16 replies to this topic

[Emilio Lizardo]

All,

I'm fond of playing mobile mechs with a decent punch. Anything under 85 kph feels slow. However, I realize that I will need to train a good heavy mech to help in community warfare. I have mastered the Summoner, so can take the short route to elite in a IS heavy, but so far have only played IS trial heavies.

To cut to the chase, what is your favorite IS heavy to play and why?

I am open to all play styles. Thanks for your time.

[jper4]

i like the Jager, high mounted weapons so you don;t expose your mech much while shooting at the other guy, good ballistics and has a missile varient if you want to do something different with one of them. speed is in the mid/high 70s on the builds i use.

caraphrat is also very popular/good though i don;t own any of those. some of those even have JJ options. also good ballistics mech

i tend to stick with mediums/lights myself and Jager's the only heavy i've really felt comfortable with.

[John1352]

I also like fast mechs, but have a lot of heavies and assaults too. Among the heavies, I have Catapults, Jagermechs and Cataphracts. The catapults are good missile boats, but the K2 is pretty much obsoleted by the Jagers. The Jagers are great ballistic mechs, you need to run an XL to load them up properly though and they have huge side torsos, so they sometimes go down really quick. I'm not a fan of the Cataphracts. Their arms basically drag along the ground, so the only variant I've had regular success with is the 3D with JJ.

I'd say the deciding factors should be:
What weapons do you want to use?
How fast do you want to go?
Do you want high hardpoints?
How important are jumpjets?

[Mechi Messer]

As always: It depends...

I like Cataphracts, especially the Ilya. Two AC10, three medlas. runs 80+ kph and utilizes the quirks. 3 AC5 builds do the trick, too.

For fast poking and shredding: Dragon 1N. Due to the ac5 quirks this thing cranks out a lot of shells. Use two AC5 and an er-ll. Fast and deadly.

Orions can be good brawlers, but I can't play them propperly. Too clunky for me and kind of slow.

Jaegers are well...Jaegers. DakkaDakka, a bit pew pew here and there. High hardpoints for the ACs so you can dish out without exposing too much of your a bit fragile torsi.

Thunderbolts are nice two. Very versatile In my opinion and not too slow. The 7 mpl TDBSS brings the pain.

Edited by Mechi Messer, 27 November 2014 - 07:27 AM.

[UrsusMorologus]

Heavies are the sweet spot for me--good movement, survivability, and firepower all together. All of mine can turn in 700 damage pretty regularly (not every fight, but very often).

Quickdraw makes a good fighter for <300m skirmishing, with high torso-mounted energy hard-points that can carry LPL or PPC for peeking and swapping, arm-based energy weapons that can unlock, and enough mobility for SRMs to be useful vs lights. Quickdraw is only 60 tons so its able to maintain movement pretty well in circle fights, while the JJ let you use terrain to get in position where your torso weapons are less likely to miss. I am using the 4G because it has extra torso movement and has the most energy quirks.

Orion for long-range damage, especially the V which is quirked for it. Dual AC5 on chainfire with a level 5 cooldown module will keep the projectiles firing at a really high rate, ERLLs in the unlockable arms for poking, and an LRM10 for hitting things with indirect fire. No JJ and a big target, so you need to use corner-peeking from distance and engage targets of opportunity, but this setup lets you do full damage from 600m with all the weapons so you dont need to get close.

Jagers Jagers Jagers. I kept all three of the Jagers that I used for mastery. There are a lot of builds out there. I am using the A for 4xLRM10 artillery, S for 2xAC10, and Firebrand for Guass and ERLL. Master the hill-peek technique and you will rack up a lot of kiills.

Cataphract is consitently rated high and they do massive damage in the right hands. Catapult is a very good artillery support platform and has some interesting varients. Thunderbolt is an advanced playstyle but can be extremely deadly with a good pilot.

[Emilio Lizardo]

Thanks for the pointers. I like having JJs, but they're not a necessity. Jumping mechs do sacrifice other strengths in the new quirk system.

I like the idea of Jaegers but hate running XL engines. I'm probably looking at running either those or Quickdraws. I know the play styles are totally different, but my reasoning is that I would enjoy being able to play a QKD like a scrappy medium and would also enjoy the snoop-and-shoot style with the Jaegers.

I like the trial Cataphract but get frustrated by the low hard points. I also like the Catapult but they're big and blocky, easy to target and dissect.

I did pre-order the Grasshopper and that looks like it will be a fun mech to play, but want to master another heavy option while I wait for it.

[Zephonarch II]

Okay, if you want speed in an IS Heavy then you can do that with an XL Engine in probably a Catapult, or Jagermech mentioned above. I specifically would discourage any Catpult that isn't the K2, seeing you have limited builds to only missile weapons and some (or no) lasers. Plus they're mounted on gargantuan-proportioned arms. Easy to hit, making your Torsos easier to focus fire on sooner than the K2. The K2s ballistics can distract players because you may have 2ERLLs in the arms, and 2AC10s in the torsos. Just where do you start your suppressive fire? Get a K2 if any.

The Jagermech is also a good choice. You get the same build dynamics as the K2-Catapult except the high-mounted arms give you a pot-shot advantage for your ballisitic weapons when peaking over hills. Any Jagermech is good for that perk, the; A variant allows you to coordinate your ballistics alonside some arty-lrms or srms for great rushing buils, the S-variant gives you flexibility for 4xballistic builds and still leave you with room for 4xenergy hardpoints. The DD-variant can only be made useful if you put 6 Machine guns on it. (The days of actually equipping 6 AC2s are over.) It wasn't my favourite variant when I tried to pilot Jagers just because of that.
So get an S or A if you go with a Jagermech

I'll disapprove of the Orion, because XL builds do NOT work imo. And (FOR YOU ONLY BECAUSE OF YOUR SPEED PREFS) using StandardEng.-builds forces you to 64k-72ish speeds. I can accomodate with that, but speed I'll admit is not what the Orion excels in. It's CT huge, but you can equip far bigger builds than the K2 or Jager who pretty much can only specialize in dualBOOM builds with some lasers. The Orion takes more skill to pilot in my opinion, and if you want a balance in the game, build-flexibility really. The ON1-K is very useful. V is more geared towards rushing only, or lrm builds. The VA imo is something to avoid unless if you're leveling it up. The M is more unique than all of them, and just about gives the same-build flexibility as the ON1-K. So here's the summary:
IF YOU WANT A CHALLENGE, AND WANT TO BECOME A WISE PILOT... then elite/master a ON1-K or M. V maybe.

Quickdraws have the speed you want, but their legs are one big eye-sore. I'll target a QKDs legs before anything else really because they're that easy to hit. It's limited to Energy builds and SRMs, that's the heads-up you'll get. Except the IV, but I wouldn't recommend it. Imo the arms are easy to hit too. (That's too with 2 os which no-one seems to get right now... nvm; off-topic) I don't recommend this 60 ton when looking at the Dragon.

The Dragon provides the same type of challenge I mentioned the Orion provides. Only good pilots, probably better pilots than Orion-pilots because you're given a huge CT, less build-flexibility, BUT with speed. You can dish out a lot of damage with it's Right arm if you damage mitigate well on your own (Try to use your left side as cover to protect your right side) I've piloted this before, though not long, I think it can be a mech you would never want to fail in. That just makes good matches in Dragons so much more rewarding. So, just be warned: It's Ct is huge, it's arm is huge, BUT you get RA quirks. .

Now, the Thunderbolt... I have little experience in it. But lately the 5SS-variant with it's new quirks have made it into a powerhouse lately. I would ask around about it, because I think there's viability in the community's use of mechs. It's probably popular for a reason.

Cataphracts are great. Ilya is a great mech because of the hardpoints-distribution on it. 3 ballistics points; 1 in the LA, 1 RA, and 1 RT. But otherwise, if you want JJs get the 3D and you'll still have 2Ballistic pts to spare and 64-70 speeds in a Standard. The 4X gives you 4ballistics evenly; 2 in each arm making its ballisitics builds very tough to face in combat because it can pretty much do the same amount of damage as a Banshee-3E. Sometimes, though. Overal the other 2 variants give a lot of flexibility outside of stacking Ballistics in your builds. And frankfully, this is a good starter mech.

I hope this helps! And please... don't give up on any mech once you purchase one. Every mech has their own indended playstyles; ie. you don't always need to have speeds above 85. Seriously if you want to be heat-efficient IS mechs excel, and good pilots can make them deadly than CLAN mechs piltoed by bad pilots. And there are a lot of them. My advice is to just differentiate a little with the mechs you buy and keep. Just a tip.

[Mechi Messer]

Zephonarch II, on 27 November 2014 - 08:33 AM, said:

I hope this helps! And please... don't give up on any mech once you purchase one. Every mech has their own indended playstyles; ie. you don't always need to have speeds above 85. Seriously if you want to be heat-efficient IS mechs excel, and good pilots can make them deadly than CLAN mechs piltoed by bad pilots. And there are a lot of them. My advice is to just differentiate a little with the mechs you buy and keep. Just a tip.

Yes!
Furthermore some mechs (cataphracts for example) become much more fun and way easier to play after unlocking the elite skills. Although this is true for every mech, some heavies are shite in the beginning and become nasty when elited.

[Viperion]

Well i enjoying my Cata k2 and jester. Since they have the speed and maneuverability which makes them very deadly in the hands of a cunning pilot.

I tend to play with Jester with 90 kph max speed with 2 erll at arms and 4 mpl. its a very effective build provided you strive to be anonymous in the field. its the perfect partner to a "tanky" assault. Don't worry about the xl engine, as long you know your way with distribute incoming dmg.

I play k2 as well with almost same build. just 2 ERLL and 2 MPL and 2 machine gun.

I use to play almost standard K2 with one exeption. ER PPC instead for normal PPC. but atm its very hard for me to use it consider its nerfs and highly depended on ping issues.

My cata k2 or Jester is one of my favorites since i like staying in the "shade" of the atlas or any assault who can accept being a target practice. lights and meds tend to easily being target by me.

Closest to my kind of playstyle are either Dragons (which i don't get a ... uhm good feeling with) and Thunderbolts (provided i can handle the diversity Thunderbolts provide)

[Mirumoto Izanami]

If you are used to the Summoner, try the Thunderbolt. The 9s can be set up much like the summoner prime, just minus the JJs and with more LBX ammo (and secondary weapons too).

[Eaerie]

Little note on the catapuult K2, It can run a decent dual guass build. It cant aim all the places a jager can but since a K2 is very XL engine friendly you really dont lose any durability stuffing an XL in a K2 where an XL in a jager tends to make them quite a bit more "squishy"

[John80sk]

Tier 1 IS heavies are probably the Thunderbold-5SS and the Dragon-1N in that order. Both are also fast heavies (80-90kph). The Thunderbolt is more forgiving (standard engine, torso mounted weapons) while the Dragon is a low heat DPS glass cannon. These however are likely to be under the greatest scrutiny when the next quirk balance pass comes.

The Jaegermech is always solid. Generally very easy to use (if you see it you can shoot it, only a couple weapons groups at most). However, it is extremely glassy. The cataphract 4x and 3D are both usable.

Edited by John80sk, 02 December 2014 - 01:00 AM.

[Emilio Lizardo]

Thanks for all the advice; I decided to go with the Thunderbolt. I started with the 9SE and am running it with a BAP, 2x LPL, and 2x MPL. So far it's won every game I've launched it in, so it's off to a nice start.

I'll probably branch out into one or two more chassis (maybe Catapult) before the Grasshopper is released.

[John80sk]

I made a little typo there, the Thunderbolt-5SS is the tier 1 one (edited the original post to avoid confusion). The 9SE isn't bad either, and the last one is kind of debatable, but I'd go with the 5S.

http://mwo.smurfy-ne...31bc27bf1d4ca3d think this is kindof the standard 5SS. It's what I run at least.

Can't comment on builds for the other ones. Had them mastered a good while ago and haven't messed with the others since the quirkening.

[Flak Kannon]

The DRG-1N is my Kurita ride of choice.

XL280 Engine
(2) Ac5's - 375 rounds ammo
(2) Medium Lasers

Not sure I'll pilot anything else regularly. The mech chassis I used to loath the most is now the one I love the most.

Its only 81 kph, so on the slowish side for an Heavy chassis skirmisher. But just fast enough. If your really want a speed demon Dragon, then put in an XL350, it'll go 100 kph+. I like to down engine, and up gun... but that's just my play style.

I also like the jump capability of the Quickdraws with a couple SRMs and a load of lasers... they are mobile, and very fun. They can get to good firing positions easily, and scoot away well. And they can get into the 80's kph also.

Onto the Orion, Cataphract, you are gonna trade speed for more armor and weapons. If your ok with 70's kph, or even high 60's kph then these work well.. tho speed tweaked Cataphracts with XL340 engines will hit mid 80's kph. I like my Cata 3D with and XL 340, 4 ML and whatever ballistic floats your boat...

The Jager still has a place, and many do well... but they've been passed up a bit post quirk. If you like the Dual Gauss, then go Jager. I cant argue with anyone fielding any Jager, any time. Just know its a bookcase on legs. Its easy to kill now a days with all the damage added to the game. My Dragon eats them up like nothing else. They are a bit of a glass cannon...

The Orion.. I haven't played them yet post quirk. No opinion really. I got good in them pre-clans but haven't driven the much in a while.

And lastly the Catapults... I still like em, just use them much any longer. The K2 is popular because of its ballistics. One build Ive enjoyed, an odd one, STD 255, Ac20, PPC, 3 ML. Odd but fun. the other all do LRMs well. And you can still build the old splat cat, a SRM 48 Catapult in the A1.

[Rear Admiral Tier 6]

Laserboat/SRM-harassing,nothing in the is arsenal i better than Quickdraw,it has the speed to get out of sticky situations and decent firepower for a 60-tonner,sure it cant outgun quirked Dragons,nothing except Dire Wolf cant.

5K is a excellent laserboat,4H decent srm-skirmisher,4G works as a ER LL sniper,4 of them is pretty optimal.

[InspectorG]

Thunderwub. Or Cataphracts.

Once you Wub, you dont go back...