Fizzco

The same automated security drones that put Walter out of a job are still in operation post-apocalypse, and they virtually control Downtown Sunset City. If you’re ever in the mood for your own personal robot apocalypse, head that way and get ready to eat hot plasma.

Like the Scab Rushers, Blade Bots are weaker than their contemporaries, but they are lethal if you allow them to get near you. They’re easy to kill, but the Blade Bots are willing to die by the half-dozen on the off chance one of them will be able to take your head off.

They can throw spinning plasma blades at you from a distance, which are difficult to avoid but do next to no damage. Their primary use seems to be to break your grind.

The Fizzbot Rifle fires relatively slow-moving balls of blue plasma, which are easy to dodge if you see them coming. The problem presented by the Rifle Bots is that they’re smart enough to predict where you’re going to be and shoot accordingly, so you’ll often grind past one only to run directly into their gunfire.

The plasma shots also travel quite a long distance, so if you duck out of a fight with the Rifle Bots and grind away, their shots can still hit you unless you change direction.

The biggest problem the Rifle Bots present, of course, is that they show up in the story missions slightly before you’re realistically able to get any of the weapons that work best against them. The Acid Sprinkler and Ahab are reasonably effective until you’re able to get the Fizzbot Rifle, Shocker, or even the AK-FU.

These walking turrets can produce pulse mines and fire a powerful plasma beam that hits at long range. Whenever you see them, it’s a good idea to make them your top priority; otherwise, they’ll knock your head off. They aren’t particularly maneuverable, though, so you can shut them down while on the move.

The biggest problem with a Tank Bot is how much space it can occupy. Its primary method of attack is with dual plasma cannons, hosing down whatever it can see with shots like the Rifle Bots’, but it also likes to blow up everything within a few yards of it with a storm of missiles. If you see red targeting reticules appear on the ground near the Tank Bot, get out of there because everything surrounding it is about to explode. Finally, Tank Bots can energize grind spots near them, covering them with arcing globes of electricity in much the same way as Wingers’ flame attack. If you grind through these, it consumes the globe and does significant damage to you.

Like Herkers, the best thing you can do against a Tank Bot is hit it with everything you can at once. It shares the typical robot vulnerabilities, but it has the highest health of any commonly-encountered enemy in the game and can kill you in seconds if you make a mistake. Deploy Turret Copters and Taunt Bots, use electrical weapons, and stay as far away as you can manage.