Listen up, I've been playing MWO for a while and literally for all my matches in the last 30 days have been in my Atlases.
First off, your Atlas variant is OBSOLETE. The AS7 D-DC sucks because it has no armor quirks and you can't for 3 srm6+a with the ECM. It's biggest downside however is its lack of armor quirks. It's garbage and the meta has spit it out.
The best Atlas chassis currently are the Atlas K, the Atlas D, the Atlas RS and Atlas S(sort of?)
The Atlas K has great armor quirks and gauss cool down quirks, so its perfectly suited for Heavy gauss+MRM40 builds. My dual ams, std325, 4mlas 1 Hgauss Atlas K is actually my best performing Atlas because its very powerful up close and at medium ranges as well. You can sometimes even corner peek with the right side. And the Hgauss is absolutely fantastic and is the part you should always protect in this build. Without it, you are severely crippled.
The Atlas D next up is pretty good because it has adequate missile hard points. The best Atlas D builds are either 2 MRM30 with 1 UAC20 with a light engine. This build is a close-range slaughterhouse and the armor quirks help you get close or make trades while the mrm30s give you viable medium and absolutely disgusting close range capability. Best thing to do with this build is to guard chokepoints or push out of them (with your team) and use that 100 damage alpha to annihilate enemies. The alternative Atlas D build is to have 2 RAC5's and MRMs or SRMs. The Atlas does well with RACs because its hard points are close to eachother so they converge very well.
The Atlas RS? It's decent I guess due to its armor quirks but if you like putting lasers on your Atlases like me the RS can be annoying because the arms are the only laser hard points so the convergence is awful.
And finally the Atlas S. It has no armor quirks so it will always fall apart under focused fire, HOWEVER if you can get close, personal and even suicidal with its only viable 4SRM+A with AC/20 build then you can absolutely shred everything to pieces. However the left side is a huge weakness and its lack of armor quirks makes it easy to destroy without masterful twisting.
As for tips using all Atlases, first tip is to always recognise your most important side torso. For the MRM60 D, it's the left side that's more important because its damage output is more reliable and higher than the UAC20. However, on my beloved Atlas K, the Hgauss is far more important so I protect it when twisting instead. Next is to learn the angle of twisting. The Atlas has one of the best side profiles due to its massive and heavily armored arms that can completely cover a side torso. Use them. Use them against LRM fire too. Also try to share the armor health. For example lets say your left side is open but your right has orange or yellow armor. Don't twist right again, twist left so they can shoot the armored right side a bit, unless your left weapon is already critted. Finally, you really don't want to stare down big enemies in the Atlas, use those big arms to shield, HOWEVER, when overpowering small enemies or distracted enemies you can stare down at them to focus on dealing damage. It also very important to always be in the big pushes your team makes. You are huge and armored, and your usually close range oriented load out makes you responsible for brawling and pushes. Make sure to have good map awareness and to follow the flow of a push or the battle. The last thing you want to do in an Atlas is to be in a terrible position while the team is pushing without your support, sometimes that means you must relentlessly follow the nascar to not be left behind. A lone or out of position Atlas is a dead Atlas because your so easy to hit (since your tall too) and you usually can't get back into position quickly enough to avoid punishment. That also goes without saying, don't stand in the front line for the sake of it. If you're being pecked to death take cover and remember you're only one mech and need to wait on the others to help sometimes.
Last tip, beware of annihilators. To best one, you must be a twist God because they have a much higher damage output than you. However, you can position far better them because you are faster. The best way to take out an annihilator, particularly a dual Hgauss one, is you shred one its sides asap and use your big arm to cover your retreat, but if its a prolonged fight, you'll need excellent aim to destroy the CT but always and I mean always take off that side torso of its weak. 1 Hgauss is far weaker than two. The Annihilator is better on a poking situation or a medium range fight but the Atlas is the brawl king.
Kiiyor, on 20 February 2018 - 02:18 AM, said:
My #1 tip:
You are not the tip. There is no spear.
Aside from a well coordinated push in the group queue, you should never, ever bow to peer pressure and lead a push in an Atlas in the PUG queues.
Ever.
Your terrible hitboxes just make you a tasty damage padding morsel for enemy players, and all the tankiness in the world is irrelevant when you evaporate when fired on by any more than one mech, which is guaranteed to happen when those calling for a push mash the S key after being grazed by a small laser and use your noble sacrifice to get back to cover.
Plus, pretty much every pilot knows which torso to rip off to declaw you.
Exercise a little patience instead. Do the poking game in the early minutes of the match, or sit somewhere juicy as a deterrent to someone poking at you, and don't stray too far from the group.
If you can maintain some armour, you'll excel when your team finally musters the courage to attempt to mop up, or you'll be a tough nut to crack for already damaged enemies trying to push their luck.
This is great advice. Too many people think they can push in with the Atlas but alone you will always get shredded, and most pugs will not follow you. However, you can with good map knowledge and awareness see a push coming and be part of it, and being a huge armored asset on that.
However, coordinated FP drops with Atlases pushing out is great stuff, done it a few times. GOTTA pick the right map though, like Vitric forge.
Edited by Dont LRM me please, 20 February 2018 - 08:11 AM.
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