Rodeo
This guide will cover the in game mechanics of rodeoing friendly and enemy titans, the dangers and benefits of doing both and any specific information that isn’t in other guides.
Universal Mechanics
Titan rodeos are a high risk high reward pilot mechanic in pvp and frontier defense modes. To initiate a rodeo on a friendly or enemy titan, jump and hover very close to the desired titan. If you have the default settings the pilot will automatically initiate a rodeo when near a titan. When initiating a rodeo on an enemy titan the pilot will begin to automatically pull a battery out of the titan chassis instantly dealing one block of damage once the rodeo is successful. For the first successful rodeo it will give the pilot a battery until it is used on an ally or pilot death. If another rodeo is initiated while carrying a battery the pilot will instead throw a grenade into the titans systems dealing a half of a block of damage. While a pilot is rodeoing an enemy titan they will be vulnerable since the pilot can’t shoot or use any abilities until they detach, any current tacticals like cloak will be temporarily disabled but will get extended time upon a successful rodeo (ordinances also get reduced cooldown). Rodeos can be canceled anytime by pressing the jump button. Rodeoing does not make you immune to damage. Whenever you detach from an enemy or friendly titan you will always launch back behind where the titan is facing. Pulling a battery out of a doomed titan will kill it instantly at full doom health (assuming no chassis shield is current), so will the grenade rodeos.
You cannot stay on an enemy titan as the pilot will always initiate a battery pull or grenade throw. If a pilot is on an enemy titan that dies they will fall, but if an enemy titan ejects or nuke ejects you will be launched into the sky. Equipping the frag grenade as an ordinance is not required to do rodeos. You can rodeo on friendly titans to provide assistance so titans that have a friendly pilot on them are immune to enemy rodeos. This can also help your friendly titan by using anti titan weapons against other enemies. When you are rodeoing a friendly titan you will stay there until either you die, press jump or if your ally ejects, if your ally ejects or nuke ejects you will be launched into the sky. Inherently rodeoing is very dangerous so don’t be surprised if you suddenly die. Using Cloak and the Low profile kit helps tremendously as the cloak will resume after detaching. Stim can help with getting on and running away after a rodeo.
Frontier Defense Specifics
Since rodeoing does not make you immune to damage, pilots must watch out for arc titans, thermite and nuke titan ejects. Since you will launch with a nuke ejecting titan, it is sometimes safer to stay on a nuke titan rather than trying to run away. If you are rodeoing a nuke titan and the resulting damage makes it nuke eject it will not launch you. Arc titans cannot be rodeod, including nuke rodeo because of the passive arc damage they have. It is possible for a pilot to only focus on giving batteries to teammates for a massive support score, although this is not viable on hard or master difficulties.
If any information you are looking for is missing, consider looking at other pilot guides as they cover other specific topics.