General Build Guidelines

It's difficult to just generalize like this but there are so many bots with familiar styles that some things could be said. A lot of bots look similar on the outside but operate differently on the inside. Say, they have the same hardpoints and similar speeds, but the abilities are different. Do you swap over your favorite weapons anyway? That's what I'm trying to convey here.

So, you have fast and slow bots, heavies and lights, the heavily armed and lightly armed, and those in between. That is the general consensus that has been true since the beginning.

Then you have the jumpers, the shield bearing, sprinters, ones with defense systems, healers, suppressors, etc. How do you generalize what a bot should equip just based on those attributes? The answer is you can't.

For one, you have to consider the application of what you're trying to achieve with whatever bot you're working on. You can choose the bot you want and go from there, but don't expect every type of loadout to make the bot as effective as it can be. So I recommend maybe taking a look at the bot you want, because you'll play it well, but when building your hangar consider missing gaps as you go along.

With the era of Titans, having a full 5 bot hangar can even be considered a luxury. Most of the time you won't need all 5 bots, rarely will you go through them all (and there may have been something wrong with the match). So having a variety pack couldn't hurt (unless you build multiple hangars to work around this, and specify hangars for different maps, sort of like I do).

Do you want to support from a distance? Do you want to get in close and melee? If you want to heal your opponent, do you go this or that route? That's what I'm going to detail here.

So anyway, here's a series of questions a pilot may have:

Question: I have a beacon runner. What is the optimal loadout?

Naturally I would look away from anything past short range. If you expect to contest a beacon, you need a melee build. It could be blazes, sparks, rimes, or punishers. But I'd ask is this a durable runner? Is this a lightly armed runner? If you have the toughness you want a high DPM weapon like scourge, igniters punishers. If you lack the metal, you want a high burst weapon, pinatas, rimes, gusts etc.

Question: I want a long distance bot but what range is considered optimal for what bot?

Answer: (1100M) Snipers are going to have heavy weapons. I don't see much value in the lighter weapons besides one key thing: lockdown ammo. With that you can lock multiple opponents at once. If you want heavy long range damage, you really want 3+ heavy weapons or at least a combination of weaponry.

Answer continued: Mid-Ranged (500-800M) should follow the same general rule as Snipers but more loosely. If a bot only has, say, 2 mediums, you're better off with the highest damage weapons you can find, and those are generally short ranged. The exception is a weapon with a secondary purpose like lock or corrosion.

Question: If a bot has a physical shield versus an energy shield, does this mean I should use ballistics, explosive or energy weapons?

Answer: It doesn't really matter. If you have a Haechi and confront a Bulgasari, you'd want splash or ballistics. But you can only hope the Bulgasari has those too. So it doesn't matter because you can't control your opponent's build.

Question: Are weapon categories (explosive, energy, etc) bot specific?

Answer: No, I mostly consider the DPS to burst ratio, reload times, and most importantly range when selecting weapons for a given bot. These categories are side effects of what you should be looking at.

Question: I want a high DPM weapon but it has a long reload time. How do I know if this bot is effective with it?

Answer: Speed and defense. If it's quick or durable enough to handle the downtime, go for it. If your bot has a long cooldown on defense or mobility, you could be better off with a shorter reload to save you when you're susceptible. At the same time, you could consider that downtime as time to recuperate. It's up to you.

Question: I want to use cryogenic or pinatas etc. What is the ideal type of bot for these weapons?

Answer: speed, jump, or sprint. You want to get in and demolish your opponent or get in and get out severely damaging them. If your bot has a strong defensive ability that lasts for more than a few seconds, you're wasting potential by equipping these rockets.

Question: How do I decide on a mid range weapon when some have a long reload and some don't?

Answer: You have to consider exposure time. For a lightly armored but heavily armed bot you want that burst of damage. For a bot with the ability to evade quickly you can better reason a DPM weapon (Hussar).

Question: What the hell are defense points and what is the difference between resistance?

Answer: Points are just a point system that adds up to the actual percentage. Resistance (DR) is the calculated percentage. Their is a chart for points on the wiki.

Question: My bot has DR. How does this effect my loadout options?

Answer: If you have any form of DR you can better handle DPM weapons. If you're running a tank and run out of ammo though, that's no good either, so consider a shorter reload time as well.

Question: What type of bot can kill Titans the best?

Answer: This has multiple answers. You definitely want a high DPM. You don't necessarily need to outrange your opponent, you could utilize cover with overhang or side shooting. Then there's raw speed and ability movements to shake off the Titan's aim. The one thing you can't rely on is DR, but for now, all shields, stealth, suppression, corrosion and lockdown are more essential tools.

Question: Are all beacon grabbers fast?

Answer: No, they don't have to be. A good opener is quick, but a bot that holds a beacon usually has more going for it than simply speed. A good beacon *stealer* is fast, the more time spent getting there, the less time you'll likely contest it.

Question: What do I do with guided missiles?

Answer: Well you have two different varieties. For the short ranged ones, you have significantly less accuracy. There are ways to overcome this, but the best idea is vertical ground and lateral movements, as well as lockdown. You should follow a similar rule to Mid-Ranged weapons in that you need considerable hardpoint loadout to make the most of them.

Answer continued: For the longer (Mid-Ranged) variety, you have far more accuracy, but don't completely rely on the guidance without a certain trick. Using target-lock you can adjust the flight path of your missiles. These weapons should follow the same rule as Sniper weapons too, you should have more hardpoint power.