37 replies to this topic

[Frakk Zarah]

A brawler is a mech that can stand ground in a close range fight, take up the damage and the heat and deal back some serious punch.

Hunchbacks, Centurions and Cats are not brawlers. They are strikers. They hit and run cause they will break in no-time if they stand in a serious close range fight.

Having said that, Atlas with a medium/close range loadout makes the best brawler. No XL engines (they tend to reduce survivability) and the loadout must be quite heat efficient cause you want to deal constant damage without overheating. Awesomes and Cataphracts make descent brawlers too, although Cataphracts tend to break a bit faster if you are not careful enough.

My favourite brawling build during these days is my AS7-D-DC with 2 LLs, 3 SSRMs and an AC/20. 22-23 heatsinks (if you decide to strip some armor from the legs) ensure that you can deal constant damage by alternating between AC/20 and the 2 LLs without overheating very often, although you need to be careful and not overdo it. The 3 SSRMs are very helpful to deal with those annoying cockroaches and bugs that tend to scratch your back, especially now that we don't have yet collisions in the game and the lag shield makes the bugs immune to ballistics and SRMs.

Usual tactics with this mech is to advance by firing your Large Lasers, deliver a few SSRM salvos once within range and finish your opponent with a large bang from your AC/20 in close range where you can ensure it won't miss. AC/20 tends to be quite inaccurate against moving opponents and medium range so better save your precious ammo when you are certain it will hit. Or at least until they fix the bug with the ballistics.

PS: Now I realise btw why sometimes Hunchbacks and Centurions die so easily on my hands. They think they are brawlers

[TostitoBandito]

Any Atlas variant. It's not a brawler if it's not an assault mech, and the awesome is too vulnerable to get in close like that. Not to mention the Atlas has a better array of hardpoints.

Edited by TostitoBandito, 24 November 2012 - 09:16 PM.

[DogmeatX]

In terms of what makes me go "erk" when rounding a corner or something and running into one, it has to be the Atlas. Just about the only chassis that makes me pause mentally for a moment if I'm going in to attack with my hunchie...

[Wildhound]

To be honest, the Atlas is one of my favourite targets in a 4SP. But only if it has no support.

[PlzDie]

Wildhound, on 25 November 2012 - 12:12 AM, said:

To be honest, the Atlas is one of my favourite targets in a 4SP. But only if it has no support.

Same here I have put plenty Atlases down in my Yen Low Wang it is configured for close range, I am still not going to stand still in front of an Atlas but I still don't strike run and strike again I stay in the fight until one of us goes down.

[MrLiNcH]

No love for the DRG?

I run a DRG-1C with a downgraded engine so I can run with full armor and heavier armament, which is what I would consider a brawler to have.

UAC-5, MLAS, MPLAS, SRM6. I'm not quite the striker you're talking about at 60kph, but I'm definitely not an assault either. I can get up close in battles and take some heat before having to back off. Plenty of damage done and assists.

[GhostofBG]

Jenner. Hunchback-level armor, respectable armament, ludicrous speeds, and no-skill lag shields.

[DeltaDagger]

I agree with Frakk about the definition of a brawler. For what it's worth, anyway, my Hunchie 4SP with 2 SRM6 + Artemis, 3 ML does more damage/match than my Atlas. Once again, it's how you use it: Hunchies are strikers.

Edited by DeltaDagger, 25 November 2012 - 11:11 AM.

[Plepis]

Frakk Zarah, on 24 November 2012 - 08:36 PM, said:

A brawler is a mech that can stand ground in a close range fight, take up the damage and the heat and deal back some serious punch.

[...]

My favourite brawling build during these days is my AS7-D-DC with 2 LLs, 3 SSRMs and an AC/20. 22-23 heatsinks (if you decide to strip some armor from the legs) ensure that you can deal constant damage by alternating between AC/20 and the 2 LLs without overheating very often, although you need to be careful and not overdo it. The 3 SSRMs are very helpful to deal with those annoying cockroaches and bugs that tend to scratch your back, especially now that we don't have yet collisions in the game and the lag shield makes the bugs immune to ballistics and SRMs.

Thank you, this is pretty much the mindset i was hoping for on this thread... That is exactly the definition of a "brawler" on my mind. Talking it over with a couple friends and even seeing the majority of posts in this thread so far, i've noticed people honestly think that when a fight's happening around two *proper* brawlers duking it out, all mechs that jump in there are brawlers cause they are helping the big kids shoot each other.

As to your build, i was curious: Ever considered using other ballistic combinations other than the AC/20? the way i see it, if you miss a shot that's a 20dmg, whereas if you pack, say, 2 ac/5's or even 2 ac/2's, missing that shot won't feel as hurting on your DPS. considering one of the features of a proper brawling mech is staying power as far as heat goes, sounds a bit safer, if albeit a bit slower to feel that punch being packed

[AllOuttaBubbleGum]

Plepis, on 25 November 2012 - 04:28 PM, said:

Thank you, this is pretty much the mindset i was hoping for on this thread... That is exactly the definition of a "brawler" on my mind. Talking it over with a couple friends and even seeing the majority of posts in this thread so far, i've noticed people honestly think that when a fight's happening around two *proper* brawlers duking it out, all mechs that jump in there are brawlers cause they are helping the big kids shoot each other.

As to your build, i was curious: Ever considered using other ballistic combinations other than the AC/20? the way i see it, if you miss a shot that's a 20dmg, whereas if you pack, say, 2 ac/5's or even 2 ac/2's, missing that shot won't feel as hurting on your DPS. considering one of the features of a proper brawling mech is staying power as far as heat goes, sounds a bit safer, if albeit a bit slower to feel that punch being packed

After reading some advice in these forums I traded two AC5's for one AC20 and two srm6's(grouped together).. Backed up by 4 med lasers in my Founder's atlas. In little over a week I've jumped from .63 KD to .99 and most of it is due to the new build. AC5's were not cutting it for me for some reason. It's probably pilot error, but I'm not putting the AC20 down anytime soon. Heat management is an issue, but only requires some discipline (which I need/can work on).

[Frakk Zarah]

Plepis, on 25 November 2012 - 04:28 PM, said:

As to your build, i was curious: Ever considered using other ballistic combinations other than the AC/20? the way i see it, if you miss a shot that's a 20dmg, whereas if you pack, say, 2 ac/5's or even 2 ac/2's, missing that shot won't feel as hurting on your DPS. considering one of the features of a proper brawling mech is staying power as far as heat goes, sounds a bit safer, if albeit a bit slower to feel that punch being packed

In my opinion a brawler does not care much about DPS. He cares about having big burst damage. 2 AC/2s have more DPS than 1 AC/20 (8dps vs 5dps) yet it would take much longer and quite a lot of ammo (if you consider the shots that will miss) to deliver those 20 points of damage. Brawls that last long tend to be messy for your mech, you will get out missing an arm or have your torsos exposed. You do not want that, so you need to deal as much punch as possible with the fewer shots.

Note here that the reason I am carrying S-SRMS and not SRMs (that would give me even a bigger punch) is mainly the lag-shield and the lack of knockdown on the lighties. Since I am out of 2 ways to defend myself (laser hits and knockdowns) I have resorted to the only other way I have to deal with the bugs.

My AS7-RS for instance with 4 Large Lasers tends to do more damage per game and has better DPS. Yet this mech is bad at brawling. Even though it's almost heat neutral, if I have to deal with an Atlas that caries an AC/20, some SRMS and a few lasers I will end up either dead or missing half of my mech. I consider this build more of a striker than a brawler, even though I have a lot of armor. Brawler is not only the armor you carry, it is the loadout you have and how you use it.

Also 2 AC/2s are so much heat that it's impossible to keep it up for a long time unless you have configured your mech only around these weapons.

I am sure that as the game moves forward and we get our 8-mech drops back (that will finally face only other 8-mech drops) the roles will be more clear among the players. For now, as you have said also, it is obvious that people confuse the roles of Brawler, Striker and Support and they consider them the same according to how much damage they deliver.

[Plepis]

I take it also the reason you didn't consider a gauss is, besides the lower dmg (15 AFAIK, was it?), is that next nerf'll reduce a lot of it's hitpoints..?

[Lege]

D-DC is the best, but RS isn't bad
I mean if your talking about a bunch of mechs fighting it out at point blank range and not a 1 on 1 situation.
I'm not a fan of brawling though, I like to kill things before they get close or "swoop" with a fast mech.
Staying at close range to an enemy mech is always bad.

[Frakk Zarah]

Plepis, on 25 November 2012 - 06:12 PM, said:

I take it also the reason you didn't consider a gauss is, besides the lower dmg (15 AFAIK, was it?), is that next nerf'll reduce a lot of it's hitpoints..?

No actually the reason is that it explodes when it gets hit, meaning that I lose half of my mech much sooner than I should. AC/20 is less fragile and many times it remains operational even with my RT exposed. I would surely trade those 5 points of damage for the heat relief if it was more sturdy. But you can't have everything

[Milkshaker]

Leeroy Mechkins, on 23 November 2012 - 08:17 PM, said:

Atlas of course. 2xUAC5 + 4xML is one scary brawler.
I believe some Cataphract version can fit similar armanent.

My 3D phract has 2UAC5 and 4 MPL even. awesome for a brawl and a jumpjet for a fast turn

[Wrenchfarm]

Milkshaker, on 26 November 2012 - 06:19 AM, said:

My 3D phract has 2UAC5 and 4 MPL even. awesome for a brawl and a jumpjet for a fast turn

That sounds like a pretty sweet set up. What kind of speed does it get up to?

[Vodrin Thales]

Wildhound, on 24 November 2012 - 01:33 AM, said:

Can not understand how anyone is voting for anything other than the streak cat.

They are a bit boring to play, and this thread seems to be as much about what is fun as powerful.

[Nightcrept]

The atlas.

It's the only mech that i pause before attacking long enough to see its load out. And depending on it's build it is either a easy kill or a better wait for reinforcements.