Overview
Most guides on War Robots are for luls and aren’t really serious. Truth is, most people who play War Robots don’t want to see the community grow since the Developers seem to be rather unscrupulous and don’t seem to care a whole lot about their game . But, I have been playing since 2017 and I’ve learned a few things watching other “Pros” play and playing for myself. The tactics have changed a bit since the game has “improved” but some are still around. Here is a guide to whatever is left after handing your life savings to an addicting game that will likely flatline in half a decade.
Intro
War Robots is a “Free to play” but more realistically “Pay to win” (borderline pay to play) type of game. But I am hoping to make a tactical guide of everything which can improve your gameplay except for money.
I swore I wouldn’t make a guide to this game because I would never recommend this to a friend. Maybe a friend who found pleasure in pain and always losing. Because this is a good game for that. A challenge which can never be achieved. Also, the connection almost always is more painful than breaking a bone. But nevertheless, here is the guide.
In this guide, I will give some veteran tactics. I tend to be more of a Brawler verses a Sniper, Beacon grabber or Survivalist so adjust your skills accordingly. Since most guides on this game are rather ridiculious or intentionally a joke, I will be making this in more serious overtone intended to instruct the player to become a better player. It will begin rather disorganized but if it gets enough attention from the community, I will arrange it and clean it up.
This game used to be fairly tactful and it was easy to tell who knew what they were doing from those who were just playing it to mess around. Now, it’s nearly impossible to know if a player knows their stuff or if they are just playing the game.
First and foremost, if you want to have tactics, you will need to familiarize yourself with all weapons and bots. Especially weapon ranges. But thanks to the millions of different weapons out for the game now, what they look like or sound like when firing. Weapon ranges can be found in weapon descriptions.
[link]This comes in very handy when you can out range your opponent and knowing when you can. Or when you’re getting blasted by an enemy and realize that just 10m back will mean their weapons can’t reach you. I recently began playing again and I stopped playing at a time the Atomizer and Neucleon style weapons weren’t around. I had no idea what the heck was shooting at me but I sure as heck didn’t like it. Then I died enough times from them, looked them up. Saw the range and what they were capable of, and now I know when to either charge at them and brawl them or back off. Getting familiar with bots and their abilities is a good idea too. I recall the first time I was hit with the ability from a Typhon. And a few times my brain farted and I thought “It’s okay I’ll just use my Phase Shift active module and run away.” But more importantly knowing which bots not to just run right up to and have a go at them (Ao Jun comes to mind).
The settings are the most important thing a new player will need to change. See #9.
#1 Don’t get Flanked
1. Familiarize yourself with the HUD and learn to use it. There are spaces for 12 people because there are a total of 12 players which can be on the battlefield at a given time. You need to know how many opponents are on the field especially near the end of a match when odd ones like to spawn in. It is very easy to get flanked if you aren’t paying attention to this or are unfamiliar with how to understand it. Notice your “Field of view” (what you can see). If there are more players reported on the field than you can see, look around you. Otherwise you might get flanked (shot in the back when you are already engaging an opponent).
#2 Weapons don’t always fire at the target your aiming at
2. Don’t use weapons you need to “Lead” targets unless you have a good connection. Another option is to “Lock Down” targets either by lock down weapons or active module and pushing Q to activate and using power cells. Rocket (not missile) weapons and Flamethrowers are common weapons which you will need to lead the target to hit anything. These are also very bad verses fast moving targets. However, if you can land a full magazine from one of these weapons, the burst damage is high and these weapons also have a tendency to splash damage or give an area of damage to any opponents camping behind cover.
#3 After engaging in combat, take a breather if you get the chance
3. Reload or recharge your weapons and Energy Shield. Before entering a brawl, take a second to unload the rest of your magazine (fire it into a wall) or let your weapons recharge (for weapons which don’t have a magazine) if you think you’ll have enough time out of combat to reload and or recharge. There has been jokes that the R button actually reloads your weapons. Actually, I think it did at some point but this was removed. Also, if your energy shield is depleated and your weapons are empty, find cover and wait until they are reloaded or recharged.
#4 Capturing Beacons is how you will win
4. Only grab beacons if you’re trying to win. It may sound silly not trying to win but, being on the losing team in 2nd place has advantages to being on the winning team in 6th place. Understand there are 5 beacons. Generally a map will be symmetrical except for one beacon (the hot beacon [some call it MID]). Beacon rush means your team can spawn ON the captured beacon while Domination always spawns you in a fixed location. So, if the game says “Beacon rush” grab your fastest bot and run for the “Hot Beacon” and be ready to hold the spot with your next spawned bot. If the game says “Domination” you may want to get something which can hold the spot but gets there slower. Or a bot which can quickly get back to safety depending on if you have a teleporting/jumping/stealth bot or which map it is.
#5 In TDM, Don’t Die
5. In Team Deathmatch, not dying can help you win. Unless you are considered one of the harder hitters on the team (look around, do your teamates have alot of premium bots/weapons or does your team consist of a bunch of silver bots?) NOT dying may be the winning strategy. If you’re one of the harder hitters, by all means, get in there and be the tip of the spear and go after the hard to kill bots. If you’re not going to be the tip of the spear, get a bot which fires alot of Missiles (Spirals, Hydras, or Chimera). One could argue backpack weapons (Noricum, Zenit) work as well but I find them to not take out specific targets very well and instead just do damage to campers. Surviving for an entire match with 1 bot in TDM may not get you first place. But every time your team sees they are ahead by just 1 kill or tied, chances are they will work harder than if they are behind several kills. Getting yourself a G.I. Patton with all Spirals in your hangar just for Team Deathmatch is a big brain move. Spirals actually do more dps than Hydras but Hydras are more annoying to opponents.
#6 Outrange your targets and keep opponents out of lanes
6. Opponents hate to be Outranged or unable to retaliate. I have literally seen enemy bots walk into my entire team’s line of fire just to try and get into range to shoot me back because they were tired of having constant Molot/Tempest fire on them. This goes the same for Missiles. Sometimes patience is key since usually players don’t want to sit in cover not shooting for too long. If you can keep opponents from advancing, you are helping win more than you know.
#7 Prioritize your targets
7. Prioritize your target only if you want to win. Are you going to get the easy kill or are you going to go after the more difficult kill so it doesn’t rip through your teamates? Are you going to shoot a powerful bot in cooldown or are you going to target the bot which is healing all your enemies? Are you going to pick off an easy to kill target while the main opponent you are targeting is in cooldown? Decisions decisions. Make up your mind based on your knowledge and preferances. There is no real right or wrong answer for prioritzing targets. It’s a subjective opinion. For example as far as Titans go, if I am in my Titan and I come across a Nodens (type of Titan), If my weapons aren’t damage nerfed due to it’s ability, all of my bullets are going at the Nodens even if a Titan is firing at me. Similarly, I will shoot a Minos (Minotaur Titan) if it’s white orb of reflection damage isn’t on simply because I’ve been kicked around enough by them to know they can wreck a team. I use Titans as an example because the variations are more limited. Occasionally it helps to pick off little targets to ease the damage in the brawl but if you’re in combat with the main target and most of your health is being lost (or nerfed) to the main target, killing a little target only wastes time. Generally you want to avoid 3v1 or more unless you are just trying to distract for the win. Remember, if you’re getting shot at, your teamates aren’t.
First target was a purple shield bot on cooldown. Take these out first because once their ability is recharged, they aren’t much fun to deal with. Notice my teammate approaching from the left taking most of the fire.
[link]My second target choice was debatable. Because I wasn’t the one being fired upon, I chose a target which could be taken out quickly but I should have instead helped my teamate kill the difficult to kill bot with the Neucleon which would do more damage. Truthfully, I am a bit silver hungry right now and I was looking more for the 1st-3rd place win or lose position. I ended up destroying the Leo and another Leo Spawned right in and my teammate died and I killed the Fenrir, the newly spawned Leo, and one more Leo with freezing rockets before dying.
[link]#8 Know the battlefield and you will know what to do
8. Don’t fire at bots which ability is only magnified by you firing at them. Purple shields or clear bubbles around bots are a sign to Duck and Cover rather than open fire. If you fire at purple shields, chances are you (or a teammate) will recieve whatever damage you give. If you fire at bots with a glass bubble, you’ll hurt yourself quite alot and not do much damage to the bot you’re firing at.
Purple Shield
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Clear Bubble
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#9 Settings
9. This probably should have been first. Get your settings setup. Next to “Rename” is the country you reside in. Only set this if you want to get clan invites.
[link]You will need to use Manual Targeting since the auto targeting is borderline broken. The TAB button on your keyboard allows you to lockon and switch targets. Another good adjustment is to see you allies (teammates) Durability (or health). and The pro adjustment is to turn on Battle Statuses which will show if your target has an immunity, if they’re locked down, if their defenses, or offenses are weakened. This also will help to let you know if your target’s defense points are boosted which gives you less silver for doing damage to them.
[link]#10 Aim at the opponent to attract fire or intimidate
10. Most players hate being shot at. It doesn’t matter if you have a pea shooter verses their tank. You can do nearly no damage at all but have an opponent run for the hills. If you’ve ever encountered Scorpion bots which teleport behind you, I have make them tuck tail and run simply because I was pointed at them but in the middle of reloading. A surpising amount of this game is intimidation. Remember, if the enemy is shooting at you, the enemy isn’t shooting at your teamates.
Here’s a screenshot of a Scorpion who had the upper hand but teleported away instead.
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#11 Attracting fire can help you win
11. Likewise, you can have a player with a heavy hitting weapon attack your tank bot and leave your glass teamates to rip them to shreads if you’re able to look intimidating enough. I often complain from being a primary target but, I still find it funny when the enemy Arthur (Titan with a shield on the front) wants me dead so badly it’s shooting at me and leaving it’s back completely exposed to a teammate titan.
And here is one where I am in a Tank Bot capping a beacon drawing fire from an opponent Titan who should have been checking his 6 ‘o’ clock rather than firing at little ol’ single flamethrower me. I guess it’s possible the two thunders glued to my back for decoration are more intimidating than I think.
[link]#12 Don’t block your teammate’s line of fire
12. Draw your target into the Crossfire. Your teammates are more than happy to help fire at an enemy which is firing only at you. Be sure to position yourself if you’re brawling to allow them to (instead of blocking your teammate’s fire).
Generally be really close to your opponent to draw their fire and ideally, get the opponent to fire their weapons away from your teammates to avoid collateral damage to your team.
[link]#13 Energy shield’s best use
13. If you have an Energy shield, Use it! If you have an energy shield surrounding you, try and “hug” a powerful teammate to prolong their life. Or if your team is clustered in one area, do your best to protect them all from enemy fire.
[link]Opponents will notice what your doing and target you though regardless of their chances after you get taken down
[link]As a bonus, if you have an Ageis (yellow) shield and you notice a bot with a regular energy shield (blue), pair up to use your Ageis shield to block energy weapon fire and their shield to block solid weapon fire. Preferably the blue shield takes the first damage. Just be careful not to get in front of your teammate if you have the blue shield but still protect the yellow shield bot.
#14 Learn what Visual effects are implying because you may not be reading the symbols everywhere
14. Know what effects look like so you can decide what to do when you encounter them. The more important effects actually change your bot visually. The Red over the weapon means, your weapons wont do a whole lot until the effect has expired. The Yellow on your legs means, your engine has died and you aren’t going to be going anywhere until the effect has expired. If you have a Ravana or a Phase shift, these effects clear. If you have a really expensive Module called an Anti-Control, you will be immune for a while to these annoying effects.
Weapon
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Legs
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Weapon/Legs
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#15 Want to win beacon matches? Keep your opponents busy
15. The more opponents you can keep busy for the most time possible in Beacon rush will win you the match. Remember, if you’re getting shot at, your teammates aren’t (and the time for the opposing side to redistribute across the map will cost them). Chances are you won’t get first place but if you need a WIN this is how to do it.
Keeping four opponents busy on the Hot Beacon in Beacon Rush
[link]Bonus points for having a tendency to get under the opponent’s skin. The red triangle to the left of my screen is an opponent just spawning in. And the one to the bottom left is one just about to shoot at me (note this was later in the same match. Notice the beacons?)
[link]End
If anyone can help contribute to this guide, your input may be mentioned in this guide along with the helper’s name (if you want). This game sometimes gives too much time between matches on waiting so I check my War Robots online posts frequently. Like I mentioned before, I threw this guide together. We need some outside the box tactics that are tried and true. If this guide gets enough attention, I will take some better screenshots and clean up the organization and wording up.
Thank you for reading, I hope this helps some struggling players or entertains ideas of seasoned pilots.