11 replies to this topic

[AllOuttaBubbleGum]

Hello,
I've been on hiatus for probably two years. What's the current meta?

[Leone]

Shoot the things! shoot all the things, with the weapons!

Umm, we've actually just gone through a weapon rebalancing so the meta's still a bit up in the air, so far as I know. However, personally I've found streaks and atms not worth the weight anymore. Strictly srms or mrms for missiles. Medium pulse and medium lasers are still the sweet spot for me, though snub nose ppcs've gotten pretty nifty of late. Also Racs. If you can. Paired rac 5s are a blast. And if you're IS and you're not using your missile hardpoints, feel free to spend half a tonne on a rocket pod. Their fun. Probably not meta though.

~Leone.

Edited by Leone, 12 May 2021 - 05:28 PM.

[AllOuttaBubbleGum]

Thank you Leone.

[Ludo22]

I came back about a month ago after about a two year break as well. Energy weapons have gotten better with the latest update. As a result we are seeing a big increase in long range weapons. I feel like every map I get hammered with LRMs and PPCs. You'll see alot of light mech snipers with jump jets and PPCs engaging from close to 1,000m. Gauss has gotten better. There are a few builds running around now with 4 light gauss rifles that are becoming increasingly common.

Edited by Ludo22, 14 May 2021 - 07:46 PM.

[D V Devnull]

Ludo22, on 12 May 2021 - 07:23 PM, said:

Gauss has gotten better. There are a few builds running around now with 4 light gauss rifles that are becoming increasingly common.

Hi there... I've fixed your "Gaus" spelling of Gauss in my Quote of you by adding an "s" in each occurrence as to simply make it more readable for other people. No offense intended, alright?


That said... I should note that even if Multi-LGR (Light Gauss Rifle) Builds start becoming a common thing, it will just as quickly become something that people have to hesitate on using again. All it takes is one (or two) really pesky Light-Class Mech(s) getting in behind that LGR Mech's user — and causing a bunch of Critical Hit Explosions in the Mech during battle — to render a Multi-LGR Build as being a meaningless attempt by (and potentially detrimental to) the Mech Pilot and their Team on the battlefields. Therefore it's probably safe to say (at least in my opinion, anyway) that no worry is needed, as these Multi-LGR Builds should ultimately balance out in the aftermath, and calm down from their current prevalence.


~D. V. "Don't Panic... Those various LGR Builds' presence are equally likely to simmer back down." Devnull

[justcallme A S H]

As Leone said - the META is up in the air.

However what is good - everything. The weapons balance pass has brought many, many malingering weapons up to spec with the top 4-5 performers.

So you can now run brawl, midrange, long range and pick the weapons that suit and so well with all of it as opposed to it often being mediocre save for select useage.

Right now I'm playing with everything from

• 5-6x cLPL
  
• SnubPPC/AC20
  
• IS/Clan mid-range laser vom.
  
• Gauss/Laser
  
• Clan ACs (single pallet AC5s are niiiice)

It is all great fun and all completely viable again.

[Vamboozle]

Since I returned from a multi year break I’ve found the following:

- on an IS assault I’ve found either 2xRAC5 or 2xRAC2 + 2xLBX2 combos both effective and fun

- on Clan lights & mediums a mixture of C Heavy Mediium Lasers and C-LMGs can cause havoc

- LRMs are hit & miss (pun intended). Depending on the opposition I’m either doing 800+ or 200- damage

- never been a PPC fan but the snub nosed ones are quite handy

- Gauss I really don’t get on with (never have) but it’s an issue between chair and keyboard. I have seen them used very effectively.

[TheCaptainJZ]

Vamboozle, on 13 May 2021 - 03:54 AM, said:

- LRMs are hit & miss (pun intended). Depending on the opposition I’m either doing 800+ or 200- damage

Experienced this in a few matches recently. One match-900 damage. Match before-200. Same map and mode. Difference was the teams and AMS shield.

[ScrapIron Prime]

Yeah, as noted, the thing that will wreck you the most at the moment is triple Snub PPC's. In the latest patch, the heat went down and you can fire 3 now before ghost heat. they're just TOO good not to boat, with larger mechs combining them with big autocannons for the win.

Otherwise, pop-tarting is still the thing to do with Vapor Eagles (and I guess other mechs, but VE's reign supreme). Missiles are less of a thing because AMS got a ammo/heat buff.

[AllOuttaBubbleGum]

Nice comments. Thanks All. I did a couple of drops in my blood asp (2xLBX20 and 4xmed pulse) and i was surprisingly effective.

[The Basilisk]

For me the realignment of MRM stream times and AC20 spec projectile speeds where the biggest positive changes.
Even formerly problematic mechs like the Atlas and Zeuss variants are now surprisingly hard hitting due to very concentrated dmg from RAC and multiple smal count MRMs. Zeuss 3 MRM20 and some MLAs...Atlas with 3-4 MRM10 and a combo of RAC5and 2.
Also every other mech with multiple hardpoints to create Walls of fire.

[Dekallis]

Since everyone is a IS user apparently I'll cover more of the clan stuff.

AC's not UAC's but normal AC's actually have a reason to be used now, as they use fewer pellets per shot than their UAC counterparts making it easier to put all that damage on one spot.

Heavy lasers have gotten slightly better(Shorter face time required and better cool downs a couple got dmg buffs) though their heat output is still rough to deal with. ER lasers have generally had their heat reduced, making a lot of builds far more viable than they were before.

ATM's got nerfed and aren't as brutal at close range but are more damaging at long range compared to before making them essentially Clan MRM's(except they can lock on and AMS doesn't delete them). Also missile health got tweaked so ATM's can push through AMS better than other missiles this is the real reason to use them now and I would recommend mixing ATM and LRM for missile builds so you can force some damage through heavy AMS teams(I recently killed a corsair with all 3 of it's AMS using a Nova Cat-B with LRM/ATM config) Basically either the AMS takes longer killing the ATMs so your LRMs get in or they're occupied with the LRMs and your ATMs get in due to having more health per missile than LRMs.ATM's are actually the beefiest missiles in the game now in missile health so AMS has to actually work abit to deal with them instead of instantly deleting them from existence.It seems to be difficult for AMS to deal with mixed missile volleys for that reason.

SRMs got some odd missile health tweaks smaller SRM2's have the most missile health while srm6's have the same health as LRMs overall it's an increase across the board though. Streaks are in a weird spot, they got their dmg reduced to 1.5 but cool down and heat also got reduced so you can fire more often. making them less bursty all or nothing weapons and more dps weapons.

Speaking of AMS Laser AMS doesnt melt your mech anymore and mechs that can run 3 can actually do so without fear of their own ams overheating them(I have a nova that runs triple LAMS with 6 heavy medium lasers and it can actually survive without melting itself though it does take a bit for heat to dissipate with the LAMS firing but it DOES at least still dissipate)

Most ballistic weapons got a velocity buff meaning less guess work on how much target leading you need to do.LBX had their spread reduced and it's Niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiice.(i run 2 LBX10's and twin UAC10's on a MadkatMK2 and it eats smaller mechs alive while shredding bigger mech armor and critting internals even at midrange.)

Gauss got a range and velocity buff which is why they're becoming popular at the moment they got much easier to use and can actually do full damage from ranges you should be using gauss.Also their hitpoints got buffed across the board(except light gauss) so they don't immediately explode as soon as you lose armor.
Light gauss will probably be around to stay but probably not in quad guass config. more likely we'll see a shift to two Light Gauss rifles with PPC's or large lasers as they no longer share the heat penalty with long range weapon systems allowing you to run two ppcs and two light gauss and really hammer someone from long range for 40dmg. that's a decent punch for a sniper mech and you avoid most heat/ammo issues, just nothing small or quick can actually run it. but i expect to see something like 2PPC+Light Gauss combos become common 'sniper' builds at least for IS since there's no such thing as a 'Light Gauss' for Clans.

On the upside light gauss still explodes if you so much as tap it with basically any weapon system so would be snipers need to take care to protect their gauss or they're really easy to disarm.Example I tried the twin PPC twin gauss setup on a fafnir....It works.....right up untill people actually shoot at your exceptionally wide body.

EDIT: Forgot consumables got nerfed too, Arty strike is now 5dmg per volley instead of 15 Airstrike is 10. so the dreaded arty strike is nowhere near as dangerous as it used to be, and is more an area denial tool that's only really scary if you stand in it like a fool. Airstrike however can still hurt quite a bit but is pretty all or nothing because it's over so quickly.

Edited by Dekallis, 14 May 2021 - 11:18 AM.