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First, out of all six models of Artic Wolf half are omnis and half are normal battlemechs. I'll split them up because besides having the same model in game, the two types are very different in stats. I'll start with the omnis...
Omni Artic Wolves have both FF & EE for the most tonnage at the cost of 14 slots. Thankfully these are mostly in the legs and arms leaving us a good bit of room for our weapon options. They also have XL 240 engines for a max speed of 104.5 kph after full speed tweak. They also get a flat +10 to the CT armor for all variants.
The Prime variant has jump jets in the side torso slots. It's really the only noteable feature from the Prime omnipods. By default each arm or torso omni pod has 1 missile hardpoint for 4 total in a stock build. Really what you want the Prime for is the left torso for it's JJs.
The P variant has the heaviest weapon hardpoint arrangement. Each arm gets a pair of energy hardpoints. The Right torso gets another pair of energy hardpoints. While the Left torso gets 2 missile hardpoints. If you don't want JJs you may want the left torso from the P. Also if you want more energy weapons the arms are nice to give you more energy hardpoints to work with.
The A variant is the last version and is probably best known as the ECM variant. The arms get 1 energy and 1 missile hardpoint each, which is great for flexibility (and what I slapped on my prime). The all important right torso has 1 missile hardpoint and ECM (which also moved onto my Prime). While the left torso gets AMS and 1 missile hardpoint. The ECM side torso is likely the most critical part.
Now for the battlemechs... They get stock XL 280 engines (~113 kph stock) with EE standard across all variants. The Blood Kit is the only one to get FF stock, however as these are battlemechs that can be fixed. They max at an 365 rated engine (for ~149 kph)
The Blood Kit is an odd creature as it has the least missiles of any Artic Wolf with one CT hardpoint for missiles. However it gains a pair of torso ballistic mounts. If you want to run a smaller engine you could mount a pair of AC5s or a single large ballistic (though basically nothing else). The arms get a pair of energy hard points each. Oh and this is the battlemech variant with JJs.
The ACW-1 is a missile boat with 9 missile hard points (2 LA, 2 LT, 1 CT, 2 RT, 2 RA). Stock is 6x6 SRMs with a pair of 4s and a NARC. More commonly you'll see 9xSRM4 or 9xSSRM2 builds with way more ammo than stock. Both leave about 9 tons for ammo with extra heatsinks or a larger engine as options. The SRM4 build is absolutely brutal against larger mechs whiel the SSRM build is a great light hunter.
Meanwhile the ACW-2 is also a missile boat with 6 missile hardpoints and 2 energy. The energy hard points are nice and high cockpit level mounts. Making great options for heavy weapons mounts or just solid backup weapons.
Overall impression: The mech has solid hit boxes and is very durable for a 40 tonner. They also can punch well above their weight class, rivaling short range missile loads of mechs like the Mad Dog. The Omni pods are a solid mix of energy and missile mounts with a good selection and an ECM torso. The Prime pods have the least going for them, but JJs have their uses. The battlemechs are mostly solid.
My only problem variant is the Hero. While it's different and gives something new, it's also nothing like the other versions. Good players will simply take your arms (or the side torso) given half a chance and leave you with no real weapons.
Overall the biggest downside is that almost always I died to losing a side torso. The CT is given a boost in almost all models (ACW-2 is the exception), but the CT doesn't need it as much as the sides do.
Comparisons:
Ice Ferret: My Ice Ferrets are sad as the ACW is slower, but hit way harder and I like my Ice Ferrets.
HBK-IIC-B: The B variant is outclassed by it's smaller, faster cousin with even more missiles. It is less durable, but it should take less damage if you keep moving.
Kintaro: The IS Kintaro is also a medium missile boat, however it's solidly outclassed by this 10 ton lighter mech due to clan missile weight.
Cicada X-5: The only 40 ton mech for a long long time and a mech I have way to much experience in reminds me a lot of the ACW Hero. Both sadly don't fit the current meta terribly well.
Edited by Shadey99, 04 November 2017 - 05:37 PM.
