If there is any changes that I want to see in Halo 4 playlists its cutting down the amount of Mantis and maybe adding a banshee instead. Its too powerful and ruins any “neck-to-neck” games. I want to know what the community has to say regarding the Mantis. Would you like to see less Mantis?
Mantis is definitely OP. It’s the only valid reason to keep Plasma Pistols and Plasma Grenades in loadouts. I would love to see it removed in favor of other vehicles such as the Scorpion or Wraith.
> Mantis is definitely OP. It’s the only valid reason to keep Plasma Pistols and Plasma Grenades in loadouts. I would love to see it removed in favor of other vehicles such as the Scorpion or Wraith.
Agreed. I just want to play infantry BTB Assault rifle , Magnums, and grenades. no ordinance, no vehicles, and maybe some power weapons on the map.
The Mantis is one of the best things 343 has brought to the Halo franchise. I would love to see a 4v4 Mantis playtype for Action sack.
> The Mantis is one of the best things 343 has brought to the Halo franchise. I would love to see a 4v4 Mantis playtype for Action sack.
I’m going to have to disagree with that. The mech is a wonderful concept but the Mantis is a pretty clunky execution. It embodies some of the worst aspects of heavy vehicle gameplay in Halo, namely that it can work VERY well as a purely defensive super-turret that can easily put a loosing team at an incredible disadvantage. Often literally, the hill they have to climb has an armor plated guardian at the top with super rockets and a giant foot and that simply exaggerates small imbalances even to the point of breaking the game.
Halo needs to branch out into more small and mid-ranged vehicles, things that infantry can interact with without it being a overly-simplistic turkey shoot (ex. Choppers, Ghosts, the Avalanche Hornet). I like how operating a mantis is a bit more technical than other vehicles but its just too big, too well armed, and too much of an oppressive weight on big team. Its also too unwieldy for its own good, which hopefully 343 will rectify in Halo 5 with a smaller, more direct, mech that can lead to more dynamic gameplay.
> > The Mantis is one of the best things 343 has brought to the Halo franchise. I would love to see a 4v4 Mantis playtype for Action sack.
>
> I’m going to have to disagree with that. The mech is a wonderful concept but the Mantis is a pretty clunky execution. It embodies some of the worst aspects of heavy vehicle gameplay in Halo, namely that it can work VERY well as a purely defensive super-turret that can easily put a loosing team at an incredible disadvantage. Often literally, the hill they have to climb has an armor plated guardian at the top with super rockets and a giant foot and that simply exaggerates small imbalances even to the point of breaking the game.
>
> Halo needs to branch out into more small and mid-ranged vehicles, things that infantry can interact with without it being a overly-simplistic turkey shoot (ex. Choppers, Ghosts, the Avalanche Hornet). I like how operating a mantis is a bit more technical than other vehicles but its just too big, too well armed, and too much of an oppressive weight on big team. Its also too unwieldy for its own good, which hopefully 343 will rectify in Halo 5 with a smaller, more direct, mech that can lead to more dynamic gameplay.
For game types like “Infinity” CTF/Slayer (i believe that’s the one where the game gives us pre-set loadouts) I hate running into the Mantis. Once one team loses their mantis the other pretty much dominates the field. I am the type who goes into these games with the Carbine/Plasma Pistol combo just so i can put down the other Mantis quick, but sometimes think I am the only one and if the other team is even semi-intelligent Its like i just threw my body at it.
I also am working on the Accommodations and I am pretty close to finishing Mantis but nowhere close to Scorpion or Wraith. So I would be happy if it varied at least a little bit.
> The Mantis is one of the best things 343 has brought to the Halo franchise.
Agreed. Its not really as OP as everyone thinks. It takes skill to use and if a team has brains they can kill a mantis without too much trouble.
> > The Mantis is one of the best things 343 has brought to the Halo franchise.
>
> Agreed. Its not really as OP as everyone thinks. It takes skill to use and if a team has brains they can kill a mantis without too much trouble.
Of course it “takes skill to use.” But if you think about it, how would you go about taking it down without Plasma Pistols and Plasma Grenades in loadouts?
Any vehicle except the Mantis can be taken down fairly simply without PPs or PGs.
I think it’s the shields. Make the Mantis a tad smaller in size and remove the shields, and it would be good.
> > > The Mantis is one of the best things 343 has brought to the Halo franchise.
> >
> > Agreed. Its not really as OP as everyone thinks. It takes skill to use and if a team has brains they can kill a mantis without too much trouble.
>
> Of course it “takes skill to use.” But if you think about it, how would you go about taking it down without Plasma Pistols and Plasma Grenades in loadouts?
>
> Any vehicle except the Mantis can be taken down fairly simply without PPs or PGs.
>
> I think it’s the shields. Make the Mantis a tad smaller in size and remove the shields, and it would be good.
I’ve been a proponent with most of what you say on these forums, but I’m going to have to disagree with this.
Mantis can be very easily driven back and destroyed by concentrated small arms fire. I’ve seen it been done and contributed to it myself many, many many times in matchmaking. Even if there’s no team rally to do so, people naturally pump rounds into the beast whenever they get the chance.
Suppressing the Mantis is probably an element of strategy that people don’t even recognise when they’re actually doing it.
There’s also the abundance of power weapons, though in particular the Sniper Rifle gives any Mantis operator some serious grief.
The PP/PG combo certainly helps, but by no means is it necessary.
The Mantis is like a chess piece and you have you know when and where you need to move it.
I would like to see some Mantises replaced as well but unfortunately do the other heavy vehicles (Wraith and Scorpion) not really work well with the current maps in my opinion, since they are way to narrow, blocked and simply not open enough as that you could effectively operate with the Wraith/Scorpion on them, especially with all those PP and Stickies in loadouts and anti-vehicle weapons in POD.
> Mantis can be very easily driven back and destroyed by concentrated small arms fire. I’ve seen it been done and contributed to it myself many, many many times in matchmaking. Even if there’s no team rally to do so, people naturally pump rounds into the beast whenever they get the chance.
>
> Suppressing the Mantis is probably an element of strategy that people don’t even recognise when they’re actually doing it.
>
> There’s also the abundance of power weapons, though in particular the Sniper Rifle gives any Mantis operator some serious grief.
>
> The PP/PG combo certainly helps, but by no means is it necessary.
The key word in your post is “suppress.” I was talking about actually taking it down.
Using the above strategy could drive the Mantis away for a time, yes, but it would come back again once its shields have recharged. This cycle could potentially continue until the game ends and the Mantis may never be destroyed. Such should not be possible for a vehicle unless one team is vastly superior to the other team in skill.
Not only that, but the time (and ammo) spent pumping the Mantis with rounds is time not spent pumping the other enemy players with rounds. So you drive the Mantis back, then the enemy players overrun your team; by the time you beat back the other team, their Mantis is back. Again, this could continue until your team’s Mantis respawns, allowing you to potentially break the cycle.
One mantis is fairly easy to deal with. Secure a laser or sniper, and have that person plus another fight off the mech. The rest of the team can turn their barrels towards the enemy. Once they have a bit of breathing room(though Insta-spawn does not give much cushion), they can focus some fire on the mantis. The problem is you can’t drive it back. You need to kill it, or at the very least, combust it.
If the enemy gets two manti(in ragnarok) then maybe you deserve being trapped.
Mantis without shields has roughly the same health as a warthog. So once them shields go down, it doesn’t take long for it to die…especially with concentrated small arms fire.
> But you cant do this in a Warthog =D
But we could with a smaller, less devastating, and less clunky mech! Again I like the Mantis concept (fan of Titanfall, MechWarrior, Section 8, Shogo, and Patlabor, ect.) but 343’s implantation leaves quite a bit to be desired.
My issue with the Mantis is that it’s simply overused. I’m not gonna say that it’s OP or anything - there are counters for it. It’s just that EVERY VEHICLE MAP has it now. It’s like Scorpions and Wraiths no longer exist. Hell, does anyone even remember what a Hornet is?
> My issue with the Mantis is that it’s simply overused. I’m not gonna say that it’s OP or anything - there are counters for it. It’s just that EVERY VEHICLE MAP has it now. It’s like Scorpions and Wraiths no longer exist. Hell, does anyone even remember what a Hornet is?
Something that existed in Halo 3. 
Uh… what’s a “Manits”?
I don’t see what’s wrong with the Mantis; it was as underpowered as any other vehicle before it was buffed, now at least it has the firepower to make up for the fact that it’s a huge target.
Hell no!!! I love the Mantis and everything about it. I wish there were more of them.
Eh, some maps work better for a Mantis deployment, and others simply don’t. I do appreciate the tenacity with trying to get this new vehicle to work across a variety of maps, however.
I’m pretty neutral with the Mantis’ existence on Ragnarok: Because of the map’s openness, it’s easy for both the mech pilot and the mech pilot’s antagonist in the situation to kill one another; the layout of the map isn’t nearly as restrictive in comparison to other maps that Halo 4 has to offer. The weapon spawns on the map aid in solving Mantis problems as well, i.e. the Spartan Laser that spawns in the relative center. The power struggle can decide which side has a safeguard against the enemy Mantis, but can be overturned through the use of a sniper round through a Splaser operator’s face.
The swapping of the Scorpion Tank for the Mantis on Exile was actually a welcomed change in my book: The Scorpion was far too close to one side of the map, giving the other team less of a chance than the other of securing the vehicle. Because of Exile’s structure, the tank could easily be nestled in at one side of the map and still have a clear line of sight into the opposing team’s spawn. The Mantis spawn is more centered between the red and blue spawns, giving a better chance for the mech to end up in either team’s possession. Additionally, I find that the Mantis is better suited for the map, as it isn’t as unwieldly as the Scorpion, and it has to charge its more destructive armament, the Rocket Launcher, rather than just pointing and firing at the opposite side of the map.
Then there are some maps, like Vortex, where I really could care less if the Mantis was a vehicle spawn or not. I do prefer having a Wraith on the map in place of it, as I never see it anymore outside of Campaign, which I rarely touch now, and Spartan Ops. I guess it was swapped out to balance the map perhaps, or to use the Mantis a bit more, but I hope they will at least bring it back on another map. Ditto to the Scorpion; as far as I know, it’s only on Outcast now, and I’ve only played on that map in Dominion, very rarely at that.
While I like its concept, its execution, and its ability to be used on various maps, I do have to agree that it doesn’t need to be used on EVERY map. I’d really like to see if it and some of the other underutilized vehicles were used together on a map.