Which vehicle is the best? Part 3: Rumble Pit

Which vehicle is the best? Part 3: Rumble Pit Again, the information in this article was done completely by memory so it may not be completely accurate.

Before I start my view on which vehicle should be considered the best vehicle out there, I would like to show you the poll results of my previous 2 articles after a similar time-frame:

Not surprising that the top 5 are my champion vehicles while the Ghost follows at #9.

This time, the winners of their respective categories will battle against each other while the three winners will fight it out in a Rumble Pit-style match afterwards to determine the real winner! Each vehicle will be considered to be on its own, so no group tactics; just a 1v1 battle to see which one is the best!

Banshee vs Sparrowhawk

These two vehicles are very similar: They (obviously) are two flying vehicles, move at (or around) the same speed and have highly lethal firepower against pretty much anything. But which vehicle has the upper hand?

The Sparrowhawk wields a powerful gauss cannon while the Banshee has a combo of fast firing, relatively weak, plasma cannons and the slow but powerful fuel rod cannon. Their defensive shielding is pretty much the same for both vehicles, but their other defensive capabilities are up for grabs.

While the plasma cannons on a Banshee are relatively weak, they are fast and highly accurate. From high up in the air, they can easily hit a moving target. The fuel rod cannon however is pretty inaccurate and should only be used in close proximity to the target; but not too close, they are just as likely to destroy you as your opponent is you fire within a short distance

The Sparrowhawk is very different in this aspect, its gauss cannon is in strength and speed in between the two cannons of the Banshee. It takes a couple of shots to destroy vehicles, which it does with high accuracy but a slower pace than the plasma cannons. Also, the Sparrowhawk is able to stay completely stationary in the air while attacking while the Banshee is forced to move constantly. Also, the Banshee only has front-mounted weaponry, it has to ‘look’ directly at its target and thus lose altitude while attacking. The Sparrowhawk’s weapons are strapped to its bottom, it can move independently from the direction it is moving and thus evade incoming attacks with greater ease. But that does not mean that the Banshee is a sitting duck, it can roll over in order to evade the attack or simply use its boosting power to quickly escape the incoming attack while at the same time closing in on the target.

Even though the Sparrowhawk is far from weak, I still think the Banshee’s boosting power combined with its double cannons make it a superior fighting force.

Grizzly vs Scarab

The two powerhouses are up, the Grizzly and the Scarab! Both highly lethal but without much speed. Anyone who has played Halo Wars knows that if one has an army of either vehicle, they are a major force on the battlefield. The Grizzly has its turret and double main cannon, choose to use this main cannon and the enemy will be destroyed in no time.

The Scarab is a slow but very powerful vehicle, not only has it a main cannon that can kill/destroy anything in no time, it also has an anti-air turret on its back, smaller turrets on its sides (operated by personnel) and room for a small army in case it gets boarded. It also has the capability to travel on rough terrain, which normally can only be crossed by air.

They both are very strong in their offensive and defensive, but what is their real strength? A Grizzly is usually only used as a group, with other Grizzlies, Scorpions or other alike. While a Grizzly in itself is more than capable to do damage, it weak against aerial attack and of course anti-vehicle. A Scarab on the other hand could be used on its own, its highly accurate main cannon is so powerful any anti-vehicle opponents will be destroyed in seconds. Not only that, its anti-air cannon can and smaller turrets on the side make it capable to attack in all directions at once, something the Grizzly can hardly do with its slow turning main cannon and turret with a range of ~170° relative to the tank’s body.

This has to go to the Scarab, its opponent is just too slow to exploit the Scarabs weak points.

Ghost vs Gauss Hog

Now it is up to the Ghost and the Gauss to determine which of these will join the Banshee and the Scarab to determine the ultimate vehicle in the Halo Universe! We’ve got the agile Ghost together with the strong Gauss Hog, they are both featured in most games.

First of the Ghost, while its cannon is not that strong, it makes up for this with speed and agility. Not only uses it rapid fire, it also uses the vehicle itself as a battering ram. While most vehicles can be used to run someone over, the Ghost has made this into an art by its small design, able to move sideways and of course its boosting ability. Because of its small design, it fits through most doors so it can also be used indoors; this also makes it possible to get to places where people assume they are safe against vehicles and thus surprise them. Any Warthog could try the same, but it would be boarded/destroyed before it could do much damage.

Meanwhile, the Warthog has a cannon that, like all UNSC vehicles, can move independently from its body. This makes it able to travel at great speeds and still be able to shoot its cannon to any threat it may encounter; while it is boosting, the Ghost cannot shoot and it loses a major portion of its agility. The Gauss Hog does not have this problem, it has about the same speed as a boosting Ghost but it retains the use of its cannon.

I think this one is easy, the Ghost has no chance against the Gauss Hog.

Banshee vs Scarab vs Gauss Hog

There we have it, our 3 champions, the aerial agile Banshee, the giant powerhouse Scarab and the swift strong Gauss Hog.

In order to find which of these three is the best we must imagine a battle between them on an empty field or something like that. In one corner we have the Banshee, in another the Scarab and in another the Gauss Hog. In order to be victorious, they have to be able to defeat both opponents.

The battle begins, the Scarab stands in between the Gauss and Banshee. The Banshee decides to stay low, in order to stay clear of the Scarab’s anti-air gun. The Hog decides to slip underneath the Scarab, here is it completely safe from the Scarab guns and the Banshee cannot attack him here. The Scarab does its best to step on the Hog while positioning its main cannon towards the Banshee. The Hog decides to attack the Scarabs legs to slow it down and lower its body towards the ground. The Banshee first takes out the smaller turrets on the Scarabs side with its fuel rod cannon before fighting the small army that occupy the insides/top of the Scarab. The Scarab’s main gun is constantly trying to fire at the Banshee, but it flies to low. However, since the Banshee sporadically has to regain altitude it sometimes is open to an attack; the Banshee does not want to drop too low that it is vulnerable to the Hog.

Meanwhile, the Hog has attacked one of the Scarabs legs over-and-over and all of its shielding has come off. Just a little bit more in order to lower the Scarab; a couple more blasts and the Scarab is lowering. Now all three of the vehicles are in trouble, the Banshee is suddenly in range of the anti-air gun, the Hog has to get out from underneath the Scarab to avoid crushing and the Scarab cannot move.

The Hog does its best to destroy the shield that surrounds the Scarabs major weak point, its core. While doing this, the Banshee decides to attack the anti-air gun; it has already killed all the personnel on the Scarab. But before the shielding or the gun are completely destroyed, the Scarab regains its footing and start moving around once more. Now the Scarab does its best to stop the Hog from going underneath while positions its main cannon towards the Banshee again. The Banshee, in order to evade the main gun, decides to use its boosting power to quickly fly over the Scarab so the cannon can never reach it. Meanwhile, the Hog decides to keep some distance and attack the back shielding from afar. After a couple of minutes, the shield comes of and the core is exposed. Only 2 shots are required for the Hog to destroy this and the Scarab goes into self-destruct mode. The Hog quickly drives of in one direction while the Banshee chooses altitude in the opposite direction.

The Scarab is destroyed by the Gauss Hog.

The Banshee is high up in the air with a long distance between it and the Hog. The Hog tries to shoot at the Banshee, but the long distance makes it difficult for it to really aim. The Banshee stays at the same altitude, but moves in the direction of the Hog. The Hog is able to hit the Banshee twice while it boosts its way to a spot just above the Hog. The Hog tries to move, the Banshee is out of reach, but the Banshee goes into a steep dive, straight towards the Hog, firing all cannons. The Hog quickly drives away, but is hit by a multitude of plasma and a single fuel rod shots.

The Hog, while driving away, targets the Banshee in its dive and shoots it twice before it explodes.

The Banshee is destroyed by the Gauss Hog!

We have a winner, the Gauss Hog is the superior vehicular force in the Halo Franchise!!!