Post by frunobulax on Sept 22, 2017 8:28:04 GMT -5
The following text was mainly written in pre-Shocktrain times. See comments below.
As of today, I have no doubt that the Haechi is the best robot in the game. Why? The high leagues were dominated by Lancelots, Griffins, and the occasional Thunder Carnage before the Korean bots came. I will make my case that the Haechi is easily better than either of them.
But let's have a look at the numbers first. First, you've got to wonder why anyone would classify it as a medium robot. It has 150k HP, which is just 5% less than a Griffin. The armament is comparable too, an Orkan has a bit more damage than a pair of Pinatas so an Orkan Haechi has slightly more firepower than a DB Griffin, while a Punisher Haechi has slightly less firepower than a Punisher Griffin. And it has an Ancile that absorbs 75k damage. It's one of the weaker Anciles out there (strongest is Fujin with 135k, the Ancile that you can buy for a heavy slot has 95k), but an Ancile nevertheless. And anybody who has used the Dash ability will rave about it: It gives you tremendous speed, you can dash without exposing yourself to snipers or rockets, and due to the double dash you can dash out of safe cover, unload your cargo, and dash back in cover.
Armed with Orkans it can deal 210k damage in 4 seconds. This will kill any unshielded robot except the Leo (226k) and the Raijin (250k), any Carnage (114k + 68k Ancile), and cripple most shielded bots (an Ancilot has 170k plus 95k Ancile, so it will have only 55k health left after a 4s blast).
Armed with Tarans, it can deal 246k damage in 9.6 seconds. That will break the shield of a Lancelot (102k) and bring its health down to a measly 26k.
Compared to the Griffin, it has basically same HP, same firepower, the better abilty with the dash (the Griffins ability to jump and fire over an obstacle can be done just as well with the dash-out-of-cover, dash-into-cover), plus the Ancile.
Compared to the Lancelot, it lacks the physical shield of course. But it can evade snipers very well with its dash ability, pick its fights much better due to the superior speed, and I prefer an Ancile over a physical shield because (a) high leagues are dominated by rockets, and (b) it regenerates. A Thunder Punisher/Orkan Lance will be better in some brawling situations (say defending a beacon in beacon rush), but especially with an Orkan configuration a Haechi will eat any Lance pilot alive.
Comparing Orkan Haechi too the Thunder Carnage, the Carnage will deal 31k damage per second for 8 seconds (248k), but only at point blank range. An Orkan Haechi does 210k damage in 4 seconds, and this from 300m out.
A unique feature is the ability to dash inside any Ancile and fire avoiding the Ancile. This is something that can be done by a Griffin/Rogatka too, but with a Dash that's really easy. And with a full clip of rockets, that's quick death to the unprotected robot.
Best setups:
Other setups that are viable, but feel a bit like wasting a perfectly good Haechi:
Bringing down a Haechi: Teamwork helps a lot, and it depends on the spot. Basically, you need to corner it (or swarm it) such that it can't get into cover. If you go to a direct confrontation, better make sure that it has fired its weapons before, because otherwise a robot trying to corner it is made into a tombstone.
Recommendation for new players: Despite having written a glowing recommendation here, no single robot is worth spending the ridiculous amount of money Pixo asks (even discounted to "only" $99.95 or something which is still ridiculous), unless you have enough money not to worry about minor nuisances like retirement plan, insurance for inability to work, and such. If you really have enough disposable cash to spend a 3-digit amount on a game, I'd rather get a playstation and some games there instead of throwing those kind of money at Pixo on a regular basis. The pricing for virtual goods that will be nerfed sooner than you like is madness, don't reward Pixo for this outrage.
Yes, the Haechi is OP, but even if you spend this kind of money, one robot won't make you remotely competetive with the whales, because the next changes that will ask for even more money are already on the horizon, and the next OP robots are already out there (Inquisitor). Think about it - "wallet warriors" have perhaps 3 Haechis and 2 Bulgasaris in their hangar. Would you really spend $700-$1000, plus whatever gold and silver you need to fast-upgrade them to level 12, to be temporarily competetive - until the next robot that is even more OP is on the market, or the Haechi/Bulgasari are nerfed?
DON'T SPEND MONEY ON THE BLACK MARKET! The drop rates in 3.5 are much, much worse than in 3.1 and 3.2, where you averaged say 1-2 good items (Dash/Tempest) per $100 invested. Now you will only get components, that is, a small part of a robot. It is unregulated gambling where you have no clue about your chances. The few players here that spun the wheel in 3.2 were extremely disappointed. Stay away.
Yeah, I got those Dash bots on the black market. True. The reason I did it was because I was on a new account with facebook gameroom, didn't have any gold items there, I do have a reasonable income, and decided that playing and enjoying War Robots for almost a year was worth buying two 13k key packages (164 Euros on facebook). That was in 3.1, where I knew that spinning gold chests would net me a lot of gold and gold items. And I got really lucky, getting one of each Dash robots. However, had I known the current pricing policy and the plans for Mk2 robot, I wouldn't have done it. No way.
So yes, the Haechi is the best robot out there, and should it ever become available for a reasonable amount, go for it. But make sure the amount is reasonable, and don't jump on the offer just because Pixo thinks it's "60% profit" or whatever.
You will find my other analysis threads linked here.
Edit: Updated to 3.5 version. With the strong emergence of Shocktrains as meta weapon (Ember and Redeemer never had this much effect), the Shocktrain Bulgasari has replaced the Orkan Haechi as the strongest build out there. Protection against Shocktrains is very important if playing against Champion players. In lower leagues the Haechi is still the most efficient robot, IMO, because there is less Plasma/Energy and more bullets/rockets around.
As of today, I have no doubt that the Haechi is the best robot in the game. Why? The high leagues were dominated by Lancelots, Griffins, and the occasional Thunder Carnage before the Korean bots came. I will make my case that the Haechi is easily better than either of them.
But let's have a look at the numbers first. First, you've got to wonder why anyone would classify it as a medium robot. It has 150k HP, which is just 5% less than a Griffin. The armament is comparable too, an Orkan has a bit more damage than a pair of Pinatas so an Orkan Haechi has slightly more firepower than a DB Griffin, while a Punisher Haechi has slightly less firepower than a Punisher Griffin. And it has an Ancile that absorbs 75k damage. It's one of the weaker Anciles out there (strongest is Fujin with 135k, the Ancile that you can buy for a heavy slot has 95k), but an Ancile nevertheless. And anybody who has used the Dash ability will rave about it: It gives you tremendous speed, you can dash without exposing yourself to snipers or rockets, and due to the double dash you can dash out of safe cover, unload your cargo, and dash back in cover.
Armed with Orkans it can deal 210k damage in 4 seconds. This will kill any unshielded robot except the Leo (226k) and the Raijin (250k), any Carnage (114k + 68k Ancile), and cripple most shielded bots (an Ancilot has 170k plus 95k Ancile, so it will have only 55k health left after a 4s blast).
Armed with Tarans, it can deal 246k damage in 9.6 seconds. That will break the shield of a Lancelot (102k) and bring its health down to a measly 26k.
Compared to the Griffin, it has basically same HP, same firepower, the better abilty with the dash (the Griffins ability to jump and fire over an obstacle can be done just as well with the dash-out-of-cover, dash-into-cover), plus the Ancile.
Compared to the Lancelot, it lacks the physical shield of course. But it can evade snipers very well with its dash ability, pick its fights much better due to the superior speed, and I prefer an Ancile over a physical shield because (a) high leagues are dominated by rockets, and (b) it regenerates. A Thunder Punisher/Orkan Lance will be better in some brawling situations (say defending a beacon in beacon rush), but especially with an Orkan configuration a Haechi will eat any Lance pilot alive.
Comparing Orkan Haechi too the Thunder Carnage, the Carnage will deal 31k damage per second for 8 seconds (248k), but only at point blank range. An Orkan Haechi does 210k damage in 4 seconds, and this from 300m out.
A unique feature is the ability to dash inside any Ancile and fire avoiding the Ancile. This is something that can be done by a Griffin/Rogatka too, but with a Dash that's really easy. And with a full clip of rockets, that's quick death to the unprotected robot.
Best setups:
- Orkans. I have done the "get out of cover, fire for 3-4 seconds, get back into cover" routine numerous times. And even though Orkans need some time to reload after a full burst, the dash ability and ground speed should give you enough time for that.
- Tarans. Even though theý need a bit more time to work, they still deal massive amounts of damage, and if you can use that 350m range (which is fundamentally important) you will still take limited damage from Orkans, Punishers and Molots.
- Edit: Shocktrains. Premium weapons of course, but if you have them, the Haechi can be deadly. (The Bulgasari is better against other Shocktrain and Plasma builds, the Haechi better against rockets.)
- Edit: Storms. Think Thunder Carnage. A fun build that can do some damage - and you might try it for the fun factor, not necessarily because it's the best build.
Other setups that are viable, but feel a bit like wasting a perfectly good Haechi:
- Tulumbas. A full Tulumbas burst will do 66k damage, including a decent splash radius and from the safety of 490m distance.
- Punishers. I've jumped on the Punsisher bandwagon recently, once I started to use them more often from 350-400m - they can deal pretty good damage from out there, much better than a Thunder. Up close, 3 Mk2 Punishers have a total potential of 501k damage in 19 seconds, and deal 28.5k DPS from point blank range once they hit burst mode.
Bringing down a Haechi: Teamwork helps a lot, and it depends on the spot. Basically, you need to corner it (or swarm it) such that it can't get into cover. If you go to a direct confrontation, better make sure that it has fired its weapons before, because otherwise a robot trying to corner it is made into a tombstone.
Recommendation for new players: Despite having written a glowing recommendation here, no single robot is worth spending the ridiculous amount of money Pixo asks (even discounted to "only" $99.95 or something which is still ridiculous), unless you have enough money not to worry about minor nuisances like retirement plan, insurance for inability to work, and such. If you really have enough disposable cash to spend a 3-digit amount on a game, I'd rather get a playstation and some games there instead of throwing those kind of money at Pixo on a regular basis. The pricing for virtual goods that will be nerfed sooner than you like is madness, don't reward Pixo for this outrage.
Yes, the Haechi is OP, but even if you spend this kind of money, one robot won't make you remotely competetive with the whales, because the next changes that will ask for even more money are already on the horizon, and the next OP robots are already out there (Inquisitor). Think about it - "wallet warriors" have perhaps 3 Haechis and 2 Bulgasaris in their hangar. Would you really spend $700-$1000, plus whatever gold and silver you need to fast-upgrade them to level 12, to be temporarily competetive - until the next robot that is even more OP is on the market, or the Haechi/Bulgasari are nerfed?
DON'T SPEND MONEY ON THE BLACK MARKET! The drop rates in 3.5 are much, much worse than in 3.1 and 3.2, where you averaged say 1-2 good items (Dash/Tempest) per $100 invested. Now you will only get components, that is, a small part of a robot. It is unregulated gambling where you have no clue about your chances. The few players here that spun the wheel in 3.2 were extremely disappointed. Stay away.
Yeah, I got those Dash bots on the black market. True. The reason I did it was because I was on a new account with facebook gameroom, didn't have any gold items there, I do have a reasonable income, and decided that playing and enjoying War Robots for almost a year was worth buying two 13k key packages (164 Euros on facebook). That was in 3.1, where I knew that spinning gold chests would net me a lot of gold and gold items. And I got really lucky, getting one of each Dash robots. However, had I known the current pricing policy and the plans for Mk2 robot, I wouldn't have done it. No way.
So yes, the Haechi is the best robot out there, and should it ever become available for a reasonable amount, go for it. But make sure the amount is reasonable, and don't jump on the offer just because Pixo thinks it's "60% profit" or whatever.
You will find my other analysis threads linked here.
Edit: Updated to 3.5 version. With the strong emergence of Shocktrains as meta weapon (Ember and Redeemer never had this much effect), the Shocktrain Bulgasari has replaced the Orkan Haechi as the strongest build out there. Protection against Shocktrains is very important if playing against Champion players. In lower leagues the Haechi is still the most efficient robot, IMO, because there is less Plasma/Energy and more bullets/rockets around.
