28 replies to this topic

[Bubblewhip]

So I just elited out my light, medium, and heavy chassis. I'm looking to buy an assault mech for IS which one should I buy?

I'm just dropping in normal games, but I believe after my first assault mech then I think I can go into CW with a decent 4 mech drop group.

I'm stuck between the Atlas, stalker, and King Crab.

Atlas because.. Atlas? To me an Atlas seems to have a similar problem as the clan summoner, it mounts too diverse of weapons, none of which make it super great at any role. It's neither a great missle boat, laser sniper, or even close range brawler compared to dedicated platforms like the Crab or even Banshee. My experience is only with the Trial Atlas, which is a decent build for what its got, but not super exceptional in any given area. All atlas costing over 10m doesn't help, but I do like the ECM one considering what a PITA it is to deal with out on the field.

The stalker trial mech I had great luck with since it's just a great missle boat, but I've learned it's other builds involve lasers boating. It seems to have well sorted weapon layouts, but I can't help but to feel it plays kinda like a more heavily armed Catapault. It will never stand against a proper assault mech like a Atlas or god forbid a Direwolf in head to head combat, and will probebly struggle against proper heavy brawlers like the Cataphract or Catapault K2. My peceription is that an assault should stand up and tank damage, as well as be the first to move forward and advance on dangerous positions. The thing is that the Stalker is not good at any of those things.

The King Crab is what I have been saving up for. It seems to be the only IS assault mech that has any chance of fighting a Daishi 1v1. It's low stance, and heavy armor seem to make it great for what I want to do, which is taking the lead and absorbing damage as well as dishing it out. Although an all ballistic layout, It seems to have some good diversity with going between 2 AC20 for brawls, 2 Gauss for sniping, or 4 UAC 5 for all rounding. Also some variants have 4 missle points so It seems like I can missle boat with it if i really want to.

The King Crab 00B has my C-bills set for it for its inclusion of double heat sinks in the price.

I want to know if Im missing out on any of the other mechs like the Battlemaster, Awesome, or Victor. But it seems like the best assault mech is the King Crab at the moment.

Edited by Bubblewhip, 15 February 2015 - 10:22 PM.

[StonedDead]

Atlas is ok, but the weapons are mounted low, except some of the missile points. Look for cover that is more vertical to peek from, hill humping doesn't work so well. I have terrible luck with them, other than the DDC. Crab is not bad at all really. I'm running the freebie one with an AC20, dual UAC5 combo, and a pair of MLs on for luck. Kept the firepower equivalent(minus jams), but gave me range with the one arm. Personally never ran a stalker.

Don't underestimate the Battlemaster, it's not a bad mech if you use it right, just remember you're a little lighter on armor. My favorite is the BLR-1G that I got with the phoenix pack. Running 6MLs, 1 ERPPC, 2MGs. Hot, but worth it with the quirks. 6MLs is a huge punch in the face at once, just keep a chainfire button handy. Battlemaster also is good for keeping the weight down for a CW drop deck

Haven't run many of the other assaults. Good luck.

Edit: Was 1G variant not 1D Battlemaster, my bad.

Edited by Zekester81, 16 February 2015 - 12:04 AM.

[Spheroid]

One does not need any assault mechs at all to do well in Cw. The current IS meta is built around Firestarters and Thunderbolts.

Also the Stalker tanks damage like a boss. You have an incorrect impression of their durability based on the XL trial version.


The Crab is a interesting mech with large upsides and downsides. I don't know if I would recommend it to new players.

[Mad Dog Morgan]

I won't lie, the Crabs are amazing and definitely my favorite assault mech (I've only piloted Battlemasters, Atlases, and Crabs), but Stalkers, Banshees, and Battlemasters are all a major threat on the battlefield, too. The Stalkers have some great fire support roles and aren't exactly front-line mechs, but the laser boat variants are devastating from what I've seen. The Misery is still quite a competitive mech, too, but I still think they're pretty ugly.

The Battlemaster is a great boating platform for lasers. The 1D and 3S are both really good for their torso-mounted lasers. The 1G is a medium-laser monster and can mount a wide variety of weapons. The only problem with the battlemasters' ballistics hardpoints is that they're very low-slung, meaning you have to get up close and personal. They are among the faster-moving assaults on the battlefield.

Victors play like very large heavies, and Highlanders are still competitive to my knowledge as good brawlers. Researching what you can build and what you're comfortable piloting is key here.

I don't know how over-quirked the Awesomes will be with this coming Tuesday patch, but it might be a good idea to take that into consideration, too.

Keep in mind, any 100 tonner is going to have an extra cost for DHS and Endo-steel. Endo-steel on a 100-tonner is going to run you 1,000,000 C-bills, and then on top of that, DHS. Crabs are probably the most expensive of the IS 100-tonners.

Logistically, purchasing a 360 XL (an engine that is usable in a lot of the heavier mechs) is your best bet. A 340 XL might also be beneficial, but to utilize it, you'll have to run heavier weaponry and less heatsinks (thanks to the limited critical slots). If you are flanked in a Crab and don't hang back, XL engines can be very dangerous. If you are long-range, XLs are pretty safe.

Hopefully this helps in your decision-making too:
http://www.nogutsnog...hp?topic=2761.0

[SnagaDance]

The Atlas can brawl quite respectfully. a big AC and some SRM's together with some lasers makes for a good package. What it can't do is boat very well so you have to make the different parts work together. Please don't turn an Atlas, and especially the DDC, into an Lrm-mech, it makes baby Kerensky cry.

I really like my Awesomes but that love was born way before quirks came around. Not the best Assault really (it's actually a 5 ton heavier Heavy) but can be good fun and the 8R is one of the best missile boats in the game IMO.

Only just started with the BattleMasters but I'm loving them! The 3M I've turned into a Wub-boat and last weekend he made my kill record go from 5 kills to 7!! The 1S is also a beast of an Lrm-boat and can really make it rain. Only just got the 1G but it's growing on me as well.

In the meantime my week old Loyalty King Crab has proved tons of fun with it's dual AC20 load-out. I upgraded the laser to ER and dropped the Lrm for more AC20 ammo and armor and I'm loving it! Gotta try a quad (U)AC/5 load out as well.

Those are the Assaults I have personal experience with and I think they've all got their good points. The hard thing is actually learnign to pilot them. To plan your movement ahead because you're slow. To take into account slow turning and limited turning arcs. And to constantly know where cover is because otherwise you could be focussed down within seconds.

[Joey Tankblaster]

From what u see on the battlefield right now (CW and regular drops) avoid the Victor, Highlander, and Awesome. They get no love from PGI and are chronically under-quirked. Banshee's are just great. Atlas DDC still very viable albeit underarmed/underarmored for its tonnage. Crabs can boat ACs alot but is a primary target on the field. Battlemasters might be ok too, although many pilots ride them with XL, which makes them extremely vulnerable. Enough said about the stalker, really tanky.

Remember - u need 3 chassis to master a mech. So I would propose to go with the banshee.
3E great AC plattform
3M the Wubshee
3S the weakest of all, but still okay with lots of medium lasers
La Malinche Hero. With the removal of ghost heat from 3 LL/LPL this variant will become quite effective (3xLPL+AC10).

[Insects]

CW doesn't care about class, just total weight.
So remember a 100 tonner is 20 ton or so which could be used to upgrade a medium to a heavy etc.

Consider the weights of the other mechs you want to use and whether your squad of 4 will even fit if you get a 100 ton assault.

[AzureDragoon]

Some mech build suggestions to help you out:

The Atlas as said, is a brawler mech. Everything you take will be brawling focused. But it lacks mobility, everyone knows where to shoot at them (Wreck RT to win), and it's weapon mountings are low. Still when it comes to just outright close range damage output, few can beat this mech.
AS7-D-DC "Shotgun": The D-DC really doesn't have any quirks to write about. The real prize is the 2 Ballistic slots, and the ECM. This build keeps it simple, 3x AIV+SRM-6s. and 2 LBX-10s, with ECM, an AMS. You get an arm you can freely sacrifice as a shield, before then sacrificing the left arm. 36 Damage SRM bursts will do plenty of damage, while the LBX-10s will destroy equipment and earn you Ammo/Gauss Rifle explosions.

AS7-S "Judgement": An Alpha Strike focused build. You can get away with 2 Alpha strikes, and then switch up to chain-firing the SRM-4s alongside the AC/20. Not many mechs can take 70 Damage bursts at once.

Battlemasters are excellent brawlers. You get two arms you can give away and still have most of your fire power. They are quite agile for Assaults. Their energy builds make great brawlers, or snipers. and they have an LRM boat option too.. The high weapon mounts, and division between left and right weapons makes this great for peeking over hills or around corners.

BLR-1G "Halberd" (AKA, Wubmaster MKII). Based on the popular Wubmaster design, this mech trades in the Medium Pulse Lasers often used for Wub builds, for the stock Medium lasers. Get a Medium Laser Range Module on this thing, and between that and the quirks, you'll be close to 350+ Optimal range with them. The LPL syncs up rather well with the Medium Lasers as well. The MGs are an option for tacking on some extra DPS, particularly on shut down mechs, though alternatively you can trade the MGs and ammo for 2 more heat sinks, or a BAP. And always shield with that left arm first.

BLR-1G RocketWubmaster (Loadout designed by Pwnface of the Night Scorn unit) The quirks on this thing are amazing, and have everything you want in a Brawler Mech (Deadside arm shielding? Check. Well armored and protected? Check. Rapid recharging, quick shooting weapons that let you fire and twist? Check.. High Alpha Damage without Ghost Heat? Check. Even has some decent speed as well)

When Pwnface first suggested this build to me, and did some rudimentry upgrades (I still had the stock XL Engine on it, but installed the 2 artemis IV SRM-6s),I dropped onto an CW Counter-Attack Defense, on Borreal Vault . With zero Mech skills unlocked, and only Cool Shot 9 By 9 and Improved Artillery Strike modules, I got 4 kills, 22 Assist, and 1301 Damage Dealt. On the BLR-3S alone, from start to battle victory. with about 44% Armor/Structural Integrity remaining, and exposed left and center torsos. no less.

Latter on, after Swapping the XL for the STD Engine, I turned an 11-4 one sided losing battle to a much narrow 11-9 lose being the last mech standing on my team, tacking on 4 mech destroyed on top of the 2 I had already earned earlier in the match, heavily damaging a Catapult and and Awesome that remained on the enemy team (Their third remaining mech at match end was a disconect, despite being knocked down to eventually 1 Pulse laser, and 1 SRM, before they were finally able to finish my mech off.

Just add on SRM 6 and MPL Range modules, and you have a 290 Optimal range.

BLR-1S "MissileMaster" And to round out your list of Close, and Medium range Battlemasters a Long range support build. Chain fire those LRM-15s, Fire the 10's together. The Medium lasers gives you decent back up weaponry.

Edited by AzureDragoon, 16 February 2015 - 03:45 AM.

[mad kat]

Joey Tankblaster, on 16 February 2015 - 12:50 AM, said:

From what u see on the battlefield right now (CW and regular drops) avoid the Victor, Highlander, and Awesome. They get no love from PGI and are chronically under-quirked. Banshee's are just great. Atlas DDC still very viable albeit underarmed/underarmored for its tonnage. Crabs can boat ACs alot but is a primary target on the field. Battlemasters might be ok too, although many pilots ride them with XL, which makes them extremely vulnerable. Enough said about the stalker, really tanky.

Remember - u need 3 chassis to master a mech. So I would propose to go with the banshee.
3E great AC plattform
3M the Wubshee
3S the weakest of all, but still okay with lots of medium lasers
La Malinche Hero. With the removal of ghost heat from 3 LL/LPL this variant will become quite effective (3xLPL+AC10).

I have to disagree about the Awesome. I Use my 8q (mixed large pulse and medium laser and medium pulse build), 8V (Asrm and LPL boat) in CW and it does just fine and i can keep mine firing for a decent amount of time. I have even been known to take an XL engined Pretty baby into CW but only when i am dropping with my unit and i have a defined role. The Awesome can be very dangerous when in a brawl as it's size is negated at close range because at <270m you should be able to hit anything.

That being said for a new player most definitely do not bring an Awesome to CW. Its engine cap is too low and so is an easy slow target and so you need to get used to being able to carefully choose when and how to close the distance. The 9M and Pretty baby solve the speed problem but the trade off is of course survivability and so you need to be that mech which gets as much damage out as early as possible while playing tail end charlie on a lance.

[Macksheen]

Stalker stalker stalker stalker.

It really is that versatile, tough and punishing.

[Jody Von Jedi]

Taking into consideration, you're not really a new player, I think you'll get bored with the Stalker. It's a great 1st assault, don't get me wrong. It lends itself to the bad habit of staring at the enemy. That's what makes it such a great 1st assault for a total newb. BTW, I would not bother taking an assault in CW. Too much weight. An 80 to mech is largest I'd recommend.

Coming from heavies and mediums, you'd probably like the Banshee the best. Laser is meta right now and the Banshee boats lasers well, at least 2 of the variants do. It's also more maneuverable than either the Atlas or the Stalker. Stalkers are really slow. So I'll second Joey's comments above about the Banshee.

For regular public matches, your comments about the Atlas not going toe to toe with a Direwolf, Atlas in the right hands will decimate the Direwolf. The arms are massive on an Atlas. If you torso twist and let the arms soak up the damage and take out one of the side torsos on that Direwolf, you'll reduce his fire power by 50%. The DWF will have the range advantage, so you have to use cover to close in on him. I've done it myself and seen plenty others do it. But don't waste 100 tons bringing an Atlas into CW.

[Rear Admiral Tier 6]

Battlemaster is good but expensive choice for a first IS assaults,since pulse lasers are actually good now.They are fast enough to get out of some sticky situations,unlike the KG or Atlas.
They excel at missile- or pulse laser boating,if thats your thing,BLR is a solid,but quite fragile choice.

[Liquid Leopard]

I don't use any assault mechs in CW, but my Stalkers were my favorite assault mechs for a long time. They would have been a good first mech, let alone assault mech.

As of now, I like my King Crabs better, but that's partly because of the novelty, and partly because the Stalkers I've had the longest have the weakest quirks. I got an STK-4N because of the LL perks, and it's my baddest Stalker right now. Looking at my stats, I'm not sure my King Crabs are any better.

The Atlas is the tallest, largest target on the field, and has waist-high weapons. It takes a certain technique to get decent results with it, and I don't have that technique.

EDIT: I do like having an Atlas D-DC on my side.

Edited by Liquid Leopard, 16 February 2015 - 09:24 AM.

[Cruxs]

If you want an assault, only for CW I would suggest the Stalkers. If you are looking at all types of game play with the current meta. I would choose either Stalker, Banshee or Krab.

[Liquid Leopard]

Cookiemonter669, on 16 February 2015 - 07:38 AM, said:

...BLR is a solid, but quite fragile choice.

Ironic choice of words.

...But, yeah, that's exactly why I wouldn't recommend a Battlemaster. Like the Awesome, it's a billboard with guns on it. It's a huge target, everybody knows it, and everyone takes advantage of it to the best of their ability. I got decent results with my BLRs for a while (especially the missile boat), but then the Clan mechs came along. I wouldn't say "fragile" so much as "any bozo with a trial Stormcrow can laser-vomit on it from 1.5km".

Because of those the AWS and BLR, I'm convinced PGI has no f***ing idea about how you actually fight a battle. How hard is it to look up something about tank design and attack helicopters, and see the common theme about using the smallest possible frontal area? That principle will never, ever change.

The Stalker and Raven designs actually make the most sense as armored combat vehicles. Look at a Raven, and look at an attack helicopter, and see if there ain't a heck of a resemblance.
The Hunchback is pretty good in being the smallest target by far, of all the 50-ton mechs.
The King Crab's torso/turret is a step in the right direction. (It even bears a vague resemblance to my suggestion that it should look like the turret of a Leopard 2A6, on legs.)
The Catapult's shape is pretty convincing, but it's a 65-ton mech that's a bigger target than the 85-ton Stalker.

Several other mechs make me wonder what they were thinking.

The Awesome? "Let's see how wide we can make it!"
The Shadow Hawk? "I know: Let's make this 55-ton mech almost as tall as the Atlas!"
The Battlemaster? "Let's make it really f***ing wide! That worked so well for the Awesome, hardly anyone uses them. Surely, it's because our players' sense of sportsmanship keeps them from using a mech that's so wide it's OP!"

Edited by Liquid Leopard, 16 February 2015 - 08:18 AM.

[MechWarrior3671771]

I would look again at the Atlas D-DC. ECM on an assault mech is the kicker for me. Your PUG will group on you to get inside the ecm bubble, and your ecm lights are freed up to go find you targets.

edt - oh if this is for a CW dropdeck then disregard

Edited by Fenrisulvyn, 16 February 2015 - 08:09 AM.

[Brizna]

Stalker was my first assault mech and I still consider it the best IS assault mech: It is blessed with god-like hit boxes, all of them have a lot of hard points and many of those are sky high. It can do a lot of different roles: Lurmzilla, Brawlmaster, Sniper ... hell except recon it can probably do it all. Right now I rate them like this:
4N: God like quirks
Misery: Always a solid mech
5M: Fantastic SRM brawler
3F: Either Lurmboat or a good SRM brawler.

[MadLibrarian]

The crab doesn't really tank damage very well because it's incredibly hard to miss it's CT. Blindly shooting anywhere in it's target box will probably net you some CT damage.

I think the stalker is a good bet for your first assault. It was mine, but I mostly just used it as a LRM boat for grinding while new. I bought the other ones after a long while, and they are quite good in their own specific roles. 4N is a beastly mid range laser boat, it can also run as a hybrid with either SRMs or LRMs reasonably well too. The 5M is a blast to play. 5xASRM6 +5ML. Standard 300 and ammo everywhere. You do have to deal with SRM hit registration issues when firing full volleys, but you can avoid this and ghost heat by firing in two groups.

One thing though, don't use an XL. Stalkers have great side torso's for tanking, you can pretty much pick which side they will hit and your arms will block a lot of the stuff coming diagonally from the rear.

Edited by MadLibrarian, 16 February 2015 - 05:04 PM.

[NextGame]

Bubblewhip, on 15 February 2015 - 10:21 PM, said:

So I just elited out my light, medium, and heavy chassis. I'm looking to buy an assault mech for IS which one should I buy?

I'm just dropping in normal games, but I believe after my first assault mech then I think I can go into CW with a decent 4 mech drop group.

I'm stuck between the Atlas, stalker, and King Crab.

Atlas because.. Atlas? To me an Atlas seems to have a similar problem as the clan summoner, it mounts too diverse of weapons, none of which make it super great at any role. It's neither a great missle boat, laser sniper, or even close range brawler compared to dedicated platforms like the Crab or even Banshee. My experience is only with the Trial Atlas, which is a decent build for what its got, but not super exceptional in any given area. All atlas costing over 10m doesn't help, but I do like the ECM one considering what a PITA it is to deal with out on the field.

The stalker trial mech I had great luck with since it's just a great missle boat, but I've learned it's other builds involve lasers boating. It seems to have well sorted weapon layouts, but I can't help but to feel it plays kinda like a more heavily armed Catapault. It will never stand against a proper assault mech like a Atlas or god forbid a Direwolf in head to head combat, and will probebly struggle against proper heavy brawlers like the Cataphract or Catapault K2. My peceription is that an assault should stand up and tank damage, as well as be the first to move forward and advance on dangerous positions. The thing is that the Stalker is not good at any of those things.

The King Crab is what I have been saving up for. It seems to be the only IS assault mech that has any chance of fighting a Daishi 1v1. It's low stance, and heavy armor seem to make it great for what I want to do, which is taking the lead and absorbing damage as well as dishing it out. Although an all ballistic layout, It seems to have some good diversity with going between 2 AC20 for brawls, 2 Gauss for sniping, or 4 UAC 5 for all rounding. Also some variants have 4 missle points so It seems like I can missle boat with it if i really want to.

The King Crab 00B has my C-bills set for it for its inclusion of double heat sinks in the price.

I want to know if Im missing out on any of the other mechs like the Battlemaster, Awesome, or Victor. But it seems like the best assault mech is the King Crab at the moment.

Stalker is an incredible mech. 4N can fire LLAS in 2 groups of 3. Misery is a fantastic multi range brawler, on other variants you can do lrm 5 spam all map long, you can do classic lrm boat, or you can boat mlas and a ****ton of SRMs which gives people a very nasty surprise. You can also do the pokey ridge snipey thing as all the weapons are high mounted.

Edited by NextGame, 16 February 2015 - 08:32 AM.

[UnHolyLegion]

Stallkers namely the 5S , 4N and then a third of your choosing. If heroes are an option go misery