Strategy Guide For Tarma In Metal Slug Tactics

Give a warm welcome to Tarma, the coolest character in the series making an appearance in Metal Slug Tactics. Being the badass he is, you’ll be riding on a motorbike and spawning tanks out of nowhere to deal serious damage to your enemies in the coolest way possible.

Tarma has a good mix of close-range and long-range tools, with knives, laser guns, and grenade launchers that can reach far away tiles from the unit. As usual, how you want to play with him is a matter of what you want, but here we will explain the basics you need to know about Tarma in Metal Slug Tactics.

Tarma’s Core Abilities – Wild Ride, Final Crash, And Giant Knuckle

Tarma likes using his motorcycle, and you should like it, too. Wild Ride, maybe his best Core Ability, deals four damage, ignores cover, and goes in a straight line over enemies. If that’s not enough, he gains one Dodge for each unit he hits, which is perfect for a move that can leave you a bit exposed for counter-attacks if you don’t have much space.

To unlock Tarma, you need to unlock all the regions in the game, which means that you must complete Argun and Herkanet Tombs.

Final Crash turns Tarma into a type of tank character, since it moves him and deals three damage in a wide area, applying Provoked to any enemy that receives the hit. Any unit with Provoked will attack the character that gave them that status, so it is a taunt.

It’s a great move when you can build Dodge and get some good Cover, but beware of being too greedy with this as provoking at the same time many units can mean death in the next turn. We will recommend some good abilities to go with this later in the guide.

The last core ability is Giant Knuckle, which moves a unit to an adjacent tile, dealing three damage. Plus, you’ll get a Bonus Action if you kill a unit with this ability, which means that you can use Giant Knuckle again if you have enough Adrenaline or can use any of your weapons.

Yes, three damage is low if you don’t attack an already wounded unit, but it can get upgrades with increasing damage. If you can’t upgrade this Special Action, then try to use it to finish enemies.

Tarma’s Special Actions

Some of the best Special Actions in the game belong to Tarma. He’s a high-risk and high-reward type of character, but you can learn how to reduce the risk with some practice.

Tarma Classic Loadout

Tarma likes close combat, so his first primary weapon is a Knife, which has the great perk of ignoring cover. Add a good old Shotgun to the mix and you’re ready for some great damage.

Plus, this loadout comes with Wild Ride as its starting Special Action, which is fantastic. With these weapons and this ability alone you won’t be able to attack twice in a turn, but below you’ll find some solutions for this downside.

In any case, Wild Ride will give you some extra Dodge and make you close to enemies (while also dealing damage to them, of course). With enough Dodge and a good position, you might not get hurt and will be ready to close the deal with your other weapons in the next turn.

Recommended Passives

• Brick Wall is the best Passive for this loadout. It gives Tarma a Bonus Action if he gets at least two Dodge in one action, which can be easily achieved if you strike two enemies with Wild Ride.
• If you’re upgrading your Wild Ride and feeling greedy, Oversized does the same thing as Brick Wall, with the difference that you need to hit at least three enemies. Difficult, but not impossible.
• Following the trend of attacking multiple enemies with one move, Stylish is a good Passive since it will give you two Adrenaline each time you hit two targets or more. A great way of building up this attribute.

Tarma Dopamine Rush Loadout

Another knife, but this one, theTatsumaki, has a weird range. It’s like a square but it doesn’t hit right behind you. However, one good detail is that it ignores Cover, so it’s a great one to have when dealing with covered enemies.

Your secondary weapon will be a flamethrower called Inferno, which has a more proper range and it’s a good mix with the knife. It also ignores Cover and adds Flame when getting a frag.

Add Giant Knuckle as the starting Special Action, which lets you move units around, and you’ll be able to position them where you need them for your ranges.

You need to complete one run with Tarma to unlock this loadout.

Recommended Passives

• Let’s start with a simple one. Marathon gives you one Dodge at the start of your run, and it can be upgraded. More Dodge is never a bad thing.
• Guerrilla will give you a Bonus Move when you contribute to a frag on an adjacent enemy, so it’s a good pick for your Giant Knuckle ability.
• For last, let’s go with Thick Skin, which will give you one extra Dodge (with the chance of more if upgraded) for each Bonus Action or Move you earn.

If you want to try being a little more “Kamikaze”, the grenade Charisma has this keyword. Basically, Tarma attacks himself without hurting him, but dealing damage to the enemies in range.

The loadout’s secondary weapon is a laser gun called Flatline, which is pretty good. It attacks all the enemies in a straight line within range. Plus, if you perform a complete Synchronization with it, Tarma will gain Motivation, which basically gives you a Special Action for free in your next turn.

Flatline also hurts allies that stand in the same line of attack!

Extravange’s Core Ability is Final Crash, which can be either a great mix or a recipe for disaster with Charisma. Basically, you move to a tile damaging the enemies in range, and applying Provoke to them (they become taunted for a turn). If you have Passives that help you gain Dodge, this is not a bad move, but taunting multiple enemies that are close to you can be pretty dangerous.

Recommended Passives

• Considering how exposed you will be with this loadout, Regeneration is a must. You’ll be healed with half of the Adrenaline points required for each Special Action you use.
• Marathon is a good addition since every extra Dodge will help you receive less damage.
• Let’s close with Guerilla, which will give you a Bonus Move for each frag you contribute to, which will be useful to take cover after attacking with your close-range attacks.

Tarma Big Guns Loadout

The last loadout has a Berta, which is a fantastic handgun. It comes with Impressive, a keyword that gives you one extra Adrenaline if you contribute to a frag, and this will be easy with the four damage the Berta deals.

Your Glass Launcher has long-range, Burst (consumes Dodge to deal more damage) and ignores elevation differences, which makes it a powerful weapon from the very beginning.

While these two weapons are great for being far away from enemies, your Core Ability Slug Kick can only be used when close to someone. It gives you Escape (your Dodge does not reset in your next turn), and deals five damage, ignoring Cover. A pretty powerful ability.

You can’t activate Escape two times in a row with the same unit.

Recommended Passives

• Since you might not be as close to your enemies as with other loadouts, let’s go with Glass Tank. It will add Burst to all your Special Actions.
• Team Player will give you two extra Adrenaline for each Synchronization you perform with Tarma, perfect for building this attribute and having Slug Kick always available.
• As you will have Burst with more than one attack, Marathon will help you with that extra Dodge at the start of every turn.