The following lists my best mechs for CW, I hope you find them useful. The higher a mech is on the list, within its weight class, the more useful I personally find that particular mech to be. Feel free to tell me about your favorite mechs that didn't make the list.
----Light Mechs
FS9-S “The Pocket Thunderbolt” (7MPL, XL265)
https://www.mechspec...mpl-xl265.8877/
This mech has an amazing 42 damage alpha, after the recent quirk nerf it still generates a ridiculously low 22.4 heat per alpha, and moves at 136KPH. With mediocre hardpoints and an effective range of 250m it plays best as an assassin. Keep in mind that your alpha can headshot a mech. If they give you the opportunity, take it. Keep in mind it lacks jump jets.
FS9-A (8xSPL, XL295, 1JJ 3DHS)
http://mwo.smurfy-ne...608194786d1b503
This mech delivers a 32 damage alpha at an extremely low 16.65 heat per alpha strike. It suffers from extremely low range, but it has unbeatable DPS for heat management and has extremely small burntimes. This might be the most consistent anti-light light mech.
FS9-S “Streak Immunity” (5MPL, XL280, 1JJ)
http://mwo.smurfy-ne...840667080d3c889
This has a very low 16 heat per alpha, but is not as cool as the FS9-A due to lacking DHS. This doesn’t have the same bite as the 7mpl build and cannot insta-kill via headshots, but maintain the same dps over time. It does come equipped with a shield arm and in packs can negate the effectiveness of streak boats. If your team is organized, a swarm of these mechs is devastating.
--Medium Mechs
BJ-1X (6xML, 2xMPL, XL295)
http://mwo.smurfy-ne...2b901f8c0ac1f80
This mech is surprisingly good. It has the same alpha strike of 42 damage like the 7mpl builds. It generates 26.4 heat per alpha, but has 18DHS to compensate. The range is good at 351m for the high-mounted mediums and 264m for the MPL. This is the best bang for your buck in the medium category IMO. It also runs at 116.8kph.
Cicada 2B (5MPL, XL300, 15DHS)
http://mwo.smurfy-ne...dbf7d2122a2e636
This is very similar to a Firestarter without AMS and lacking Jumpjets. The alpha also generates slightly more heat at 17 heat per shot as opposed to 16. However, it has 4 high mounted hardpoints, 15 dhs for sustained fire, more armor than the Firstarter, and quirks to cooldown, range, and duration of your mpls. In short, it doesn’t have AMS or JJ, and it runs 9KPH slower but it outdoes the 5MPL Firestarter in every other way.
Grid Iron (1x Gauss Rifle, 2xMPL, XL275)
https://www.mechspec...5-6t-ammo.9439/
Rapid fire Gauss rifles. It does the job of a dual gauss build with more speed and no worry about weapon convergence.
Hunchback 4J “Armless Freak” (2xLRM10, Tag, XL275, 23400 LRM ammo)
https://www.mechspec...0-a-xl245.8859/
If you must bring a missile boat, make it this one. This is possibly the easiest mech in the game to break 1k damage with.
Yen Lo Wang
http://mwo.smurfy-ne...dad482b824cfd75
This might be the most fun mech in the game to play. It has always been a solid mech and is great for ending lights.
Wolverines: They should be on here, but I don’t own them. Feel free to suggest your own favorite builds that may be missing from this list.
----Heavy Mechs
TDR-5SS (7xMPL , STD300, 20DHS)
http://mwo.smurfy-ne...b72f23847f11e16
Best STD engine heavy brawler.
50% range buff to the MPL makes them reach out to 352m. This is the major selling point of this mech. and 15% buff to cooldown and heat reduction are the icing on the cake. The mech runs at 82.2kph. It generates only 23.8 heat per alpha and hits for 42 damage per alpha strike. That is fantastic for an energy boat. Great range, great heat, great speed, mediocre hardpoints.
Quickdraw 5k (3xLPL, 2xML, XL300, 17DHS)
https://www.mechspec...300-17dhs.9436/
This mech has an apha strike that generates 24.375 heat and does 43 damage. That turns out to be the exact same damager per heat as the thunderbolt. It runs at 89kph and has amazing quirks to duration and cooldown. All weapons reach beyond 350 kph and this performs very similarly to the thunderbolt. Only one weapon is low mounted, and that is a medium laser in your arm. This, or the blackjack, is perhaps the most underrated mech on the list.
Quickdraw 5k “Speedy Version” (2xLPL, 3xML, XL325 19DHS)
http://mwo.smurfy-ne...349b68456623863
This mech generates 24.25 heat and does 42 damage per shot. It runs at 96kph and has 2 more heatsinks than the Quickdraw just mentioned above. It also has less armor, and two of its medium laser hardpoints are mounted in the low-slung arms.
Jagermech DD (3xUAC5, XL255)
http://mwo.smurfy-ne...cd4ef66398995e7
After quirks this mech has essentially a 10% chance of jamming. Unlike the dragons all of these weapons are high-mounted.
----Assault Mechs
Banshee 3M “The People’s Champion” (5xLPL, 2xSL, XL375)
http://mwo.smurfy-ne...5fb28ef06d45851
The small lasers only occupy the lowest hardpoints. The remaining 5 hardpoints filled with 5x LPL are all so high mounted that you can hit whatever you see. Play this mech just like the stalker 4N. You have an Xl engine, but you are faster, have more armor, hit harder than 6LL, can torso twist better, have shield arms, have less duration, have significantly less heat, and you can alpha strike if you needed to. LPL have amazing damage per heat. Quite frankly, this mech is a monster.
Battlemaster 1G “Epy’s Alphamaster Version 2” (3xLPL, 4xML, XL90)
https://www.mechspec...x-ml-xl390.8878
This mech has a ferocious 53 point alpha. The medium lasers and the large pulses sync up nicely after the range quirks. It moves at an impressive 81KPH for a mech that hits this hard. All of the hardpoints are mounted extremely high except for 1 medium laser. At the end of the page is a standard engine variant if you insist on that kind of thing.
Battlemaster 3S “Stalker Wannabe” (6xLL, XL375, 20DHS)
https://www.mechspec...las-xl375.9129/
I won’t be going back to the stalker after discovering this guy. He has the same heat quirks. The XL engine grants you better speed, but the main selling point is that all 6 energy spots are extremely high mounted.
Battlemaster 1G “The Tank” (2xLPL, 5XML, STD 340, 21DHS)
http://mwo.smurfy-ne...7c3e39673283af9
Keeps the 71KPH, but still hits for 48 damage and has great cooling. Firing the top 6 lasers only yields you a 42 damage alpha (much like the thunderbolt). Firing those 6 high-mounted lasers would also generate 24.25 heat per alpha. Combine that wit the higher heatsink count in the Battlemaster and it becomes almost a perfect tie with the thunderbolt in terms of damage and cooling, but the Battlemaster has that one additional medium laser and a lot more armor to bring to the table.
BLR-1S “The NS Sniper” (4xERLL, XL400, 22DHS)
https://www.mechspec...rll-xl400.8882/
25% range + a range module brings the ERLL effective range to 911. This mech is oversized for the job, but if you have the tonnage why not make it happen. Frontload you armor, only peak your amazingly high torso weapons and win any long-ranged battle due to the combo of range and impenetrable armor. If you need a sniper, this mech can do it well. The Battlemasters are an overlooked chassis.
To demonstrate these mech's potential:
Edited by Epydemic2020, 03 June 2015 - 01:18 PM.