15 replies to this topic

[nanashi0110]

The long-awaited BANE has finally arrived in the STORE!
I couldn't wait for next month's CB sale and bought several.
(I purchased BANE-1/2/3/6/L.)

・Thoughts on all BANEs
I felt it was a very bad MECH, both in a good and bad way.
From the good points. All of the variants were very aggressive and I felt that they had the power to screw you over if you were in a standoff, even if it was against an assault.
Its UFO-like shape is very suitable for hill peaks, and if it can be positioned on a slope, it becomes a very powerful turret.
Bad Points. Everything but the attack performance feels subpar.
Ruthlessly poor hitbox and hardpoint placement. sensitivity of the twist is also poor.
The fact that it is not an omni structure is also a personal negative. Very disappointing.

・BANE-1
A variant with a ballistic 14 HP, which is a jumpy and attractive HP.
I think 14PAC2 is the mainstream. Getting to the right placement is the key to a perfect job.
I honestly don't think there's anything special to mention.
There is one major problem: when you load up a full hardpoint of equipment and fire, the unusual sound of the gunfire destroys your ears.

・BANE-2

BANE-2 was born for 5AC10. second favorite in the BANE series.
I also like the 2HAG40+UAC10 build. I don't think there is anything special about this one either.

・BANE-3
I like this variant the best. But at the same time, it's also the worst.

With both arms full of missiles, you will have perhaps the worst hitbox in the game.
It's a bonus balloon that can be neutralized impossibly easily.

I honestly think this variant needs armor bonuses on both arms and maybe move the missile HP to one or two side torsos.
I found it very bad, to the point of nausea.

Also, I don't know if this is a cLRM issue, this MECH issue, or my PC environment issue, but when I chain fire LRMs or fire 2 groups, the launch sound and missiles fired disappear.
In the worst case, when I try to fire from group 1 to group 2
Sometimes group 1 will fail to fire and group 2 and group 1 will fire at the same time.
(sound and missiles disappear).

・BANE-6

It is the only variant of BANE that has ECM and decent hardpoint placement.
The 10 ballistic HP and 4 energy HP are quite flexible, and the 4AC10+3PC template build feels quite versatile.

・BANE-L

I was excited about the unique system!
I was very disappointed... I thought it was supposed to switch between firing types accordingly, but it always changes.
Well... It's unique; I honestly don't understand the HAG changes, but it's a bit refreshing.
Not a bad variant because it's unique, but it still suffers from the bad body type common to BANE...


That concludes my impressions.
Honestly, I feel that the BANE is made more fragile than it needs to be.
I heard it was implemented as a glass cannon, but even so, it feels inferior except for the power.
And the power doesn't feel commensurate with its current inferior toughness...
This is especially true of the BANE-3. No other MECH has such an inferior hitbox...

[Drenzul]

I prefer the Bane-1 with 10 UAC-2, gives you better long ranged firepower and makes it hard for enemies
to focus fire on a single location.

Bane-3 isn't meant to be on the front line. Its the premium LRM lugger in the game atm. With 130 LRM tubes
you can fire in groups of 65 (3x15 + 1x20 per arm) and enough ammo to never run out in almost any game it
does a wonderful job!

Bane-L with twin AC-20 is nice 500m range on AC-20 and firing a single slugs means you have a lot of pin-point damage
there, great for headshots, with 4 LL to back that up it has a decent amount of hurt to put out and isn't too hot. The main bonus of the ballistic loader is that you get a lot more damage per ton of ammo as well, in addition to it firing a single shot instead of sharing the damage over 3 shots.

Personally I prefer non-omni mechs since it allows you to choose which engine you have + if you have FF/ES. Really irritates me when I have a great Omni build that just needs a slightly different engine size/type or ES/FF and you of course can't fit it.

[The Masked Luchador]

Drenzul, on 23 May 2025 - 12:48 AM, said:

I prefer the Bane-1 with 10 UAC-2, gives you better long ranged firepower and makes it hard for enemies
to focus fire on a single location.

Bane-3 isn't meant to be on the front line. Its the premium LRM lugger in the game atm. With 130 LRM tubes
you can fire in groups of 65 (3x15 + 1x20 per arm) and enough ammo to never run out in almost any game it
does a wonderful job!

Bane-L with twin AC-20 is nice 500m range on AC-20 and firing a single slugs means you have a lot of pin-point damage
there, great for headshots, with 4 LL to back that up it has a decent amount of hurt to put out and isn't too hot. The main bonus of the ballistic loader is that you get a lot more damage per ton of ammo as well, in addition to it firing a single shot instead of sharing the damage over 3 shots.

Personally I prefer non-omni mechs since it allows you to choose which engine you have + if you have FF/ES. Really irritates me when I have a great Omni build that just needs a slightly different engine size/type or ES/FF and you of course can't fit it.

Sounds like some poor setups.

[Ttly]

The Masked Luchador, on 23 May 2025 - 08:34 AM, said:

Sounds like some poor setups.

10C-UAC2 isn't bad at all. As long as it's not the one taking aggro, it can empty 1 ton ammo bins (200 damage each) in like 6-7 seconds or say, 30ish DPS. And it's C-UAC2s so it can come from like 800m range too.
Yes, it's hot. But, you are getting a lot of mileage from your heat bandwidth there.

For the missile variant, with how the hardpoints are located, LRMs are pretty much the best option and it's very much dependent on someone in your team actually knowing how to spot (and keep them spotted) the other team sure, but the obscene tube count carries it.

Leviathan with 2C-UAC20 can dish out some dirty amount of damage too, a lot more pinpoint than the likes of MDD-BA or MDD-C, albeit being slow plus glass armor, and has to play with ghost heat. 2C-AC20 doesn't ghostheat either, unlike the IS one, though you'd just as well be playing a King Crab then.
Just the lack of burstfire makes them a lot more appealing in general.

Edited by Ttly, Yesterday, 11:36 AM.

[Ilfi]

14 PAC2s sounds badass until you realize you're piloting a fatter, slower Longbow that can't peek a corner to save its life. Shame, really.

The 10 UAC2 recommendation actually isn't terrible, it compensates for the terrible hitboxes with range the same way a Dire Wolf wound. Still not cutting edge, but it's novel.

[Drenzul]

The Masked Luchador, on 23 May 2025 - 08:34 AM, said:

Sounds like some poor setups.

My builds are only for sophisticated mechwarriors.

I realise some people may fail to appreciate their greatness

[LordNothing]

il get around to playing the bane-l i got on sale in the store sooner or later, probibly later. il wait for the rest to come out for cbills. hard to get excited for new mechs since its rare they give you something that lets you do something different. especially troublesome when different does not usually mean better. bane was not a meta disrupter and i dont remember the last mech that was.

Drenzul, on 23 May 2025 - 10:21 AM, said:

My builds are only for sophisticated mechwarriors.

I realise some people may fail to appreciate their greatness

my builds are for lunatics.

[TELEFORCE]

I bought the Leviathan since it was on sale using the MC I got from the events. So far I'm really enjoying it, even if I'm not doing as well in it as my Dire Wolves. I'm too used to corner poking and not hill humping.

I feel like it has a few builds going for it, but I'm not sure I'll ever like how the HAGs feel on it. It kinda feels like I'm spewing hypersonic confetti at my targets.

[Drenzul]

TELEFORCE, on 23 May 2025 - 03:21 PM, said:

I bought the Leviathan since it was on sale using the MC I got from the events. So far I'm really enjoying it, even if I'm not doing as well in it as my Dire Wolves. I'm too used to corner poking and not hill humping.

I feel like it has a few builds going for it, but I'm not sure I'll ever like how the HAGs feel on it. It kinda feels like I'm spewing hypersonic confetti at my targets.

Yeah I didn't like the HAG build. The 2xAC20 build works quite nicely however.
Main annoyance is NOT shooting the terrain/mech to the side of you with how wide it is.

[Akhri Mala]

I like bad builds.

I'm running 9 LBX2s in my Bane-1.

[Drenzul]

Akhri Mala, on 23 May 2025 - 04:32 PM, said:

I like bad builds.

I'm running 9 LBX2s in my Bane-1.

Kerensky knows your sins!

[LordNothing]

put 20 games on my bane-l last night. really like the single slug uac20s. i think i got 5 one hits in one session, a couple against lights. people seem ignorant to the fact that they just ate 80 damage and i haven't fired my four plasma cannons yet.

[GuardDogg]

Out of the pack of Bane's. Although it looks powerful, finding the Bane-3 the most difficult mech to use, but been lucky twice. One for LRMs, and second for SRMs (not streaks). Unable to get locks, and can be one of the mechs to bring down when noticed. My fav's are the: Bane-2, -6, -7.

[TELEFORCE]

I'm trying HAGs again on Leviathan. I'm not clear as to whether the LBX spread skill affects them. But so far it seems HAGs are extremely weak on Leviathan. I'm not sure what the benefit is to them being rapid-fire silver bullet Gauss.

[nanashi0110]

Drenzul, on 23 May 2025 - 12:48 AM, said:

I prefer the Bane-1 with 10 UAC-2, gives you better long ranged firepower and makes it hard for enemies
to focus fire on a single location.

Bane-3 isn't meant to be on the front line. Its the premium LRM lugger in the game atm. With 130 LRM tubes
you can fire in groups of 65 (3x15 + 1x20 per arm) and enough ammo to never run out in almost any game it
does a wonderful job!

Bane-L with twin AC-20 is nice 500m range on AC-20 and firing a single slugs means you have a lot of pin-point damage
there, great for headshots, with 4 LL to back that up it has a decent amount of hurt to put out and isn't too hot. The main bonus of the ballistic loader is that you get a lot more damage per ton of ammo as well, in addition to it firing a single shot instead of sharing the damage over 3 shots.

Personally I prefer non-omni mechs since it allows you to choose which engine you have + if you have FF/ES. Really irritates me when I have a great Omni build that just needs a slightly different engine size/type or ES/FF and you of course can't fit it.

Actually, I don't think it's bad as far as power goes. But is the hitbox and feel commensurate? I just shake my head when I say...

Ttly, on 23 May 2025 - 08:42 AM, said:

10C-UAC2 isn't bad at all. As long as it's not the one taking aggro, it can empty 1 ton ammo bins (200 damage each) in like 6-7 seconds or say, 30ish DPS. And it's C-UAC2s so it can come from like 800m range too.
Yes, it's hot. But, you are getting a lot of mileage from your heat bandwidth there.

For the missile variant, with how the hardpoints are located, LRMs are pretty much the best option and it's very much dependent on someone in your team actually knowing how to spot (and keep them spotted) the other team sure, but the obscene tube count carries it.

Leviathan with 2C-UAC20 can dish out some dirty amount of damage too, a lot more pinpoint than the likes of MDD-BA or MDD-C, albeit being slow plus glass armor, and has to play with ghost heat. 2C-AC20 doesn't ghostheat either, unlike the IS one, though you'd just as well be playing a King Crab then.
Just the lack of burstfire makes them a lot more appealing in general.

UAC2dakka was quite powerful. Sometimes it cried luck, but more often than not it was the opponent that cried.
I think BANE-3 will be ATM or LRMbort because of its too inferior hitbox, but I think it will still cry hitbox.
But I like this variant the best. It's a pleasure to be able to hit so many LRMs.
The 2UAC20 build of BANE-L is honestly useless... Too much downtime and very difficult to manage heat. If I had to do it, I'd go with 2AC20.

TELEFORCE, on 23 May 2025 - 03:21 PM, said:

I bought the Leviathan since it was on sale using the MC I got from the events. So far I'm really enjoying it, even if I'm not doing as well in it as my Dire Wolves. I'm too used to corner poking and not hill humping.

I feel like it has a few builds going for it, but I'm not sure I'll ever like how the HAGs feel on it. It kinda feels like I'm spewing hypersonic confetti at my targets.

I really don't know what BANE-L's HAG is doing. My friend says the RoF on the bursts are supposed to be better... I can't tell the difference.

GuardDogg, on 24 May 2025 - 01:01 PM, said:

Out of the pack of Bane's. Although it looks powerful, finding the Bane-3 the most difficult mech to use, but been lucky twice. One for LRMs, and second for SRMs (not streaks). Unable to get locks, and can be one of the mechs to bring down when noticed. My fav's are the: Bane-2, -6, -7.

I think BANE-2 and -3 are easy for me.
BANE-2 5AC10 has a very good punch. It is a true glass cannon.
BANE-3 8LB15 is the only build that can fight without exposing a poor hitbox. I would position it on the front line or side and missile shower it though.

[TELEFORCE]

I've found a few configurations for Leviathan I've enjoyed using:

• 2x UAC/10, 4x Heavy Large Laser
  
• 2x UAC/20, 2x Heavy Large Laser, 2x ER Large Laser
  
• 2x AC/20, 2x ERPPC

Trigger discipline is really needed for the dual UAC/20 configurations to prevent ghost heat. Otherwise they put out a lot of damage in a short time. I probably get more KMDDs with the UAC/20 than with any other 'mech I've played, but the damage per game is low because it doesn't take much for me to core a target, then get cored myself But I've managed to core 2-3 targets per game to my one death.