As everyone well knows, Scuttlebots ( http://wiki.spiralknights.com/Scuttlebot ) are a source of almost risk-free Crowns, Heat and Materials, even in high Tiers in which enemies are supposed to be of threat. Based on the Wiki article, one is tempted to compare Scuttlebots to Chromalisks, which are a fairly weak enemy to begin with. However, the latter has two major advantages over the former without any significant downsides: Chromalisks can cloak to sneak up onto you and attack when you are unable to defend, and elemental Chromalisks' shot projectiles linger around making for a short-lived envinromental hazard.

First of all, their attack is not only lacking in power, its poor range is easy to avoid by simply taking a step back. Their strike is fairly quick to ready and has a covers a wide area, but the former treat is rendered useless by the predictable nature of the Scuttlebot and the latter by the pathetic reach of the attack. Futhermore, the Scuttlebots' attack is quite easily interrupted, giving the player three ways to stop it: blocking, attacking and avoiding. The Scuttlebots have no secondary attack either. It is rare a case a Knight takes damage from a Scuttlebot, nevermind be truly threatened by them.

As if the useless attack was not enough already, Scuttlebots are at best average in other respects. They're clumsy and slow like the Chromalisks. Their health is nothing to marvel at. But their greatest problem is that they're entirely bland. They have no special abilities, traits, or even attacks - they are merely toned-down Chromalisks, which are no special enemies to begin with.

Because of this pure average nature of the Scuttlebots, it is hard for me to guess whether they are actually meant to be jacks of all trades or if they're just so lacking in everything their intended purpose does not show. Therefore, I suggest several options which all are meant to buff Scuttlebots into a threatening enemy with a purpose of some sort.

First option is to make Scuttlebots into tanks. Keep them just as slow and clumsy as they are, but up their attack power and give them a ranged attack. This would make them an interesting moving version of Puppies - pathetic in close combat, but a threat in groups or with other enemies and with the ability to follow you, unlike Puppies. Basically, this would be a projectile-firing version of the flamethrower Gremlin.

Another alternative is to make the Scuttlebots live up to their name: give them the ability to scuttle. In a nutshell, it would be a way to get rid of their extremely predictable nature caused by their slow speed. However, this would make them quite a bit like Grievers - or, if used as an ability to run away from the player, it would join forces with Gramlins, Fiends and Wolvers to name some monsters. Personally, I would make the Scuttlebot scuttle, then charge its attack to make it a little unlike the Griever, but this alone would not be enough to make the monster any good.

The last idea I have is giving the Scuttlebots a bomb-like ability at higher Tiers. Bombs are self-explanatory, but the Gremlin bomber being the only enemy utilizing bombs, this would let the Scuttlebots occupy an almost unclaimed monster type.