Per Aspera Ad Astra Or: How To Stop Worrying And Start Playing The Commando

Overview: The basic how and whys

The Commando is one of the oldest Light Mechs in the game, but has never seen a lot of use, back then and now. This is due to a few problems it has, which can be worked around. I recently finished the skill trees on three of my Commandos and am well underway on finishing the remaining two, which I acquired later. I feel like I should share a little insight and experience on using a very underestimated mech. If you are familiar with piloting other Lights, especially of the 140+ kph kind, some of the things I will talk about in this guide will be familiar to you too. Also keep in mind that this is my first guide, so please be patient and provide feedback on where to improve. So without further ado let’s start:

The Commando is one of the lighter mechs in the game, coming in at a weight of 25 tons. It’s the only IS mech in this category and only the Locust is lighter than it. It is also taller and wider than the Locust, which gives it bigger hit boxes and you feel it. It does not have Jump Jets, like most of the 30 tonners. It can not carry more than 4 weapons, regardless of the variant. It does not have a lot of room and weight for ammo. It does not have the weight for Artemis IV. And it does not have any high mounted weapons at all. What it does have to make up for all of that however is that it is the fastest mech in the game! It can mount a comparatively massive 240 XL engine that allows it to go 155.5kph, a little faster than the Locust. And with speed tweak it goes up to 167.2kph. It also has fantastic armor and structure quirks, getting a flat +12 base armor on it’s legs. It also gets good structure quirks all around the mech, making this little thing quite tanky, despite the hit boxes. This allows you to get away with some mistakes, but not all of them. High Alpha builds will still eat you for breakfast, but you have the capability to get away from them quickly.

So the overall strategy and play style requires the pilot to be careful about his positioning and ammo usage. Being a Light, you often pick your fights, but pick them with caution. You are a team player, without your team you can do very little in the late game and you will have trouble destroying enemies with the guns you are carrying alone. Stay away from Light Hunters and if you are chased, get to the safety of your team. Do not overextend, do not overcommit and do not overestimate yourself! If you are out of position, you die. If you have no escape route, you die. If you don’t use cover, you die. If you go too slow, you die.

Which leads me to an excellent topic: Dying. Playing the Commando can and will be frustrating at times, you will die a lot and your K/D will not look good. But don’t be discouraged! For all the frustration you get while playing, the payoff when you finally get your first Hat Trick, MVP or even a Johnny Five, will be the sweetest of sweet. And if you’ve stuck around until here, then I’ll show you how to taste victory in your very own Death Wish Speed Machine.

The Tech Report: Variants, equipment and builds

Variants:

Commando Com-1B:
The opposite of the 2D, with three energy and one missile hardpoint. Two energy hardpoints in the right and one energy hardpoint in the left arm gives you excellent firing arcs, but beware that the lasers are mounted quite low, so keep that in mind when building it. This is the C-Bill laser boat Commando and therefore has some of the least ammunition issues. What it has instead is heat issues, if you aren’t careful. Energy Weapon Quirks make it even more of a Laser Boat and allow it to excel in some areas compared to the Death’s Knell

Commando Com-1D:
This variant of the Commando has the same hardpoints as the 3A, but in a less convenient configuration, having two energy hardpoints in the right arm and two missile hardpoints in it’s center torso, which restricts how many missiles you can fire per shot. Another issue is that if you lose your right arm or torso, you lose half of your weapons and all of your sustainable firepower. The left arm serves as a shield, which doesn’t prove too effective. If built correctly however, this variant can do some nasty zombie tactics. Compared to the 3A this build has better Energy Weapon Quirks.

Commando Com-2D:
The micro-missile boat. Next to the Death’s Knell, this is easily one of the most played variants, especially since TheB33f’s video on it’s stealth SRM capabilities. It has three missiles hardpoints, two in the right arm and one in the center torso. It also has an energy hardpoint in the left arm, which can be used to provide some backup firepower. The most prolific thing about this variant however is it’s capability to carry an ECM suite. Granted it also has a 210 Engine limit, which restricts it to a top speed of 136.1kph. Originally known as a mass SSRM dispenser. It’s quirks aren’t all that strong but 10% Missile Cooldown is well suited for it.

Commando Com-3A:
The all-rounder. An energy weapon hardpoint in each arm and two missiles hardpoints split between the Center Torso and Right Arm allow you to build some truly fearsome builds on it. Runs into ammunition issues quickly and heat issues, if larger energy weapons are in use. You can get it to mount two SRM 6’s which give you a truly terrific punch, especially for your weight. If you don’t have a Commando yet, this is a good variant to start, as it gives you the basics to Commando play and building from which you can evolve to the other variants.

Commando Com-TDK “The Death’s Knell”
The Commando Hero Mech. Utilises four(!) energy hardpoints, which are divided evenly between both arms. This variant is very tanky and can mount some funky builds, involving all kinds of energy weapons. The best part about it is probably the +15 armor quirk you get for both arms, which allows them to take a lot of damage, so that you don’t have to worry as much about losing all your firepower. The standard build is probably 4x(ER)MLs with as many heat sinks as possible crammed in. Which are needed, because this thing runs HAWT.

Weapons and equipment to use:
I will list some of the equipment and weapons that are viable for your Commando. Experiment and find out which suit you the best, I’m pretty sure you will likely end up with different preferences than me.

SRM 4/6

Stay away from the SRM 2, if you have tonnage to spare for a single SRM 2, you’re better off replacing it with more ammo for your bigger launchers or heat sinks to keep those lasers firing. The SRM 4 is a good choice if you want a full speed Commando. If you equip a smaller engine for more tonnage, the SRM 6 becomes a very attractive choice. It’s one of the most powerful weapons you can equip on the Commando, but whether it’s the SRM 4 or 6, keep in mind how ammo hungry they are. (Note: I usually like to have one ton of ammo per 4 missiles tubes on my mech, so 1 ton per SRM 4 and one and a half tons per SRM 6)

SSRM 2

Even though new launchers have been introduced, this is probably the only really viable variant. The other launchers are too weight inefficient to be really viable, especially because you should have an ECM/BAP to use them well. Keep in mind that you are likely to be the one running circles around your opponent at close range, so you will always have an easier time hitting unguided SRMs than having to track your enemy with the missile lock. SSRM 2s are most viable on the 2D.

LRM 5

I admit, I have been running an LRM Commando a couple of times and this is the only really viable LRM for that. LRM 10’s have worse weight/damage ratios and if you mount an LRM 15/20 you are just trolling. A single LRM 5 in your torso missile hardpoint allows you to poke from long range, but Artemis is heavy and ammo is sparse. Effectively useless once you get into melee range anyways and that’s where most Commando builds want to go. I personally don’t use them, but they can be a replacement for a LL, if you just have to.

MRM 10

You can use it to replace the SRM 6s you have installed on your Commando, if you want a bit more range. They are also viable on Fire Support builds, but can be hard to hit at a distance. Personally I’d pick an SRM 6 over it, due to having more immediate damage.

(ER)Small Laser

A weapon I use to fill my Energy Hardpoints, better weight/damage ratio than the Medium Laser, but very short ranged and somewhat underwhelming when on it’s own. The ER version gives it more range, but slightly more heat and a longer cooldown. Unless you want maximum DPS, go for the ER, just because it has more flexibility.

(ER) Medium Laser

The standard energy weapon of most Commando builds, if you favour energy over missile weapons. Very flexible, decent range, good damage and easy to use burn time. Watch the heat when using more than one. The ER version is great when you want to engage enemies that are way beyond your SRM range while you are closing in on them. I use these for my fire support Commando builds. I don’t have any strong opinion for which to take, look how you can handle the burn time, range, cooldown and especially heat issues.

(ER) Large Laser

A good weapon for your fire support Commando. Good range, good damage, nice colour, what else do you want? Lower Heat? Yeah, Large Lasers tend to give you heat problems, especially the ER variant. If you go for an Allrounder Commando build, the normal Large Laser is better, while a dedicated fire support build will fare better with the ER Large Laser. Very effective on the 1B with it’s burn time reduction.

Small Pulse Laser

A fun weapon. I sometimes switch my Medium Lasers for it, to switch it up a little or to get more DPS/less heat. Very short burn time makes it easy to get all damage in, but the very short range means you have to get it to work first. Although your standard combat range will probably get you into Small Pulse Laser Range anyways.

Medium Pulse Laser

You can run these, if you have the tonnage to spare. Can be used on the 2D with it’s single energy hardpoint if you crave that 1 point of damage over the Medium Laser.

Okay, not entirely fair, it’s also easier to use due to it’s shorter burn time and has a shorter cooldown so it’s a viable choice, especially nasty if you have multiple of them however.

Large Pulse Laser

Difficult Choice. It will take most of your weight and runs very hot. Does good damage at decent range to compensate for that however. Viable if you want to run a fire support build that is shorter ranged than the ER LL and has shorter burn time than a Large Laser. I recommend this over a PPC, due to it’s lower heat and lack of travel time. Pairs wonderfully with the ER Medium Laser.

If you play with an LRM boat, this can be a good choice if you’re scouting. Due to your high speed, you can get into positions where you wouldn’t expect a TAG to come from, but due to your low mounts you have to expose yourself a lot to get it onto target. Try to only use it when you are grouped up with a decent LRM boat, so that you don’t have to rely on a random teammate to make the TAG worth it.

Endo Steel

MUST. GET. The bread and butter of every Commando build. It may only give you a single ton, but a single ton is worth a lot on a mech that only weighs 25. It gives you that extra ton of ammo if you always run out, or that extra heat sinks if you run hot. Having an additional ton is worth every C-Bill. The 14 lost critical slots don’t matter too much, since you can’t even put enough on your Commando to fill it completely (unless you try very hard).

Light Ferro Fibrous

While it only gives you about .25 tons on an armoured Commando, it can sometimes be enough to get to the next half or full ton. It only uses 7 critical slots, which you can usually spare, even when you already have Endo Steel.

Double Heat Sinks

Since critical slots are not really the issue, these will only provide bonuses for you. And since you have little weight, more heat dissipation is always good. Not a must get, but highly recommended. Especially on the 1B and Death’s Knell.

If you hate LRMs with a passion, this will keep you safe for a limited time. It’s only half a ton and one full ton for the ammo. You can use it when you start, but when you get better at finding cover and avoiding LRMs, it will likely get kicked out for ammo/heat sinks. Keep it if you play an escort role in a group with little AMS coverage. The Laser version is alright, but don’t use it on hot builds.

Only the 2D can mount an ECM, but it is very helpful on it. Use it to scout, protect your allies and counter enemy ECM in order to get your SSRMs to track better. But keep in mind: You don’t have to use it on your 2D. The 2D has so many missile slots that it can provide some fearsome builds, but most of them only work when you have the tonnage the ECM would normally take away.

Think before using:
These weapons can be used, but there’s better choices. They are situational and usually just make it harder to play.

(ER) PPC

Yes, every Commando can mount one. But it’s seven tons that you are using on it, to get a weapon system that’s damage output is matched by two Medium Lasers, or a single SRM 6. If you want ten damage and decent range, get yourself two ER Mediums.

Heavy PPC

If you even manage to fit it to your Commando, you will quickly see that this is even worse than the normal PPC. Too hot, likely your only weapon and useless within 90 meters. The Commando can do better.

Light PPC

Interesting, maybe worth experimenting with, but always leaves a bad taste in my mouth because I know that I could install an ER Medium and have the same firepower with less weight and while having no travel time.

Snub Nose PPC

Same Problem as all other PPCs: You get similar performances with a couple of lasers, while also having less problems. This one just makes the problem more apparent, due to having the same range as normal Medium Lasers.

Flamer

Maybe I just don’t use it correctly, but I don’t see it’s benefits, unless you make it your primary energy weapon and use multiple. You have to expose too long for too little a reward on the Commando. I’d say skip it, but don’t flame me for it please D:

LRM 15/20

As covered previously, they are too heavy and you don’t have the tonnage for their ammunition. There’s better missile boats.

MRM 20/30/40

Too heavy to really work on your Commando, without running into ammo troubles constantly.

Ferro Fibrous

You only get about half a ton for losing 14 critical slots. Situational. Only use it if you really need the tonnage and have enough critical slots. I only use it on very few builds and those are builds that I have made to be very critical slot saving.

Engines:
Probably the most interesting thing to pick on your Commando. Do you want to go super fast, or do you want to keep in line with other light mechs? Do you rely on your tankyness and go a little slower, but carry a fearsome arsenal of weapons? The choice is up to you. At the moment we live in the age of fast lights, with more and more mechs being able to go over 150 kph. This takes away a bit of the advantage of going fast, since the 150+ 30 tonners are usually better armed than you, but keep in mind that you are the still the fastest mech in the game. You can outrun them, even if it’s only just. You also accelerate faster and have better turning times to keep them at bay.

Sadly, in order to achieve these speeds, XL engines are in order. This makes you less survivable and running around more risky, but if you’ve ever played a Light Mech, you are likely to have experience with XL engines anyways. A good thing is that you side torsos are rather small so you are more likely to have your Center Torso blown out, rather than your sides. And another thing to keep in mind that speed is your best defense as a light, so trying to have the highest speed possible is a given. Personally, I always try to stay above 130kph (including Speed Tweak).

Larger engines also mean more internal heat sinks, saving critical slots.

As a baseline I’ll take the XL 210, since it has the same weight (including heat sinks) as the STD-150 that comes stock on the Commando and you can fit it to all variants, so you can simply transfer the stock builds from one engine to the other. I’ll just list a few recommendations here:

Std 150

Stock Engine. Needs 4 Heatsinks and gets you to 97.2kph and 104.5 with speed tweak. If you can handle slow lights, then you don’t even have to invest in anything else except:

Std 155

Same weight as the 150, also needs 4 heatsinks, but let’s you go 100.4kph or 107.9 with Speed Tweak.

Std 180

Needs three heat sinks. Lowers your maximum tonnage by 1.5, but increases your top speed to 116.6kph and 125.3kph with speed tweak. This is the engine you use for most zombie builds, since you can use your XL 240 builds with this.

XL 180

Needs three heatsinks. Increases your maximum tonnage by 2 and increases your top speed to 116.6kph and 125.3kph with speed tweak. This is probably the smallest XL I’ll take, since everything slower runs the risk of getting killed too quickly.

XL 190

Needs three heatsinks. Increases your maximum tonnage by 1.5 and increases your top speed to 123.1kph and 132.3kph with speed tweak. I normally don’t use this engine, since I’ll just try to get a half ton to get the XL 200. This one is in here, because it is the biggest engine on the Locust and therefore interchangeable.

XL 200

Needs two heatsinks. Increases your maximum tonnage by 1 and increases your maximum speed 129.6kph and 139.3kph with speed tweak. A good replacement if you want to go fast, but need one more ton over the XL-210/Std 150.

XL 210

The baseline. Needs two additional heatsinks and gets you to 136.1kph and 146.3kph with speed tweak.

XL 225

Don’t bother with the XL 215/220, as they need the same amount of weight as the 225, due to needing more heat sinks. One more heat sink required. Decreases your maximum tonnage by .5, but increases your speed to 145.8kph and 156.7kph. Speed wise everything above this is big boy zone.

XL 240

The engine you want to get. It might decrease your maximum tonnage by 1.5, but it increases your top speed to 155.5kph and 167.2kph(!) with speed tweak. It allows you to run around like a madman and get out of sticky situations (note: not all of them). Good to learn the Commando and handling high speeds.

Builds:
Before I start, I just want to address one thing. Armor distribution.

Going Commando in your Commando? Hats off!

As the Commando gets awesome quirks for it’s leg armor, you can happily take off quite a bit of it, in order to increase your available tonnage. I usually take off about 10 points of armor in the legs, which gives you half a ton to work with.
And there’s another trick: Decreasing your cockpit armor. The Commando has a tiny cockpit hit box, so you can reduce the cockpit armor by a large degree. I wouldn’t take off all armor, but when I take off 10 points of armor in the legs, I also take off 15 points of cockpit armor. This leaves me with 3 points of armor and 15 structure. Yes, you can be one shot with an AC/20 then, but I’ve been headshot in my Commando once, maybe twice. So be brave, take your hat off and go commando.

I also use quite a bit of back armor most of the time. This is just my way of doing it, experiment with your own. With all that said, here are the builds:

Com-1B

(ERLL, 2x ER ML 240XL)
http://mwo.smurfy-ne...847a11640b958b8
The Standard Fire Support Build. Has some issues with heat, but otherwise pretty straight forward. Stay at range and chip away at enemies. Stay with your team if possible, but in the second line. If your team moves in too close with the enemy, find a good sniping position and support from there. Due to this variant’s quirks, the ER Large has a very short burn time, making it easier to distribute damage.

(LPL 2x ER ML 210XL)
http://mwo.smurfy-net.de/mechlab#i=26&l=fc2a3dfe3fede4275ed346de86e0abfc50dd92ed
A wubby Fire Support Build. Closer range than the first one, but similar play style. Just keep watching that heat.

(MRM 10 3x ER ML 240 XL)
http://mwo.smurfy-ne...20a5d9ad5535430
A good multipurpose build. The MRM-10 deals good damage, even at longer distances, where it converges well with your lasers. In close quarters, a surprise 25 Alpha can finish off other light mechs quickly.

Com-1D

(2x ER ML 2x SRM 4 240XL)
http://mwo.smurfy-net.de/mechlab#i=27&l=9e0a3a07bd520d9cb8886a352c9684224f4afbd3
This is the build you use to train yourself to hit torso mounted SRMs. The lasers still play a big part in your damage output, so it’s not too bad if you miss a couple of missiles. Since the lasers are mounted in your arms, you can hit while trying to avoid incoming fire. You will lose your left arm anyways, so try to use it and bait shots that will destroy nothing but an empty shield arm.

(2x ER SL 2x SRM 4 180 Std)
http://mwo.smurfy-ne...f9f158f3cbd5555
This is the zombie build. If you hit your torso missiles reliably, you can put out a lot of damage, lose half of your mech and still survive. I have had a match where I had both of my torsos destroyed, a leg taken off and the Center Torso critically damaged but still managed to survive. Make sure to get speed tweak before using this build.

Com-2D

(ECM 3x SSRM 2 ER SL 210 XL)
http://mwo.smurfy-ne...fe69522358f720e
The most common build on the 2D (I think). Use this to hunt down other lights, support your team with ECM and make life miserable for anybody who thought that SSRM 2s are sooo 3050. You can drop half a ton of ammo to make space for an ML or TAG, depending on how much you want to rely on the missiles. Keep in mind to switch your ECM to counter when fighting other ECM mechs.

(ECM Stealth 3x SRM 2 210 XL)
http://mwo.smurfy-ne...f92deb16e1f96ed
This is the B33f build, with a bit of my own flavour. Play this very sneaky and get behind enemy lines, where you start tearing up isolated mechs. Watch TheB33f’s videos on this build over on YouTube, they are excellent.

(3x SRM 4 ML 200XL)
http://mwo.smurfy-ne...98ca150e40d9821
The Boom-Build. Similar to the SRM 6 build on the 3A, but with less energy hardpoints. The SRMs also fire more quickly, so you will eat through a lot of ammo. Ambush enemies and finish off wounded ones. If you feel extra cheeky, go and annoy their missile boat. Just be careful not to overextend. You are a skirmisher, not a brawler.

Com-3A

(2x ER SL 2x SRM 4 240XL)
http://mwo.smurfy-ne...eb69ae23cb80175
A good skirmish build. Learn to hit SRMs, run around, pick your fights and getting away. This is the build I recommend to people who want to get into Commando play. You can also play around with the engine and replace the SLs with MLs or try an SRM 6 and SRM 4 combo.
You can also replace the two SLs with a single ML.

(2x ER SL 2x SRM 6 200xL)
http://mwo.smurfy-ne...a23cc3ddd4282f3
The brother to the 2D Boom Build. This one can have a slightly higher alpha, due to more energy hardpoints, but you are free to replace the SLs with a single ML.

Com-TDK

(4x MPL 240XL)
http://mwo.smurfy-ne...cb3aef03346d2d2
This is my spin on the mono-weapon Death’s Knell. Instead of 4 MLs I put in 4 MPLs, to increase overall Alpha and burst DPS. It’s heat is surprisingly manageable, despite stripping a lot of armor, it’s still tanky and it goes faster than a coyote strapped to a rocket. Equip the Kickers Warhorn for maximum wubbiness.

(4x ER ML 240XL)
http://mwo.smurfy-ne...d4cbd0aa49e4d97
The more standard Death’s Knell build, very heat efficient, even tankier and still really fast. But it just lacks the surprise factor that makes the MPL version such an adrenaline rush to play.

Skills:
Skills are important in this mech. I’ll compile a list of what’s important on it, sorted for each tree.

Firepower Tree:

High Priority: Missile Rack, High Explosive, Heat Gen
Mid Priority: Missile Spread, Laser Duration, Cooldown
Low Priority: Range, Velocity

Having more ammo is always important and getting more bang for your buck is too. Less heat makes it easier to pilot while fighting. The rest is not on high priority because does not affect your performance greatly at low ranges, which is where the Commando wants to fight.

Survival Tree:

High Priority: Armor Hardening
Mid Priority: Skeletal Density, Shock Absorbance, Reinforced Casing
Low Priority: AMS Overload

To improve the areas where you stripped your armor, hardening it is useful. I’m not a fan of structure tanking and Reinforced Casing doesn’t help that much when you are bombarded wit h8 MGs. Shock Absorbance is nice to have when you have to escape by dropping down somewhere and at some point you will not use AMS anymore, making AMS Overload a bit useless.

Mobility:

High Priority: Speed Tweak, Kinetic Burst
Mid Priority: Hard Brake, Anchor Turn
Low Priority: Torso Skills (too lazy to write them all out )

Speed Tweak is a must on any Light and on the Commando in particular. Being able to control your speed is important as well. You will have to stop and go, twist and turn and circle a lot, but since you have a large engine anyways, don’t go out of your way to get any nodes more than necessary. Just make sure to prioritise the movement nodes on your way down to speed tweak.

Jump Jets:
Nothing to see here, move along.

Operations:

High Priority: Cool Run, Heat Containment, Hill Climb
Mid Priority: Improved Gyros
Low Priority: Quick Ignition, Speed Retention

Being able to control heat better is always a good thing, so get those skills. If you wonder why hill climb is important, take a Commando without it and run up to a steep hill. You’ll see that you can already get up there without much trouble. But when you have hillclimb active, you can go up cliffs! If you are on Canyon Network, you can get in and out of the trenches without losing speed at all. Great for opening new escape routes. Not shaking as much when you get hit allows you to aim better and deal more damage. Optimally you shouldn’t shut down and even when you are usually either dead anyways or get up quick enough to get away. Speed Retention is capped at 50 anyways, so if you lose a leg you’re dead either way.

Sensors:
Low priority tree in general, unless you have the 2D where you should definitely get the ECM nodes. Target retention is also good for the 2D, but otherwise, this is the tree where I usually don’t spend many SP.

Auxiliary:
Use this to adapt to your choice of consumables, but all Commandos benefit from getting the Capture Assist Nodes.

How to Commando: Playstyles, Maps and Enemies

Now that you have all the hard numbers and facts, let’s get you up to speed on what to actually do with your Commando. Being a Light Mech it can fill most of the basic Light Mech roles, but there are also some specifics in which the Commando excels. Here’s a short list to it’s most critical roles.

Scout:
Being the fastest mech in the game, the Commando makes for an excellent scout that can reach forward positions before anybody else can. This allows you to discover the enemy team in advance and give your team hints as to where the bulk of the enemy force can be expected.

This is a role every Commando pilot has to perform. If you get dropped in a forward position, run, don’t walk and find the enemy and if there’s other lights in your team, then it’s a race to see who can get the most Scouting rewards. After initial contact, look where the other lights are positioned and try to find if there are enemies that still have not been detected. If you have good vision on an enemy, and think you can keep it locked, highlight it to your teammates and tell your LRM boats to start raining down on them. Be ready to switch to a different role when the teams have gotten into a major fight however.

If you encounter enemy scouts, feel free to give them a volley to shoo them away. If you are confident in the situation, go ahead and engage them. If the enemy scout tries to pass by you, look if he’s maybe trying to distract you by checking the radar and then give chase. If there are other targets however, they might try to get you away from your scouting position to ambush your team. Be vigilant. If the enemy scout runs back to his team on his encounter and doesn’t want to fight, you can chase him down a little bit, but be careful not to chase him right into the enemy team and in front of the big guns, that’ll get you killed before you can slam the brakes and run off.
If you do not feel confident in engaging the other scout, get back to your team and try to bait the other scout into the big guns, small mech situation.

If you picked a larger target on your trail, move them into the open where fire support can shoot them up. Keep in mind that enemy fire support might be engaging you then as well however.

If there is an objective on the map, such as Control Points, Energy Cells or the Domination Point, make sure to worry about them as well. You are fast, get there, work the objectives.

Once the scouting phase is over look at what role you can play next.

Flanker:
If you are in the clear and undetected by the enemy, get way behind enemy lines and turn into a vicious Flanker! The Commando is excels in this role, by bringing good Alpha strikes in a highly mobile package. You rely on your missiles to deliver a strong punch, so the 1D, 2D and 3A are best suited for this role. If they don’t pay attention to you, they shall regret it.

Move behind the enemy team and try to find an isolated mech that will have trouble fighting back against a small nimble target, something like an LRM boat. Get behind them (undetected if possible) and shoot up their back armor. Any pilot will turn around after losing their back armor to volleys of SRMs. By this point you should know their weapons load out and if they left out in the short range firepower department (be careful, even large lasers work at short range, but PPCs don’t) keep harassing them. Even if you don’t kill them and have to break off, you will have distracted an LRM boat and effectively removed them from the fight for the time being. Circle your target and watch your armor. If the enemy starts getting the upper hand, run off and find another target. Also pay attention to the map, sometimes LRM boats are witty enough to call for support. If you see incoming enemies, break off quickly, but don’t worry, if there’s other mechs coming to help your target, you removed even more mechs from the fight.

Another option is to run behind enemy lines and try to shoot as many people in the back as you can. If they turn to chase, give them a jolly good time trying to catch you, to keep them distracted for long enough that your team gains the advantage. Try not to be too good at running away however or they will lose interest in chasing you. Be cheeky, be annoying and never give up. Depending who you **** off, it might be that you die, but it will help your team to win.

If you are playing a Flanker and the fight is about to break out on an Assault map, you can try to break through to the enemy base and cap it. That will also get enemies to turn away and chase you.

If you do your role well, you should be rewarded with Flanking and Hit & Run Bonuses.

Escort:
Escorting is something that the Commando can still do, but is sadly outperformed in by other mechs. Still it can’t hurt to learn the basics of escorting, especially for late game situations when both teams have few members left.

This role can also be engaged when you were pushed back to your lines or received heavy damage during the scouting phase. The best mech for this is an ECM 2D or any Commando with an AMS. Essentially, what you do is that you stay with the big boys in your team, your brawlers, maulers and meatshie... assaults. When there is a big group of targets, it’s harder to focus your fire, so if you are in a big group you are likely to take less damage. Just remember to keep up your speed, even if the rest of the team has stopped to crawl during an engagement. Speed is life.

It’s critical to pick your targets wisely as an Escort. If you have lighter weapons, try to focus on medium brawlers or flanking lights who try to bite the ankles of your assaults and heavies. If you have bigger weapons, try to focus on the enemy heavy mechs, while they are engaged. Try to take advantage of critically wounded enemies or weakly armoured spots during the fight. If you carry ECM or AMS try to protect as many allies as possible from the LRM rain, by staying close to them.

If you notice that multiple enemies are focusing on one of your allies, try to protect them by running up the enemies and trying to distract them. Get behind them and shoot them up and if they don’t turn around, go in front of them and shoot them with lasers and anything to get them to pay attention to you. This allows your ally to retreat and not die. Try to dodge and weave your way out of the enemy after that while keeping fire on them when you have the opportunity. Be careful not to run into walls (or enemy mechs) as that gets you killed very, very quickly.

On the opposite, if you see the team focusing on a single target, hurry over and also shoot that target too. Try to take it down as quickly as possible. And never stop moving during this as well. If you slow down, you are open to a counter attack.

If you play your role well, you will be rewarded with Protected Light and Lance in Formation, if your lance stays with you.

Hunter:
The Hunter is responsible to take out enemy scouts and flankers who think it’s a good idea to walk around in yourterritory. Teach them a lesson! You will need a large engine and weaponry suited to kill fast moving targets. An SSRM 2D will serve this role well, but if you can track lasers well, most Commando’s are suitable for this role. Keep in mind that you have arms, so unlock them and learn to use your maximum firing arcs.

Try to isolate enemies, if they run around in groups. Just be careful that they don’t gang up on you, as that will get you killed quickly. If the enemy has already engaged your LRM boats, do your best to keep the flankers off. It’s also your job to stop flankers from capping, so that not your entire team is going back. Be sure to tell your team that you will worry about it, so that you make sure only you turn back and not your assaults as well.

If you overextended, don’t be afraid to break off and return to your team, if you get chased you will lead them right into their doom. Use terrain and speed to your advantage and dodge hard, they will be relentless.

Assassin:
This is a role that you can do if you have a high alpha and good speed. Usually comes from playing a Flanker, but with the license to kill. You seek out the weakest enemy and kill them mercilessly. In the early game, this might mean you seek the lightest LRM boat and tear open their back. But instead of running off and distracting them, you go for the kill, which puts you at great risk.

The Stealth 2D is a good choice for this, since you can sometimes get away undetected if the enemy is untrained in detecting enemies with their Mk. I eyeball. The SRM 12 builds are also a good choice because your alpha allows you to quickly tear down an enemy and disengage before reinforcements arrive. In the late game you can also track down and kill wounded enemies who are trying to retreat. Gun and Run is a good tactic for this, if you have to get close to the remains of the enemy team.

When playing a dedicated assassin, you can invest in the Sensor skill tree, with a particular focus on Target Info Gathering, to snuff out weak spots and Radar Deprivation to make it harder for an enemy to track you and give you more opportunities for an ambush. You can equip Seismic Sensor, but I have not found much use for it.

Playing an assassin will sometimes require you to switch back to playing a Flanker. Because a dead mech is not big of a help, when it has not achieved the goals of either of it’s roles.

This is a very rewarding role to play however, with a lot of Killing Blows, Kill Most Damage Dealts and Solo Kills. Just keep in mind how risky it is.

Wolf:
Note that I explicitly wrote “Wolf” and not “Lone Wolf” you are playing a wolf and wolves hunt in packs. So get a pack of 2-3 buddies who can keep up with you and run down enemies. If you find an isolated mech you can kill it quickly, especially when it’s a missile boat. The play style of the Wolf is that of an Assassin Flanker and Escort combined. You Flank together as a group, escort each other and assassinate isolated targets. This means you need to play a bit of everything for this play style. Luckily, rolling in a group makes it easier to fight instead of harder. Wolf packs with friends are usually the way to go, but I have had successful packs with random teammates before.

Enemies:

Knowing the enemy is half the battle, engaging them correctly the rest. Keep in mind how to attack enemies, which enemies to be vary of and which to hunt down and kill.

Lights:
When playing the Commando, you should be prepared to fight lights a lot. They are the primary adversaries in your roles, as they try to counter you and they are also the ones that can make all your escape plans hopeless by chasing you down. Trying to go toe-to-toe is risky and the victor often times comes out heavily damaged. When engaging other Lights, manoeuvring is the most important thing to do. Dogfighting is an art in and of itself, but in general what you want to do is to get behind enemy Lights and stay there. They can’t fire back and you can shoot their weakest parts. If you have trouble getting behind them, focus on their legs, as they are critical to a light’s survival.
As general rule of thumb, if the enemy is as fast (or faster) as you get them into an area where they can’t get up to their top speed, like a city, a cave or a dense forrest. Then use your excellent manoeuvrability and firing arcs to get more damage into them than they get into you. If the enemy is heavier, stay away from their front and keep behind them, where their armor is weak.

Mediums:
Medium Mechs pose a problem. They come in a lot of flavours: From fast and lightly armoured to slow and heavily armed. Memorise which mediums are fast and which are slow, to decide upon your rules of engagement. Always stay away from the frontal arcs of mediums, as some of them have a devastating amount of firepower. Be vary of the ones that are fast enough to chase you or cut off your escape route, especially Cicadas, Assassins and Phoenix Hawks.

Heavies:
Heavy Mechs are dangerous. Period. Most of them have enough firepower to wipe you out in a few volleys and they have the armor to withstand a prolonged attack. When engaging a heavy that is not an LRM boat make good use of everything you have. Speed, manoeuvrability, terrain, cover, the ability to disengage. Make sure you don’t attack them alone and that you don’t attack one inside a group of enemies. You can run circles around some of them, but not always so I wouldn’t count on it and use Hit and Run tactics.

Assault:
The Assault mech is fearsome, heavy, well armoured and even better armed. They are the most powerful mechs on the battlefield... except for you. Look at ‘em! They’re huge! They’re so big you can’t miss them. And they’re so slow they can’t keep up with you at all. If you find a lone one, you can engage it and keep running circles around it, without the darn thing being able to return fire. Just be careful that you don’t stop in front of them, as they delete you very, very quickly. If you are in a Wolf Pack, you can make quick work of assaults, as long as you don’t mess up and get deleted one by one.

Maps:

Get acquainted with the maps and keep in mind where the spawn positions of the enemies are, where they are likely to go and where you can play your mech to it’s strengths.

I’ll give you some tips on how to play some maps, but I don’t think I’ll get every map in here.

Forest Colony:
You have a lot of space in the water, where you can start large scale flanking manoeuvres and often move undetected as it’s quite a bit away from enemy sensors. The forrest to the north provides good grounds to move towards the enemy team hidden behind cover. The plateau in the centre of the map is actually accessible by Commando’s with 240 XL engines and full hill climb capabilities. You can access it via the ramps to the east and south of it. Just climb over the trees.

Frozen City:
A cold map, which is excellent for you hot Commandos out there. There are a lot of urban areas with roads and buildings that provide a lot of cover in battle situations and allow you to dodge and weave through enemies. Just be sure not to run into one. If you are in a Wolf Pack, you can also use the tunnel to get behind the other team undetected. That is if the enemy team doesn’t decide to send someone through the tunnel as well. You can go beneath the bridges at most points, so use them as missile cover.

Caustic Valley:
At the beginning of the match try to scout the crater without entering it. If you see the enemy is NASCARing, stick with your team and shoot up enemy flankers. Stay out of the crater as you’ll just get slaughtered from all sides. If there is a confrontation between both teams outside of the crater however, you can use it to shortcut into the enemy’s rear.

River City:
River City is great for Commandos because you are capable of using the urban areas as good cover from all kinds of nasty things. The water is very deep at some places, concealing parts of you mech, making escapes easier. Use the bridge in the north for wild flanking manoeuvres to get right up to the enemy LRM mechs.

Alpine Peaks:
A wide open map with little cover. Most engagements will take place in the glacial area in the centre of the map, where there is virtually no cover. However if you have full hill climb, you can scale almost every mountain on the map when using rigorous wiggling. Use this to pop up in unexpected areas and get behind the enemy. You can also take some of the mountain ridges to get to good sniping areas if you have an ER LL.

Tourmaline Desert:
This map might be hot, but it provides you with excellent cover all over the place. You can scale the rock formations or use them to hide and start sneaky flanks. It’s also easy to separate enemies from each other here and isolate them for your wolf pack. And another piece of advice: Don’t push the low part of the map, one team will always have height advantage.

Canyon Network:
An excellent map for Commandos. Get out your climbing boots and run up and down the trenches, circle enemies in not just in the plane, but also from above and below. You can get away from anything heavier than you and find cover everywhere. Just don’t overestimate yourself and run around within the enemy team, the map is quite small so they are quite condensed.

Crimson Strait:
You are always the first anywhere. Scout the saddle before making a battle plan to see whether the enemy tries pushing over it. Stay away from the tunnel, unless you are absolutely sure nobody is in it, because you don’t have space to manoeuvre in it. Always check the island for LRM boats or snipers.

[u]HPG Manifold:[/u]
Try to always get to the top first. You have excellent vision from there and can detect the main force of the enemy quickly. Try to convince your team to take the top, it gives them good advantages, such as LRM impunity and shooting from above. Once both teams are engaged on top, you can use the cellar below to flank the enemy and maybe pop a UAV or Strike from behind.

[u][u]Viridian Bog: [/u][/u]
The hills are excellent to scout from. You can get on most hills, due to your hill climb abilities, but not all of them. During the team fight, use the lower area to flank around and get in behind the enemy. Be careful, since you can’t scale the walls of the lower area so you have to use the steps to get back up again.

[u][u]Polar Highlands:[/u][/u]
A ginormous map which allows the Commando to move a lot. This made has little in the way of cover, but the trenches and valleys allow a Commando to stay out of the line of sight for the most part. Use the wide open space for large scale flanking, but try to stay out of the line of sight, or it’ll start to snow LRMs. Important: When playing Control on this map, take another light mech or two and send the main force of your team to the closer Control Point, for them to cap, while the light mechs run around and try capture the points at all times. The map is so large that it is often won by capping, not killing.

[u][u]Grim Plexus:[/u][/u]
Not the best map for the Commando. The main combat always happens on a large open area and flanking routes can be easily controlled and shut down. Try to escort your team if possible and whatever you do, do not stall on the hills!!

[u][u]Rubellite Oasis:[/u][/u]
While I don’t have a lot of experience on this map yet, I already like it a lot. It has a lot of height differences, lotsa space to run around, good flanking options and it’s hot, so that energy heavy builds have problems unloading all their Alpha on you. The height differences also create good LRM cover to hide. I love the vertical aspect of the map and think it works well, even for mechs with no jump jets.

[u][u]Mining Collective:[/u][/u]
A good urban map, that allows Commandos to peek out from cover, have safe flanking routes and get behind enemies. The only problem with the map is that your hill climb is not very effective as they are a lot of unscalable walls, which also block you from accessing some of the areas.

[u]Piloting Tips and Tricks:[/u]

-When your team tells you to stick together, don’t listen to them. They have to stick together, but you have to scout and that means being separate from your team. You just can’t get a lot of information about enemy movements looking at your Atlass (although I wouldn’t judge you for it)

-When an enemy twists his torso to avoid damage to his centre, shoot the piece between the legs. It still counts as CT, frontal and rear. Even if you miss, you damage the legs, which is also better than shooting at their shielded parts.

-Listen! When you can’t see, you can sometimes hear an enemy close to you, especially when you are standing. Who needs seismic when you can use your ears?

-Stay in cover and move quickly at all times, your best Defense is to not be hit.

-Watch your heat! The Commando is not the hottest mech, but a single shutdown can and will be fatal.

-If you run away from an enemy, use your mobility to avoid getting shot. Try to zig-zag your way forward, with differently sized curves as to not be too predictable. While doing that, twist your torso from one side to the other to distribute the damage done to you. If somebody complains about getting dizzy by your movements from spectator chat, you know that you have succeeded.

-Never run away in a straight line with your back facing the enemy.

-Your reverse speed is great, so if you are skilled enough you can run backwards, keep shooting the enemy and use the minimap to get in and out of cover. (Don’t worry if you have problems with this, I am pretty bad at it too)

-If you have to go around a tight corner, slow down. The slower you are, the tighter your turns can be, so pressing S right before turning allows you to turn corners that would normally not be possible at full speed. Keep this in mind for urban combat and remember to start pressing W again as soon as you made the corner.

-Very important: Be a gentleman. I’ve been accused of trolling for bringing a Commando before and people are quick to shove responsibility onto others. Keep calm, say gg even if you lose and be friendly to your team. If you bring a bad attitude, it won’t make your time easier. Just put on your top hat and monocle and be excellent to the others.

Disclaimers:
If you’ve made it until here, you already possess a skill that all Commando pilots need: Patience. It can be frustrating, it takes practice and experience and even then you die often.

I’m not the ultimate pro player. I’m decent, but this is my experience from tier 3 and 2 matches, it might be different at tier 1. It might just as well be that this guide doesn’t work out for you, hell even I probably don’t fully stick to what I’ve written down here. Use it as an orientation point and develop your own play style.

Any MC/C-Bills you spend on Commandos is at your own risk! No refunds from me!

I’ll be happily accepting any feedback you have. And if you have questions, don’t be afraid to ask.
Thanks for reading,
Julo.

P.S. If anybody at PGI reads this, please change back the weapon mounts! I don't want a black box wrapped around my arm, just because I use two SRM 2s! Pretty please!

Per Aspera Ad Astra Or: How To Stop Worrying And Start Playing The Commando

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