25 replies to this topic

[Deathlike]

All I can say is "solid" and "LRMs" generally don't mix in a dropdeck. It's not that you can't have LRMs... it's that overfocusing on LRMs tends to not be consistently effective considering the situation with LRMs in general.

[Mothykins]

Cbill Stalker with 3-4 LLs and LRMs. Choose one. Or Misery with LL and Large Ballistic.

MAD-5D

The Hero Locust is a good option if you need a tiny scout to start with. If you want TINY sniper, Locust 1V can be rewarding. Look at it's energy Quirks. (I still run the quad rattlegun and Medium laser build on mine though.)

For Medium class, I'm not the one to ask.

Sniper either MAD-3R or CPLT-K2/Jester. Jester and 3 ERLL is pretty decent, two in arms one in CT. Moves fast, is mobile.

K2 and MAD-3R both are PPC lords right now though.

[Nerdboard]

Hey Mystic,

here's some solid choices for dropdecks in general:

Light Mechs:
You already have the Jenner and like it, with the current maximum tonnage for dropdecks I do not think you need another light. If you do want one, the Raven is a fantastic long range mech with ECM option. The Panther is fun if you want PPC pokes, but definitely a bit more difficult in CW due to its low hardpoints (and no ECM).

Medium Mechs:

The medium class provides you with tons of options. Blackjacks are generally considered good. The BJ-1X is a fantastic close-to-mid range laser vomit mech and the BJ-3 is heavily quirked for PPC's. With those highmounts both are good for harassing out of cover. Another good long range alternative is either the ENF-4R or the WVR-6K both equipped with 3LL and 2ML a decent sized XL engine and as many heat sinks as possible. The Enforcer imo has the better profile and can make use of jumpjets as well. Personally I also like the Griffins a lot. With those shield arms they can be insanely tanky for a medium if played well and you can do good SRM brawlers or laser snipers (4LL GRF-1S works, bit less quirked then WVR or ENF).

Heavy Mechs:

You already have a good thunderbolt, get the 5SS for sure and with the current drop tonnage you can certainly drop both of them if you want. The meta build here is 7 MPL with a STD300, if you feel like you lack range you can drop the engine down to the STD 260 and run 2LPL + 5MPL (its really hot and not brawly anymore but the alpha strike is brutal). Other good laser vomit mechs are the Grasshopper (jumpjet capable and can run XL) and the Black Knight. The Marauder also seems to become popular in a variety of different builds mainly for its survivability (do not run XL on that thing).

Assault Mechs:

For snipe mechs the Stalkers do a fantastic job. You can put either LL or ERLL on them. Again I am sure you can find the meta builds here and put them to good use. The Stalker also provides the advantage of being able to run Laser/SRM or LRM builds so you do have a few options. I am not sure however if I would recommend an LRM Stalker in CW/Faction wars. Other assault mechs which I would recommend are the Battlemaster and the Banshee.


If you look on the metamechs site for builds on the mechs I mentioned I am sure you will find out which roles they are most popular for. A last remark on LRMs: They are often frowned on in CW/Faction wars. The reason is that some maps provide lots of cover and in general no one wants to face anything long enough to provide you with consistens locks. On Clan side they are a lot more popular simply because they weigh only half of the IS counterparts. So my recommendation if you do want to drop LRMs is to run hybrid builds. Mostly I would recommend combining LRM's with Large Lasers. In that way you will still have mediocre to decent snipe capabilities if you get no locks or your ammunition runs out. You can probably run such a build on a Stalker (LRM 30 + 3LL?) or a smaller variant on a medium mech:

http://mwo.smurfy-ne...07d118a1865afcd (hybrid Trebuchet)
http://mwo.smurfy-ne...665e92f66efea46 (hybrid Griffin)

I am sure you get the point. I will however not directly recommend these builds since I have not tested them in CW. Maybe someone else has a more informed opinion on this approach.

This is a huge amount of information, hope any or all of this helps you.

[Kubernetes]

BJ-1x for the medium. I know people love the ML boat, but I run mine with 2 ERLL and 4 ML for better range (and it's just a nasty long range sniper with those high arm mounts).

For a versatile sniper I like the MAD-5D with 4ERLL + MPL + 2 SRM4, punch at range and enough to finish off people close in.

[LordNothing]

i try to avoid bringing in the heaviest assaults and the lightest lights. sometimes il throw in a cicada and call it a light, and i dont like to bring 100 tonners opting instead for faster assaults (eg banshee, gargles). i like to also bring at least one ecm mech.

what mechs are really a matter of personal taste and play style. as good as they claim tbolts are, i just dont like them. sometimes i will bring one anyway, but thats usually because im trying to max out my tonnage and i dont like the alternatives.

as for how to build? if your clan build campy and if you are is build brawly. use std engines for that extra bit of survivability (now that we have iics that option is now open to clan players). use xl only if you need speed (light mech for example). also put most of your armor forward.

energy weapons for endurance and high alpha. every mech should have at least some if not being an all out laser boat. if you must take lerms, equip bap at minimum, tag, narc or ppc for flavor, try to match missile damage with lasers. ballistics are much the same, but i tend to equip more ammo and go for around 2:3 ratio on damage between ballistics and lasers (an ac20 for example backed by 6 medium lasers or equivalent). ballistics are nice when you are overheating and still need to fight. srms are great for close in damage.

and finally mod up. this sounds expensive, but you can move modules around as your deck changes. so you only need 20 or so.

Edited by LordNothing, 22 December 2015 - 11:38 PM.

[MechWarrior849305]

Just all da metamechs: ThunderBoats, LongMasters, QuickPros. All da FOTM metas make "solid" dropdecks

[Dugra Dugrasson]

Bring on the THUNDER(bolts). Four of them.

[TheCharlatan]

My advice on IS mechs:

Lights:
You started from Jenners, which was what i started with too. Good. I consider the best (read: "more consistant") IS lights to be the Ravens, but i found the Wolfhound to be just as good. Firestarters are very good if you like light brawling, if not avoid them.

Mediums:
My favourite mediums have always been Wolverines (mechs for all playstyles, just keep the variant you enjoyed the most) and Griffins (great misslie brawlers). Blackjacks are also great, and right now are all the rage. I suggest against IS medium LRM boats: the IS LRMs are very heavy, leaving you with very little to defend against lights that want your skin. Try them at your own risk.

Heavies:
Thunderbolts are really all you need. The jagermech is a very good fire support mech, but i always found it fragile. Most other IS heavies are un-impressive (i do like the Black Knight and Marauders a lot, but they are not everyone's cup of tea).

Assaults:
Stalkers and Battlemasters are the best Assaults to build a drop deck around. Not too slow, great hardpoints, resilient enough to trade and with good quirks. If you want to push the envelope further and don't mind bringing a smaller mech to CW, you might want to try the Banshee, which is basically a Battlemaster on steroids.

Any way, i suggest you go give a look at Metamechs.com, a blog from a comp MWO player (Gman129) with lots of usefull info. It's his opinion, so not everyone agrees with him, but it's still a well written and updated analysis of the meta-game.

[STEF_]

CLAM OP.
So bring 4 thunders! lol

(pgi balance is so ridicolous and fun!!!)

[Ghogiel]

Medium IS mechs :
BJ1x laser vomit and BJ3 lpl vomit or PPC
GRF 3M and 2N SRM brawlers
WLV 6k laser vomit
Hunchy probably has the widest varity of builds> SRM brawler laser, LRM monster, laser vomit, and ballistics. Prior to gauss nerf and quirk nerf the hero was also a solid performing gauss sniper.

Other than that I'd probably give them a pass until you tried a couple of these.

[DivineEvil]

General Purpose CW mechs include: Blackjacks, Hunchbacks, Shadow Hawks, Thunderbolts, Jagermechs, Zeus and Battlemasters. These can be brought up for any range profile and purpose, and the variants should be chosen and equipped accordingly.

For example, you can build a deck of Zeus + Thunderbolt + Jagermech + Shadow Hawk, which exactly fits into the current IS drop tonnage limit, and depending on a map or a team, you can pretty quickly swap each mech in this deck for another variant with different weapon loadout to accomodate varied ranges, environmental conditions and expected level of teamplay.

Most other chassies are directed into specific roles, that might not be viable in CW, or would require a communicated teamwork to combine a deck of strict specialists into an effective, balanced combat force. If such condition is met, then there's very few mechs, that are generally non-copetetive, such as Catapults and Vindicators, which has better analogues.

In general, avoid using anything lighter than 35 tons and heavier than 85 tons. 90-100 ton mechs provide severely diminished returns for extra tonnage you spending on taking them, which means, that these exra 5-15 tons are always better to be used on other drop-slots. 20-30 ton mechs can barely pay-off their mere existence in a deck, so for example you're likely to achieve more using two Cicadas, rather than using a Spider and Hunchback instead. Basically, very light and very heavy mechs have tough time justifying their introduction to the field, while average mechs of 50-70 tons are most likely to do so without much effort involved.

Thus, the most stable CW Drop-Deck at this point is three 65 ton mechs + one 70ton mech, all chosen to your preferences. The more your drop-deck deviates from it, the more it's general efficiency will rely on the performance of your teammates.

[Metus regem]

Well for solid Mediums, I would suggest looking at the Hunchback family, Centurion family and Shadow Hawk family. They are all well rounded solid performing mechs before and after quirks.

As to the Locust family, if you liked and enjoyed the 1V, I might suggest putting in the cash and getting the Pirate's Bane, she's pretty good for a Locust and my preferred Locust.

For IS heavies, well I'm a bit of a odd duck, as I prefer the Dragon....

Assualt class mechs, I tend to favour the Awesome and Battlemaster.... What I can say is this, don't pick a Mech based on quirks, quirks change....

[sycocys]

When you can bring 4 heavies, why are people talking about bringing Locusts?

[Metus regem]

sycocys, on 23 December 2015 - 08:34 AM, said:

When you can bring 4 heavies, why are people talking about bringing Locusts?

Because, once you learn how to use the Locust, she is a mean little bug.

[Funkin Disher]

Lights: Locusts or Wolfhounds/Firestarters
Mediums: Blackjacks or Enforcers
Heavies: Marauders or Thunderbolts
Assaults: Stalkers, Battlemasters, Banshees or Maulers

Pick the mechs with the most specialized builds/quirks, thats the general MO of CW.

[DAYLEET]

Source Mystic, on 22 December 2015 - 10:35 PM, said:

So what are you suggestions ? Keep in mind I am staying a dedicated Inner sphere pilot have no interest in playing clan mechs.

So what I.S. mechs do you suggest and why ? I want well balanced options so I am not just stuck in one role.

Im surprised no one posted this already,(Charlatan did but that's not a name you can trust )

These are the deck people on your side are going to be using in CW.
http://metamechs.com...ropship-ladder/

These are the deck you will be facing, the OpFor.
http://metamechs.com...ropship-ladder/

Community Warfare is pretty serious business, you might get a false idea of what the game is there because there is nothing to prevent 12man with the very best deck to play versus solo pugs with random and less than optimal deck.


This is a list of all the best mech with a link to their loadout.
http://metamechs.com...meta-tier-list/

I suggest you try to emulate them and/or substitute with what you have or want to own. It's what i did, i didnt have those mech or wanted to use those particular mech so i found what could emulate them with what i was comfortable to deck in meta and know i would come out on top. You don't need to be the exact same thing but something close that also work for you and with what you have.

I hope you find this post helpful rather than pushy.

and good luck.

Edited by DAYLEET, 23 December 2015 - 08:56 PM.

[Kraftwerkedup]

Mine:

Banshee 3M
Jagermech (I switch this out when PGI changes IS tonnage)
Cicada 3
Raven 3L

I rarely have less than 2k damage games. Alot of time I dont even get to use my 3rd and 4th drop.

[Ted Wayz]

How many Thunderbolts can you fit now? Load it up with those and then just pick a mech to fill in whatever is left.

[C0Y0]

I use a pair of Black Jacks for brawling/shock up front. Loads of medium lasers, MPLs and an ultra ac/5 on one. I tend to use lighter snipers in the back half. They work great for mop-up or (if losing) holding out as long as possible. That said, my drop is very light and could probably be more efficient with heavier brawlers.

Edited by GRDcoyote, 23 December 2015 - 09:05 PM.

[Pika]

To parrot most people in here, Black Jacks are pretty good right now... of course that means using a BlackJack but if you can live with yourself, those are the go to right now. Personally I think the Thunderbolt is also a perfectly fine 'mechs to be dropping in these days, too.

Honestly in CW, LRMs are almost always a big no-no. You'll never get a chance to drop your full load before either dying or losing. Maybe on offence, but then the chance of no ECM is slim to none.

Edited by Pika, 23 December 2015 - 09:11 PM.