A Great Big Breakdown of Gauss Jaeger

Here is how it all started:



Well, this has been something LONG in the making! Jaeger has been my favorite bot and I have advocated for the railguns pretty much since I joined the forum, and while I have discussed the railguns quite a bit, I have not really said a ton about Jaeger, outside of stuff about ranged builds that featured a lot more than just Jaeger. But, behind the scenes, I had been working towards the above little challenge that Oliver Kloesov had given me a while ago now, and now, for my Birthday, I present the mark 3 Gauss Jaeger!













This may seem somewhat unimpressive at first, as the pilot, modules, and drone are not anywhere near as leveled as the bot, and that is a valid observation, but think about it this way: the performance demonstrated is mostly the bot and weapons themselves, not using some super drone or maxed pilot as a crutch. Plus, don’t forget, maxing three pieces of tier four equipment is no joke, the War Robots wiki puts them at 390M silver and 47.5 days a pop! This build can be worth more than a lower level player’s entire hangar!

Enough of that though, it’s time to take a deep dive into a bot that is sorely lacking attention! It is no secret that Jaeger is a specialized bot, built for the long range game, so it clearly is not for everyone, hence its less than stellar reputation that reflects that of long range as a whole. A poorly played Jaeger is a liability for its team or easy silver for a delightful red, but in the right hands, it is a sharpened tool that can surgically strike the enemy while remaining exceptionally difficult to catch.

Let’s start with Jaeger’s defining feature: its built-in cannon. No mater the equipped weapons, this cannon will make up a significant portion of the bot’s damage output, as it has slightly less DPS than 2 Gausses. The cannon’s firing mechanics make it most compatible with Gauss, Nashorn, or Kang Dae, though Gauss is obviously the best choice. Other weapons can work and make for some interesting mixed builds, but like usual, a homogeneous build using the 3 aforementioned choices is most ideal. In battle, the cannon is manually controlled, unlike most built-in weapons, allowing for precise utilization. The cannon’s weakness is that its projectile is slow, sharing its speed with Nashorn, meaning Gauss or Kang Dae will hit the target first. Thus, it is best to fire the cannon slightly before firing the equipped weapons to ensure enemy defenses, such as a drone shield or instinctive usage of Phase Shift or Jump Unit, do not nullify its powerful punch. Jaeger has the element of surprise, and targets will wonder where their health went!

Another major feature of Jaeger, one that goes almost entirely unrecognized, is its speed. Clocking in at 58 kph at mark 3, this thing is quite speedy, especially compared to Erebus’ sluggish 47 kph and Behemoth’s worse 45 kph. Though speed is not too important for long range, it allows Jaeger to quickly change positions or escape approaching reds that its competitors cannot, making it big draw for the bot. The fact that Jaeger (though I think this is only possible with Road Hog in addition to a maxed bot, though the upcoming speed buff may change that) can escape a Monarch blast without an active module speaks for itself. The one thing to watch out for is that Jaeger is immobilized while switching modes, so consideration needs to be given to that while planning moves, as that one second actually can mean a lot!

The last aspect of Jaeger worth covering in detail is its shield. 221.8k health makes the bot not fragile, but on the less durable side, so the shield does a lot in extending its combat longevity. Unfortunately, the shield does not have the quick recharge of Typhon and Erebus or the capacity Bulwark, so Jaeger must be careful about exposing itself. The shield can take some hits before depleting though, so if it is charged, it should be enough for the short exposure time required to fire off a Gauss salvo and recharge any damage while back behind cover. Of course, these issues get much smaller when pilot skills are involved, and the base shield is still decent.

In battle, these three elements combine to form a sniper that can cause a variety of problems for targets in addition to chipping off health, such as triggering drone chips (drone shield or resistance is kinda useless when the salvo already hit and nobody else is around) or Cloaking Units at inopportune times, forcing active module usage, or triggering Deft Survivor or Foolhardy Quartermaster when their respective things are already recharged. At mark 3, many targets do get knocked down enough to trigger drone chips or pilot abilities after one salvo, which when combined with the relatively low profile of Jaeger and Gauss, makes the bot quite a disruptor, even though it lacks Blackout. The resistance bypass of Gauss and built-in cannon when used with the Alex Werner legendary pilot also is very handy, as it enables the bot to be effective against tanks and titans in addition to unarmored targets. When used right, this bot really can have quite an influence over the battlefield, punishing the reds for any flaws in their tactics by softening them up prior to them reaching a blue, or making beacon running/pushing far more costly than normal. Like all long range, the map is Jaeger’s playground, so the sky is the limit!

A couple of notes before the conclusion is that I think a gold Powerman + gold Modules Expert would allow 2 Gauss salvos before the module duration ends, so that is a cool thing to shoot for. As for the sample battle below, I am not using the tactic of firing the built-in cannon before the Gausses as this battle was recorded before I started using it, so a little disclaimer there, and note that while I do not move a ton for a lot of the battle, but remember that snipers do not need to move as long as they have line of sight to choke points, which I did, and I was still paying attention and reacting to enemy movements, so my behavior is appropriate, plus I did move at the end as reds stopped going in my firing lanes. This sample is a little git above average I would say, but a very gauge of the build’s effectiveness on the battlefield. 


So now for the final question: is this bot worth taking to mark 3? Well, like I said before, this bot’s niche only appeals to a certain selection of people, and the bot is still quite expensive to level. But I am happy with its performance and do think it will remain effective in my hangar for a long time. So, I would overall say yes, Jaeger is worth leveling, but only if one really is drawn to the bot and is in it for the long haul.

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This last part is just for me to give some personal stuff about why Jaeger is my favorite bot, so no more in-depth breakdown, just some rambling! As many know by now, I have always loved the ranged game, so a bot built for it was a draw for me right off the get-go, and I also like spider bots, which Jaeger also is. Plus, at the time Jaeger was released, I really wanted a long range bot that had an energy/aegis shield to improve combat longevity, as Typhon was not quite it and Erebus was not a thing yet, so this was almost a dream come true! I also had been fascinated with the War Robots myth of the cancelled Bastion robot and loved its design, so the Solid Jaeger being an homage to it created basically the perfect robot for me! Tack on the Gauss, a weapon part of the weapon family that modernized my favorite part of the game and had a cool Solid variant that went amazingly with my perfect robot, and there was a build I HAD to get! When the special event task chain came that offered 2 Solid Gausses, a Solid Jaeger, and Alex Werner came around, I grinded the living heck out of it and snatched the whole set, and the rest is history! This build has a ton of personal value to me as you can see, but I tried to be impartial for the breakdown.

Thanks for the challenge Oliver, and I know munkeeee was also particularly interested in this, and I waited so long to make sure I really did this bot justice, plus making this on my birthday was just too good to pass up. Hopefully it was worth wait everyone, as well as the read!