Super Tank

The Super Tank, also referred to as the Tank Guardian or Tank Boss, is one of the rarest and most powerful enemies in Quake 2. The player will only encounter two throughout the game. They defend highly important sectors of the city including the Laser Grid in Unit 3 and the Power Plant in Unit 6. They possess armor that outclasses even the Tank Commander. They are about three times the size of the Tank. They are essentially a giant tank torso mounted on a caterpillar tank tread base, hence the trademark "squeaking tread" sound they make while rolling about. Out of all the bosses and tough enemies in the game, the Super Tank is the quickest, taking full advantage of its massive tank-like track.

Chaingun
It fires a long stream of accurate bullet fire, much similar to the Makron although the Super Tank only has one. It is very useful at pinning the player behind cover and can be damaging if the player is caught in the spray for a period of time. Each bullet does 6 points of damage which can easily add up to high amounts of damage if the player is caught in the spray. The Chaingun can do around 60 damage a second, thus it will only take a couple of seconds to kill the player. Unlike other stronger enemies such as the Gunner, which has a delay moment before launching its machine gun attack, the Super Tank has no delay (much like the Machine Gun Guard). To avoid this, it is best to confront the Super Tank from a distance, so that it will mainly use its rocket launcher which is much easier to dodge.

Rocket launcher
The Super Tank has a shoulder mounted rocket launcher which fires three rockets one after the other. Whilst easy to dodge, getting hit by this attack will surely kill the player if not devastate his/her health and armor. Each rocket does 50 damage times 3 = up to 150 damage. The player will only ever confront Super Tank in open areas, so it is easy to fight at a distance and evade incoming rockets.

Strategies

 * In Unit 3, the Super Tank will appear once the player has taken out two tanks. The Super Tank will be backed up by four berserkers. Whilst the Super Tank is more lethal, it is best to deal with the Berserkers first to stop them getting behind the player and getting a few cheap shots. Once the Berserkers are dead, concentrate on the Super Tank.
 * Beware that the Tank will be attacking with some of the most devastating attacks the game has, so attempt to put the Berserkers between the Super Tank and yourself to use the Berserker as a living shield or get behind the pillars. The very least the player can do is keep moving then, never standing still.
 * On direct confrontation circle strafe it from outside the central square whilst using the Chain Gun optionally right after a Quad Damage activation. The Rockets are easy to dodge at a distance and constant movement will avoid any bullets. The Super Tank takes a beating with 1,500 hit points but it will fall after a while and access to the Laser Grid will be granted.
 * Second encounter with this boss is not even a boss encounter but an ammo dump as it's in a lower floor where it can be spammed blindly thanks to lower halls lacking depth, distance and narrow to maneuver. In Unit 6, the boss is defeated pretty easily by just throwing grenades or shooting rockets on it from above. While direct confrontation is always available, spamming it from above or sweeping the red key away after luring it at another corner are the safest bets to get past him.

Death Messages

 * Player almost dodged a Supertank's rocket (Rocket Launcher)
 * Player ate a Supertank's rocket (Rocket Launcher)
 * Player was chaingunned by a Supertank (Chaingun)

Trivia

 * Super Tanks appear to have weapon barrels above their treads. The fact that they are angled upwards suggests that they might have been used as Grenade Launchers at some point, but were scrapped for the final version.