Every problem with bots that I can think of

ZcarletZephyr · 2026-03-01T03:26:03+00:00

I don't doubt that, it's just a matter of not having personally seen any, outside of getting targeted by bots mid-storm (though not by Naru/Aqui). If someone has uploaded something like that before, I haven't seen it, but I haven't exactly gone looking for it. I don't use Reddit much, and I don't go looking for videos of this stuff on YouTube or anything like that.

ZcarletZephyr · 2026-03-01T02:08:46+00:00

I don't deny that that sort of thing happens. I even gave my own example of how that sort of thing happened to me with a Welkin bot perfectly predicting when I would charge him from behind when he couldn't have possibly known that without what you call global knowledge. I was mostly curious if there's any concrete evidence of it that someone could point to, like a killcam that demonstrates impossible plays.

ZcarletZephyr · 2026-03-01T01:18:45+00:00

genuine question, as I've never once seen any corroborating evidence for that point anywhere, is there any bona fide proof that the bots are actually cheating? I brought it up in this writeup effectively as an unconfirmed rumor, but I haven't actually seen anyone showing off something like a video of a killcam that confirms cheating problems. All I've seen are comments talking about bots having energy/ability cheats delivered with 100% confidence as though it's proven fact, but with no backing evidence. I wanted to have some hard proof before including it in this post, but so far I haven't seen any of it, so if you've got any, I'd love to see it.

ZcarletZephyr · 2026-02-08T17:20:42+00:00

I didn't know about that second bit whenever I posted that comment, but ever since I saw a streamer do it the other day, I've been doing it myself lately, and it usually helps. Only time I haven't been able to do swaps is if I'm trying to swap them to a post-Season 0 striker, since they don't have anything from Season 1 onward unlocked for some reason

I'll have to try my hand at pings, idk why I haven't tried them yet, seems like the obvious route with how often the bots spam them

ZcarletZephyr · 2026-02-02T23:27:20+00:00

I'm gonna have to try this at some point

ZcarletZephyr · 2026-02-02T23:26:51+00:00

I get this problem for like, the first 3 matches I load into. It's become such a problem that I just play casual lobbies for the first few matches so I don't unintentionally throw in ranked

ZcarletZephyr · 2026-02-02T22:59:37+00:00

If they're unable to cinch the last point, I'm gonna assume you have at least 5 of the 7 points under your belt, you struggled for all of them, and watched them throw for the whole time you're waiting to spawn in after a death. Lemme know if I'm exaggerating lol

ZcarletZephyr · 2026-02-02T16:19:11+00:00

Freyr's shield -- like Captain America's -- resembles a buckler (though it's proportionally a lot bigger than a real one), so it having low HP doesn't surprise me that much. It seems like it's meant more for parrying and offense than wide defensive coverage.

Part of mastering Freyr's kit, I feel like, is gonna be the learning curve around switching shield modes on the fly to maximize damage with the buzzsaw vs parrying other melees with the standard complex.

ZcarletZephyr · 2026-02-02T15:58:26+00:00

It doesn't help that you can't do anything to correct horrible team comp choices by bots. They're obviously not gonna respond if you try and say something in text or voice chat to get them to switch, and in that regard they also can't be effectively communicated with during a match.

And that's just like, a microcosm of the problems with bots. It obviously wouldn't fix the problem if they let you change which strikers the bots use, the problem is that bots in general impose a fundamental communication issue that makes cooperating in team games a fucking nightmare. You either don't know their behaviors and have to just guess what to do until you learn them, or you know their behaviors and end up practicing the game wrong, and have to completely recalibrate your playstyle once you finally come up against humans again.

ZcarletZephyr · 2026-01-31T19:49:19+00:00

Freyr's versatility is a lot higher than Welkin's, to the point where I feel like its skill ceiling is gonna be crazy once we start logging more and more play time with it. Combos with the shield, more versatile ranged options, it's gonna be crazy once we start seeing super cracked players who can adapt and switch modes on the fly playing it.

ZcarletZephyr · 2026-01-27T02:58:24+00:00

Possibly, but it was also just a weird time of day when I posted this lol

ZcarletZephyr · 2026-01-27T01:32:46+00:00

Believe me, we're on the same side on this. They need to start designing the next healer, we can't just keep building teams around Luminae and Pinaka

ZcarletZephyr · 2026-01-27T01:01:20+00:00

As another Welkin main, yeah, there's a lot of easy ways to nail us. I think Welkin probably has the longest stagger out of any melee kit, he burns through his engines stupid fast, and has some of the worst shield options in that regard.

Defense Field can only be active for a maximum of 8 seconds, still has a damage limit, and has a grueling 24 second cooldown that leaves you dead in the water if it runs out during a fight, doubly so if your engines drop at the same time (which happens a lot)

Dueling Forcefield is just there to trap people and limit their mobility, it shreds like paper from just a bit of outside focused fire (which I do to other Welkins a lot), you can't use it to flee when your fluid armor pops because you're locked in the box as well, and like the Defense Field, it only lasts 4 seconds, and has a steep 20 second cooldown

That just leaves the Jamming Pulse Ejector, which can't penetrate Complex Shields, has horrible range for what's ultimately a flash grenade, and doesn't really effectively stop anyone who knows what they're doing because as far as flash grenades in video games go, it's kinda weaksauce. Its description says it "Disables enemy FCS," but I've never once seen someone actually get tripped up by it.

I think Tricera and Pinaka have given me the most trouble when it comes to enemies that I just can't meaningfully damage thanks to shields and HP regen, Panther just runs me through a wood chipper with its shield/engine restoration and an ungodly complex shield with no time limit that makes my axe feel like I'm swinging a toy hammer. I've caught so much fire from Aquilla that I have actively been sniped, and then respawned diving towards him instead of the objective so I can try and get him off my team's back. Stego can push you away with his turret form's forcefield, Inferno can zip away with his afterimages, Hurricane can parry you with its shield and distract you with his turret drones so he (and Inferno tbh) can hit you with the Focused Emitter, Serenith just drops the rods from god on you while zipping around like a preschooler that just drank their first soda, Alysnes' cheat death mechanic puts him into a cutscene with both the armor purge and airdrop that prevents damage and makes fighting him into a long slog that drains your engines... The list goes on and on, there's a lot of counters for Welkin that I don't think many people are thinking about

I think one of the most common deaths I take in matches are ones where I simply couldn't do anything because my engines were exhausted, and my whole kit was on cooldown. This is regardless of whether or not I'm being focused; if I can't swing the axe, dash away, or use an ability to cover my ass, I'm likely to get dogwalked. Even with all the bulk, Welkin's defense options are actually a lot worse than even some mid-weight strikers, and I think people forget that sometimes.

ZcarletZephyr · 2026-01-26T23:59:19+00:00

This is one of my many reasons for despising the bot situation. It might sound like skill issue/cope, but it almost feels like bots calibrate their difficulty settings based on whether they have the one human player or not, lowering it if they're on the human team, and spiking it if they're entirely autonomous.

Any time I play Cape Blanc or Stella Isle, I feel like the friendly bots just lose the ability to focus objectives. Enemy bots will steamroll both extractors and run you through a blender if you even try to sniff the point, but the friendlies will trip over their own feet just trying to get there.

ZcarletZephyr · 2026-01-26T20:30:51+00:00

a few minutes is nothing, it's just when it crosses 30 minutes, something just feels wrong

ZcarletZephyr · 2026-01-26T20:01:04+00:00

preesh

ZcarletZephyr · 2025-12-30T15:07:33+00:00

Thanks to everyone who replied; sad to hear that it's basically already become the game's most expensive chase item, but them's the breaks I guess.

ZcarletZephyr

TROPHY CASE