6 replies to this topic

[The Waargh]

Hey guys - Just got back into MWO two months ago after a 10 year break...Yeah I bought into the first packages when it came out, decided it wasn't at all to my liking (despite blowing 80 euro on it at the time) as it wasn't anything like MW4, but my brother-in-law got me playing recently and I'm having such a blast now

Aaanywho, I'm looking for some light mechs with high dps builds...Currently I'm running an Osiris 1P with about 23 dps (not sustained)...What other alternatives are out there..? I still have about 12k MC left to play with...

[Edit] Apparently it was a 12 year break, I can see on my profile that I got my first 20k MC when I bought a founders package in october 2012

Edited by Daffy, 17 March 2024 - 08:27 AM.

[ScrapIron Prime]

Well, first bit of advice... this coming Tuesday is patch day and they're releasing lots of new weapons. The MagShot and AP Gauss weapons are 1/2 ton ballistics for IS and Clan respectively. They're going to change the math on light mechs. So I'd hold off any MC purchases until after the community has a little more data on them.

[Void Angel]

Welcome back! You looking for Lights, or Heavies? For Lights, you have two general options that will have broad viability as you level up your tier: skirmish poke, and facetime. Facetime Lights are nasty little things like my Locust 1V, or a Piranha. There's also a 14HMG Adder loyalty variant that should be available for MC, and later c-bills, in a few months.

It bears mentioning, however, that high mounts are highly prized for 'mechs of all sizes, and particularly for Lights, as it grants them much-improved survivability. The Incubus, for example, has very high mounts and can field a number of skirmish and facetime builds.

For Heavies, If you're going for pure DPS, try the Jaegermech, Crusader, or Sun Spider. The Sun Spider D, for example, can push out a ton of dakka, and ridge-peeking dakka is generally what the Jaegermech does (just bear in mind that its hitboxes make it fragile.) And since you're looking to spend MC, the Crael is an automatic focus target on the battlefield - and a Knife-Fight Brawler par excellence.

[The Waargh]

ScrapIron Prime, on 16 March 2024 - 11:17 AM, said:

Well, first bit of advice... this coming Tuesday is patch day and they're releasing lots of new weapons. The MagShot and AP Gauss weapons are 1/2 ton ballistics for IS and Clan respectively. They're going to change the math on light mechs. So I'd hold off any MC purchases until after the community has a little more data on them.

Super good point, honestly I'd wait for a 50% sale before I used any MC, but forgot to mention that in the first post...I have no experience with the timeframes on new gear coming into the game in regards to how long it takes for the meta to change, any idea if we're talking days, weeks or months..?

Void Angel, on 16 March 2024 - 11:19 AM, said:

Welcome back! You looking for Lights, or Heavies? For Lights, you have two general options that will have broad viability as you level up your tier: skirmish poke, and facetime. Facetime Lights are nasty little things like my Locust 1V, or a Piranha. There's also a 14HMG Adder loyalty variant that should be available for MC, and later c-bills, in a few months.

It bears mentioning, however, that high mounts are highly prized for 'mechs of all sizes, and particularly for Lights, as it grants them much-improved survivability. The Incubus, for example, has very high mounts and can field a number of skirmish and facetime builds.

For Heavies, If you're going for pure DPS, try the Jaegermech, Crusader, or Sun Spider. The Sun Spider D, for example, can push out a ton of dakka, and ridge-peeking dakka is generally what the Jaegermech does (just bear in mind that its hitboxes make it fragile.) And since you're looking to spend MC, the Crael is an automatic focus target on the battlefield - and a Knife-Fight Brawler par excellence.

I came in here specifically for light mech builds...I assume the norm for new players is to go heavy or assault, but while I'm new to MWO I've got way to many hours of World of Tanks, where I primarily play super fast mediums or lights so I can zip around the battlefield...I feel mobility allows me to sway the results way more than big phat gauss rifles or heavy armour...

[Edit] Ok fair enough, I'm grabbing the crusader next time it goes on sale

Edited by Daffy, 16 March 2024 - 11:27 AM.

[Void Angel]

The meta will change as soon as the new weapons drop - to a certain degree. How much is uncertain until the changes hash out, but that's starting to happen Tuesday next. It'll probably take weeks to a month to stabilize.

The reason people are asking you about Heavies is that you asked for DPS Heavy builds in the title. =)

Edited by Void Angel, 16 March 2024 - 01:42 PM.

[MechWarrior5782621]

With lights, you could also try high-alpha builds because they have the mobility to fire an alpha strike and then duck behind cover while they cool down.

If you do want high DPS, some of the best are a Firestarter with 8 small pulse lasers, or a Mist Lynx with 8 machine guns and a couple lasers as well (I don't remember the exact meta build, but you get the idea). Of course, with a mech like that you really need to pick your spots, because it needs face time to deal its damage, and it's not the most durable mech. You could also do heavy machine guns + lasers on either of the hero Firestarters.

For other weight classes - to start with, you should familiarize yourself with the new weapons & updated quirks since you've been gone (there are a lot). Frankly, IS mechs have a lot more options: more quirks, more chassis, more weapons than clan. Assaults are the exception because clan XL engines are a significant advantage over IS engines, and the tonnage reduction becomes even more pronounced in the assault weight class.

The KDK-3 has reemerged as a meta mech, the build is 4AC10 + 1cERPPC (no ghost heat). The Stone Rhino has some great ballistic loadouts as well, it can even take 4LB20's, and it has essentially rendered the Dire Wolf obsolete.

HTM-27W with 3AC5 (and I forget what else) is another meta mech, and the small laser Charger. The 4UAC5 CP-S is another high DPS IS assault that doesn't feel too sluggish to keep up in today's meta.

For heavies, high DPS isn't really the meta right now for the most part. One exception is the 6SRM6 CPLT-A1. You could also boat SRM's on a SMN-G, or try some kind of ballistic build depending on your playstyle. The Crusader is a great suggestion.

For meds, the 4SRM6 hero Trebuchet is very strong imo. Also the 2RAC5 BSW-P2. For clans, the Viper is the clear favorite among the comp/meta community. The SRM Scaleshot is the best option, and the others with machine guns + lasers are also very strong. Many of the other clan meds have been left behind by the relentless march of progress. The Arctic Wolf is still pretty good. The Dervish is better as a 2MRM30 poptart than a pure DPS SRM mech.

[Void Angel]

The Dire Wolf can still hang with the Stone Rhino - just having ECM available is an advantage to that chassis. But then, on the other hand I do love Stumbles. I also find that there is definitely a Place for Heavies running DPS; it doesn't all have to be just poke builds and sniper rigs.

I have to disagree somewhat about the variability of Clan builds versus the Inner Sphere. It's true that there are a lot more chassis - but this is generally because the Inner Sphere has no Omnimechs. The number of weapons is greater for the Inner Sphere. The Clan tech base has 19 Ballistic, 15 Energy, and 15 Missile options - the Inner Sphere fields 20 Ballistic, 20 Energy, and 18 Missile weapons available - some might point out that practically no one uses Rocket Launchers, but they're still an option, so we're counting them.

The Clan ability to swap hardpoints around to optimize weapon loadouts and placement is often underestimated, however. The reason that Inner Sphere 'mechs have so many quirks is that those quirks were necessary to boost all but a handful of Battlemechs to relevance. Even today, if you took the Clan tech base and put it up against the Inner Sphere without quirks on either side... Clantech would slaughter the opposition. The difference is more than just the extremely space- and/or tonnage-efficient weapons; it's also the ability to swap out omnipods to dramatically increase your options with a single "variant" of the same Clan 'mech.

Even at the Medium level, too - no Inner Sphere 'mech can match the Black Lanner's combination of speed and firepower. There are a couple of IS 'mechs that could match the engine speed, but none I can think of mount MASC, and none of them have the options for the kind of light-weight weaponry that runs the above build. This isn't an "ZOMG Narf Teh KLANSE!" argument - I just think that the emergent flexibility of having so many light-weight and space-efficient options does a lot to offset the Inner Sphere advantage in weaponry.