49 replies to this topic

[NecessaryWeevil]

Sometime in the fairly distant future I'd like to try an assault. I want to be as helpful as possible, attracting enemy attention and soaking up damage (although I'm not familiar with brawling atm).

Which is the most useful IS mech for this role? Which mech makes people say, "Oh, awesome, we've an 'X' on our team!"?

[Nik Reaper]

If you don't know brawling it would probably be a 6LL 4N stalker, it is easy to use, has great damage, moderate range and with torso twisting it regularly loses both side torsos before going down,

[JC Daxion]

Really all the assaults are pretty decent, pick one that fits your play style, Do you want missiles, or ballistics, or energy? That said people do put the Awesome lower on the totem pole, but i do wonder about it since the quirks, i have seen them around more. I have stalkers, and atlas's and victors, though i must confess to not playing the victors and atlas's much. (but were fun, i am just not that good in um as of yet) For stalkers, the misery is really a fantastic mech, and the 4H Plays like a big Fat catapult lobbing missiles, and a decent amount of back up short range brawling load out as well. The 3F is also very effective brawker with it's very nice torso twisting, and for short ranged missiles the 5M is pretty good.

But honestly, i just want a well played assault on the team, i really don't care what it is. So go with a playstyle you like, and pick a mech that fits it. feel free to add what kind of playstyle you are interested, because that can change things for sure

[bruceisnice]

Banshees can soak a lot of damage because of their huge arms that can act as shields. And you can loose those arms without gimping your firepower, because their are (usually) weaponless.

Stalker, as Nik Reaper said above.

King Crab usually makes the opponent want to focus you down imo.

[Levi Porphyrogenitus]

AS7-D-DC.

ECM, Atlas profile, maximum armor potential, and decent close-in firepower if you build it right.

AS7-D-DC or something close to it will do good work. It's a bit faster than many other assaults, allowing you to control your positioning somewhat better. It packs a huge punch up close, between the AC20 and 12 SRMs, and the pair of LLs will hit quite hard out to medium ranges. ECM allows it to support every friendly within the protection radius, and draws enemy fire like a beacon.

Plus, at -6 points from max armor (to get to an even half-ton), the thing is tough as nails. Take hits on the arms and side torsos, twisting to spread hits across all your hitboxes. You can last for a shockingly long time even when being focused by many enemy mechs.

[Flak Kannon]

There isn't a Innersphere Assault that when I see it I say, "Yeah!"

I am more apt to look at the pilots names.

When I see good players on my team, you get to know the good player if you play often, then I know whatever they are in, they will be useful.


I honestly think a team of 12 assaults of average pilots won't win against a team of 6 Medium 6 Heavy great pilots.


So hone your skills, then you make all the Assaults viable.


I personally like the 90 ton spot. The Banshee is a bit more agile, can soak alot of damage, and can just melt things. But no assault can march in and be the focus of 3-5 enemy mechs and walkout alive.

Know what to do when to push and when to hold.

[Repasy Cooper]

I'd say the Stalker, for simplicity's sake. Your focus will either be lrm support or laser spam (latter more helpful in the average scenario). I actually fear Stalkers more than an Atlas these days. The Atlas is for sure a sign of real power, but due to this it is widely used by novice players who think they're opting in for the biggest baddest mech. It's the meta-king pro-gamer who has fitted their Stalker to maximize quirk benefit that I fear the most, out of all IS assaults.

[MechWarrior3671771]

"ECM, Atlas profile, maximum armor potential, and decent close-in firepower if you build it right."

I would go with this. Lances will group on you just to be inside your ecm bubble.

[Lord Letto]

Atlas D-DC, I have mine set up as a LRM Boat with 2 LL and a AC/20 for up close & LoS: http://mwo.smurfy-ne...b8fe0e2b95b0d73
2xLL, AC/20 with 2 Tons ammo (14 Shots), 1LRM10 and 2x LRM 5's with 8 Tons of ammo (1440 Missiles), ECM & BAP, Stock STD 300 with 2 DHS in it & FF Armour, Extra Point of Armour in RL

[Mogney]

I am thrilled to see any assault that is not boating LRMs

[HARDKOR]

Lemme think about the last time I saw an atlas be effective in CW... still thinking... NOPE.

Stalker 4N (6 LL), Misery(ac20 + 3 LL or gauss + 3 ERLL), Banshee 3E(3 ac 5 + 3 large class lasers of your choice), Banshee 3M (large pulse to taste)

Just get the Stalker. it's awesome. Really, it's smaller than a catapult, but the guns are high enough mounted to shoot over most mechs, they aren't expensive, it uses a 300 STD, and it's the most tonnage efficient assault mech. The banshe is cool but it's 10 tons more and a notch slower due to that. It's way taller, but the guns are the same height as the stalker due to them not being on the roof.

[ChapeL]

I'd go with a Banshee myself but I have a soft spot for big unispired chunks of armor like that. Still, what was said further up is absolutely true, it doesn't matter which assault mech it is, as long as you know when to commit, when to stay put and when all you have to do is project threat to be usefull.

[Scyther]

Stalker... tough, versatile, good weapon locations, not a 'must focus to death' target for many players.

[Koniving]

Everything on the assault class attracts attention. The issue is how much attention do you want to draw compared to how much do you want to deal damage to others?

Personally, I'm thinking of the 80 to 90 ton range.

That's quite a few 80 tons, three 85 ton mechs, and one 90 ton mech (soon to be 2 in the few months).

Anything heavier and you'll draw too much attention (bullet sponge?) and not have fun yourself as they'd be too slow to get out of those situations.

[NRP]

The mech itself is nearly irrelevant. You want good pilots on your team. Focus on increasing your skills if you want to be a useful teammate.

[Koniving]

Mogney, on 20 March 2015 - 03:02 PM, said:

I am thrilled to see any assault that is not boating LRMs

Points @ "blade" icon.

Wherefrom?

[InspectorG]

+1 Stalker.

Just got into them myself and they seem to tank more damage than it should.

LL and LPL are in a good spot w/ its quirks.

[Nothing Whatsoever]

Koniving, on 20 March 2015 - 05:50 PM, said:

Points @ "blade" icon.

Wherefrom?

It should be for the Zeus Package.

At least the badges seem to be color coded to the colors in the ordering page!

[Koniving]

Praetor Knight, on 20 March 2015 - 05:51 PM, said:

It should be for the Zeus Package.

At least the badges seem to be color coded to the colors in the ordering page!

Figured those would be "Rage, fury, wrath" etc.

Yeah I see 'em. Blade, Scythe, Hammer, Spear.

[John80sk]

The most "helpful" assault? Well, the only assault that's really a game changer in most situations is the Dire Wolf. It attracts fire (forcing the enemy to refocus targets when you show up) and can quickly kill any mech in its firing arc. It's the gold standard for an assault mech nowadays.

That said, I don't know how good of a first assault it makes. While it has the greatest battle presence, positioning is extremely important, and the intuition to know where you'll need to be positioned is equally important as you're going to need to be headed that direction as soon as the match starts.

The Stalker is a good choice, the 6 Large Laser 4N is an excellent mech. It's tankier than many heavier assaults, can ridge hump while your team is cowering in a hole, has a good range profile, and can spit damage out very quickly. Additionally while not the fastest mech on the field, it's not so slow that it's likely to be left behind provided you don't stop to smell the roses.

The Banshee is also a good choice if you prefer pinpoint weaponry to DOT. It's fairly tanky, can sustain DPS with its AC5's and deliver some brutal 35 pinpoint shots where you need them.