The Official Cherry Bomb Classic 3 Seedings

[The Monsterworks]

You guys know the drill. Seed those bots! If you can, try to break them into tiers of either three or seven. Let's try to get all weight classes ranked. Final seedings will be determined by the average of the rankings on here and on the discord this Saturday. Outliers that are either more than five above or below other rankings will be discarded. Good luck!

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Lightweight

Favourites

Contenders

The Field

Longshots

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Middleweight

Favourites

Contenders

The Field

Longshots

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Heavyweight - In a nutshell: fast spinners and slow control bots

Favourites

Dreadnought MK.4: Fast, well-controlled, wedgey AF, and able to get away with 11 armour in a field with no true deathspinners, this might finally be Dreadnought's year.
Black Diamond: Oh hey look, it's a blazingly fast britflipper gaming the armour bonus to make it viable. Sorry guys, I had to.
Compound Fracture: The champ is back, and is probably going to be boringly good again.
Coup de Grâce: Good wedge? Check. Damaging Weapon? Check. Enough armour to take a few hits? Check.
Chimera: While its wedge is just okay, it uses bonuses well and, in a slow field like this, speed kills.
Perdito: With that armour, wedge, and speed, this is gonna be weirdly good, minus the one obligatory loss because 'lol 1 torque'.

Contenders

Petaflare: lol crusher, but it has a good wedge, just about enough armour, and can do some damage.
Hellfire: 2WD wedge and tough armour. Also, a paint job that will melt your eyeballs. Could be a bit faster, I guess.
THE TRASHMAN: The weapons system will be way too slow to be effective, but it's still a fast, tanky lifter that games the track bonus.
Tabor Mark 3: Is this overranked? Maybe, but it'll still stonewall all those control spinners and anything with a worse wedge.
Bang!: hard-hitting vert with a good wedge could do well if its rookie driver knows how to RP.
Long Arm of the Law: decent rookie entry will tank spinners and might not actually auto-lose to other control bots.

The Field

Bass Drop II: It shouldn't work, but it will, and that rolling pin of doom will be hard to avoid.
Golden Blaze: This wins h2h vs most other spinners and will eat hammers alive, but there are some MEAN flippers in this division.
No Dude, You'll get Crushed!: This could be really good with better track protection and stat optimization.
Death Metal: You know, with all of these quick spinners running around, something is going to take advantage of its poor control.
Meta Ridley: falls roughly in the middle of the spinner pack in terms of h2h matchups. Easily tanked by bricks.
Spitfire: This'll win some based on being a 2WD clampy wedge with a bit of damage dealing ability.

Longshots

Necroblade: Control horizontal with like...no armour and a 'meh' weapon. At least it looks Metal AF.
Terminating Cutter Gen III: Not a bad rookie entrant at all. Should be able to tank other spinners.
Shadow Mk. 5: ineffective feeder wedges will be more liability than asset, and poor stat optimization.
Pendulum II: Audacious, but it has no armour and a lower margin for error than the spinners, while most of the bricks can tank it.
Something Something Cluster Bot: The idea is to basically be Ecstasy Lite. The issue is that there aren't enough of them and speed has been nerfed.

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Superheavyweight

Favourites

Cruelty: Fastest practical bot in the field, tough enough to nope spinners, and wedgey. This is the odds-on favourite to win it.
HAN-D: This is everything I love and hate at the same time. Its biggest threat is a quick vert or flipper.
Phantasmic Slammer: Has the drivetrain and armour to do well. wedge is a bit meh, but it might not matter.
I Dance Crabcore, Motherfucker: The clamp+saw combo could prove to be very meta. Good wedge, good armour, maneuverable.
Dysprosinator: tough, quick, and wedgey AF, it'll be a tough out if TBR RPs well. Not much of a weapon, but it doesn't need one.

Contenders

Shellshock: big, scary shell spinner with a flail option. Has options vs other spinners and plow stackers, but hazard-food for sure.
Hartmann's Youkai Bot: BIG undercutting spinner, but there are a lot of things just tanky enough out there to stuff it.
Space Cadet: mediocre wedge, but it's got everything else that it needs to succeed.
Fenrir: run-of-the-mill spinner that benefits from being a wedgey vert in a field where that could really be good.
Starfish Prime: has options, which is nice, and HFL, which is better, but not super optimized in terms of matchups.

The Field

Lifter 2: Electric Boogaloo: classic pushy brick should do well, but could suffer vs. the really strong spinners.
Black Mamba: a bit of a slow drivetrain won't hurt it much here, but 11 armour against bigtime spinners will.
Triple Six: Generally a solid design, but a mediocre wedge and average speed will see this do just...average.
OverCleaver: on the one hand, nothing will destroy it. On the other, it won't destroy much of anything itself.
Final Boss: decent pushy brick, but its wedge is meh and the big spinners are going to eat it alive.

Longshots

Maurdread: 2WD vert, but has mediocre matches against other spinners and is easy to high-center.
Delorean Cowboy: This thing is stupid but scary. It has no drivetrain and no backup plan, but its wedge is good and weapon is WEW.
TAT: Control vert with a bad wedge, weird weight distribution, and not enough armour to beat other spinners.
Equisde: All the speed in the world and not much else. Dominates until vaporized by a weapon or hazard. No margin for error at all.
KEGATRON: I love the ballsiness behind it, but it neither does enough damage nor resists enough to beat other spinners. At ALL.

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[Venice Queen]

• Lightweights – verts and fast wedges and weird slow shit. Weird slow shit gon lose.
1. Terpsichora – fuck off :V
2. Tidal Wave II – you always enter this :V
3. Shade Fist – Black Dog Clone ResidentSleeper
4. Killjoy III – this is pure sex visually and competitively, at least until it runs into a horizontal spinner. fortunately there’s only 3 in the class so that doesn’t actually mean much
5. Eudial II – sexy. Haven’t been paying attention to other spinners in the division but the stat spread looks like it beats or meets most of them weapon to weapon. 2WD towards the front gives interesting options.
6. The Beast from the West II – old one was better, this one’s still decent
7. Harrowdown hill – the bar configuration looks flimsy as hell, never use it. classic syl control bot masquerading as a vert stat line, which happens to be a good idea vs a lot of other verts. Maybe. Kinda comes up to RPs tbh so imma dark horse you
8. Thieving Magpie – you literally just entered you ROBOT2 team
9. Storm Worm – classic overcomplicated wolf brick. Still he generally knows what he’s doing with RPs and the bot’s stats are still fine so it can probably hit playoffs
10. Blue Max II – OK at least call it Blue Max II in the title to avoid confusion :V
11. Ayame – I mean it’s a 2WD flipper so it wont do poorly
12. Cuddle Time! – We’ll see if those anti-vert claws work. I really don’t have great matchups against a lot of the cast, but there’s very few unwinnables, so we’ll see
13. Sleipnir – man and people say I don’t put in any effort into visuals. Old anti-vert/hammer config was much better tbh, you shouldn’t’ve listened to other people on the subject. Still a fast wedge with options.
14. Phobos Anomaly II – NWOWWE’s finally gone off the deep end if he’s actually entering a bot with fully separate styled configurations. Hammer configs will absolutely own any control bot they can damage, not sure how this deals with verts
15. Shadow mk. 5 – this is such a bog standard meta-ish shape and design that I can’t really say for certain how it’ll do until I know how you RP.
16. The gnasher – armor bonus should have gone on the weapon
17. Stab Runner – 5 speed puncher LUL. still the 2WD wedge will let it win some fights masquerading as a slow bot with an inefficient flipper, but the open claim to pretty much no ground clearance is definitely gonna shaft this.
18. Twin Typhoons – thwacks are still bad, spinner clusters are still usually bad. I’ll change my opinion when this bot actually does something.
19. Carnivore – those forks are too spindly to stand up to even the verts, unfortunately, and coming at them with the ass ain’t gonna go well.
20. Piranha Plant – classic V900 no speed all armor brick. Gonna get manhandled daily by all the verts and fast wedges.
21. Hobart II – eh, the thing that made Hobart 1 good was having a lot of reach with the flails. And the 2 body armor was a flaw you managed to overcome, not a feature to carry over to the next version.
22. Evil Destroyer – even if this does end up working 1 speed bots are uninteractive as hell and I don’t like them so bah

[V900]

anorexiaweights
* Cuddle Time! - thanks i hate it
* Terpsichora - you already know wtf goin on
* KIlljoy 3 - forked 2wd wedge + kills anything in 1 grab
* Harrowdown Hill - gonna pop pop pow wow pow the opponent into various hazards every match
* The Gnasher - probably benefits the most from the CBC3's wedge rules
* Tiny Torque - your robots are listed backwards you goon
* The Thieving Magpie - generic cheese wedge flipper
* Ayame - also generic cheese wedge flipper but at least it looks nice
* Storm Worm - why does it have dinner plates for wheels
* Evil Destroyer - sleeper finalist if [unintelligible garble username] rps well enough but boy he has a hill to climb
* Sleipnir - has very advantageous matchups if any of the fights happen to take place during a snowstorm
* Shade Fist - see tidal wave 2 but better since it's wider
* Phobos Anomaly - gonna get it's half-weight plow outwedged by all the flippers and lifters in the field
* Tidal Wave 2 - anything that it can't get under will bootyplow it
* The Blue Max - (smashes into wall like a boss)
* Eudial II - gonna stomp in pools and then get bodied by some 13 front-armor lifter in playoffs
* Piranha Plant - putting this in the middle-ish of the list because how well i do is entirely determined by if my party trick works or not
* Carnivore - long hinged wedges aren't a good look
* The Beast From The West II - this'd do better in a tourney like ROBOT TWO where the TO doesn't put wacky smash bros-tier stage hazards in every arena
* Twin Typhoons - all the speed of a deathspinner with none of the death
* Hobart 2 - i wasn't paying attention to if this did well in ROBOT TWO or not but im pretty sure most bricks can KO this thing from a couple wallslams
* Stab Runner - at least 1 writer is gonna interpret the smart zone as a giant green glass block
* NFX's LW - where's the robot dummy

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#MeToodiumweights
* Diablo Genesis III - how many times have you entered this
* Jackal - tf is this "Bi-Rotational Electric Lifting Scoop/Srimech/Automatic Circumciser" stuff, just say "sewer snake lifter" lol
* Harbinger - would be #1 if it had a static front wedge
* Manglerfish - he can't keep getting away with it
* Harpy - i still don't like the lack of pressing wedge but hey whatever works i guess
* Scion - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Kxc4gAv2QE
* Jawsome - probably hard-counters mangerfish. i want to believe
* Carbonemys - the most high-test robot here tbh
* I Suck At Names - this looks like something jim smentowski would make if he was a crackhead
* Super Youkai Warhead - le murdersaw has arrived
* Neophyte Redglare - depends if syl RPs or not
* Lethal Carriageway Mk3 - 6+wd bots always have me wary of wheelscrub
* Vortex 3 - drum doesn't add enough to it's offense to justify the lower speed
* Psychosis - where did he get all those points for the decent drivetra- oh
* Pizza that eats you - bruh moment
* Marksman - doesn't say the wedges are hinged anywhere. yikes!
* Axe n' Kill - why would you purposely state that your robot can't self right
* Jevil - There is no strategy to defeat the enemy (except wait 3 minutes and win by JD)
* NKC - doesn't exist at time of writing
* Athena - neither does this one
* NFX's MW - this one too
* Kody's MW - all you had to do was follow the damn train

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americanweights

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batmanweights

[Trihunter]

Alright, here we go. Orders within tiers don't matter. They're just in the order I read the bios in.

Lightweights

High tier, probably a finalist

• Tidal Wave 2: Why is this back again?
• Shade Fist: Oh hi, Black Dog. Hoops are a nice addition.
• The Thieving Magpie: Usually pretty solid, feeling good about it this time.
• Terpsichora: Why is this back again?
• Beast From The West II: Woke pick here, but I reckon this could make a breakout run.
• Cuddle Time: Eat a dick

Mid tier, middle of the pack

• Evil Destroyer: I don't quite see it working myself, but if it does...
• The Blue Max: Pretty wack design, again not too confident in it.
• Killjoy 3: Control saws are usually pretty decent, though I'm unsure of its statline.
• Twin Typhoons: Doubt I'll do as well as last time, but it could do a thing.
• Storm Worm: Seems like a decent design to me, should do ok.
• Hobart 2: 2 armor but it actually results in it getting killed this time.
• Tiny Torque: Writer is an unknown quality but it seems like a decent spread for a fast wedge.
• Gnasher: Weapon power seems too low to do too much to me.
• Ayame: Flippah
• Sleipnir: Brick
• Eudial: Looks fun to me.
• Harrowdown Hill: Could do ok if Syl doesn't bail

Low tier, nope

• Carnivore: That's a lot of thin prongs to snap off.
• Piranha Plant: No.
• Stab Runner: Spikebots in 2019
• Phobos Anomaly: Holy thin parts, Batman!

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Middleweights

High tier, probably a finalist

• Chronic Jobber: Why is this back again?
• Harpy: Fast brick
• Lethal Carriageway Mk3: I legit think this could be TBR's event, if he RPs it well.
• Diablo Genesis III: Why is this back again?
• Dragonfist: Like with TBR, I reckon Rocket could legit take this, if played well.
• Scion: Fast brick
• Neophyte Redglare: Why is this back again?

Mid tier, middle of the pack

• I Suck At Names: Big-ass spinner. Nothing more to it.
• Carbonemys: Death hammer, could do well.
• NKC: Control saw, personally not sure if its stats will be sufficient or not to do much tho.
• Manglerfish: See NKC.
• Jawsome: I'd love to be proven wrong, but I'm not sure this can properly control stuff with the shell.
• Harbinger: Fast brick, feels like a worse Scion tho to me
• Pizza That Eats You: Deathspinner
• Jackal: Feels too slow to control well to me.

Low tier, nope

• Marksman: Too long, too easy to flank, 4wd static wedge too.
• Vortex 3: No way screw drive can pull off 6 speed :v
• Super Youkai Warhead: No.
• JEVIL: Seriously what retard entered this trash, it can't deal damage
• Axe 'n Kill: No Srimech, rubbish wedge
• Psychosis: Lacks the Weapon and Armour to actually deal damage or tank stuff. Neat concept, though.

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Heavyweights

High tier, probably a finalist

Mid tier, middle of the pack

Low tier, nope

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Superheavyweights

High tier, probably a finalist

Mid tier, middle of the pack

Low tier, nope

[Wolf51-50]

LWs
1. Terpsichora - Half of the time I feel like HFL enters this shit just so he can laugh at us later :V

2. Thieving Magpie - Any other opponent other than the one above and we might've had this as our champion

3. Tidal Wave - This design never gets old. And from past results, you know it's gonna hit the SFs at least

4. Ayame - This is just waifu Dreadnought with the flipper on the right way (bonus points if you got that reference). 11 armor and 8 speed is tough to beat. Loving the Nintendo 64 curvature too

5. Killjoy 3 - Sawbot buff makes this thing a force to be reckoned with. The lifter will definitely give it some versatility.

6. Eudial 2 - a Kodekopter with a decent wedge on either side and a large angled bar. If Kody RPs the same way after the short break, we're all fucked :v

7. Beast From The West - If TBR plays this well, it's going to do wonders and may have a shot at winning it. One of the better vertical spinners here.

8. Shade Fist - Aww the little wedgelet is so cute :v. Seriously though, it's a strong drumbot that is gonna make some noise depending on it's group.

9. Cuddle Time - *insert comment here about how I don't like 1 weapon clamps* It's a decent lifter and I like the idea for the anti vert forks. Also yes I did leave out the exclamation point just to piss you off :P

10. Storm Worm - Yeah yeah, I know it's overly complex. But hey, I want to see how far I can go with so many different options. Should be ok as long as I know how and when to use each weapon to my advantage.

11. The Gnasher - idk what it is about Jack's purple chomper bot series, but I love em lol. I think I know where he's going with this, just not sure if it'll work in practice.

12. Harrowdown Hill - See second sentence above.

13. Tiny Torque - Decent brick. New driver though, so idk where to place it.

14. Sleipnir - Fast wedged brick, but the forks look easy to angle into, and hinged wedges have been on the backfoot lately

15. Twin Typhoons - Is it a good design that did well in a major tournament? Yep. Did that major tournament have arena hazards? Nope.

16. Blue Max - Damn. Alex is one step ahead of us. He's got the balls to enter his unfinished render for Those Magnificent Men And Their Flying Machines

17. Hobart 2 - I'm already getting memories of Pat's bot Smackdown with this statline.

18. Evil Destroyer - Dangerous weapon, but any bot with armor worth something and hazards at their disposal will make quick work of it

19. Carnivore - A decent clampbot plagued by spaghetti forks

20. Phobos Anomaly - Third time's a charm?

21. Piranha Plant - Now you have to fight Michaelangelo bitch

22. Stab Runner - Spikes in 2019 are eugh. Being slow and spinner food isn't gonna make things easy.


MWs
1. Jackal - Outstanding design with versatility to add to it

2. Scion - Top tier wedge with a multi purpose thwack and ALL OF TEH SPEEDZ

3. Harpy - Fast brick that can tank spinners and a surprisingly effective hinged wedge

4. Dragonfist - It outreaches most other spinners because flail shenanigans and it's scarier than it was before and it was already kicking ass at 15 weapon. Best shell spinner since Cryoseism, probably even better.

5. Manglerfish - Has a plan for bricks and spinners along with instakill possibilities. Help :v

6. KHC - Owie

7. Diablo Genesis III - It did well last time and I worked out more of the kinks. There's not much more I can do wrong as long as long as I don't RP like a dumbass. Plow stacking leaves weak armor for the rest of the lifter, but that's never stopped it in the past and I hope it doesn't in this tournament. We shall see.

8. Lethal Carriageway Mk 3 - I just wish the forks were faster. But it's a fast armored brick that can control a lot of shit.

9. Harbinger - Why did the ABR get replaced by a less effective wedge? Meh. Either way it's a fast bot with a thwack to have the edge against bricks

10. Chronic Jobber - Having too many teeth is made up for by the fact that it's a wide range undercutter with proven destructive power

11. Carbonemys - Slow as all turtles should be, but with great defense all the way around. Also fuck that hammer weapon :V.

12 Super Youkai Warhead - It's a little slow, but with a very interesting and seemingly effective weapon. Should be solid in most cases

13. I Suck at Names - Weird design that has a bigass spinner and doesn't need wedges to win fights.

14. Neophyte Redglare - You like this thing way too much lol. Only complaint is that the lifters are slow

15. Jawsome - 2WD wedge and a 14 armor face to make up for the slow drive. Not sure why, but it's cool

16. Vortex 3 - Traction is gonna be an issue, and the spinner is ceiling fan levels of scary. Has a good wedge though and could prove me wrong.

17. Pizza That Eats You - the weapon is ok, but 3 speed is bleh. Expect this to get flanked by most

18. Psychosis - What the fuck :V

19. Axe n Kill - Why can't this thing self right though? Otherwise it would be decent

20. Jevil - chaos CHAOS. Will survive everything and kill nothing. I've tried this strategy and if it didn't work for NRG, it sure as hell ain't working out for this one either

21. Marksman - 4WD static wedges will be the death of any bot

22. Athena - No cad. How sad

HW

SHWs (will do HWs hopefully later today)

1. Cruelty - it's Duck but it's wedge isn't shit and it's got all the armor in the world. It's the perfect defense against any spinner and very few bricks will be able to get past it's wedge

2. Lifter 2 Electric Boogaloo - Ramp stunts for added points. Shitposting aside, it has a great front lifter with a back wedge for other options, and there's just nothing on the body for spinners to grab on to with the exception of undercutters. And even then it still has 11 armor

3. Hartmann's Youkai Bot 2 - the first wasn't bad, but wasn't great either. This one is fucking scary. It's got decent reach and discs for multiple options. The only thing that's gonna stop this is something with 12 armor, a solid wedge or spinner, and one helluva plan.

4. Phantasmic Slammer - Beefy plow, powerful weapon, decent drive, great wedging ability. It all checks out

5. Starfish Prime - It's an undercutter with “holy shit” reach in it's flail configuration. HFL you bastard you're killing everyone :V.

6. Shellshock - What the fuck meets fuck this, run. It has a weakness of getting flipped, but you have to get under the damn thing first.

7. Dysprosinator - I'm skeptical about it's self righting. But you know what? It's a giant armored cheese wedge with a lifter that could probably work as a decent clamp while at it.

8. Triple 6 - Good wedging ability and armor to spare. Only worry is that it's a bit on the slow side, but Shaba is a really strong driver

9. Fenrir - Back with a slightly more compact body and a shiny render, it's a basic touro bot with a skid design that has only failed against 16 weapon deathspinners. I'm worried about reach, but there's only so much you can do. That's what I get for not finishing that eggbeater lol. Still should have the same success as last time

10. Santangelo - Not a bad flipper. Well armored too.

11. I Dance Crabcore, Motherfucker! - Lmao I love the drive system since it's probably going to out drive anything with either 6 or less speed, 2WD, or both. I'm uncertain on it's wedging ability though.

12. Space Cadet - Slammer Lite basically.

13. Final Boss - Anything with a bigass weapon is gonna splatter it. But most control bots will actually struggle quite a lot. It's a former champion with a good weapon and hinged skirts for extra armor

14. Black Mamba - solid armor and a good weapon. Just not sure how well it's going to do against some of the big spinners

15. Equisde - I fucking love this. And it might actually do ok considering it has twice as much speed as about half the field. One shot and it's dead though

16. Delorean Cowboy - assuming it can right itself, it's a deadly shitpost. 16 weapon spinner with a blade design to also flip the living hell out of whatever drives up the wedge. Still a shitpost though and it'll have some gyro issues

17. TAT - It's not a weird side drum anymore woo. Fairly decent, but the feeder wedge is anemic as hell and that's gonna bite it in the ass later on. Expect it to pull a K2 and bust it's wedge off with it's own spinner here and there

18. Maurdread - Steep wedge and a decent weapon. Idk what it's going to do about the whole Techno Destructo problem

19. Han-D - I honestly have little faith in this one

20. Overcleaver - It's slow as molasses with an underpowered blade. At least the blade has some mass to it?

21. Kegatron - Big wheels? Big problems. Especially with a lower armor value. Also that drum is way too tiny to hit anything important

[Rocket]

The following rankings aren't in any particular order within their tiers, they're just what I think will place where. I'm probably wrong, so please don't get angry if I've slagged off your machine. Just prove me wrong. =]

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Lightweights

Premium

Evil Destroyer (Team Design Flaw): I quite like this. It's a really innovative design that helps to counter some of the weaknesses of horizontal spinners by giving it range in multiple axes. With a comparative dearth of really bricky things in the tourney, I'm calling this as a dark horse for the title.

Shade Fist (Team Ignition): Edgy Dog. Quite quick, good damage potential, and the RPs are generally good. Should do well. Needs vert flails.

The Thieving Magpie (Team Stealth): Fresh from a really good run in ROBOT2. Good speed and power with a nice bonus to armour on the main point of contact thanks to the flipper being even moderately powerful. Could have a deep run here too.

Terpsichora (Team Instant Regret): Terp did really well in ROBOT2 and I see no reason why that trend isn't gonna continue. Fast, powerful, and versatile. I like its chances.

Eudial 2 (Team Covenant): Big, nasty angled overhead. I'm never a fan of having to face these, and this one's no different. It's got only a mild variation on the standard deathspinner stats. I can see it going very far indeed... assuming Kody sticks around and doesn't get bored.

Peloton

Tidal Wave 2 (Team 57): Wet Dog. Reasonably fast, reasonably damaging. An average competitor, but we'll have to see how the driving and strategy holds up. Needs vert flails.

Carnivore (Team Loading): Those really long forks are going to be good for getting under things but might make the bot struggle to angle in, especially since they're hinged. Other than that, a very solid brick.

Killjoy 3 (Square Go Robotics): I like the design and aesthetic, but the side pods with the wheels in them are too lightly armoured for my taste.

The Beast From The West II (Team British Robotics): It is one day into February and I already have a pick for "Best Looking Robot" in OSCARC 2019. It's a 4WD Whiplash clone, so it should do okay, but I worry that its speed is too low.

Twin Typhoons (Cool Story Brobotics): If your waifubot is a clusterbot, is that bigamy? Anyway, they might make the playoffs, but they won't get out of them.

Hobart 2: Fear Naught (Team Worst Swordsman): Tank Dog. Except this time it's a Tank Dog with tracks and entirely too little armour; shock damage means nothing when a gentle love tap will cause the entire chassis to fly apart like a fucking clown car. Also it has vertical flails, thus making it the best Black Dog ripoff.

Cuddle Time (Interrobang Robotics): Plough-stack city in both configs. I'm not sure it'll go the way he wants it to. Still a fast lifter, though, so we might see it in the playoffs.

Tiny Torque (TCRR Robotics): An fast boye. High speed, great control, good pushing power. A shame it's 6WD, but the hinged wedge with little forks on the front goes some way to making up for it. I'd normally worry about plough-stacking, but there's still 9 armour on the chassis after that. Could do well unless the RPs are jank.

The Gnasher (Aquatic Robotics): Teeth Dog. 0/10 not a Dennis The Menace reference. It's fast and has control spinner stats, though I'm a little dubious re: the armour. Needs vert flails.

Ayame (Ice Cubed Robotics): A big, green wedge with a fast drivetrain and a limp flipper. It'll probably do okay, as long as it doesn't drive like it's out of a buggy Mario Kart romhack as well as look like one.

Sleipnir (North-West Sheds): Hm. Not quite sure what to make of it. 8 wheels seems like way too many, but the robot's otherwise very basic. It'll be interesting to see how it fares against other bricks, but the high armour should see it through against the big spinners in the division.

Harrowdown Hill (Team Foxtrot Uniform): It's certainly a good machine, but it's equally certain to not trouble the championship final. The bars look really weedy and it doesn't have jack shit versus hammers or vert flails. Other than that, it's a solid mid-table machine.

Pray

The Blue Max (The Monsterworks): It's a Crossfire clone that's slow as balls. I give it thirty seconds before it manages to eat itself or one of the struts gets fed into the blade by an enterprising opponent.

Piranha Plant (End of the Line LLC): It's meant to be the ultimate brick but I can see some problems. For a start, even with a pressed wedge, it's eminently possible to angle in on the lifting forks. Watch this get shat on by the writers.

Storm Worm (Alpha Robotics): Interesting design, but I don't think it'll turn out super well. The armour value is just too low, and the lifting arms on the side are prime VS bait. Might squeak into the playoffs, but that's the best it'll do.

Stab Runner (Team Eagle Robotics): Now that Billy's fixed the stats this might actually win a fight. However, that spike isn't doing jack shit against anything with armour and it's not fast enough to smother spinners properly.

Phobos Anomaly (Team Blood Gulch): Possibly the most horrible colour scheme in the lightweight division; black, maroon, and fucking uranium. It ought to lose on that alone, but thankfully it's slow as balls and the armour's crap. The various Dogs in the field will body it, as will almost everything else.

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Middleweights

Premium

Chronic Jobber (Team 57): Horizontal deathspinner doing standard horizontal deathspinner things. Might work. Might not.

Harpy (Team Stealth): Brick brick brick. I don't like bricks much, but at least this one's fast and really tough. Should do well against the many spinners in the division, and it had a good run in ROBOT2.

Jawsome (Nighthawk Robotics): I want this to work. I really do. It's a great-looking controlbot with a unique weapon and a really cool aesthetic, I just worry that the clamp will be wide enough to properly smother opponents.

Dragonfist (Team Worst Swordsman): The original shell-flail is back, this time with a full 16-power spinner for extra damage. Between the extra reach, decent armour for a spinner, and high damage potential, this could go a very long way. Title contender? We shall see. That brass band you can hear is all me, blowing several of my own trumpets at once.

Jackal (Ice Cubed Robotics): It's Sandstorm with Sewer Snake's lifting mechanism. It's also got a lot of armour and different configs for days. It's a fascinating machine and I think it'll go all the way despite having been rendered in Diddy Kong Racing.

Peloton

I Suck At Names (Team Design Flaw): What if Tauron but also Complete Control? It's an interesting prospect, for sure, but that giant lifting mechanism and exposed weapon belt have "hit me with horizontal weapons" all over them.

Carbonemys (The Monsterworks): Cool death hammer, bro. Be a shame if something got around to the track pods on the side. It's okay though, you've got a turret to prevent that sort of thi- oh. Ohhhh.

NKC (Team Ignition): So, 6-power lifter with a 6-power saw on a 3-power arm. Hm. Not sure that'll work as intended. Still, it's a clampy saw in a meta that buffed those, and it's got some big defences. That saw arm's only got seven armour, though, so it'll have to be very careful around the division's panoply of verts.

Manglerfish (Team Instant Regret): It's an interesting design, and I love a good sawbot, but I worry that its armour is too thin to succeed in such a spinner-heavy environment, even with the plough on the front.

Lethal Carriageway Mk3 (Team British Robotics): Briiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiick. It's a lifter, it pushes things, it's got 12 armour. What else can you say?

Super Youkai Warhead (End of the Line LLC): Brick that does something. Saws are buffed in this meta so there's an argument that it might, y'know, work. I don't want to make it. The clamp's nice but it's super slow.

JEVIL (Cool Story Brobotics): What's this? Gabriel wheels on a bot that actually works like Gabriel? Madness! Anyway, yeah, it's a fast vertical thwack armoured with genuine Gabriel-grade wobblerium, unlike certain big-wheeled spinners I could mention, Jonathan. Could surprise people, but there's verts about and Gabriel clones don't like those.

Diablo Genesis III (Alpha Robotics): That's a looooot of plough-stacking in a tourney where shock damage is a thing. Still, might survive long enough to make the playoffs. Maybe.

Scion (Interrobang Robotics): The Monegasque entry to CBC3 is a thwackbot. Again, plough-stacking is a huge problem in a tourney with big horizontals in it, and I wonder how well it will fare against those.

Neophyte Redglare (Team Foxtrot Uniform): As much as I like the design, I think this is essentially a worse Jackal. The lifter and the forks are so slow that they might as well not be actuated at all, but the strong point of the design is its wedge. It's quick and it's proven and it'll probably make the playoffs, but it might well get tossed out of those pretty early on.

Pray

Marksman (Team Loading): It's a Bronclone. Bronco's a shit design for a flipper. Take it from a Brit. I also really don't like the positioning of those wheelguards; it makes the wheels vulnerable to undercutting and overcutting spinners alike.

Vortex 3 (Square Go Robotics): It's innovative, I'll give it that, but I don't think it'll do what he wants it to do. Plus, screw drive is a fancy way of saying "I can afford to smear rubber all over the arena floor because R E L E N T L E S S I N N O V A T I O N.

Axe N' Kill (Team Eagle Robotics): Well, it's fast, I'll give it that. 11+1 weapon power is alright for an axe, but 6 armour on the bodywork behind the plough is bad news bears in a tourney with shock damage.

Harbinger (Team Blood Gulch): Jesus fuck, how many thwackbots are there in this division? It's crap at vertical thwackery because of the weapon shape and lacks any kind of power for a horizontal thwack. Next.

Pizza That Eats You (TCRR Robotics): It's a tombclone with a great big flat expanse on the top called "Hammer Target". Despite my loving a good Soviet Russia gag, I can't quite see it doing that well.

Psychosis (Aquatic Robotics): Named after what the paint job instills. It's got rushdown-style stats, but the spinner is underpowered and when it's in plough configuration then it's only got 8 armour. There are some biiiig spinners in this meta. This is going nowhere.

Athena (North-West Sheds): No pics, no stats, no comment.

---

Heavyweights

Premium

Compound Fracture (Team Instant Regret): Hi basically every classic Battlebots competitor worth a damn! Yeah, it's a fast brick, it'll probably do well.

Pendulum II (Team British Robotics): The Dominator 3 we wish we had, Pendulum's a fast death hammer with a good spike on the tip. 2WD static wedges also do well. We'll see how it fares against the parade of bricks in the bracket, though.

Long Arm of the Law (Nighthawk Robotics): A lifting brick. Joy. At least it's got an active weapon, I guess. It should do well, though.

Dreadnought Mk. IV (Ice Cubed Robotics): CBC3's representative for the Front-Hinged Master Race. Personally, I quite like it. Decent speed, decent power, and an active weapon. Should mean the wedge fights it gets into are marginally less boring, though the forks are widely spaced.

Peloton

Something Something Cluster Bot (Team Design Flaw): Well, here it is, CBC3's resident hell cluster. They're both sporting really powerful drivetrains, but they die fast to anything with a wide arc of attack. I think they make the playoffs but die there.

Black Diamond (The Monsterworks): Good Britflipping design but a little light on the armour front for my tastes. Should do well, though.

Perdito (Team Loading): Much better flipper design, though I'm not fond of the slab sides. Just a fast brick with an active weapon, really. Should do okay.

Necroblade (Team Ignition): Quick spinner with the ability to go upside down. I like a good undercutter, so this should do alright.

Hellfire (Square Go Robotics): If Bruxish had been this, it would have been a hell of a lot better, or at least not lost to a fucking chainsaw. Entirely reasonable machine, but because of that it'll rise or fall on the roleplaying.

Coup De Grâce IV (Alpha Robotics): Terrorhurtz with a more obnoxious paint job and less polycarb, as well as beta's hammer. Might do some damage, but there's some nasty bricks in this competition and I don't fancy its chances against those.

Tabor Mk. 3: Somehow There's A Third One (Team Worst Swordsman): With a render that doesn't suck any more and a sufficiently wide wheelbase to do what it's supposed to, this is probably the winner of "Most Improved". Sadly, that probably won't be enough in a field overloaded with lifting bricks.

Chimera (Interrobang Robotics): 8WD... with a fixed wedge. Alright then. It might work out, but its wedging power is going to be pretty limited. Also something something four-bar flippers are deeply suboptimal.

Meta Ridley (Team Blood Gulch): Thwack tails? In my Valkyrie? It's more likely than you think! I hope this does well, since I like undercutters, and it's certainly got the damage. I just worry that the tail's going to be a liability when fighting other spinnersor damaging weapons.

Shadow Mk. 5 (TCRR Robotics): Flat Dog. Seriously, look at it, it's so teeny! Not too big a fan of the teeth on it, though, so maybe it'll have all the bite of a black chihuahua as well as being a clone of one. Needs vert flails. Tiny, tiny vert flails.

Spitfire (North-West Sheds): Would be a looooot better without the fire, but at least it'll make the matches interesting. Christ knows the paint job won't. Why this thing's the colour of your grandma's knackered old NHS surgical stockings I don't know.

No, Dude! You'll Get Crushed! (Team Foxtrot Uniform): It's a fun design, I'll give it that, but I don't really think the srimech'll work that well and the two saws won't do jack shit in the way of damage. I can't see this doing much of anything, especially against hammers.

Pray

Bass Drop II (Team 57): A reasonably damaging hammer with a very unusual shape. Not sure how well it's going to work, tbh, it's at that awkward spot in terms of stats where it can't tank big spinners but can't do too much against bricks.

Death Metal (Team Stealth): Tombclone with a -3 traction gap. I'm... really not sold on it. It's got some force behind the weapon, sure, but bringing it to bear will be all the more difficult.

The Trashman (End of the Line LLC): The weapons are slow as balls, the plough doesn't cover the tracks enough, and it spent points on minibots that do nothing. This isn't a trashcan. It's a trashcan't.

Petaflare (Cool Story Brobotics): WAIFU. WAIFU. WAIFU. It's a heavyweight version of the crusher that... almost went completely winless in ROBOT2, and while it's definitely an improvement upon Gigaflare I still can't see it doing much this time around.

Terminating Cutter Gen. III (Team Eagle Robotics): I like the horizontal config. The vertical config, nooooot so much. Those supports are gonna get in the way of the drivetrain and they don't have any feeder forks on them. I don't think this is gonna do well.

Golden Blaze (Team Obscure): I don't rate this. Skiddy and squirrelly are not good things in an overhead, and I just can't see it doing much of anything at all.

Bang! (Evil Toaster): Purple Dog. It's very... well, generic is the only word for it. This bot will live and die on the RPing, and that's a completely unknown quantity, at least to me. Needs vert flails.

---

Superheavyweights

Premium

Lifter 2: Electric Boogaloo (Team 57): High speed, perfect traction, pressable wedge, enclosed tracks, reasonable. This should do well.

Starfish Prime (Team Instant Regret): It's a deathspinner with an extra traction point and a flail as a... separate config option? Okay. Slightly unnecessary, but whatever works for you. Flails are good in this meta so this might do well, especially against other deathspinners.

Fenrir (Alpha Robotics): Minotaur in SHW form. Should do okay for precisely that reason, though that's a really nubby little thing on the drum pretending to be a tooth.

Final Boss (Team Blood Gulch): SHW Biohazard. Okay then. Quick and bricky and it's packing a flipper instead of a lifter, so it might even be able to do something interesting. We can but hope. Being able to operate inverted is also a plus.

Cruelty (Aquatic Robotics): Fast brick with a weak lifter. Take a drink. Actually, don't, doing that will destroy your liver. Still, this seems like the best of the bunch, so I'll go with that.

Peloton

I Dance Crabcore, Motherfucker! (The Monsterworks): 13 armour on the claws is nothing to be sniffed at, but I question how well it'll turn out against things like vertical spinners or hammers once it's got a grip on them. They'll have a direct line to the comparatively lightly-armoured main chassis.

Triple 6 (Team Stealth): A superheavy Rapid clone with great tank potential, but I worry about its fixed 4WD wedge plate. Writers don't like those.

Shellshock (Square Go Robotics): He has a little hat! Awww! Also the flails are way too low and I don't like the tooth placement but haaaaaaaaaat.

Dysprosinator (Team British Robotics): briiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiick. 2WD wedge with a weak lifter on the front. Fine. Completely bog-standard design, so it depends on tactics and RPing.

Hartmann's Youkai Bot II: Essentially a superheavyweight Valkyrie ripoff. Hopefully it'll work better than Valk did, because I really do like undercutters.

OverCleaver (Team Eagle Robotics): It's certainly very, very tough for a deathspinner, but is 13 weapon really going to be enough power? I'm not sure.

Black Mamba (Ice Cubed Robotics): I really like this and I'm pretty sure it'll go to the finals. Powerful pusher and lifter, but I feel it'd be better with a higher top speed - 6 is just a little too slow to be going on with.

Maurdread (Team Obscure): Maurdread's a really good... start. It had some fun matches in ICECrown but there were a lot of faults exposed in it during that competition and I'm surprised Mystic hasn't corrected them.

Pray

Equisde (Team Design Flaw): Love the paint job, can't wait to watch the bot itself get torn apart by anything with a weapon or anything that counter-angles onto it.

HAN-D (End of the Line, LLC): You reference one of my favourite games ever... with this? Why must you hurt me in this way. It'll do well right up until someone turns it over. Then it'll lose.

KEGATRON (Team Worst Swordsman): ... Well, KEGATRON, you, er... you tried your best, and that's the main thing.

Delorean Cowboy (Interrobang Robotics): It's half a car with a spinner on it and the spinner's the wrong way round to get any engagement. Have another go next time, chuckles.

TAT (North-West Sheds): Red Dog. Doesn't do enough damage, frankly. At least it's quick. Needs vert flails.

[attackfrog]

Spent more time finding a tool to drag-and-drop sort these than I did actually ranking them. Not to mention cleaning up the output from that and making into a bbcode ordered list. Heh.
Rankings are accurate to a margin of error of ±2 at best because I'm lazy and not really into this kind of stuff honestly.

MW Rankings

1. Diablo Genesis III: lifter/grabber dustpan
2. Harpy: Original Sin
3. Jackal: Sewer Snakey thing 1
4. Neophyte Redglare: Sewer Snakey thing 2
5. Dragonfist: Shell spinner w/ flails
6. NKC: dustpan/wedge saw with free lifter
7. Chronic Jobber: undercutter that knows to CYA
8. Carbonemys: deathhammer turtle w/tracks
9. Lethal Carriageway Mk3: 6WD brick w/ "lifter"
10. Super Youkai Warhead: clampy brick
11. JEVIL: Gabriel but evil or something
12. Harbinger: horizontal thwack wedge
13. Scion: overhead thwack wedge
14. Psychosis: X-axis spinner on a lifter. Sorry about your eyes
15. Manglerfish: 2WD saw-plow
16. Marksman: red Bronco
17. Jawsome: Tentomushi but it's a shark
18. Vortex 3: screwy screw drive disk puncher
19. I Suck At Names: lol. Giant VS bar on long arm, 4WD tracks
20. Axe n' Kill: 4WD plow & axe
21. Pizza that eats you: mid-cutter HS (Pizzastone)

SHW Rankings

1. Phantasmic Slammer: 4wd brick w/ 4 bar "launcher"
2. Lifter 2: Electric Boogaloo: tracked lifter wedge
3. Cruelty: Whoops, it's a brick (w/ "lifter")
4. Starfish Prime: Reversible undercutter w/ flail option
5. Space Cadet: brick w/ "flipper"
6. Black Mamba: lifter brick
7. Shellshock: Flail/shell w/ glacier halo
8. Final Boss: Biohazard (w/ RH flipper?)
9. Dysprosinator: wedge w/ lifter
10. I Dance Crabcore, Motherfucker!: horiz. grabber w/saw
11. Hartmann's Youkai Bot II: undercutter
12. Triple 6: 4WD RH flipper brick
13. Equisde: 12WD omni hyperspeed w/ lifter
14. Fenrir: Touro
15. Delorean Cowboy: half a car with a giant VS on the front
16. TAT: 4WD drum
17. KEGATRON: HUGE but drum-ish
18. Maurdread: weird-shaped drum
19. OverCleaver: 4wd tanky overcutter
20. HAN-D: leg bot w/ power hammer and extendo-plow

LW and HW maybe later if I feel like it

[Hooray For Lexan]

Lightweight:

This class is the most spinner-heavy in the event, and most of those are verticals. The two horizontal spinners are also fairly dangerous, and this class has the strongest wedge meta in the event. There’s three sawbots but only one really dangerous, uhh, cluster. Expect control designs and vertical spinners to dominate, especially in the playoffs.

1-5: Championship Material

1: Ayame. The same control flipper we all know and love. While it doesn’t have forks like some of the competition, this thing is fast and shouldn’t have much trouble repeatedly overturning its opponents. Its armor should also hold up quite well in a division without many of the crazy-destructive spinners, although bots like Shade Fist could toss it around.

2: Tidal Wave 2. A combat-proven design with a good mix of speed and power: this thing will be deadly to bricks and verticals without forks. Horizontal spinners are still a major weakness, but there’s only two of them in the class.

3: Storm Worm. This will counter most of the verts pretty well, and probably most of the bricks too, and even some horizontals. Easily playoff material.

4: Evil Destroyer. Ordinarily 1 speed would be almost crippling on a spinner, but with not just a 360 degree turret but a 360 degree telescoping turret this thing is going to be almost impossible to actually smother and can act as an overcutter. If YSMQ uses it right and its srimech actually works this is championship material. Only a few bots actually have a decent defense against it.

5: Phobos Anomaly. The hammer config is awful but the clamp config’s tough armor and long forks plus having a genuine functional clamp/saw combo make it a serious KO threat to most of the field, not to mention being able to hold victims in place for the hammer. A serious playoff contender.

6-10: Will Probably Make the Playoffs

6: The Thieving Magpie. Re-statting for weapon armor bonus combined with the flipper buff makes this a big improvement on the design that already made the semifinals in ROBOT2. Its only real weaknesses are getting out-wedged by pressing forks or spatulas, and being at real risk of over-rotating when it self-rights.

7: Terpsichora. This bot is deadly to armor-stacking bricks and bots with wide wedges. However, it’s supoptimal against other vertical spinners, and lacks the power to seriously damage a decent portion of the field.

8: Shade Fist. Insert Black Dog joke here, but it’s got some serious speed and power. This will be death for most controlbots, but its flimsy 4-armor chassis means spinners can pretty easily kill it with shock damage.

9: Eudial II. A genuine overhead spinner? In my ARC? Except it can actually hit low to the ground. There are a lot of bots in this field that don’t have an answer to horizontal spinners, and this could do pretty well. The biggest weakness is probably the questionable self-righting ability.

10: Piranha Plant. An infuriating hard counter to every spinner in the competition and will could make the playoffs by virtue of that alone. I’m not convinced it can get hold an opponent still without pinning them against the wall though, so the saw probably won’t do much. I’m not convinced it can self-right either.

11-15: Might make the playoffs

11: Sleipnir. A very fast, very effective spinner killer. Those forks are kryptonite to bots like Tidal Wave and Shade Fist. Oh, and it has a giant shield that’ll stop Hobart, and more importantly Blue Max 2 and Evil Destroyer. Matchups against the control bots aren’t as good since it can’t press the forks, but it still has a very good drivetrain.

12: Cuddle Time! Going for 1 torque on a clampbot’s a ballsy move, but otherwise it has a good drivetrain, decent wedges, and enough armor to mostly stuff the spinners.

13: Killjoy 2. That is a fast lifter – possibly so fast it’ll be hard to control. I’m not sure it can take full advantage of the longer limit for moving pins, so the saw might have trouble getting KOs. The wedge could be bad news for some verts, but the weapon armor bonus doesn’t apply to the pontoons, and spinners that can make contact with those will tear it to pieces.

14: Twin Typhoons: Trying to flank people with two 1-speed bots Does. Not. Work. The only bots slow enough to be gotten by that trick either have enough armor to ignore the twins’ attacks or enough weapon power to liquefy them. This did make the playoffs last time but here it’s facing a much stronger field and is unlikely to do well.

15: The Beast From The West II. I want to rate this higher, but TBR has a history of disappointment. This is potentially a decent control spinner if he makes good use of the weapon’s pressing capability, but other spinners will wreck it.

16-21: You Tried

16: Carnivore. A pretty good brick drivetrain and a well-designed lifter system. Good job making the lifter/srimech linkage actually functional, and it should be able to clamp opponents as well. However, it doesn’t really have a way of dealing with pressing wedges, and the back wedge has a gaping hole in the middle for the srimech, which could prove fatal against spinners – especially verticals.

17: Hobart 2. Points in favor: it’s fast and hits hard. Points against: 2 fucking chassis armor. Its usefulness against control designs is questionable with its hinged wedges, and it’s gonna get marmalized by spinners.

18: Blue Max 2. Not even Monsterworks expects this to win many fights, but it does have an extremely powerful weapon, and it could hit at some weird angles that might net it a KO or two against careless opponents.

19: The Gnasher: Has one of the best drivetrains of the LW spinners, but a weak weapon and a bad wedge. The armor bonus to the shields won’t do much good. Might have a couple good matchups as a control spinner, but not many.

20: Harrowdown Hill. A similar concept to Riptide, with the difference being that Riptide had a much easier time hitting stuff with the actual weapon. 9 weapon will struggle to even scratch the bricks, and in arenas with hazards it could end up losing damage. That tough wedge also won't stop the other verts from throwing it on its back in weapon-to-weapon engagements.

21: Tiny Torque. Fast and with a strong plow, but anybody with forks or a 2WD wedge can get under it with ease, and this class is full of bots that can either bypass the plow or launch it around.





WAITLISTED Stab Runner: The weapon isn’t going to damage anyone, the drivetrain’s too slow to really challenge the control designs, the wedge doesn’t work inverted, and with “almost no ground clearance” it will probably get high-centered on everything. It’s well-armored, but only horizontal spinners will have much trouble with it.



Middleweight:


This class is the opposite of the lightweights: there’s only one vertical spinner, and it has significant weaknesses, so the dominant force in the meta is the presence of three extremely powerful horizontal spinners and several dangerous non-spinner destructive weapons. The flippers don’t have any noteworth representation in this class, but there are several good lifting, clamping, and thwacking machines. Expect two horizontal spinners in the playoffs, along with mostly clamps, wedges, and thwacks with a couple saws or hammers.



1-5: Championship Material

1: Dragonfist. Shit, it got scary. Its slow drivetrain makes it smotherable, but it hits hard enough that not many bots can actually take hits from it, especially with the flail factor.

2: Chronic Jobber. Scary-powerful undercutter.

3: Harbinger. Officially the best drivetrain in the class, this is going to be hard to deal with despite not having the best wedge. Its thwacking tail is also a threat to some bots if it can get to their sides.

4: Harpy. Very fast, and will nope pretty much all the spinners... all what, five of them? But not a great wedge and no active weapon.

5: Diablo Genesis III. Fast, powerful, pretty good wedge, has a lifter that can also clamp. Its main weakness is that it armorstacks pretty hard, so anyone who can get past the wedge can really put on the hurt.

6-10: Will Probably Make the Playoffs

6: Manglerfish. Has one of the better wedges in the field, and if it gets a pin it’s a KO threat to just about everyone. The mediocre drivetrain may make actually achieving this difficult, though, and it has no defense against hammers.

7: NKC. A very similar design to Manglerfish, with the key difference being that it can actually lift and to some extent clamp opponents. This could help it get pins but it still really needs the wall to do the work, and it’s got slightly less maneuverability and the plow’s a worse option for the spinners it’s actually likely to face... although neither of them’s actually good against horizontals.

8: Jackal. Sandstorm, if Sandstorm was actually slower than most of the other bricks. Has enough armor to hold up fairly well to most weapons, but this class has monsters like CJ, Pizza, and Dragonfist.

9: Neophyte Redglare. This is... actually a pretty well-designed brick, but nothing truly special.

10: I Suck At Names. On one hand, this’ll hit HARD, and it has a decent drivetrain and a pressing wedge. On the other hand, the gyroscopic effect and that long, narrow shape will make it hard to maneuver, and opponents could get past the weapon.


11-15: Might Make the Playoffs

11: Super Youkai Warhead. This is a... weird design. The gutripper saw might be effective if it gets a clamp in, but non-idiot writers are gonna notice it doesn’t have the reach to actually get to the internals of most bots. It’s also not that quick, doesn’t have the torque to push opponents around, and doesn’t have a great wedge, so in practice it’ll mostly just be a spinner-killer, but it can actually kill the spinners in this class.

12: Pizza That Eats You. Has a devastating weapon, though 3 speed could make it vulnerable to getting smothered. However, the team’s inexperienced, so I’m not placing it too high without seeing his RP skills.

13: Carbonemys. Well, this will fuck up anything it hits. Its subpar drivetrain will make that not terribly easy against bricks though, and its own armor’s pretty vulnerable to spinning weapons.

14: Scion. Brick... sort of. Its config abuse is lulzy, but it can’t guard everywhere at once with that wedge design, and the spinners in this class are all well-suited to hitting the vulnerable parts.

15: Jawsome. 5 speed with a pure control bot is... ballsy, but this could be hard for opponents to actually get under, and it can grab and push around just about anything. Those prongs are also one of the hardest-to-counter wedges in the class. I... honestly have no idea how this will do.


16-21: You Tried

16: Psychosis. Mediocre drivetrain, wedge is actually decent if pressed, and its weird-ass weapon should be able to go over the top of plows. However, that’s some really weak armor. It could win against some control bots, but other spinners will obliterate it.

17: Lethal Carriageway MK 3. The good news? He brought a lifter this time. The bad news? It doesn’t look like it can press the wedge, and I’m not sure if said wedge does anything when inverted.

18: Jevil. Hits with... 5 power. The only thing it really has going for it is that it’ll be very difficult for anyone but a horizontal spinner to actually attack and control, but not getting trashed doesn’t actually win matches.

19: Marksman. I spy a static wedge. Oh, and a short wheelbase that’ll make it easy to high-center, and low torque on a flipper. 11 armor will nope Psychosis, but the “big three” horizontals will tear it apart.

20: Vortex 3. Noisey’s still giving his bots bad ground clearance. That screw drive won’t be great when tipped backward, and sideways tilting will high-center it. The drivetrain can’t keep up with most control bots, and nothing but a wide hinged wedge means almost everything will get under it. Oh, and the gaping hole in the middle of the wedge is gonna mean free corner damage for the horizontals.

21: Axe n’ Kill. Good luck killing spinners with 10 armor, good luck killing bricks with 11 weapon power and a 4WD wedge.


Heavyweight

Similar to the middleweights, the heavyweights have few spinners and what spinners are present are nearly all horizontals. The difference is, the spinners here are mostly mediocre to poor, with Death Metal and Bang! Being the most likely to do well. Instead, this class is a flipping frenzy! There are five flippers in the class, including big names like Dreadnought and Chimera, and the arena selection gives them two arenas where they can OOTA opponents. The class also has some good lifters and clamps, so expect a lot of wedge fights, and finally there are a couple of overhead weapons that might perform decently. Instead of saws, it’s hammers here, and the event’s token crusher, Petaflare.

1-5: Championship Material

1: Dreadnought MK4. FRONT HINGED MASTER RACE. A nice low wedge, a weapon powerful enough to get the job done by repeatedly flipping opponents and OOTA-ing them, and enough armor that... I think Dreadnought and Golden Blaze can possibly KO it, but I don’t think anybody else can.

2: Chimera. EIGHT WHEELS. But seriously, that four-bar flipper’s got a lotta power, and it has a fast drivetrain if not the most precise. It also has enough armor to stop the spinners in this class. The anti-hammer config is theoretically decent, but the flipper itself being vulnerable is a big weakness.

3: Compound Fracture. Same old gray box. It has a middle-of-the-road drivetrain for a control bot, and its interchangeable wedges include some very effective forks, as well as plows and scoops that will nope horizontal and flail spinners. Its huge ground clearance also makes it almost impossible to high-center.

4: Black Diamond. Very fast, a powerful and OOTA-capable flipper, and a good wedge that will hold up to all but the really powerful spinners. This one’ll be hard to beat.

5: Hellfire. Not the quickest, but has one of the most powerful flippers in the competition, and a good wedge with a long pokey spatula. It’s also very well-armored. Horizontals may be able to hit the less-armored side panels, but hammers and crushers are a non-issue. Definitely a bot to watch out for.


6-10: Will Probably Make the Playoffs

6: Death Metal. It’s a little more durable than last time it appeared, but at the expense of dropping to a –3 control balance, which is questionable even for a horizontal spinner. However, this thing hits hard enough to be really dangerous to most of the class.

7: Something Something Clusterbot. Really quick and maneuverable, but they’re also both made out of paper mache. Will almost certainly lose to spinners, and could very easily get KOed by arena hazards as well.

8: The Trashman. Well, that’s... unique. A pretty good anti-spinner design. It can press its wedge, but it’s still not amazing in that department and its weaponry is very slow, which will make controlling most opponents difficult. Self-righting will also be slow. I doubt the trashcans will do much besides give its opponents damage points either.

9: Coupe de Grace: The deathhammer’s back. It has a decent drivetrain and it hits hard. This will put the hurt on plowstackers, but it doesn’t have great armor.

10: Meta Ridley. Mediocre stats, without the power to get past the frontal armor of most of the class or the speed to flank.

11-15: Might Make the Playoffs

11: Bang! The one (functional) vertical spinner. Has a good wedge and a powerful eggbeater. It’s an inexperienced builder and the design does have some weak points, but could have a decent first showing.

12: Tabor MK3. I can’t tell if it can actually lower that lifter all the way to the ground when it’s at an angle. If it can’t that’ll be a problem. It has a decent drivetrain which combined with the turret will make flanking it difficult if it can, and the armor to stand up to the worst spinners can throw at it. As a bonus it can use the plow as a hammer blocker and still have the skirts to get under opponents.

13: Pendulum II. A decently quick hammer, and has some good power and actually a really good wedge. This is a serious threat to some control bots if TBR RPs well, which is dubious. However, it doesn’t have any defense against spinners.

14: Petaflare. A crusher, which doesn’t have the torque to control opponents, in a class with a lot of bots it’s unlikely to be able to KO. It’s going to struggle against control bots and hammers, although the Nuclear Heat Visor config is a nightmare for spinners.

15: The Long Arm of the Law. Looks like a clamp but isn’t. It’s actually a pure lifter with a hook shape that could catch some opponents, and the lifter’s pretty fast. Its armor will hold up nicely to spinners, but it’s not the quickest or the wedge-iest.


16-21: You Tried

16: Necroblade. Horizontal control spinners never seem to work that well. It’s a complete glass cannon and can’t afford to take weapon-to-weapon hits from other spinners, and it doesn’t have the speed to reliably avoid that. For that matter, it doesn’t hit hard enough to tear through any decent armor and doesn’t have the speed to get to the sides of control designs.

17: Golden Blaze. Every time I’ve tried 5/2 drivetrains on spinners it’s sucked. This thing hits hard and is a threat to some of the weaker bricks. 9 weapon armor would be a big liability if this class didn’t have so few spinners. This will beat the snot out of the hammers and might outreach spinners that aren’t Death Metal. However, there are plenty of bots here that can stuff it and keep it on its back half the match, even with the Tornado Mer Dance.

18: Bass Drop II. Decent stats against control bots will be hamstrung by its long body, lack of a good wedge, and the awkward weapon shape. Spinners will have a field day against 9 armor too.

19: Perdito. 1 torque on a flipper’s a little ballsy. Wedge can be angled in on but is otherwise decent. With no shot of the wheels it’ll probably be assumed to have low enough ground clearance to not be able to easily escape wedges. It’s well-enough armored that none of the spinners or hammers will be able to hurt it, but there’s not enough to get it into the playoffs.

20: Terminating Cutter Gen III. The horizontal config is... not great, but at least usable against some opponents. The vertical config has no wedge and will pretty much instantly get stuck on its side if it’s ever used.

21: Spitfire. Will be mediocre when upright and terrible when inverted. That weapon’s effectiveness is questionable, its armor isn’t spinner-proof except against Necroblade, its one of the slower control bots... oh, and Petaflare can potentially KO it.


WAITLISTED No Dude You’ll Get Crushed. Has a good drivetrain, but a really sub-par wedge, the clamp and saw have no reach so realistically at best it’ll just be grinding bites out of opponents’ wedges, and there’s no way that srimech will work. Its plow stacking will also make it easy prey to the hammers and crusher in the class, especially with those treads presenting a huge target.


OKAY SO THIS GUY'S TECHNICALLY IN BUT NO IDEA IF IT'LL GET MOVED UP TO SHW Shadow MK 5. Decent stats, but with a 4WD static wedge and no reach it will struggle to make use of them.

Superheavyweights:

Much like lightweights, the superheavyweights are spinner-heavy, with nine entries having a spinning weapon. There’s the best balance of spin directions if you just look at the number of entries, with slightly more verticals, but I don’t have much confidence in any of the verts besides Fenrir. The horizontals do have one black sheep, but there’s serious threats as well, with two undercutters, two flails, and one shell (total of three bots because configs). As in the Heavyweights lifters and flippers dominate the controlbot side of the field, but there’s not really a lot of “meta optimization:” I see lots of 4WD bots with hinged non-pressing wedges and not a whole lot of forks. Finally, there’s two oddballs: bots with big, flat anti-spinner shields of some sort that should tank the horizontals combined with overhead attack weapons. This includes a strafing horizontal clamp with a saw and a walking deathhammer with a keepaway plow. Both are unknown quantities IMO though, and ultimately I expect the bricks to come out on top.



1-5: Championship Material

1: Cruelty. It’s pretty much the fastest in the competition, and has one of the best wedges, and has a huge amount of torque, and it can nope those pesky flails and FBDs. I don’t even see any genuinely bad matchups for it.

2: Lifter 2: Electric Boogaloo. Oh hey, it’s got a good drivetrain and weapon now. 11 armor isn’t amazing, but it has an ass-wedge it can use as ablative armor if necessary.

3: Fenrir. Not much reach, but has a decent drivetrain, low wedge-ey skids, and a ton of power. Given the number of bots that don’t have a solution for skids and have big armor bonuses, this could tear through many of the bricks in the class.

4: Phantasmic Slammer: FAST and very well-armored, especially with that hammer blocker. Good luck hurting it. Flipper’s optimized for harassment and maybe precision OOTA strikes, but the wedges aren’t amazing.

5: Shellshock. pretty much every flaw this monster had in ICECrown got corrected. It’s still vulnerable to getting smothered, and bots like Triple 6 that can actually put it upside-down may be able to get it stuck, but this is still one of the most dangerous machines in the competition.


6-10: Will Probably Make the Playoffs

6: I Dance Crabcore, Motherf*cker! This thing is bizarre, but it’s also a deadly opponent to pretty much any spinner. Not sure about how effective the wedge will be though, and it could spend a lot of time getting flipped around.

7: Hartmann’s Youkai Bot 2. That’s a scary weapon. It’s got a lot of power and a lot of reach. Even bots like Dysprosinator have to be careful to keep it from spinning up.

8: Starfish Prime. That undercutting blade is a threat to a lot of the bots in here. The flail has an insane amount of reach and could go over a lot of wedges, but it’s a big double-edged sword since it can’t run upside-down in that config.

9: Black Mamba. Not the quickest, but has a pretty good wedge, the lifter’s a perfect speed for flipping opponents over and bullying them, and its wedge is decently sturdy, although it really has to keep the spinners in this class slowed down to last three minutes.

10: Triple 6. Jesus that flipper’s insane. But with 6 speed and a hinged wedge with no forks, getting a flip in won’t be that easy. Well-armored, although higher horizontal spinners could hit the corners of the flipper and/or get past them to the corners of the chassis.


11-15: Might Make the Playoffs

11: Space Cadet. Pretty much a pure brick. The flipper’s kind of anemic, but almost nothing’s going to damage it.

12: Dysprosinator. classic tanky cheese wedge. 2WD, and there’s a lot of bots in here that it can get under. It also has the armor to survive almost anything.

13: Equisde. That is... a really ballsy stat spread. This is gonna get absolutely murdered by anything with a destructive weapon that can actually hit it, as well as hazards. Also note that its self-righting will be pretty slow.

14: Final Boss. Another 4WD flipper with hinged wedges. Unfortunately this doesn’t have the durability of the other two, the speed of Slammer, or... yeah, 10 armor’s really vulnerable.

15: Han-D. Thoroughly ridiculous, but also potentially effective if it can actually land a hit with that hammer (that’ll reach right over any blockers!) / keep the plow pointed at spinners. On the other hand it could easily get bullied around the arena and those spindly legs could be vulnerable to hazards.


16-21: You Tried

16: TAT. A control spinner. Its speed is okay, and it can actually get under bots like Lifter 2 and Triple 6 if they’re not careful, but its drum lacks the punch to cause serious damage to most control bots. Against other spinners its poor reach is likely to get it splattered.

17: Delorean Cowboy. Welp. This is a good shitpost. Attacking this head-on is downright suicidal for pretty much anyone, because it has an amazing wedge and a devastating spinner. However, with that narrow body and immense gyro forces it could easily end up stuck on its side.

18: Maurdread. None of the flaws from its ICECrown appearance have been fixed. That srimech should take a point from the drum, leaving it a bit underpowered, and the shape is just plain awkward.

19: Kegatron. Those wheels are extremely vulnerable to horizontals, and the weapon itself lacks oomph and durability. It flat-out can’t damage many of its opponents in the front and without the ability to launch them it doesn’t have much of a chance of getting around the front either.

20: Overcleaver. 13 power is... not gonna be able to seriously hurt most bricks or win weapon-to-weapon against most of these spinners. Expect it to get bullied around the arena.

[Venice Queen]

• Middleweights – most bots in this division are either anti-wedge wedges or anti-spinner damaging weapons. I have no fucking clue how this is gonna play out, but the defining feature of good bots in this division SHOULD be their ability to beat both the wedges and the fuck you damage bots.
1. Redglare – Jackal if it had a stat spread that worked in this division
2. Scion – one of the few things that can actually beat dragonfist and still take on other wedges.
3. Diablo Genesis III – still a super solid 2WD flipper/lifter thing, still will eventually be punished by something that can mid-cut.
4. Harpy – again, literally just your ROBOT2 team. Worst of the good wedges in the wedge vs wedge fight, but still solid matchups vs most of the cast
5. I suck at names – well this loses instantly if it gets smacked from the side, but is quite an interesting challenge for anything else. 50/50 odds on this sweeping the division and winning the championship because no one figures it out, or it losing the last 2 weeks of qualifiers after a perfect early run and dipping out in Quarterfinals because someone figured out how to beat it. if it does well, expect to see imitations next event.
6. Dragonfist – flails might be punishable in some of the fuck you level of hazards arenas, but this is otherwise not a fun thing for most people to run into. Will still lose in Quarters when it runs into a hard-counter matchup though
7. Pizza that eats you – Dragonfist with a direction weapon and an actual drivetrain. Should beat Jobber 1v1 due to bar vs disc, so it gets to be here
8. Chronic Jobber – Dragonfist with a directional weapon and an actual drivetrain
9. Manglerfish – has pretty much the best setup possible for protecting itself vs spinners with this sort of design. IF a saw can consistently stand up to all types of bots, this will do it.
10. NCK – Manglerfish, power saw edition.
11. Harbinger – no plan for flippers or 2WD bots, fast enough to stuff most of the spinners if it gets lucky.
12. Jackal – a bit too slow, actually. The importance of torque in this division is out-ranked by the fuck-you spinners: you need either idiotic tier armor or a lot of speed, this has neither. Will keep it close vs other control bots.
13. Lethal carriageway – poor wedges options with a lifter, solid otherwise
14. Jawsome – top tier shape for a clamp, less convinced by the 5 speed, but the rest of the stats are good, and it should be able to overcome that bad speed...some of the time, especially if this guy turns out to know what he’s doing with RPs.
15. Jevil – this is annoying as hell, but can it actually WIN while being uncatchable and nigh indestructible?
16. Carbonemys – I mean yeah you deal a billion damage but you also have spinner drive stats with a directional aimed weapon.
17. Psychosis – oof that armor. Good vs most control bots tho.
18. Super Youkai Warhead – slow clamp and weak wedges, not really sure what the saw’s gonna actually do here.
19. Axe ‘n kill – god tier statline, idiot tier description.
20. Vortex 3 – I’m just unconvinced, man. It’s dope, but it’s got weak wedges, a weapon that functionally wastes 2 points on the spinner, and poor tools to deal with being wedged. It should do ok against horizontals tho
21. Marksman – I’m not even convinced that bronco’s particularly good, and I’m DEFNITELY not convinced that a bronco clone is good in this division


• Heavyweights – big names and a flipper game. There’s not a lot of damaging robots around in this division, but there’s a few solid ones to keep things interesting.
1. Coup de grace – It’s a good bot but I’m not allowed to say anything nice about it until you stop bragging about its championship it got through being a walker :V
2. Perdito – well hey this one’s 2WD so it’s actually good on ARC :V . you don’t actually need torque in this division, but having 13 armor is REALLY nice. I like the decisions you made here.
3. Compound Fracture – ARC original sin
4. Black Diamond – Diablo Genesis if it had a flipper shape that made sense but didn’t have the clamping utility. Ballsy statline
5. Dreadnought – there’s a lot of other flippers, which makes being front-hinged worse since you’re really a less efficient version of them. good otherwise.
6. Bang! – It’ll win a lot by virtue of being a wedged vert with a good statline. Almost black dog clone, 75% residentsleeper.
7. Death Metal – 15/7 is nothing to scoff at, but 5/2 is
8. Chimera – I’ve got like, 2 auto-loss matchups but the rest should be good, as long as the writers actually notice the hinges on the flipper forks :V
9. Tabor 3 – there’s a lot of really good wedges here, to the point where I’m not really that confident in a 6/4 drivetrain. Still, the turret gives it a lot of utility so it’ll probably do fine
10. The trashman – Ostensibly this is just a wedgebot with the signature V900 LSD touch, but I don’t really think the minibots will actually do much for you, so it’s a few points worse than the best bots around
11. Hellfire – weapon is definitely too big for an armor bonus, and the drivetrain stats are floundering just a little bit.
12. Long arm of the law – 2 main problems here: there’s gaps for horizontals to exploit, even though it does have 12 armor. It also can’t actually take advantage of pressing with the weapon. The first issue is manageable, the second will prevent this from getting much further than quarterfinals.
13. Petaflare – all these configs, still a crusher, still got 5 speed. Still it can at least indefinitely survive spinners and then still lose on control
14. Terminating Cutter gen – unrefined, but a solid concept. Should do decently
15. Meta Ridley – I don’t actually think this is too bad on the weapon-to-weapon matchups, but the disc is too thick to have the undercutter effect that it needs to surprise vs wedges (either that or your chassis is literally 2 inches tall :V)
16. Spitfire – well it is 2WD, but it also only has 6 speed and no invertability versus a bunch of flippers so good luck my dude :V
17. Necroblade – absolutely no plan against spinners, OK vs wedges.
18. Shadow mk. 5 – man this would have done way better in Lightweight :V
19. No dude! You’ll Get Crushed! – classic “ridiculous” design from syl that’s just a box with a mystery weapon. Mystery weapon doesn’t let it out-wedge the flippers or effectively self-right or deal with spinners, so it’s not useful in this division.
20. Bass Drop – straight outta 2002
21. Golden Blaze – same stat spread as death metal, literally just 2 points worse because of the minimized weapon armor. Feels overheads man.
22. Pendulum – straight outta original robot wars, complete with absolutely no way to even hope to deal with spinners, and not actually being able to hammer at things on its wedge.
23. Something something clusterbot – 1 armor means they straight up kill themselves with that drivetrain if they ram into a wall – or ram an opponent into the wall – or ram into an opponent.


• Superheavies – spinner central, such that I actually took note of spinner power/weapon armor/armor in the rankings. Invertability is both lacking and not really needed all that often here.
1. Starfish Prime – 15/11/7 OR 14/13/7. Anti-spinner central, decent options vs control.
2. Cruelty – the obligatory actually good rambot that will beat all the spinners except starfish
3. Hartmann’s – 16/11/7
4. Parabolic Trajectory – definitely won’t be able to self-right with ziggy’s flipper trajectory and 2 power on a SUPERHEAVYWEIGHT. Really solid otherwise, and self-righting only matters in like, 4 matchups anyway
5. Dysprosinator – literally just voltairc, so I have to hate it because of what happened to biohazard.
6. Delorean Cowboy – 16/12/8. I beat every spinner 1v1, provided I, ya know, actually can face them.
7. Triple six – kills anything it gets under. The problem is getting under things. Has the armor to tank, but does it have the speed to take advantage of situations?
8. Shellshock – 15/11/9. Not nearly as good as people think – only meets opponents in most spinner matchups, and has to sacrifice all speed for it.
9. Fenrir – 15/10/6 – ya know you had the opportunity to toss one more into armor and be able to stand up to all the spinners (and win even at like, 1 point disadvantages because drum).
10. Final Boss – generalist stats don’t really work so well in this division, man
11. Black Mamba – what the fuck is 4 torque doing for you here, and why do you have 4 weapon. This is statted for fighting like, 1/3 of the field at best
12. Crabcore – alright at beating horizontal spinners. Not really that good against anything else. Rear-only h-drive makes his strafing predictable and exploitable. Not with the shitheap I entered, but someone’ll do it :V
13. Lifter2 – see now this time you should have entered the high armor version :V
14. HAN-D – joke’s on you I never have to figure this one out because I entered my shitpost in this weight class :V
15. Overcleaver – 13/12/11(10). Ya know if your traction was 2 I’d say you were on to something here. I do actually think that this COULD wedge-tank into spinner tank a lot of the spinners in the field, but it’s essentially got a random chance to do that with a 4/1 control ratio. I’m definitely stealing this idea though.
16. Kegatron – 12/10/6, massive exposed wheels vs a bunch of horizontals, this is pretty dicked.
17. Space Cadet – has weaknesses vs both spinners and wedges, with its poor wedge (4-bar flipper sticks out in front of everything and has no ground scraping components), and its front corners.
18. TAT – 12/10/6. convenient wedgelet corners to toss into the spinner, terrible anti-spinner stats.
19. XD – Kills itself with its own ramming damage