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Who Uses Raven And Why?


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#1 Reposter

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Posted 11 February 2018 - 10:23 AM

Hi guys, I have been looking at the Raven mechs for a while, and am not quite sure how to equip them. Anyone swear by the Ravens and have a good time using them?

#2 Tesunie

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Posted 11 February 2018 - 10:57 AM

View PostReposter, on 11 February 2018 - 10:23 AM, said:

Hi guys, I have been looking at the Raven mechs for a while, and am not quite sure how to equip them. Anyone swear by the Ravens and have a good time using them?


There are many options for the Raven, so it all depends upon what you want it to do to be honest. It's a solid mech and has been for much of it's MW:O career.

I personally love my Raven 2X with two LLs and two ERMLs. It's got only an XL245 with the rest of my weight in heat sinks, so it isn't a fast Raven... but I really love it and been doing well with it.

Then I have my oddball Ravens, the 4X has an XL245 engine, two MPLs, two MGs (Light or normal, your choice), and an ALRM10 with two tons of ammo. This Raven is an older design and it was intended to sit with the group lobbing LRMs until an armor breach was detected on an enemy mech, then rush out, take that section and run back into the team. Worked well back then, not so certain how it would work now...

And then my 3L... I once had it with NARC and LRMs as a funny build that worked alright. Narc a target then run for cover and lob LRMs indirectly. Wait for the NARC to wear off, then repeat. It could be useful, but it wasn't great. Now I've got it set up with ECM, an XL250 engine, two ERMLs, a single LL and an MRM with one ton of reloads. I have a spare DHS on it... I haven't used this new tech variant all that much yet, but that's not a failing of the 3L, it's more so an issue with my success and fun levels with the 2X...


I've also heard of RAC5 4Xs, Boom Ravens (a Raven with an AC20) and the ever still popular dual ERLL sniping Raven 3L.

Overall, it's still a solid mech. If you don't see it played often anymore, it's probably "Ohhh.. New Shiny" syndrome more than anything wrong with the mech. It's still a solid mech, especially in the poke and scoot situations where you are using a ridge to hide behind. (It still has good high weapon mounts, unlike the Wolfhound or Panther, it's closest comparisons, and it's 5 tons heavier over the Urbanmech which also has high weapon mounts.)

I will restate, what are you thinking of getting out of them? You have any theory builds yet? I can't overly help without knowing what you like to run and/or intend to run.

#3 JediPanther

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Posted 11 February 2018 - 11:09 AM

I use three ravens. They give you a lot of flexibility on builds,are pretty fast and with new tech or old tech are multipurpose mechs. You want big gun? Check. Big Lasers or PPCs? Check. LRM? Yep. All the missiles? No problem. ECM, sure 3L was the first ecm in game bro. All the weapons at least one of each type? Why not?

The 4x has jump jets and can give you a lot of weapon combos. You need xl 200 for it's ac 20 lol. The jump jets let you move over obstacles and get to lower-higher ground easier. Being one of the IS lights to mount an ac 20 makes it a thing but you can also go laser and missiles on it. You can go srm,ssrm,mrm or lrm on it. Basically it's able to do a lot like a swiss army knife of a mech.

The 3L is the most common since it has ecm. missiles and laser combinations are what you can toy with on it. Most people run it as an er ll sniper which I find boring as well as almost guarantees you'll lose in a 1 vs 1 or trying to fight another light up close. The ecm makes it that harder for the enemy to get missile locks on you and target you in general. Always put still tree points into the sensor tree to max the ecm range.

3L also has the option of STEALTH. While it won't give optic camouflage al la Metal Gear Solid or Crysis it does make it about 10x harder to be targeted. Enemies can only spot you if they have thermal,night vision,tag you with tag, or have sesimic sensor and you get too close to them. The down side to stealth is your mech will not dissipate heat and having stealth turned on, depending on your build, will not cool down. Firing any weapon also adds to the heat so it is very possible to shut down or die from over heating.

The Last Raven is the hero Huggin. Besides the 30% money boost it uses ballistics and missiles. It too has jump jets. It lost its' op missile cool down but is still a death dealer with srm6s or mrms. Invest 55 points into firepower for the cool down and missile nodes and it is a beast. It has the longest LRM range out of all 79 IS mechs I have including the stalker or catapult. Might even be the one with longest lrm range for IS.

All the ravens get sensor range quirks. Raven 3L has Narc quirks making it shoot faster and last longer. 4X is just good all around with a lot of options it'd take me pages to list all the options. Huggin is a missile monster. As with any IS light speed is life so you'll want a variety of engines. For pure speed the xls (extra light engine) which have a high initial cost as do the light fusion engine (lfe) but you only need one because you can engine swap where as clans are normally engine locked.The IS XL will die once it loses its side torso while the XLE won't but weights slightly more. I suggest one of each.

The engines I use are the 200,220,245,250 and 280. Here's just a few builds you can try out. No idea on how you like to play so I'm guessing to go for the 4x for the most weapon combinations.

RVN-3L brawly

RVN-3L StealthSnipR


RVN-4X AC 20

RVN-4X AC5Mls

HUGINN Mrm40

RVN-4X speedyskirmish

#4 S 0 L E N Y A

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Posted 11 February 2018 - 03:05 PM

I have a stealth narcing raven purely for the lelz.

Otherwise, just not a strong chasis

#5 nehebkau

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Posted 12 February 2018 - 07:11 PM

View PostReposter, on 11 February 2018 - 10:23 AM, said:

Hi guys, I have been looking at the Raven mechs for a while, and am not quite sure how to equip them. Anyone swear by the Ravens and have a good time using them?


A raven requires an advanced level of skill to play well. Really the only one you see is the 3L with ECM and usually it is either a long range sniper or an MPL SRM6 striker. The striker role requires that you have superior situational awareness and piloting skill and be able to read the battle otherwise you die fast.
The Sniper needs you to think like a sniper, shoot and move shoot and move as well as read where your enemy is going and what your risk is at your current position. This also requires that you spend time on EACH AND EVERY map gaining an understanding of where you can best position yourself and where your escape routs are.

I have had lots of fun playing the 3L sniper and it was the 2nd mech that I scored an ace of spades in.

None the less -- the mech will only perform, now, in the current environment if you really know what you are doing otherwise you should just move to one of the better light mechs.

#6 NRP

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Posted 16 February 2018 - 10:15 AM

Ravens are good. The 3L with ECM and two ERLLs has been a popular build for a long time.

I also like the Butt Huggin because MGs are pretty good right now.

#7 Koniving

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Posted 16 February 2018 - 01:27 PM

My use of them had dropped a few years ago, but at the time I had a number of uses from harasser, sharp shooter, and anti-heavy tank.

The latter is basically a 35 ton Hunchback build slapped onto a Raven 4X with an XL 180 engine, 3 tons of ammo, AC/20 and a small laser with a jumpjet or two small lasers with no jumpjets. All but 1 point of armor directed to the forward torsos, cockpit armor dropped to 2 (no one's gonna hit it unless you're too stationary or hit around tier 2...even then they still probably won't even try for it.).

#8 poopenshire

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Posted 16 February 2018 - 01:32 PM

Ok, gonna weigh in here.

I have played Ravens a LONG time.

They are unforgiving for a light. if your going to play them, they are not a front line mech. You should be on the sides being as annoying as much as possible. Understand your legs are weak. Your armor is small, and standing still on a front line is BAD.

ECM is your friend on the 3L. But its not magic box. Remember your in a light.


If you want builds, well there are plenty here already, but don't expect the Raven to be an Arctic Cheetah, and don't expect it to be a Mist Lynx. I am sure people will post more of them.

#9 Yumoshiri

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Posted 16 February 2018 - 01:45 PM

Didn't bother reading the rest, so sorry if it's much of the same:

3L - great sniper with ER large lasers and ECM cover
3L - Narc support mech with ER mediums for backup
4x - can snipe too, with jumpjets instead of ecm
4x - Trollbuild: LRM 20 or MRM 40
4x - Rotary autocannon - this mech has a great high arm for this weapon. Long face time, so always fight from second line.
Huggin: SRM + machine guns

#10 Cataphractos

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Posted 16 February 2018 - 07:38 PM

I was using a Raven 3L for a while, precisely because I'm a new player and I'm bad at shooting...but the Raven has BAP, AMS, and ECM, so I could still be an asset to the team even without successfully hitting a single enemy. And of course I'd get blown up the second somebody looked at me, but again, I'm a new player: I'm going to die a lot anyway.

I remember using endo-steel and ferro-fiber for the weight savings, making sure the AMS gun had CASE, and upgrading the engine to...I believe XL-220? Because even I know that a scout Mech under 100 k.p.h. is pointless. I also kept the TAG and the NARC -- though in retrospect they probably weren't worth the hassle -- but I threw out the SRMs because I knew I wouldn't hit anything with them. And then I put on the maximum possible armor, so maybe I could survive two or three hits. It ate right through all my "cadet bonus" money, though...and then I went and fouled up the Mech's skill tree and accidentally removed its BAP, which refused to go back in. So, fair warning: don't do either of those things.

You'll use up a lot of AMS ammo. You might need two or three bins. Alternatively, you could try a LAMS, but be aware you'll build up a lot of heat shooting all those missiles down. I was thinking about swapping my Raven's stock Medium Lasers for some kind of Small Lasers, to compensate for the LAMS.

#11 IllCaesar

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Posted 18 February 2018 - 05:26 PM

I have a 2X, a 3L, and a Huginn.

The Huginn is probably the weakest of the batch, even with the new MRMs and HMGs. Ammo shortage is its primary flaw. If we get to mix clan tech and IS tech someday then it'll probably be better with the much lower weight SRMs allowing space for more ammo. As is I mostly just use it for low effort matches where I grind C-Bills by slapping a RAC5 to it, which is surprisingly effective.

The 3L is the 3L. Hasn't changed much since the very start of the game, aside from ECM being less valuable. Most players prefer it as the tried and true 2x ERLL sniper.

The 4X is mostly superior to the Huginn due to those energy hardpoints. Energy does need ammo taking up valuable weight, which is the crippling issue of the Huginn. There are dumb fun builds like the Boomchicken but really its hardpoint variety and JJs gives it a pretty good lease on life.

The 2X may be the one best suited for the scout/support mix mech that it was meant to be. You can fit a moderately good engine in there alongside a decent variety of weapons, including a fairly prototypical 4x ML 1x LRM15 or a 4x ML 1x MRM20. I run something a little better than that latter one on my only slightly more heavy Vindicator though (5x MPL 1x MRM20) so I prefer some more along the lines of 1x LPL and 3x MPL.

Really I'd only really recommend the 2X. Don't have the 4X so can't give much weight to that. They're not awful but they face very stiff competition in a support role from the Panther, Urbanmech, Kit Fox, and Cougar. One of the main upsides of the mech is that you're an underdog and opponents will treat you as such. The aforementioned RAC5 on the Huginn is actually rather effective precisely because of this.

#12 Windscape

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Posted 19 February 2018 - 12:25 AM

Ravens are a wierd chasis for me.
Along with the locust and jenner, this was one of my first light mechs.

These days, they arent terrible, but arent the best either.
The 3L is solid still with 2erll
The brawl build is still solid, but its lack of hardpoints makes it a weird hybrid brawler
4x is a fun mech to screw around with. Ive tried all the popular builds on it.

My best build is a 4X with a MRM40 and thats it. Pretty fun little thing, and can do good dmg.

The 2x is the least unique out of the 3. It can run everything the others can, but brings nothing new.

#13 _SpiderGoat

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Posted 19 February 2018 - 08:33 AM

Narc + constant 2LPPC

Works well with a team and 10 pinpoint damage all the time pretty much continuously can annoy many players.

#14 mailin

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Posted 20 February 2018 - 06:35 PM

View PostCataphractos, on 16 February 2018 - 07:38 PM, said:


I remember using endo-steel and ferro-fiber for the weight savings, making sure the AMS gun had CASE, and upgrading the engine to...I believe XL-220?



An FYI here. CASE is pointless with an XL engine. Case keeps the rest of your components intact if your ammo in a side torso explodes. If a side goes out with an XL it's game over. Save yourself a half ton and lose the case. Also, the first place you should put ammo in mechs (especially AMS ammo, is the head).

#15 WrathOfDeadguy

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Posted 20 February 2018 - 10:12 PM

I drop in the 4X from time to time, but I've never run it with anything but an AC20 build. I think of it as a trollmech, but the AC20 is effective enough on its own that the line between trolling and contributing gets a little blurry if well-handled. I don't bother with backup weapons on that because, frankly, if I can't pull my weight with 3.5-4t of AC20 ammo (depending on whether or not I'm running a JJ for mobility), I'm not likely to do much better with a single SL or ML.

A high-mounted AC20 on a chassis with a tiny frontal profile can be very effective in the right situation- it's a cool-running weapon, even with SHS, and when you add those factors up it means you can get away with throwing a lot more damage downrange than you'd expect from something that silly-looking.

#16 AlXander

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Posted 21 February 2018 - 06:35 AM

View PostReposter, on 11 February 2018 - 10:23 AM, said:

Hi guys, I have been looking at the Raven mechs for a while, and am not quite sure how to equip them. Anyone swear by the Ravens and have a good time using them?


Raven is one of my favorite mech long time.
I equip my Ravens with mix of LR and MR weapons. For example my 3L: ER LLas, 2x ER MLas or 3x ER MLas, SRM6.
Raven is small, fast and flexible in tuning support/harraser mech. IMHO.

#17 The Basilisk

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Posted 21 February 2018 - 06:48 AM

Ironicly the Raven is the most scouty Scoutmech in MWO, maybe besides Kitfox but most raven I see are either spetial snowfllake builds or "snipers" (if you want to use the kind term) or better damn leeches (that is how I see them most of the time)

Sometimes you encounter a NARC or spotter Raven that trys to do his job but since that is simply frustrating and not that rewarding it is a rare sight.

#18 Cataphractos

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Posted 21 February 2018 - 07:32 AM

View Postmailin, on 20 February 2018 - 06:35 PM, said:

An FYI here. CASE is pointless with an XL engine. Case keeps the rest of your components intact if your ammo in a side torso explodes. If a side goes out with an XL it's game over.


What about the (unlikely) event of putting ammo in your arms? Would CASE be useful then?

#19 Barkem Squirrel

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Posted 21 February 2018 - 08:10 AM

Lets see, most of the time you see the ERLL, stealth sniper build or the Narc builds with the 3L.

Now if you want to have fun and change things up a bit the 4X. Rotaries, check, AC 20 check, dual AC 2's check, LBX 10's check, ok any ac's other than LBX 20's and heavy gauss. Then the missiles LRMs, ok if you want, SRM , MRM and think deviously while you run them, aim for the backs. Then you can do the dual LPL, ERLL, PPC's or ERPPC's.
Note: with the 2 mpl, 2 mg and Artemis LRM 10 build I have got 7 kills a few times, even when we were running 8 v 8. at that time the 4X had a 245 engine cap, but now has a 275.


The 2X well three LL's works just fine, especially when you do an xl engine check on someone's rear side torso,Posted Image .

Then the Huggin. A pair of SRM 4's, or MRM 20's some Light machine guns is just fine. or you can switch the srm 4's out for some LRM 5's and have a nice reload time and spam LRMs Then the range is not bad. Before the skill tree you could get 1450 m out of the little bugger for LRMs.

#20 CFC Conky

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Posted 21 February 2018 - 08:30 AM

I've run the standard Raven-3L setup of two erLL but lately, I've been running it with an erPPC, two erML, and an srm4 or extra heatsinks. Less damage at range but you're harder to spot sniping with a PPC.

Good hunting,
CFC Conky





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