About the bots...

[Domz_commando]

No, guys, no complaining.

I was testing bots with different weapons/classes/talents on different maps to actually find something... acceptable.

Here is what a can say.

1) Ironbreaker is THE BEST BOT, he's sturdy enough to carry tome+grim, and kills specials pretty well. But you have to use hammer+shield and a rifle. Any other weapon will make him less effective in a fight and less sturdy.

- Don't give him axe+shield. It WON'T make him more effective against armor, just because he doesn't know how to use it propperly, he simply don't know to spam shield-bashing.
- Don't give him great hammer. he doesn't know how to use it, he will try use light attack against crowd, so he dies many times faster than with hammer+shield, but his damage still gonna be ridiculous.
- Don't give him dual hammers. It's a common mistake. He uses dual hammers pretty good on light enemys like slave rats, but any kind of armored and heavy enemys make him to stuck and stay like a dummy taking hits.
- Don't use any other ranged weapon, only rifle. Crossbow doesn't kill all specials with one hit, plus bot has problems with aiming on long range cause bolt is starting to fall down. Flamethrower simply uneffective, because bot doesn't know how use charged attack with it, and can't kill long distant targets. Engy-pistol is hard to use even for most humans, so...

2) The second good enough bot is Unchained. Look... She's tough, and she knows how to use flame-sword pretty nice against the crowd. After a lot of tests I can say that the most "comfortable" staff for her is fireball. I'm afraid it's the only staff Sienna-bot actually knows how to use. Bolt-staff makes her just walking around with full-charged fire arrow, beam staff is better, but still she makes ridiculous amount of damage, because of more complicated mechanics I guess.

But I always give her 1 grim and one healing draught, just in case if she decides to blow up instantly because of overheat.

3) Another really tough and powerfull bot is zealot. I always force him to take the first tome, so he can spend some health and fight on max stacks. Problem is he's really bad with "direct hit weapons" like 1h axe or axe+sword. I guess it's nearly impossible to write the script so he could use these weapons as good as human player. So the best choice on zealot is greatsword/mace and thp on hitting multiple targets.

Also zealot is good enough with both classic crossbow and pistols.

About other bots...

- Kruber-merc used to be a good bot before with his ult, but right now for some reason he constantly dies with any weapon. I tryed to use merc with all types of weapons and FK... No way, he just stays in crowd with his rifle or running around like a headless chicken. I have a feeling that after last bot-fixing patch devs made a critical change in his code.
- Bounty hunter is complicated. I've heard rumors about BH-bots killing bosses. Well, may be, but BH-bot dies every several meters during fight with slave-rats.
- CW actually not so bad, but dies too quickly. You may use him as a side-kick or tome-carrier, but I strongly recommend to use zealot - he can save your life, carry all books and kill the boss most of the times.
- Never use Kerillian as a bot. Her every class will 100% die in EVERY difficult situation, no matter is it a horde, boss fight or simple rat-patrool. The reason is most likely in her ranged weapons - bot simply can't propperly aim with a bow. Fun fact - shade-bot pretty good with crossbow, but she's really bad in melee, plus she uses ult in random moments even between fights, what makes no sence.
- Slayer and greatfailknight are both too squishy. Yes, they can fight, but they are both extremly unreliable comparing to first 3 bots above, plus they are absolutely useless against specials - both of them will just go and die in first warpfire.

[Zoli]

difficulty?

[Chizakura]

That's interesting. I've pretty much had the same lineup of bots as yours, built for survival. Even your recommendation about hammer and shield with handgun is exactly what I was using. My priority list was/is IB, Unchained, Zealot, Mercenary (Kerillian).

Lately, though, I'd noticed that all of the bots feel squishier, not just mercenary. Zealot used to be more reliable, but I found him going down more frequently so I tried using the mercenary for a while. Even the IB who used to hardly take damage has been taking more that I have to watch his health.

I think the bot builts I've been using were originally based on Cheez's bot builds and that's how I've managed to do most of the legend Convocation of Decay and the rest of legend for frames and such.

Still, I find maps much harder recently with a full bot squad b/c I can't rely on hardly any of them not to die in some dumb way. I think the bots might have been better before the bot patch. For a short while, I thought they were better after, but I find myself having a harder time completing legend maps now.

[Mao Zedong 毛泽东]

Grail knight bot can be useful, if you proxy a purple pot he can use his ult 2-3 times which is allot of elite killing.
if i solo with bots i usually use chars who buff me actively. so ranger vet, witch hunter captain and grail knight. i dont have to be playing them to reap a benefit they give.

[Sticky Mick]

I've run hundreds of legend deeds with bots only, but I've only played a few games with bots since the 'bot improvement' update. Your advice largely jives with my experience -some bots and weapons are good and some are terrible because the AI doesn't know how to behave. However, there is some flexibility.

1. Ironbreaker is by far the best bot - but I usually run shield+axe (with THP on kill) and handgun; but, 2H hammer with THP on stagger is fine and Drakefire pistols work well (especially if you are doing a Deprivation deed). I always give my Ironbreaker Natural Bond because if he has a shield he never gets downed (at least on Legend deeds or twitch).

2. For Kruber, Merc and GK are great. If you have a problem keeping the Merc alive, give him Sword + Shield, he is mostly there for the THP on ult not for his DPS. For GK, equip a shield + mace in both weapon slots and give him THP on stagger - he can melt elites with his ult. He is great at boss killing and if you give him the 'strength pot on kills' talent and you take Concoction then you can regenerate your ult like a madman because of all the potions you get. If you are running a deprivation deed and playing Ranger Veteran + Concotion + Exhilirating Vapours you become a THP generating machine for your party because of all the strength pots. FK + sword+shield+handgun is also fine, but not outstanding.

3. Avoid Kerrillian bots. They just get downed. Learn to snipe specials yourself.

4. Saltz - Zealot is fine but boring. I usually use axe with THP on kill. WHC is my go to for Saltz. I like the crowd control from his ult and the +20% elite damage from tagging. I use 1H axe or rapier + crossbow, depending on the party composition and deed type. A Bounty Hunter bot + crossbow and rapier can work if you get the damage reduction from Job Well Done, but if elite killing is the priority then you are better off playing BH or Shade or GK yourself.

5. Sienna - Unchained + fire flail + bolt staff. If you need THP generation use Bomb Balm, otherwise Wild Fire will help in sticky situations. Give UC Barkskin to minimize the chances of her blowing up when she inevitably walks into a cloud of poison gas. I use the bolt staff because bots generally don't use ranged weapons very often, so it's best to pick low ammo, high damage options (crossbow, handgun, bolt staff) so that when they do decide to snipe a special it gets 1-shotted. That said, if you want to be effective with bots you better expect to kill at least 50% of the specials in a game yourself because the AI sucks at this and if you don't snipe them quickly the bots will abandon you to run off over the horizon after some random globadier or blighstormer.


tl;dr:

Bots that are reliable on legend:

Kruber - Merc/FK sword+shield & handgun; GK mace+shield & strength pot talent.
Bardin - IB axe+shield/2H hammer, hangun/drakefire pistol.
Kerrilian: none
Saltz: WHC or Zealot axe, axe+falchion, rapier & Crossbow or BoP.
Sienna: Unchained fire flail + bolt staff.

[Emilia Tempest]

What I noticed is that Grail Knight and Bright Wizard just suck, GK doesnt know how to use the two stab ult since he always misses the first part... its beyond me how he does it but then he does an 360° no scope with the second hit. God dang bretonian has to style on the chaos warriors..
Bright Wizard gets stuck with her ult, a lot of times. Like its not even funny how often she gets stuck and is then useless until she gets hit out of it.

Waystalker seems a good pick with her "get ult back on headshot" tallent since she reliably hits them, with team-regen and NB you have some massive heals if health runs low.
Handmaiden is just a good "pick me up" bot and thats about it, doesnt provide good buffs to the team so why bother.
Shade, pretty meh. Dies really fast and Waystalker has more going for it.

Bounty Hunter bot does (sometimes) kill bosses very reliably since bots tend to hit the head and with an ult that refreshes on headshots, you could equip Proxy and give your Bounty Hunter an con-pot effect.. ofc you could just play BH, Shade, GK yourself buut when you feel like you dont want to play those. This can sometimes be an good option to not have an 10 minute bossfight.

Bots are very good against bosses like Ogre and Spawn, struggle with Troll. And Stormfiend does give them a lot of trouble.
Like Bots can 3v1 an Ogre and Spawn for days(unless a horde comes). Its impossible to get the agro of the boss because of how good they are.
Troll cant be softlocked like Ogre and Spawn since some attacks he can use while standing still. Like the puke and the forward-walk-sweep. So they do require some help against the Troll.
Stormfiend is basicly just because of the fire, find an wide open space to fight it and they should have no issue. But end up in an tight corridor and that could mean a wipe since they will face tank the hits.

I havent had much experience with bots, but this is what I can say from what I saw my bots doing. Hope this helps anyone here!

[Bomjus]

for any people who want to just casually roll through legend while watching a stream or something on a 2nd monitor,

i do GK+waystalker/amouranthe+IB and then i played unchained. i restart the mission until i roll HP regen on GK with improved quests, and put natural bond on everyone so i can stroll through while having some fun.

for legendary, everyone's comments above have that covered. i do think people underestimate GK's improved quest talent though. since you're solo you can restart the map as much as you want. if you want 15% power/damage reduction and improved health regen, just keep restarting. makes legendary w/ bots a lot easier.

[Roland]

It is a known bug that Waystalker bot will get stuck on TrueShot.
Hence the extra damage the bot takes, while standing around pointing its bow.
Already added to Fatshark's database, whatever that is worth...

Can't speak of Handmaiden, as I never use bots that charge or leap.
Shade is rather destructive with a glaive. Yet probably too eager & aggressive at the same time, leading to extra hits being taken.

Sure enough Ironbreaker is the toughest little sod there is.
Yet the amount of time the git spends blocking means its damage output is usually the lowest.
To the point where I do all I can to stifle its Career Skill. No 'Cooldown reduction' for Ironbreaker thankyou...

Then there's Unchained.
Coupled with a flail & Living Bomb set to 10 seconds & Unchained can easily cause the most damage of any bot.
Yet oddly enough. It's coincidental DoT damage, as opposed to range or melee damage...

A viable combination is Merc. with a halberd.
Dwarf Ranger with a pick.
Unchained with a flail.

Set to maximize the frequency of their career skills via critical hits & Cooldown Reduction & noting the ridiculous number of Specials that spawn (aiding Scavenger).

It's possible to generate a lot of temp. health via Morale Boost & Exhilarating Vapours.
While Living Bomb roasts the 1st horde wave.
Then I use the abundant potions (with Concoction) & bombs via Ranger's Scavenger to lay waste to the 2nd wave.
Then I have my Career Skill to affect the 3rd horde wave.

[Spectre]

Seems an easy line up for me - IB, MC, Unchained, & WHC. Only exception is if you need ammo, go RV instead of IB.

All are tanky, which is what you want from a bot, two give you THP on Ult, and all 4 give CC on ult.

Agree Keri bots are just bad, since bots lack the awareness to use Ults intelligently, and all of Kerillian's ults are best only when *intelligently* spammed. Though made me realise I've never tried the 100% refresh on headshot one on a bot, and this made me wonder how good bot auto-aim spam is on that... (probably not very)

[Alby]

I have to admit that the Ironbreaker is the very best bot overall, but the Ranger with a 1hd hammer + opportunist is surprisingly a great survivalist. And his ammo or pot and bomb drop can be rly useful.

[Roland]

Originally posted by Alby:

I have to admit that the Ironbreaker is the very best bot overall, but the Ranger with a 1hd hammer + opportunist is surprisingly a great survivalist. And his ammo or pot and bomb drop can be rly useful.

Noting the sheer number of Specials which spawn.
Using the Dwarf Ranger & Scavenger.
It can quickly get to the point where I have excess potions & bombs, that I have to leave half behind just lying around...

[Kamen Kreuz]

I don't play higher difficulties, but I can confirm that Kerillian bot is... unreliable, at best. I thought she would be fine if I gave her Handmaiden with stamina talents, but she just dashed at any elite or special she saw, which didn't accomplish anything besides putting her out of position.

[Domz_commando]

Originally posted by Zoli:

difficulty?

legend/cata. Is that even question?... On champ you can play with face rolling and any bot will do.

[Miciso]

my bots struggle on recruit... what am i doing wrong.

[Domz_commando]

Originally posted by A Cherokan Indian:

my bots struggle on recruit... what am i doing wrong.

What lvl your bots are?