Gareth

US$ "Swift and sturdy, Gareth is well suited for both capturing and defending beacons"

Introduction
The Gareth is a light robot with one light and medium hardpoint.

Ability
This robot has a built-in physical shield located on the robot’s left side. The Gareth’s Phalanx Mode ability lets it switch its shield to the front, similar to how a medieval knight uses a shield. When the shield is active, it can block oncoming projectiles from hitting its front torso, however, the robot’s movement speed is decreased by 20%.

Strategy
Equipped with one medium and one light hardpoint the Gareth has decent firepower. Gareth has extremely low health but it's shield has massive hitpoints. With caution, heavy bots may be engaged successfully, but this is not recommended as the Gareth’s shield may be destroyed and leave him highly vulnerable to counterattack. Gareth is well suited for countering Stalker pilots, as weapons are situated at a good height for damaging the Stalker, even when Stealth Mode is engaged. A competitive combination would be a Storm and Gust.

A Gareth pilot's role should be capturing beacons and flanking enemy bots. Its speed helps with these two objectives, and when equipped with a Magnum and a Taran, it can be a powerful flanker. However, it will work best if the enemy's attention is diverted. If they notice you trying to get around them, retreat immediately.

While the shield adds greatly to the Gareth’s resilience, it does not render him invulnerable. Rockets are effective against shielded robots due to splash damage, and its shield may be broken after sustaining heavy damage.

Possible Setups
These setups are recommended for the Gareth :

Overview
The most commonly used setup is the Taran/Magnum combination for two main reasons; first, because it can inflict solid DPS (damage per second) especially for a light robot. Second, that it can damage robots while staying out of the range of 300 meter ranged rocket weapons (Orkans and Pinatas), as rocket weapons are dangerous to the Gareth.

The rocket weapons just mentioned can also be used on this robot, allowing it to quickly take out targets low on health, however this setup is more risky, as you do not want to get in a close ranged rocket duel.

The Punisher setup is inexpensive, and an effective damage dealer with more range that the plasma (Tarans and Magnums) build, however doing less damage beyond 300 meters due to the bullet spread.

Lastly, the Scourge and Magnum build. This build allows the Gareth to damage units from a safe distance, albeit low damage from beyond 350 meters, but enough to be an annoyance. This setup is a more flexible, but not as specialized, version of the Taran and Magnum, due to it being able to inflict damage from up to 600 meters, but also doing solid damage from 350 meters or less, since the Scourge increases in damage the closer the enemy is to weapon.

Not Recommended

 * Mid-range and long range weaponry, with the exception of the previously mentioned Scourge (due to its flexibility) because of low damage, and they don't fit the Gareth's role very well, as a beacon capturer and a beacon holder.


 * Shocktrain build is not fully recommended, but is included as it is the only viable build with one Shocktrain.

Trivia

 * Gareth was a well known knight who was part of Sir Arthur’s Knights of the Round Table.
 * It is one of the 6 robots to have a built in Ecu, the others being Bulgasari, Lancelot, Galahad, Rhino and Raijin.
 * This is one of the 3 robots in the BritBots pack. The others are the Lancelot and Galahad.