44 replies to this topic

[MischiefSC]

3xAC5, 2xPPC.

I've never played anything like it. It's no poptart but seriously, it's a flat out cold killin' BEAST of a mech. There's a lot of loadouts you can put on it. It's not nimble, it's not quick. What it is however is a ruthless killer. It's a rare game I'm getting less than 500 damage an d7 assists. Because of my playstyle I don't get a lot of kills but my win/loss has skyrocketed. I just hit my 90th match in the 3E and it's at a 1.64 win/loss. I tend to strip armor and blow side torsos off and then let them run, moving onto the next dangerous target and counting on my faster teammates to finish them off. It's been very successful.

The mech itself though is just brutal. Efficient, deadly and effective at all ranges. I like it a lot and, again, I'm painfully sick of poptarting so it's a brilliant change of pace.

Anyone else with some solid performing banshee builds? When the silly 'caught on a rock' bit is fixed for it I think it'll be a top Assault contender.

[Ngamok]

I have not purchased it yet but pretty much what I was shooting for and a medium laser in the head. I've only bought the 3M (selling it after basics). The other build idea I had for it was 1 less PPC but max out the Medium lasers on it with a few extra heat sinks.

BNC-3E

Edited by Ngamok, 24 March 2014 - 12:31 PM.

[Gtbuck]

I run the same thing except I'm using ERPPC, yeah it's hot. I ran a 3ppc ac 10 and ac5 for a bit, it was ok but I wanted more range.

[MischiefSC]

Ngamok, on 24 March 2014 - 12:31 PM, said:

I have not purchased it yet but pretty much what I was shooting for and a medium laser in the head. I've only bought the 3M (selling it after basics). The other build idea I had for it was 1 less PPC but max out the Medium lasers on it with a few extra heat sinks.

BNC-3E

My problem would be range convergence. Most all of my fights take place beyond 300m. That extra 10 pts in the alpha to make it 35 lets me cockpit people at 500m. Which is freaking satisfying, let me tell you.

[Maverick27]

I run a similar build with the BLR-1D, 2xAC5, 2xPPC but then I throw in two MPLs as well. Loving it. Eventually I'll get a Banshee but I already love my Atlases and BLRs so I'm not sure where it'd fit in to the mix.

[Roadkill]

Yep, as I recall that's the Mech I was playing yesterday when we linked up. I one-shotted fresh Spiders twice yesterday, both times through a side torso. Wouldn't have thought that 35 damage would one-shot a Spider's side torso, but maybe they were running "balanced" armor and I got a lucky crit on the XL Engine or something.

Regardless, it's a beastly Mech. Pretty sluggish with a 300 XL engine, but I'm okay with that.

I'm only averaging 2.65 KDR and 425 damage in mine, but I don't pug well. Much too easy to get abandoned by your team and overrun.

[MischiefSC]

I run standard engines and lose a side torso relatively often (I swing to spread damage often). Standard 300, 3xAC5, 2xPPC, plenty of ammo and DHS, AMS and 2 tons of ammo (cuz AMS goes like hotcakes).

I'm creeping steadily towards a 2.0 K/DR in it regardless, pugging in an assault with no JJs and only recently got elites unlocked. I'm staying over 1.5 win/loss, pugging exclusively, at a sample size of just shy of 100 matches in that same mech.

I'm getting better at one-shotting lights too. Spiders, also getting back-shots on Jenners and Firestarters. I've cockpitted several Ravens - enough to get the headshot achievement. The little ******** pop up to snipe 400, 500m away and POW. Right in the pie-hole.

Oh, and the delicious LRM boats. The sneaky trick is staying at about 150m or so. They keep backing up, hoping to get to 180. You don't get too close or they'll just brawl, swing torso, etc. You keep them at that sweet spot where they think 'Almost at LRM range... almost!' and my PPCs are still hitting. DELICIOUS.

Without any weapons in the arms they're just shields. I can stand and deliver on some poor LRM boat ******* while his buddies shoot at me and eat those arms off. Happy to trade them for the kills.

She's a beast. A flat out cold killing rat ******* SOB of a mech. I love her. If she had ECM it would remove all sport from the game. You just watch; people will learn the magic of the 3E Banshee and they'll be everywhere.

[Soulscour]

2PPC and 3AC5 is a meta build and definitely the most effective. I have more fun playing the 4AC2 build however because the PPC + AC5 is too similar the other mechs I have except without jumpjets. It is the most viable Mech to mass AC2s on because of the armor and heat management which is superior to cataphract and jagers. Now with the Banshee you can stand there and shoot for long periods of time and will win 1 on 1 trade offs consistently against other assaults. Completely different experience from heavies that I piloted before. Also it is the fastest and most agile assault build I have ever piloted and I haven't even elited it yet. Use med laser sparingly or as finisher. BNC-3E

Edited by Soulscour, 24 March 2014 - 04:06 PM.

[MischiefSC]

I hadn't realized how much XP I'd piled up. Just finished off Elite and Master. Third module slot...

NOW I HAVE AN ARTILLERY STRIKE. YO HO HO HO

[MischiefSC]

Soulscour, on 24 March 2014 - 04:01 PM, said:

2PPC and 3AC5 is a meta build and definitely the most effective. I have more fun playing the 4AC2 build however because the PPC + AC5 is too similar the other mechs I have except without jumpjets. It is the most viable Mech to mass AC2s on because of the armor and heat management which is superior to cataphract and jagers. Now with the Banshee you can stand there and shoot for long periods of time and will win 1 on 1 trade offs consistently against other assaults. Completely different experience from heavies that I piloted before. Also it is the fastest and most agile assault build I have ever piloted and I haven't even elited it yet. Use med laser sparingly or as finisher. BNC-3E

Doesn't the heat penalty shut that down pretty quickly though?

[DocBach]

I run the same thing with a 300 standard. Get 57kph on a full run, have group 1 for the PPC's together, group 2 for the AC's together, and group 3 as chain fired AC's.

I use the chain fire usually at long range against laterally moving targets; once I get a bead on the lead I need I switch to the group fire. Also the chain fire (which literally has no cool down between the three cannons) is great for cooling off when using the PPC's.

Its definitely a metabeast for sure, definitely my favorite 'Mech at the moment.

[Mike Oakenwall - the khadoran]

Was to hot and slow for me, running 3 ac5 and 3 medium lasers, works like a charm, rather have abit more mobility and able to keep firing.

[Soulscour]

MischiefSC, on 24 March 2014 - 04:16 PM, said:

Doesn't the heat penalty shut that down pretty quickly though?

The heat penalty was a bigger deal on heavies. It feels like I'm shooting for a long time when I'm not using medium lasers. Most of the time people become unnerved by the constant fire/damage and look for cover. I'm getting a lot of 800 damage games with this build which is not bad.

[kazlaton]

I've been using 3x AC5 4x medium lasers. Broke 1200 damage a couple of times, and been getting plenty of +1000 damage rounds.

[VXJaeger]

Something like this.
Lord of Dakka

[meteorol]

Well, now we have the 3 standard builds posted

1) 2PPC, 3 AC5
2) MLs, 2xUAC5, 2xAC2
3) MLs, 3 AC5

I have played all three of them, and i have to say 2PPC, 3 AC5 is probably the "best".
Reasons:

The UAC/AC2 build runs incredibly hot. I went down do 3ml to add one more DHS, but on hot maps (caustic, mordor) this build overheats mighty fast while dealing spread damage doing so. Those ACs2 create a butload of heat.
It shreads through non moving/twisting (=bad) assaults like a warm knife through butter, but if your targets starts twisting, you deal alot of spread damage while creating alot of heat, which is certainly not the best way to do things.

It's the most fun of all 3 builds though. In dakka we trust.

The 3AC5+ ML build has the benefit of pretty much never overheating and lets you fit a larger standard engine due to little weight of ML. You can shoot all day long without overheating.
Still, it lacks the huge pinpoint damage punch the PPC/AC build can deliver, and with so many fights taking place at 300m+ the damage drop of the ML become a problem. Solid brawler though.

I played around with mixed builds a bit (combining PPCs with ML and so on) but i didn't like it too much.
3 ML build up more heat than a PPCs, while not delivering more damage to a single location most of the time.

[MischiefSC]

Yeah. Having played with it, the 3xAC5, 2xPPC build tops out. Plus it's the one-shot killing of Spiders and legging of Ravens/Jenners that's just quality fun. You line up for their running away from you and BOOP! Right in the torso, doesn't matter which, through the back armor on any light 35 points will generally settle out their hash.

Had quite possibly the funniest match I've ever seen on Alpine. The other team set up on H9/I9 and we pushed and pushed, turned into this war or attrition but finally we got a spotter on the higher part of the hill who called in the LRMs on them. I was on H7; off to the side, sniping at people who tried to back up. It turned into a ***** shoot; they ran and jumped off the cliff trying to escape the LRMs. I got three airborn kills; they were all stripped to red CTs and badly damaged, leaping off the cliff.

Wish I had time to shout 'PULL!' in chat. It was the funniest thing I've seen in the game in a while.

I watched some Davion tryhards (Twinky Overlord and some others) running Banshees. Spectated them on River City - he put up over 1200 damage with one, that exact same build. The trick really seems to be 'go ahead and take the shot but don't overheat'. He never did chain fire. I've tried to pick up a similar approach; be free and easy with those AC shots and use the PPCs when you won't overheat.

It's working well for me.

She's the new meta. You just watch. Poptarts are great and all but I'm eating a lot of them. The Victor will have less than 60 points of armor on a side torso. Two hits at 35 pts each and the side torso is almost gone; a third hit with just the ACs will put them down. Honestly my best approach for fights with a poptart is to stand still; the CT has 90+ armor on my Banshee. You give them a good target and you'll find they're willing to try and take it. Swing a bit if you can shoot first; take some of that damage on the arms but otherwise it's an easy trade.

Plus the headshots. Shoot Atlases in the head, try to aim generally towards the headshot if you can and you'll get a shocking number of cockpit kills - 35 will kill with 1 hit.

Good times, good times.

[Roadkill]

Oops, mis-typed that. Mine's a standard 300, not a 300 XL. Can't run an XL with 3 x AC/5!

I've also tried the 4 x AC/2 build (with 4 ML as backup). Liked it, but the triple AC/5 build is better. The way I described it to a friend went like this:

Remember back in the day when the Gauss Cat was supreme and everyone accused you of cheese when you piloted it? Well, this Banshee 3E build is basically a Gauss Cat except that one of the Gauss does 20 damage instead of 15, and the other Gauss cycles in 1.5 seconds instead of 4.

O.o Yeah, that.

[MischiefSC]

Roadkill, on 25 March 2014 - 09:10 AM, said:

Oops, mis-typed that. Mine's a standard 300, not a 300 XL. Can't run an XL with 3 x AC/5!

I've also tried the 4 x AC/2 build (with 4 ML as backup). Liked it, but the triple AC/5 build is better. The way I described it to a friend went like this:

Remember back in the day when the Gauss Cat was supreme and everyone accused you of cheese when you piloted it? Well, this Banshee 3E build is basically a Gauss Cat except that one of the Gauss does 20 damage instead of 15, and the other Gauss cycles in 1.5 seconds instead of 4.

O.o Yeah, that.

Yeah. Plus you get 90+ armor on the CT and your arms work to soak damage.

Pretty much like that.

Mine uses the tears of LRM boaters for lubricant. She moves very smoothly.

[C E Dwyer]

It's Shiva that becomes death

The E is very mean, over the tourney weekend I had a 12 assist match, and I'm fairly certain all the other score games were 4 kill and racked up lots of damage, but I didn't get a 5 kill game which is probably why I just missed scored in the Steiner pool *cries waah*

I was running AMS, LB10 paired, Quad medium lasers.

I like that build without arm mounted weapons the LB's work well against ankle biters, the spread of the AC's makes people duck when you traveling over open ground and once that armours gone 20 chances per shot of critting

Running a K/D of 3.24 all pug games, so I'm well happy with the ugly SOB

If only I can make the M work as well

Edited by Cathy, 26 March 2014 - 01:42 AM.