14 replies to this topic

[JC Daxion]

I just started playing with the mad dog hero from the solaris pack and i really like it, but with the sale i was kinda thinking about grabbing a Hellbringer hero for some grinding and for use in a drop deck. I think i'm gonna just hang up my clan account and just add some clanners to my IS side.


I'm curious about peoples thoughts on the hellbringer's hero omni's or is the classic laser boat the way to go?

I got a crap load of MC, but i dunno, maybe there is something that is more worth the purchase? (i'm thinking clan side heroes, i have plenty of IS mechs)

My mad dog, 6ERML+4ASRM4, it runs hot but i like the mech, still skilling it up so i think i need to boost mobility and heat a bit more.

I guess a full laser boat to go along with that would be nice, but i'm kinda on the fence.


What are your thoughts on these heroes, or just clan heroes in general?

[PocketYoda]

I bought the nova cat hero mostly because i have none.

[Valdarion Silarius]

JC Daxion, on 27 February 2021 - 07:44 PM, said:

What are your thoughts on these heroes, or just clan heroes in general?

I don't think you can make a conclusion on clan heroes in general since their roles vary from each variety. You really can't go wrong with the Hellbringer Virago but you might want to check out the Gargoyle Kin Wolf. Very underrated clan assault mech that has decent armor. Not really sure why no one fields them. I made mine into a 4HLL boat and it's a very solid energy brawler.

[w0qj]

1. Considering that you seem to like Clan omnimechs, I second your choice of Hellbringer Virago hero, and mix/match torsos (and suggest you get ECM). It's one of the best Clan mech for laser build, with ECM to boot! It's quite agile, with fast torso twisting for your arms to help shield your CT torso. It's a forgiving mech, allowing you to recover somewhat from some of the more common newcomer's mistakes!

The Gargoyle Kin Wolf hero (also Clan omnmech) is an Assault, and as such gets targeted quite early in a fight.
It's got XL400 maxed out engine for great speed.
Right Arm: 6x energy
Left Arm: 4x energy
So you can potentially have 16x energy hard points in your mech! (*faints*)

Do have fun choosing your next hero mech!

2. You can use your MC to further customise your mech, with camoflage (camo), colors, and perhaps even bolt-on items! MC to buy additional Mechbays (it's 50% off sale at the time of this writing).

3. Did you know that you can get five (5) "free" colors for all your mechs, for minimal C-Bills?
[MechLab]>>[Camo_Spec]>>[Color_Tab]>>[Basic]
~In this [Basic] drop down section, you'll see this option to buy colors for C-Bills !

Edited by w0qj, 28 February 2021 - 07:22 AM.

[FupDup]

The Virago is arguably a better investment because it has stronk set of 8 quirks that can actually be utilized in a practical way (4 ERML + 2 HLL classic laser vomit) and the HBR is a stronger chassis in general.

However, the Vulture is still an effective and viable chassis even if it doesn't have as strong of a niche as the HBR does. For the Revenant, I don't think the 2 CT lasers will provide much benefit to your 6 ERML + SRM16 build. The Rev makes more sense for either laser vomit or combining with ballistics (Bandit and/or MDD-C).

So I guess just pick whichever your preference is. There are so many worse choices in the game than these two.

Edited by FupDup, 28 February 2021 - 09:17 AM.

[PocketYoda]

I also picked up the Virago thanks op.

[Wildstreak]

Virago has an interesting camo skin.

[Gagis]

Virago with 4ERLL is one of the best long range mechs in the game. The mad dog heroes are underwhelming.

[LordNothing]

pgi has been slack in its mc handouts as of late, so i dont have enough mc stacked to take advantage of this sale. since i finished collecting all the light heros it seems like i need a lot more mc than i used to.

Edited by LordNothing, 01 March 2021 - 11:28 PM.

[Wildstreak]

I have to skip Heroes, just in January I got Virago and Grasshopper Hero with MC I had.

[w0qj]

1. There's a related discussion thread debating the merits of Clan ER-Medium-Laser vs other Clan laser choices here:
http://mwomercs.com/...r-med-lasersbad

2. Hellbringer Virago hero with ECM is amonst the best Clan laser builds. And it's got +30% C-Bills bonus!
I myself keep referring to Virago as a reference point for Clan laser mechs.
~Want more lasers + jump jets? Nova Prime NVA-Prime(I). Less protection, but you gain faint Nova laser vomit.
~Want more large lasers for long range sniping? Get Supernova (it's not an omnimech by the way).
~Want PPC sniping? Get Warhawk WHK-Prime(I) or WHK-C.
(If only I can get my grubby hands on that Steam package WHK-C(S), but I digress...)

3. Mad Dog MDD-Prime(I) has arguably the best Clan missile boat build quirks, but it's hiding behind a US$360 paywall (!!!).
(If MWO one day as 50% Off for both Clan Wave I & Clan Wave II, might just jump to buy it!)
Mad Dog Revenant hero comes in as a close (and much more affordable) alternative to MDD-Prime(I) with its good Set-of-8 quirks, but missing AMS imho. The Revenant is "good enough" replacement for MDD-Prime(I) due to massive cost difference.
Finally, should you use Mad Dog Revenant for LRM or ATM, suggest you use that center torso energy hardpoint for TAG! And have you considered slightly more heat-efficient lasers to supplement your (hot) missiles, such as HML (Heavy Medium Laser)? ER-Medium-Laser is too hot and clashes with your heat-generating missile build. Just saying...

Gagis, on 28 February 2021 - 10:58 PM, said:

Virago with 4ERLL is one of the best long range mechs in the game. The mad dog heroes are underwhelming.

Edited by w0qj, 01 March 2021 - 08:01 AM.

[LordNothing]

maddog h is the stronkest mech in my spreadsheets. i got one of the heros but its way down in the nosebleed section.

Samial, on 27 February 2021 - 07:50 PM, said:

I bought the nova cat hero mostly because i have none.

the novacat d is stronk in an almost stock configuration. i think i reduced the tc for more sinks, redistributed the armor, and replaced the lb10 for a cac10. but it caused a massive spike on jarls.

Edited by LordNothing, 01 March 2021 - 11:31 PM.

[Wildstreak]

w0qj, on 01 March 2021 - 07:50 AM, said:

Finally, should you use Mad Dog Revenant for LRM or ATM, suggest you use that center torso energy hardpoint for TAG! And have you considered slightly more heat-efficient lasers to supplement your (hot) missiles, such as HML (Heavy Medium Laser)? ER-Medium-Laser is too hot and clashes with your heat-generating missile build. Just saying...

Best LRMers use high Energy mount for TAG like HBK-4J and HLF-B. Sadly other Missile weapons do it better.

[Ekson Valdez]

Looks like this thread was posted in the wrong section, so I've moved it to Heavy Mech Builds

[panzer1b]

Hellbringer by a long shot. Its one of the best if not the best clam heavy when it comes to high alpha trading purely due to its high mounts, ECM and large quantity of hardpoints 6 of which are basically able to hit more or less whatever you see from the cockpit.

While there is some debate as to teh best loadouts, i find there are 3 reliable approaches to plahying the mech.

1st option is where you load up on stupidly high alpha strike and expose once but make each poke count (preferably be behind the enemy for a nice backstab, or failing that just aim CT as thats usually the best bet). This is usally done with 2HLL+6ERML, a very cheesy build that does 75 dmg all pinpoint, and has enough cooling to keep up in a DPS game to some extent and actually not be 100% screwed unless the enemy is extremely agressive at pushing your position. Alternatively, build ive found recently to work is 1GR+2HLL+4ERML, more alpha and more sustain leveraging dat gauss's heat free DPS, but a bit harder to use in practive due to projectile. These both require fully exposing to clear the left arm, but the sheer damage is usually worth it, and its always possible to partial alpha when exposing would result in too much return fire.

The 2nd and arguably most common configuration involves using the 6 high mounts only, and the common loadouts are 2HLL+4ERML, or 2LPL+4/5ERML. These have still respectable alpha and better sustain then the 1st playstyle allows, but also tend to get shat on in situations when the enemy has good awareness since these have to poke more often and the sad fact is that every time you expose you risk taking damage from something you didnt spot (and loosing your LT is quite common). Im not a huge fan of these myself right now as they just dont cut it against truly skilled players, but if you find yourself playing at odd times when the 12 mans are away, the damage potential is actually a good deal higher (very rare to get 1K in the 75+ alpha builds, breaking 1K against a passive uncoordinated team with the LPL build is very common).

Finally, the most lame imo of the playstyles but still effective if you do it right is the ERLL builds. The 2 most common are 4ERLL on the hero (with the range and heat quirk), or 3ERLL/3/4ERML which is more of a hybrid (ive seen these quite a bit in the last month or so), providing almost as much ERLL capability but with the mid range alpha of the LPL build). The pure ERLL is fairly obvious, just find a relatively safe spot at ~1km and go ham. The other build is a bit more QP friendly, but its just not dedivcated enough for my tastes. Still, it gives you 3ERLL that has low enuff ghost heat to just alpha at 800+m, and for anything closer add the ERMLs and split the ERLL to 2+1 to gain max DPS and more dmg from the ERMLs. That said, it is still mostly a ranged build so dont go out of your way to use the ERMLs if it will result in taking more return fire. There is no excuse to get into sub 300m range when you have 3 ERLLs on the mech.

Anyways, those are the most common things i see, the best and most meta builds involve mixing 2 HLL or 2LPL with 4-6 ERMLs, and stuffing the rest with DHS, possibly a TC if you feel the buold isnt too hot to loose 1 DHS (usually worth it when running 2HLL4ERML, not so much with any more weps). However, if you want to branch out, the mech will do dakka up to 2 UAC10+ECM or even 3UAC5s/4UAC2s without it, 4SRM6A+backup lasers (its a terrible brawler, but it can be done), LRMs (hero arm and ditching ECM gives you 5 hardpoints to play with), ect.

As for the maddog, its really not in a very good place right now. Hitboxes are worse then the HBR (very very easy to isolate, very very prone to loosing STs and no real solid deadside options due to XL penalties). Prolly teh scariest builds involve 6SRM-6s, but those are still too squishy to justify and things like the ACW are faster, and can carry just as many SRMs, and imo they render SRM heavys sorta moot when a fast medium that can evade dmg and flank much easier can carry similirar offensive ability. The unique thing to the MDD hero is the dual UAC20 build, which is solid i will admit, but you still have range limits, are prone to jamming up, and like most short range only builds, very much feast or famine with regards to performance. I wont say i cant reccomend it at all, but for me and my playstyle and based on what ive seen and learned in the game, the MDD is simply not meta and will likely never be meta, so if you want a "reliable" performer that can be effective under 90% of team compositions and maps/gamemodes, get the HBR.