18 replies to this topic

[xxSSKxx]

For the Light Medium and Heavy classes. Both Clan and IS. I haven't desided which of the two I'll be piloting yet. and spent all of my beginner doe though i did get some mc and buy the shadow hawk and locus mastery packs. To give me what I hoped a basic experence in both thoughs weight classes and some exstra mech bays. I've been trying to only play them and master the champion mechs for each lately. Though I find the Shadow Hawk lacking in terms of height and damage when it comes to battles. His arms are so low makes popping over hills a real bother. the locus is just to low weight i believe. So I have purchased 1 artic cheeta so far. And really enjoy it. I'm looking for a mechs that can not only fit their nich like locus verses assults but also hold their own against their own weight class pretty well. While pilot skill will play a big factor i understand some mechs do this alot better than others.

[Leone]

So, I need alot more info before I could give appropriate suggestions.

What kind weaponry do you like, and within that class, which in specific is your favourite? Playstyle? Gimme something to work with. I mean, for Is lights, I'd actually suggest starting with the locust, but it sounds like you have, so what is it about the locust that makes it feel, 'too low wieght'?

As for the shadowhawk, have you checked out that shoulder cannon? Totally cockpit level.

~Leone.

Edited by Leone, 04 December 2016 - 01:26 PM.

[BCAW]

Erm, the Shadow Hawks got some pretty high hardpoints actually. Its one of the better mechs at poking from behind hills.

But if you really want to fully embrace the hill-humping meta, try the Hunchback IIC; its even a trial mech right now, so you don't even need to spend any of your C-bills to try it.

[jss78]

Shadow Hawks really vary in terms of how well they hill-hump.

A lot of the variants have anywhere between 1-4 energy hardpoints in arms, and if your build relies on those a lot, not so well.

But then you have the 2K which packs everything on shoulders (3E 3M), and is among the best hill humpers in the game.

Spoiler

On the other variants though you can go heavy with the ballistics, especially 2H and 5M which can pack double and triple ballistics respectively, and then you can again peek from ridgelines like a boss.

[Bohxim]

If you're looking at heavies but not sure what weapons you like running yet, timber wolves and ebon jaguar allow you to run a very diverse hangar for clans. Can try warhammer, jagermech or thunderbolts for inner sphere. Thunderbolt are probably 1 of the more newbie friendly mechs due to std engine cost and reliability and lasers are probably 1 of the easiest weapons to use

[Koniving]

xxSSKxx, on 04 December 2016 - 01:19 PM, said:

Though I find the Shadow Hawk lacking in terms of height and damage when it comes to battles. His arms are so low makes popping over hills a real bother.

What weapon are you trying to shoot over hills with? Shadow Hawks have few if any weapons mounted in the arms; your main heavy hitters are high on the shoulders.

This said:
The list of 'good mechs' depends heavily on the intended playstyle.

If we're talking hill humpers then the good ones are:
(In no order)
Light:
Locust.
Urbanmech.
Raven.
Jenner.

Light Clan:
Adder (mount weapons in shoulders)
(Not really sure what else; I don't do a lot of hill humping in Clan lights).

Medium:
Hunchback (Except 4J and 4SP)
Shadow Hawk.
Griffin (in regards to weapon in arm in most cases, though 3M can mount an energy weapon in the left torso. Simultaneously shower enemies with LRMs while hill humping pot-shots.)

Medium Clan:
??? (HBK IIC stands to reason.)

Heavy:
Rifleman
Jagermech
Marauder (torso mounted cannons)
Grasshopper (Using the high torso mounts)

Heavy Clan:
Ebon Jaguar.
?????

Assault:
Battlemaster (God of Hill Humping)


Now if you give me other parameters, my list will be very different.
(213 mechs owned, playing since 2012)

[AncientRaig]

The Centurions are solid mechs. Not exactly inventive, but you can take a pounding that some heavies only wish they could if you make liberal use of your shield arm. The mounts are all more or less middle of the mech though, so you can't really hill hump in them. They're not exactly low, but they're not high enough for poking over the top of something safely.

[Champion of Khorne Lord of Blood]

Solid mechs:

Ones without variant just mean any from that class are good.

Clan:
Light: Arctic Cheetah, Jenner IIC, Jenner IIC-A
Medium: Hunchback IIC, Hunchback IIC-A, Stormcrow, Nova, Shadow Cat
Heavy: Hellbringer, Timber Wolf, Ebon Jaguar
Assault: Kodiak-3, Executioner

IS:
Light: Wolfhound-1A, Locust-1E, Locust-1V, Raven
Medium: Griffin 2n, Hunchback 4P, Black Jack
Heavy: Warhammer, Grasshopper, Thunderbolt
Assault: Battlemaster 2C, Banshee 3M, Mauler MX90, Stalker 3F

Check quirks on the mechs, especially IS variants to find particular variant's you'd want to get. IS mechs can often have very similar hardpoints but very different quirks, leading to different playstyles and loadouts. Also For the Executioner and Shadow Cat recommendations, they are rather good mechs, but a bit harder to play sometimes since you have to master use of MASC to properly play them and they are limited in builds, but they run those particular builds very well if you specialize. Some may not like them though since they aren't good generalists.

Also Ebon Jaguar is a glass cannon, so be weary of that, it packs very high firepower but its nose cone makes the CT a huge target. A lot of these mechs are also rather build dependent, so you'll do pretty bad with a bad build, but the mechs themselves are rather solid bases to build off of. I prefer the Clan options myself, though I've tried out a lot of the IS ones. I just don't like relying on quirks as much as some of the IS options do.

Edited by Dakota1000, 04 December 2016 - 06:30 PM.

[Spheroid]

I am a big Thunderbolt fan. That mech absorbs damage well above its weight class, has high right shoulder mounts and peforms great with cheap standard engines. Good for the new player.

Edited by Spheroid, 05 December 2016 - 12:36 AM.

[WaddeHaddeDudeda]

I guess lots really depends on your preferred playstyle.

You can find the -currently- strongest Mechs and loadouts here: http://metamechs.com/mwo-tier-lists/

Everything else is just personal preference.

I think, that the Shadowhawk is one of the most versatile IS Mediums and the shoulder cannon just makes it awesome.
But if you dislike the chassis, there is nothing somebody can change about.

Other recommendations:

IS Lights: Raven
IS Mediums: Shadowhawk, Crab, Centurion (although not that versatile anymore)
IS Heavies: Warhammers!!! (dual uac 5 + dual ppc just deliver, also 3 large pulse + 4 medium lasers -> alpha from assault mechs)

Clan Lights: Arctic Cheetah
Clan Mediums: Hunchy IIC or Stormcrow
Clan Heavies: Timber Wolf!!! Same reasons. Still a dangerous apex predator and super versatile.

[Nerokar]

If i could recommend a medium, it would be HCK-IIC/HBC-IIC-A. The chassis have extremly high weapon mounts. The first focuses on UAC, the second on laser (vomit) or dual PPC, all extremly good at hillhumps on medium range. But beware, both chassis have a lot of stripped armor on standard layout and realy realy weak engine. To make them work, you will need a new XL engine at some point, resulting in 4.000.000 CBills exta cost. Here are two examples (price is WITHOUT engine):
HBK-IIC
HBK-IIC-A

And for heavy: I love my Timber Wolf, it can make every playstyle possible and it is fast... But it is not that cheap. And there are hidden extra costs in form of omnipods (beeing an advantage later on). And you are usualy one of the first targets enemies shoot at.

As a cheaper heavy I would recommend MAD-3R, it has some hidden costs in form of missing DHS and Structure/Armor updates and is not fast at all... BUT a working build would cost less then 10.000.000 CBills and can take some hard beating... here is an example:
MAD-3R
This is a low budget build. Later on you can lower engine (if you have no problem with beeing as fast as a turret) and replace the ACs by UACs giving you some extrapunch (avoid brawling with this build).

And for Lights: In my opinion you have the both best lights in field. Locust and ACH. ACH is fast, deals a lot of pain and can take a lot of DMG (for a light), great light for general usage. And then there is a locust...
You have mastery pack? Great! PB is like the ultimate annoyance for the enemy team. Try to hit a flea running at 150 kph changing direction every 500 ms... if there would be an indecator for "making enemy shoot the ground" a locust would run best numbers here. And the ability to assasinate mechs is not limited to assaults only. Even mediums will get problems with you once you get used to locust.

EDIT If you need help for CW: These are not the droids mechs you are looking for...

Edited by Nerokar, 05 December 2016 - 02:19 AM.

[Audacious Aubergine]

Are Blackjacks still good? I haven't taken any of mine out in ages so I'm not sure how they perform any more

Edited by Audacious Aubergine, 05 December 2016 - 02:51 AM.

[Warglbargl]

Audacious Aubergine, on 05 December 2016 - 02:49 AM, said:

Are Blackjacks still good? I haven't taken any of mine out in ages so I'm not sure how they perform any more

BJ-3 is as good as it gets for IS PPCs. Not as good as a Hunchback IIC-A, but few things are.

[WaddeHaddeDudeda]

The 1X got hurt by nerfs but is still pretty solid (6 ml, 2 mpl) overall.

[Rogue Jedi]

Do not Base your decision on quirks, the skill tree update due in Feburary will include the removal of all quirks

You have already received a lot of good advice but a big part of a Mechs effectiveness depends on how you use it, if you take a Spider and move unpredictably at speed it is really difficult to take down, however if you move in a straight line and stop to shoot you can be killed in a single hit.

A Stalker with a standard engine is a nightmare to kill because of the huge side torsos, however put an XL in it and it will go down pretty fast

Some Mechs durability I'd higly dependant on twist speed so are very fragile with a smaller engine, some Mechs have a huge center torso and small sides, others have small CT and huge sides.

If I knew I would be up against Mechs in the same weight class for Lights I would want a firestarter or Arctic Cheetah

Mediums a Griffin, Hunchback or Stormcrow.

For heavies I would take a Warhammer, Marauder or Timber Wolf

For assualts a Battlemaster Atlas or Kodiak

Those are my preference, and I love mobility and agility, not everyone will agree with my list and if someone disagrees that does not mean ether of us are wrong

[S 0 L E N Y A]

Metamechs.com
I do not 100% agree with everything Gman has to say, but he is at the very least close to the mark if not dead on

Edited by Boogie138, 05 December 2016 - 06:53 PM.

[Blind Baku]

For hill humping the RFL is fairly solid, if "under tonned" for a heavy. I love mine, but they are a bit more fragile and require a more reserved play style... not ideal for brawling (unless you have the hero, in which case wait for the brawl to break out and sweep it up).

All that said, everything else above is pretty solid but getting a better feel for what you want to do with your six mechs is better starting point.

[JigglyMoobs]

Boogie138, on 05 December 2016 - 03:15 PM, said:

Metamechs.com
I do not 100% agree with everything Grand has to say, but he is at the very least close to the mark if not dead on

One of the best sources for sure.

[LMP]

I would say the Timber Wolf because it's fast, tough, can carry load outs you couldn't carry on most other mechs, it's flexible, a true multirole fighter and it has Omni-Pods. When I wanted to buy my next mech I thought well I'd like something that's as fast and that can carry a similar load out. I ended up pulling my hair out because nothing else works. The Timber Wolf will spoil you.