26 replies to this topic

[Phoenix 72]

Hello everybody,

I have moved out of T5 into T4 and managed to outfit 4 different light and medium Mechs (Commando, Raven, Cicada and Griffin). My favourites so far are the Raven and Griffin (2N).

Everything I own is short range and I do reasonably well brawling with the Griffin. So I am looking for a heavy Mech that is somewhat forgiving for people that do not really manage to twist all that much, yet. So the Mech itself should be able to take a pounding and still be functional... I am not really about finesse. ;-)

I do okay with Lasers and quite well with SRMs, but have yet to try out ballistic weapons. With all that in mind, can anybody please recommend some heavy IS Mechs?

I want to try out my luck in Faction Warfare and as of yet, my drop deck is too light for that.

Darakor

[Horseman]

Marauder 3R and 5M fit the bill. Also, how come you haven't grabbed a Bushwacker yet?

Edited by Horseman, 03 March 2018 - 05:27 AM.

[Zookeeper Dan]

Can't go wrong with a Roughneck! Very tanky and brawls well! The 1C with AC10 (or Ultra AC10) and SRM4s is a great short range build with the option of using that high AC mount for poking damage while you get into SRM range. Go MRMs instead of SRMs for more range. It's tanky enough that you can survive if you forget to twist but performs much better if you do. That way you can get practice.

Marauders are great to, but you need to get good at the nose wiggle. Most people find that easier.

Edited by Zookeeper Dan, 03 March 2018 - 06:14 AM.

[Koniving]

You do best with SRMs?

Catapult and Archer come to mind...
They both happen to be missile mechs.

Remember open doors to fire fast, close doors for 20% added damage resistance per door on each body part. (For Archers that's 20% protection to LT, RT and in some cases CT; for Catapults that applies to the arms.)

(PGI Dev Chris Lowrey corrected me in another thread a few months back, it's 20% which is up from the old 10% we old timers grew up with for anyone wondering "Thought it was 10%.").

[Zergling]

For IS mechs, go Warhammer. The 6R can do all sorts of ballistic builds (often mixed with some energy) while the 6D is a pure energy boat.

And unless you have a bunch of friends to team up with, don't bother with FP.

Edited by Zergling, 03 March 2018 - 07:52 AM.

[Phoenix 72]

Horseman, on 03 March 2018 - 05:25 AM, said:

Marauder 3R and 5M fit the bill. Also, how come you haven't grabbed a Bushwacker yet?

Frankly, money is an issue. I started out with Light Mechs and buying new Mechs and skilling up existing ones eats up my money quite nicely. Ever since I got the Griffin, I consistently do a lot more damage (well, once I had it skilled up, anyway) and earned a lot more money.

I am still asking around well before I have enough money to actually afford anything. ;-) I currently have 1.2 mill in the bank. As I only really manage to play on weekends, that's not going to grow all that quickly.

Will take a look at the recommendations I got so far, see whether there is anything that yells "BUY ME!" when I check it. ;-)

[Phoenix 72]

Have checked out a number of the recommended Mechs and right now the Warhammer 7S is looking like a good stepping stone. It does not have ballistics, which is something I wanted to try out, but I would expect to perform better with it because I already have experience with Lasers and Missiles.

I think for a Ballistic based Mech, I will take a look at some Mediums and wait till I actually have the money to buy something. ;-) It is probably better to learn in something less important to the outcome of the Battle.

Edited by Darakor Stormwind, 04 March 2018 - 12:13 AM.

[Zergling]

Darakor Stormwind, on 04 March 2018 - 12:12 AM, said:

Have checked out a number of the recommended Mechs and right now the Warhammer 7S is looking like a good stepping stone. It does not have ballistics, which is something I wanted to try out, but I would expect to perform better with it because I already have experience with Lasers and Missiles.

I think for a Ballistic based Mech, I will take a look at some Mediums and wait till I actually have the money to buy something. ;-) It is probably better to learn in something less important to the outcome of the Battle.

Just don't stick LRMs on it. I facepalm hard whenever I see a Warhammer with LRMs.

Edited by Zergling, 04 March 2018 - 06:24 AM.

[Koniving]

*Makes it a point to load his Warhammers with LRMs now...*

I agree LRMs could be improved substantially (put my two cents into that community driven balance thing).

But I do have reasonable success with them, knowing a bit about the mechanics behind them and how they work. Never try to shoot over cover at close ranges; how high they go is based entirely on distance to target. Most prefer to LRM closer, making them pretty useless for indirect fire. I use them mainly to soften enemies before I get up close to finish the job, so for me longer range is better.

[Phoenix 72]

Well, I found a short range build that should kinda play like my Griffin, just with no ECM:

https://mwo.smurfy-n...4def0815db5687f

And I also found a medium range build using MRMs:

https://mwo.smurfy-n...887c1dabc015046

Since they both use the same chassis, I was planning to get that one and then see which of the two works for me.

[Zergling]

Darakor Stormwind, on 04 March 2018 - 08:34 AM, said:

Well, I found a short range build that should kinda play like my Griffin, just with no ECM:

https://mwo.smurfy-n...4def0815db5687f

And I also found a medium range build using MRMs:

https://mwo.smurfy-n...887c1dabc015046

Since they both use the same chassis, I was planning to get that one and then see which of the two works for me.

Those both look like good builds, but go easy on the lasers or you'll overheat a lot.

[Horseman]

Darakor Stormwind, on 03 March 2018 - 08:35 AM, said:

Frankly, money is an issue. I started out with Light Mechs and buying new Mechs and skilling up existing ones eats up my money quite nicely. Ever since I got the Griffin, I consistently do a lot more damage (well, once I had it skilled up, anyway) and earned a lot more money.

BSW-P1 loaded with SRMs or SSRMs is brutal, although it can also do hybrid ballistic/SRM builds if that's your preference. The X2 does dual ballistics (LB10s or UAC10s) nicely, and has higher base mobility than other variants. Finally, the P2 seems to be favored for dual LB10s+quad MLs or SLs.

[Phoenix 72]

I was planning to start with the medium range build. But yeah, I can already hear the Overheat warning.

I think I will need a lot of heat reduction skills. I was thinking of taking pretty much the whole defense tree, some of the Operations tree and put the rest into damage. Get more missiles as well as less heat.

[Zergling]

Darakor Stormwind, on 04 March 2018 - 09:09 AM, said:

I was planning to start with the medium range build. But yeah, I can already hear the Overheat warning.

I think I will need a lot of heat reduction skills. I was thinking of taking pretty much the whole defense tree, some of the Operations tree and put the rest into damage. Get more missiles as well as less heat.

If you have trouble managing the heat, try altering the build to be like this. You'll lose some alpha damage and the arm lasers, but you'll run cooler and have better sustained DPS output.

If that is still too hot, drop another two medium lasers.

And that is the sort of skill tree build I run on most of my mechs.

Edited by Zergling, 04 March 2018 - 10:58 AM.

[Phoenix 72]

I am kinda loath to get rid of Medium Lasers. At least with my Griffin and Raven, in about 15% of my matches I survive long enough to run out of missiles. I want to still be able to do something other than jeer and wave at the enemies. ;-) So I do not think I will go below 4 lasers. I will see. Right now, I don't have enough money to buy the Mech, let alone customise it.

[Phoenix 72]

Horseman, on 04 March 2018 - 09:09 AM, said:

BSW-P1 loaded with SRMs or SSRMs is brutal, although it can also do hybrid ballistic/SRM builds if that's your preference. The X2 does dual ballistics (LB10s or UAC10s) nicely, and has higher base mobility than other variants. Finally, the P2 seems to be favored for dual LB10s+quad MLs or SLs.

Well, I am trying out different roles for now. I am sure I will continue adding Mechs, further down the line, so I will keep that in mind. But right now, I am already do fairly well with my Griffin. I regularly do between 600 and 800 damage in matches, with the odd outlier in either direction when I either just cannot get close enough or people just ignore me - which never bodes well for them in my build. ;-)

I do not think I will try out Assaults, but stick with Light, Medium and Heavy (if Heavy proves to be fun).

[Eisenhorne]

Sounds like you're looking for Inner Sphere?

The WHM-6D or the WHM-6R. The 6D does lasers really well, and the 6R does ballistics really well. My two favorite builds of each are:

WHM-6D - https://mwo.smurfy-n...02d8407393a2949
WHM-6R - https://mwo.smurfy-n...e7da5278103a028

Edited by Eisenhorne, 05 March 2018 - 07:28 PM.

[Phoenix 72]

Okay, after saving up for my Warhammer, I finally got it together and mostly outfitted. I had to switch one of the MRM20s to a 10, because right now I cannot afford the small engine, so I am playing with the normal one...

First Match: 1 Killing blow, 7 Kill Assist, 1 KMDD, 448 damage done. 3 Savior kills. Sounds like a good start for a Mech I never played before and that had exactly 0 Skill Points spent at the start of the match.

I like the performance, even though it feels like the Mech is reaaaaaaaaallllllyyyyyy slooooooooooow.... ;-) And I need to be really careful with the heat. But it is manageable.

Thanks for the recommendations. It was exactly what I was looking for.

[MechaBattler]

ARC-5W This is a bit of a nutty build. 4xSRM6+Artemis, 3xRock15, 2xRock20 with a 325 engine.

The engine gives the Archer good speed for maneuvering and closing to brawl. I would recommend chain firing the rocks to skin the armor off enemy mechs. But I would recommend picking slow targets to use them on. Especially with the missile doors adding delay. I choose to put the rocks in the torsos because of that delay. After the rocks are gone, you don't need to worry about the doors, and the shut doors provide 20% damage reduction. Combined with Archer armor quirks, it makes it a sturdy brawler.

[CFC Conky]

The Roughneck-2A with an AC20, ASRM6, and lasers to taste (I run 3xerML), LFE295 with a maxed out survival tree is a beast.

Good hunting,
CFC Conky