12 replies to this topic

[JC Daxion]

Ok guys, Battle of the heroes! I am having a tough time deciding on this.. they all have their pluses, and all have their minuses.. I must say i am very torn, so i figured i would ask you guys that might own um to help me figure it out. Yea this darn sale is tempting me to pick up a slightly bigger MC pack to grab a medium hero on top of my light hero and a couple of light champions, Darn you PGI!



The contenders.. for the ultimate gauss build medium.

Grid Iron,

It's an HBK, need i say more? It's got the great armor buffs to help protect the weapon, and a pretty big buff at that, with +18 armor on top of +12 structure, it should really protect it the best out of all of them. It's also got the largest speed quirk by +5% over the Quarantine, and +20 over the grey death. I can also stick in an ac-20 and run a hero 4G build, which is one of my favorite mechs, extra c-bills is always nice.

Down side, 3 ML's and no JJ's.

http://mwo.smurfy-ne...f83203d7b245385


Grey Death,
The shadow hawk, the slowest recharge with a +10% quirk but it also has a +25 velocity buff. It is the only one with that but i wonder if that will help as much as i think as the gauss is a very fast weapon as it is. It has minor energy quirks and a nice +14 structure too. It is the fastest of the 3 builds, and has the 4ML's which is nice, and a couple of JJ's for extra maneuverability. Can also run a nice ac-10 build.

Con's, Torso mounted gauss like the grid iron, but it doesn't have the bonus armor buff which is pretty sick on the grid iron.

http://mwo.smurfy-ne...863a8feeaad1343


Quarantine,
The wolverine, I like these mechs so bonus right there, it also has a respectable +25 cooldown buff, and nice SRM quirks, something that also sets with one apart. You also carry the gauss in the arm which in case of an explosion you can keep fighting if you don't take out your torso when it does. Dual SRM4's is still some ok fire power, better than dead right? While this build is the slowest of them all but not by that much, it does have the highest jump capability, meaning you can really get to good locations to snipe. It also has the highst DPS, even if it is spread due to SRM's, but could help when things get close.

Con's, I can do this build in my 6R, the only difference is the SRM's are on the other torso, so in case of loosing my left arm, it is less likely to take out launchers in the explosion.

http://mwo.smurfy-ne...b80fbbfc124e0d6



I'm really leaning towards the Shadow hawks, mainly for more variety in my bay's, and will be a nice short cut to add the 2H, but i am a bit iffy on the whole torso mounted Gauss. Yea i know the grid iron is also a torso mount, but with the quirks, HBK's tank like champs so i am the least worried out gauss explosions with the GI. I also love me an HBK, so i know i won't be sorry, but still, the lack of JJ's on a sniper has me wondering if the extra tank power is worth the loss of being able to get to places i normally couldn't. Lastly, i could just build my 6R as my jump sniper, and go GI for a tanky build, but I've always wanted to get into the shadow hawks as they do have some really cool builds.



With the re-size coming, i am not sure what quirks are going to change, so my thinking could change next month if they end up getting major changes, but from what i have seen, the % change on the shadow hawk is pretty low, and the HBK seems fairly reasonable in size, so i honestly don't see that changing much either, The wolverine is the only one i have seen nothing on but i can't see them really changing it drastically. I don't like to base my mech choices solely on quirks, but i think i have enough other info in these builds that would make them different. Even if they do, i have a feeling the feel of these mechs will stay very similar, meaning the HBK will still be the tankiest, and wolvie the highest jumper and shadow hawk the fastest..


So, lets have some thoughts

Edited by JC Daxion, 29 May 2016 - 04:31 PM.

[Rhavin]

Grid Iron and Quarantine are the only 2 of those I own. But I find the Grid Iron the better mech for guass. Sure you can't jump, but the arms on Wolverines get shredded fast in my experience.

Of the three the shadowhawk is the one that would get rescaled the most, it's too tall, but that is a plus with guass rifles and long range builds sometimes. It's not tanky at all in its current state.

Have had several Johnny 5s in my Grid Iron. It's not as good as it once was but it's still a nice ride. Quarantine, I just elited, I don't play it anymore. But I do take the Grid Iron out for fun trips with guass or ac 20 builds.

[Karl the Plumber]

I've played a lot in hunchies and Shawks, but never in a wolverine. Of the three, I'd get the Gray Death. It's not an in-fashion mech right now, but if you play as a mobile ambush platform the JJs, high AC mount, and heavier armor load really pay off.

[Spheroid]

Single gauss on mediums are worthless. Also those heroes are all junk. Get a Rifleman package and run dual gauss on the 3N or a Firebrand and actually have a chance at killing things.

Or you save you money and get a Hunchback-IIC for c-bills and run dual gauss/dual UAC-10.

[-Vompo-]

Own all of them. Grid Iron might be the best with it's fast firing gauss but I do enjoy the Gray Death the most. Quarantine just feels like a bad mech to me and I've never really enjoyed playing it but that's just my personal opinion.

[jss78]

I like the Gray Death very much. It has the best structure quirks of all SHD's, and the four energy hardpoints are nice (typically I put in 4xML for weight-efficient secondary armament. The gauss rifle + XL engine is risky, but in practice I find I die quite rarely to a gauss rifle explosion. I used to run mine with an STD engine, something like this. That's a "better safe than sorry" approach, you can lose the rifle side without risk to your engine, and you'll retain 2xML to fight with.

The GD has very good AC/10 quirks too, I bet it'd work well with a big XL engine, AC/10, 4xML, and maybe some SRM's too.

Spheroid, on 30 May 2016 - 11:17 PM, said:

Single gauss on mediums are worthless. Also those heroes are all junk. Get a Rifleman package and run dual gauss on the 3N or a Firebrand and actually have a chance at killing things.

Single gauss builds rely on finding synergies with your other weapons. I've always liked my 1 x gauss + a few ML builds. I approach them as medium-range builds rather than long-range builds. But you have a decent ability to contribute if your team decides to stay at range. In a medium 'mech you're rarely the one who dictates where your team fights.

[TercieI]

None of them are very good, really. I've mastered the Grid Iron and Gray Death and both sit stripped, they don't do anything interesting. Having mastered all the other WVRs, no point in the Quarantine, IMO, just a crappier 6R. Obviously not gauss, but Sparky is the only medium hero of note these days.

Edited by TercieI, 31 May 2016 - 05:40 AM.

[Dogstar]

I've got the Grid Iron and Gray Death but I prefer to roll with AC10 builds for both of them. I find the gauss rifle just too unrewarding to enjoy playing.

However if you're really good with gauss (GG = Good with Gauss!) then I'd say that the Grid Iron is probably better unless you also need jump jets in which case Gray Death is the choice.

[JC Daxion]

I ended up going with the "sparky" Was hard as i really was leaning towards shadow hawk, but i thought the ECM griffin, and an energy boat might fit me better. Especially with my 60 dragon getting a killer re-size, might as well use that as my single gauss carrier.

but thanks for the info as always, I'll bank this info for down the road

Edited by JC Daxion, 03 June 2016 - 01:58 PM.

[S 0 L E N Y A]

Nothin wrong with lazorz vomits

[TheArcher]

I only have the Grid Iron. I ran it with 2AC5 and 3ML. I liked that mech alot. It's the only mech in which I've broken top-100 in a challenge. I think the general ballistic cooldown quick was reduced since I last ran it though.

[JC Daxion]

Boogie138, on 03 June 2016 - 02:13 PM, said:

Nothin wrong with lazorz vomits

You know the funny part is i really hated laser boats when i started playing.. the HBK 4P was my least favorit.. (though not that i didnt like lasers, i just thought of them as a secondary weapon) But one day i bought a jester... and i built it with a XL-320+ Bap+dual AMS+ 5000 rounds+ dual LL's, and 4 MPL's, and a pair of JJ's... And that day forward i fell in love.. I even love it more than my TDR 5SS, I know shock right?????

Sience then, some of my favorite mechs, are the TDK, Spider 5V, Jester, 5SS, I still love missiles, and dakka.. but lasers just rock... and don't get me going about my clan lasers...

[TercieI]

JC Daxion, on 03 June 2016 - 01:58 PM, said:

I ended up going with the "sparky" Was hard as i really was leaning towards shadow hawk, but i thought the ECM griffin, and an energy boat might fit me better. Especially with my 60 dragon getting a killer re-size, might as well use that as my single gauss carrier.

but thanks for the info as always, I'll bank this info for down the road

Great choice. With the 2N, 3M and Sparky, GRFs are a pleasure to have.