18 replies to this topic

[TrapMech]

Ok so I just am getting into piloting a Victor. I am use to the Spider/Raven/X-5 so this is new territory for me.

How do you best utilize this type of mech?

[Torgun]

You sell it, save up CBills for a Timberwolf and then proceed to wreck face. I'm serious, there is actually no reason to play Victors now ever since assault jumpjets became hoverjets. Of course there will be some guy that will post about how Victors are still great and how fantastic he's doing running one, but frankly that's just BS.

[Mirumoto Izanami]

Torgun, on 09 April 2015 - 08:17 AM, said:

You sell it, save up CBills for a Timberwolf and then proceed to wreck face. I'm serious, there is actually no reason to play Victors now ever since assault jumpjets became hoverjets. Of course there will be some guy that will post about how Victors are still great and how fantastic he's doing running one, but frankly that's just BS.

Sadly, this is very much the case. Until JJs get un nerfed, or until the Victor gets some better quirks, you're better off in an Orion even. So, Timberwolves, Orions, or any other Assault except the Awesome or Highlander, are better options (yes, even the Gargles).

If you absolutely must play a victor, play it like a larger Centurion:
http://mwo.smurfy-ne...1947e57e9154439


But then, you're better off in a Cent-AH or Yen lo Wang if you want to do that.

Edited by Mirumoto Izanami, 09 April 2015 - 08:24 AM.

[Gas Guzzler]

I wouldn't sell it because selling mechs is bad, but yeah Victors have been put down pretty hard. The tears and tantrums were so furious that PGI had to bring the Victor "in line" so that the players that didn't like driving Victor's would be happy.

The Nerf was in the jump jets, but was then compounded by garbage quirks. It was treated as a tier 1 Mech, because with jump jets and fast PPCs, and the absence of the crazy laser vomit meta we have today, the Victor (DS in particular) was king, it was agile (JJs) and durable. However all of the mechanics that made it good were "adjusted" and now it is towards the bottom of the barrel of assaults.

We basically just can't have nice things.

[Xenon Codex]

Haven't played the Victor in a while, but here's my last configurations. Used to be that a Guass/PPC combo was the go-to Victor build but I've never much cared for that.

VTR-9B
VTR-9S
VTR-9K

Also a great writeup with build advice here: http://metamechs.com...-guides/victor/

[Davegt27]

Yeah it's a screwy MWO world my slow Victor can pack 2 ERLL that over heat when I use them

My raven 4x can pack 2 ERLL that over heat when I use them

But with my Raven at least I can mover quicker

Edited by Davegt27, 09 April 2015 - 08:35 AM.

[Tahribator]

After their only gimmick was nerfed (poptarting) Victors are now relegated to a skirmisher/brawler role. Meaning they're used as mobile hard hitters, you quickly flank and go for the vulnerable enemy 'Mechs like missile boats, snipers or sluggish assaults. What you need is a big XL engine (350 and all the way to 380), weapons with a big punch (AC20/Gauss, SRMs) and a pair of jump jets.

Keep moving, keep your eyes on the enemy movements and don't forget that you're not an Atlas. You can't take slug it out with big guys and come on top (at least not initially). If you're taking too much damage disengage, wait until your target is distracted and engage again.

[Gas Guzzler]

Tahribator, on 09 April 2015 - 08:35 AM, said:

After their only gimmick was nerfed (poptarting) Victors are now relegated to a skirmisher/brawler role. Meaning they're used as mobile hard hitters, you quickly flank and go for the vulnerable enemy 'Mechs like missile boats, snipers or sluggish assaults. What you need is a big XL engine (350 and all the way to 380), weapons with a big punch (AC20/Gauss, SRMs) and a pair of jump jets.

Keep moving, keep your eyes on the enemy movements and don't forget that you're not an Atlas. You can't take slug it out with big guys and come on top (at least not initially). If you're taking too much damage disengage, wait until your target is distracted and engage again.

That is the best way to play it but.... you might as well use something else.

[Torgun]

Tahribator, on 09 April 2015 - 08:35 AM, said:

After their only gimmick was nerfed (poptarting) Victors are now relegated to a skirmisher/brawler role. Meaning they're used as mobile hard hitters, you quickly flank and go for the vulnerable enemy 'Mechs like missile boats, snipers or sluggish assaults. What you need is a big XL engine (350 and all the way to 380), weapons with a big punch (AC20/Gauss, SRMs) and a pair of jump jets.

Keep moving, keep your eyes on the enemy movements and don't forget that you're not an Atlas. You can't take slug it out with big guys and come on top (at least not initially). If you're taking too much damage disengage, wait until your target is distracted and engage again.

The problem is TW is way better at that role with more speed/agility and can even tank way better with clan XL. Victors in the current state is one of the worst assaults, and I think it's still a movement archetype Huge even though it's just 80t? It's just a fail on so many levels when it comes to balance to have it be the best assault for such a long time and then let it become one of the worst. I see Awesomes a lot more often than I see VIctors the last couple months, if that doesn't tell you something is wrong, nothing will.

Edited by Torgun, 09 April 2015 - 08:45 AM.

[Soul Tribunal]

TrapMech, on 09 April 2015 - 08:08 AM, said:

Ok so I just am getting into piloting a Victor. I am use to the Spider/Raven/X-5 so this is new territory for me.

How do you best utilize this type of mech?

I have every Victor, and while I can 'sometimes' pull a rabbit out of a hat and get a good game, they have too much going against them to be as viable as one would hope.
If I were you, I would save my C-Bills and wait for the C-Bill Release of the Zeus. At least with the Zeus you can boat enough Lasers/SRM's to put the hurt on other mechs equal to or greater than your weight class.
The problem with 80 Ton Assaults is they need the ability to strike and fade quickly, so maximum amount of damage with min exposure. The Victor, in my Opinion is the worst now at this with what options we have out there.
Its HP's (with the exception of the SRM mounts) are Low. So its a lot of exposure first to fire. Secondly, and its worst attribute is low amount Hard Points(and the mixture of types). Its always got a little bit of everything but not enough to be viable right now in this games current form.
MWO really requires your weapons to be harmonized to a set range that you have choosen to fight at. Sure, you can load the Victor with an AC20, SRM's, and MPL's and try and get close, but with Bad JJ's and poor agility that is not a good strat.

I think, it needs a HP revision to be made whole again. Along with other fixes.

-ST

[XX Sulla XX]

OK first the good news. Russ (runs this game company) on twitter said he would like to see more Victors. Since the only way to do this is better quirks we should see better quirks for them. So even if they are not great now they can be good again in the future.

Next how well do they work. Well that depends a lot on your Elo range, build and personal skill. In lower Elo ranges they work OK. At higher Elo ranges they do not work well at all. The main problems are lack of fire power or range (depending on build) and easy to hit side torsos. They just do not compete well against all the new up gunned mechs. But as stated above this should change at some point.

OK what to run. They work best as a brawler using the S. Something like this works well http://mwo.smurfy-ne...e7fa1ddda3e6092 . Keep in mind its a short range build. You want to use cover get close to the enemy while not taking damage. Then you want to pick your time to push when you can be the most effective. Not to early and not to late.

If you want a bit more speed and a bit more mid range you can run something like this on the Dragon Slayer or K variants. http://mwo.smurfy-ne...641dd23a6365924

Any way I love the Victor and even though its just OK now it should get some quirks in the future that help it. Matter of fact I liked it so much I made a wallpaper see image above

Edited by XX Sulla XX, 09 April 2015 - 08:50 AM.

[Sjorpha]

None of them are truly great or "meta" anymore, but since you already have the chassis you should keep it and elite it. It will probably be buffed down the road and then it's going to be nice having it around. I'm still having a lot of fun in my Victors, despite it's many drawbacks it's still a XL friendly fast assault with varied hardpoints.

The 9S makes a decent AC20 + SRM + 2Mlas "fast" brawler assault, as other say play it like a beefy centurion.

You can still jumpsnipe with the dragon slayer, and IMO that is still the best use for it. Gauss/AC10 + 2 PPCs and 3-4 JJs.

The other variants are slighty worse, but can be leveled up reasonably easy. Gmans victor mastery guide is still spot on.

Special notice on the 9K, the GH change to IS larges makes 3ERLL + Gauss a good build for it.

Edited by Sjorpha, 09 April 2015 - 09:05 AM.

[Greenjulius]

The problem with comparing any mech to the Timber Wolf: Nothing can compare to the Timber Wolf. It's an outrageously good, easy mode crutch mech. The game would be in a better place if it disappeared. However, that's never going to happen, so we try to make other mechs compete with it, creating a never ending cycle of power creep. The TW just needs nerfed. It would stop all this quirk nonsense that is creating sad, extreme time to kill problems and have turned MWO into Call of Duty: Gundam Ops.

As for the Victor, I haven't tried it since its movement archetype was adjusted down from huge to large specs, so it may be better than it was when I elited them out a few months ago. It's reasonably mobile for an 80 tonner, but suffers from the near requirement for a large XL engine to keep it mobile. Contrary to popular belief, it's not XL friendly, and has big side torsos. The large arms however are its saving grace, so if you learn to use them as shields, you can keep it in the fight longer.

There is not configuration that can mount dual gauss, so you're either stuck with a single gauss, AC20, AC10 or dual AC5/UAC5 setup. Single gauss isn't great on a mech this size, so I tend to go for an AC20/LPL setup that allows you to make quick shots and torso twist to save those massive side torsos from eating fire.

As for an engine, I suggest something in the range of a XL340-365. That gives you plenty of tonnage to work with, while keeping you mobile.

[OznerpaG]

low slung wide arms and horrible horrible JJ = horrible mech. i put 4 JJ on one a few weeks ago and it seemed like i could barely get off the freaking ground

it's not that you can't do well in one, it's just that you have to work 3 times as hard to do it compared to a lot of other mechs

[Pjwned]

Mirumoto Izanami, on 09 April 2015 - 08:24 AM, said:

Sadly, this is very much the case. Until JJs get un nerfed, or until the Victor gets some better quirks, you're better off in an Orion even. So, Timberwolves, Orions, or any other Assault except the Awesome or Highlander, are better options (yes, even the Gargles).

If you absolutely must play a victor, play it like a larger Centurion:
http://mwo.smurfy-ne...1947e57e9154439


But then, you're better off in a Cent-AH or Yen lo Wang if you want to do that.

Personally I don't like that SRM heavy build at all because of missile tube size woes for Victors, and with that build you're going to have the 2nd SRM6 firing in 2 volleys and the 3rd SRM6 firing in 3 volleys; that's just not worth it.

[Apnu]

Tahribator, on 09 April 2015 - 08:35 AM, said:

After their only gimmick was nerfed (poptarting) Victors are now relegated to a skirmisher/brawler role. Meaning they're used as mobile hard hitters, you quickly flank and go for the vulnerable enemy 'Mechs like missile boats, snipers or sluggish assaults. What you need is a big XL engine (350 and all the way to 380), weapons with a big punch (AC20/Gauss, SRMs) and a pair of jump jets.

Keep moving, keep your eyes on the enemy movements and don't forget that you're not an Atlas. You can't take slug it out with big guys and come on top (at least not initially). If you're taking too much damage disengage, wait until your target is distracted and engage again.

This is how to play Victors now. But not just victors. Any brawler that can't stand toe-to-toe with a laser vomit DWF has to do this. I've been using this tactic in the Hunchbacks since CB.

[LordNothing]

i have one victor left that i haven't cashed in yet, im kinda hoping for quirks that might save it. quirk its jump jets to more victor appropriate levels. or give it some serious srm quirks. but i expect it to keep collecting dust.

[El Bandito]

Only good Victor is the Dragon Slayer, thanks to sword and board. Rest are eh...

Edited by El Bandito, 09 April 2015 - 11:20 AM.

[Revis Volek]

Gas Guzzler, on 09 April 2015 - 08:27 AM, said:

I wouldn't sell it because selling mechs is bad, but yeah Victors have been put down pretty hard. The tears and tantrums were so furious that PGI had to bring the Victor "in line" so that the players that didn't like driving Victor's would be happy.

The Nerf was in the jump jets, but was then compounded by garbage quirks. It was treated as a tier 1 Mech, because with jump jets and fast PPCs, and the absence of the crazy laser vomit meta we have today, the Victor (DS in particular) was king, it was agile (JJs) and durable. However all of the mechanics that made it good were "adjusted" and now it is towards the bottom of the barrel of assaults.

We basically just can't have nice things.

This is sad but true.....

I LOVE the victors was a beast in this game for a long time even without poptarting but once they took that away it is a trash mech.

For the record, i do just about as well in my Urbies as I do in my VTR's these days.

Pjwned, on 09 April 2015 - 09:28 AM, said:

Personally I don't like that SRM heavy build at all because of missile tube size woes for Victors, and with that build you're going to have the 2nd SRM6 firing in 2 volleys and the 3rd SRM6 firing in 3 volleys; that's just not worth it.

One 6 One 4 and One 2 on the VTR = 12 missle tubes. Its not great but it still throws 12 SRM's at one time and then you have some wonky cooldown synergy.

Edited by DarthRevis, 09 April 2015 - 11:58 AM.