130 replies to this topic

[SuperPignouf]

Hi there,

After playing around a lot with my reward crab and trying to make optimized builds for all mechs of the chassis, 2 things struck me:

1) Due to the amount and variety of weapon hardpoints, the crab can more or less take any role.
2) For each of those roles, there is at least an other mech on the field that does it better: every time I find myself in this "I wish I was in a ..." situation. Which is bad.

I'm just going to put a non exhaustive list of roles the Crab can take and why I think other mechs do it better. The question I need your help for being "What does the Crab do better than everyone else ?"

_BRAWLER / CHARGE LEADER: I think everyone will agree that the Atlas is more tanky due to better hitboxes, thus still being the best mech to lead a charge and trade blows effectively in a brawl.

_BALLISTIC / FIRE SUPPORT: I tried the quad UAC5 crab, the quad AC5 + dual AC2 (I found most success with that last build, having a 1300 damage game on Mordor) but still, due to overly spread and low slung arms, I spend my time wishing I was in my Daishi / Jagermech / Wolverine.

_SNIPER: I also feel like Jagermech is still better boating Gauss rifles. And the dual gauss + dual PPC crab is a bit underwhelming Imho.

_LRM BOAT: nope nope nope nope. (No LRM quirks)

_ENERGY BOAT: Why not ? The Wubverine and the Stalker still seem better at this role imho.

_Erhhhh... What else ? Ah yes, it seems to be an amazing mech to defend in CW, due to the extremely high amount of ammo it can bring and low heat / good dps loadout (Just put 4 AC5 and a derp-ton of ammo, or 2 gauss like in the B33f video).

Please help ! =)

PS: Ofc here I'm not telling you can't do well in a Crab, I'm trying to find something that the Crab does better than any other mech on the field.

Edited by SuperPignouf, 03 January 2015 - 03:24 AM.

[Devil Fox]

Honestly I tried my crab... it's large roof torso, it's low slung arms just didn't do it for myself... prefer my banshees (only found them for CW) and my DDC.

The Crab is exactly what it is... a highly versatile mech that can fit a variety of roles, and yes I've seen LRM crabs and LPL crabs on the field. Most builds still faulter to the quad UAC5 or AC5 builds simply for the dps output. In a confined corridor of engagement the Crab rules in straight up damage and brawl capacity with good hitboxes. But like the Dire Wolf can be cored very easily and quickly under fire, and that roof it has attracts very negative hits from angles above it's LoS.

At present the DDC and Atlas tank and roll damage slightly better but are stuck with med-close range builds, the Banshee's excel at the mid-long range builds in most cases and tank quite well. The energy and missile boats of the Stalker and Battlemasters out do the King Crab potential. The King Crab is there for flavour, different hitboxes and weapon load-outs and as a bunker mech. If ignore it will hurt anything in front of it, and actually fills the sniper assault role similar to the Dire Wolf quite well unlike the majority of IS assaults which tend toward brawling or LRM configurations.

Otherwise there is usually a better tool for a job, but the King Crab does it in fashion!

[Punk Oblivion]

The King Crab is an XL friendly 100 ton mech with a LOT of hardpoints on all variants.

1) With a few exceptions, NOT putting an XL in this thing is wasting potential DPS.
2) Because of putting an XL in, it does not make the best tank.

The King Crab should be played as a tanky DPS mech. You have to be a bit cautious off the start of matches to save all the armor you can. Then either follow in a good tanking mech into the push, or wait to push until the lines start breaking one way or the other, that way your not taking ALL the attention.

Also this mech makes a GREAT flanker if you can muster an XL350 or higher on it. You have a huge amount of DPS to throw out and enough armor to stand up to the mech or two that notice you as you make your move.

[Nightshade24]

I think the crab can LRM boat... it can do 4 LRM 15's with more ammo then an Awesome and have more support weapons and also be colder.

But yea anyway....

I do not think any mech can out do a crab in a specific role...
It can mount duel AC 20, That alone makes it one of the top juggernauts in the game.
It can easily mount LRM's or PPC's with those AC 20's. Making it able to not be useless on long range maps...

It's already out doing the Catapult, Cicada, and Jager in duel AC 20 work while being faster then 2 of those 3 mechs.

It also has quite well armoured arms thanks to those claws. reducing all damage by 10%.

[Skarlock]

The answer is hill hump. The high mounted energy and missile slots mean you can literally shoot at anything you can see beyond a ridge, and in some cases, just *barely* see, due to the fact the weapon mounts are above your cockpit. I can't think of any other mechs that have energy slots above their head (surely there are a few, but I can't think of any offhand), and without question, none of them are in the 100 ton range. While SRMs wouldn't be as useful due to their very limited range, it is still possible to blast people with them in the right position, only exposing the weapons to the enemy to shoot back at.

[Devil Fox]

Punk Oblivion, on 04 January 2015 - 01:57 AM, said:

The King Crab is an XL friendly 100 ton mech with a LOT of hardpoints on all variants.

1) With a few exceptions, NOT putting an XL in this thing is wasting potential DPS.
2) Because of putting an XL in, it does not make the best tank.

The King Crab should be played as a tanky DPS mech. You have to be a bit cautious off the start of matches to save all the armor you can. Then either follow in a good tanking mech into the push, or wait to push until the lines start breaking one way or the other, that way your not taking ALL the attention.

Also this mech makes a GREAT flanker if you can muster an XL350 or higher on it. You have a huge amount of DPS to throw out and enough armor to stand up to the mech or two that notice you as you make your move.

Honestly an XL on a crab is asking for death... lower brackets of ELO you might survive... higher end you either gun the CT as it face stares or you hammer those massive side torsos from angles it can't see from. And throw in you can easily identify builds that use XL due to their payload, and as a face hugging dps machine it won't keep those torso's for long once noticed.

[Nightshade24]

Skarlock, on 04 January 2015 - 02:24 AM, said:

The answer is hill hump. The high mounted energy and missile slots mean you can literally shoot at anything you can see beyond a ridge, and in some cases, just *barely* see, due to the fact the weapon mounts are above your cockpit. I can't think of any other mechs that have energy slots above their head (surely there are a few, but I can't think of any offhand), and without question, none of them are in the 100 ton range. While SRMs wouldn't be as useful due to their very limited range, it is still possible to blast people with them in the right position, only exposing the weapons to the enemy to shoot back at.

my tactics is just get in there and keep shooting my AC 20's and large laser at the mech until they die. Works well unless its' the entire enemy team.

[LegoPirate]

dual ac20 dual lpl. plays as a 3rd mech in a charge that can blow mechs up behind the meatsheilds.

[meteorol]

Punk Oblivion, on 04 January 2015 - 01:57 AM, said:

The King Crab is an XL friendly 100 ton mech

Just spilled my coffee

[IraqiWalker]

Apostal Sinclair, on 04 January 2015 - 03:19 AM, said:

Honestly an XL on a crab is asking for death... lower brackets of ELO you might survive... higher end you either gun the CT as it face stares or you hammer those massive side torsos from angles it can't see from. And throw in you can easily identify builds that use XL due to their payload, and as a face hugging dps machine it won't keep those torso's for long once noticed.

The only difference in most cases between builds running XL, and builds running STD is just the speed, which isn't always distinguishable.



For myself, I've ran the reward crab in 2 set ups:

2xGauss 2xERPPC (Yes, I know 2xPPC is colder, but I want the extra 600 meters on range, and the extra speed)

and 4xUAC5+2xERLL (again, running mostly for the range)

-Gonna be trying the 4xAC5+2xAC2 set up, btw.

The King crab is the IS equivalent of the Direwolf. It is also currently the only assault mech that can run a dual Gauss set up competently, and the only IS mech that can do 2xGauss 2xppc, right.

The mech is very nimble, and as someone that owns both a Direwolf and a Crab, I can say this:

The DWF packs more dakka, but the Crab can move significantly better, and put that dakka where it's needed faster.

The things that really help the mech shine are not it's hardpoints really. Those are great, but the hitboxes really make a difference. Plus the model design itself. Unlike the DWF, the crab is very short. Extremely short in fact, to the point where many medium stand taller than it. That allows it to move around better than most assaults and remain unseen for longer. Couple that with it's weird shape, and you've got a mech that excels at poking from the sides with massive guns (show me one other mech that can side poke with as many weapons as it can. Nope, the JMS can bring less than half most of the time), and also one of the best ridge humpers in the entire game. The BLR, and the STK are usually considered the top of the line ride humpers, but trust me, the KGC can give them a run for their money.

I actually think it's better than the stalker at ridge humping, because while the stalker can hit you with 2 weapons at max while peeking, the crab can hit you with all of it's energy weapons, plus all the missiles too.

In the spoiler I have a video of Sean Lang demonstrating that exact trait

Spoiler

It can also LRM boat better than any other mech, including the Awesome. Though they both carry the same payload (4xLRM 15s), the KGC has high mounted missile launchers, and high mounter energy points for TAG, plus an extra 20 tons to throw around.

It's an all rounder, but it really shines with ballistic weaponry, and out of all the assault mechs we currently have, in both IS, and Clan arsenals, it is the best ambush mech bar none, thanks to it's unique low profile.

meteorol, on 04 January 2015 - 03:31 AM, said:

Just spilled my coffee

It really is



Out of all those drops, only 12 or 14 of them were because of side torso destruction.

Edited by IraqiWalker, 04 January 2015 - 03:46 AM.

[VirtualSmitty]

Apostal Sinclair, on 04 January 2015 - 03:19 AM, said:

Honestly an XL on a crab is asking for death... lower brackets of ELO you might survive... higher end you either gun the CT as it face stares or you hammer those massive side torsos from angles it can't see from. And throw in you can easily identify builds that use XL due to their payload, and as a face hugging dps machine it won't keep those torso's for long once noticed.

Agreed. I almost always lose a side torso whenever I run these things. KCs have a good torso twist, you cn easily spread damage.

[Escef]

IraqiWalker, on 04 January 2015 - 03:46 AM, said:

It really is



Out of all those drops, only 12 or 14 of them were because of side torso destruction.

I suppose I should be proud of myself then?

[IraqiWalker]

Escef, on 04 January 2015 - 07:28 AM, said:

I suppose I should be proud of myself then?

I will have my revenge one of these days Escef

[Punk Oblivion]

Apostal Sinclair, on 04 January 2015 - 03:19 AM, said:

Honestly an XL on a crab is asking for death... l

Of course it is! But if I can kill 2-3 mechs and damage a bunch more before I die, I call that a win haha. and the only standard engine build I have been able to do that consistantly with is the 4-UAC5's with a crapload of ammo build.

Of course I only have the 000(L) right now and I LOVE ballistics. Ballistics are heavy + need a lot of ammo. Once I get the other two variants and use lighter energy and missile weapons, my opinions might change. But as for the 000, I will stick to XL's

Edited by Punk Oblivion, 04 January 2015 - 10:46 AM.

[That Dawg]

Quote

KING CRAB: IS IT WORTH IT ?

right now? yes

in a few weeks.. or so...and they nerf them to make room for whatever is coming in spring summer? then buff them next fall cause no one is buying them? probably not, but now?
I think so, they are tough to kill and as scary as a direwhale

[Shatterpoint]

*It's painfully slow, in terms of forward/backward movement and turning. Move and you're committ ed to that move.
*The big weapons are pretty low mounted so you need to expose yourself to make the damage count.
*The cockpit view is horrible, you get very little visibility of what's going on around you without using your cockpit camera and then you lose some control.
*It gets stuck on things most mechs wouldn't, really wide and really slow to move when stuck on a car or something.

I use mine for support fire and siege breaking when the rest of my team would rather sit behind a rock and wait for death.
It brutalizes anything that isn't a top tier assault when the hits land, I felt sorry for some of the guys who walked out in front of mine.

Not all that interesting to pilot but you'll get the job done with lots of noise and flashing stuff.

[IraqiWalker]

A couple of things

Shatterpoint, on 09 January 2015 - 07:18 PM, said:

*It's painfully slow, in terms of forward/backward movement and turning. Move and you're committ ed to that move.

It is an assault mech after all. However, it has the torso twist of a 65 ton heavy.

Shatterpoint, on 09 January 2015 - 07:18 PM, said:

*The big weapons are pretty low mounted so you need to expose yourself to make the damage count.

That is true. However, the energy and missile hardpoints are extremely high mounted. You can ridge hump better than any other mech in the game

Shatterpoint, on 09 January 2015 - 07:18 PM, said:

*The cockpit view is horrible, you get very little visibility of what's going on around you without using your cockpit camera and then you lose some control.

Only with the reward King Crab, the others have a much better view. Cockpit view in spoiler:

Spoiler

[Insects]

My cockpit on standard KGC-000 doesnt look like that, have you customized the depth of field thing?

[IraqiWalker]

joelmuzz, on 11 January 2015 - 05:00 AM, said:

My cockpit on standard KGC-000 doesnt look like that, have you customized the depth of field thing?

I think it was modified. However, it's not a screen cap of my own mech. As the username up top indicates. It's Kuro's

[AllOuttaBubbleGum]

I love my crabs. I'm performing my best with them currently. Even over my dires. I no longer bat an eye at getting 5-6 kills in a match with any of them.
I naturally tend to brawl and my three crabs are varying degree of brawlers.

lbx/srm/med pulse
dual ac40 with 2x LPL
4xuac with three med pulse as backup

all with 360XL's