Threat

Threat determines whose bots get attacked when an opponent launches nanobots into a zone in which multiple enemy operatives have deployments. The total threat of a group of bots is determined via a calculation that factors in the threat level of each type of bots times their quantity.

If person A has 10,000 Booster Bots (which have a threat of 4 each), and person B has 10,000 Deflections (which have a threat of 2 each), then Person A's bots will be attacked first by opponents.

You can deploy Divert formations to reduce the overall threat level of your own group of bots.

Offensive formations' threats are not as relevant for large battles because they cannot form into big stacks and therefore make a quite minimal contribution to overall threat. However for example if you attack a zone with an equal number of Zone Assault from one player, and Shockwave from another, you'll attack the Zone Assault stack first due to its higher threat signature.