27 replies to this topic

[Mountain Mechwarrior]

Hello All,

A simple question, I hope. By weight what are the potentially tankiest mechs?

This should reflect hitboxes, quirks, skill tree, etc.

I assume the IS Annihilator tops out the 100 ton range.

Thanks

Edited by Mountain Mechwarrior, 11 October 2017 - 05:07 PM.

[Shifty McSwift]

Sorry but it just isn't a simple question.

If you mean by straight up values alone then yes a lot more simple, but you also have to take into account size and mobility, and then every persons ideal of tankiness specific to MWO, which varies from certain speed and twist rates, to stronger armor/internals, to having tanking limbs or sides, or simply the notion that the best defense is a good offense etc.

So yeah you are not going to get simple responses hehe.

[Scout Derek]

There are a lot of tanky mechs out there. But each one has a different playstyle on how to use their armor to the best.

if you want slow but the best armored, the Annihilator and the King crab are your best choices. the Annihilator gets more ballistics, but the King Crab has a smaller profile.

Now to heavies. the strongest armored there is the Dragons, the Kintaros, and the Roughnecks. The Dragons have the best torso speed twisting, the Kintaros have the most missiles for brawling, and the Roughnecks have the higher mounts as needed.

To mediums and lights, I'm not too sure. I'll have to do some more research, but the wolfhound and griffin are one light and medium that are fairly tanky.

[Shifty McSwift]

My thoughts on it lead into that kind of perfect level of speed, mobility, size and armor. So in my eyes, the perfect "tank" is a decent speed (70kph at least) assault or heavy, who is not too tall or boxy, with good torso mobility rates and at least above average armor. Then to further accentuate that defense boosting both survivability and mobility.

The idea that you can tank hits and return fire, or that you excel vs specific targets is more key to "tanking", which mostly just comes down to knowing when to twist, which sides to twist, and praying you don't come up vs a team of accurate focus firers who will usually drop the tankiest of mechs in every sense in a few seconds at certain ranges.

Edited by Shifty McSwift, 11 October 2017 - 05:22 PM.

[Nightbird]

Annihilator, King Crab, Highlander, Victor, Cataphract, Linebacker, Roughneck, Dragon, Bushwacker, Crab, Assassin, Wolfhound, Panther, Urbanmech, Commando

These are tanky mechs, as long as you don't use IS XL engine.

[MischiefSC]

Lolcust.

Or Urbie.

Assassin.

Those mechs all take a truly stupid amount of fire to put down.

[Lostdragon]

Mechs with bonus armor and structure can benefit a lot from the Survival skill tree. Cataphracts can get assault level armor with heavy investment in that tree and become quite tanky despite their less than ideal hitboxes and large torsos.

[Shifty McSwift]

MischiefSC, on 11 October 2017 - 05:25 PM, said:

Lolcust.

Or Urbie.

Assassin.

Those mechs all take a truly stupid amount of fire to put down.

LoL, true in a lot of ways up until you come across someone with low ping, some accuracy/skill, and a set of PPFLD weapons (namely gauss and srms). Then they are the opposite of tanky.

[Tarogato]

Looking for a mech that is survivable, takes a long time to kill?


Annihilator - it's slow and vulnerable, but it has sheer HP and good geometry.
Marauder IIC - faster, with huge side torsos allow it to shield well. If people aim CT on this it survives forever.
Orion IIC - asymmetric hitboxes with a lot of quirks.
Summoner - rolls damage very very well.
Linebacker - the trick to killing these quick is legging them. Most people don't, so they survive forever instead.
Marauder - kinda annoying to kill, but they don't pose much threat either.
Crab - again, hard to kill, but kinda impotent.
Assassin - fast, torso weapons, thin geometry... it's pretty survivable.
Arctic Cheetah - fast, thin geometry, really hard to kill most of the time, but does have weak legs and arms.
Panther/Wolfhound - these are pretty similar. Decent geo, good quirks.
Urbie - weird geo, rolls fairly well for a light.
Javelin - great torso geo, with thin legs too.
Commando - perhaps the hardest-to-kill mech in the game, but doesn't carry much firepower, and weak arms.

[Shifty McSwift]

Tarogato, on 11 October 2017 - 05:39 PM, said:

Orion IIC - asymmetric hitboxes with a lot of quirks.

This is my current favourite for tankiness, it has a great level of all the necessary ingredients for brawling. And I think that is another aspect to it too, it is often less about tanking, and more about being the "tip of the spear" (as well as being able to switch out from that position when you become compromised, as health is finite). In a general sense you can't choose who your enemies target, and if you are providing them with more than one potential target in action (with synchronised peeping/pushing), all you can do is try to tank IF you are the target, but just as or more importantly be able to take full advantage of a teammate being hit with a proper weapon loadout.

[Y E O N N E]

Mist Lynx; easy to disarm, surprisingly tough to kill. Use the JJs to spread damage from torso to legs.

[Bud Crue]

I distinguish hardest to kill (because of agility and speed) vs tankiness (ability to take...actually take...damage and still be functional.
Either way right now I think the Assassin seems to be amazing right now.

[justcallme A S H]

GHP-5H is excellent for a heavy.

Armour quirks + structure tree and good agility. Can be run with LFE.

[Finring]

With all the 70+ damage alfa strikes running around now days tanking is about dead in MWO. But if I had to pick a mech to tank with it would be the annihilator..... or an assassin.

[Scout Derek]

justcallme A S H, on 11 October 2017 - 06:11 PM, said:

GHP-5H is excellent for a heavy.

Armour quirks + structure tree and good agility. Can be run with LFE.

It's weapon loadout and hardpoint location is BAD, I will say that.

4E low slung? F*** that.

[justcallme A S H]

Scout Derek, on 11 October 2017 - 06:52 PM, said:

It's weapon loadout and hardpoint location is BAD, I will say that.

4E low slung? F*** that.

Still better than the BLKNT (Wait's for someone to claim otherwise). And not *that* much different to the 5P with that 3rd torso mount just as low. You gotta expose regardless.

I use the 5H to really good effect TBH on most maps with JJ and proper twisting. It's the 5J that is absolute balls.

[Scout Derek]

justcallme A S H, on 11 October 2017 - 07:23 PM, said:

Still better than the BLKNT (Wait's for someone to claim otherwise). And not *that* much different to the 5P with that 3rd torso mount just as low. You gotta expose regardless.

I use the 5H to really good effect TBH on most maps with JJ and proper twisting. It's the 5J that is absolute balls.

Black Knight? LOL.

ON that matter, I don't even use the 3rd hardpoint for the torsi on the 5P. 3LPL in shoulders, 3 ML in CT, head, and the LPL that's alone, and you've got better mounts. and I may have mixed up the mechs, since I haven't used the mechs much but have a few in the mechbay. the 5J sucks. but the 5H is alright.

[Johnny Z]

There is no "in the open' tanking in this game. Not legit anyway, have to add that.

The only way to tank is by taking a short range assault and go under cover to the enemy and take down one mech at a time. The team will basically always back you up.

I use the King Crab for this. Full speed ahead under cover to the other team with dual ac20's. It does well mastered and with practice. That mech always has a decent score unless extremely unlucky 1 in 100 matches. Again with practice. You basically have to be stealthly then not.

Seen Atlases do this very well. Other short range assault mechs as well. The Anni can do it and I'm getting one some day. Toughest of all to do it with the Anni though.

What an assault tank wants to see in front of him is other assaults or heavies at short range. Idealy using your target for cover. Full speed ahead firing, right through your target. Moving ahead to try keep your targets at short range.

Nearly forgot to add, it isn't a high survival thing, its a good score thing. Try take down a few heavies and assaults before going down.

Standard engine extreme front loaded armor goes without saying.

Edited by Johnny Z, 11 October 2017 - 08:02 PM.

[Johnny Z]

Mountain Mechwarrior, on 11 October 2017 - 05:00 PM, said:

Hello All,

A simple question, I hope. By weight what are the potentially tankiest mechs?

This should reflect hitboxes, quirks, skill tree, etc.

I assume the IS Annihilator tops out the 100 ton range.

Thanks

The Anni is only going to do really well in cities, like the Citadel in river city. Has to be short range and take down targets very fast.

It could do well in faction play or other places with corners to use. Come around a corner and scare the hell out of the other pilot is the goal here.

The tunnel on Crimson Straight another good spot.

Edited by Johnny Z, 11 October 2017 - 08:01 PM.

[ocular tb]

Commando
Assassin
Marauder
King Crab maybe?