38 replies to this topic

[SadSadPanda]

Hey community,

I love pulse lasers, even though they seem inferior to standard ones and far inferior to PPC in current meta.

What mechs would you recommend that can utilize pulse lasers well? I tried them on my Highlander 733C, but frankly, assaults and heavies bore me to death with their slugfest that ultimately favors PPC poptarting.

Another question, what would be the best medium chassis for pure laser play?

Thanks!

[Wraith 1]

mwo.smurfy-net.de is your friend. Probably my most used bookmark.

CDA-2A and BJ-1X would be the fastest medium-class energy boats. Neither have jets though, not sure if that's a dealbreaker for you.

The HBK-4P has the most energy hardpoints in the game. Heat management is difficult to say the least, but it can be a ton of fun.

Jenners work well with 4xMPLs, and I've seen a few 8xSPL Firestarters running around. Both are great mechs if you're comfortable with a lighter chassis.

Here's my favorite HBK-4P build. Impractical but hilarious, especially when you manage to kill someone in one shot.

[Rear Admiral Tier 6]

SadSadPanda, on 24 May 2014 - 02:35 AM, said:

What mechs would you recommend that can utilize pulse lasers well?

Hunchless hunchy with wubs works every time,and is cheap to build.

Jumpy bucket with wubs

107 kph heavy with six wubs and jumpjets CAUTION RUNS STUPID HOT.

And if you want to try 3 LPL-builds,take 300 XL engine and heavy mech with good energy hardpoints (Thunderbolt,Quickdraw) and stuff them with heatsinks,3 LPL runs cooler than 6 MPL imo.

[Salinor]

wolverine 6k is good but lacks jump jets. Treb 5j also works well. Same with the griffin 1s. Theres a lot of mechs that work well but you can also use a spider 5d with 3 pulses or jenner f with pulses and lasers if you don't mind using a light. Haven't used these though so these are just guesses.
builds:
[smurfy]http://mwo.smurfy-ne...81b53da6062e8a2[/smurfy]
Feel free to change the missle launcher. Also, this uses an xl 325 as its a pretty useful engine on a lot of mediums. Feel free to change it to whatever you have if its fast.
[smurfy]http://mwo.smurfy-ne...7cc062019dacdba[/smurfy]
You may want to change the weapons on this thing as it is all short range. Same engine.
[smurfy]http://mwo.smurfy-ne...173a19102411f4f[/smurfy]
you can drop jumpjets for more heat sinks if you want.
[smurfy]http://mwo.smurfy-ne...6734dbbcfd5c642[/smurfy]
be careful about the heat on this, you may want to drop one of two pulses to standards and add heatsinks

[SadSadPanda]

Thanks guys, really fast response with lot of good suggestions! x)
JJs are always a big bonus and I love lights, but have yet to find something that works well with pulses. Hit&run is right up my ally, but no poptarting. Are the ECM lights viable with pulses or it's all about ER LL/PPC?

Wraith 1, on 24 May 2014 - 02:48 AM, said:

mwo.smurfy-net.de is your friend. Probably my most used bookmark

How do I look up other people's builds? I can't seem to find it

[Escef]

I call my FS9-K "Spoil Sport" because I usually get at least 1 kill with it, but lose the match more often than not. (For modules, I run a Medium Laser Range 2 and Improved Artillery Strike.)

[Acierocolotl]

Any energy-based light can either cram in a large bank bank of small pulse lasers, a reduced number of medium pulse lasers, or maybe a single ER LL/large pulse/(ER)PPC at the cost of armour and/or speed, or two large weapons at the expense of a lot of armour and speed and run very hot. Slow is not my style, so it's all about the small pulse laser for me, and a quick rundown on the mechs I've used:

1: Jenner-F with XL 295 and six small pulse lasers a lot of jumpets and near-maxed armour. It's agile, it's ferocious, you will die quickly if you're too brave but anybody ignoring you will get dismantled in record time. Heat is an issue if you stay stuck in for too long but they will feel your passing and rue it. It's probably the most viable light I've used.

2: Locust 3M with 5 small pulse lasers, XL 190 engine, near-maxed armour. No jumpjets, fastest thing on the battlefield, and pretty much a deathwish for yourself. When it works it works brilliantly, when it doesn't, it really really really doesn't. I can't seriously reccommend this mech if you're obsessed with kill counts or whatnot, and on the other hand, if you have disposable in-game income or a brass pair you really need to do this like yesterday. AND IF THAT'S NOT ENOUGH, consider the Locust 1E, which will let you shoehorn in SIX SMALL PULSE LASERS, at the cost of, oh, a tonne of engine and/or armour. You know basically stuff that lets you survive for more than six seconds. You will die. But it will be glorious.

As for ECM lights, I've only used the Commando. It works, but the limited number of energy slots necessitates using heavier pulse lasers, which may suit you. I miss the jumpjets but this thing is way sturdier than the Locust and the arm mounts give you a wider range to make your (less frequent) shots.

[SadSadPanda]

Acierocolotl, on 24 May 2014 - 03:32 AM, said:

1: Jenner-F with XL 295 and six small pulse lasers a lot of jumpets and near-maxed armour. It's agile, it's ferocious, you will die quickly if you're too brave but anybody ignoring you will get dismantled in record time. Heat is an issue if you stay stuck in for too long but they will feel your passing and rue it. It's probably the most viable light I've used.

Just tried fun and it is pretty fun (plus the spam of pulses sounds badass!) but rather light on the firepower. Maybe the ideal middle ground for me would be medium mechs after all. Something fast with pulses and relatively cold (I found hunchbacks too hot in general plus they mount most of their weaponry in a big shoulder piece).

[jper4]

i've started using a Hunchy 4P with 2MPLs and 6SPLs which can work decently given you can get a couple alphas off before heat is an issue unlike some of the other builds. forget the engine- runs in the mid 80kph range i think. but best to wait til the enemy is shooting something else.

also tossed a LPL on a Locust 1E with a xl170 engine (and a SL since i had .4 tons left so dropped a bit of armor to toss one on) will run around 150ish post tweak (only got through basics so far) but works surprisingly well by Locust standards- can break 200dmg (no arty/airstrike) pretty regularly and actually have a kdr of just over 1 with it since i started using it.

[SadSadPanda]

Tanar, on 24 May 2014 - 04:02 AM, said:

i've started using a Hunchy 4P with 2MPLs and 6SPLs which can work decently given you can get a couple alphas off before heat is an issue unlike some of the other builds. forget the engine- runs in the mid 80kph range i think. but best to wait til the enemy is shooting something else.

also tossed a LPL on a Locust 1E with a xl170 engine (and a SL since i had .4 tons left so dropped a bit of armor to toss one on) will run around 150ish post tweak (only got through basics so far) but works surprisingly well by Locust standards- can break 200dmg (no arty/airstrike) pretty regularly and actually have a kdr of just over 1 with it since i started using it.

Yeah, that is pretty "light on damage" by my standards, where I regularly break 400 with non-streak builds.

I was looking into trying pulse + streak hybrid. Are ravens and shadow hawks any good at that?

[jper4]

SadSadPanda, on 24 May 2014 - 04:29 AM, said:

Yeah, that is pretty "light on damage" by my standards, where I regularly break 400 with non-streak builds.

I was looking into trying pulse + streak hybrid. Are ravens and shadow hawks any good at that?

yeah damage isn;t huge with the locust but then again, it's a locust. haven't played any Ravens but given the shadowhawk love around here (they don;t like me so much though) i'd say those are a good bet to go with given the decent number of missile slots available to them.

[Bigbacon]

i had lots of good times with the locust 1E and SL or SPL boating it. I was using a 170XL though but I have speed tweak so it is nearly as fast as the 190. perfect little back stabber.

i really do find surviving pretty good in it long as you don't get tunnel vision and just hang around until everyone is engaged. SSRMs are the only thing that destroy you.

[Ertur]

Some people run a 3MPL ECM Spider. I prefer the range of the ERLL 2ML version personally. The SDR-5V 2MPL isn't rare, either.

[Red Line Pilot]

This is my HBK-4J
All wub wub

2x Large Pulse Laser
4x Small Pulse Laser
AMS
XL 275

(4J without missiles has no hunch)

[Magos Titanicus]

I am also always looking for viable Pulse Laser Builds. My first one was the Firebrand, fully loaded with pulses,fast engine and good cooling, take peek a here ->http://mwo.smurfy-ne...0cb71a12dfc3502

lately i bought a yen-low because of the cn9-a(c) which went out for free so the third mech for mastering cents was the cn9-al, and that mech is bloody fun with two LPLs in one arm, max engine and cooling isn't worth mentioning it, paaam http://mwo.smurfy-ne...9b9662183b5a8c3

Edited by Magos Titanicus, 24 May 2014 - 06:54 AM.

[kesuga7]

110 kph - 8 small pulse - 19 doubles - blackjack 1x
http://mwo.smurfy-ne...3ddcbd40074d07c



110 kph - 5 mid pulse - 19 doubles - trebuchet 5j
http://mwo.smurfy-ne...00ca324a828e4a7



140 kph - 4 mid pulse - 15 doubles - Raven 2x
http://mwo.smurfy-ne...bc62b0404d70a79


171.1 kph - 3 mid pulse - 11 doubles - commando 1b
http://mwo.smurfy-ne...85b7ec9e40a7f0c


142.6 kph - 6 small pulse lasers - 1 small laser - 15 doubles - firestarter K
http://mwo.smurfy-ne...66c5b81353bdc45

142.6 kph - 3 medium pulse lasers - 3 small lasers - 2 AMS systems - 12 doubles - firestarter S
http://mwo.smurfy-ne...159e3764bac43db


98.0 kph - 4 medium pulse lasers - 2 srm 6 - 200 srm ammo - 17 doubles - centurion AL
http://mwo.smurfy-ne...af8afe7275a422e


83.9 kph - 7 medium pulse lasers - 24 doubles - Battlemaster M
http://mwo.smurfy-ne...2055f2e6eefa6eb

Edited by kesuga7, 24 May 2014 - 07:03 AM.

[Koniks]

FS9s can manage 4-6 SPLs, as long as you have good heat management skills. The H comes with the bonus of having 2MGs, the Ember 4.

But how agile is agile for you?

The BLRs and TDRs can get up to 80KPH and carry between 5-8 lasers. One of the TDRs has jump jets. TDR's harder to keep cool than the BLR, though. Its best engine is the STD300, which means you're going to have trouble fitting enough DHS because of weight and space concerns. Might be worth running an XL with lots of single heatsinks but I haven't tried.

The Orion-K can also go that fast and can carry 4 pulses in its arms.

GFN-1N and -1s, SHD-2D, and SHD-2K can go over 100KPH carrying an LPL and 2xMPL. 2K's are in the torso, so that's a bit gimped. Griffin carries them all in one arm, has better twist, better cockpit view, and more jumpjets.

GRF-1S
1xLPL, 3xMPL, XL350, 5JJs. Or you can drop down to an XL325, go 2xLPL, 2xMPL, and run a bit hotter. (ETA: looks like I finally found a medium build that's worth taking FF)

Edited by Mizeur, 24 May 2014 - 07:18 AM.

[BOWMANGR]

One of my favorite Dragon builds.

Dragon-1C
4xMPL
1xUAC5 or AC5
1xSRM6
XL 340

If you have learned to use ArmsLock toggle you can focus fire the MPLs+AC5 for 30+ pinpoint damage and then you can continue shooting while cooling with the SRMs.

Warning: Dragons are difficult to learn piloting. You won't have it easy at the beginning. Patience is a virtue.

[Isabelle]

If you want to stick pulses on an ECM mech (not counting the atlas). My recommendations would be the 3 med pulse Spider-5D if you want the jump jets, or the 4 med pulse Cicada-3M for a little more power (use the XL320 that comes with it when you buy the mech).

You might not see many other people using these builds (since most people in ECM lights seem to be a little obsessed with ERLLs and ERPPCs) but I have had I lot of fun in both.

[Bigbacon]

Ertur, on 24 May 2014 - 05:49 AM, said:

Some people run a 3MPL ECM Spider. I prefer the range of the ERLL 2ML version personally. The SDR-5V 2MPL isn't rare, either.

5V that is the best you can do unless you do 1 ERLL + lotsof JJ + BAP to help people out. 5V to me should be the one with ECM.

I do both with my 5V.

Edited by Bigbacon, 24 May 2014 - 01:29 PM.