Spotting and Vision in Tyr

Vision is the load-bearing mechanic in Tyr. You and the enemy are invisible until someone has line of sight and the target sits inside their spotting circle. Once you are spotted, the entire enemy team knows the ping. That is why a light with a 45% camo rating can farm a heavy that has 0% camo without ever trading HP. Read this page after how to play and before you argue about the tier list.

The two circles

Every tank spots to 400 m. The dashed white ring on the minimap is that range. You cannot personally spot past it without an ability that cheats the rule (Atlas Sonar stretches a little farther and marks unspotted hulls for you).

Every tank also has a camo rating shown as a solid white ring. Camo is a percent that shrinks the distance at which enemies can spot you. Example: Tempest’s default 21% camo means enemies must close to about 316 m to light Tempest under normal conditions (400 m minus 21%). The list below is the playtest-era base camo order from stealthiest to loudest:

• Fuse 45%
• Ikarus 42%
• Kestrel 39%
• Phantom 37%
• Seeker 34%
• Alecto 32%
• Ark 26%
• Deadeye 25%
• Valor 24%
• Ranger 23%
• Tempest 21%
• Rook 21%
• Arbalest 9%
• Fortis 7%
• Maul 6%
• Helio 5%
• Tricera 4%
• Atlas 0%

If you drive Atlas, assume you are lit whenever an enemy has LoS inside 400 m. If you drive Fuse, you should be lighting heavies that cannot light you back. Class pages: lights, mediums, heavies.

Tyr official gameplay overview (vision and armor)

Line of sight and bushes

Spotting also needs a clean line from any part of your tank to any part of theirs. Ridges, buildings, and wrecks break LoS. Bushes and foliage add a flat 50% camo as long as you do not fire an unsilenced shell. The moment you boom an unsilenced round, that bonus drops and your solid circle blooms. Silenced shells exist specifically so scouts can farm damage without turning into a lighthouse. Loadout choices sit in builds.

Proxy spotting is the 35 m directional warning when an unspotted enemy is close. Treat it like a heartbeat sensor. If the tick fires and you still cannot see them, they are in a bush or around a corner inside your camo gap. Do not reverse into the tick; wait for Seeker Snitch, Atlas Sonar, or a teammate’s light.

Abilities that rewrite vision

• Seeker’s Snitch — flies to the nearest unspotted enemy, then pings a marker you and allies both see. If nothing is in range it loiters until a target appears. Seeker is an Alpha Program light; expect tuning. See light tanks.
• Ark’s Bushes — activating the ability un-spots Ark immediately and plants a normal bush. Enemies already close can re-spot you in seconds.
• Tempest Recall gates — enemy teams can drive over your gate and capture it like a pickup. Do not leave a glowing teleport in a scout lane.
• Smoke walls — tanks spotted on either side of smoke can still be seen and shot. Smoke is not a full blackout.
• Atlas Sonar — pings a little past 400 m. Markers start as Atlas-only until they convert through normal spotting rules.

Energy pays for all of these. If you are vision-poor, you are also Energy-poor. Farm routes are on Energy.

How to play for vision, not for highlight reels

Lights should take a bush off the enemy’s expected push, stay unsilenced-quiet, and only shoot when the pen is free or the track shot wins the fight. Mediums should take a hull-down that sees a lane without sitting inside a 0% camo heavy’s 400 m if they can help it. Heavies should accept they are the spotlight and demand that a light is already watching the flank they cannot see.

Firing is information. Every unsilenced shell is a press release. If you clip-dump from a bush as Ikarus (4) or Tempest (5), you have spent your camo for a burst. Make the burst worth the light. Clip sizes are listed again on tank stats.

Team spotting is shared. If you can see them and your ally cannot, you get spotting assists when they deal damage — and 3% of those assist points as Energy. That is how a Fuse with zero damage can still fund abilities. The scoreboard’s assist icon is not a participation trophy; it is your Energy farm.

Maps change the same rules

Ravine’s ditch is a sneak mid that still needs LoS out of the cut. Scorch is longer sightlines, so camo gaps matter more. Divide is desert with a different bush density than Wind Valley or Fields. Walk those differences on maps. The mechanic does not change; the geometry does.

Practice drill

In Sandbox, park a heavy dummy if the mode allows, or at least drive two chassis back to back: Fuse then Atlas. Watch the solid circle jump. Then sit in a bush, fire once, and watch the bloom. That five-minute drill teaches more than a weekend of “I got sniped.” When it clicks, go back to controls so Q/E peeks do not pop you out of the bush, then confirm your hull on the tier list.

Tyr’s trailer line is accurate: play for vision. The rest of the sandbox — clips, Keystones, ramps — is decoration until you stop being the first ping on the enemy minimap.