Sideswipe

## Bio

*Forged with the spark of a fighter and the cerebral circuits of a jock, Sideswipe is always down for a fight. Some may claim he relishes testing his skills too much, but he couldn't care less as long as he's battling to defend freedom.*

## Stats

**1-Star**

* Max Health: 826
* Max Attack: 106
* Max Rating: 271

**2-Star**

* Max Health: 1,505
* Max Attack: 177
* Max Rating: 577 (sig 100)

**3-Star**

* Health: 3,810 (4,802 max forge)
* Attack: 384 (484 max forge)
* Max Rating: 1,348 (1,716 max forge)

**4-Star**

* Health: 9,601
* Attack: 967
* Max Rating: 3,254 (sig 35)

5**-Star**

* Health: 23,310
* Attack: 2,347
* Max Rating: 6,991

## Game Abilities

### Basic Abilities

* Evade
* Critical Damage
* Crit Rate Buff

### Abilities

* *When Attacked*:  After being struck by 7 Basic Attacks, Sideswipe gains a 30-38% Melee Evasion Buff for 4 seconds.
* *Sidestepping*:
	+ Gains 13% Power when Sidestepping Ranged Attacks.
	+ When Sidestepping an incoming Dash Attack, Sideswipes increases his Critical Damage by 70-108% for 6 seconds.
* *Critical Hits*:  100% chance to gain a 2-3.8% Crit Rate Buff. 5 Buffs are lost if Sideswipe is knocked down by opponent Heavy or Special attacks.
* *Heavy Attacks:*
	+ Sideswipe purifies all Shock debuffs.
	+ Sideswipe refreshes all Critical Damage buffs.

### Signature Ability

**Maximum Thrust**

Sideswipe rushes in with overclocked engines, gaining up to 50% of his max Power over the first 12 seconds of the fight.

+approximately 0.7% per level

### Special Attacks

1. **Swagger** - *A couple of punches do the trick, but look cooler with a flash kick.*
	* 13.3-25.5% Critical Rate.
	* 40% chance to Stun for 2.5 seconds.
2. **Kickin' It Old School** - *Flip the script with a stylish shoulder cannon blast.*
	* Sideswipe gains a Melee Evasion Buff for 8 seconds.
	* 100% chance to inflict Burn, dealing Heat Damage for 80% Attack over 6 seconds.
	* If Sideswipe has 10 Critical Rate buffs, he gains +50% Critical Damage for 10 seconds.
3. **Breakdance Fighting** - *Knock sense into your opponents with style.*
	* Each hit from acrobatic fighting style strikes key systems in his opponents for a 60% chance to Nullify a Buff.
	* 100% chance to inflict Burn, dealing Heat Damage for 100% Attack over 4 seconds.

### Synergy Bonuses

* **Allies** - Jetfire - +2~3~8% Armor.
* **Romance** - Windblade - Windblade gets 17.5~35~80% of Power Bar at the start of a fight.
* **Speed Chasers** - Mirage,Bumblebee (DOTM), Cheetor - 6.5~15~40% Attack on the next hit when dodging opponents' attacks.
* **Code 12: Reckless Driving** - Prowl - 6~9~24% Attack Buff for 3 seconds when using a Heavy Attack. Stacking those buffs refreshes the duration of the entire stack.
* **Leadership** (5-Star) - +10% Critical Rating to all lower tier teammates.

## Strategy

### Commander

Sideswipe is a pretty basic Scout, but his main advantages are buffed Critical Attacks, flat Power charging and buff nullify on Special III.

As of August 1, 2019, Sideswipe gained a rework that made him even more of a damage-dealer. Even though there are better Scouts out there, increased Crit damage and Shock purification adds a punch to his attacks.

### Opponent

#### General

As you're more likely to hit an opponent Sideswipe more than he hits your Bot, he will Evade often. Any one-hit or two-hit Special Attacks should be activated when Sideswipe does not have Agility active.

If using Ranged Heavy Attack Bots like Bludgeon, don't spam ranged heavies; it will give Sideswipe more Power as he sidesteps them.

#### Rulers of Kaon

Anti-evasion is your key to win. The buff that grants him power from evasion is pretty powerful, and that in addition to the gain from his natural ranged sidestep, can generate a lot of power. It might potentially propel him to a quick Special 3.

### Strong Match-ups

* **Rhinox** - Sideswipe can remove all of Rhinox's Shields in a single combo. But be careful not to get Power Locked while Sideswipe is charging Power. And getting Shocked by his shields won't be so annoying anymore if Sideswipe is quick to Purify them.
* **Mixmaster -** Sideswipe's Special 3 can nullify Mixmaster's buffs.
* **Megatron (ROTF) -** Burns and strong critical hits will bypass Megatron’s tough armor and the red speedster will ensure that Megatron does not repair at the end of the fight with his special 3.
* **Grimlock** - What’s a King without melee buffs?
* **Shockwave** - Heavy Attacks will purify Shockwave's annoying Shocks and prevent him from draining too much power.

### Mods

* Unstable Energon - Sideswipe's Heavy Attack doesn't need a successful hit to purify a shock.

### Weak Match-ups

* **Bonecrusher** - Sideswipe will be punished by Bleeding as he inflicts Critical Attacks.
* **Hot Rod** **-** Decelerating the red speedster lowers his power gain rate and stops evasion.
* **Kickback** - Heavy attacks at the beginning of the match can eat up Sideswipe's power gains.
* **Grindor** - Sideswipe gains a lot of power because of his power gain and the more power Sideswipe gains, the stronger Grindor gets and special locks and power locks will disable Sideswipe from using his specials. Grindor will smash the red speedster before he will know it.
* **Megatronus** - the relic of obedience will prevent this red speedster from evading and gaining more power.

### Recommended Modules

* The **Nightbird's Mark**will enhance Sideswipe's Critical Hits and Evade.
* **Tech Console** - Only when Sideswipe's Signature Ability is awakened is this Module useful.
* **Scout's Sentry** **-**  Sideswipewill gain more Power from an increased Critical Rate and Power Lock the opponent when he evades.
* **Prime Module** - Increases Sideswipe's base stats.
* **E.M.I. Module** - Sideswipe gains Power when he sidesteps ranged attacks and this bot will make opponents to have a harder time to make a touch.

## Obtainment

* Bot Crystals
* Sideswipe Arenas
* Swagger Crystal
* August 2019 Bot Chip Set
* 5-Star Bot Crystals (Added February 13, 2020)

## Gallery

Beta featured imageOriginal icon. Notice rough lines and brighter eyes.Original portrait
## Updates

Sideswipe has received several major updates to rebalance his damage output.

* 2018, 5.1 update:
	+ Sideswiped lacked damage output so was given bursts of damage and increased the chances for him to land important hits.
	+ Increased Power Gain when Sidestepping Ranged Attacks by 20%.
	+ Increased Stun duration by .5 seconds. i.e. Special 1 Stun from 1.5 to 2.5 seconds.
	+ Evasion strength increased by 20%, from 20~23~27~32~38%, to 30~38%. And Special 2 Evade duration increased from 6 to 8 seconds.
	+ Special Attack 2’s Missile now inflicts Burn, dealing 60% of his Attack over 6 seconds.
	+ Special Attack 3’s Missile now inflicts Burn, dealing 80% of his Attack over 6 seconds.
* April 2019, 8.0 update:
	+ Added +3.6% to base Critical Rate.
	+ Added +10% to base Critical Damage.
	+ Special 2 chance to Burn increased to 100%.
* August 2019, 8.1 update:
	+ When Sideswipe is knocked down, he will only lose 5 Critical Chance Buffs, instead of all of them.
	+ When Sideswipe has 10 Critical Hit Chance Buffs, and successfully lands a Special 2 Attack, he will gain a 50% Critical Damage buff for a set duration of 10 seconds.
	+ When Sideswipe hits with a Heavy Attack, he will refresh all of his Critical Damage Buffs.
	+ When Sideswipe hits with a Heavy Attack, he will purify all Shock Debuffs.
	+ Sideswipe's Signature Ability has been adjusted to grant a maximum of 50% of his Maximum Power. This change fixed a bug where his potency was reduced and did not match, thus making his Signature Ability work better than before, even though the maximum potential has been reduced.
* Clarified or tweaked so that his Heavy Attack effects do not have to hit to activate.
* Old Signature scaled at 35~100% Power:

## Notes

* Sideswipe's design is based on the *Universe* 2008 Sideswipe toy, with a new modern head.

## External Links

1. ↑ https://forums.transformersforgedtofight.com/discussion/3739/upcoming-bot-changes-january-31st-updated
2. ↑ https://forums.transformersforgedtofight.com/discussion/comment/75733#Comment\_75733
3. ↑ https://forums.transformersforgedtofight.com/discussion/8720/sideswipe-balance-update