245 replies to this topic

[Daekar]

My favorite Fang build is
Endo
DHS
XL345
3 MedLas
1 AC10
1 SRM6
Ammo and armor to taste. I like 2 tons of ammo for each, or an LBX with 3 tons.
Without speed tweak the thing goes 93kph, has full armor everywhere except the legs, and can spam everything for a while. Give the lasers a little break every now and then and you'll never overheat even if you keep firing the AC and SRMs.

Still working on a build for Flame. Currently it has 2 ERPPCs and an LRM10... a bit hot, so I might switch to regular PPCs... but God, when the hit-detection dice roll right, it's lovely. My favorite thing to kill is an ECM Raven... arrogant little boogers, they are! And they never expect to die to PPCs...

[Pariah Devalis]

Donalbain, on 20 December 2012 - 07:30 PM, said:

I have pretty much the same setup as OP but with 4 Large Lasers instead of 2 PPCs/ 2 Large Lasers. This allows for full DHS, more armor, and also a srm4 which is helpful at close range.

Tried this, but with a 280 xl and an SRM6 instead of an SRM4. Holy cow, this thing is lethal if it gets behind someone. 51 point alpha strike. It is an absolute monster. D:

[Demoned]

well i was one of those few that brought the Fang and I'm loving it

LB 10-X
3 medium lasers
1 SRM6
11 DHS
300 standard engine (soon to be upgraded)
works great at close range brawling

[Abe07]

So I picked up a Flame as my first hero Mech, because I wanted a Dragon. Here is my build after blowing most of that 8 million c-bill Cadet Bonus.

XL 300
Endo - Comes with the Mech
15 DHS

4 MLS
1 UAC-5
1 SRM-6

CASE
AMS
3 tons UAC ammo
2 tons SRM ammo
2 tons AMS (I know, I know...but I had the space so why the hell not)

400 armor out of 402 (minus 1 point on each leg)

1.2 heat efficiency. I can wail on people for a while before I need to lay off on the trigger.

This is by FAR my favorite mech, I was planning on Mastering my Atlas' but I can't stop playing this. The thing is...people don't take Dragons seriously. They ignore me until I start beating the hell outta someone, but by then it's too late. If not, I always have the speed to peel off and run to the back of an Assault while I reposition myself.

[Pr8Dator]

Couldn't resist the tempation... those two Dragons just look too badass. So, I bought myself some MC and bought my first and only dragon, the Fang.

Why not Flame? Well, having run so many different other mechs (other than dragons), I have never been able to run 4 lasers together reasonably well. So far, 3 lasers seems to be the most optimal for me and its nice to always be able to pair up with a Flame out in the field since Fangs are so rare...LOL!

So, here's my Fang build:

XL360
Endo - comes with mech
14 SHS - couldn't afford DHS yet... LOL! I am going to let Fang make its own money for DHS.
Heat efficiency 1.12
Armor 320

RA - Gauss
LT - ML
CT - SSRM2
LA - 2 X ML

I like the Gauss better than the AC10 due to higher damage and lower heat. This build runs at 97kph (no elite since I dun have any other dragons), which is the fastest mech in my arsenal right now. Before this, my fastest mech is a Cataphract 2X that runs at 80kph with speed tweak. I very much want Fang to fill the unique role of a fast speed skirmisher so I bascially designed the weapons around the XL360 engine. Any slower than that would make my Cataphracts the better play. It runs pretty hot now and occassionally overheats but I expect that to be rectified when I can put DHS into it. So far, admittedly, I've had only 1 kill and a lot of assists with this build. It doesn't hit hard enough to kill quickly and being a skirmisher, someone else brawling usually takes the kill. I like to chase down lights using Fang though and I can only imagine the look on the light player's face go "oh ****, its still on my tail!".

I do find it hard to hit with the Gauss moving at that kind of speed. I guess it boils down to more practise then. SSRM2 also isn't too useful with so many ECMs running around. In fact, I have never once finished that single ton of SSRM2 ammo... Might wanna consider putting the SRM6 back but would have to try to make space for it... somehow...

I find the arms exceptionally weak and I almost always get my arms blown off, which isn't a good thing since almost all my useful weapons are on the arms. I don't experience that with my Cataphracts though.

All in all, the Fang is definitely going to keep my MWO fresh for a while and provide an unique gameplay experienced apart from my existing arsenal.

[GT Hawk]

Robert Corso, on 19 December 2012 - 09:55 PM, said:

I was considering this AC20 Build. The build works out correctly in the Mechlab software. I havent' bought the flame yet so dont know if this will work in the actual game.

Std 280 engine
12 (11) double HS
394 Armor
FF Armor
Endo Steel Internals
AC20 4tons ammo, 4x Medium Lasers

I have just got this working. I end up maxed armor and 3 tons of ammo. I used 59.8 tons. No where for 0.2 tons. I could make up the space in armor for 1 ton but found that with endo steel and engo I just am out of space on the mech. So losing FF would also take away 1.2 tons which 1 ton is in armor. So I would have to still find another ton for ammo. So I think I am sticking with 3 ac20 tons of ammo and 4 ml's

that said, man this is a can opener. And with my speed of 75.6 kph I am running around atlases and using arm mounted weapons to still nail them with 2 ml's at least.

Edited by GT Hawk, 21 December 2012 - 06:37 AM.

[De La Fresniere]

My Flame's build is rather unoriginal right now:

XL 300
4xML
1xGauss +5 tons of ammo
15 DHS

Basically it's got regular Dragon speed, accurate arm lasers for harassing and brawling, and a Gauss for pre-brawl sniping and added damage.

I'd been thinking of trading in the Gauss for a smaller weapon and a bigger Engine. With a bigger Engine's added DHS slots, I might be persuaded to attempt a higher heat build (maybe 2xML and 2xLL). I still haven't worked out the space/weight balance between an XL 325 and XL 350 (the 350 is obviously faster and has one more DHS slot, but weighs 3 more tons) so I'm not entirely sure how that would work yet.

I don't think a build like 4xLL would be all that viable... that's a terrible amount of additional weight (*sixteen* tons compared to MLs), the heat generation would be pretty bad, and you can be de-armed more easily than if you'd use a Ballistic weapon in the torso.

I don't see much potential variety with the Flame, but those 2-3 good builds on it are pretty nice.

[Budor]

De La Fresniere, on 21 December 2012 - 07:45 AM, said:

My Flame's build is rather unoriginal right now:

XL 300
4xML
1xGauss +5 tons of ammo
15 DHS

XL 300
4xML
1xGauss +3 tons of ammo
14 DHS
1xSRM6 +1 ton of ammo

Edited by Budor, 21 December 2012 - 07:51 AM.

[Wintersdark]

Pr8Dator, on 21 December 2012 - 06:06 AM, said:

Couldn't resist the tempation... those two Dragons just look too badass. So, I bought myself some MC and bought my first and only dragon, the Fang.

Why not Flame? Well, having run so many different other mechs (other than dragons), I have never been able to run 4 lasers together reasonably well. So far, 3 lasers seems to be the most optimal for me and its nice to always be able to pair up with a Flame out in the field since Fangs are so rare...LOL!

So, here's my Fang build:

XL360
Endo - comes with mech
14 SHS - couldn't afford DHS yet... LOL! I am going to let Fang make its own money for DHS.
Heat efficiency 1.12
Armor 320

RA - Gauss
LT - ML
CT - SSRM2
LA - 2 X ML

I like the Gauss better than the AC10 due to higher damage and lower heat. This build runs at 97kph (no elite since I dun have any other dragons), which is the fastest mech in my arsenal right now. Before this, my fastest mech is a Cataphract 2X that runs at 80kph with speed tweak. I very much want Fang to fill the unique role of a fast speed skirmisher so I bascially designed the weapons around the XL360 engine. Any slower than that would make my Cataphracts the better play. It runs pretty hot now and occassionally overheats but I expect that to be rectified when I can put DHS into it. So far, admittedly, I've had only 1 kill and a lot of assists with this build. It doesn't hit hard enough to kill quickly and being a skirmisher, someone else brawling usually takes the kill. I like to chase down lights using Fang though and I can only imagine the look on the light player's face go "oh ****, its still on my tail!".

I do find it hard to hit with the Gauss moving at that kind of speed. I guess it boils down to more practise then. SSRM2 also isn't too useful with so many ECMs running around. In fact, I have never once finished that single ton of SSRM2 ammo... Might wanna consider putting the SRM6 back but would have to try to make space for it... somehow...

I find the arms exceptionally weak and I almost always get my arms blown off, which isn't a good thing since almost all my useful weapons are on the arms. I don't experience that with my Cataphracts though.

All in all, the Fang is definitely going to keep my MWO fresh for a while and provide an unique gameplay experienced apart from my existing arsenal.

This is very similar to my Flame build. I'm loving it as well, with the same reasoning. The Gauss Rifle makes heat a total non-issue. I'm running 4xMLAS and the SSRM2 in addition to the GR, and I'm incapable of overheating.

Had a battle yesterday where another fellow with a Flame equipped with a swarm of flamethrowers stood and roasted me, while I continuously fired all my weapons. With 2 flamers and all my weapons fire, heat never topped 50%.

I'm probably going to buy a Fang as well, use the Trial Dragon as my third to get them Mastered. I'd like to see which I prefer: Torso mounted Gauss Rifle or arm mounted.

[De La Fresniere]

Budor, on 21 December 2012 - 07:50 AM, said:

I run this but with 14x DHS + SRM6 with 1t of ammo.

Sounds massively more powerful until you've fired 12 volleys of SRM6s; (50 damage instead of 35, pretty huge difference).

I think I could try that if I took off a ton or two of Gauss ammo and a couple off Armor. I'm pretty bad at aiming SRMs though and I tend to leave armor maxed (it's at 400/402 right now), so maybe it's better suited to a more aggressive and skilled playstyle than mine.

[De La Fresniere]

OK, I figured out the other two builds I was thinking about.

First:

XL 325
4xML
1xAC/5 + 5 tons of ammo

It'd basically be a somewhat faster (87.7 without Speed Tweak) version of the 1xGauss 4xML build.

Second:

XL350
2xLL
2xML
21 DHS

Significantly faster (94.5 without Speed Tweak), very good heat dissipation. However, alpha strike is "meh" (28 damage) and with only arm-mounted weapons it's more easy for opponents to disable you.

EDIT: Yep, after a few matches, it seems like this build is only suitable to longer encounters with low incoming damage. 28 damage alphas aren't big enough to get a quick advantage over opponents and if an arm goes off you lose half your damage. I'd sacrifice a bit of some heat dissipation for higher immediate damage, but... trading my two other MLs for LLs would cost me *eight* tons' worth of heat sinks (I'd go from 21 to 13), which is ridiculous. Heavy Energy weapon balance is just ridiculous. Maybe they'll become semi-viable once they're buffed, but for now they're garbage.

I'm pretty sure 4xML + one Ballistic is the best possible build on this thing... it's easy to play, the heat is managable, damage is OK and the torso Ballistic is hard to disable.

Edited by De La Fresniere, 21 December 2012 - 09:14 AM.

[Xenon Codex]

I briefly tried a 3xPPC variant last night. Didn't have much luck with it. Heat wasn't an issue, but never failed that one of the PPC's would fly off in a random direction ******* me off. Not sure if that's a bug or feature?

Besides the numerous Gauss builds (which I really like), I ended up playing the following with good results. Got several 500+ damage matches out if it (that's good for me).

STD 300, 12 DHS (1.23 eff), ES, 320 armor
AC/20 + 3t ammo
3x ML

[Tremendous Upside]

De La Fresniere, on 21 December 2012 - 08:18 AM, said:

OK, I figured out the other two builds I was thinking about.

First:

XL 325
4xML
1xAC/5 + 5 tons of ammo

It'd basically be a somewhat faster (87.7 without Speed Tweak) version of the 1xGauss 4xML build.

Second:

XL350
2xLL
2xML
21 DHS

Significantly faster (94.5 without Speed Tweak), very good heat dissipation. However, alpha strike is "meh" (28 damage) and with only arm-mounted weapons it's more easy for opponents to disable you.

EDIT: Yep, after a few matches, it seems like this build is only suitable to longer encounters with low incoming damage. 28 damage alphas aren't big enough to get a quick advantage over opponents and if an arm goes off you lose half your damage. I'd sacrifice a bit of some heat dissipation for higher immediate damage, but... trading my two other MLs for LLs would cost me *eight* tons' worth of heat sinks (I'd go from 21 to 13), which is ridiculous. Heavy Energy weapon balance is just ridiculous. Maybe they'll become semi-viable once they're buffed, but for now they're garbage.

I'm pretty sure 4xML + one Ballistic is the best possible build on this thing... it's easy to play, the heat is managable, damage is OK and the torso Ballistic is hard to disable.

I ran similar to your second build. XL350 w/2xLLs, 2xMPLs, 1xSRM4 (2 tons - could go SRM6+1) with endo, FF and DHS (16 DHS) and used the last 2 tons to bump the armor to 394. Played it through about 30 games last night. Died maybe 4 times, racked up well over 50 kills. Flame (and Fang) = 60 tons of whoopa$$.

[Narcissistic Martyr]

I'm running 3 Flame builds depending on how I feel like playing.

All have ES and DHS

AC20 Dragon (because I can darnit)

STD300
338 armor optimized

AC20 w/3 tons of ammo
2 ML
2 SL
AMS w/ 1ton of ammo

AC10 Dragon
XL360
4 ML
1AC10 w/ 2 tons of ammo
352 armor optimized
AMS + 1 ton
Balance DHS in engine


MPL Dragon
XL360
4MPL
1 SRM6 w/ 1ton ammo
AMS + 1ton
352 armor optimized
Balance DHS

[TruePoindexter]

Fang:

360XL 1 Ac10 3 MPL

[De La Fresniere]

Going over the thread again, I see a lot of XL 360s.

Is there a particular reason for going with that rather than an XL 350? I would think the additional 2.7 km/h isn't worth the loss of 1.5 tons...

Maybe it's just for the satisfaction of knowing speed is maxxed?

[TruePoindexter]

De La Fresniere, on 21 December 2012 - 02:51 PM, said:

Going over the thread again, I see a lot of XL 360s.

Is there a particular reason for going with that rather than an XL 350? I would think the additional 2.7 km/h isn't worth the loss of 1.5 tons...

Maybe it's just for the satisfaction of knowing speed is maxxed?

Dragons live and die from their speed. Also why not?

Most Dragons have already mostly maxed out their weapons/armor so aside from maybe an extra heat sink there's not reason to not dump the rest on engine.

Edited by TruePoindexter, 21 December 2012 - 03:01 PM.

[Pariah Devalis]

I live and die fine moving at 83 KPH. It just requires you to play a little more conservatively. As long as you can move fast enough to put terrain between your enemy and you when you need to, or outmaneuver the enemy mech (of which, in this case, yeah, going 90+ would help a ton), the extra speed is nice but not necessary.

[Narcissistic Martyr]

De La Fresniere, on 21 December 2012 - 02:51 PM, said:

Going over the thread again, I see a lot of XL 360s.

Is there a particular reason for going with that rather than an XL 350? I would think the additional 2.7 km/h isn't worth the loss of 1.5 tons...

Maybe it's just for the satisfaction of knowing speed is maxxed?

With an XL350 I could add an extra ton of ammo of which I rarely run out of since I don't fire unless I think I'm going to hit which isn't particularly frequently at high speeds (I'm a terrible shot and the net code is killer for my accuracy as well), an extra heat sink for more laser blasts but since I'm rarely in one place long enough for constant focused fire I don't really need it since I cool down while running behind terrain, I also get to add an extra half ton of armor on the legs which I don't need. So... more speed wins the day.

[Abulafia]

Pariah Devalis, on 21 December 2012 - 03:03 PM, said:

I live and die fine moving at 83 KPH. It just requires you to play a little more conservatively. As long as you can move fast enough to put terrain between your enemy and you when you need to, or outmaneuver the enemy mech (of which, in this case, yeah, going 90+ would help a ton), the extra speed is nice but not necessary.

I don't know why you'd get the XL360 over the XL350 either. That said, if you haven't tried the XL350 yet, I highly recommend it. I thought I was doing just fine at 81 and even 88 kph, but I just bought an XL 350 for my dragons today and I like it a lot better. At 81 kph, you're fast enough to get out of the way, but at 104 kph your options really open up. You can get to cover faster, flank better, and stay behind practically anything heavier than a cicada. It's great.