Rhino, worth it?

For wsp bot priority, suggest you get the carnage first.

Rhino has lost its luster since it's alpha dog days, and is now more of an acquired taste.
Most people either hate it or love it. Those who love it are very good with it and run 2-3 in their hangar. Those who hate it... well they hate it.

To be safe, suggest you put it off until you feel comfortable with spending 15k wsp as a 'let's give it a try and see if I like it' type of purchase.
Or if you feel determined to get one, keep in mind that rhino's movement mechanics are unlike any other platform, and requires a lot of practice to master. It's not for everybody.

For me Rhino is too hard to master. With Plasma Griffin you can have the same firepower with easy to use jump and without complicated shield mechanics. With a DB build it's easier to "jump in and unload" or "unload and jump out". I have also problems with rising and lowering the shield - the button doesn't always work.

It's just my opinion. I would like to switch that Rhino for 3 Mags and put them on a Leo.

i love rhino. it can actually run multiple different setups, and all of them actually works quite well. it took about a week to master rhino.
rhino is actually deadly robot if played correctly, but if its misused, its a free kill for enemies.
in my garage, i have 3 rhinos with 1 pdb, and 2 orkan pinata.
when playing rhino, all u need to know is how to use the assult mode. if ur going somewhere, always use mode cuz it goes faster.
when facing opponents, it gets little tricky. rhino shouldnt be played like like using thunder. if ur too close to the enemy, the shield is pretty much useless. lower the shield only when enemy is reloading, or it is certain that u will kill the enemy.
when fighting thunder, wait until enemy shoots all pallets, and once firing rate slows down, lower shield and slowly move away from enemy, so u get less damage. when fighting aphids, its actually very easy. when u see aphids comming at u, face those aphids and extend the shield. in this way, u wont get damaged at all, or just light damage.

i cant really tell how to play rhino, but as u play it, u will eventually understand how things work.

It kinda depends at what level the rest of your hangar is, at entry levels (level 6 heavies) the rhino feels extremely fast with it's assault mode. The turning ability of the Rhino is nearly non existent but it's still excellent if you like to get into battle quickly and drop heavy damage into someone's face. While I've seen different combinations of Rhinos I kinda feel like they work best with Orkans (massive damage quickly) so be prepared to get a pair of Orkans to get the most out of them.

Personally I love my Rhino but it is not my first choice to open with.

Griffin is better in most situations currently - plus Griffin is much easier to learn to use. Save your WSP for Carnage, tridents and Trebuchets. Pick your favorites of: Carnage with 2 thunders; Carnage with 2 tridents; Fury with 3 tridents, Butch with 4 Trebuchets.

Decide when it's necessary to change direction. The shield and assult speed pairs well with Orkans reload time. Hellfire Rhino (mags and Orkans) is still a force to be reckoned with.

Rhino has nearly 50% more health than a Ghad and 1 more medium hardpoint, as well as a bit more shield durability. It can get from A to B just as quickly too. If you treat it like a Rhino and not just as any old bot...

Rhino is great to block entrances, too. Yamantau center beacon, for example.
And when you got teammates, who can cornershoot around you, that is not easy to deal with.

I think it depends on your play style. The Rhino can move fast but it is not nimble like a Carnage and with as many TTFs out there, you need to be very careful with the Rhino even though it has that huge shield. At least with the Carnage you have an energy shield to protect you a little from the TTFs. I personally would chose the Rhino vs the Carnage but I actually don't run either in my hanger that often. I have at least four Rhinos, I just decided I like other bots better at the moment.

As other's have stated, sign up for the test server and play with them.

Get it and master it. It will add great value as a beacon capper too if used properly. Actually it can fill many roles well.

Mastering Rhino is quite tricky, but after learning how it works, it becomes my favorite toy. The name of the game is to capture beacons and with Rhinos speed and firepower (depends on what you put in it), it can be make-or-break for your team.

Save for a trident carnage if you dont have one

Did I already mention that I am using a DB Grif instead of my Rhino now?

Since then my avarage damage and win rate have gone up...

Recently I've noticed my Rihno taking noticeable damage from Thrunders through the shield. Also when the new pulse weapon eventually makes it to the game server those pesky pulse runners won't even have to worry about flanking. Just hit and run every 5 seconds since they get to ignore the shield.

I'm already considering options to switch-out since the likelihood of a Rihno rebalance is unlikely unless the Dev's notice the drop in use. It's a pretty enough for a Swiss Army knife.

I also recall Thunders penetrating shields a little being meantioned somewhere as well.  Maybe MM is under leveling me enough that someone with a 11 or 12 Thunder is doing disportionate damage outside my levels.

The shotgun anology is a nice touch.  For simplicity I'll stick to using words like "penetrate" because people get confused when throwing things out like ancillary or mitigated damage.