The Lancelot: Alive or Not? (Part 1)

This is a two-part series. The next part will discuss about how it is used in the Six-Pack League, which has become one of the most popular competitive modes in War Robots.)

Part 1 focuses on a very quick history that will allow even non-WR players to understand, as well as what has happened to the Lancelot up to this point.

A Historical Tale

Once upon a time, brandishing a Leo on the battlefield was akin to seal-clubbing, because of its relatively cheap cost, heavy armor and flexible ways to setup the robot. Needless to say, it didn’t excel in a particular role; however, it served many purposes and it remained a viable robot to use up to this very day.

Even though it’s trumped by some other cheesy builds such as “Mag Gepards,” the Leo remained as a mainstay of the battlefield for a while.

But then, history was about to change.

Here Comes the Knight

After the crazy Rhino metagame, three brothers have come to the battlefields of War Robots.

They were Gareth, the small, agile skirmisher that can withstand plasma; Galahad, a fighter that can brawl against most of the robots in the metagame of the time…and of course, Lancelot, a heavy unit with a three-piece shield that just happens to have the ability to run fast for a short while.

With the launch of the Knights of Camelot – otherwise known as “Britbots”, everything changed – for better or for worse.

Along the Lancelot and Ancile combination, which basically became the top robot in the block – everyone just played a variation of the Lancelot in the upper leagues, with the occasional Fury and Griffin to spice things a little bit.

The Lancelot, although way more expensive than the Leo, was able to withstand a lot of punishment from energy weapons. It also boasted two medium slots along with its eponymous heavy slot, which allowed the British-inspired machine to take the lead in combat, endure high amounts of punishment and crush its enemies on the battlefield.

Unrivaled in its majesty and power, the Lancelot was king of the battlefield for a long time…

Until the New Age Came

With the new breed of Korean bots known as the Dash Team, things have changed.

As a result of having tons of new robots and weapons coming up faster than a man would grow his hair, the role of the Lancelot went up in limbo as everyone preferred to use the new, shiny toys, thus lessening the Lancelot’s appearance in the battlefield.

Yet, a realization came to everyone: Many of the weapons were in the medium and heavy classes, which actually allowed the Lancelot to have new setups and get into new roles

Thus, the new role of the Lancelot is born: It became the “Leo” of this generation, not because it wanted to, but in order to survive the change of the metagame that followed.

What’s devastating about the Lancelot in this age?

Everyone will agree that the Lancelot is more of an idiosyncrasy in a metagame where quick ingress, egress and damage are the names of the game.

However, the setups that roll around the Taran and Orkan still remain as popular as ever; if anything, teams use them to provoke their opponents into peeking early and become easy food for any decent squad who knows the concept of “kill trading.”

In addition, the “Zeus plus two Scourges” (or the Ancile/two Scourges) combination is notorious for their continuous and non-stop energy damage; unshielded and energy-shield users would be surprised that their hitpoints are wrecked down quickly to oblivion – the damage is only trumped by either the Spectre or the Bulgasari in today’s meta.

Then, there are other crazy builds out there that work one way or another – obviously, most players are caught off-guard by the creativity and bluff of these Lancelot users, which results to unexpected bloodbaths.

Would it be able to stand in the new metagame?

Frankly speaking, the Lancelot isn’t considered anymore to be a top-level robot at this point in time; even though many players still run it for its viability, reliability and familiarity, it has turned into a “niche-specific” or “role-specific” robot that is played in certain situations.

However, as it stands, the Lancelot is still usable – and it just as good as any robot out there. Heck, if a player like Lottie could survive the capricious Champions League with five griffins, why would top-level players, some of whom have outlasted some of the nastiest fights in War Robots, be unable to do the same?

Final Words

At the end of the day, everyone knows that the Lancelot’s heyday has already passed.

However, it’s still alive and kicking, which is a tribute to the design and flexibility that the robot offers.

Personal note:

I am in Expert right now and since not everyone has a MK2 “jump-duck-descend” hangar just yet, the Lancelot seems to be a very good option even at this moment in time.

PPS – Here are the links to the “non-fiction” War Robots articles on this site:

• A Greenhorn’s Journey to Diamond
• Some Thoughts on WR Expert League
• Unpopular Opinions: The Shocktrain Meta – Why is it so Divisive?
• Unpopular Opinions: Honor Rewards and Supply Crates
• Paradigms of War Robots
• Observations on the Haechi: An Early Take

Hope you enjoy reading these stuff!

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