Hot Rod

## Bio

*Long undercover on Earth with his brother in arms, Bumblebee, Hot Rod is a powerful and agile warrior with a unique Time Bubble Cannon that definitely packs a punch.*

## Max Stats

**2-Star**

* Health: 1697
* Attack: 158
* Max Rating: 552

**3-Star**

* Health: 4167
* Attack: 337
* Max Rating: 1313

**4-Star**

* Health: 10829
* Attack: 876
* Max Rating: 3476

(Max Forge,Sig-100)

* Health: 14,429
* Attack: 1170
* Max Rating:4807

5-Star

## Game Abilities

### Basic Abilities

* Deceleration
* Crit Rate Buff

### Abilities

* **Ranged Attacks**
	+ Hot Rod’s Time Gun has a 60% chance to inflict Deceleration for 3.2 seconds. Decelerations from Specials are stackable.

* **Deceleration**
	+ Prevents the opponent from Evading attacks and reduces the opponent’s Power Flow by 22~37.5% per stack.

* **Melee Attacks**
	+ Gains a Critical Rate Buff for 2.8 seconds when the opponent is under the effect of a Deceleration Debuff, increasing Critical Hit Rate by 7.9~18%.

* **Critical Heavy Attacks**
	+ 40% chance to Stun for 1.2 seconds.

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### Signature Ability

**Acceleration -** *Successfully connecting with a Special Attack overclocks Hot Rod’s engines, temporarily increasing his Power Flow on attacks and Evading Ranged Attacks.*

* **Special Attacks:** Overclocks Hot Rod’s engines, increasing his Power Flow on attacks by 60~120% for 7 seconds. Additionally, while Acceleration is active, Hot Rod has a 30% chance to Evade Ranged Attacks.
* +0.9% per level

### Special Attacks

1. **Punishing Pirouette** - *A flurry of aerial kicks to knockdown the opponent.*
2. **Time Tampering** - *Series of acrobatic kicks that ends with a taste of the Time Bubble Gun.*
	* A powerful blast from his Time Gun inflicts Deceleration for 9 seconds.
3. **Time Bubble Blast** - *A temporal coup de grâce.*
	* Hot Rod uses the most powerful setting on his Time Gun, inflicting Deceleration for 23.6 seconds.

### Synergy Bonuses

* **Code 12: Reckless Driving** (Prowl) - +6~9~24% Attack Buff for 3 seconds when using a Heavy Attack. Stacking those buffs refresh the duration of the entire stack.
* **Enemies** (Barricade) - +2~3~8% Attack Rating.
* **Racing Rivals** (Mirage) - 8~12~30% Critical Damage.
* **Brother in Arms** (Bumblebee) - Autobots get +2~3~8% Armor and +4~6~8% Melee Damage in Solo Missions.
* **Allies** - Bumblebee - 2~3~8% Armor.
* **Leadership** (5-Star) - All lower tier teammates gain +10% Critical Damage.

## Strategy

### Commander

Hot Rod is the only Warrior that can't inflict Bleed, but has the unique Deceleration ability, which is very useful against Bots with Evade buffs and has the added bonus of decreased Power Rate. Deceleration can even activate *through Blocks*. (For comparison, a Precision buff *reduces* the chance a Bot will activate their Evade, while Deceleration will stop a Bot from evading.)

Keep at range and if duped, keep using Special I to gain lots of power enough for either a Special II or III. Prolonged Deceleration leads to safer scenarios where you're facing an Evasive bot. He is a safer option to bring with you, *even against Brawlers*, as he won't Bleed and in turn get that Bleed turned against him. There are also little-to-no counters to Deceleration.

Also, hitting a Decelerated Bot grants him Crit Rate Buffs, which will stack the longer the Deceleration is active and how long you can keep hitting the opponent, especially bots with Armor. This will lead to him dealing major burst damage by the time he has 10 Crit Rate Buffs (on a maxed-out Hot Rod).

Stacking Deceleration using Special III first then stacking Special II's will lead to drastically reduced Power Rate. (Note that you cannot stack deceleration through regular ranged attacks)

While he is still effective with an unawakened Signature, it is the icing on the cake. Extra Power rate and Evasion against Ranged Attacks are beneficial. If his signature's level is sufficient enough, you can go for Special II then chain Special I's lots of times, or Special III then chain Special II's.

### Opponent

If you're using an Evasion-heavy Bot like Barricade, getting hit by his Deceleration will be very, very detrimental. No Evades and Reduced Power rate will be very, very detrimental.

There's no Bot who can Purify Deceleration Debuffs but Kickback and Ironhide, so that grasshopper and the red van are your only proper hope against this warrior. Alternatively, don't face him against an Exo-Filtered Bot, the Decelerations will be Purified. While Grindor deals more damage the more Power the opponent has, he is the only Brawler who can gain ground against Hot Rod. Like Blaster, bots too also sometimes get inflicted by the decelerations while dodging Hot Rod’s ranged attacks.

It is ironic that the Bot who will prevent an awakened Hot Rod from Evading is Hot Rod himself.

### Strong Match-ups

#### Bots

* All Evasive Bots will have a very hard time against Hot Rod, his Deceleration Debuff will completely negate the opponent’s chance to activate their Evade abilities.
* **Bonecrusher -** Hot Rod relies on his Critical Rate Buffs in order to inflict Critical Hits reliably. Being able to control his Critical Chance gives him a major advantage against Bots like Bonecrusher, who will often activate a Bleed if you Crit against him.
* **Sideswipe** - Deceleration will slow down the Power gained through Maximum Thrust and stop Evading after 7 hits.
* **Arcee** - Deceleration will stop ranged Evades and decrease the Power gained through Crits.
* **Hot Rod** - Hot Rod will disable his own Evasion.
* **Bumblebee (DOTM)** - This Bee has a passive Evasion which adapts to the attack the player uses, Hot Rod, his brother-in-arm, completely turns them off. This is especially effective in Alliance Mission Map 3, where in addition to that Bee has an Evade Melee, all which can be shut off easily. The same goes for G1 Self's melee evades.
* **Grimlock** - In a rare case for a warrior to be superior to a brawler, Hot Rod’s decelerations cannot be purified and in turn doesn’t fuel the rage.
* **Megatronus** - Decelerations will keep prolonging the Fallen from tapping into his true power.
* **Megatron (ROTF)** - The crazy car relies on Melee Attacks and Decelerated bots to land Critical hits which Megatron's armor has no answer to.

#### Mods

* **Nightbird's Mark** - Deceleration shuts down Evade abilities given by this Module.

### Weak Match-ups

* **Grindor -** Hot Rod generates a lot more Power because of his signature ability. Grindor gets stronger the more Power the opponent gets, enabling him to deal a lot of damage. He can also disable Hot Rod by using either special 2 or 3 with power locks. Plus, he can prevent Hot Rod from dealing critical damage.
* **Kickback** - Despite type advantages, Kickback can consume Acceleration and Deceleration buffs/debuffs. Be warry against this Insecticon.
* **Hot Rod** - Hot Rod will disable his own Evasion.
* **Megatron** - Hot rod’s acceleration buffs can be stolen by Megatron if he fuses a debuff.
* Blaster - Interference will slow down Hot Rod's decerelation, and Blaster's power gain won't be stopped.
* Hound - Hot Rod's Accerelation will not work against Hound's Precision Ammo.
* Ironhide - Ironhide can remove one Armor to purify deceleration.

#### Mods

* **E.M.I. Modules** will decrease or negate Hot Rod's Decelerating shots.
* **Exo-Filter**s will Purify the Deceleration Debuffs.

### Recommended Modules

While Hot Rod may be more suited towards offense, you may pair him with these Mods on your base!

* Hot Rod has a chance to inflict Deceleration on his Ranged Attacks, Laser Guidance will further enhance damage and also make it easier for Hot Rod to hit with those attacks because of the ranged projectile speed increase.
* **Robot Resource** reduces the Power generated on attacks and in exchange provides passive Power over time, but Hot Rod’s signature ability will enhance his Power generated in attacks, neutralizing the negative effects of the module and making it extremely powerful.
* **Nightbird's Mark** - Improves his Evade and Criticals.
* **E.M.I. Module** - The E.M.I. Module will slow down his enemies' ranged attacks and allow Hot Rod to utilize faster Ranged Attacks to Decelerate his opponent.

## Obtainment

* Hot Rod Arenas
* Hot Rod Crystal
* Hot Rod Raid Event
* August Calendar Day 28: 3-Star Hot Rod
* Bot Crystals

## Trivia

* His vehicle mode is based on 2016 Lamborghini Centenario LP 770-4, but the logo is removed to avoid licensing issues.
* For some unknown reason Hot Rod uses the G1 transformation sound when he rushes into battle. In all other cases, he uses the regular cinematic transformation sound.