91 replies to this topic

[Dekallis]

I'm curious what the worst mechs in the game are, I've almost always played underused mechs so i'm no stranger to "Bad" mechs.Hatamoto and Zeus are mechs I've been using recently, and found neither are as bad as people said they were. Hatamoto got 'buffs' recently but that really doesn't change the builds it can use so i feel like it's a mech that was very usable that people just didn't want to use because they felt like they had to build for the quirks and that wasn't optimal.

Now personally I've always maintained that the dragon is a bad mech...despite occasionally trying to use it and the fact I actually like it as an idea just not the practical reality of it

So I'm curious what are the worst mechs in the game? Why? And most importantly is there anyone who's managed to make these mechs work? I may even try some for myself because I like a challenge and figuring out what to build on a 'bad mech' is like trying to solving a puzzle which...might not have an actual answer.

[Bassault]

Kintaro is pretty bad, Osiris is quite bad too.

[Meep Meep]

There are far too many 'bad' mechs to list because every class and type has useless or suboptimal variants. Cauldron could tweak away for another decade and not fix them all because some are simply too awful to fix with xml stat changes and gigaquirks and need new or changed hardpoints or geometry fixes neither of which are going to happen.

[martian]

CTF-4X Cataphract used to be a real powerhouse ... and now you barely see it in the game.

[Dekallis]

martian, on 08 October 2022 - 12:19 PM, said:

CTF-4X Cataphract used to be a real powerhouse ... and now you barely see it in the game.

Oh wow I forgot about that.
I remember the problem with the ctaphract being how easy it was to headshot it by accident. Like...Litterally.Even post headshot hit box nerfs it's still a mech that gets it's cockpit shot out just by hitting the CT. I don' think I've ever piloted one myself but I do remember shooting ct a lot and getting instakills on them.
I suppose the problem there is your build doesn't really matter when you're playing russian roulette with every CT hit you take.

[DaZur]

The worst mechs?

Usually whatever I'm piloting at any given moment...

[Alex Morgaine]

martian, on 08 October 2022 - 12:19 PM, said:

CTF-4X Cataphract used to be a real powerhouse ... and now you barely see it in the game.

70 tons with a max 255 engine and the ballistic slots are low hanging gorilla arms, with the rest in CT energy and head missile barely used mech? noooooo

*silently weeps next to his 4X trying to engineer something decent*

Edited by Alex Morgaine, 08 October 2022 - 12:54 PM.

[Kanil]

I feel like a quad AC/5 CTF-4X Cataphract would be solidly "Zeus bad" rather than "Spider bad". That is to say good enough for QP, despite obvious flaws.

I think heavy and assault 'mechs would not qualify for "worst", at some point you have enough tonnage for guns that you can ruin people's days even with terrible hit boxes and awkward loadouts.

Edited by Kanil, 08 October 2022 - 01:31 PM.

[JediPanther]

spider 5v
is jenners
any lct minus pb and the 1e
raven 2x,4x
pnts except kk

So many useless under gunned mechs or horrible weapon placement.

[Magnus Santini]

There has been a fluctuation over time based on buffs and nerfs on a lot of mechs. The usual cycle was that a mech was released unintentionally too good, then nerfed after the playerbase howled that it was just too effective or even PTW. Subsequent rare quirk passes sometimes dramatically changed the quality of a mech. But that change could be invisible to most players because it evaded the mass scrutiny of a new mech. Some mechs got nerfed/buffed because they were problematic at high or low tier play which was of course puzzling to any players who were not seeing those results. Unless you read and remember all the patch notes, it is hard to rate them so closely. But nevertheless my answer is likely to be post-nerf Cicada.

[chaosshade2638]

Most people will jump on Zeus and Awesome because of their god-awful hit-boxes despite their amazing mounts/quirks. Ice Ferret is pretty bad in my experience, it's got bad hit-boxes and really light armor plus a serious lack of hardpoints and tonnage.

Edited by chaosshade2638, 08 October 2022 - 02:45 PM.

[TheCaptainJZ]

Commandos except the 2D because it was gifted ECM.
Jenners mainly because they're too big.
Trebuchets.
Firestarter is ok-ish but too large.
Panthers are one trick ponies but quirked into relevance if you like the one way to play them.
Spiders don't have the hardpoints to be threatening.
Griffins are too big. Some people found ways to use certain variants but they used to be superior tanky mechs that could twist to take incoming fire like the Centurion.
Enforcer 5P.
I've never played them but Ice Ferrets seem bad because all their weapons are on the arms and easy to hit. They've been quirked since release. I always thought it was a bit of an ugly mech though.
Uziel is up there.
Vindicator.
Wolverine has the same issues as the Griffin.

Maybe these aren't as bad nowadays but I don't see them often or they just are pretty limited in how they play. I haven't played all of them and certainly not all recently.

[crazytimes]

There not much left that no one plays, because the real bad ones have been quirked a lot in the last year or so.

The meta shifts a bit, but sometimes mechs just don't get played much because they aren't or never were fashionable. The Vapor Eagle went from 2-6 every match to almost never seen- but it wasn't really nerfed or replaced. The builds still work- 2 or 3 PPC, ATM 24-27, SRM24A + LBX20 - but very rarely seen in the wild.

Most chassis are viable if you build it sensibly and have some degree of playing ability. I run an Ice ferret with 3 ERML + 1 HLL that works, it's one of my better performing mechs currently. It's not a great build, but it's viable, and pretty happy because I only bought it as a meme at the time.

Linebackers are super rare in the wild now as well- can't remember the last I saw. Again, not really nerfed or replaced, just not trendy any more.

[CFC Conky]

DaZur, on 08 October 2022 - 12:51 PM, said:

The worst mechs?

Usually whatever I'm piloting at any given moment...

You beat me to it!

Good hunting,
CFC Conky

[VeeOt Dragon]

honestly i don't think there are any truly "Bad" mechs. there are some variants that are worse than others but that just makes people do odd **** with them, something that is always good to see. most people call out something like the Kintaro or Treb but the Kintaro is fast enough to make a good missile skirmisher with some SRMs or MRMs with Ml backup. the Treb can make a nasty LRM boat if played right (also bring ML backup). i think the only truly bad mech would be the Spider 5V because it only has 2energy points and they are both in the CT limiting you to either a single LL or 2 MLs (or something like that)

Edited by VeeOt Dragon, 12 October 2022 - 01:25 AM.

[ScrapIron Prime]

For most folks, a "bad" mech is one with unforgiving geometry. Either the mech is too large for the amount of punishment it can take (Griffin, Jenner) or the hitboxes make it so that rolling damage is darn near impossible (Uziel). Still others hate hardpoint locations, such as having low mounts, widely spread mounts, or both.

That said, there are builds you can do with most of these mechs, its just that other mechs have a lot easier time with the same builds. The Zeus, for example, has some great builds available to it, but to thrive with one you need to dead-side shield and torso twist like a BOSS, and there are just easier mechs to do that in.

[jjm1]

Osiris-1V is mad good IMO.

Just recently bought my first Kintaro and proceeded to wedge five SRM-6s and ammo up against an XL. Actually not too bad, if the enemy team isn't sniping or lurming or laser vomiting or also in SRM bombers or lights, or brawler assaults.

The other variants probably do suck.

[ScrapIron Prime]

jjm1, on 10 October 2022 - 08:11 AM, said:

Osiris-1V is mad good IMO.

Just recently bought my first Kintaro and proceeded to wedge five SRM-6s and ammo up against an XL. Actually not too bad, if the enemy team isn't sniping or lurming or laser vomiting or also in SRM bombers or lights, or brawler assaults.

The other variants probably do suck.

The only Kintaro variant I run is a specialist... a medium mech designed to escort a slow assault, shoot what it shoots, and guard it with 300m Seismic sensors and tear up any light mech that shows up for lunch.

https://mwo.nav-alph...88d456f7_KTO-19

Apart from that, I've found that other mechs in the tonnage range can do things a bit better.

[Volume]

Dekallis, on 08 October 2022 - 11:41 AM, said:

snip

Triple UAC2 DRG-5N can be pretty good.
Quirks and CT armor/structure boosts help the Dragon a lot. It used to suck way worse. But you can actually kinda make decent builds with it, depending on the variant.

TheCaptainJZ, on 08 October 2022 - 02:55 PM, said:

I've never played them but Ice Ferrets seem bad because all their weapons are on the arms and easy to hit. They've been quirked since release. I always thought it was a bit of an ugly mech though.
Uziel is up there.
Vindicator.

Ice Ferret is the only chassis that I renamed "NEVER AGAIN" - I only leveled it for extremely fast capturing in faction scouting (a game mode removed from the game, btw) - the fridge is just awful in almost everything I tried to do with it. I think the build that I sucked the least in was 4 HML and an SRM6 or something like that, can't remember honestly.

Uziel isn't awful. I have a 6MPL one with XL300 that was a great skirmisher. I haven't played it in a long time, admittedly.

Vindicator, depending on the variant, can be carried by its quirks. V1X has a missile cooldown quirk that really boosts the MRM40, for example. Very high armor and toughness for a medium, decent maneuverability. I don't think it's awful. Definitely off-meta, but not unplayable.

Then again, even the EXE-A is playable in the right hands, so...

[ScrapIron Prime]

Volume, on 11 October 2022 - 09:26 AM, said:

Uziel isn't awful. I have a 6MPL one with XL300 that was a great skirmisher. I haven't played it in a long time, admittedly.

You're braver than I am, then. In my experience, an Uziel with an XL engine dies pretty fast. Its hard to miss those barrel shaped side torsos.