A friend of mine got himself an Atlas, because he likes his
Space Marines. He had the same trouble as you had, so I offered him to team up with my DakkaHawk (Shadowhawk with triple AC2), which has very high dps, but needs "face time". I remember one specific battle in Canyon Network where we were the only ones on the right flank. We were like "meh whatever, let's just sell ourselves as expensive as we can before our team gets crushed".
Weird thing was that on the enemy side there wasn't even one single mech at that flank, so we went all the way to their base (was before turrets). Before we reached it, someone must have spotted me and reported it to their team. Atlas was walking down in the canyon, I kept an overview from the second floor. Two guys started to engage me, and I saw more coming. I closed in on my friend and we walked around a corner. Then when they came around, BOOOM they got themselves a big yellow Atlas in the face. Surprise!
The two guys who were after me didn't even spend another second on me and immediately switched over to my friend. Then 3 more guys with heavier machinery arrived, and hell broke lose. They pounded the Atlas, and they pounded him good. He was like a Spartan in a 1v5, refusing to give them even one foot of ground no matter how grim the situation. I killed one of the initial two guys quickly, then switched over to their heavier reinforcements. That Cataphract had to go ASAP. I'll get it, even if it's the last thing I do this match. The air was filled with bullets and smoke, and neither side did see much except for that one yellow giant Imperial Fist in the middle.
I was running hot fast, but after several seconds I managed to core the Cataphract. Mission accomplished. "Now they can have me" I thought, but then realized that still nobody was shooting at me. I slightly turned my head while engaging the next target, and I knew why. The Imperial Fist was still standing. After what felt like an eternity of bullet rain, he was still there, giving them stories to tell about immortal Atlases. 3 targets left. A few seconds later, their Jagermech bit the dust. More reinforcements...
Not a word was spent, we both knew that we won't leave this place alive. I took a quick look at him, wondering how he can still be there after all this. Status overlay: 23%. I took a deep breath. Alright, let's give them what they are asking for. 19%. Their Thunderbolt uses one of his allies to prevent me from downing him, switched target to the "cover" Jagermech. 11%. Atlas down. A few more strikes, Jager sent to the other side. The last thing I remember was 4 red markers around me, including that one Thunderbolt with an open CT. I attempted to down him. Orange. Come on, die already! Then silence. They got me before I managed to land those last few hits. The fight was over. And what a fight it was.
Final balance: with one Shadowhawk and one Atlas we took down 1 Shadowhawk, 2 Jagermechs, and a Cataphract, all while facing about 8 opponents (they arrived in 3 groups).
And the reason this was possible is because everyone went for the Atlas. They could have killed me in a few seconds. But instead they went for the big guy. Sure he died in the end. But not before allowing me to kill 3 of them by taking an insane amount of abuse for me, and finishing off one of them himself.
On that day, the Atlas earned my respect.