Mantis Heavy Tank

Mantis Heavy Tank is a boss on Stage 7.

Appearance
This bosses appears to be an over-sized battle tank with the dual-barreled Railgun cannon as a primary weapon, 3 gun ports on the back, and a hidden weapon between the Railgun cannon.

1st Phase
The primary weapon of this bosses. Fires 2 heavy caliber Railgun shells in high velocity. It can deals massive damage to the player or even taking it down in one shot. On the front of the tank is a pair of laser cannon that fires a stream of laser beam in regular intervals. 2 cannons at the back of the tank. Fires single bullet at regular intervals.
 * 1x Railgun Cannon
 * 2x Laser Cannon
 * 2x Cannons

2nd Phase
On the back of the tank just behind the Railgun Turret is a gun port that pops-up a directional cannon. The cannon fire a single bullets in 12-direction at the same time. On each side of the Railgun Cannon, the tank will eject it's cover plating and revealing the Chain Gun. The Chain Guns aren't aiming at the player. Instead, it fires at the zigzag pattern continuously.
 * 1x Red Directional Cannon
 * 2x Chain Gun

Combat Routines
This strategy assumes that the player does not have any shield, laser, or mega-bomb charges available, and is on moderate health at the start of the boss battle.

1st Phase
The Mantis Tank's primary cannon is very powerful and is capable of destroying the player's plane in one hit. The railgun rounds are very fast and the player has a very short time to dodge them. Therefore, The player's primary focus should be the laser cannons, as they inhibit free movement around the tank. Care should be taken so that the player does not blunder into the bullets fired by the rear cannons. The player should also try not to be trapped in between the two lasers, because there is very little room to evade the railgun. This is especially true if the player is aiming for the 'Untouched' medal. The time taken by the lasers to recharge is prime time for the player to attack them head-on. However, once they start to spin up and fire again, the player should retreat to the side and wait for the next opening.

Once the lasers are destroyed, the main cannon and the two rear cannons can be taken care of using similar tactics. The player should make use of the newly acquired ability for unrestricted movement to destroy the main cannon. This main cannon is very sturdy, so this process may take some time. Getting rid of the two rear cannons is not very difficult once the main railgun cannon is down. Eliminating all three of these cannons (along with the aforementioned laser cannons) starts the second phase of the fight.

2nd Phase
This phase is marginally easier than the previous one, as none of the turrets in this phase are actually aiming at the player. The sheer amount of flak in the air makes movement difficult, and makes this phase as challenging to the player as the previous phase.

When the second phase of the boss fight starts, it is advisable for the player to move to the side, as the area directly below the tank becomes a killzone with the number of bullets fored by the two chain guns. Once the player is safely on the side of the tank, they can relax and let the missiles on their plane destroy the cannons. Or they can use the time when the chaingun swings away from the plane to attack it, and eventually, destroy it. A similar strategy works for the other chain gun and the directional cannon.

Once all the turrets are destroyed, the chassis of the Mantis Tank is defenseless and can be attacked without any retaliation. Once the chassis health goes down to zero, the tank blows up in a spectacular explosion, marking an end to the boss fight, and to the stage.

Trivia

 * A wreckage of this heavy tank appears on Stage 8 near the coast. The tank is completely broken, but one of a laser cannons is still intact and it's still capable of firing. Destroying it's laser cannons is still required to keep your chain bonus.
 * The bosses shares same similarities from the original Heavy Tank bosses from the original Sky Force, with the exception the primary turret is much different and the bullets has steady velocity.
 * The boss itself has the second largest explosion in the game, crowned only by the Arachnotron. Mantis Heavy Tank Destroyed.png