Pro Tips & Tactics - what's your best?

I'll start with simple yet overlooked.

1.Know the ranges on all your weapons/combined - memorize them. Blowing your load too soon/too late leaves you dead for a red.

2. Learn to fire only the hard point you need, this saves the rest of your payload for unexpected encounters. Firing all your weapons into a wall while only your left pylon is hitting is foolish, especially waiting for weapon recharging.

3.Buddy Shielding - stay behind a buddy and walk with him close behind. Dip out from each side to shoot at enemies you are charging. This messes with their targeting sometimes giving you better odds.

4. Obstacle walking on a enemy - Using an object in between you and your target to close on him and block his shots until you are inside your weapons range. Can be smaller objects too, just enough to block the shot from a long range sniper.

5. Face licking a building or wall - Helps to reduce missile strikes hitting you. Hug a wall.

Just some points for higher tier play.

1. Learn to operate with partners even on solo matches. If a Lancelot is pushing to center beacon, move up to support if you can, especially if you have MR weps. Now if they are just charging out recklessly, no point losing a bot needlessly.

2. As you go up in power, learn to be patient with beacon re-captures. Because of the more fluid nature of silver, I used to want to recap beacons right away. In higher tiers, rushing out to recap a beacon will just result in you losing a bot unless all the red are out of range or elsewhere. Wait for support and then push together.

3. A sure win is mech'ing out the opponents or at least taking out 1-2 players. If red wants to push for a beacon and lose a lot of bots, outstanding. Wear them down and then surge. Having more bots on the field counts for a lot.

4. Don't lose hope. Being down a beacon or two is not as critical as You may think. Conserve strength and stay in the game...the tide can rapidly shift. I've been down 4 beacons to 1, surged to take and hold 4 with red being down 2 players....while we only had a sliver of blue bar life left, it was enough to get us the win. If you read the thread on matches that were most gratifying, they are usually the come from behind matches. If you just bail when your team hits a bump, you're missing out.

MODERATION: This is an excellent thread, with a ton of really useful information for those coming to the game or looking to sharpen their piloting skillset. I've moved it from the General Discussion to Tips & Advice forum and will sticky.

Not so pro but find them usefull during playing:

General:
- You can and should try most of the early bots and weapons. Take your time, update them a bit and choose what kind of style is best for you.
- Try every day play atleast "3 win and do daily quests".
- If possible update allways something (no need to put alarm clock during night but you get idea)
- Read forum and check youtube videos. You do not have to agree, but try to think why people write / act like they do.
- Do NOT spend your gold when you start game. There really is NO reason to rush 30min or so research. You will need that gold later!
- 4:th and 5:th hangar spot are REALLY most important thing to get. you can buy all these expensive gold bots later.
- Playing should be fun. Even if there is a contest or feast.. ..have fun. No reason to give "all in" and end up stop playing for days (or forever).

Bots & weapons:
- Try to use only same (+/- 100m) range weapons. "Jack of all" is not good idea.
- Try to keep your active bots around same level and your weapons level or 2 higher.
- Do not rage quit, specially early stage games stay in battle even after you died and watch how other people play. You most likely learn thing or two.
- Bots are cool to have but you REALLY need weapons for them. So get weapons first, allways.
- Specially in low levels use fast bots, cap as much as possible (usually reason to win) and do NOT use long range weapons.
- Game change and evolve, strategies, playing style, bot + weapon combinations all change so take your time and enjoy the ride. Most players agree that getting high levels, that journey, was more fun then "now I have 2x Fury with 3 Trident and 3x Lancelot(or 3 Patton aphids)" stage.

Don't get pissed off by snipers and try to reach them for retaliation. Capping beacons and defending them will win the battle. Then, you will be laughing at the end of the game.

And If you follow this advice , more often enough, you get to eat them at the end like big chocolate teddy bears with marshmallow centers. Desert for a well played disciplined game.

Decision-making is a great thing to pay attention to as you grow in the game. As a new player, I (like many) would often get a kill in my sights and chase after it. Often what felt like "dogged perseverence" got me killed, because I may have finished off my quarry, but chasing them put me in terrible position. 

It was watching an acethunder video that changed my perspective. I watched him flit around the battlefield with his Gareth, adding in damage where he could while minimizing risk to himself. As a result, he was loads more effective than just playing bully-bot. 

So there you go, another piece of advice. Don't get so fixated on a kill that you leave yourself vulnerable to a counterattack. This dovetails with previous suggestions of situational awareness, but also ties in being aware of how you're playing the game. 

5 slots are your goal with gold. I can't believe how many lvl 30 pilots with lvl 10/12 bots and weps only have 3 or 4 slots. It is a recipe for low damage and low win rates vs 5 slot players of even lower power. With 5 slots, you will accrue gold and silver faster as you will have a greater ability to inflict damage and more staying power in matches.

More comprehensive tactics- advanced:
Beacons-
I have always like to be a power-runner, get me that next beacon & destroy /run over anything in my path.  This has put me many bad positional situatuions - open for attack, campers,  multiple bots etc...  I get the beacon & get killed & or lose the beacon right back to reds after they destoy me.


I have many, many, MANY times been multiple x's having the most beacons - red & blue, it gets you nothing if you lose the match!

You have to be aware of what are obstacles vs. opportunities in approaching a beacon.  If I 1st eliminate the red(s) then I also can get the beacon & contol it longer & not have to worry about sacrificing position / vulnerability to get the  beacon.  It will become a trade off as awareness grows.

Positional Strength:
On bigger maps - Springfield / Canyon / Yamatau:

I have gone for a corner beacon in enemy territory 2 reasons:
1. Gain the beacon off course
2. (advanced)  Pull reds out of position.  Your are looking for that moment / the crease in the battlefield, when the Reds are positionally weak.  I will charge for a corner beacon & the reds will have to respond.  Either way they have gone from attacking to hauling 「bum-bum」 after me to stop me before I get the beacon.  I win either way:
1)  get the beacon, they have to go all the way to get it back
2)  I have usually pulled multiple reds out of position, giving significant advantage to my team to advance & occupy more map & beacons.

I have a favorite shot that I was able to get after they tried & failed to eliminate  me & I sealed their fate capping that last beacon!!
Attachment Deleted
They would finish me but I was in their territory, shot to hell, with no weapons left but they were done with almost a full squad & could not do anything about it.  Outplayed positionally.

Wow some great information on this thread.

I will add what I can that I did not see mentioned already...

1) this may be obvious but it took me a few levels to figure it out. You don't have to go through the Beacon Light to cap it. You can go underneath elevated beacons. Don't be the guy trying to cross the bridge at the center beacon in Canyon. Go low and hug the wall and that takes care of turning it blue.

Also while you're there against the wall in Canyon, there's a glitch where u can see the other side of the wall by pressing into it and turning your side mounted weapon into the wall. Helpful to know what's coming after you...

Finally, u can cap and recap that beacon over and over again by staying on your side, moving off it, back on it, and staying alive. Helps you win 5-10 au on that map.

2) You can fire rockets into thin walls and hurt the Reds on the other side. Yamantau center beacon is a good example. If they are snug to the wall, hit the wall w pins. You will damage them w the splash.

3) playing solo, I like to start each game w a Swiss army bot every time. For me, that's rogata at low silver, or Galahad higher up. That way, if my team is all cappers, then I fight for center beacon, but if my team is all heavies, then I can cap the wide beacons instead.

Hope that helps!

If you get frustrated by randoms, figure out how to squad on a regular basis.

1. Join a clan. As you play, note clans that you run into more frequently - ask them to squad....if they play well enough, look them up by clan ID, understand their joining requirements, and ask to join. There is no cost to join if you are accepted or invited and no penalty for leaving. Clans can provide squad mates to bring consistent squad experiences, a competitive advantage thru better coordination, a wealth of knowledge on the game, and a social aspect to War Robots if you also join chat groups and voice comms. Plus there is a 9 gold a day benefit to winning 3 matches by being part of a platoon. A good clan has active players on during the times of day when you play. You can also post in this forum if you are looking for a clan.

2. Ask decent players to squad coming out of a match. The most they can say is No or not respond.

3. Set up a facebook account for War Robots using your game name (keep your real FB account separate). You can link this to War Robots and when you friend other players, you can then invite them to squad. Sources of players are: players you find through #2 above...ask them in squad chat if they have a FB account to friend, through clan mates, through this forum, or through a number of FB War Robots player sites. I have done this and have a long list of players that I can squad with outside of my clan. The benefits are that you get exposed to different players (some of whom you face as competitors so nothing like better understanding your enemy) and can form game buddies that start adding more social aspects to the game.

Always run a quick medium or light bot in your hanger as your opening bot. Getting those gimmie 1-2 beacons you can snag right away that you are likely to miss out on are huge for bringing up your beacons per match and makes a huge difference in snagging that oh so sweet 5gp for beacon capper. Currently up in what was High Gold my Carnage is filling this role. Only time I miss out is on certain maps and spawns if a Stalker, possibly Gep, or Gareth are there and just beat me.

Learn:
-weapon ranges
-weapon counters
-beacon letters
-lplaces of best cover on maps
-how to corner short.

Go toward the blue light, but not if there are red lights around it.