8 replies to this topic

[Trunok]

What would be the best for a first clan heavy?

Edited by Trunok, 19 January 2017 - 04:22 PM.

[Marius Evander]

At current tonnage hellbringers and ebon jags are clans bread and butter, for 4 mech faction play decks in the future when you want to try it.

2 er large OR 2 large pulse AND 4-5 er med with ECM hellbringer in my favourite mech in the game for Quickplay. It does well on every map/mode.

Edited by Cadoazreal, 19 January 2017 - 04:31 PM.

[Marius Evander]

Timber is a better brawler with a 4 srm6+artemis 4 ermed (or small pulse) build but brawl mechs suffer on a lot of QP maps and dont do well in 12 man without a dedicated team to going in together.

[1453 R]

Timber Wolves are somewhat legendary for being able to do absolutely anything. If it's something MWO allows a player to do, the Timber Wolf can make a pretty good stab at doing it. Poptart sniper, close-quarters SRM brawler, close-quarters ballistics brawler (sort of), midrange harasser/Laser Vomit, Gausslasers, Lurmisher if you're new and want to try it, anti-light Streak boat...whatever you want to do, the Timber Wolf is going to be able to do it. Start with the C or D variants to maximize firepower with the CT energy hardpoint, the S variant if you're really fond of jumping, or the Prime if for some reason you're fonder of machine guns than you should be.

The Hellbringer is a more specialized 'Mech - still fairly flexible especially in quick play, but not as omnicapable as the TImber Wolf. It doesn't do missile-centric builds very well, but it can sorta do ballistics or Gausslasers. What the Hellbringer excels at is energy-centric builds; it has a lot of very high-up mounts (good for firing while staying mostly in cover), it can take ECM without sacrificing any armament/hardpoints, and it can fit a lot more heat sinks than most Timber Wolf builds. The lesser weight is also a selling point if you plan on playing Faction Play, which I would not overall recommend doing on your own until you get a firm grip on the game.

Overall? I'd probably recommend the Timber Wolf. if you end up not liking beam spam then the Hellbringer isn't a very optimal choice, but the Timber Wolf can do well with just about dagnabbit everything. The Cauldron-Born (Ebon jaguar in the store/game) is similar in its ability to do a huge number of different things, and I personally prefer the EBJ to the TBR, but it's a good bit less forgiving of unpolished piloting habits than the TBR is. If you're up for a wild ride and an even steeper than normal learning curve though, you really can't go wrong with the ol' Cauldron-Born.

Steer clear of Night Gyrs and Summoners, at least until the Loyalty pods for the Summoner come out for C-bills, Mad Dogs are suicide boats, and forget the ORion IIC exists.

[Bazni]

One thing the TBR isn't the best at (unless you get a TBR-A) is hill-humping. The TBR-A torso pod has some pretty egregious negative quirks., If you want the high energy mounts, make sure you buy that center torso chassis, which can counteract the negative quirks. The Ebon Jaguar is wide. Very wide. The side torso mounts are very close to the cockpit, however, which makes accidental friendly fire a non-issue. The Hellbringer has ECM, and ECM can be awesome - you can often take your time to aim without being noticed before you open fire. It's also better at hill-humping, but tends to be a slightly worse brawler.

[L1f3H4ck]

The Timber has it's pros, can't deny that. However, do you want to get into Faction Warfare? Just asking cuz if you're just starting, the lighter mech you'd have to build a 240t dropdeck with would be the Shadow Cat (75x2+45x2). While the Timber is great, a 2 Hellbringer/2 Stormcrow setup would be stronger overall imho.

[SlippnGriff]

Timber was my first mech. ran some laser vomit and other stuff to get the mastery
Also have mastered hellbringers

Timbers can brawl good with SRM's. other stuff seems weird with the lower mounts.
Hellbringers are good for sniping, and lasers, and that ecm tho.

My favorite two mechs and what I've learned.
Timber is good for brawling and being apart of the firing line/push. I got two 4x SRM6 brawlers (one with 4SPL, the other 3SPL and 4MG's) other is a random mid range build. Can tank a bit more than the hellbringer be sure to torso twist, stick with your big guys on this or help a flank with other mechs and it can do you good.

Hellbringer is the poke snipe midrange god however on all my builds i use the head mounted laser omnipod and completely strip the arms of their armor and 3 off each leg to fit more torso guns as they are high mounts. I run 4 erML's with a gauss (40 ammo and completely stripped arm armor to fit everything) as it's a good starter build. Be sure to torso twist off damage with each poke. Stay a little back to punish the other team peaking, and provide your boys with ecm.

TL;DR- Timber = brawler
Hellbringer = mid range snipe/support

[Lostdragon]

You can't go wrong with either one, they are both great. TBR can do more builds but HBR is really, really good at laser vomit and can mount ECM.

[El Bandito]

Timbie is overall better mech, but if you play CW as Clans, then Hellbringer is a must.