41 replies to this topic

[Erik Hollister]

I've been playing around with a few hero/champion mechs, and have yet to find one that is actually superior in battle to others that share the same chassis. Do YOU have a hero mech that you think beats out the stock versions?

My Yen Lo Wang is close, but not decidedly better.

[crossflip]

Ilya, Dragon Slayer, Ember. Those are widely considered top tier hero mechs for their classes. Most others can excel depending on player skill, but with the three above you're guaranteed to do well if you can handle the relevant playstyles.

[NRP]

I'd add the Arrow, Firebrand, Protector, and Misery to the list of Heros that stack up well relative to their chassis variants.

Edited by NRP, 01 July 2014 - 04:55 PM.

[Spike Brave]

The only one I'd recommend that's not listed is the Ilya.

[Foxfire]

The Moremets is a solid Hero.

Huginn is a great one if you love to play the volture/backstabber.

The Firebrand is a good one as well.

The Ember... it has lower maneuverability and acceleration properties for a light mech but it is still a good mech.

[ShinobiHunter]

Leave the Jester be. Trust me.

[Mavairo]

Jester, Illy, love em both.
I've got those 2
I've also got the Fang and Flame both of which are about even really. Like all dragons they are precision shooters and flankers.
Pretty baby, got one of those. It's probably the best of the Awesomes by quite a ways.

Edited by Mavairo, 01 July 2014 - 05:47 PM.

[Ovion]

As a general rule, they've been pretty good at not making them 'superior' in anything other than the C-Bill bonus.
So it really comes down to: any that you know you're going to play a lot, or enjoy playing a lot.

For me:
The Ember is good, aside from being a great variant, and really versatile, I enjoy it and and lights as a whole the C-Bill bonus is great.
The X-5 I bought because I liked the concept.. I later discovered I didn't really like Cicadas all that much, and have barely used it.
The Firebrand is a great Jager Chasis, and retains the Jagers inherent ability to build any 2 Ballistics build on any Jager. I've used it a lot already, and it's my go-to heavy now for 'sensible' play, so I get tons of use out of the C-Bill bonus.

Basically, any chasis you play a lot and enjoy will likely be a worthwhile investment as a Hero.

[Ngamok]

Ilya, Misery, Dragon Slayer, Ember are all solid mechs. Other mechs worth it are the Firebrand and Heavy Metal. Other mechs are situational and play style preference. Example is the Dragon-Flame. I like it because all the lasers are in the arms and the ballistic is in the torso instead of the arm and really high up near the cockpit.

[CDLord HHGD]

I have them all so far, they all have their pro's and con's. Some have more pro's than con's though.....

[jaxjace]

All hail the Misery. Hands down the destroyer of worlds.

[Erik Hollister]

So, I see darn near every hero mech listed above. Each of these are better on the field of battle than their normal counterparts? What I'm asking is which mechs are really worth spending cash on, and which you aren't really any better off than if you'd spent c-bills on the regular chassis. Of course, the inherent cash bonus makes them pretty cool, but I'm talking about actually versatility. I'm sure there are plenty of people that dont have a ton of real cash to spend on mechs that would like the info as well.

[Orbit Rain]

Timberwolf. ?..55 bucks.

[Equalizer]

Erik Hollister, on 04 July 2014 - 06:32 PM, said:

So, I see darn near every hero mech listed above. Each of these are better on the field of battle than their normal counterparts? What I'm asking is which mechs are really worth spending cash on, and which you aren't really any better off than if you'd spent c-bills on the regular chassis. Of course, the inherent cash bonus makes them pretty cool, but I'm talking about actually versatility. I'm sure there are plenty of people that dont have a ton of real cash to spend on mechs that would like the info as well.

IMO, you should first ask yourself what mech do you have most success with and then look into heroes - with a few exceptions, the hero version would usually perform on par with the best c-bill variant, while offering alternative loadouts. I got 12 of them and here's my thoughts on the ones I find most useful:

Ember - it is the best Firestarter and one of the best lights in general. Much less agile than Jenners but it plays differently too. It is good for hunting down and finishing off wounded mechs or blowing components in the melee, but really shines when you manage to catch a slower heavy/assault alone.

Firebrand - depends on how you like your Jagers, but I find it brutally effective with 6 MLs and class 5-10 ballistics. It can also go faster than other variants and the energy mounts in the arms could be a huge advantage when using LLs/PPCs. That said, it doesn't really outclass any of the c-bill variants. And for crying out loud, use the arm energy slots and don't do AC40 cheese if you get it.

Ilya - it is rather solid (IF you like Cataphracts) and probably the best variant, bar the 3D. As you usually want to utilize all its ballistic slots, it's mostly configured with triple UAC5s or AC10s and MLs for flavor. All that dakka means you face your target a lot so positioning is crucial for success - ideally you'd want to be ignored by the enemy and hanging slightly behind larger mechs or flanking are the best choices. Suffers from the gorilla arms syndrome like all other phracts.

Misery - one of the best mechs out there even after the clan invasion. Combines the durability of all Stalkers with the inability to boat LRMs (and that's an advantage - LRM assaults are waste of team slots IMO). It can easily do a strong brawling setup which is way more fun than it seems, or ERLL/PPC/AC20/Gauss sniper (my best sniper to date is the STK-3F with 4 ERLLs and 24DHS - Misery can do that exact same setup as well).

Dragon Slayer - if you like poptarting, ignore all I said above and get it. It's useless in any other capacity though.

I think these are the only ones worth mentioning as possibly better than their c-bill variants. I'd recommend the Ember since it is cheap or the Misery for its versatility and durability.

Edited by Equalizer, 04 July 2014 - 09:22 PM.

[TercieI]

Erik Hollister, on 01 July 2014 - 04:44 PM, said:

I've been playing around with a few hero/champion mechs, and have yet to find one that is actually superior in battle to others that share the same chassis. Do YOU have a hero mech that you think beats out the stock versions?

My Yen Lo Wang is close, but not decidedly better.

The ones that are flat better than the c-bill versions, IMO are:

Ember (the weapon balance is better than the c-bill versions)
Dragon Slayer (sword and board)
Misery (ballistic hard point)

Other thoughts:
Ilya that others have mentioned fails this test since the 3D is so much better than it (JJ, that simple)
Firebrand is good (PPCs in arms), but it's debatable if it's better, most would say no.
Protector may be the best Orion, but I haven't played Orions, so I'm not sure.

[Karamarka]

Terciel1976, on 04 July 2014 - 09:37 PM, said:

The ones that are flat better than the c-bill versions, IMO are:

Ember (the weapon balance is better than the c-bill versions)
Dragon Slayer (sword and board)
Misery (ballistic hard point)

Other thoughts:
Ilya that others have mentioned fails this test since the 3D is so much better than it (JJ, that simple)
Firebrand is good (PPCs in arms), but it's debatable if it's better, most would say no.
Protector may be the best Orion, but I haven't played Orions, so I'm not sure.

I have a protector, it's not fantastic and i actually hate it. But i think it's core design is ok.

[Hans Von Lohman]

Protector is really good for me, and I am quite happy with it. I have tried out lots of builds, but the torso energy slot is what sells it for me.

[KHETTI]

Golden Boy, makes a bad@ss SRM boat, decent LRM boat to, although its a bit squishy.
Also its gold without the $500 pricetag .

[Jack Corban]

I'd say best Hero Mech is the Warhawk.

[Cow And Chicken]

Get Timber Wolf. I wouldn't even consider anything else.

3x the exp, 3x the cbills.

Why pay $ for obsolete crap?