Soothslayer was a heavyweight robot from the United Kingdom, which applied for BattleBots World Championship VI and VII.
It was a two-wheel drive robot armed with an articulating hammer saw. The robot also featured interchangeable front plows to deflect spinning weaponry. These could be swapped out for a pair of hinged forks in between a pair of larger static forks to guide opponents into the path of the weapon. Soothslayer took on a fantasy theme, sporting a wizard in the team's logo and typeface. Team captain Sam Price confirmed inspiration from fellow hammer saws in Skorpios and SawBlaze, as well as 2019 season entry Ragnarök.
The name likely derived from "soothsayer" - the name given to a person who predicts the future by magical or intuitive means.
Mark Smith, who spearheaded the CAD work for Soothslayer, previously competed in web-series Bugglebots with The Apprentice, a 3lb overhead bar spinner similar to Perfect Phoenix and former Comedy Central BattleBots champion Hazard. He is also a regular competitor in the featherweight scene in the UK.
Sam Price and Craig Jones also share experience of 30lb robots, and competed in Bugglebots with 3lb articulating saw Maximum Ogredrive and meltybrain spinner SCD respectively, whereas Euan Mutch attempted to qualify for Series 10 of Robot Wars with ring spinner Triforce, which was forced to withdraw due to mobility issues. Sam Price also competed in Robot Wars as part of Craig Danby's Foxic in Series 8, and Apex in Series 9 and 10. In March 2022, he won the inaugral Scouse Showdown beetleweight event in Liverpool, UK with his vertical spinner Bby Shrekt. Craig Jones also fights with his featherweight Sawcerer.
- "Soothslayer is basically an evolution of Maximum Ogredrive..."
- — Sam Price speaks about Soothslayer on the Green Square Talks BattleBots podcast.[1]
Team Soothslayer applied for World Championship VI with their heavyweight of the same name, but in May 2021, confirmed were not selected for the show. Regardless, issues regarding UK competitors being able to travel to Las Vegas due to COVID-19 related travel restrictions would have forced the team to withdraw even if they had been accepted. The team intended to reapply in 2022[2] and in March that year, it was confirmed that they had indeed submitted an application. However, they were not successful for the second successive year.
In February 2023, the team inferred their intention to apply for World Championship VIII with a "rebranded" entry".[3] This was later revealed to be Ogrekill.