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Introduction
Prior to 2017 War Robots had only one game mode - "Domination". This game mode was not sufficient for all of the player base because it favors faster robots and a winning strategy, which, for the most part, included capturing and holding beacons. Surprisingly enough, many top-tier players do not approve of this game mode, especially on "long" maps, like Yamantau, Springfield and, to some extent, Canyon for the reason being "not enough silver could be generated by knife fighters".
It is worth noting that upgrading one's hangar to maximum level is a tiresome and resource-hungry task, so players need to maintain a steady flow of silver, and the more damage players deal, the better the silver reward is. So to optimize silver rewards, it's best to kill all enemy bots, and not just win by beacon control or timer. Another issue with this game mode is the fact that long and mid-range setups (Trebuchet, Tulumbas, Trident, Zeus) had an advantage on such maps, and can destroy cherished hangars in a matter of minutes from a safe range.
Another interesting thing is that top-tier players, for the most part, totally ignore long range setups, which usually renders typical champion hangars helpless versus beacon runner\sniper teams on long maps, leading to shameful losses and rage quitting.
And because this is not acceptable for honorable top tier players, they tend to skip such maps altogether, playing only maps where enemy positions could be reached pretty fast, or there is plenty of cover.
One of the solutions proposed and accepted by Pixonic was the introduction of new game modes, which helped robots to reach enemy lines faster. So, starting in 2017, War Robots introduced several new game modes.
Domination
The original War Robots game-play mode. Players spawn at their home spawns, and need to capture beacons to win or have to kill all enemy bots. Up to the highest league, it's possible to use medium or even light bots, as well as close, medium and long-range fighters, depending on the map.
The game still can be won by a beacon control, even if the player is facing opponents with a somewhat higher level of equipment (i.e. 4\4 vs 6\6 or 9\10 vs 12\12).
Overall, this mode favors a more diverse hangar and cautious gameplay.
Beacon Rush
Introduced in the fall of 2017; the only difference, however, between Domination and Beacon Rush is the ability to select any allied beacon as the spawn location. However, it is possible only for the second bot. The first bot MUST be spawned at home spawn. Usage of long-range snipers is minimal.
Most often this type of games ends by eliminating the opposing side completely.
Overall, this mode favors hangars with a single fast but heavy hitting robots like Rhino, Rogatka, Doc, Galahad and the rest should be heavy, slow, close-range brawlers, due to the ability to spawn exactly where the action is.
This mode unlocks at player level 10.
Team Deathmatch
Introduced late autumn 2017. This game mode is similar to the previous two except with the major difference of having all beacons removed.
This mode allows teams to emphasize on killing robots rather than having to eliminate defenses just to capture a beacon in a specific area (e.g. the city square beacon at Shenzhen or the crater beacon at Dead City). This mode favors weapons with high DPM (damage per minute) because when weapons have high DPM, they can kill a robot quickly, but weapons like this require low ranges, making knife-fighters common in this mode.
This game can be won in only two ways: Completely annihilate the enemy team or kill more robots than the enemy by the timer is over. Information about how many robots killed by your team and the enemy team are shown in the top corner HUD in the battle UI (beacon letters and the color-coded pies are removed underneath).
This mode unlocks at player level 10.
King of the Hill
This game mode was introduced in the early 2018, in version 3.6.0. It featured one beacon that must be captured and held by a team until the points meter at the top of the screen is fully depleted. These points will then be added to the team's overall dominance bar, and the beacon will relocate somewhere else, and the process repeats. The game is won when the dominance bar of one team is completely filled before the other, when one team's dominance bar is greater than the other's by the time the timer runs out, or when all robots are destroyed.
There is a way to quickly deplete beacon point meters: If there are allied robots in the beacon that has been captured by your team, the meters will decrease slightly faster (earning more points as well). The more allies nearby, the faster that meters will decrease. However, if there are no allied bots in beacon, the meter will still decrease but much slower.
Also, the first beacon available in KotH is often the center points, and typically matches side beacons - the side beacon closer to your team will be followed by the comparable side beacon closer to the enemy team, or vice versa.
This mode unlocks at player level 10.
Free-for-All
Introduced in update 3.8, there are no beacons, no friends/allies. This is the first game mode that allows you to restore destroyed robots. The cost to restore robots range from 3-10. The "Dominator" is worth from 10-25 restore points. Places are based on damage. Snipers are generally not recommended due to the fact players spawn 450-350 meters away from each other.
Squad battles are not available in this mode.
This mode unlocks at player level 15.
Skirmish
Introduced during the 4th anniversary event in May 2018. It is a recurring, limited-time game mode that allows players to use a preset hangar, leveling the playing field. Some hangars may equip weapons not normally possible for those bots - such as a triple Ember Galahad, or a quad Thunder Patton. Usually, the game mode becomes available to play every weekend for 3 days at a time. This is the only game mode that matches up players regardless of their current rating.
Squad battles are not available in this mode.
This mode unlocks at player level 15.
Custom Games
While not actually a "game mode" per se, it is the ability to play with the players of choosing at the map and the mode of choosing, instead of leaving all that to random. Note that Skirmish is not available in Custom games, though a separate predefined hangar, Hangar X, is provided, if players wish to use it.
In this mode, no rewards or repair costs are applied at the end of a battle. So this mode is only good for tournaments, duels, tests and pre-defined matches, like "playing only one bot" or "use only of Zenit Schutze allowed".
This mode unlocks at player level 10.