How bots are not as hard as you think

[teasingfaun]

I am writing this bc there seems to be a growing number of people complaining about the automatons. which is crazy considering just how easy they are compared to the terminids.

when it comes to all of the smaller bots there are a couple things that make them less threatening than their bug counterparts.

1. they have ammo. ammo that they have to reload. which lasts long enough to pop right out of cover to put a few rounds in the dome.
   
   
2. most of them fire in short bursts. so even if they arent reloading, there is a brief moment you can return fire.
   
   
3. they fire regardless if your behind cover or concealment. meaning theyll exhaust their ammo and have to go through a reload timer. again you can shoot them during these times.
   
   
4. they are cheasy and go down very quickly. dense formations can be easily dealt with by grenades. (highly recommend impact)
   
   
5. the jetpack bots often get compared to the hunters because they can close the distance rapidly. the difference is, they cannot slow you, their time spent in air to close the distance is substantially longer than the hunter, and they dont dodge your shots leaping around you. the only danger is the explosion if you hit them center mass. (alot of people recommend shooting the legs, but id say its alot swifter to hit center mass anyways. just be sure to leap backwards to create some distance before you shoot.)
   
   
6. everyones favorite! the rocket launcher bot. dat boi must have been loaded with some stealth missiles, bc they can definitely be sneaky sneaky. but they are also dispatched in one to three shots (given the weapon and distance, its mostly one shot). take cover. they will keep shooting, just pop them while they reload. always be on the lookout for rocket bois. if your out in the open, make it not so. run into a patrol? DODGE, DIVE, DIP, DUCK, AND DIVE! while they can telegraph your movement, missiles cant track. so pay attention to when they shoot. when the missile is mid-air dive the other way. if they are far away, just change the direction you are running.

As for the larger bots, they too are easily dealt with. yes, even the hulks.
(for the elite bots, its best atleast one helldiver on your team has some form of anti material on them. i.e. autocannon or the AM rifle strategems to specifically deal with elites)

1. Walkers can be outmanuverd in close range. So even basic weapons are viable if you just ran around them and shoot the operator from the back. Otherwise, an autocannon will take them out with one shot in most scenarios.
   
   
2. Devastators, or any of the chunkier bois, thier shoulders are weak. even light armor pen can remove them in a clutch. AM rifle or autocannon can take them out in just a few hits (one shot if you land a round right in the dome).
   
   
3. Hulks have weak shoulders that can be destroyed by autocannon or AM rifle if no one has a spear or any kind of anti-tank. hitting them in the face takes it down (although good luck landing that with an autocannon. AM rifle is the way to go on that front)
   
   
4. Tanks! What are you kidding me? Just jump on top of it. lol, but in reality just have someone bring a spear. If for some reason your spear doesnt want to lock, have your autocannon guy hit it from the back a couple times (you wont regret it! and its not treason if hes wearing socks.)

Long story short

The Automatons are the easiest and most fun faction to fight. Every bot has its place, and interesting ways to deal with each type. Yes its a little overkill with how they just spawn on top of you sometimes, but thats a problem with the game overall and not the bots.

So go out there and test your metal. We must hold the line to the bitter end. no matter the cost we will destroy those communist bastards. SEE YOU IN THE CREEK HELLDIVER!

EDIT: because alot of people keep commenting about what levels i play on ill put this here:
I play on levels challenging to extreme.
ofcourse bots are going to be alot harder on helldive. so will the bugs. for what its worth no one is supposed to be having an easy go at the higher end of the difficulties. it was never intended for the community to be blowing through them on helldive.

the fact that there are tons of people doing has even terrified the devs. so apparently its not hard enough on helldive.

my point still stands. if your playing on helldive, you really shouldnt be complaining about how op it is.

[Anarchy]

I don't think they're hard

I just don't like being annoyed

Before I got off I kept eye slotting hulks with the AMR

But then got killed by rockets no-clipping thru giant ass rocks even though there was no logical way for the rocket dev to shoot around it at me.

[Valentine Michael Smith]

protip: kill the dudes with the swords first because they're the only ones that can call bot drops

[404]

yeah i never got the complaints.
sure its way more intense because of the lasers flying over head but so long as you steel yourself and play it smart they're easier than the Terminids.

[zemzero]

I Agree 100%, however we're in for a world of hurt when the major orders shift to the bots. The bug boys aren't prepared.

[Anarchy]

Originally posted by Valentine Michael Smith:

protip: kill the dudes with the swords first because they're the only ones that can call bot drops

This is also untrue past difficulty 7

i see non-commissars calling bot drops pretty constantly on all 3 of the upper difficulties.

[shadain597]

It's interesting that you've convinced yourself that trash which can shoot at you, including one-hit-kills from across the map, is easier than trash that can't shoot back.

[Hand's Hermit Permit]

They are definitely much, much easier once you know what to do with them. My first drop into Malevelon Creek was robot hell, but bots have become a lot more manageable since.

Get the plasma scorcher for bots. It's insanely good. It can splash damage through the scout walkers and kill the pilot in 2 shots.

I still find the defense mission with civilians to be nearly impossible though. They are massively overtuned; bot drops never stop coming and if you're not staying right on top of them with stratagem abuse and ship destroying, they will snowball very quickly.

Reconsider your armor choices. Heavy armor with the explosive resistance is very effective against bots. No more cheeky 1-shots by rocket raiders. Bot grenades do little more than toss you around, and mortars aren't really deadly. I''m convinced it's better than a flat 50% damage reduction because armor rating is also taken into account. I feel quite durable on bot missions in heavy armor.

[Captain Furious]

I don’t think the bots are hard

I just don’t think they’re fun

[Anarchy]

Originally posted by Hand's Hermit Permit:

Reconsider your armor choices. Heavy armor with the explosive resistance is very effective against bots. No more cheeky 1-shots by rocket raiders. Bot grenades do little more than toss you around, and mortars aren't really deadly. I''m convinced it's better than a flat 50% damage reduction because armor rating is also taken into account. I feel quite durable on bot missions in heavy armor.

Nah

Originally posted by Hand's Hermit Permit:

Get the plasma scorcher for bots. It's insanely good. It can splash damage through the scout walkers and kill the pilot in 2 shots.

i wish ppl would stop spreading the misinfo that this gun is only good against bots because they have room temp iq and can't stop point blanking themselves instead of using a support weapon that compliments it or whipping out their pistol instead.

[Explodium]

They aren't that hard, they're just more heavily saturated with BS than the bugs are.

[Slithy]

I like the Bots, but the missile spam wallhack aimbot (no pun intended) stuff with the rocket spam that ignores hard cover needs to be fixed.

[asura]

Bots are easier than bugs.
"bbbut they shoot bang me hard in head" -- I mean if you're not playing on D3 then you have to put up with the little green slow jerks, spewers, titans, flying hunters that might as well have projectiles, the @#$! shriekers, low visibility spore crap, ... in the meantime, over in the creek, the worst thing you have to worry about is cannon turrets and those go down in one rocket pod. You can clear a whole base with one single eagle cluster bomb and for some reason it actually hits bots but misses half the bugs.

Bots are easier.

Side note, everything is an impact grenade if you hold on to it long enough. >:)
I like the high explosive ones.

[404]

Originally posted by Anarchy:

i wish ppl would stop spreading the misinfo that this gun is only good against bots because they have room temp iq and can't stop point blanking themselves instead of using a support weapon that compliments it or whipping out their pistol instead.

They didn't say it was ONLY good against them, just that it is good to fight bots with.

Slow your roll, you're at 11 and we need you around 3.

[zemzero]

Originally posted by Explodium:

They aren't that hard, they're just more heavily saturated with BS than the bugs are.

Bugs can jump at you from 50 feet away, and also slow you. Have invisible enemies. Bile spewers kill in one hit and can mortar your position. The titan kills in one hit. Shriekers?

The amount of BS is the same in both factions, it requires a different approach.

[Hand's Hermit Permit]

I should also mention that destroying bot drop ships is incredibly fun and pretty effective. Not only does it make a big satisfying boom, but a lot of the bots it carries get damaged or trapped under the rubble.

You need to shoot one of the jet engines on the dropship to down it. It has to be a rocket like an EAT, recoilless, or spear. Everything else just bounces off, even exosuit rockets.