ALVT Player's Guide

Introduction

The ALVT is a versatile damage dealer that excels in prolonged engagements and close-to-mid-range brawls. Thanks to Kent’s Rising Tempo passive and the immense burst potential of Grenade Cluster, the ALVT can overwhelm opponents in almost any 1v1 scenario while also bringing useful area denial and crowd control tools. Success in the ALVT is less about raw armour or survivability and more about correctly chaining its abilities together to maximize damage and maintain pressure.

Agent Passive: Rising Tempo

Kent’s passive, Rising Tempo, increases reload speed as you land consecutive hits on enemy vehicles. This means the ALVT becomes significantly stronger the longer it survives in combat. Maintaining passive stacks should be a priority whenever possible, even if it means taking a less-than-ideal shot early in an engagement.

In many situations, a lower-damage shot that safely builds passive stacks is more valuable than exposing yourself for a higher-damage opportunity. Once fully stacked, the increased reload speed dramatically boosts your overall damage output and makes follow-up plays far more threatening.

Dirty Substance

Dirty Substance serves as both an area denial tool and a damage amplifier. The oil slick can heavily restrict enemy movement through choke points, cover flanking routes, and create opportunities for follow-up attacks. When ignited, it deals respectable damage over time while applying a burn effect that prevents healing. However, it should not be used too aggressively or too early. Experienced opponents can avoid or remove the effect, and it has quite a high associated energy cost.

APHE Synergy

Dirty Substance works particularly well alongside the ALVT's APHE ammunition (Module upgrade). Shooting your grease with the APHE rounds can immediately ignite it, almost instantly setting fire to any tanks on the affected area. As an added bonus, burning oil blocks Thermal Vision in and around the affected area, which can occasionally disrupt enemy sightlines.

Grenade Cluster

Grenade Cluster is the centerpiece of the ALVT's kit and your primary source of burst damage. The ability launches 12 grenades by default (16 with the appropriate module) and can inflict well over 1,600 damage against a single target. Combined with a critical hit, this is often enough to instantly destroy lighter vehicles and leave heavier targets vulnerable to immediate follow-up attacks. In addition to its damage output, every grenade is capable of damaging or destroying tracks, making the ability excellent for securing immobilized targets.

One common mistake is immediately using Grenade Cluster to track agile vehicles such as Flanking light tanks. While this can help with immobilization, it often wastes much of the damage potential. Instead, consider tracking them with your main gun first. Once immobilized the enemy is likely to burn their repair, at which point a full Grenade Cluster can re-track them while simultaneously dealing devastating damage.

Contract Strike Ultimate

Contract Strike is a powerful ultimate capable of influencing an entire fight, though its usability issues often prevent it from reaching its full potential. Despite its impressive damage potential, it can be difficult to justify using in some situations when the ALVT's standard abilities are already generating significant impact.

Stage One: Hydra Rocket

The opening Hydra Rocket acquires targets quickly but deals relatively little damage. While it can destroy tracks, using a long-cooldown ultimate solely for immobilization rarely feels worthwhile.

Generally, you should only fire the Hydra early if an enemy deploys smoke before the Hellfire stage, and it's preferential to waste the ult or if you need to finish the target quickly, and it is more valuable than completing the full ultimate sequence.

Stage Two: Hellfire Missile

The Hellfire Missile is where the ultimate's true power lies. A successful hit can deal approximately 2,000 damage per target, making multi-target impacts potentially round-winning. However, securing those hits is not always easy as a full lock-on takes 4.5 seconds (3.5 seconds with the Agent Skill) which means your opponents do have time to kill you or evade, such as running for cover or deploying smoke.

Your movement speed is heavily reduced while aiming the ultimate which not only denies you the ability to chase but leaves you open to switched on players who may push that advantage. Despite being described as a homing missile, the Hellfire can miss moving targets, particularly those travelling above 40 km/h. The missile also lacks splash damage, meaning near misses result in no damage at all.

Common Counterplay

Smoke is by far the strongest counter. Smoke deployed either near you or near your target can completely prevent lock-on acquisition. This can be particularly frustrating because cancelling the ultimate refunds little or no charge, depending on your agent skills. The ability can also struggle in urban environments where obstacles or terrain may interfere with your usage.

Best Practices

Contract Strike performs best when combined with the rest of your toolkit. Such as targets trapped by Dirty Substance, Grenade Cluster track damage or existing team pressure, as these opponents are far less likely to escape the lock-on process.

While landing the ultimate on multiple opponents is ideal, it is often most valuable when used to quickly eliminate heavily-armoured frontline tanks such as the M1E1 or FV4030, thus removing a key defensive vehicle can create an opening for your team to secure objectives and win engagements

Recommended Agent Skills

Because Agent Skills are subject to change, exact recommendations may evolve over time. Currently, the most generally useful choices are:

Slot 1: Increased Reload Speed - Further enhances Rising Tempo and improves overall damage output.

Slot 2: Reduced Ultimate Lock-On Time - Helps mitigate one of Contract Strike's biggest weaknesses and makes the Hellfire more consistent.

Recommended Modules

APHE Rounds

The strongest overall recommendation would be the APHE rounds. The additional damage-over-time effect often swings prolonged engagements heavily in your favour.

Grenade Cluster Expansion

Adds four additional grenades to Grenade Cluster rounds, bringing you up to 16 from 12. Recommended for players who want to maximize burst damage and improve kill potential against heavier targets.

Smoke Grenades

A strong alternative for players who value utility and survivability over raw damage. Provides additional positioning options and defensive flexibility. Also allows for offsetting fire status effects and provides a track healing bonus.

Thermal Vision

Thermal Vision is arguably one of the strongest utility modules available to the ALVT. Even when not deploying your own smoke, battlefield smoke is extremely common. Thermal Vision allows you to maintain target acquisition through obscured sightlines while also making long-range spotting and target identification significantly easier, making it a strong choice in virtually every match.

Final Thoughts

The ALVT thrives when its abilities are layered together rather than used individually. Track targets before committing Grenade Clusters and use Dirty Substance to control movement and create opportunities. Players should seek to build and maintain Rising Tempo stacks whenever possible for exponentially increased DPM.

Your ultimate Contract Strike should be reserved for situations where its damage can decisively shift an engagement rather than using it at the first available opportunity. When played patiently and methodically, the ALVT has the tools to dominate prolonged fights, punish positioning mistakes, and win nearly any one-on-one engagement.

Disclaimer

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