37 replies to this topic

[XHOMERX11]

What are the best Inner Sphere mechs in each class? I'm more so referring to mechs that work well in CW, not tournaments. That is, if there is a difference.

[Sonny Black]

XHOMERX11, on 02 January 2015 - 03:39 PM, said:

What are the best Inner Sphere mechs in each class? I'm more so referring to mechs that work well in CW, not tournaments. That is, if there is a difference.

Short answer (IMO) No. It so depends on your play style.....ie an atlas is a poor mech for scouting/spotting, a locust, ya don't want to brawl in it.

[TercieI]

XHOMERX11, on 02 January 2015 - 03:39 PM, said:

What are the best Inner Sphere mechs in each class? I'm more so referring to mechs that work well in CW, not tournaments. That is, if there is a difference.

Best for CW?

Assault: Stalkers
Heavy: Thunderbolts
Medium: Uh...Trebuchets? Maybe? Wubverines? I see little use for mediums in CW, honestly.
Light: Firestarters

[XHOMERX11]

Terciel1976, on 02 January 2015 - 03:58 PM, said:

Best for CW?

Assault: Stalkers
Heavy: Thunderbolts
Medium: Uh...Trebuchets? Maybe? Wubverines? I see little use for mediums in CW, honestly.
Light: Firestarters

What about these?...

Assault: Atals or Battlemaster
Heavy: Orion or Yagermech
Medium: Hunchback or Shadow Hawk

[InspectorG]

XHOMERX11, on 02 January 2015 - 03:39 PM, said:

What are the best Inner Sphere mechs in each class? I'm more so referring to mechs that work well in CW, not tournaments. That is, if there is a difference.

metamechs.com is a good place to start.

In short:
Iights- FS is king, Jenner is queen, Spider is Duke...whatever. Raven 3l sniper is too niche/specialized. Rest of the mechs, not so much.
Mediums-more role specific due to quirks. BRAWL -Griffin, HBK-G, Cent Wang/AH, SUPPORT- HBK-J, Treb, Shads.

HEAVIES!!!! - THUNDERBOLTS!!! All the way. Get 3. 5SS(Thunderwub), 9S(ERPPC of GOD- this variant makes Clanners cry), 9SE(4lpl face-burner - not great/not bed either)
Cataphract 3D. GET YOUR THUNDERBOLTS BEFORE THEY NERF THEM - people be QQing

Assaults - Stalkers/Misery(just dont use an XL engine...thats bush league), BANSHEE E(Dakka King with 2 shield arms, SQUEEE!!!), King Crab if you spend $, dual AC20 is no joke, neither is dual gauss.

[XHOMERX11]

InspectorG, on 02 January 2015 - 04:35 PM, said:

metamechs.com is a good place to start.

In short:
Iights- FS is king, Jenner is queen, Spider is Duke...whatever. Raven 3l sniper is too niche/specialized. Rest of the mechs, not so much.
Mediums-more role specific due to quirks. BRAWL -Griffin, HBK-G, Cent Wang/AH, SUPPORT- HBK-J, Treb, Shads.

HEAVIES!!!! - THUNDERBOLTS!!! All the way. Get 3. 5SS(Thunderwub), 9S(ERPPC of GOD- this variant makes Clanners cry), 9SE(4lpl face-burner - not great/not bed either)
Cataphract 3D. GET YOUR THUNDERBOLTS BEFORE THEY NERF THEM - people be QQing

Assaults - Stalkers/Misery(just dont use an XL engine...thats bush league), BANSHEE E(Dakka King with 2 shield arms, SQUEEE!!!), King Crab if you spend $, dual AC20 is no joke, neither is dual gauss.

Could you tell me that all over again in layman's terms, please? I'm still new to MWO.

[InspectorG]

XHOMERX11, on 02 January 2015 - 04:22 PM, said:

What about these?...

Assault: Atals or Battlemaster
Heavy: Orion or Yagermech
Medium: Hunchback or Shadow Hawk

Atlas is too short range/will lose his RT. Im a bit ignorant on Battlemasters, the Wub variants may be good but they seem watered-down Banshees. Dont LRM.

Orion? Jager? Both are currently inferior to the Thunderbolt. Orion cant boat the right weapons, Jager has a XL engine(i think) Thud 9S can have 3ERPPC which is basically an AC30, with almost 1000m range, COMBINED prolly less heat than an AC20, NO AMMO, And fires about every 1.5ish seconds. 2 of those ERPPC are very highly mounted for ridgehumping/corner-peeking. ThunderWub is a laser-tornado at 300m. They can wreck Timberwolves if the pilot is above average. Thunderbolt 9SE with 2 LPL can lay down nice firepower but at the expense of facetime.

Mediums are kinda dependent on leftover tonnage.
For IS it may be better to take a Firestatrer over any Medium...unless your Unit has reasons.

[TercieI]

XHOMERX11, on 02 January 2015 - 04:22 PM, said:

What about these?...

Assault: Atals or Battlemaster
Heavy: Orion or Yagermech
Medium: Hunchback or Shadow Hawk

Atlases are short-range brawlers, badly suited to CW. Battlemasters are generally pretty meh assaults. The ones that are solid tend to be short range.

Jagermechs are ammo-dependent. This is a real issue in CW, where extended life is important. Orions are just really mediocre mechs, not worth 75 tons.

Shadowhawks can do a lot of things, Hunchbacks as well. For CI, I think a gauss rifle Grid Iron is probably the best HBK, but I haven't tried it yet.

[XHOMERX11]

So for a mech to be well suited for CW it needs to be armed for short/medium range and long range? And heavy ballistics, like AC/20's, aren't a good idea since one can only usually carry so much ammo?

[TercieI]

XHOMERX11, on 02 January 2015 - 05:22 PM, said:

So for a mech to be well suited for CW it needs to be armed for short/medium range and long range? And heavy ballistics, like AC/20's, aren't a good idea since one can only usually carry so much ammo?

Well, it's more nuanced, but really range is very important, especially in your bigger mechs. As for ballistics, you really need to be sure you can make your shots count.

Edited by Terciel1976, 02 January 2015 - 05:33 PM.

[InspectorG]

XHOMERX11, on 02 January 2015 - 04:48 PM, said:

Could you tell me that all over again in layman's terms, please? I'm still new to MWO.

Sorry. Ill try to be as clear and concise as possible.

For Lights use FireStarters. you will need to upgrade them with Endo steel and Xlengines. They have speed, firepower, and jumpjets. JumpJets(JJ) let you jump the gates/defenders on attack phase in CW. VERY powerful if not cheese.
FS hitboxes are very favorable for torso-twisting while getting hit, thus spreading damage and sparing individual components.
Your legs will likely be targeted most, so use full armor.

Mediums: this is where it gets complicated. In CW you drop deck(4 mechs you pick to use) are generally best s 3 Thunderbolts and a Firestarter. You have a cap of 240 tons to pick 4 mechs. Think of them like a batting order in baseball, not merely as extra-lives. This is a big part of the frustration in CW. The 4 mechs need synergy between the 4 you take, and the rest of your team.
So, a more homogeneous drop deck and team will be more organized in how it uses firepower, and moving speed. Seems unimportant but it is VERY much concern in CW.
Because of the quirk system(a Clan one is coming sometime soon), IS mediumscan be very varied between Chassis AND variants in a Chassis. Thus you kinda have TOO many choices.
But to make it very simple and cheap bill-wise, just use a Hunchback-G. The AC20 packs a hard punch and you dont need to invest in an XLengine.

Heavies: Its ll about the Thunderbolts. 5SS for a Medium Pulse Lasers.(close/mid range brawling), 9S for the ERPPC love - it will likely recieve a slight/medium nerf soon, but i bet it will still be strong. 9SE for 4LPL. You could use the 5S but i prefer Large Pulse Lasers.

Assaults:
Stalkers, with a STANDARD(dont use an XLengine and LRMs...waste of a good chassis) They have a nice bonus as to after a side torso is destroyed, it essentially deflects a % of incoming damage to the Center Torso. Survival. The weapons boating is good with large lasers and maybe SRM.
Banshee E has 3AC5, that essentially combine to form a AC15 that fires about every second at decent range. Doesnt look like much but its POWERFUL. 4ml backup, STD engine and 2 shield arms(shield arm is torso twisting incoming damage so the arm eats it instead of your torso.
King Crab, if you spend the $, you get a nice mid/close range brawler that can tank decent damage. Its claim to fame is it can equip 2 BIG guns, either AC20 or Gauss. While keeping decent speed/ammo/armor/etc. And can do this with some backup lasers(3 Large lasers?)

In short:
3 Thunderbolts, elite them in the skill tree
3 Firestarters, elite them too.
Later invest in some weapon modules/mech modules.

6 mechs that are competitive in themselves and as a drop deck. these mechas are also currently tier 1 outside of CW.
Start there, branch-out as needed.

[XHOMERX11]

InspectorG, on 02 January 2015 - 05:33 PM, said:

Sorry. Ill try to be as clear and concise as possible.

For Lights use FireStarters. you will need to upgrade them with Endo steel and Xlengines. They have speed, firepower, and jumpjets. JumpJets(JJ) let you jump the gates/defenders on attack phase in CW. VERY powerful if not cheese.
FS hitboxes are very favorable for torso-twisting while getting hit, thus spreading damage and sparing individual components.
Your legs will likely be targeted most, so use full armor.

Mediums: this is where it gets complicated. In CW you drop deck(4 mechs you pick to use) are generally best s 3 Thunderbolts and a Firestarter. You have a cap of 240 tons to pick 4 mechs. Think of them like a batting order in baseball, not merely as extra-lives. This is a big part of the frustration in CW. The 4 mechs need synergy between the 4 you take, and the rest of your team.
So, a more homogeneous drop deck and team will be more organized in how it uses firepower, and moving speed. Seems unimportant but it is VERY much concern in CW.
Because of the quirk system(a Clan one is coming sometime soon), IS mediumscan be very varied between Chassis AND variants in a Chassis. Thus you kinda have TOO many choices.
But to make it very simple and cheap bill-wise, just use a Hunchback-G. The AC20 packs a hard punch and you dont need to invest in an XLengine.

Heavies: Its ll about the Thunderbolts. 5SS for a Medium Pulse Lasers.(close/mid range brawling), 9S for the ERPPC love - it will likely recieve a slight/medium nerf soon, but i bet it will still be strong. 9SE for 4LPL. You could use the 5S but i prefer Large Pulse Lasers.

Assaults:
Stalkers, with a STANDARD(dont use an XLengine and LRMs...waste of a good chassis) They have a nice bonus as to after a side torso is destroyed, it essentially deflects a % of incoming damage to the Center Torso. Survival. The weapons boating is good with large lasers and maybe SRM.
Banshee E has 3AC5, that essentially combine to form a AC15 that fires about every second at decent range. Doesnt look like much but its POWERFUL. 4ml backup, STD engine and 2 shield arms(shield arm is torso twisting incoming damage so the arm eats it instead of your torso.
King Crab, if you spend the $, you get a nice mid/close range brawler that can tank decent damage. Its claim to fame is it can equip 2 BIG guns, either AC20 or Gauss. While keeping decent speed/ammo/armor/etc. And can do this with some backup lasers(3 Large lasers?)

In short:
3 Thunderbolts, elite them in the skill tree
3 Firestarters, elite them too.
Later invest in some weapon modules/mech modules.

6 mechs that are competitive in themselves and as a drop deck. these mechas are also currently tier 1 outside of CW.
Start there, branch-out as needed.

Okay cool, thank you.

[InspectorG]

XHOMERX11, on 02 January 2015 - 05:22 PM, said:

So for a mech to be well suited for CW it needs to be armed for short/medium range and long range? And heavy ballistics, like AC/20's, aren't a good idea since one can only usually carry so much ammo?

general rule of thumb for ammo: 3 tons per gun.

BUT, CW matches can last up to 30 minutes. Balance.

Big guns for defending need to inflict the MOST damage in the LEAST amount of hits/time to the SMALLEST area on a mech. When attackers rush and ignore defenders, you need to remove legs...ASAP. This is where damage-over-time weapons lose out. Why IS AC's re better than Clan AC.

Attackers, can use more leeway by nature of trying to control just when to push the attack, when to hold, and when to try to sucker the defenders if viable.

As far as ammo exploding? it will happen. You could always use CASE if it becomes a big problem but your aim, positioning, and timing s a pilot should mitigate this fear and net the most utility out of the mech in question.

[InspectorG]

Learn from da B33f








Now im not endorsing or denying this type of play...just be ready for it.

[Leeroy Mechkins]

Atlas D-DC, Jagermech/Thunderbolt, Hunchback, Raven is a strong drop deck.

[Magnus Zalman]

Personally i like the Raven 3L for sniping, the Thunderbolt 9S as well. Other then that i like the Jagermech and the Stalker. I would say play them all and see which one fits your play style. At first i hated the Raven, but now i love it

Edited by Tzar Zalman, 04 January 2015 - 02:35 PM.

[Fajther]

When I have been dropping people are asking me to drop not by weight class, but by type.
Wave
1. Long range to open the gate.
2. rush/brawler
3. rush/brawler
4. light mech

lrm mechs only have the potential to be good on defense, if you team has uav's or the other team doesn't have a lot of ecm. There is just as big of a chance that they will not be good.

I don't think any body cares about the exact build yet.

I don't buy the whole "your play style" thing, because there is a definite tactic that works atm. You don't have enough time to poke your way to victory. Most teams are not coordinated enough to brawl there way to victory. That leaves only rush tactics, and you have to play either rush, or anti rush. Worry about being able to move as a group.

Edited by Fajther, 04 January 2015 - 03:46 PM.

[storm surges]

InspectorG, on 02 January 2015 - 05:59 PM, said:

Learn from da B33f








Now im not endorsing or denying this type of play...just be ready for it.

WAT

[Malus Darkwood]

So I am highly subjectiv here:

The best IS-Mech? The Hunchback!
(4SP, Grid Iron, 4P)

In CW I mostly use the HBK for defending. The HBK-4P at range with 3 ERLL, not the most powerfull, but agile, relativly small, can hide easily and still shoot with its perfectly positioned hardpoints. Doesnt work that well if you have a well coordinated 12er rush, but thats kinda normal.

I also have (as defender) 2 medium brawler, the HBK-4SP (5ML, 12 SRM+artemis) and the Centurion AH (AC/20, 12 SRM). They good as second drops, when your enemy is rushing and near the objectives. They are fast (HBK is 98 km/h) and have good firepower. The enemy often ignores you near omega, so you can get their arms/legs, get behind them, hunt them, counter-push fast, whatever you need. I feel assault/brawlers are just to slow, to easy shoot in the back and so on.

Maybe Firestarters or other mechs are better, but I am not a good light-pilot (yet), so, Hunchy all the way

[Vxheous]

Thunderbolt 9S if you are into ER-PPC spam. Firestarter if you are into lag shield light mech action.