Carnage

US$ "Remains lethal to enemies even after taking significant damage. Is protected by a built-in energy shield"

Introduction
The Carnage is a medium robot with 2 heavy hardpoints.

Abilties
The Carnage has a built-in shield, it functions identically to the Ancile, though it has less durability.

The robot's Rush ability increases the its movement speed by 66% for 10 seconds, and has a cooldown period of 20 seconds.

As Carnage
The Carnage can equip two heavy weapons and when purchased comes equipped with 2 × Thunders. This hardpoint configuration allows for close combat in two Thunders, medium-ranged weapon such as two Zeuses or two Tridents, or long-ranged weapons such as two Nashorns or two Trebuchets. Dual Tridents can be a powerful setup, due to dealing over 42,000 damage (when both are at max level) around a corner. Firing at a cluster of enemy robots can increase that number significantly. However, the Trident build is highly situational, due to the popularity of Ancile shields, and agile robots, which can either ignore or evade an entire salvo of Trident rockets respectively.

Despite its high potential firepower and modest speed, the Carnage is fragile, having below average health, even with the inbuilt shield. Because of this, a Thunder Carnage should rely on surprise and hit-and-run tactics to take down its opponent. When piloted correctly, a Carnage can pull off spectacular feats, taking down several maxed enemies at once. However, this can be difficult to achieve, as the Carnage requires patience and skill to use correctly. Using it as a medium range support fighter or a long ranged weapons platform can be a great alternative, as it can take advantage of its speed and potential firepower from a safe distance.

The Carnage relies heavily on its incredible firepower, rush ability, and shield defense system to compensate for its poor durabilty and mediocre mobility. With a max hp of 114,000 at level 12, it has one of the worst health pools of all medium robots in the game. In addition, with a 40 km/h top speed, it is also tied for the slowest medium robot (when not rushing). However, it becomes apparent that this robot is one of the best of its class when brought into battle, especially when rushing.

Against Carnage
The Carnage should not be underestimated by its below-average health pool. Players confronting the Carnage should do so with great caution. The Carnage is very vulnerable to energy weapons, so Trebuchets on a Raijin, Fury, or Butch are great counters, as they can all deal devastating damage to the Carnage from long distance, as their weapons are able to bypass energy shields. Another great alternate is using Zeuses. Shocktrains and Scourges, while harder to obtain, can heavily cripple it from mid-ranged distance. Plasma (Taran/Magnum/Redeemer) if played safe, can perform excellently against it. However, the player should be aware of the surroundings, as enemies tend to use the ability to flank or ambush from the behind.

Using non-energy weapons against Carnage should be taken carefully, especially when the Rush ability is activated. A "Death Button" (Orkan/Pinata) setup can be used to quickly destroy the energy shield and damage the robot from a relatively safe 300 meter distance. Thunders, Punishers, or any kind of kinetic weapons are excellent ways to break the shield for teammates to damage it, as the shield will usually catch all the bullets of the spread, maximizing the damage the weapons do to the shield. A Lancelot with Thunders and Orkans can use its thunder to deplete the shield then use the orkans to kill or do severe damage to the carnage, but due to the low health, its most likely that the carnage will be destroyed.

When fighting the Carnage with short-ranged setups, be sure to keep at least a 200 meter distance, especially when the Carnage is equipped with two Thunders. Failure to do so will result in the destruction/near-destruction of your robot. Be wary of the Rush ability, as the Carnage can use it to ambush from the behind, capture beacons, or quickly close the distance between it and its target.

Distinguishing Characteristics
Its Rush ability increases its top speed by 66%. This allows the Carnage to reach a theoretical top speed of 66.4 km/h (max level), making it as faster than all robots in the game (not including Jumping or Dash bots), except the Pursuer, when its using its Hunt ability. The speed boost lasts for 10 seconds, followed by a 20 second cool-down period, which allows the Rush ability to be used two times within a full minute. Well-timed rush activation allows the Carnage to quickly close range to engage an enemy target or to quickly retreat from danger and take cover.

The Carnage’s built-in energy shield acts like an Ancile, and it will not block energy weapons. It is also worth noting that as of update 1.4.1, the shield will no longer block fire from friendly units. Evading damage for a short time allows the shield to recharge and the Carnage to preserve its health. The shield can also protect teammates as well, making the Carnage a great robot to accompany when rushing down opponents.

Built-in shield system and devastating firepower do NOT by any means turn the Carnage into an invincible breakthrough robot. The Carnage lacks the survivability to perform the functions that a more durable robot, such as the Rhino or Lancelot, can do.

Possible Setups
Some effective builds for the Carnage are:

Note: Each slot type is filled with only one particular weapon. For example, if a robot has 3 light all three of those slots are filled with Pinatas, as mixing weapons of the same slot type is not advisable.

Long Range (800-1,000m)
Note: The Avenger is in the 'mid-range' category due to it dealing significant damage at 500m range, despite it being most effective (i.e dealing more damage) at close-range, due to bullet spread. Therefore, the Avenger is suitable both as a close and mid-ranged weapon.

Overview
The cheapest (since they already come on the robot), and one of the most effective load-outs for the Carnage is the two Thunders. Thunders are very effective at close, knife-fighting ranges, and in conjunction with the Carnage’s characteristics, can turn it into a nightmare for enemies at short range. It is possible to take out a "Death Button" setup, one of the most feared setups in the game. In addition, the placement of the Thunders – one on each side – makes use of cover viable. While this prevents the Carnage from utilizing the full firepower of two Thunders, the sheer firepower of a single Thunder at close-range is enough to finish off most targets quickly. When using two Thunders it is advised to not draw attention to yourself, as the Carnage's low health points will make it much harder to kill an enemy when they are aware of your presence. Because of this, it is advised to not attempt to sneak around on open maps such as Yamantau, Canyon, or the river bed on Springfield, where the robot is exposed and becomes easy prey for other robots with multiple Trebuchets, Gekkos, or Zeuses.

An expensive load out is a Carnage with two Embers. Embers change the battlefield as they are the second short-range heavy weapon, and one that surpasses physical and energy shields. With Embers it is possible to easily eliminate "Death Buttons" or plasma setups, being especially effective against the more common Thunder Carnage. And due to the height of the weapons on the Carnage, it is possible to deal an incredible amount of damage while behind cover.

For mid-range, the Dragoon, Zeus, Trident, and Tempest are the available options. The Dragoon and Zeus have the advantage of penetrating Ancile shields, which can be deadly to other Carnages, while the splash damage of the Trident is optimal for targeting bots undercover or protected by an Ecu, or built-in physical shield. Tempests, have a very high cycle DPS (damage per second) for a mid-range weapon and are good for blasting off physical shields, depleting energy shields, and the overall destruction of robots from afar. Because of this, the Carnage is known to be very popular in all leagues, including even Legends League due to its ability to counter many different robots.

Equipped with a long-range weapon like Trebuchets, the Carnage is less effective, but can help repel enemy gunfire or artillery, while having the ability to quickly duck into cover when necessary or when reloading and enables it to move to a better position much quicker than other snipers. Since the energy shield provides cover for other bots in the area of effect, it can protect friendly long-range bots from conventional weapons.

Overall, the Carnage is a versatile bot which works well in many roles, giving the pilot great freedom to customize the robot to match one’s play-style.

Not Recommended

 * The use of Double Nashorns or Kang Daes is not recommended mainly because the Nashorn has lower burst DPS than a Trebuchet (which is the main sniping weapon in mid-high leagues), a much slower projectile speed and cannot bypass energy shields (which are also common in mid-high leagues). The Kang Dae, whilst more powerful and more commonly used, is nevertheless inferior to the Trebuchet for these reasons, but by less.

Poll
What Do You Think Is The Best Armament For The Carnage Double Thunders Double Zeus Double Tridents Other

Trivia

 * The Carnage, the Haechi, and the Fujin are the only robots to have a built-in energy shield.
 * The Carnage is tied with the Patton for the slowest medium robot at 40 km/h, when not rushing.
 * When first released, the Carnage would light up green when Rush Mode was activated. This green light was later changed to the current orange color.
 * Player needs 5,670,840 Silver and 24 days in order to gather enough WP to get Carnage (using all six WP slots and no Gold to buy WP)
 * Since one of the best and cheapest setup for this is dual Thunders, it is advised you go stealth but since the whole robot literally makes itself obvious when it rushes, it is advised not to rush when sneaking on open maps (e.g. Yamantau, Canyon or Springfield).
 * The Carnage can boost into the fastest robot in the game when rushing at level 12, surpassing the speed of even a level 12 Stalker with a speed difference of +/- 0.6 km/h.
 * It is of many people's opinion that this bot looks like the Predator from the Predator series of movies
 * the definition of carnage is the killing of large amounts of people