I never liked to play the Life splinter, even way before the bots arrived in the game. I can't really say why. The Unicorn changed that for a short while, but then they adjusted its stats, to make it less strong at the lower levels.

Meanwhile, I did find a way to beat those annoying Life bots. And it is definitely not countering with Life. All you need is love... ehm...magic. Loads of it. They don't stand a chance against magic. So except for the rule 'Weak Magic', i don't see any use for the Life spinter... :0)