Posted 26 April 2019 - 08:14 AM
If you like heavys, the hellbringer is by a long shot the best clam heavy in the game right now because it fits perfectly into the laser vomit meta and carries ECM which is a very very useful feature in QP (soft counter to LRM/ATM at range, lets you engage without drawing attention, lets you jam ECM on enemy team without a useless probe, ect). As for loadouts, your best bet is the tried and proven 6 lasers in the top mounts option, with the most common being 4ERML+2ERLL/HLL depending on whether you want range utility and cooldown sync or maximum single exposure damage with slightly better DPS (and all that with 25-26 total DHS so you have the sustained DPS of many assaults). You can also run something like 6ERML+1LPL (which i personally like better then the other 2 as you get better sustained DPS and more alfa then the ERLL model). Then if you want to add some challenge to the mech you can always use the omniset pods on the prime variant (get that 1 as it is the only one with useful set-8 pods) to run either gauss+2HLL/ERLL+1ERML (what i like to run when i want to still carry games but actually have a challenge over pure lasers) or some dakka setup like 2UAC10+3ERSL which is not even close to HBR meta but can still do alot of damage if you play it correctly.
If you want something else, you can try the ebon which is currently the top clam heavy in the alfa strike department as it can carry 2LPL+6ERML with enough DHS to fire it twice on cold maps skilled up. It does have bad hitboxes (prepare to get CT cored alot in it), but the raw damage coming out of it is just absurd especially when you consider that it goes 81kph unlike all the IS heavys which rarely exceed 70. Its a bit better at dakka (can actually do triple UAC5s comfortably with backup lasers), but in general its convergence sucks so its extremely hard to use dakka loadouts on anything moving sideways at a distance (same issue MCII-B has, but that 1 has so much firepower that a single arm hitting you is still going to hurt).
Another heavy that i personally really like is the linebacker, but it takes a whole different playstyle then what ud expect out of a heavy. It has mobility superior to many mediums, and likewise carries rather low tonnage so you need to build it around shorter range weapons (forget dual HLL, ive seen those builds and they suck cause no DPS and still not enough alfa strike to 1 shot anything). If you like MPLs on clam side, its the best mech to put 6MPLs on by a long shot (crow can do it but is way too squish to survive any damage), and can even play some somewhat wimpier vomit setups like 1HLL+5ERML (damage isnt great, but if you really need range its playable). Finally, you can try SRMs as well which is harder to play (and arguably way less deadly then 6MPLs at brawl range), but its a change of pace if you get bored of lasers.
next decent mech is the sunspider. The free christmas hero can run 2 UAC10s and a PPC to devastating effect (best clam heavys for dakka behind the night gyr), and the frees can run LRM-80 or ATM-36 comfortably with ECM and enough ammo to last any game that you dont have to singlehandedly take down 9 mechs in. Really the only thing it flat out cannot do is heavy ballistics (most you can do is 2 UAC5s and 1 UAC10 but even that is low on ammo), and laser vomit (the other hero can sorta, but 5 hardpoints really doesnt cut it for laser, you need at least 6 to get anything viable out of it).
The last good one is the night gyr. It can run gauss vomit and dakka, with the latter being absolutely devastating to anyone dumb enough to try and facetank you directly. Put 2xUAC10+UAC5 on it and go ham, abusing the JJs as much as possible (it somewhat compensates for the atrocious mobility the mech normally gets). That said, if you dont plan to bring heavy ballistics on it, it really isnt a very good mech cause its just too slow to get out of a bad spot unless you put so many guns on it to remove anyone who tries to push you headon.
now the rest are not bad, but arent really all that reccomended either from my experience.
The maddog is ok if you really want missiles, but pales in comparison to the ECM+LRM-80 sunspider (which is imo the ONLY clam mech that you should run a LRM-80 on, its fast enough to relocate, it has ECM, and its not completely squish).
The summoner is very good at the top levels of play (on long range maps at least) with its dual ERPPC, but it has no DPS for QP, and is generally stupidly niche in the 1st place (and if you want to brawl, there are better things out there then the SRM summoner). Ive managed to get some UAC5+UAC10 to work cause of god tier quirks, but its just so short on ammo (but until it runs dry you have like almost no jams and like 30% crazy cooldown on those UACs).
hellfire suffers from a wide chassis with both convergence issues (if you run the dual ballistics hero) and generally bad hitboxes. You really need the hero to get any mileage out of it though since the standard models just dont have the ballistic hardpoints (and if you want to laser vomit on it get a hellbringer).
novacat has some of the worst hitboxes in game (for clam heavys), extremely wide so ballistics or PCs have major convergence issues, and just way too easy to core out before it does any major damage. Only upside is the ability to bring ungodly amounts of LRMs on a clam heavy with the heatsinks and ammo to sustain them, but whether a LRM-90 is worth it above a LRM-80 sunspider with ECM and useful hitboxes is up to you to decide.
orion-2c used to be the best clam brawler by a long shot, but is currently sorta beaten at that role by the linebacker which is faster, tankier, and can carry a much more effective and versatile 6MPL setup over the orion's 1 trick LBX20+SRM-24. Dont get me wrong, it can devastate a team if you manage to get a good position and dont get focused down instantly, but the inability to do squat past 300m and the high spread of its weapons (forcing you to engage at sub 100m for optimal effect) limit its effectiveness n maps that arent super brawl friendly (and thats over 50% of maps in current rotation).
And finally the iconic timberwolf. It used to be the flat out best heavy on clam side (and FP was more or less filled with these things back in the day), but the agility nerfs and releases of some other mechs have more or less left this thing in the dust. That said, you can still run some devastating builds on it (best for me is 2LPL+5ERML), and it has JJs which make it better then the ebon on certain maps, but that one minor benefit just doesnt outweigh the fact that the mech gets cored out instantly by anyone with good aim (you cant entirely shield the CT either as it sticks out to the side and if you overtwist your back gets shot off). Ive had quite a few carry games in mine even recently, but unless you love it looks or want to play it for nostalgia, you are better off in a ebon or hellbringer which can both run superior laser vomit to the timber without the inherent weaknesses of the timber.
So yeah, tahts my rundown of clam heavys. Obviously some of them might appeal more to certain people (like the orion-2c which im not that big on but is still a very good brawler is thats your thing), but overall if i had to reccomend a single clam heavy to get, its the hellbringer because it fits the QP meta perfectly, and because of omnipods it will still give you a taste of other playstyles if you really want it to (not optimal, but it can run dakka, gauss vomit and even missiles if you drop ECM as non heros give you 3 hardpoints, hero gives you additional 2 in arm which is actually quite solid for missile boating, 4 with ECM).