23 replies to this topic

[Lord0fHats]

Good IS Heavies; TBolts for PPC and energy builds are the best. Dragons (even though they aren't as good as they were) are still fun as are Jaegers.

Mediums has lots of options. The Blackjacks, Hunchies, Wolverines, Griffons, and Shadowhawks all have their place.

[Rear Admiral Tier 6]

i use 3 QKD-5K:s with this setup Laservomit + 1 DRG-1N AC5-boat,QKD:s have good range quirks and they are hard hitting enough to give clan mechs run for their money.
My best run with ONE QKD-5K in cw was 1852 damage.

[Nimbus Captain Brannigan]

My drop deck ( I pug alot, but it works in groups too) is first drop Catapult K2, dual gauss dual med laser first drop. Then brawling phase I bring 63 ammo Dual AC20 jegger, Other 2 depend if clans or not, if clans I bring raven 3l with LL and stalker 6LL build, if agains IS, I bring Thunderbolt 9s with 2 erppc and MPL, and Blackjack 1x with 6med 2 mpl.

[Crystal Blade]

Grisbane, on 03 April 2015 - 04:36 PM, said:

trying to get into CWI now that i fixed what was causing issues in my comp. that being said i have multiple assaults (stalker 4n, banshee 3e, king crab 0000) and multiple lights (raven 2x, 3l, firestarter-s) so far i have a hunchback-4p as a medium, the grasshopper and jeager 6s as heavies but i dont have that many options in those 2 classes and not even sure if any of my heavies and meds are even viable in CWI..

so, the question is, what kind of IS drop decks does everyone else use.. and what suggestions would you have for heavies and meds (as i have no clue) i am looking at the shadowhawk 2k.. but is it even viable? and what else should i be looking at?

overall, your choices of assaults and lights look pretty solid, so i would say you are definitely on the right track in that regard.

for heavies and mediums, the best choices in CW right now are probably thunderbolts (5SS with 7MPL and/or the 9SE with 3 LPL + 2 ML), and the wolverine 6k with 4LL or 3LL + 2 ML. the hunchback 4P with 6ML + 2 or 3 MPL is pretty decent and you can definitely do well with it, but compared to the wolverine it has roughly half the effective range (300m vs 600m), which makes the wolverine much more useful and effective in any ranged scenarios.

the dragon 1N with 2 AC5s has amazingly high DPS and can be a great choice as well, but it also requires you to stare at the enemy to do serious damage (rather than fire and twist), which also leads to getting the right arm blown off as well.

additionally, the other two dragon variants are widely viewed as pretty subpar and verging on useless, which means you'll either have to grind through leveling them or use GXP to unlock skills, and probably end up selling them afterwards. the thunderbolts and wolverines have the advantage of each having three decent to very good variants, meaning they aren't terrible to play when trying to unlock pilot skills if you need to.

i would also highly recommend checking some of the builds on metamechs.com CW dropdeck section.

http://metamechs.com...ropship-ladder/

in general, you will probably want to follow the listed builds about 90%, with some personal variations if want to tweak engine/armor values slightly, carry more ammo, prefer ER over pulse lasers, etc. but overall, you will want to stick with the main build concepts, as these are very strong standard builds that have been designed by top tier players with tons of experience.

finally, if you are on a kurita contract, i highly recommend using the house kurita teamspeak (house-kurita.enjinvoice.com), where you will find several 12 man groups forming for CW during prime time hours, most of whom will gladly take any interested players into their groups and give helpful build/playing advice as well. welcome, and good luck!

Edited by Crystal Blade, 04 April 2015 - 03:47 PM.

[Novawrecker]

T-Bolts. Those things are pretty strong right now. Between a pair of 5SS's and a 9S, you won't do yourself bad.

[LordNothing]

i used hunchies quite effectively during the last 2 events. had my laser hunch full of medium pulse lasers and it was great if you could avoid a ranged fight. gauss hunch was good too as a final mech, you could hang back and do some damage. the srm hunch wasnt as good as i thought it would be and ended up bringing my srm16 + 2erll griffon instead, which could handle a long range exchange and switch to a brawler during a rush.

i dont currently run any heavies in cw, opting for 3 mediums and an ac5 bansh. i was running a catapult c4 with 2 erll. 2ml, and 2 arty lrm5s. as soon as my new thunderbolts are mastered i might bring them in as laser boats.

[S204STi]

Tbolt is still the best IS heavy. I dropped my 9S though, and run one of a couple of Grasshoppers in its place; either ERLLs or medwub.

[Spheroid]

Firerstarter (35) + Thunderbolt-5SS (65) + Thunderbolt-5SS (65) + Stalker-4N (85) = 250 tons

Get the 5SS immediately. You can run it with almost no upgrades as a "ghetto bolt" 275 STD no endo + 7 mplas. It is very cheap.

Then go endo and 300 STD.

Edited by Spheroid, 03 April 2015 - 07:00 PM.

[ZenFool]

Mediums are rarely seen in IS. There are too many assaults and lights that are excellent options. As mentioned above, people bring Tbolts and Dragons as heavies. Many people run dual Stalkers with light mechs. Alternatively, multiple tbolts with an ecm light.

I personally love to bring my trebs, but I know I'm gimping my team half the time by doing it. Shadowhawks were a solid choice before so many other heavies got super quirks. They run well, but are generally looked on with disdain. Gridiron is often overlooked.

For a full list of mechs you can expect to see, visit metamechs. In the end, as a pug at least, I say bring mechs you like.

[xengk]

I try to keep this formular for my drop deck.

1 long range mech on 1st drop to snipe turrets, gate generator and early damage trade attrition.
1 LRM carrier to annoyed the targets.
2 Brawler for pushing into generators

Current dropdeck
Awesome 9M, Hunchback 4J, Hunchback 4G and Centurion AL.

Edited by xengk, 03 April 2015 - 08:27 PM.

[Lord0fHats]

I can definitely vouch that the Grid Iron is a feared mech Clan Side. This does mean it becomes the subject of focus fire, but if you hang around more threatening targets like Stalkers and King Crabs, you'll have lots of opportunities to just plow home with Gauss rounds.

[ZenFool]

Lord0fHats, on 03 April 2015 - 08:26 PM, said:

I can definitely vouch that the Grid Iron is a feared mech Clan Side. This does mean it becomes the subject of focus fire, but if you hang around more threatening targets like Stalkers and King Crabs, you'll have lots of opportunities to just plow home with Gauss rounds.

Just to really push this point home, when faced with multiple enemies most people(even groups) will ignore the Gridiron. I think they assume the guass is some other mech. Its not the best time to buy one, but I really do feel the GI is the most under rated mech in CW.

[Lord0fHats]

Pretty much anything with a Gauss will be subject to focus fire, but most players aren't looking for a medium. They're looking for Misery's. Jaegers, Catapults, and occasional King Crabs. Unless someone specifically targets the Gridiron, from a distance it just looks like any other Hunchie, so it is easy to be overlooked with good positioning.

[PerfectDuck]

Why spend 10 minutes in a medium when you can spend 5 minutes in a light and the rest of your match in heavies? Mediums don't have enough influence in a fight to make an impact when there are so many lights that pull their weight, distract enemies, gather info, disrupt lines, harass from the back, etc. And then heavies' best friends are more heavies and assaults.

Against IS I use a 35-35-85-85 deck and against clans it's 30-35-85-100

[Sandersson Jankins]

I recently made a monster of a SRM/mdpls Quickdraw 4-K. At work, so I can't remember all the whatnots, but it has some XL engine giving it 90kph, 3 SRM6 tubes and 4 mdpls lasers along with 2 JJ.

It goes fast, and will tear the face off anything it comes across. Best for popping out quick, volleying some hard damage into an arm/CT, then zip away. Nobody expects you to go 90 kph.

Expensive though. VERY. XL engines ain't cheap, baby girl.

[mxlm]

PerfectDuck, on 03 April 2015 - 09:19 PM, said:

Why spend 10 minutes in a medium when you can spend 5 minutes in a light and the rest of your match in heavies? Mediums don't have enough influence in a fight to make an impact when there are so many lights that pull their weight, distract enemies, gather info, disrupt lines, harass from the back, etc. And then heavies' best friends are more heavies and assaults.

While I respect your skill, I also respect Krivvan and FISSION, and those guys sure like them some Wolverines in CW.

[Triordinant]

Three 65-tonners (Thunderbolts and/or Jaggers) and a 55-tonner like a Shadowhawk or Wolverine (or a 50-ton HBK-4G).

[DivineEvil]

40 ton - All Cicadas are good in some degree. We often run 3M with UAC/5(4ToA) and 3 ML, for a decent ECM support and -2B for maneuverable brawling.
45 ton - for solo, Blackjack are better. They can perform different roles and are less vulnerbale to long-range fire than VNDs. Vindicators are better in group drops as a group fire support with different options.
50 ton - Hunchback-4G for brawling and assisting in assault operations. TBT-7M for the best LRM support. Enforcers are going to be good pick too, when we have them in Cbill access.
55 ton - Anything, though Kintaros are less decent pick due to lack of JJs. Phoenix Triad (Griffin, Shadow Hawk, Wolverine) can offer all the needs in playstyle and weapon layouts.

60 ton - Dragons definitely. Variant -1N is deserved favorite. We have a member, who were so impressed by it, that he bought 4 of them and were doing 3600-4000 damage in CW match running nothing but -1N. Like anywhere else, have someone to cover you, don't get hit and spray death around.
65 - Thunderbolts and Jagermechs alone provide all the tools in the Heavy class, former with Energy and latter with Ballistics. MPLs, LPL, ER-PPCs, 2xAC/20, 3xUAC/5 and 2xGauss cover all the range profiles, you only need to pick. You should choose other Heavies only if you want to fill another weight limit. Preferences within these two chassie should mostly be based on the ambient temperature and range profiles of the map you're dropping on.

Edited by DivineEvil, 04 April 2015 - 06:32 AM.

[Leeroy Mechkins]

Thunderbolts are great especially 5SS with 7MPLs.
I run Stalker Jager Tbolt Firestarter. The drop order changes from map to map.
Its a swiss-army-knife type of dropdeck with a mech for every kind of situation.
And also lots of fun because nice variety of playstyles throughout a game.

Edited by Leeroy Mechkins, 04 April 2015 - 06:35 AM.

[Yokaiko]

PerfectDuck, on 03 April 2015 - 09:19 PM, said:

Why spend 10 minutes in a medium when you can spend 5 minutes in a light and the rest of your match in heavies? Mediums don't have enough influence in a fight to make an impact when there are so many lights that pull their weight, distract enemies, gather info, disrupt lines, harass from the back, etc. And then heavies' best friends are more heavies and assaults.

Against IS I use a 35-35-85-85 deck and against clans it's 30-35-85-100

I don't usually run lights at all unless the drop caller wants them

My Go To is usually something like (Hunchie -4G/Yen-Lo/Enforcer-4R) Dragon -1N, Thud -9S and MPL -5SS. Against Clan I will bump the 50 tonner to a 55, usually Wolverine -6K and Either a Grasshopper or Battlephract in place of the -9S

In the advent that I need to run a light vs clan its usually Spider, -4R, Stalker-5S Stalker -4N, that deck only goes in with larger group drops though.