockets


Fighting Against A Mantis
Team shooting is very effective against a Mantis, (I know this because I've been shredded pretty quickly in a Mantis against only ground pounders.) If you can involve a vehicle in fighting a Mantis that will increase your chances of success. Involving more than 1 vehicle with a coordinated attack is almost a sure thing.

When using a Warthog against a Mantis try not to get too close. Keep moving constantly, don't roll the hog near the Mantis or get hung up on a rock. Constant fire with the turret, (paced to avoid overheating), will take the Mantis down in about 15 or 20 seconds. Team fire will increase the likelyhood of success.

Using a Banshee against the Mantis is not recommended unless it's part of a bigger plan. 1:1 vs. the Mantis the Banshee will almost always lose. Attacking a flaming/damaged Mantis with a Banshee might have better odds.

Mantis vs. Mantis battles haven't gone will for me yet unless I was able to surprise the enemy Mantis. As I described above use the turret along with your rockets to quickly overwhelm your enemy counterpart.

One key strategy against a Mantis is surprise - bringing a vehicle around a corner quicker than the Mantis can turn on you will give you a head start in taking it down. Use callouts to relay Mantis position to your teammates.

I tested a few weapons against an undamaged Mantis. Below is what it takes to kill a Mantis, (without team help) with each of these weapons.
Sniper Rifle - 8 Shots
Spartan Laser - 2 Shots
Rail Gun - 5 Shots
Gauss Hog - 3 Shots

OK... I'm sure I missed something but this is certainly a topic that will be important to us. Ragnarok seems to be favored in voting more than the other BTB maps so far. Also, I'd be surprised if one of the future DLC maps doesn't include a Mantis. Feel free to critique my strategy, adding to it when we learn something new or correcting a mistake I made. I'd like to do some custom game or Forge testing to learn more soon.

I tweaked a couple of things in the OP after testing a few things out. Specifically what it takes to kill a Mantis and what it takes to kill a vehicle with a Mantis. Also clarified the Mantis Smash move.

Confirmed! The Mantis is also in Dominion on Meltdown. So is the Gauss, and it takes 3 Gauss shots to kill a Mantis.

Good thread, good read

wow great write-up I only could hop twice into the mantis and was taken down pretty fast but I will try anothertime soon .
You should write the gausshog part into the OP

The mantis can also stomp a Banshee with 1 stomp. I found this out by accident when i decided to stomp 2 guys rushing me. as i started the stomp a friendly banshee flew down to splatter one of them. he ended up getting jacked and right as the enemy kicked my teammate from the bansheethe stomp finished and ended up destroying the banshee and the guy on foot. Some how my teammate survived the explosion of the banshee. and we continued to mass murder the enemy team with the mantis.

imweakusee wrote:

The mantis can also stomp a Banshee with 1 stomp. I found this out by accident when i decided to stomp 2 guys rushing me. as i started the stomp a friendly banshee flew down to splatter one of them. he ended up getting jacked and right as the enemy kicked my teammate from the bansheethe stomp finished and ended up destroying the banshee and the guy on foot. Some how my teammate survived the explosion of the banshee. and we continued to mass murder the enemy team with the mantis.

Clip please

sadly my xbox only saves games from the previous day. i got the kill tuesday night so its not on my xbox any more and i cant get the clip. didnt think about clipping it at the time. did get a sick double stick yesterday i was able to get.

I was in a banshee and got killed by a mantis stomp. 1 hit.

The Mantis spawns at "C" in Dominion on Meltdown.

Great post icebird (articuno?), very good insights into how the mantis performs in various combat situations. The only thing that i can suggest with regards to the boarding, have you tried shooting your rockets at the feet of the mantis with the intent of killing the border through means of explosive splash? You did mention the wall trick that was previously applicable with the wraith as being ineffective, so i question whether this will work. Still needs to be tested if even possible, i assume hmm.

I've stomped some people with the mantis allready
Have not played a lot of meltdown, but it's there to. Thread careful on meltdown with the mantis.

Combining a single laser shot with ab effective team shot or vehicle push can knock out a mantis in a fraction of the time! in the cases where i play with a party we generally take out a mantis in a few seconds after it comes into view as long as we open with a laser to the face! having your laser shooter use the ammo.perk grants six shots as opposed to the usual four as long as he is the FIRST player to touch the weapon.

The stomp is, in my opinion, a complete waste of time. In addition to being very slow and not nearly deadly enough, you can fire rockets down at very steep angles. When I'm tempted to hit right bumper in a mantis, I hit left trigger instead. IF you don't have rockets you can try, but if things are that close to you and you're out of rockets chances are you were dead 5 seconds ago and you just took that long to figure it out.

I think I've killed two people with the stomp. I can't confirm what its damage is, but as far as I can tell you need to both do it perfectly AND get very lucky to kill with it. MOST of the time I have stomped spartans only to have them ignore it and board me. I think in general you don't want any ground pounders near you in ANY vehicle ever. Unless they're unawares they seem to board even when you boost into them with a banshee or ghost, and even often when you're boosting away and they don't appear to be anywhere near you.

I wouldn't say the stomp is a waste of time... if it's used right. The damage it deals out seems pretty big and the damage radius seems to be a bit bigger than expected. (More testing needed?)

Using the stomp as a last second safety hit is likely going to fail. But a well timed/calulated stomp will work quite well. Also, the target should be in front (a step in front at least) not under. If you're too late and they get under they'll just walk away from your stomp.

I managed a cool triple kill with a well timed stomp tonight.