Redneck Messiah's Guide to Loadout Creation

This thread is a guide designed to help players create successful loadouts for each ship in the Bay. This guide features suggestions for loadout optimization based upon my personal experiences and those of players I've come to know and respect over the course of my Battle Bay career. But you didn't come to hear me describe the guide, so let's get into it.

Shooter:
Shooters, in general, should use their red slots to carry at least one point-damage weapon (cannons, gatling, railgun, flare, carronade, grenade), at least one mortar-type weapon (mortars, firebomb, napalm), and at least one torpedo. This is a good starting point for anybody, as it allows the Shooter to be effective in any combat situation. Shooters do tend to use weapons with lengthy cooldowns. This isn't an issue due to how many weapons they can carry, but it is good to have what I call an "Old Reliable": A weapon that reloads quickly and has a decent DPS, so it's always ready if you're attacked while your big guns reload. The carronade, standard cannon, standard torpedo, and, to some extent, the Gatling gun, all make excellent choices here. For blue items, Shooters need a turbo because of how slow they are. Some Shooters use a bandage and a shield, in the other two slots, while others use two shields. This is entirely up to you and if you'd rather be a tank or have the ability to self-heal.

Defender:
For the Defender's red items, burst damage is the name of the game. Blast cannons, excannons, snipers, flares... all are excellent choices for powerful chain damage. As a slow ship with an average amount of attack power, Defenders tend to rely on burst damage and burning to pummel their enemies into submission. A good loadout for Defender is two burst weapons plus another weapon of a different type. You can be a minelayer, or use the third slot on a torpedo or a railgun if you want to play long range. Of course, you may also find it a good idea to bring a mortar to shoot over walls, or a grenade or carronade to bother anyone who gets close. In terms of blue items, 1 or 2 turbos are advisable due to the Defender's abysmal base speed stat. The remaining slots can be used on shields to raise your HP and defense, although many players choose to bring a bandage along. If you want to be able to help your teammates, you can use your hybrid slot on a cleanse pulse to remove debuffs, or a defense aura to protect your teammates using your absurd HP to tank out the aura's redirection. Playing a hybrid Defender isn't for everyone, though... you may just want to be selfish, tanky, and spend the game wading around chucking cannonballs at people. I won't judge.

Speeder:
This is my main ship, and I've experimented with it quite a bit. In terms of red items, speeders need good burst damage to compete. A flare paired with a blast/excannon can dominate, as can using a grenade with any of the previous three. Some Speeders do play long range, using snipers, torpedoes, and their speed to keep a distance and dish out damage. Dual carronades is amazing for those of you who love to get up close and personal... just try not to die. For yellow items, most Speeders carry at least one nitro, and for good reason. You can get around the map quickly and dodge mortars and torpedoes. Tesla bolts and shields are a nice way to boost your offensive power or your survivability, respectively. And if you want to be even harder to hit, use an overboost. As far as blue items go, a good turbo puts a Speeder to their insane max base speed of 1.74. As for the other two slots, you can go shield/bandage for some healing (recommended for long range/assassin players), or two shields to buff your health (a good idea for brawlers).

Enforcer:
Enforcer red items are similar to speeders, except that enforcers have three slots and should avoid two-point items because they only have three slot points as well.You can go for a melee build (cannons, carronades, grenades, mines), a long range build (snipers, mortars, torps), or a high burst, midrange build (cannons, flares, grenades). Now let's talk about yellow items. Enfos should use overboosts to help them move faster, and Tesla shields are great for protecting your teammates or just being tanky. If you use a mortar or torpedo, a frost blaster/launcher could be worth a look, as these items make it easier to hit shots AND give those weapons some bonus damage. Enforcer blue items should probably be shield/turbo, although you could run two shields if speed isn't an issue for you due to a long range style, or you have a good overboost.

Fixer:
Fixer reds are an interesting case. You need to balance offense with being able to defend yourself. For offense, snipers, standard cannons, torpedoes, and fire bombs work well, because most Fixerrs prefer to stay back and away from danger. Carronades and mines work well for defending yourself from attackers. A Fixer can have one yellow item, for which the best choices are nitro and overboost. These let the Fixer keep up with their team and get out of trouble, because trouble loves to find an unsuspecting Fixer. Green items are the Fixer's signature, and a good Fixer knows the importance of healing themselves and their teammates. Repair bolts are excellent for team heals, pulses and box launchers can heal the Fixer and their team, and duct tape gives the Fixer unrivaled self heals. Learn if you want to heal mainly yourself, mainly your teammates, or an equal balance, and find the ideal mix of green items for you. (Going fully selfish with three tapes isn't a good plan because you hang your mates out to dry AND can still be easily out-DPSed and killed by a good Shooter... Likewise, you shouldn't go full team heals with three bolts because you will struggle to keep yourself alive, and the Fixer dying early means trouble for their teammates.) Blue items can be just a simple shield/turbo combo. Bandages really aren''t needed here because the Fixer has better ways to heal itself. If your yellow item is really good, you could also go dual shields to be more tanky.

Interceptor:
Interceptors, like Shooters, are one of the Bay's offensive kings. You can really play this ship at any range, and choose your red items to reflect that: Grenades, mines, carronades, and cannons for close range, cannons, flares, and missiles for mid range, and snipers, torpedoes, railguns, and mortars for long. This leaves a ton of weapon variations, so get creative! For your yellow items, nitro is a solid choice for getting around, but you could go for a frost blaster on a long range Interceptor to boost the usefulness of your torps and mortars. Blue items are also similar to a Shooter or Speeder: A good turbo with a pair of shields (or a shield and bandage if you're confident in your HP and/or play long range or assassin).

Reaper:
The Reaper, like the Speeder, has two red slots, so it should rely on burst combos. A flare with any cannon but the standard will do the trick, but you could use a torpedo for long range, or pop on a grenade or carronade for some close combat. One of your yellows should be a speed item (nitro/overboost), and the other can be a second speed item or a debuffing weapon to improve your somewhat lacking offensive abilities. A Reaper's green items are usually selfish, with dual tapes being popular. This is good for hit'n'run Reapers. If you want to help your team, sub in a pulse or box launcher for one of the tapes. Blue items can be two shields if you're really squishy and/or run two speed yellows, but otherwise a shield/turbo combo will work fine.

Guardian:
The Guardian is similar to the Fixer in that it must be able to attack and protect. As such, good red items are sniper cannons, torpedoes, carronades, flares, and grenades in some combination. Teal items are where it gets interesting. Some Guardians run dual walls to tank for their team. Others run pulse/aura/ wall or bolster armor to balance survivability with a variety of ways to help their team. This is up to you, and if you'd rather go full tank or help your team in other ways too. Blue items are simple: A good shield/turbo/shield combo works fine, as Guardians need to tank and are in no particular hurry to get anywhere. If you use a defense aura, you could use a high-level bandage to cancel out the redirection.

Parting Words:
Be creative! This guide highlights easy builds for a player who's new to a certain ship to find success with... But feel free to experiment with exotic configurations to create your own style of play! Casual mode and friendly customs are a great place to try new builds. For inspiration you can look to the Battle Bay Twitch stream to find out what the pros are using, or head to YouTube and see gameplays from skilled players like @American Marauder and @TheAntiSnipe. Have fun out there, and play your ship however you think is best.

See you on the Bay,

Redneck Messiah​

 

Thank you @Redneck Messiah for taking the time out of your day/night to write this! Huge help for new players and experienced player alike... I might try out some new ships besides yellow boat, now that I have some advice on how to use them well

This thread totally deserves to be pinned, if you asking me

 

Shoulda added this earlier, but 1:00 AM EST me was too lazy to think of even the most basic way to get around the 10000 character limit: If you have any questions about anything here, you're welcome to post them here for myself or another player who's used that ship/item to answer.

 

I just made a similar guide lol, mind if I tag this in mine?

 

Go right ahead!