27 replies to this topic

[DavidStarr]

Hi. I'm a complete noob when it comes to light mechs, and honestly, I utterly hate both piloting them and playing against them. I think this game would be much better if light mechs were removed from it.

Having said that, I want to buy at least one light, and preferably - one IS one and one clan one for FW and challenge-completing purposes. And my question is: which light mechs, in your opinion, could bring the least amount of suffering to their pilot who is accustomed to brawling in heavy and assault mechs, while simultaneously bringing the most suffering to the enemy?

One idea is to find the best mechs for LRMs (and play TurretWarrior Online), but that's a no-brainer. I was hoping for something more interesting.

P. S. Only looking for mechs currently purchasable for C-Bills.

Edited by DavidStarr, 24 August 2017 - 10:25 PM.

[Ertur]

I think the Cheetah is the best clan light.

IS, I like Spiders, maybe Commandos, eventually Locusts. Wolfhounds are ok, and some of the Javelins aren't bad. Locust is, I think, the best; but also the easiest to die in.

[Audacious Aubergine]

If you're coming down the weight range from the more heavily armed classes, maybe consider things like the Panther and Wolfhound, both because they're slower and so you'll have less trouble getting your head around the speed difference, and can carry more/heavier weapons because of this

[Champion of Khorne Lord of Blood]

Cheetah for Clan or Wolfhound for IS. Both move fast if you upgrade the engine in the Wolfhound and both can pack some decent 6 ERML builds or focus on small lasers. Wolfhound can fit in an LFE to be immune to side torso death, which pairs very well with its massive armor quirks and boost to them from skill tree nodes. Cheetah's ECM helps you take a lot less fire than you normally would.

Those two will give you the best traditional light mech experience. Though if you're looking for a more fire support based role then the Adder, Kit Fox, Panther, Urbanmech, and Cougar would be for you.

[Gagis]

The most reliable options I can think of are the following:

IS: WLF-2 with 6 ERML, maximum XL engine, shave some armour ftom the head and shield arm and spend remaining tons on heat sinks.

Clan: ACH with 6 LMG and 3 HML. No ECM. Head can be shaved for extra ammo. One heat sink if you feel the ammo doesnt run out.

Both of these are very straightforward and reliable workhorses with no need to rely on gimmics.

[KhanBhacKeD]

Audacious Aubergine, on 24 August 2017 - 10:41 PM, said:

If you're coming down the weight range from the more heavily armed classes, maybe consider things like the Panther and Wolfhound, both because they're slower and so you'll have less trouble getting your head around the speed difference, and can carry more/heavier weapons because of this

Wolfhound Slow ? I think i'm getting sick^^

Just for ligths put the max Engine. You are gonna to need your speed.

For Clan : Cheetah was a good choice but forgot the idea of putting srm in (just in case you think about it) (you can do 6LMG 2MPL and ECM or 4 HML ECM or 6SPL ECM or 2LL ECM if you want to play on another way for builds that's come in my mind and are quite easy to use)

For IS : Urbanmech is good at the moment (but i think it's gonna to be nerfed cause it's a damn heavy).
Wolfhound is the more easiest one to play (WLF -2 with 6ERMED or 6MED as you want)
You have the jenner-F with the same loadout as wolfhound but quite harder to use
And last not the easiest but one i prefer : FS9-H 6ERMED + 2LMG

[The Basilisk]

DavidStarr, on 24 August 2017 - 10:23 PM, said:

Hi. I'm a complete noob when it comes to light mechs, and honestly, I utterly hate both piloting them and playing against them. I think this game would be much better if light mechs were removed from it.

Having said that, I want to buy at least one light, and preferably - one IS one and one clan one for FW and challenge-completing purposes. And my question is: which light mechs, in your opinion, could bring the least amount of suffering to their pilot who is accustomed to brawling in heavy and assault mechs, while simultaneously bringing the most suffering to the enemy?

One idea is to find the best mechs for LRMs (and play TurretWarrior Online), but that's a no-brainer. I was hoping for something more interesting.

P. S. Only looking for mechs currently purchasable for C-Bills.

Instead of giving the chewed out standard answers what light mechs are the most powerfull for LIGHTMECHPILOTS wich you clearly aren't there are some lights that pilot more like very light mediums and trade overpowered squirrelty (that honestly is only of use against inexperienced or outright bad gunners atm) against some punch.

-- On IS side there is the Urbie (no joke intended) it got insane quirks and can bring a number of builds with surprisingly high ammount of thread while having a very smal profile so that unpredictable micro movements and good positioning will be as much of use to you as any other light racers high speed.

An other IS light that got surprisingly resilient since the skill tree while beeing able to carry significant punch is the Wolfhound.
Its builds are all energy based. While not beeing suitable to simply run through enemy fire due to its large silhuette he is a very good escort mech and decent choice for corner poking while beeing fast enough to change positions quickly. 3LLaser or 2 LPLs and one ERMLas on a 35 ton Mech do hurt your enemy.

If you on the other hand want to try the light mech path (like it or not) the Locust 1E or the Locust PB are still your best bets for IS. I've seen some ppl claiming their Firestarters would be valid again too but when encountering those I am not impressed.

If you say well forget the damage use an electronic Raven with NARCs and ECM, but prepare to get shoot down on sight, Ravens are neither sturdy nor smal.

-- On Clan side there aren't that many choices.

Use the Adder with 5 energy mounts diverted over its body and full armor and you got a smal, cool weapons platform for acting out of the shadow of larger mechs.

If you want an electronics carrier with AMS capcity use the Kitfox with 4 MGs of your choice and 3 Lasers of your choice and dual AMS and ECM.

Last there is still the ACH...not as OP as it once was but still a good light with lots of possible builds. Don't like him cause you get focused a lot.

[Burning2nd]

such a bad statement,

powerful is a weird term...

firepower and powerful are not related, i do more damage in my PB bane with a firepower of 20 then i do with a mech that has firepower of 40

I dont think your seeking which is the powerfullest but more which one can i run with out dieing?

to start with Id go with a cheeta, or a IIC jenner or a commando... But the command is less versatile and serves more specific
the cheeta and jenner can be mixed and matched to get what you want out of it

stay away from locust yet... your not ready for that... its a different game @ 167.8kph

[KhanBhacKeD]

Burning2nd, on 25 August 2017 - 01:38 AM, said:

such a bad statement,

powerful is a weird term...

firepower and powerful are not related, i do more damage in my PB bane with a firepower of 20 then i do with a mech that has firepower of 40

I dont think your seeking which is the powerfullest but more which one can i run with out dieing?

to start with Id go with a cheeta, or a IIC jenner or a commando... But the command is less versatile and serves more specific
the cheeta and jenner can be mixed and matched to get what you want out of it

stay away from locust yet... your not ready for that... its a different game @ 167.8kph

Just for the without dying stay far away of the Jen IIC, it's one of the easiest light mech to kill

[Gagis]

The hardest lights to kill are the Urbannech and the Commando

BUT the urbanmech is practically more of a medium than a light and the Commando is a great harasser but is ultimately lacking in firepower. The wolfhound anf the cheetah have both the speed and the firepower needed to scout, to hunt stragglers or to finish off damaged enemies.

[Burning2nd]

The llc mechs are kinda glitched they share propertys of Is engine and clan tech... I think they are good..

Idk what jenner pilot you have been fighting.. but i beg to differ that the LLC jenner is the easiest light to kill

[Gagis]

Burning2nd, on 25 August 2017 - 05:27 AM, said:

Idk what jenner pilot you have been fighting.. but i beg to differ that the LLC jenner is the easiest light to kill

The Jenner is huge and has glaringly obvious and large hitboxes, making it easier to fofus on a damaged comppnent than how hard it is to do on mechs with smaller or weirder hitbox geometry. Locust for example has a much easier time spreading damage across all three torso comppnents.

This does make Jenner IIC unusually fragile when fighting opponents who have good aim.

[stealthraccoon]

Cheetah and Wolfhound - just load them with lasers and learn not to get hit.

[Bud Crue]

As a terribad, I can tell you that the Cheetah is the most terribad friendly light in the game. Other lights force you into specific play styles. The Cheetah can do anything. Poke? Two high points are perfect for a couple erml. Brawl? 4 heavy smalls in the arms gives you a decent hit. Assassin? You have ECM. Squirrel? JJ and decent speed. Cheetah has everything, and if you can't play it one way, then just play it another. Something will stick.

As for the IS. Right now I am loving my Grinner, but best all around for c-bills is probably a Firestarter or an Urbie (I'm not kidding). Yes Panthers and Wolfhounds have bonus armor, but the Firestarter has hardpoints and structure up the wazzoo. But frankly the Urbie has something none of them have: the innate ability to be ignored. You can build them damn near anyway you want (except for missiles) and all can be great, but a faster build with say 4-5MPL and quite often you can run right up to an enemy and fire away and never have them return fire. Happens all the time. Yeah, every once in a while you will get one shot by a big nasty dual gauss toting sob that you never even saw, but far more often you will seem invulnerable.

[Gagis]

Bud Crue, on 25 August 2017 - 08:27 AM, said:

Poke? Two high points are perfect for a couple erml

Please don't do that. Whenever a game goes long with the winning team chasing the last survivor its always either an erll cheetah or erppc shc, either struggling to break 100 damage. Its just not effective enough.

[Ertur]

I ended a match with my ERLL + 2xERML ECM Cheetah Prime by finishing off a legged but fully armed Mad IIC and a stripped Linebacker. Ended up with 4 kills, including those two, and got Survivor achievements for everyone on my team who didn't already have 'em. There's one light pilot (with a name very much like 'ConflictGloves' or 'StrifePoleaxes')-- the only thing he ever does is run a Cheetah. It's a solid mech.

Edited by Ertur, 25 August 2017 - 06:39 PM.

[S 0 L E N Y A]

Burning2nd, on 25 August 2017 - 05:27 AM, said:

Idk what jenner pilot you have been fighting.. but i beg to differ that the LLC jenner is the easiest light to kill

play against better pilots then. Ever since the re-scale the Jenners (including the IS version) are just way too easy to hit, esp right on the nose (ct)

The only semi viable use I have found for them since re-scale (sans solo pug derping in snowflake builds) is to hit and fade w/ medium lasers.

[Steel Raven]

I'm hardly a light pilot but here is my hardest to kill list

I have seen a Arctic Cheetahs pilot shrug off gauss rounds, it's not idiot proof mech but it's close thanks to awesome hit boxes

Locust are hard to hit thanks to their size, just don't stop moving. Speed is your armor, speed is life!

Commando has surprise me after the re-scale. I had one run up to my assault mech, hug my crotch (it only come up to a BattleMasters waist so non of my weapons could hit it) and just kept hitting me until my team mates finally killed him.

Wolfhound I do pilot, it's great. Tough enough to fight with mediums but fast enough to flank with other lights. It's still a decent size target so only move with your lance/pack unless your really confident in your skills.

Raven was once the meta IS light mech, still good thanks to it's hit boxes though you need to be more creative with the mech than 2 ER Large Laser with the current sniper meta. Check out the Raven 3L if you don't want to spend MC on a Grinner.

[B0oN]

Jenner (IIC) : ERPPC+2 Small Lasers .

Fast, kicks nuts at every distance, able to poptart and it will reliably teach you heatmanagement and avoiding incoming fire due to easy to hit CT .
You can do the same with an IS Jenner as well and even have 2 Medlasers instead .

[Exilyth]

(in no particular order)

Clams:

• Arctic Cheetah: Small, mobile, versatile little nuisance. More forgiving than other lights.
  
• Mist Lynx: The walking fridge is fast and squirrely and the 6xC-LMG build goes through exposed internals like a hot knife through butter. Then again, it is very squishy and short ranged.
  
• Kit Fox: The triple AMS loadout is good for support, but very situational (e.g. lots of wasted tonnage when the enemy has no missiles). Relatively slow for a light.
  
• Jenner IIC: Huge.
  
• Adder: relatively slow sniper with PPC or ballistics builds.

IS:

• Locust: The most squirrely mech - fastest but fragile.
  
• Raven: RVN-3L has ECM and can support heavies and assaults with a mix of lasers and missiles. A bit slow and large though.
  
• Jenner: Relatively large and not much build variety (read: mostly lasers).
  
• Panther: Some people praise it, but all weapons in one arm is the weak point. Relatively large & slow.
  
• Commando: Mix of lasers and missiles, bit of an all rounder, but also master of none.
  
• Firestarter: Like the Commando, but heavier and with Laser/MG builds instead of missiles.
  
• Urbanmech: Walking turret, painfully slow with the default engine, thrives by hiding 'behind' assaults and heavies and adding large ballistics fire to ongoing fights.
  
• Wolfhound: Lasers and speed, next best thing to a Locust.
  
• Spider: Like the Arctic Cheetah, but with IS tech. Used to be one of the best lights - until the ACH was released.

Mediums which think they are light mechs:

• Viper (clam): Fast and mobile with lasers and MGs.
  
• Cicada (IS): Fast and with a mix of lasers and ballistics, makes for a great light hunter.

Out of all theese, I would recommend the Arctic Cheetah as the most beginner friendly.

I'd also recommend looking at which lights are available as trial mechs currently and try thoose.