52 replies to this topic

[Moeror]

I am considering buying an assault mech, what would you think would be a good purchase?

[o0Marduk0o]

There is no best assault mech, period.

[CloaknDagger]

Atlas, obviously.

[MSIhentai]

Only true assault is a 100 tonner.

[Budor]

Most effective solo: DDC & 3F.

Most underrated: Any Awesome.

[WaddeHaddeDudeda]

If you love to snipe go for:

1) Atlas RS (quad ppc + gauss)
2) Stalker 3F (hex ppc)

If you prefer to brawl go for:

1) Atlas DDC (2 ml, 1 ac 20, 3 artemis srm 6)
2) Stalker 5M (5 ml, 5 artemis srm 6)


Everything else would work too but would be sub-optimal.

[Wrenchfarm]

Atlas-DDC is the undisputed king right now. ECM simply offers so much advantage it automatically puts it over the top. Then consider that the DDC comes with 3 missile and 2 ballistic hardpoints - it can carry some of the heaviest set-ups.

That said, I'm a huge fan of the Awesome chassis. The 9M is particularly great. Slap in a XL350+ and have fun as the nimblest and most flexible assault in the game.

[Hex Pallett]

Haters will tell you Awesome sucks.

My experience tells me Awesomes are AWESOME.

[ProGun]

Mad Cat II are hvy assault with jump jets. Good ground speed too. Hope to see if they have these in game!

[Orgasmo]

Best damage: Stalker 3F
Best support: Atlas D-DC
Best mobility: Awesome 8M

[NRP]

The best assault mech is the one you enjoy driving the most. Any of them can be deadly in the right hands/circumstances.

[Waladil]

To answer OP's actual question (rather than the people answering the title) the best starter Assault would be the Atlas DDC, the Stalker 3F, or the Awesome 9M. Take the DDC for team support + survivability, the 3F for fire support, and the 9M for speed, depending on what role you want to fill.

THAT SAID, I'm currently convinced that Stalkers are the best in skilled hands, period. Although the Awesome chassis probably has the most benefits from player skill; if you're just starting in the Assault classes, I'd advise against the Awesome. But an Atlas is most likely a strong choice.

[Maclaren210]

Atlas D

[Joey Tankblaster]

There is no such thing as the "best assault".

Nonetheless you may choose the right chassis for your playstyle and role in the game.

1. Stalker and Atlas are true juggernauts - soak up damage with heavy punch but they are rather slow and bulky. You will certainly loose 1vs1 against lights and fast mediums.

2. Highlanders are less armoured, more mobil (due to jumpjets), XL-friendly (relatively fast) and can be outfitted for a variety of roles.

3. Awesome and Victors are the fastests assault mechs and also the most fragile ones. Especially the awesome is difficult to play and it is advisable to play it in a support role until you found your playstyle. The victor is somewhat in between heavy and assault. However, it is very fast, very mobil (jumpjets), heavily armed and a dangerous opponent in skillful hands.

Edited by Joey Tankblaster, 01 September 2013 - 10:52 PM.

[Alex Warden]

it all depends on preferences and playstyle...while the Atlas is a good assault, i personally like the Highlander better. (no, not a jumpsniper^^). it feels a bit more agile to me and i tend to survive longer in it. stalkers are great weapon-turrets blabla...they all have their pros and cons.

[oldradagast]

Atlas: Staggering armor, respectable firepower, though mediocre mobility

Highlander: Almost as much firepower and armor as an Atlas with greater mobility.

Stalker: Excellent for shooting from cover, absurd number of hardpoints, more durable than one would think, lousy mobility

Victor: Fast, decent armor and firepower, good mobility. More of a "large heavy" than traditional assault.

Awesome: Decent firepower and mobility, poor durability (mostly because of lousy hitboxes.)

Hope this helps.

[Autobot9000]

Hands down, any time: Highlander

[Dawnstealer]

Really depends on your playing style. I'd say Highlander is the best blend of firepower and mobility, but they're all good at certain tasks.

You can't really go wrong with Atlases, though, if you've never gone Assault before. Just be aware that EVERYONE will shoot at you first.

[Autobot9000]

Joey Tankblaster, on 01 September 2013 - 10:49 PM, said:

1. Stalker and Atlas are true juggernauts - soak up damage with heavy punch but they are rather slow and bulky. You will certainly loose 1vs1 against lights and fast mediums.

2. Highlanders are less armoured, more mobil (due to jumpjets), XL-friendly (relatively fast) and can be outfitted for a variety of roles.

That's just wrong by facts. I don't know how the objectively false provable opinion of "less armored" for certain chassis can spread so fast. Armor is dictated by tonnage and strictly monotonic increasing with tonnage. There is absolutely nothing to add to this. Hence by above stated fact a Highlander with 90 tons has per game mechanic a higher maximum armor than an 85 ton Stalker. If you allocate less than maximum armor is your choice, but the chassis doesn't have less armor. The observed durability of a Stalker may be higher, because it is incredibly hard to take down a Stalker's CT first, hence you usually take down one side torso and then the center torso, which takes longer than taking down a Highlander. But that has nothing to do with "less armor".

[Mr Andersson]

I have played most variants in the assult weight class, and the following is my assessment.


Awesome
I have loved this mech since I played the boardgame many years ago, and it was of course the first chassis I bought in MWO. My disaapointment was instant. It dies, quickly. A decent skill level mitigates the problem, but it is still not a mech that can soak a lot of damage.
There are basically two ways to go - energy or LRM boat. For energy, 8Q or 9M work best, and for LRMs, 8R, 8T or 8V are your choices.

Victor
The Victor is similar to the Awesome, but more durable, It can also fit jump jets and has ballistic hardpoints, two point for the Victor. It is unsuitable for LRMs because the launchers have very few tubes, but other than that it provides many good builds to choose from.
The variants are quite similar in my opinion. The 9K has only one ballistic and a lower arm actuator on its right arm, which limits the possible builds, but it makes up for it with a third energy hardpoint on its left arm.

Stalker
A beast. Not only is it hard to kill (provided you equip it with a standard engine) but it also sports a massive amount of hardpoints. The 3F is generally the best because of its greater torso twist and general versatility, but he 3H is best suited for LRM boating (can launch 50 missiles in one volley).

Highlander
Another great mech with lots of possible loadouts. Across all its variants it can perform any role you could envision for an assault mech. Before heat scaling was introduced the 732 was considered the best because its ability to equip 3PPC plus a gauss, but today the 733C seems to be the most popular variant because of its dual ballistic hardpoints. My personal best (1215 damage) was in a 733C.

Atlas
Loved by many, feared by most. Heaviest mech in the game and a true icon in the BattleTech universe.
But, personally, I don't like it. It's too slow for my taste and it has a jack-of-all-trades hardpoint distribution, which is not my style. Also, the arms hang really low, which means shooting over ridges (which I do a lot) is hard.
But my personal feelings aside, the Atlas presents one of the best variants in the game - the AS7-D-DC. Its main selling point might be the ECM (still overpowered IMO), but it has other merits as well. Dual ballistic hardpoints, triple missile, and 3 modules, for example. The other Atlas variants don't impress.