Analysis: Fury

The Trident Fury was once the perfect "meta" robot, when midrange dominated top tier. Those days are over of course, and with the newfound domination of high powered short range rockets (the Dash invasion), the Fury went out the top tier lineups, because there wassimply no heavy weapon that fits that meta (except for the Thunder, but the Fury is not mobile enough for that). However, the latest updates brought new heavy weapons, and players discovered that Zeus and Dragoons are a decent counter to Dash bots, so Furys pop up much more often recently.

It works best as a midrange or long range setup, for two reasons: (a) It's one of the slowest robots, and can't get out of trouble (unless Pixo adds a jetpack), and (b) its hardpoints are on top, allowing it to shoot over obstacles while being protected from energy weapons - the drawback of course is that it has zero cornershooting ability. It has reasonable HP (190k), but isn't as durable as a Raijin or a Leo.

The Fury has two basic setups: 3 identical weapons or 2 weapons and an Ancile. The Ancile version is very interesting both if you have only 2 of the heavy weapons, or if you want some protection from missiles (as the Fury is mostly used as long range build, an Ancile gives excellent protection against all midrange rockets, while it is quickly overpowered from Orkans at shorter ranges). All setups here can be used in both variants. I'm a bit mum on the Ancile variants, I found that Shocktrains and Zeus builds do most of the damage to a robot like the Fury (assuming it's used as midranger), and while Tridents and Tulumbas can certainly sting, I prefer the added firepower over an Ancile. 

Possible setups:

• Dragoon. IMO the best setup, but also the most expensive. Dragoons aren't easy to get, and a sucker to upgrade, but they have twice the burst damage of the Zeus (32k in 4 seconds compared to Zeus 15k in the first second, then another 15k in the 7th second). Dragoons can be mixed with Zeus if you don't have 2 or 3.
  
  
• Zeus. Even though this is a gold-expensive build with a 5k gold robot and 3 gold weapons, it's maybe the best counter to Dash bots that can be bought for gold. That baby does 45k a pop (all values at level 12) and thus can pop a Lance shield in 12 seconds, or eliminate a Griffin in 20 seconds. And all this from 600m out. The quick burst (1 second) makes it a good counter do Dash bots, as it can zap them between two Dashes.
  This build has 7.8k cycle DPS (DPS including reload times). It can't go toe to toe with a close range build (Taran, Scourges and the like), but it's not that far behind, and you can destroy a robot like a Taran Ancilot without getting a scratch if you see it coming and have room to backpedal.
  I do prefer the Gekko Zeus Natasha over a Zeus Fury though - see this thread.
  
  
• Flux. Expensive, but a Flux Fury will punish any robot peeking out of cover anywhere on the map.
  

I'd argue that the remaining builds are not as good as the Dragoon, Flux or Zeus Fury. Especially brawling setups are not successful in high leagues, as the slowest short range robots there are the Bulgasari and the Inquisitor, so the Fury is just way too slow to keep up. However, those builds can be very successful in lower leagues.

• Tempest.The Fury has almost 30k burst DPS when the Tempests heat up, and if even one quarter of that damage is available from 700m, this will shred any midranger or sniper quickly. However, to fight a sniper you have to get within 700m, which is a problem for a robot that is both slow and squishy. This setup has 14.4k cycle DPS at point blank range, and probably 3-4k cycle DPS from max range. And despite the Tempest being a premium weapon, it is rather easy to get (especially now where it is in the battle rewards chest). 
  However, Tempest of course needs line of sight, and with a meta shift towards stealth (Inquisitor, Spectre), the Tempest Fury struggles on most maps, even though it can dominate on Canyon and Yama. While the Tempest Fury was very efficient for a while, it appears to have been implicitly nerfed in 3.7 (that is, the new meta shift makes it less efficient).
  
  

• Ember. A 3-Ember Fury will burn pretty much any robot to a crisp in 4 seconds, as every Ember has a whopping 14.7k DPS. Whoa. But you have to get close enough to hit, and to hit with most of the flame, which isn't easy. However, this setup has almost the highest "sustained" DPS value in the game right now. 3 Embers can do 44k burst damage per second for 10 seconds. Weapons like Orkans and Aphid variants have higher burst, but much lower sustained damage. Builds like a Punisher Griffin or Tempest Punisher Natasha will reach 33k DPS at point blank range.
  
  That leaves Shotgun builds - they do have advantages against fast robots, it's very hard to hit a fast robot with Embers. On the other hand you have to get within 100m for a Shotgun build to get even close to the maximal DPS values. A Storm Haechi reaches 37k, a Storm/Gust Griffin does 42k (for about 8 seconds), and a Storm Spectre is the only build that surp?bum-bums? the Ember Fury with 49k DPS. But Spectres don't grow on trees, and Storms are very expensive to upgrade, so the Storm Spectre is pretty much reserved for whales. 
  
  
• Exodus. Not sure if I want to advertise any weapon that takes 2 months to upgrade to level 12, but sure it's good.
  
  
• Trident. Yes, the Trident Fury makes a comeback - as an excellent counter to Shocktrain Bulgasaris. It's a bit underpowered though, the Trident could definately use a buff.
  
  
• Trebuchet. Many players prefer this as sniper setup. It has massive burst output, so you can deal a full blow of 55k damage to a jumping Griffin. On the other hand, if you miss, then you have to wait at least 15 seconds until the Trebs are reasonably charged (they reach their full damage potential only with max recharge time). That's not enough for me to like that build very much, though - have a look at my Butch analysis to see why I prefer a Kang Dae Gekko Leo over any Trebuchet build, including Fury and Butch.
  
  
• Nashorn or Kang Dae. The damage potential of both weapons is in line with the cycle DPS of a Trebuchet. And if you (like me) think that sniping is boring, you will run a sniper only for one reason: To eliminate other snipers that are pestering your knife fighters. And those babies almost never have an Ancile,so it doesn't really matter if you use a Treb (that ignores Anciles) or Nashorn/Kang Dae. Against physical shields Nashorn/Kang Dae are better anyway. And they have a big advantage: They don't give away your position. If you have glowing Trebs, the enemy snipers will always know it's you pounding them, and will know if you are behind cover.
  

Preferred Setup: Dragoon.

Setups to avoid:

• Thunders. For some reason Pixo advertises Thunders with a Fury, but the Fury is really too slow for that, and lacks the Ancile that the Carnage has. Ember has the same damage, but much more range - but with Thunders you really want to get within 100m.
• Zenits. If you happen to believe that Zenits have a place in War Robots (mind you, you'd be a member of a small minority), you want a Butch and not a Fury.
• Redeemers. Their damage is rather underwhelming, and even if you have 3 of them I don't see them on a Fury.
• Thermite. You have to get within 350m for that, the Fury is not very mobile, and the Thermite can be avoided by fast robots, or robots seeking cover. Aphids/Vortex/Thermite are better run on more mobile robots IMO.

Suggestion for new players: Fury shouldn't be high on your shopping list. The Natasha costs nearly nothing, is cheap to upgrade, equally efficient, and you can add a Fury later when you really want that third heavy hardpoint and can't live with 2 light hardpoints instead. And anyway, it's not clear how the meta will develop. The earliest point where you should consider a Fury is if you have 5 slots, at least 4 Orkans and a Lancelot in your hangar. 

Edit: Updated to 3.9

You will find my other analysis threads linked here.