Ninja



Ninja is a Rare tank in Hills of Steel 2.

It bears some resemblance to a black and blue toy RC car, low to the ground with large, aggressive tread tires, armed with a massive blade.

Primary
Ninja swings it's sword up to three times in a rapid arc, forward and down. This deals moderate damage to one target and destabilizes them, possibly launching them a short distance into the air.

Each swing deals damage equal to Ninja's Attack stat.

Secondary
Ninja disappears in a cloud of smoke. Allies can see a cloaked Ninja as a shimmering outline. This effect ends once Ninja uses it's primary attack or after several seconds.

This ability has moderate cool-down between uses.

Special
A targeting cursor appears at a set distance ahead of Ninja along the ground when it's special is fully charged. Upon firing, Ninja launches a spinning blade to the point indicated, where it spins in place for a set amount of time, dealing moderate over time damage to targets in it's area. The amount of damage dealt every second the blade spins is equal to Ninja's Special stat.

Using the special accelerates Ninja in the direction it is currently moving, allowing Ninja to jump and flip through the air.

Strategy
With considerable damage, high speed and fairly low health, Ninja is usually best suited to hit-and-run tactics.

Ninja's cloaking ability is useful to close in for an attack or to make an escape, but clever opponents can try to track your movements. Damage dealt to Ninja is still visible even when the tank is not, and status effects such as Scorpion's poison and Phoenix's fire can reveal your position as well. The text function will also continue to be visible when you activate Ninja's secondary ability.

Ninja can climb over enemies and, thanks to it's special, leap over obstacles, making it a hard tank to pin down. It is also one of the few tanks that can strike directly behind itself.

Ninja's special is extremely effective at creating choke points, buying time and punishing tanks that want to sit in one spot for long periods.

Upgrades
Ninja benefits from upgrades that improve it's already impressive speed, as well as anything that can improve it's performance in melee combat. In addition, it's special attack can be very potent, so focusing on upgrades that improve it is also an effective strategy.

Skins
Storm (50 gems)

Cyber (season 20 reward)