As a tanker, you will be spending the majority of your time as an engineer. It’s important to get this class certed out effectively to maximize combat efficiency and reduce downtime.
For starters, the repair tool should be a very high priority. Trying to repair a 6000 Hitpoint vanguard with a level 1 repair tool is an exercise in futility, and even with a level six repair tool a critically damaged vanguard will take about 45 seconds to repair. Upgrading this to max level is an absolute necessity.
After the tank is decently certed, you can continue investing in the engineer class. Repair grenades are useful to carry, but they will eat through nanites if spammed. Similarly, C4 explosives or tank mines are great for setting up ambushes, but they’re also very nanite heavy. By default, engineers come equipped with flak armor which makes surviving explosions while repairing much easier. Alternatively, you could equip grenade bandolier to carry more repair grenades, mine carrier for more tank mines, or demolitions pouch for more C4. Keep in mind that the more grenades/ordnance you carry and use, the bigger your nanite loss will be upon respawning.
In the deployable slot, both the AV MANA turret and Spitfire auto-turret are decent choices. Both turrets have a slight delay before spawning in, meaning you can place one and then drive over the spawn point. Once the turret spawns it’ll pop the front of your vehicle up and allow you to get to places that would otherwise be inaccessible. Spitfire Auto-Turrets are great for deterring light assaults that might attack you while repairing the tank, or if you’re stationary for some time.
In the primary weapon slot, the Archer can be equipped to deter ESFs or to chip away at vehicles from long range. Beware that taking this cripples your ability to fight light assaults, which can be one of the biggest threats to tanks.
Implants are another important asset. New drivers should prioritize obtaining the sweeper HUD implant, and leveling it to rank 3-4 at least. Target focus can remain as a second implant until ammo printer is obtained, or ransack if your driver is very aggressive and can consistently secure close quarters kills.
For gunners, the counter intelligence implant is ideal but is unfortunately extremely rare. As an alternative, sweeper HUD and Target Focus work.