I am vyew, a community ambassador, one of those (lol apparently I wrote "swag ppl" here) yellow names. I'm supposed to help new players. I am quite friendly, if you find me in game feel free to add me (hell friend my on steam if necessary) to ask me questions or get me on your crew. I have 2000+ matches, 1100+ engineer, 700+ pilot, 500+ gunner.

Just in case you were like "dayum who the hell is this guy telling me what to do."

I have other really good guides too, please watch/read them if you want to learn more about Guns of Icarus. Don't forget to vote and rate up so the guides get pushed up to the front page!

(Video) Engineering Tricks and Hardcore Parkour (VERY USEFUL FOR CHEM SPRAY CYCLES)
http://gtm.you1.cn/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=260797924

General guide, "WAT DO"
http://gtm.you1.cn/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=296724741

UPDATE: Filled out the remaining sections with only the information you need instead of some unnecessary stuff like gun stats. Enjoy and good luck.

Here is my personal ranking of things that stomp noobs rly hard, best to worst (things in the same block are roughly equal rank):

Flamethrower/carronade combo (Any ship)
Flamethrowers
Heavy Carronade Goldfish (Blenderfish)

Gatling/Mortar Pyramidion (Metamidion)
Banshees

Mine Launchers
Gatling/Carronade Ramming Pyramidion (Retardmidion)
Double Hades Pyramidion

Lumberjack
Sniper ships

Artemis (multiple)

In this guide I will go through each one of these noob stompers: why they are rly good at stomping noob, what are the counter strategies, what you as a player for each class can do. :)

This requires a combination of both of the below counter Flamethrowers and counter Carronade strategies, good luck. It will be hard.


UPDATE: Both of these guns got hit with big nerfs so it will be a little easier to beat them.

Flamethrower stats:
♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ of ammo
Very fast fire rate (reaches super fire rate with greased)
Long ish reload (7 seconds)

Range is ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ with lesmok, abysmal with anything else
Turn radius rly good in every direction but slow turn speed

Damage is doubled against Balloon, otherwise reduced damage against everything else
Damage has two parts, direct fire damage (meaning it will do some damage even through Chem spray) and the fire stack mechanic
Fire stack mechanic, every fire particle (flamethrower is the only particle based weapon in the game) has a chance of applying 1 fire stack to the struck component. Stacks cause fire damage per second to the component. Stacks cap at 20.

If a gun gets 8 stacks of fire, it is "too hot" and is disabled until brought below 8 stacks.

How it stomps noobs:
New Pilots:
Since new pilots are still learning things like what Phoenix claw does, they don't know how to outmaneuver flamethrower ships, how to stay away, etc. Furthermore, default load outs A and B on all ships are almost always close range load outs, so staying away would be ineffectual.

Experienced Pilots:
It is gg ez for even a sub 100 game pilot to press kerosene and rush down enemy ships. It is also simple to keep flamethrowers on target because they have a very wide turning radius.


New Engineers:
No newbie carries chem spray because fire extinguisher is the default load out, so no newbie crew carries the flamethrower hard counter. Even if they did, without knowledge of repair priority, repair cycles and engineer parkour, they wouldn't be able to use chem spray effectively anyway. Finally, because most newbie ships are 2 engineer+1 gunner (God forbid 2 gunners), they lack the extra repair power of triple engineer setups often used by experienced crews.

Experienced Engineers:
Even experienced engineers can mess up their chem spray cycles, but if its only one or two flamethrowers they'll probably be ok.


New Gunners:
New gunners don't know how to disable enemy guns or what guns are effective at disabling components, so they won't know how to shoot out enemy flamethrowers. Also, heat sink ammo is not a default gunner load out, so gunners will rarely carry heat sink. Heatsink is an niche ammo anyway and takes up a slot that could be better used on damage or range optimization ammo.

Experienced Gunners:
Flamethrower is extremely easy to use, you literally just shoot it at everything. However experienced gunners will know how to aim the flamethrower to focus on enemy components, including enemy flamethrowers or disabling guns.

How to counter:
Pilots:
Check enemy load outs before the match starts by clicking on the enemy ship names and see if they have flamethrowers as their main weapon (will be on the front or on the side with the most guns) If yes:

1) You need clever flying tactics. You'll want to stay in the enemy ship's blind spot, where the flamethrower can't shoot:

Pyramidion: Right side, rear side
Goldfish: rear side
Junker: rear side
Squid: left side (although you can't really outmaneuver a squid)
Mobula: rear side
Spire: rear side
Galleon: right side (stay above the gun deck)

Make ample use of kerosene (increases forward speed) and Phoenix claw (increases turn speed) to stay in the blind spot. Don't worry if the flames get to your engines because engines take half damage from fire.

If you have disabling guns on your ship (Gatling, carronades, Hwacha, Artemis, God forbid another flamethrower), turn your ship so your gunners can use them to disable the enemy flamethrowers.

2) Use mid range and long range ships. Examples include:

Mid range
Hades/Flak Pyramidion
Artemis/Hades/Artemis Junker
Lumberjack/Flak/Hades Galleon
Heavy Clip Hwachas Galleon

Long range
Mercury/Artemis Pyramidion
Lumberjack/Flak/Mercury Galleon

NO MOBULAS AND SPIRES. Both of these ships are extremely weak to flamethrowers because the two engineers cannot assist each other with repairs due to ship layout.

Use kerosene to stay the hell away from flamethrowers and grind them down.

3) Be evil and use their own tactics against them. Flamethrowers, carronades, banshees, etc.



Engineer:
Chemical Spray is your savior. It looks like a paint spray can. It sprays blue white stuff.

What does chemical spray do:
Fire proofs a component for 25 seconds (5 second cool down)
Extinguishes 3 fire stacks.

What this means is that you cover your ship in chemical spray BEFORE THE FLAMETHROWERS COME (get your crew mates to help). Since you won't gain any more fire stacks in battle, and 25 seconds is longer than the cool down of all the engineer tools (spanner 2 seconds, pipe wrench 5 seconds, mallet 9 seconds), you'll be able to keep your stuff repaired in between chem spray reapplications while under flamethrower assault.

In the event you run out of time, follow this priority order (most important to least important):

Balloon (it takes double damage from fire, obvious choice)
Guns (8 stacks of fire disables your guns, you want to fight back. Heatsink ammo doesn't fireproof guns during the reload time lol)
Hull (15-20 stacks of fire is almost like an extra Gatling stripping your armor, don't let it get to that stage)
Engines (Takes half damage from fire, but if it gets to 15-20 stacks it will be dangerous to use kerosene/moonshine/tar)


If you mess up and a component gets 20 stacks, this is what you do:

If you have a 3rd engineer with a fire extinguisher, get his ass on the burning component ASAP. Fire extinguisher removed all fire stacks from the component instantly and fireproofs for 3 seconds so you can reapply your chemical spray right after the extinguisher cool down (3 seconds)

If you don't have one, let it burn out until it's broken. Don't waste time using chem spray to remove 20 stacks (that's 7x5=35 seconds of you camping a single component, waste of time). Go fireproof something else. Broken components cannot have fire stacks.

This is the important part: when you have time (or it is a super important component like hull or balloon), rebuild the component BUT DO NOT HOLD THE MOUSE BUTTOM FOR THE LAST FEW HITS. This because WHEN THE COMPONENT IS REBUILT, THERE IS NO REPAIR COOLDOWN ON IT (REBUILDING HAS NO COOLDOWN). This is when you respray the component: immediately after rebuilding so there is no time for the enemy flamethrower to apply more than 3 fire stacks to the newly rebuilt component. Then you can proceed as normal.

NB: Chemical spray persists through component breaks and rebuilds, so if you act fast you can keep even constantly breaking components infinitely sprayed down.


Gunner:
Check enemy load outs by clicking on enemy ship names and see if they have flamethrowers as their main weapon (will be on the front or on the side with the most guns). If yes, bring Heatsink ammo by sacrificing something from your load out that is situational (for example, Lesmok for Gatling, lochnagar for heavy flak)

If you can use a disabling gun (Gatling, carronades, Artemis, Hwacha, God forbid another flamethrower), and try and disable the flamethrowers on the incoming enemy ship before they get close. If you can't do that and the flames start rolling in, slap heatsink rounds inside the nearest working disabling gun and go to town on the enemy flamethrowers. Since it's close range you should have no issues aiming at the origin of the column of flame wrecking your sky boat.

If your disabling gun happens to be another flamethrower, check to see if the enemy chemical sprayed their own flamethrowers (blue-white glow). If yes, shoot something else that is not chemical sprayed, such as their balloon or engines. If everything on the enemy ship is sprayed down, shoot at their flamethrower gunners and pilot to see if you can make them lag and hopefully mess up.

If everything is on fire and all guns are above 8 stacks, this is how you help with repairs (Bring pipe wrench, do not bring chem spray or fire extinguisher):


DO NOT ASSIST ENGINEERS WITH REPAIRS BECAUSE IT WILL SCREW WITH THEIR CHEM SPRAY TIMING. However you can assist engineers with REBUILDING broken components as long as you stop clicking before the last 3 hits so the engineers can reapply chem spray.

Take out your pipe wrench and check on the guns. If you see a gun has 10 or less fire stacks, keep it above half health. If it has more than 8 stacks, let it burn down.

Notes:
Defeating flamethrowers is not about luck or even skill (neither is using them lmao), it is about making the right preparations, having the relevant knowledge and using the right mindset.

Heavy Carronade stats:
Low ammo (2 shots), but 1 clip is enough to pop enemy balloons even with damage reducing ammo such as incendiary (most of the time)
Decent fire rate, nothing really impressive
Fast reload

Range is pretty bad unless using heavy clip, after which it becomes decent
Turn radius is good horizontally and upwards, but EXTREMELY bad downwards, it virtually can't shoot down at all (this is the important part)

Damage has two parts: Flechette and Shatter.
Flechette does double damage to Balloon, but peanut damage to everything else.
Shatter does double damage to components (guns, engines) but otherwise mediocre damage to everything else. That being said, a heavy carronade will eventually strip your armor.

Carronades also arguably have a 3rd damage type, Impact. Impact damage is dealt by ship to ship and ship to terrain impacts, both of which will happen when your balloon is popped and you are bouncing on the ground. Impact damage is effective against all components, armor, hull and balloon. :3

How it stomps noobs:
New Pilots:
If you're not flying Pyramidion, you're basically ♥♥♥♥♥♥ if you let the Carronade get close because the shape of the Goldfish allows it to camp down your balloon without exposing its own hull (the fins are not targetable). New pilots don't know how to outfly carronades (already hard to do because Goldfishes are highly mobile) and there are only 3 newbie ships: Pyramidion, Goldfish and Junker, 2/3 of which are vulnerable to carronades. Midrange options in the newbie load outs are really bad due to a lack of Hades as a main gun (please don't use Pyramidion B folks.)

For the remaining ships, the Galleon, Spire and Mobula are all extremely vulnerable to the Blenderfish due to having voluptuous, exposed balloons or having guns placed low on the ship relative to the balloon so they can't shoot up enough to hit the Goldfish. The Squid is ok but can be chased down by Goldfishes using Kerosene.

Experienced Pilots:
GGEZ camp down enemy balloon without being shot back at. Experienced pilots know how to put the Goldfish in enemy blind spots for free carronade shots. They also know how to ram down an enemy balloon even without using the carronade (or to augment the carronade for an instant balloon kill) and, once an enemy ship is on the ground, place a ram that bounces the enemy ship into the ground for double damage (once from the ram and again from the ground) and an instant kill.


New Engineers:
Easily panicked when both hull and balloon are broken. Unaware of how to camp the balloon properly or split repair power between the balloon and hull.

Experienced Engineers:
Even experienced Engineers have trouble, but usually they can make the ship survive long enough for the pilot to get the ship into fighting position.


New Gunners:
Don't know how to disable enemy guns or which guns can disable. Unaware of gun arcs, which guns can point upwards enough to fight back, etc.

Experienced Gunners:
Skilled gunners can use Heavy Clip in the carronade to accurately pick off enemy engines and guns so they can't shoot back. When under attack from a carronade, they know when to go help Engineers camp the hull and balloon instead of shooting. Know which guns have just enough upwards arc to shoot back.

How to Counter:
Pilot:
1) FLY PYRAMIDIONS. Pyramidions hard counter carronades because their balloons are fully armored from the front and top. Hence, by keeping the front of the ship pointed towards the enemy carronade and positioning slightly below it, your balloon takes peanut damage from what little splash damage gets through the armor (and the AoE is NOT increased by burst rounds). Since the enemy carronade can't shoot downwards, your front guns will also be shielded.

2) Don't fly the Mobula or Spire. These two ships are very weak to carronades, especially the Mobula because the Mobula is basically a balloon with a ship attached xD.

3) Load out your ship with close range guns that have great upwards turn arc (especially on the sides):
Gatling
Mortar
Carronades
Flamethrower
Banshee

4) Fly mid and long range ships, follow Flamethrower procedures.

5) Bring your own carronade. Make sure to use heavy clip to shoot out the enemy one!


Engineer:
You'll want to listen for the sound of the heavy carronade hitting your balloon (sounds like an industrial spike thing puncturing a big metallic balloon, if that makes any sense) and count 2 shots. Rebuild the balloon when the heavy carronade is rebuilding to maximise your operational time.

Hit the Balloon with a mallet in between the 1st and 2nd shots so they can't 1 clip your balloon.

When on the ground, have 1 engineer camp the hull and the other one camp the balloon.

Don't blame yourself too much if you die, really you're only just trying to buy time for your pilot to get you out of this bad situation.


Gunner:
Follow Flamethrower procedures, except now you're trying to shoot out the heavy carronade. Shouldn't be too difficult because the Goldfish has a very exposed front gun. You can also just try straight up killing the Goldfish if you have enough guns in arc.

Adding this in because I realized I didn't include it before, lol.

Context:
So the Stamina update has made Gunners and Hwachas much stronger because if you use Gunner stamina you can reduce the reload time of the Hwacha by 2 seconds. Furthermore you regain Stamina when you break components, so you get a lot of Stamina back when you use the Hwacha which allows you to use the increase reload speed, etc etc... Also, the Hwacha got a significant accuracy buff in this patch as well which allows the use of Burst rounds at longer distances than before. Finally, Pilot Stamina makes positioning and outmanoeuvring much easier, especially on the Goldfish as Stamina greatly augments fast ships more than slow ships. All these factors combine to make the Hwacha especially strong in this patch but not OP since the counter tactics are the same as before.


Stats:
Clip size: 20, 24 with Burst rounds
Direct damage: Explosive
AoE damage: Shatter
Reload time: really damn long even with Stamina
Range: up to 1500m but accuracy sucks at that range unless when using Heavy Clip, so more like 800m.

Why it stomps noobs:
Newbie pilots cannot position well enough to minimize Hwacha damage and can't use Pilot tools to max effect to maintain a good position.

Newbie engineers don't have the correct techniques.

Pilots:

1. Don't pick a ship where the main side also exposes all of the important stuff like engines. That means don't pick Spire (for whatever reason if you shoot the front some of the engines also get damaged), Galleon, or Junker.

2. Ideally you should use Pyramidion and Goldfish because these two are the best at fighting Hwachas. They are the best because their frontal profile is wide enough to shield the engines, and their main side contains at most two guns-in the case of the Pyramidion, two light guns that are easily rebuilt.

3. All you have to do is keep the front of the ship pointed towards the Hwacha at all times. Do not do stupid things like get off the helm just to deal 2 damage with a Gatling shot (why do I keep seeing this...). Use Pheonix Claw and Stamina if necessary while turning to keep up with the Goldfish's turn rate. Activate Kerosene when you get rammed so you don't get rammed onto your exposed side.

4a. Try ramming the enemy Hwacha ship (if they're a Goldfish or Spire). If it's a Goldfish and you hit it at the right angle, it will spin the Hwacha off target. If it's a Spire it does a lot of damage.

4b. If it's a Galleon, get into melee range (easy since your engines will be intact if you rush them head on) but stay above their gun deck. Hwachas cannot shoot up very well, so going melee will prevent you from being hit while you destroy them with your close range guns that can point down.


Engineers:

1. Prime components for rebuild. Instead of fully rebuilding something only to have it immediately broken by the next Hwacha barrage, rebuild it until it is 1 hit away from being rebuilt. Wait for the Hwacha barrage to come, then complete the rebuild. Broken components do not get "more damaged." Furthermore, you deny the enemy Gunner Stamina to increase his reload speed since they didn't get to break anything.


Gunners:

1. Just break the Hwacha with whatever gun you are using right now (unless it's Explosive, in which case it will do nothing.) It's a big, easy target to hit even if it's moving.

2. If you have your own Hwacha, make sure you shoot first! Whoever shoots first stunlocks the other one...

A real classic. The fastest close range killing combo in the game. A staple of the meta since the game came out of beta.

How it stomps noobs:
It just kills very fast. Nothing much to say here.


New Pilots:
Same as above sections.

Experienced Pilots:
Know how to fly gat/mortar pyra, it's a must learn for every pilot. Know how to duel other gat/mortar pyramidions as well. Will also probably be flying very aggressive, which intimidates newbie players. Probably will ram around the target ship so they can't even use guns (since newbie pilots won't use Kerosene to counter.)


New Engineers:
Don't know how to use spanner before mallet to buy a few extra seconds, can't maintain engines and balloon at high enough health for hard maneuvers (not that the newbie pilot can pull them off anyway.)

Experienced Engineers:
Can basically just chill and repair engines because the enemy ship is probably going to be dead before they need to go repair the hull. For the Balloon engineer, will have good timing and aim on the Mortar to only start hitting just as the enemy armor is going down for a guaranteed one clip kill.


New Gunners:
Can't really do anything when you get 10 second killed.

Experienced Gunners:
Will not actually be playing the Gunner class, instead they will play as an Engineer with Buff Hammer/Pipe Wrench/Chem Spray/Greased rounds ("Gungineer") to maximize Gatling DPS for a guaranteed one clip kill.

How to counter:

Pilots:
1) Fly mid and long range ships, follow Flamethrower procedures.

2) If the player flying the gat/mortar Pyramidion is a newbie and is crewed by newbies (which it probably will be since Default Pyramidion A is this ship but with crappy side guns), you're in luck! You can do whatever you want except fly the Heavy Carronade Goldfish against them.

If the player flying the Metamidion is actually experienced, you're in trouble. If they're to only experienced player on the enemy team, use teamwork (gosh, I bet you didn't see that one coming) and focus them down first in every fight while their newbie ally flounders around. If they're both experienced, you should try mid and long range ships.

3) Use the same ship and try and become the toppest gun by doing sick MLG outplays.


Engineers:
Once the Gatling starts hitting your armor (which you will know if you are watching the armor HP and by the new striking metal sound effect), do not use use the mallet immediately. It will over repair the hull and waste your cooldown timer. Instead, smack the hull with a spanner a few times first (2-3 times is ok) before using the mallet, which will buy your ship a few extra seconds of armored time.

Keep engines and balloon topped up so your pilot can attempt to dodge using kerosene, claw or hydrogen.

Gunners:
Shoot back, that's all! Try and break the enemy Gatling if your armor is still up or their Mortar if your armor is broken.


Notes:
Most of the time, beating Metamidions is about teamwork, 1v1 outplays or mid to long range ship load outs.

Banshees
The Banshee Light Rocket Carousel received a very generous buff in patch 1.3.9 (way more than what the player who suggested the buff wanted xD) and is now a more effective noob stomper than before (for the few people who used triple banshee Pyramidions or Junkers for noob stomping.)

Banshee stats:
Lots of ammo (12 shots)
Great fire rate (even better with greased)
Longish reload (7 seconds)

Range is long but hampered by terrible accuracy
Turn radius is rly good in every direction
Damage has two parts, Fire and Explosive.
Fire does the same thing as flamethrower. Note that this allows the banshee to kill your balloon from long range, given enough shots.
Explosive does double damage to exposed hull but peanut damage to everything else.

How it stomps noobs:
Basically the same as the Flamethrower, but with way longer range and explosive damage, so once your armor is down you get killed very quickly. Doesn't stomp quite as fast as flamethrowers though.

Basically the same as the Flamethrower, except:

Pilots:
If you want to fight them close range, seek cover while moving in. You won't get disabled as fast as with flamethrowers so you have a chance. Otherwise just use mid to long range ships and outrange.

Engineers:
Don't let your hull armor go down.

Gunners:
There will be more than one Banshee to shoot out so you have your work cut out for you ;)

Mine Launcher Stats:

Doesn't really matter other than they do a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ of damage, bump you around, set 5 fire stacks on everything hit. Has medicore range though.


Why it stomps noobs:

Experienced pilots have good positioning to not run into their own mines. Noob pilots can't really do anything other than try and go mid or long range, which they can't do if they're using the default close range loadouts. Only experienced gunners can even aim the damn gun. Engineers not relevant.

Pilots:

I suggest you don't even bother trying to fight mine ships in close range, just go long or mid range. If you really have to though, you gotta go melee range cuz mines have an arming range before they deploy. The mine gunners could use Lochnagar but that breaks their gun in one shot so either way you get a reprieve.

Engineers:

Extinguisher is probably better since Mines apply 5 fire stacks, but not constantly.


Gunners:

Try and shoot out the mine launchers, usually they have 3, if you can take out 2 your life is ez.

The stats don't matter because the concept is simple. The Gatling breaks your armor, the Carronade kills your balloon so you can't use Hydro or Chute Vent (also taking you to the ground where if you get rammed into the ground, you take double damage), the ram kills you.

Why it stomps noobs:
Newbie pilots don't know how to use Kerosene/Moonshine to counter the ram turning you off target. They also may not know about Impact Bumpers. They may also be flying a ship very weak to rams without a balloon, such as the Spire and Mobula.

Newbie Engineers can't keep up with the damage.

Experienced piloting doesn't really factor in because really, this is an extremely simple ship to use. You just press Kerosene/Moonshine and YOLO.

Pilots: Bring Kerosene/Moonshine and activate it when you get rammed. Using these tools causes your ship to resist turning so you can shoot back.

If you are really afraid you can also bring Impact Bumpers, which will give you -25% damage from impacts.


Engineers:

Camp balloon and hull.


Gunners:

Shoot out one or both of the guns.

Honestly, I haven't seen anyone use this ship except me and I only use it when I have a full AI crew because of AI aimbot. If it becomes more common I will fill in this sectoin.

Lumberjack requires good gunners to stomp with, so if their gunner is not experienced you can just do whatever you want.

The Lumberjack is a long range balloon popper. Consider it the Heavy Carronade except given much more range and much harder to shoot because of it's trajectory.

It stomps noobs because newbie ships won't even be able to get within 1000m of the Lumberjack ship because by that time they will be bouncing on the ground.

Pilots:

Firstly, don't pick Spire because that ship is slow and easy to hit. Don't pick Galleon because it has a huge balloon. Mobula is fine if you want do a sniper battle because the vertical profile of the ship is very narrow and hard to hit.

Secondly, you want to pick a fast ship (unless you want to do a sniper battle). Pyra, Goldfish, Squid are all good.

Third, you want to ascend to max height. This will give you maximum time to reach the target before bouncing on the ground.

Fourth, you want to bum rush the Lumberjack ship. Even as your balloon is broken again and again, you will still be travelling forward at top speed while falling through the air. In fact, as of about 3 patches ago, your ship gains maximum velocity with a broken balloon so it will actually help you to reach the target faster.

Fifth, you wreck the Lumberjack ship in close range because the Lumberjack round doesn't arm in melee range.


(If you are doing a sniper battle just snipe it out, nothing interesting here.)

Why it stomps noobs:

Newbie teams with close range ships are too indecisive in rushing down the sniper ships, don't know the right paths/flanks to take, don't know how to approach safely.

Newbie Engineers/Gunners just can't keep up with the DPS of experienced engineers/gunners.

The easiest way is to rush them down.

Pick one of the assault ships. Pyra, Goldfish, Junker (a bit slow but can work when using the right approach path), Squid.

Descend to just above the ground. This will force the sniper ships to come down to your altitude, making it easier for you to ram them into the ground for double damage.

Using the map (press M,) move from cover to cover (clouds, debris, terrain) until you are within 1500m-2000m of the snipers.

Then you just YOLO with full Kerosene/Moonshine. Sniper ships can't do anything in melee range because the DPS of close range guns far exceeds the DPS of sniper guns.

No one uses triple Artemis anymore, nothing to say here really.