The “bot lobby” in Battle Royale (BR) games refers to a game lobby filled with players of below-average performance levels. The name comes from some games utilizing AI-controlled players (“bots”) to make the game easier for newer players, but it has stuck in other gaming circles like Call of Duty: Warzone. Warzone’s Battle Royale mode is no different. If you want to bump up your KDA and enjoy killing people who are worse than you at playing the game, here’s everything you need to know.
What Makes a Bot Lobby
Most BR games have an integrated skill-based matchmaking system (SBMM). This system ranks players according to their performance in recent games and creates lobbies by putting similar performers together. A “bot lobby” is primarily composed of players ranked lower by the SBMM system. The advent of SBMM means that an experienced player can play with newbies (or just bad players) if they strategize around lowering their SBMM rating.
There are a few main ways to get into a “bot lobby.”
Smurfing
Smurfing has been a reliable tactic in the past, and SBMM doesn’t change that. A “smurf account” is a new account with a clean slate, commonly used by a high-ranked player. Some players create smurf accounts for various reasons. In some games, the waiting times to find matches on their main account get too high for comfort (making the player’s viewer experience miserable).
Since Warzone is free-to-play, making a new account is relatively straightforward once you create a new email. Smurfing is generally frowned upon by the broader player base and ruins the gameplay for actual new players. However, it’s one of the methods that’s proven to work in getting easier matches, at least until your SBMM rating catches up.
Netduma Routers
One of the more popular ways to bypass the need to make a new account is to use a geo-filtering router like Netduma. These routers aren’t easy to come by and cost a few hundred dollars apiece. They also boost the home’s Wi-Fi signal and automatically provide a more streamlined gameplay experience by throttling downloads and other bandwidth-heavy tasks.
Their crowning feature for getting bot lobbies is the geo-filtering mentioned above, allowing you to select a specific server location. The most popular ones include Hawaii, Egypt, or Argentina, which aren’t known for professional Warzone players. Using a long-distance server will increase your ping, but that won’t matter much against players who are much worse than you.
Use a VPN
A VPN can provide a similar experience to a geo-filtering router by placing your virtual IP address in a country of your choice. That allows the game to allocate you to a new server, hopefully, one without all the pro players inside.
Usually, you’ll need a paid VPN subscription to get the performance and server choice required to make bot lobbies more likely. If you’re contemplating trying for bot lobbies without shelling out for a pricy router, a VPN service might be the way to go.
Manipulating the SBMM
One of the more time-exhausting methods is to throw games intentionally to tank your SBMM rating down. After a few dozen games of non-optimal gameplay, you should start seeing worse players pop up more often in your lobbies.
This method is probably the most frustrating since you have to keep dying over and over again. Additionally, SBMM ratings are hidden from players, so you won’t know how much is enough until you start consistently getting bot lobbies.
Trample Over Players in Bot Lobbies
If you want to feel superior without getting better at the game, manipulating the SBMM system to match with lower-performing players is the best way to go. We’re not saying this is good or bad, but you might want to consider the implications.
Do you plan to use any of our methods to get bot lobbies? Share your opinion in the comments below!
