44 replies to this topic

[Topshot Tiger]

So I'v finished all my current mechs and I'm looking at starting a new medium mech. I'v already finished Trebuchet, and I was looking at griffin. If hes good which is the best variant to start with and some possible builds?

[mogs01gt]

Do you like SRM brawling or LRM's? If yes to either of those, then yes get the Griffin. The Griff is the best medium mech in MWO to pilot both due to agility and cockpit. It's weapon load outs are lacking since they arent very versatile.

[Topshot Tiger]

It was either griffin for me or wait for the enforcer. Kinda on the fence.

[TercieI]

Griffins are great. Agile, great hitboxes, good weapons capacity.... The 1S is the only bad variant. The 3M is the star, but the 1N is decent too. Sparky is a really good hero: effective and actually different than the base models. Highly recommended chassis.

[Ra-ul]

I love my Griffins, especially the 3M and Sparky. They have a great torso twist rate (speed and angle), arms are not too low. With a big XL engine (110+ kph) and JJ they are very agile and durable.
And btw. I think the Griffin is highly underrated.

With my 3M I currently go with 2 LPlaser and 2 SRM4 (+Artemis), Sparky with 2 ERLLaser and 2 MPLaser (or 3-4 MLaser instead of the pulse).

[BUDFORCE]

Wolverines are better.

Griffin isn't a bad mech though.

[Void2258]

I do not like griffins. I don't like having all my weapons on one side. It makes it too easy to get disarmed.

[FindersWeepers]

I just bought a 3M today.
I love it to pieces! Such a joy to play!
My first game was 600 DMG

[Jody Von Jedi]

If you like the TBT, you'll do well in the GRF. Two of my favorite chassis.

[Apocryph0n]

Void2258, on 19 January 2015 - 04:45 PM, said:

I do not like griffins. I don't like having all my weapons on one side. It makes it too easy to get disarmed.

False, it's the exact opposite, you get 1 side to shield with, to disarm you they have to chew through half a mech first.

Unless you don't shield and twist, then don't run any mech, ever ^^

[eFTy]

That shield theory is only sound if all the enemies are in a single location. It's much better to have weapons spread over multiple locations.

Frankly, since the quirks hit, the Wolverine outshines the Griffin in every way possible. Only the Sparky brings something to the game a Wolverine can't. The Wolverine is great with Large Pulse Lasers, has a variant that can carry ballistics (with an awesome quirk for the AC5) and the 7K is better both at SRM brawling and LRM lobbing than all the Griffin variants. It also has the head energy slot which is perfect for a TAG or medium laser that can be fired when all the other weapons are gone and you're a stick.

That being said, the Griffin is still a very smooth ride, with great cockpit visibility, and the 3M is fun with 4 LRM5, while the Sparky is just glorious with 4x ML & 2x PPC. The 3M & 1N just need some better LRM quirks. The 1S is garbage, that arm is too easily blasted off, even when torso twisting like mad (you'll have to be pretty close to the enemy to use all those medium lasers, and then you'll get flanked and off the arm goes; if you just play keep away you're no better than pretty much every other support/skirmisher medium in the game).

[Apocryph0n]

If you go into the middle of a brawl with any IS XL mech, what did you expect would happen? Griffin is no brawler per se, you zoom in, deliver 60 damage, zoom out, you should never be brawling by the meaning of : Stand there and slam others in the face while they smack you.

And that Shield Theory is pretty much the setup on EVERY comp-mech that sees close range combat. I wonder why, if it's only a funny sounding theory? (except timbers, but they don't have the one-sided hardpoints yet. But look at Hellbringers for example. 5SS's, 9S even gets 2 shield arms)

There is a reason why most websites list the Griffin above the other mediums in the Tier ratings. You are not the 1 guy in the game that found the holy grail

Edit: The 6k is actually rated higher on metamechs.com

Still: A Griffin is mad, mobility wise, you can almost zoom around like a Mist Lynx and deliver pretty decent alphas left and right, without giving anyone a chance to properly shoot you with all the jump jettyness. Remember: GRF jump higher and further than most Lights except MLX and Spiders.

Edited by Apocryph0n, 20 January 2015 - 04:54 AM.

[Johnny Two Legs]

My 1N and 3m have similar set ups - xl300, 3 srm6 with artemis, 2-4 JJ's, 4-5t of ammo, and either 3 ML or 1 ERLL.
With SRM cool down and range buffs, these excel at darting in, sacking someone around the head with a lot of damage and then bugging out, using the Griffins excellent torso twist speed to spread the damage and the large left arm to absorb the worst.
The Wolverine just can't quite manage to do the same thing.
However with the recent buffs this poor cousin might be worth a look.

J2L

Edited by Johnny Two Legs, 20 January 2015 - 05:05 AM.

[mad kat]

The 3M is an insane SRM boat. You can sacrifice speed if your barmy enough and get four artemis SRM6's in the thing which will tear all but the most heavily armoured mechs apart if their foolish enough to get close. Or more rationally stick an xl in and go with the SRM24, large laser and medium laser build as i do. Bloomin brilliant on a fast attack wave or push on community warfare. However getting used to the SRM flightpath and leading the target on faster enemies can take a bit of getting used too.

However the Wolverine has better variety equally good if not better survivability has everything from ballistic to missile and energy predominate builds can absorb damage well and survive well in a brawl. Also give those Centurions some attention. Always have been a solid performing mech and always will be (until PGI) decides to think otherwise. The AL is a bit of an oddball but they are quirked well too can excel at ballistics roles or if you like people to frown on you can even be loaded as an LRM boat. I have all the Centurions and despite their minimal weapons they can be devastating if used properly.

Edited by mad kat, 20 January 2015 - 05:11 AM.

[Apocryph0n]

I still don't get why everyone is suggesting WVRs when OP asked specifically about Griffins.

Sparky, 3M and WVR 6K are the Top Dogs of the IS Medium branch. I'd say try both, but since the question was: Is the Griffin good? I don't get why there's suddenly people being all like from "****, no, it's terrible" to "Well, it is okay, BUT then there's this mech XY"

@OP: Whatever you choose, the Griffin is, to find a diplomatic answer, "one of the" best mediums the IS has. There is no point in arguing over this point. It all comes down to what mechs agility wise you wanna pilot. Someone who is a good pilot with nimble mechs will smack an average WVR every day. Someone who does not mind a bit less mobility and is good with them will beat the average GRF pilot everyday.

TL;DR: Since your original question was: is the griffin good: It sure as hell is.

[TercieI]

Apocryph0n, on 20 January 2015 - 04:49 AM, said:

If you go into the middle of a brawl with any IS XL mech, what did you expect would happen? Griffin is no brawler per se, you zoom in, deliver 60 damage, zoom out, you should never be brawling by the meaning of : Stand there and slam others in the face while they smack you.

And that Shield Theory is pretty much the setup on EVERY comp-mech that sees close range combat. I wonder why, if it's only a funny sounding theory? (except timbers, but they don't have the one-sided hardpoints yet. But look at Hellbringers for example. 5SS's, 9S even gets 2 shield arms)

There is a reason why most websites list the Griffin above the other mediums in the Tier ratings. You are not the 1 guy in the game that found the holy grail

Edit: The 6k is actually rated higher on metamechs.com

Still: A Griffin is mad, mobility wise, you can almost zoom around like a Mist Lynx and deliver pretty decent alphas left and right, without giving anyone a chance to properly shoot you with all the jump jettyness. Remember: GRF jump higher and further than most Lights except MLX and Spiders.

You don't have to run an XL. The GRF-3M does fine with ASRM16, 2ML and a STD275 as well. Still keeps up with your heavy mechs. For comp purposes, that's fast enough. I was actually alternating with that mech and the WVR-7K last night during practice. The 3M is still superior (spread is tighter on those 16 than the WVR's 18), but they're both really good SRM brawlers.

[eFTy]

We mention other mechs because OP might be interested in alternatives.

As for Griffin > Wolverine, that's baloney from a pre-quirk era (I mastered both back then). It only has 5 degrees more torso twist range. Both mechs move, turn and twist just as fast and have the same amount of jump jets. One is not more maneuverable than the other.

The differences lie in the hitboxes and quirks, and the wolverine is shorter and has a better RoF and longer energy range (also longer missile range, but that's not really relevant unless you boat LRMs). It also has all its missile hardpoints on its shoulders, so it can jump partially over an obstacle, fire a salvo and duck.

As I said - the Griffin is good. But the Wolverine is better and more versatile as a chassis.

[mad kat]

Surely to say if a mech is good or not it's only logical to make comparisons and alternative suggestions otherwise what is defined as 'good'. What would the benchmark be? Exactly the same way cars for example are rated as good, bad or simply mediocre.

So in answer yes it is good. But also no due to limited roles, builds and missile dependant (Sparky aside).

[mogs01gt]

eFTy, on 20 January 2015 - 06:05 AM, said:

As I said - the Griffin is good. But the Wolverine is better and more versatile as a chassis.

No its not.
The one gimmick LPL build is "better" in people's minds. Other than that, the Wolverine is the 4rd best 55t. Fan boys of the Wolverine think its the best when its not at all. Each other 55t excels over the Wolverine with specific weapons.

In order.
SHawk: ballistics
Griffin: SRMs
KTO: LRMs
Wolverine: LPL

[Zuri Prime]

The Griffin is definitely a solid chassis, my favorite medium currently. Think of it as a more nimble Shadowhawk with lots of missile tubes.

The issue with the Griffin, however, is its LRM capabilities are outshined by the now-quirked Hunchback 4J. But if you were to use them in an SRM capacity, you're definitely going to be operating in the same lethal territory as the Stormcrow. The Sparky variant is an odd one though. It has definite longevity on the field because of its lasers, but I can't seem to ever make it do its job very well, be it two LPLs and mediums, or two ERLL/LL and mediums. I find the Hunchback 4P is just plain better albeit lacking in range. Then again it's probably operator error on that one -- I use it for long range defense in CW.

The best Griffin variant is the 3M, followed by the Sparky. For the 3M I use its SRM4 quirks in a manner that I trade splat damage for longevity. Here is my build for it. Of course you can do a four SRM6 slpha build to two shot other mediums, but your capacity and range on this variant is severely limited if you don't abide to the quirk system.

All in all, it's worth a shot. I doubt the Enforcer will dethrone the Griffin as the (in my opinion) premiere IS medium battlemech. If you're an aggressive player, this will be your go-to-war mech.

Edit: Don't do ammo legs for CW or competitive play.

Edited by Airmanator, 25 January 2015 - 02:49 AM.