Good hangars without component based weapons and robots

Edit: Updated to 3.9 version of the game.

I know most of the newish stuff  (Dash, Scourges etc.) from my Facebook account, which I don't play anymore (matchup issues). On Android I got my first two Dash bots (a Kumiho and a Haechi) recently and don't use them yet, so I'm running a good old down-to-basics hangar there, with the exception of a Tempest Natasha. As I have written my analysis list and a hangar development guide, I thought I'd round it off with a recommendation for a rock solid hangar that you can build without any component stuff. 

I still recommend getting a 5th slot as soon as possible, before you buy Orkans, a Lancelot or whatever. But because there is always a hot debate about this, I'll provide options for a 4 and 5 slot hangar.

I don't recommend getting a light beacon runner (Gary, Stalker etc.), with the possible exception of the Gust Stalker. Instead I recommend getting fast medium or heavy robots like the Rhino or Rogatka. If you want to know why, read my Stalker analysis, where I explained why I don't like light beacon runners in general.

Starting out

If you are fairly new to the game, you won't have a lot of gold or WSP available. Chances are that you won't read this if you're just starting the game, but anyway - these are the very first robots that I'd recommend. You start out with a Destrier, and you can buy slot #2 and slot #3 right away. Fill these with a Punisher Cossack and a Thunder Punisher Golem. These 3 robots form a hangar that will live for your first 30-50 battles, and you'll replace them once heavy robots become available. 

Save your gold and get slot #4 as soon as possible. If you're lacking a robot, get another Punisher Golem. Once you have that, it's time to build the first hangar that you'll run for a few weeks or even months, depending on your amount of play, and you'll level that hangar to level 7-8.


Do use ALL your keys for silver chests. At the time of this edit (June 2018), silver chest have a decent chance of netting gold and WSP robots and weapons, so you might end up with a Lancelot, Fury or Doc which will upgrade your hangar immediately. Bronze chests contain less good robots and weapons, and Gold chests contain mostly components that you won't be able to use yet (as you need 10k while chests give only 2k).

This is my recommendation:

• Punisher Griffin
• Taran Magnum (PDB) Griffin
• Pin Tulumbas (RDB) Griffin
• Thunder Punisher Natasha
• If you have a 5th slot, get a Thunder Punisher Golem. 

This hangar has no fast beacon runner, and only one rocket build. But you can buy all robots and all weapons except the Plasma right from the shelf, and the workshop points for 2 Tarans and 2 Magnums are earned fairly quickly. Punishers and Thunders can do massive damage from up close, but allow you to stay out of weapon range of Orkans and Plasma. Yes, it's a bit one dimensional, but I don't mind running 3 Punisher builds that early on. 
It costs no gold and 18800 WSP.

If you happen to win a fast good robot from silver chests, use it as beacon runner instead of the Natasha or the Golem. Good candidates (in order of my preference) are:

• Taran Rogatka (or Orkan Rogatka)
  
• Taran Magnum Gareth
  
• Rhino (Orkans if you have, Punishers or Tarans otherwise)
  
• Taran Magnum Galahad
• Aphid or Pinata Jesse
  

If you win a Doc, use it with Tulumbas. But even though it is fast it's not a good beacon runner because (a) the true beacon runners are faster and (b) you don't want to put it in the line of fire too much. If you win a Lancelot, plug it in with Thunder Tarans, Ancile Tarans or Thunder Punishers. If you win a Fury, shelve it until you have 3 Zeus. If you win a Carnage, run it with Thunders. 

If you play a lot during your first days and weeks, the Tarans and Magnums will not be available that quickly. In this case, either run another Tulumbas/Pin or Punisher Griffin, or really whatever weapons you have available.


Upgrade path: 
Gold: The hangar is missing Orkans. 
Workshop points: Next purchase is a Rhino, which will be your primary beacon runner.  The goal is to build an Orkan Punisher Rhino.
Replace the Golem (or the Natasha or Punisher Griffin if you have 4 slots) with an Orkan Punisher Rhino. If you get the Orkans first, you can run a Pinata Orkan Griffin. If you get the Rhino first, you might want to try Punisher Tulumbas instead of Punisher Orkan.


Settling in

That first hangar will bring you to high Silver or low Gold league, and earn a few hundred victories. Now it's time to build a hangar that was considered "meta" just about a year ago, by adding a few more gold and WSP items. 

This is my target hangar:

• Orkan Rogatka or Orkan Punisher Rhino.
• Taran Ancile Lancelot ("Tarancilot")
• Orkan Pinata Griffin ("DB") or Orkan Aphid Griffin ("Stuka")
• Tulumbas Pin Griffin ("RDB") or Tulumbas Doc. 

Those 4 form a "core" hangar that I consider rather universal, in the sense that it works on every map and in every game mode. The Rhino is the fast beacon runner (crucial for beacon rush and King of the Hill). The Tarancilot protects you both against rockets and Plasma. The DB/Stuka Griffin is a high firepower weapon, capable of taking down any robot in seconds, except a Raijin or an Ancile build. The RDB Griffin is your midranger. The Doc is a very interesting alternative to the Griffin because its superior ground speed and the better burst damage. It does lack the jump, but when I tried a Doc instead of a Griffin I never looked back and kept the Doc in my hangar until I eventually replaced it with a Spectre.
That hangar costs 11500 gold (with the DB Griffin) to 15250 gold (with the Doc and Rogatka). But you may win some of these items by spinning silver chests, cutting down the total cost.

The 5th slot can be filled depending on your play style. And if you have that core hangar, there is no excuse to stay at 4 slots, as you own the most important gold items.

• If you like Ambush bots, run a Thunder Carnage.
• For more heavy firepower, run a Thunder Orkan Lancelot or stick with that Punisher Griffin. Taran Fujin is also a decent option.
• For another midranger, choose among Trident Carnage, Zeus Carnage, Trident Pin Natasha, Zeus Gekko Natasha, Tulumbas Fujin or just another RDB Griffin.
• For a sniper, run a Gekko Kang-Dae Leo. (No, you don't want Trebuchets and you don't want a Gekko Patton. Have a look at my Butch analysis why I don't like Trebuchets.)
• If you prefer to play it safe (and to annoy both teammates and opponents), get a Hydra Fujin.
• If you play King of the Hill, get a Gust Stalker.

Further development

Basically, that hangar above is already close to what you can buy for gold. There are a few options to improve that hangar though:

• Replace the RDB Griffin with a Zeus Gekko Natasha, which is IMO the best midranger in the game that can be bought for gold. (No, you don't want a Zeus Fury. Trust me. You might get a Fury later, but then you'll want Dragoons anyway so 2 Zeus will be fine.)
• If you want to run Tridents, you'll want 3 on a Fury or 2 on a Raijin. (They are due for a buff, currently I'm not a big fan.)
• Get an Orkan Rogatka. This will give you another fast bot with a lot of firepower.
• Get a Fury in preparation for later, component based heavy weapons (Tempests, Embers, Dragoons).
• The Orkan Doc is a great fast knife fighter, and I prefer it over DB Griffin and Orkan Kumiho. At 1250 gold it's not too expensive, but with some luck you'll win one on the black market.

Upgrade paths:
That's as far as you'll get with gold and WSP. It's hard to judge the new robots in 3.6 and 3.7 as there are few of them in the wild (and I don't own them), but it's safe to say that the following won't disappoint you:

• Get a Haechi and run it with Orkans (instead of the DB Griffin) or Tarans/Scourges.
• Get a Bulgasari and run it with Shocktrains, Scourges, Tarans or Orkans.
• Get some Shocktrains, at least 2. 2 Shocktrains can be run on a Griffin, Hover or Doc. 3 work best on a Bulgasari.
• Get a Shocktrain Spectre. This is a long term goal, as both a Spectre and 4 Shocktrains aren't easy to get.
• Get a Taran/Scourge Ember Inquisitor.
• Get a Vortex/Aphid or Pinata/Orkan Hover or an Orkan Kumiho as beacon runner.

• Get some Dragoons. Ideally 3 on a Fury or 2 on a Raijin or Ancile Fury.
  
• Get 1-3 Embers. One can be run on a Lancelot or Inquisitor, 2 on a Raijin or an Ancile Fury, 3 on a Fury.
• Get some Tempests and run them as Tempest Punisher Natasha or Tempest Fury.
• Some players love Aphid/Vortex Griffins. (I'm not convinced there.)
• Hover can be an efficient replacement for a Griffin, as it's much faster and has nearly the same firepower.

There are too many component weapons and bots out there to give a short statement here on all of them. Do check their upgrade times, some of them take VERY long to upgrade (getting a Bulwark to level 12 takes 2 months, compared to 15-20 days for the common bots). These are not the best items if you're just starting where you want to get your hangar to level 8-9 as quickly as possible. 

This is my Android hangar back in early 2018. I don't run a beacon capper, and go for the Tempest Punisher Natasha instead. (Tempests have been around for a year now, and were rather cheap.) The Orkan Doc is an upgrade over the DB Griffin (though more difficult to play). You'll find only builds I recommended here. 




For beacon rush I replace the Orkan Thunder Lance with a Gust Orkan Rhino or an Orkan Rogatka, which is then always the leadoff bot. (In case BR ever becomes choosable as separate game mode.)

In King of the Hill I run a completely different hangar: The Orkan Doc stays, plus Orkan Punisher Rhino, plus Taran Rogatka, plus Storm Gust Gareth, plus Tulumbas Fujin (or Trident Fury). 

In case you're wondering: I have now a hangar with 4 component bots (Orkan Haechi, Orkan Spectre, Shocktrain Bulgasari and Ember Scourge Inquisitor). The one remaining classic bot is - drum roll - the Zeus Gekko Natasha. It won't be in the hangar for much longer, but I'm not yet sure what will be the replacement - possibly a Scourge Bulgasari, or a Dragoon/Zeus Fury. But for now it's the only classic bot that is still effective in Android Champ.