Advanced Spotting Guide

In Tyr, enemies are invisible until they are Spotted by you or one of your allies. After an enemy tank is Spotted it becomes 100% visible to your entire team, both on the minimap and on the field, even through walls and any other form of cover. As long as you or one of your teammates continue to Spot that enemy, they will stay Spotted indefinitely (with a couple exceptions noted further down in this guide). Once that enemy is no longer being actively Spotted by any tanks on your team, they will remain Spotted for 7 more seconds and then go un-Spotted. This timer is reset immediately if any tanks on your team Spot them again. Most importantly, Spotting in Tyr is asymmetrical, meaning just because you can Spot an enemy doesn't necessarily mean they can Spot you.

And remember, everything covered in this guide applies to you, your teammates, and the enemy team (in reverse) when Spotting you and your allies.

Spotting Range and Camo Rating

All tanks have a spotting range of 400m, represented by a dashed white circle around your tank on the minimap. This is the maximum range at which you can personally Spot enemy tanks.

However, every tank also has their own Camo rating, shown as a solid white circle on the minimap. This measures how close to you an enemy tank must be in order to Spot you.

The rating is given in %, meaning "how much smaller your Camo circle is than the Spotting range". For example, Tempest has a (default) camo rating of 21%, meaning, under normal conditions, enemy tanks must be within 316m for Tempest to be Spotted, as shown above on the minimap.

But keep in mind: firing non-Silenced Shells temporarily decreases your Camo rating, also shown on the minimap.

Line-of-Sight and Bushes

Naturally, Spotting also requires Line-of-Sight (LoS) to your target. LoS is established when you can draw a straight line from any part of your tank to any part of an enemy tank without anything blocking the way. Once you've established LoS and are inside an enemy's Camo circle, they become Spotted.

Terrain, hard cover, and even other tanks block LoS between you and an enemy. However, there are a few special rules surrounding bushes and how they affect LoS, Camo, and Spotting.

Bushes between you and enemy tanks provide a 50% bonus to your effective Camo rating, but only in the directions covered by the bushes. Any parts of your tank not concealed by bushes covering LoS are subject to the normal Spotting rules as explained here.

But remember, this works in reverse for your enemies. You will need to approach and enter bushes in order to negate the Camo bonus for enemies on the other side. Below, you can see that Maul and Helio are Spotted to begin with simply because they can be Spotted at that distance even with the Camo bonus. But only once Ark approaches the bushes can they Spot the remaining tanks on the other side.

The minimap adjusts your solid Camo circle to reflect the bonus given by nearby bushes, but remember that this only applies in directions the bushes actually cover. Also remember that this bonus applies even when the minimap may not show it.

If an enemy enters your bonus bush-Camo range (but hasn't yet gotten close enough to negate the bush's concealment and is actually Spotting you through the bush), the Spotting icon at the top of your HUD will instead fill over a short time. You will only be properly Spotted once the icon is full.

Enemy tanks can't tell when they're slowly Spotting you in a bush until you're fully Spotted. If you notice the icon starting to fill, you might still be able to back away and remain completely undetected!

Lastly, remember that firing non-Silenced Shells temporarily decreases your Camo rating. This applies in bushes just as it does everywhere else - the dotted white circle on your minimap shows how your bonus Camo rating will briefly adjust whenever you fire.

Enemies inside this adjusted area will Spot you instantly, instead of slow-Spotting you.

If 7 seconds have passed and you're still Spotted but don't know why, an enemy must be contributing to this. If you can manage it in the heat of battle, try to take stock of all the places around you where they could be hiding. At the very least, you can start with the facts that they must be inside your own Spotting range AND have LoS on you. Approach your best guesses on bushes or directions to try and flush out tanks with higher Camo than you.

Birds (in Bushes)

As you drive about, you'll notice flocks of birds perched in various bushes on some maps. They'll be in the same bushes every time that map is played. Disturb them (by driving through the bush) and they'll give your position away (but you won't be Spotted because of them).

Enemy tanks will be able to both hear them get startled and see them fly away, and an icon will appear on their minimap, so think (at least) twice before setting them off!

The birds will return to their bush after 60 total seconds have passed with no tanks near the bush. As long as a tank (including you) remains in or near the bush, this timer will be paused until all tanks get far enough away.

Birds currently do not react in any way to shots fired near, in, or through their bushes.

Abilities

There are a few tank Abilities that interact with Spotting in interesting ways, listed below.

Phantom's Stealth

Once in Stealth, Phantom immediately goes un-Spotted and cannot be Spotted normally until Stealth ends (either by its duration ending or by taking damage). (But also see Kestrel's Drone and Proxy Spotting below.)

Kestrel's Drone

The Drone immediately Spots any enemy tank in its scanning circle, regardless of any cover, concealment, or Phantom's Stealth (the Drone deactivates Stealth in its covered area as though the Phantom had taken damage).

Ark's Bushes

Ark immediately goes un-Spotted upon activating their Ability. Be aware, though, that the bush spawned is just a normal bush, so Ark may quickly become Spotted again if an enemy is already too close.

Tempest's Recall gates

If you find an enemy Tempest's Recall gate, you can drive over it and "capture" it, much like capturing health, ammo, and energy points. This will delete the gate and the enemy Tempest will immediately spawn a new one on their current position (did you know?). However, you will immediately become Spotted as soon as you touch the gate, so consider carefully before trying this.

Tricera's Smokescreen

Tricera can deploy a wall of smoke that completely blocks LoS for the purposes of Spotting enemy tanks. Spotting already in effect will persist until one of the usual end conditions occurs (7-second timer runs out, Phantom activates Stealth, Ark deploys a Bush, etc). Tanks Spotted on either side of the smoke wall (including you) can still be seen and shot at.

Atlas' Sonar

Atlas' Ability fires off a sonar ping that stretches a little further than the 400m Spotting range. Markers only visible to you will appear over currently un-Spotted enemies in this area. These markers will appear both in your HUD's field of view and on your minimap. This does not Spot enemies - it only gives you a brief glimpse at where they are on the map.

Spotting Shells

Lastly, there are Spotting Shells, which any tank can equip. If you manage to hit an enemy with one of these shells (even if it's bounced), that enemy will immediately become Spotted. This will last for 7 seconds, like usual, and will persist if you or an ally begin Spotting them as normal. Whether the shell hits a tank or not, it will also give off a small sonar ping that functions much like Atlas' Ability. Unlike with the Ability, Spotting Shells generate these markers for everyone on your team, not just you.

Proximity Warning

One last thing to be aware of is the Proximity Warning. All tanks have a proximity "spotting" range of 35m. Whenever an un-Spotted enemy tank is this close, you'll get a Proximity Warning and a floating [!] will appear center-mass over the still-invisible enemy tank. This doesn't Spot the enemy tank in the same way as the rules listed above, so it's only ever relevant when engaging enemies on complex terrain or facing a nearby Stealthed Phantom.

Phantom's Stealth will break whenever they take damage, so use Proximity Warning to keep on them and fire when you get the chance!

Any questions? Talk to us on Discord and ask away!