22 replies to this topic

[Night Thastus]

I absolutely love heavies in MWO, and if there's one thing I love even more, it's tanking in one.

I'm wondering, what heavy mech can take the absolute MOST punishment in battle? I'm assuming it's an IS mech with a standard engine + quirks (looking at you, Orion), but I'm not sure, nor have I had a chance to run in them all.

So: Based on:
Quirks
Equipment
Armor
Structure
Hitboxes

Which <heavy> mech is the most tanky in battle?

Thanks!

Edited by Night Thastus, 11 March 2015 - 05:48 PM.

[Spheroid]

Thunderbolt by a mile. Clan side would be Timberwolf with a heavy front CT armor bias.

Edited by Spheroid, 11 March 2015 - 05:53 PM.

[Void Angel]

Absoutely the Thunderbolt. Its blocky torsos allow you to spread damage amazingly well, and it supports a wide variety of effective loadouts. One of my favorite moments in MWO was when I dropped with the guy who recruited me into my unit, and our team left his Stalker out to dry early on. He spectated me walking through the entire enemy team trying to lead a PuG push in my 65-ton 'Mech - and the disgust in his voice when he asked, "how are you still alive?" with nearly all of my 'Mech missing is a memory I will long treasure.

[mogs01gt]

I guess it depends on your definition.
This is the only true "zombie" heavy which is what I consider "tanky".
CTF-4X

Edited by mogs01gt, 12 March 2015 - 11:57 AM.

[PhoenixFire55]

Timberwolf. Anyone suggesting there is any tankier heavy mech obviousely doesn't understand anything.

[stuh42l]

I am hoping the grasshopper will fill this role nicely.

[Vxheous]

Timberwolf if you abuse hitreg and JJ feathering, thunderbolts can take almost as much abuse considering it is a 65T mech

[Banditman]

TDR on the IS side, by a mile. SCR is an amazing tank for a 55 ton mech on the Clan side. It's still just 55 tons, but it can take a lot more damage than you really expect.

The CTF is like, the opposite of tanky. It's a "please shoot me in my huge chest and don't worry about my arms they don't block anything" type deal. Tanky has nothing to do with the ability to zombie. Tanky means you can still be a threat after taking significant damage. A CTF with two MPL's isn't a threat, it's a snack.

[B L O O D W I T C H]

t-bolt closely followed by timber

Edited by LOADED, 12 March 2015 - 12:34 PM.

[mogs01gt]

Banditman, on 12 March 2015 - 12:30 PM, said:

TDR on the IS side, by a mile. SCR is an amazing tank for a 55 ton mech on the Clan side. It's still just 55 tons, but it can take a lot more damage than you really expect.

The CTF is like, the opposite of tanky. It's a "please shoot me in my huge chest and don't worry about my arms they don't block anything" type deal. Tanky has nothing to do with the ability to zombie. Tanky means you can still be a threat after taking significant damage. A CTF with two MPL's isn't a threat, it's a snack.

Like I said, it depends on how you can define tanky. I define tanky as the ability to Zombie. I have zero issues with absorbing damage in CTFs. Hell you make a remark about 2 MPLs and someone make the post after yours with one laser....

I dont define mechs as "tanky" without CT weapons.

Also, I thought the title had IS mechs in it. The Summoners can take a lot of damage but sadly have poor hardpoints for tanking. If you run the missile hardpoint, it takes most of the damage when twisting. The TBR without the hears is fairly tanky but looses arms easily like the Summoners do.

Edited by mogs01gt, 12 March 2015 - 12:40 PM.

[Johnny Two Legs]

Huh. With the Torso Structure quirks and that it runs well with a STD engine, I rank the much unloved Orion as a good tank mech.
A little torso twist can spread the damage across the left/centre/right torso's and the relatively narrow side profile of the CT means that if the centre is tender, torso twisting can protect it well.
I perform well with the Protector and frequently manage to run around with no armour on 2-3 torso's and still fully functional. Those structural torso quirks really make the internal structure so much more durable.

J2L

[Sparks Murphey]

With the way the T-Wolf missile hardpoints stick up over the top, I find it relatively easy to cripple and then down. Not a lot you can do to stop the focus fire short of using it's good speed to run away.

The Thunderbolt, on the other hand, can control that sort of damage nicely, and is the sort of 'Mech you can ride down to low percentages and still be claiming kills.

[Chuck Jager]

Sparks Murphey, on 16 March 2015 - 06:35 PM, said:

With the way the T-Wolf missile hardpoints stick up over the top, I find it relatively easy to cripple and then down. Not a lot you can do to stop the focus fire short of using it's good speed to run away.

The Thunderbolt, on the other hand, can control that sort of damage nicely, and is the sort of 'Mech you can ride down to low percentages and still be claiming kills.

Running LRMS and to some degree srms (not always - but do have the ears) on a timber means these are not the players who are going to have the ability to tank anyways.

The sad but true part is now I have dropped both my Twolf and Thunderwub for a Hellbringer running 4mpls, 3spls and 2mgs for a frontlline pushinging mech. It does not take more damage, my team and I just avoid it. Unlike other ECM mechs my damage is as good if not better than other mechs of the same weight class.

The Twub and Twolf are pretty equal as far as pure survivability. Twolf is great at medium range and does well short and long. Tbolt is superior at closerange, OK at medium and a no show at long.

[pbiggz]

tbolt is a filthy filthy damage absorbing machine

[Tesunie]

If you don't mind upping your tonnage a little bit, the Zeus is a great mech for tanking damage for it's weight class. When you max out it's armor, I've been told after quirks (subject to change) give it the same armor values as a Banshee, a 95 ton mech. It's only 5 tons heavier than the other assaults.

I also find that, though I need to test it more, the Grasshopper can take good damage, can be fairly fast, has jump, and can still take enough weapons to the battle to be a serious threat...

[Rear Admiral Tier 6]

Orion,Quickdraw with STD-engine

[DONTOR]

Gargoyle - has most armor. Good armor+structure quirks.

[TercieI]

DONTOR, on 19 March 2015 - 08:37 AM, said:

Gargoyle - has most armor. Good armor+structure quirks.

But it's a medium.

[Sparks Murphey]

Chuck YeaGurr, on 18 March 2015 - 06:38 PM, said:

Running LRMS and to some degree srms (not always - but do have the ears) on a timber means these are not the players who are going to have the ability to tank anyways.

I was actually referring to the mount geometry itself, not the missile racks. Even without the racks in place, the mounts make a pretty target.

[stalima]

no mech that uses an XL engine including clan XL can be considered "most tanky" in light of this none of the clan mechs can take top since they cant lose both torsos.

So onto the 3 most tanky mechs:

The Orion
The Grasshopper
The thunderbolt

The orion and grasshopper get bonus points as they have variants with CT or head weapons so they can continue fighting even when turned into walking scrapheaps. The orion takes a bit more skill to tank with but is typically tougher than a grasshopper, while the grasshopper doesnt need alot of skill to tank with but a little more when shooting (relying on lasers primarily). And the thunderbolt has increadible hit boxes paired with huge arms allowing it to tank pretty easily and also has variants that dont rely on lasers making it the easiest mech to tank with.

I simply put orion at number 1 purely because it has a combination of high armour being 75 tons, better defined themes on the variants and still has decent hit boxes.

Edited by stalima, 03 April 2015 - 05:54 AM.