6 replies to this topic

[WrathOfDeadguy]

Obligatory. Y'know, for the three whole people who look at the builds subforums anymore.

Anyway...

WHM-IIC "I'm not a Warhawk, I swear!" Actually, it might be a little better than the WHK (the WHK's very tiny heatgen quirk and ability to squeeze in a TC1 notwithstanding). The convergence is certainly better, anyway, and it carries just as many sinks, while having to expose less torso to fire. Pretty solid. Useless missile hardpoint is useless, though.

WHM-IIC-2 "I feel so dirty..." You can also do 5x20 with this absolutely monstrous abomination of science. It is disgusting. The ghost heat on big LRMs is absurdly low; the limit on 15s is two but I can still alpha all five launchers twice without capping out... with no skills on the 'Mech yet at all. Great for farming events, though. Please, nobody do this. I'm sorry I even posted it. Mea culpa!

WHM-IIC-3 "Why do I even exist when the WHM-IIC is already a thing?" The obvious thing to do would've been traditional spike-alpha laservomit, since it doesn't have the IIC's PPC velocity quirk. The Wham-IIC is not good at staring. At all. Ever. So, wubs. Haven't played much with the build, but have seen other players do well with similar.

WHM-IIC-A "Scorch Jr." Looks good on paper, and I'm sure somebody can do well with it... but I'm not that somebody. This 'Mech is just too sluggish in the torso to make me happy with how it brawls. My brief experience running it involved less brawling and more humiliating dismemberment. So, we'll just put a pin in this one until/unless PGI give the 'Mech a better twist rate (and please, FFS, another 10-15 degrees of twist range so it can actually maneuver while twisting).

WHM-IIC-A "What is this I don't even." ...but at least it has a nice suckerpunch alpha (yeah, it could be running a tag and a little more ammo, so here's a version with a smaller engine). Gonna need the ammo nodes, though, which will really hurt because then I'll have to neglect either survival or mobility, both of which the chassis desperately needs. Hmm.

WHM-ML "Now we're talking." The Clan Wham is actually pretty damned decent at Gaussvomit. Decent enough that even I did well in it despite turning in mashed potato level performances with most of the others. I think this is my go-to build for this chassis. There's very little to complain about here. Although...

WHM-ML "Ouch." Almost MCII-level firepower on an 80-tonner is a pretty good deal, really. Tempting. Even with the crap acceleration and twist.

The other variants still need better mobility, though. Badly. Speaking of which...
WHM-BL "Help me." ...oh my goodness the mobility stats on this objectively weaker variant are just as bad as on all the others. I tried quad ERPPC, but any of the other variants with four torso energy points just do that build better. LPL is a good enough compromise, since they run cool enough to pack on max jets and poptart the thing. Other than those two weapons, though... dang. First Clan 80-tonner with jets, folks. It'll have a niche just because it is the only Clan 80-tonner with jets, but it doesn't have anything else going for it.At all. ...challenge accepted.

Overall impressions... I see what PGI was going for here: glass cannon. The WHM-IIC is the punchiest of the 80t range, so it had to sacrifice in other areas for the sake of balance. IMO it'd have been fine if it just lacked durability quirks, but had comparable agility to other 'Mechs of equal tonnage. However, every single one of the WhamIICs is a total pig to drive, comparable to some of the 100-tonners, and that's just not quick enough when you're already the squishiest 'Mech in your weight class. I'd love to see PGI buff these up to at least Awesome-level mobility (which still isn't great- only ~15-ish for acceleration, which is still less than half that of the Zeus and Gargoyle), but I think the Bludgeon could use a bit more owing to its terrible hardpoints. ~20 for accel and decel, and at least 90 degrees of twist.

As is, these 'Mechs are best suited to mid-to-long-range builds with high alphas, so that they spend as little time exposed to return fire as possible. Despite having a humanoid profile, they are disconcertingly easy to CT because of their atrociously, gobsmackingly terribad twist range and rate. You literally have to start twisting before you've finished firing in order to spread damage effectively. You will absolutely be cored out by return fire before you've finished an ERLL burn if you aren't extremely careful with your trades. Only the best or luckiest players are going to make effective brawlers out of these.

Within the limitations they have, however, the WhamIICs have a decent variety of viable builds, and as long as your positioning is good (and as long as you don't ever, under penalty of instand flaming death, try to lead a push) they can dish out startling amounts of damage in a very short time. Good fun. Doubt I'm gonna be temped by the Collectors' upgrade or the reinforcements on this one, though- Maul is already easily the strongest of the pack for its cbill boost, and with the IIC-2 and IIC-A the other missile variants would just feel redundant.

[Roland09]

Nice builds, thanks for sharing.

Also, Clans nerfed into the ground again, obviously.

[panzer1b]

Well as bad as it is, here are the only 3 setups ive had ANY sort of performance with using the free hero model:

2LPL+3ERML+1ATM-12: Pretty much the only way to fill the hardpoints, not ghost heat, and still have something to call firepower (even if many heavys can do similar). Its really meh when faced with but 1 AMS (1/3 firepower goes out the door), but if the enemy lacks AMS and you make every shot count its really not that bad at least when noone focuses you too much.

4LPL: Imo the best build on teh chassis, it has very good sustained DPS and the cLPL range allows it to more or less avoid the nastier high alfa short range weapons like dual HGR, but it does have ghost heat and isnt really helped by what few quirks the mech has. Its raw damage per exposure isnt that great, but if you can maintain fire on someone for 2-3 alfas and not take much return it really works well.

4PPC: Done better on the warhawk due to quirks and 1 more DHS, but it has JJs and isngt the absolutely worst mech at the setup so theres that. Im not huge on this myself as the quad PPC really isnt the best thing for QP anyways (defenetely useful in faction), but it is a build the mech can do fairly well give its rather awful capability at everything else.

Aside from that, there just isnt any builds out there that take advantage of its hardpoints (and the best one imo only uses 4 energy), but its about the best ive been able to come uip with for such a subpar chassis.

[Dee Eight]

WHM-IIC-A only three matches into using it and I love it already. First match broke 1k damage, second was about 700ish, third just finished. 1375 damage, 5 kills (4 solo), 3 assist, 12 components, 846 match score. Here's my build code for it...

A=<D40J1|l^|l^|l^|UC|7f|ECpj0|BC|lB|ZR|0Sqj0|BC|BC|lBrd0|bB|LRsd0|bB|LR|LRtm0|LR|ZRum0|LR|ZRvA0|n<2w:0:0:0

Edit : had 2 more 1k+ dmg games. That's five out of seven so far. 4th was 1062 w/1 kill/9 assist/5 kmdd. Fifth was 1233 w/7 kills, 3 assists, 4 solo, 6 kmdd and 23 components.

Game 8 of 8 was only 500ish with 3 kills.

At this stage i'm averaging more than 840 damage per game and its shaping up to be my new favourite clan assault mech. I guess PGI was correct... I would have regretted not early-adopting the WHM-IIC pre-order after all if it meant missing out on this beauty.

Edited by Dee Eight, 24 February 2019 - 08:52 PM.

[Jay Leon Hart]

Didn't do too great in my WHM-IICs (but about as well as any other Assault)

WHM-IIC 400 damage per game, mostly assists
WHM-IIC-2 350 damage per game, mostly assists
WHM-IIC-3 350 damage per game, mostly assists
WHM-IIC-A 400 damage per game, 3 K/D
WHM-IIC-BL 650 damage per game, 6 K/D

[Mr_Breaker]

Tried the WHM-IIC and the WHM-IIC-A; both are godawful and fell sorry for anyone who paid real money for them. The mobility is trash and horrible hit boxes stay the hell away!

[panzer1b]

Although i initially hated the thing, i genuinely find it superior to warhawk at everything but raw DPS. Better hardpoints, and JJs to allow it to clear cover and poptart somewhat. Works great in FP maps and ive actually sold off the warhawk since its arm mounts and trash hitboxes arent worth it...

Quad PPC with 2 good mounts, 2 so-so mounts, and JJs making it superior to a warhawk for my playstyle...