Haven't played War Robots in 1.5 years. Completely lost now.

Welcome to the new reality. I came back... not a year ago ... after being gone for a year. I was WTHeck?! You'll catch quick!


EDIT: Dunno about those others.. but Lancelots are still a pain in my arse. So you're good to go there.

Not laughing at your hanger. But, amused at coming back.

Those bots are all viable at that level in the current meta, esp. with Mk 2 weapons. Maybe add a 5th slot and build a couple of more meta bots and start going for some newer weapons.

I’ll add.....if you get you some gold, search forum for threads about pilot skills....Bob Dylan had a great recap of those....they are a new level of power, and your bots, with good skills, can be very useful in game!

The Lancelot is still good. Rocket usage has gone down a lot, so you can drop the Ancile and increase the Lance's firepower with something cheap like an Avenger. Orkans took a hit so replace the Orkans on the Lance with either Tarans or Pun Ts. The best pilot skill for the Lancelot is Ghost, which disables the ability button but gives you a permanent speed increase. Possible future builds for the Lancelot would be putting a Redeemer on top for full PDB, or run Calamity/Scourge (my current build) for full Taser.

The Bulg is still good. I recently shelved my last Bulg, but I may take it out again if/when I open my 5th hangar. My last build was with Ions and I ran it as a MR. Road Hog pilot skill will bring this bot's foot speed back up to just under 50kph. I would suggest Scourge/Ion or Taran. If you want a powerful MR build, go Pulsars, but they're really expensive to get and upgrade.

As for new bots, if you're willing to put the time/effort/resources in, the Ao Jun is one of the most powerful bots right now. It's the white dragon bot that has stealth while flying. The purple shield bots, the Ares/Hades/Nemesis are very powerful too despite recent nerfs. The new new bots, Leech just came out and lots of info here, Phantom is tons of fun with this teleport ability, and Behemoth is the first true quad heavy statue bot.

I would say, take your time, don't worry about getting meched out, and play with different builds. Play the weekly Skirmishes and if you have a buddy, try out the Hangar X in Custom matches to try new builds.

Ao Jun should probably be the first bot you build in the workshop along with 2 avengers - swap for your Inky. Get some cheap pilots (couple hundred gold) and try those out a little, ghost Lance can be really effective. You might also want to think about a fast bot or a healing bot because the rewards/league points system change to the new Honor Points system.

Move slow in making changes because gathering resources can be slow and new economy upgrades can be really expensive.

War Robots is almost an entirely different game from 2017 and game play/counter play is really, really complicated (who/when to shoot, different abilities, modules, etc).

Welcome back!

Off the cuff ideas:

Keep the Lance and get a pilot in there... get Ghost and the Physical Shield and Mechanic skills as your first 3. I still use and love mine. Possible setups: Avenger Pun-T, Avenger Corona, Redeemer Taran (What I run on mine atm), Dragoon Pulsar, Dragoon Hussar, Calamity Scourge, Glory Corona, Viper Pun-T, Viper Corona.

Bulgs still have a place, that shield can still help against a lot of the energy builds out there, but damn you have to play smart and hoard those Dashes. Not sure the best skills but Mechanic should be one of the first.  I would guess that a standoff weapon would be best but I don't really run one anymore so can't say for sure.  I know the Scourge Bulgs I see are still capable of causing major problems... and even the maxed Tulumbus builds have to be respected.  Pun-Ts are cheap to max too...(mostly thinking about cheap builds here)

Haechi is still viable, to a point, but you also have to play the stalk and ambush game. It is definitely NOT the top dawg.  I still throw mine in occasionally with Storms... play it like an old Thunder Carn.

Inquisitor isn't bad, but not great, either. I have had good games with the following builds somewhat recently: Glory Corona, Exodus Orks, Exodus Corona, or Exodus Storms. Pick your moments to jump... be the ambush.

Personally, I would be fine with the Lance as your tank for now. Get a quick bot or two... Strider, Blitz, Phantom, Loki, Pursuer, something like that.

I have been having a lot of fun with small bots lately, as a whole, and these two, while small: Rayker, Mender - are both pretty good... just have to use them as they are intended. Skills and weapons matter a lot... personally I like the MR variant of the Rayker (Dragoon Marquess) while the Mender is almost a tank (it gets DR when you start the Healing ability, so it can tank a bit of damage and heal Blue Bros at the same time.) Mender is also more dependent on being leveled up.

Falcon is a good cheap tank if you get the Traditional skill if you just want to use something different than a Lance, or if you want two Tanks. Without the Traditional skill it's still a tanky bot, but has a LOT of situational firepower that, when used with skill, can take out most opponents with relative ease... definitely consider looking into the Falcon.

If you are not willing to invest about a minimum of $300 to $500, you should be looking for a new game.   You not only have to invest in new mechs, but also pilots and modules.   If you have to invest in new pilots, there is a question whether you want to invest the time and effort for pilots on the dash robots versus current metabots.

Otherwise, try to stay on Masters or low Champs and roll with the punches till you get enough components to start gradually upgrading.  

You should have kept away, that hangar made me nostalgic...

I was an old school player too recently just got back into the game like you.

A month ago i was running:

2 x maxed out haechi orkans
1 lvl9 bulgasari with mk1 12 shocktrains
1 lvl9 strider with mk1 12 gusts and ember
1 lvl9 lancelot with tarans and ancile

It still do ok ish but games get frustrating when your haechi gets instantly lockdown and destroyed by an ares or ao jun. Theyre everywhere.

But fear not if youre an old school player like me we have an advantage and that is silver. I had 1,8 b silver when i started. The current state of economy that should be enough for 2-3 new bots with weapons at 12, enoughto make changes to your hangar to be competitive in champs league with a limited budget.

1. Ares will soon go out of meta, just like haechis theyre gonna get keep getting nerfed and theres a new active module 'shieldbreaker'. So i wouldnt invest in one.

2. Buy operations pass and premium for $30 combined to catch up. It will give you resources you need to catch up. Last ops gave me 11k gold, silver, new bots, new weapons, power cells, boosters. This one although not as good (typical pixonic) will still give you 7 k gold, igniters, a corona, and a tyr which is actually a decent bot regardless of what people say.

4. Orkans are dead, each one maxed will only do 50-60 k damage every 25 sec. shotguns are the new style these days, Gusts are still useable but again dont expect to take out someone in one engagement like orkans.

5. Build an ao jun (one is enough and will boost up your average damage by 300 k at minimum), buy two avengers because theyre cheap and you can maxed two to mk2 in 3 days.

6. Stick with heavy weapons bots, why?
A. Because they have less weapons and therefor use less resources to upgrade.

B. Most heavy weapons give 2 x the amount of damage output as a medium. Exodus, avengers, redeemers, glory

So youre getting the same damage output for less resources.

7. Get tanks or bots that can take a full damage from ares and ao juns without dying. Falcons are good and cheap and have 600k up to 2,5 mil hp, fenrir is the new best brawler if you max it out has 500-600 k hp, bulwark with fortifiers and two avengers are cheap and have 250 k aegis shield and then a 300 k physical shield and 200 k hp. Tyr with fortifiers has 300 k physical shield and 250 k hp. Invaders have suppresion, damage resistance, can jump, and have 500-600 k hp. Blitz have suppresion and an aegis shield enough to run into an ares bubble and take them out.

8. Get pilots and level them up to at least 30-50, skills like armor expert, shield expert, roadhogs, wonder worker, ghost, can do magic.

9. Mk2ur old tarans, redeemers and storms (get shotgrouping) they still hurt.

10. Get an anticontrol on at least 3 of your best bots. You need it in champs league and you dont have to level it unlike last stands.

11. Lastly get last stands on 3 of your best bots.

My current hangar is
1 x fenrir mk1 12 with maxed redeemer and two mk1 12 coronas, legendary pilot, armor expert, tough guy, mechanic, energy shield expert. Two basic max armor kits and an anticontrol
1 x falcon mk1 12, maxed avenger. Traditionalist, armor expert, avenger shotgrouping. Two basic armor kits.
1 x level 9 deathwing ao jun with two lvl 10 exodus, armor expert, roadhog, wonderworker. 3 basic nukereactor.
1 x mk1 12 bulwark, 2 x maxed avenger, 3 maxed fortifiers, roadhog, p.shield expert, e.shield expert, armor expert.
1 x mk1 9 bulgasari, 3 x mk1 12 shocktrains. 3 basic nukereactors, Adrian chong pilot, roadhog, master gunsmith, adamant gunsmith.

Im currently sitting at 6700-7000 champs league, last month i was 10k champs league with 6 kills, 900 k average damage, and 50% win rate.
Also in about a month a new class of super bots in going to be introduced called titans. Theyre 10x bigger than normal bots with twice or three times the hp and firepower. So meta is going to change relatively soon. I can foresee bulwarks beeing top meta bot along with other tanks.

Bulgasari with two fortifiers and anti control (you need them specially on dash bots) still works. That gives you 400 k p.shield and 200 k hp with roadhog youre moving at 50 km and dashes with 12 sec cd. So its still a great bot.

Weapons choice:

Shocktrains are coming back. Because of ares trains and soon this can be paired with shieldbreaker.

Ability to do instant damage is needed these days because of ao juns, ares, and leeches with phase shift. You have a time window of about 5 sec to actually hurt them. And dash+shocktrains are ok ish.

Igniters are also good because now many people are using p.shield or damage resistance tank bots to counter the ares meta. So its a counter counter meta. Also a single mk2 max igniter does 160 k damage in a full cyle. An ember for comparison does 190 k, an mk2 taran does 80 k, an mk2 orkan does 60 k, an mk2 corona does 100 k with 100% at point blank range. So igniters hits almost as hard as an ember and harder than a corona at 350 m vs having to be at point blank range so yea igniter is op. And its good on bulgasari because you can easily keep distance at 350 m, its also the best bot for corner shooting since its the only bot with all the weapons on one side.

And obviously coronas because well theyre the most common weapon now for a reason. They work well in any scenario specially with shotgrouping.

TL;DR: :-)

Coronas/Halos/Scourge/Spark - You can't go horribly wrong with those. Especially Corona/Halo. Get the pilot "Grouping" skill for any shotguns. Storm/Gust can be bargain basement if you're desperate for weapons. Thunder? No. Tarans, post-nerf can still give ouchies.

Traditionalist Falcon with Glory/Ember/Avenger (probably in that order) can be a cheaper way to "The Path of Meta."

One Ares, one Phantom, one Leech, one Au Jun, one Blitz in your hangar should keep the variety going so things stay fun. (Yes, this forum has some awesome Hover and Strider pilots. YMMV)

Range? (Flux, Kang Dae, Trebuchet, etc) Sadly, no. In the Age of Titans, maybe. Who knows?

Fury/Behemoth? No. It's true, any brawler that gets within 500m of them is very likely to melt them in seconds. All shotgun pellets hit them because they are so big.

If you play TDM exclusively you can dabble in range/big bots. If you like DOM or BR, stay agile and hit hard and fast.

Woo! I just came back as well with a hanger of 1st 2nd and 3rd gen bots... I'm not gonna get any of the new bots anyways, pixo just gonna run their bait cycle anyways. Game is still fun, modules and pilot abilities are your best friends now, unless you plan on putting some $ down, just learn counter move for counter move, ie carnage with phase shift and thunders still a goodie... ancilot with fortifiers ain't gonna be stopped. Adrian and Predator have a lot of great builds for the older bots to keep up in champ. Just take it easy and have some fun, most people have forgotten how to move and use maps and bot design to thier advantage so if u got skill nobody gonna keep up with ya. See ya out there sir!