14 replies to this topic

[Renzor the Red]

Hi, guys.

I just bought an Ultraviolet on sale. Very impressive, though a little squishier than I expected. Skilling it up bit by bit.

Originally, I thought to put in 8 C-UAC-2's, based on TTB's videos. Even though it's an alpha on paper of 16, the DPS is very high, but in practice, I've found the setup being very hot. Easy to get up to the top of the heat scale, and dicey to manage in a heavy battle. That gets me thinking of regular C-AC-2's, and also looking at LB2-X's. Here's what I'm wondering:

All three guns have the same ammo and same damage, though the LBX has increased crit chance. They all have the same DPS, but I'm thinking that the UAC-2's and AC-2's basically the same as far as DPS goes, except that you can double that DPS by firing again before they're cooled down. Is that right? I'm getting the idea that the ultras let me double (or triple) the DPS at risk of jamming, but that also doubles/triples heat when I do that, too.

The LB2-X's looks the best on paper, having more range, same damage/DPS, and run the coolest, and they don't spread much, being only two pellets, but it just feels like I have to take a lot more time to kill mechs in the training grounds compared to the UAC's.

Thoughts? I'm supposing that the UAC's are best, but will be as hot as how fast I fire.

Current build:


Planned Skill Tree:

Edited by renzor51, 27 February 2019 - 09:19 PM.

[Maddermax]

You can always fire UACs without double tapping when you’re hot - this also prevents jams.

While I won’t say much about which AC to go for, I will make some suggestions about your skill tree. Firstly, you don’t need most of that mobility - you can get some torso speed on the left hand track if you feel like it, but the rest won’t make a huge difference to you. Put those points into max cool run (you want all the cooling you can get), some heat gen nodes and (if taking UACs) double cool shot. That will make your burst fire when double tapping much easier to maintain.

Also, take some ammo and the active probe out for more heat sinks. You could take a mixed LBX/UAC build for a cooler mech, but using those slots for heat sinks will be more beneficial.

Edited by Maddermax, 27 February 2019 - 09:52 PM.

[Phoenix 72]

I would also shift more armour to the front. Most of the time, in an Assault Mech, 6-8 armour on the back is enough. I know some people even play with just 4, but this feels too low for me...

And I would put the leg armour higher, too. If people ingame notice you skipped leg day, that will be a weak spot. If necessary, I would drop some ammo to accomplish that. Maybe half a ton.

[Renzor the Red]

Darakor Stormwind, on 27 February 2019 - 09:59 PM, said:

I would also shift more armour to the front. Most of the time, in an Assault Mech, 6-8 armour on the back is enough. I know some people even play with just 4, but this feels too low for me...

And I would put the leg armour higher, too. If people ingame notice you skipped leg day, that will be a weak spot. If necessary, I would drop some ammo to accomplish that. Maybe half a ton.

I would normally put 10 on the back CT and 8 on the sides, but Direwolves are so slow to turn around when someone's in their back that I thought it might be good to give myself more reaction time.

[justcallme A S H]

8 cUAC2 is way, way too hot for any beginner.

Use ULTRAVIOLET for a compromise. Or just use all cAC-2 and load up on ammo like a madman ULTRAVIOLET

As for skill tree - you have it all wrong. The build is about DPS. You need to make sure it has DPS. Thus use THIS SKILL Maze. Mobilty on a DWF when it already has such low mobilty, is pointless.

Edited by justcallme A S H, 27 February 2019 - 10:26 PM.

[Phoenix 72]

Heh. I wanted to write some more about how much more efficient Heat Gen in the Firepower tree is when compared to boosting the heatsink regen, but Ash beat me to it.

Took to long to have my breakfast, I guess.

[Renzor the Red]

Good feedback. I'll have to mod my skill tree. I'm only 22 points in atm. I always start with sensors to de-LRM, then pump up Survival first.

Interesting thing since my original post wondering about the different AC's compared. I went into Crimson Straight to the Atlas near spawn to test all three different builds. I was able to kill it through CT in 8-9 seconds with LBX and regular AC's, but it took :17 with UAC's. Maybe the little jams here and there were drastically cutting down on the DPS overall. I suppose if I was competent with them enough to make the most of them without jams it'd be better.

I put in all LBX's, and heat problem's gone. The regular AC heat cost is in the middle, but I might try that too., I suppose the spread of the LB2-X, as minimal as it is, was reducing my DPS on single components while in mid-range battles in the last few matches.

[justcallme A S H]

LBX2 spread damage.

ACs do not.

Thus you want the ACs for the pinpoint rather than sandblasting.
8x AC2 is cold running. Won't get hot.

[PhoenixFire55]

I'm using 8xAC2s on mine, and its cold, dosen't jam and has same DPS and HPS as the one with UAC2 in the long run, which is all that matters since its a DPS mech and not an alphamech. LBX2s are utter garbage beyond 400-450m range, and if you aren't planning to shoot further than that, then you don't need UV's 8 ballistic hardpoints to begin with.

[Renzor the Red]

I've settled on the 8 AC/2's. I'm actually really enjoying the build. It's a bit over half skilled up by now, and I can regularly hit 800-1000 damage or more in matches and a good handful of kills, assuming I don't get paired up with a bunch of potatoes that don't work together and we all get singled out and murdered. The Direwolf is pretty vulnerable to getting ganged up on. It doesn't have the durability of an Atlas or Kodiak, but if I can position myself well for taking out targets of opportunity, I do a lot of damage. Great with the AC2's for long range, too, and I didn't bother with Velocity nodes, because the rounds are already 1800 fps or whatever anyway.

[justcallme A S H]

1800 x 15% though is huge.

It will make those shots @ 1000m a lot easier to hit.
If you never run out of ammo add in a TC1 for a extra easy/cheap booster.

The rounds are then going around 2150m/s - is very nice.

[Renzor the Red]

justcallme A S H, on 07 March 2019 - 12:17 AM, said:

1800 x 15% though is huge.

It will make those shots @ 1000m a lot easier to hit.
If you never run out of ammo add in a TC1 for a extra easy/cheap booster.

The rounds are then going around 2150m/s - is very nice.

Looks like I can swing that. I've been tweaking the planned trees little by little as I get experience in the mech. I certainly don't need the UAC unjam thing anymore. Using AC2's instead of UAC2's make such a huge difference in heat, it's totally not worth it to go ultra. I can also lighten up on operations, because I rarely overheat.

Overall, this is a pretty good build. I'm somewhere around 70 nodes now. This Ultraviolet helped out a lot with the 100 kills/kmmd's in the Try Hard event, and I think once it's mastered, it'll be a good money maker for grinding c-bills.

Here's the latest skill tree with velocity added. It is a good point, that 2150 m/s. I do have to lead my shots a lot at times when I'm not just hammering mechs that are standing still. I definitely made sure to max out range. I use this at long range a lot, and it makes a big difference eeking out 2 damage per shot instead of 1 at the edge of optimal.

[Grammer Pollice]

I'm a fan of LBXs, yes they spread more, but they also crit more. I'd also be curious about a hybrid build mixing LBX and UAC to push the DPS a little higher but still stay on the cooler side. If the MCII-B can do it with 10s, the whale can do it with 2s.

[panzer1b]

UAC2s on clam really arent that great, the only mech that comes to midn that actually runs UAC2s well is the dragin, but thats because of its insane jam quirks which let you keep spamming them all game.

The direpig is best with either all AC2s, or a mixed setup where you have 2-4 UACs with those ACs, but even then i think id rather have all AC2s just for the consistency and low heat DPS (afterall, DPS is what the mech is about as 16 damage unless you nail 1 component every hit isnt really all that much). Same story with the night gyr, where you are best off running AC2s on it (with 1 UAC2 as you cant fit 6 AC2s due to slots), but im really not a fan of that build as its low on ammo, still runs sorta hot, and just doesnt do any meaningful damage (12 per shot can be ignored by anything that isnt a direpig in size).

[Renzor the Red]

Grammer Pollice, on 08 March 2019 - 03:28 PM, said:

I'm a fan of LBXs, yes they spread more, but they also crit more. I'd also be curious about a hybrid build mixing LBX and UAC to push the DPS a little higher but still stay on the cooler side. If the MCII-B can do it with 10s, the whale can do it with 2s.

I find that I'm using my Ultraviolet at LONG range to best effect. Really taking advantage of the extended 1000m optimal range. My first thought before I tried to AC2's was to use LBX2's because there's literally no heat, but I was really just sandblasting enemies. Not as effective. Might be interesting to mix it to have a combo of longrange pinpoint and not-as-longrange increased crit, but I think it would basically be reducing the overall effective range.