20 replies to this topic

[Glaive-]

I've been considering getting a Banshee for awhile now, but they seem to have all but disappeared for the most part. Are they any good still?

[Steel Raven]

I'm enjoying the 3M I won in a event though I found the 3E a pain, sold it and got a Battlemaster.

[PaquIS]

Its a solid mech, but I feel like the 3M is the only one worth having.

New tech didn't really help it tho. I think the old 5xML, 3xLPL with STD350 is still the best build for it.
Upgrading to LFE wont give it much extra speed so the penalty from lost sidetorso is not worth it.

[Yukikaze Alecto]

Trying the 3S right now. 1x RAC5 (3x Ammo), 2x SnubNose, 4x ERMLs, 1x LRM10Artemis (2x Ammo), with a 345Light using 15 DHS, and fully maxed armor. Nasty brawler, but not worth much beyond mid-range even with the LRMs. Might keep it, might not.

[Gagis]

PaquIS, on 06 August 2017 - 09:50 PM, said:

Its a solid mech, but I feel like the 3M is the only one worth having.

New tech didn't really help it tho. I think the old 5xML, 3xLPL with STD350 is still the best build for it.
Upgrading to LFE wont give it much extra speed so the penalty from lost sidetorso is not worth it.

This particular build benefited greatly from replacing ML's with ERML's.

The main advantage of Banshee over Battlemaster is the greater hardpoint count for spamming ERML. ERML is the most relevant new weapon from Civil War.

Edited by Gagis, 07 August 2017 - 04:02 AM.

[The Basilisk]

Banshees are solid mechs, but due to their slowness as Assaults and their uglyness a bit out of favor.
The 3M is the most common in MWO but i find it boring.
A laservomit Assault well it moves ok it has good armor and enough weapons to make it a real thread to everyone.
The 3E was never completely written of. It once ruled suppreme with its dakka capabilitys and high hardpoints.
It was longtime a med to longrange assault option with 3 AC5 and 2 PPC --> 35 alpha while running cool and having a decent firing rate.
3S and the Banshee hero where never good but I guess it could be worth a try utilizing HPPCs, HGauss and other stuff to try making it work....maybe using a UAC20 some snubbys and med pulse lasers. Yea imagine an Assault with dual snubnose ppc, an UAC20 and some pulse Lasers. Like this.

[Damnedtroll]

Trying my *** out in the 3E for so long without finding a reliable build... doing some fun stuff in the past but never found something good. Dakka was fun but now is just not agile enough to compete. Twin HPPC and LB20X is fun...but you can do a lot better in something else.

It is still my worst mech in my line-up, i just keep it because it because it is the third mech i mastered after the Black-knight and Atlas...bad choice because they removed a lot of the IS buff a month or so after i mastered the BNC.

Used to many laser vomit to keep my 3M... they more or less all feel the same...Kept my Battlemaster instead.

Edited by Damnedtroll, 07 August 2017 - 04:50 AM.

[Koniving]

The Basilisk, on 07 August 2017 - 04:21 AM, said:

Banshees are solid mechs, but due to their slowness as Assaults and their uglyness a bit out of favor.

"Slowness"...

The Banshee's main selling point is being "one of the fastest assaults in the game."
Actually it might be the only selling point, really.

[Koniving]

Their extremely limited assortment of arm weapons are the big turnoff for me. The plethora of torso weapons don't do a whole lot of good due to the required facetime. It doesn't engage multiple targets well which is a staple of my requirements in a mech.

It may find new use now with new weapon systems. I might give it another chance considering I have...all the variants including the hero.

So much regret there.

[Aggravated Assault Mech]

They don't get talked about because they're just sort of boring. They've got innately good characteristics, meaning no super exciting quirks, and the builds are pretty much optimized. The Banshee always needs those medium lasers to bump the LPL to the shoulder slots, and the PPCs default to the waist locations so you really can't fiddle with the build too much. On top of that, it gets overshadowed by the more tonnage efficient Battlemaster. The BLR-2C has like 4-5 more hp per torso section, but it's all in structure, and the Banshee has better side quirk of 10% range.

3 LPL and 5 ML or ERML.
STD350/LFE375/XL400. LFE 375 is IMO the strongest engine choice given how common XL checking is on Banshees.

In any case, the lack of discussion shouldn't be taken to indicate the mech needs help or that it sucks. BNC-3M isn't just recommendable, but a solid two thumbs up chassis that every Assault player should have. It has great hardpoint locations, good shielding arms, high engine cap paired with good maneuverability. Just like the Warhammer, the fact that it relies upon really minimal quirks makes it hard to nerf- money well spent.

Other variants are less clear. The BNC-3E is IMO the second strongest, but it's not in the public eye and thus most prospective builds are speculation as far as strength in the meta goes. The shoulder UAC20 (you can actually get a UAC10 above the cockpit with 3 filler MGs and an LFE engine) is an advantage, but doesn't really seem like an overwhelming one. It's probably an oversight from copy and pasting UAC5 parameters, and I wouldn't count on it staying like that. Still, you can fit an LFE 375, UAC20, and 2 ERML + 2 LPL... a 70pt double tap is pretty alright for something going 68 kph

[VirtualSmitty]

Banshees are still very good. As said before the 3M is probably the most solid these days, been experimenting with heavy ppcs myself. The 3E still packs a punch and has good hardpoints. The hero and the 3S less useful though LFEs help both quite a bit.

[The Basilisk]

Koniving, on 07 August 2017 - 05:21 AM, said:

"Slowness"...

The Banshee's main selling point is being "one of the fastest assaults in the game."
Actually it might be the only selling point, really.

Compared to what realy ????
Atlas Mechs ?
Direwolves ?
Annihilator ?

When I think of viable Assaults there is only one IS Assault that realy deserves the term viably fast, the Battlemaster.
Otherwise there are only the Clanassaults that can reliably move with the Group, Marodeur IIC, Warhawk, Executioner, Gargoyle and last but not least the new MadCat MK II.

So...no the speed of the Banshee may scratch the 60kph border but that isn't its selling point for me.

There are two things that a Banshee actualy does pretty well.
It is rare and lots of ppl ignore it because there are other more known and seemingly more dangerous mechs out there and it can carry sh..loads of weapons while not having too terrible hardpoints.

And otherwise as I said the mainpoint why nobody cares for it...its boring and looks like some generic humanoid robot.

[Koniving]

Well as I said, it was the only selling point.

That and punching the **** out of things, which can't happen here.

[Gagis]

Its one and only selling point are outrageously good hardpoints.

They are better than on the Battlemaster, but for Faction Play better hardpoints are usually not worth 10 tons.

I have Banshee on my current dropdeck, simply because I have two laser vomit Crabs there which gives a lot of spare tons to fill.

Edited by Gagis, 07 August 2017 - 09:11 AM.

[PaquIS]

Gagis, on 07 August 2017 - 04:01 AM, said:

This particular build benefited greatly from replacing ML's with ERML's.

The main advantage of Banshee over Battlemaster is the greater hardpoint count for spamming ERML. ERML is the most relevant new weapon from Civil War.

I understand the range would pair well with the LPL, but before the laser changes when ML was 4 heat I always felt like the 5xML + 3xLPL was bit too hot. Now with 3,4 heat its quite good. ERML is 4,3 so I feel its simply way too hot. Unless you drop one or two mediums.

[Gagis]

PaquIS, on 07 August 2017 - 08:21 PM, said:

I understand the range would pair well with the LPL, but before the laser changes when ML was 4 heat I always felt like the 5xML + 3xLPL was bit too hot. Now with 3,4 heat its quite good. ERML is 4,3 so I feel its simply way too hot. Unless you drop one or two mediums.

Heat management is a bit of a matter of personal taste, but generally more competitive players tend to favour hot builds, since it is more important to hit hard than to be able to sustain damage. Especially now that we are all carrying 2 Cool Shots for when things get rough.

I'll compare the in-game heat management of this Banshee to some of my other laser vomit mechs:

• Banshee 1.14
  
• Battlemaster 1.06
  
• Marauder IIC 1.21
  
• Black Knight 1.08
  
• Grasshopper 1.13
  
• Hellbringer 1.29
  
• Thunderbolt 1.2
  
• Crab 1.21
  
• Hunchback IIC 1.13
  
• Wolfhound 1.34

Banshee actually compares quite favourably.

[PaquIS]

Gagis, on 07 August 2017 - 11:36 PM, said:

Heat management is a bit of a matter of personal taste, but generally more competitive players tend to favour hot builds, since it is more important to hit hard than to be able to sustain damage. Especially now that we are all carrying 2 Cool Shots for when things get rough.

I'll compare the in-game heat management of this Banshee to some of my other laser vomit mechs:

• Banshee 1.14
  
• Battlemaster 1.06
  
• Marauder IIC 1.21
  
• Black Knight 1.08
  
• Grasshopper 1.13
  
• Hellbringer 1.29
  
• Thunderbolt 1.2
  
• Crab 1.21
  
• Hunchback IIC 1.13
  
• Wolfhound 1.34

Banshee actually compares quite favourably.

Yeah I understand, but personally I dont feel its worth the extra heat to gain 100 meters of effective range for the Banshee since it wont increase the alpha damage.

I do run hot builds on the clan mechs because usually you can stack so much heatsinks on them to make them cool down quite fast even if your alpha would raise the heat to 60-70%. Cant really say the same for IS mechs.

[Odanan]

Banshee [3E] was my favorite assault for a long time, but I must say: they are too big, meaning they will attract a lot of enemy fire. Now I prefer the Mauler.

If you manage to not being focused (by staying around another assaults), you can do a lot of damage piloting a Banshee, though.

The 3E didn't get much help with the new tech (because you can't use 3AC/5s and Light Engine), but now the 3M can take advantage of that big engine cap. I use to run this (sometimes with ER Medium Lasers instead) - shoot, torso twist, repeat.

I don't own the 3S, but I would like to try someday this nasty brawler (the PPC gives it some medium-long range punch).

[oldradagast]

The 3M is still the best, but you can do laser vomit on a Battlemaster with about the same capabilities for 10 tons less. So, it's not "bad," but it's not worth spending money on the 3M.

The 3E is nice for dakka, and you can do some amusing things with it, like RAC5's, but that requires facetime.

The 3S is the worst, but I have found success with a Heavy Gauss Rifle in the left torso and various lasers in the right. The lasers give you the ability to immediately shoot something, while the Heavy Gauss can clobber a target after the wind-up.

The hero version is utter trash and I haven't seen one of them played in probably 6 months to a year. Dismal hardpoints and dependent upon arm-based weapons, which is generally a drawback in this game because it means lower weapons and the need to armor your arms to prevent weapon loss.

Edited by oldradagast, 11 August 2017 - 05:06 AM.

[AncientRaig]

http://mwo.smurfy-ne...79e1bd7cbe568c7 I run this 3S with pretty decent success. Yeah, it's slow. Yeah it's not boating a HUGE amount of firepower. Yeah it's basically running nothing but T1 tech. But you can't argue with the sheer cooling capability of 30 SHS. The firepower is focused enough to put the hurt on things that you'd expect from a 95 tonner, and you can get some good solid matches out of it. Most times you won't be pulling top damage, but you won't be too far behind.