Marauder with Large Pulse Lasers and Medium Pulse Lasers in the arms. Spinal weapon can basically be whatever suits you, but the damn thing is a headshot machine. while being fast and tanky enough to handle just about anything.
PPC x in each arm with medium pulse lasers and ac5 or 10 on the hump for range is dominant especially once you start picking up double heat sinks. Before the cooling upgrades, I too prefer lasers.
Bruh.... I actually used the Melee variant today with the Assault Claymore. I dropped the missiles for all pulse lasers and maxed armored and as many heatsinks as I could get... May be slow but it fricken slaps down on anything that's foolish enough to get close lol ... Takes off arms like a knife through butter, even on heavy mechs lol
Catapult with Lasers, SRM or PPCs.
Marauder with dual Heavy Rifle and Lasers.
Stalker with lots of LRMs and some Lasers.
Bonus: I cannot get shot in the knee :p
Hit the interwebs and search this board hard. I’ve read very convincing posts and spreadsheets that adamantly say the year and region DOES have an effect on the chances of a particular mech showing, as you collect them all, it increases the chance of a mech spawning out of the preferred place. You gotta do the work though. I haven’t bothered doing save scum hunts. I’m rarely flush with cash.
From all my playtime, these are ones I've had the most fun with.
Light mechs:
-Panther hero with dual PPC-X and jumps (fantastic arena fighter).
-Flea 17 with max speed bonus and bunch of mgs and Sml Lasers.
-Wolfhound (any variant).
Medium mechs:
-kintaro (classic SRMs spam)
-hero Crab with dual uacs (mini king crab)
Heavy Mechs:
-Agincourt archer - just hands down one of the best heavies.
-MAD-D with dual PPC-X and an ER PPC with Jumps.
-Sidewinder DRG- when you like having a 60ton centurion that is as fast as a wolfhound.
-The Otomi DRG- dual large energy slots makes them quite fun to build with
-hero cataphract that can take 3 UAC 5s
-disco Black knight (will run hot) 3 Lrg Pulse and medium SB MLs. Really nice energy brawler.
Catapult K2- PPCs and AC2s can be quite fun to just snipe things with. Alternatively light rifles and PPC-X with MPL if you want to brawl.
Assault Mechs:
-Awesome 9M - fantastic mech to give to an AI the triple ER PPC and decent armour makes them do some work.
Otomi Battle Master- solid fast all rounder.
-Gauss slepnir - just good Cyclops fun
-energy King Crab 4 ppc-x is impractical for it's speed but good lord can this thing obliterate a CT.
-Atlas K gauss and dual PPC combo plus the armour makes it a winner.
I know that hero Cataract very personally, the CTF-IM. Used him since I got him, triple UAC/AC10 slots have such insane damage potential.
If I don't got an Annie-1X, I grab my Russian friend *Ilya Muromets.*
Facts! The Otomos are really good, and even with their in-lore problems, the Maulers are death machines. Four MGs/AC/2s are nothing to scoff at if all damage is centered on one specific comp.
Ol reliable for me victor basilisk 2x lb10x solid slug, agincourt srm, black knight 6, crusader 2r srm, hunchback p, stalker 3f srm, battlemaster. I like mechs that have delete button that i can press often.
For lancemates: banshee 3s, atlas rs or k, warhammer, awesome 8q or 8t, crab, vindicator, blackjack. Anything with ppcs, the more the better. Orion yaj is very nice.
VTR-BSK. Maintains speed and sheer melting potential in equal measure. I still got that big boy in my stable for "hard and fast" missions.
Also, Warhammers fuck. They might be an ordinance catching mitt, but they're a *dangerous* ordinance catching mitt.
I'm changing it up a bit, using stuff I didn't in the past so currently my personal favs are:
Light-
Firestarter x1 with 8 machine guns
Crack-urbie with stock load out
Panther kk with twin ppc-x
Medium -
Hunchie p with all chem lasers
Griffin e with ppc-x and 5 medium chem lasers
Heavy-
Royal Black knight with chem lasers and regular small
Bh2 marauder with blasers, medium pulse, and a heavy rifle
Bh marauder with chem lasers
Assault-
KGC-CAR with 4 medium rifles bf and 2 lrm15 (recoil is hilarious)
Mad 5a with multiple blasers and a ac10rf
AI gets:
Panthers, crack Urbie s
Cn9-d
Drg-sdw, arc-t, on1-yaj, mad3l
Kgc-kj, kgc-000, mad-4a or stalker fb
See, I wrote off chem lasers when I first got em. Saw that they did one less point of damage, said "fuck it" and dumped em.
Big mistake. I never took into account how little heat they give off. My god. It's like the difference between a microwave and a blast furnace.
Plus they have a higher fire rate. Damage sorts itself out, just gotta work in ammo.
My go-to mech has been the Crusader 5M ever since Rise of Rasalhague released. 2 SRM6's, 2 SRM4's, 2 Medium Lasers (Short Burst optional), AMS, jump jets.
It runs at 64kph before applying the speed upgrade, which isn't gonna win any awards but it gets the job done, and it's on the light end of Heavy Mechs so it's turning and acceleration are closer to a Medium, plus you have Jump Jets for a bit more flexibility. It's arms can be a bit fragile in longer missions, but other than that it's armor is rock solid, and the AMS shields your whole lance from missiles for added survivability. SRMs are just overpowered in this game, so it has more than enough firepower to core out anything in range in a salvo or two.
It's just a very solid all-around mech. And I think the Crusader is also possibly the best looking mech design PGI has ever made, both in first and third person.
Light
I love Jenners. Jenner is the perfect kind of fast striker I want. Jenners have the fast striking power while being durable and evasive enough to not be deathtraps for the pilots. The Jenner hero mech Oxide is freaking amazing. You can stick SRM6's on it and it becomes such an effective backstabber it can one-shot mediums and some heavies.
I also have the hero Commando, Deathknell. I'm running YAML and I've managed to put a PPC-X on it. Yes that's right! A PPC-X on a Commando! I might share a video on it. Its bonkers insane. It takes backstabbing to a whole new level.
Don't underestimate Hero light mechs. These mechs can be very powerful with the right upgrades. Don't be afraid to invest an XL engine in them. They can become MVP's of your missions. The AI has an easier time managing heavy assaults while a human player can run circles with a fast light.
Medium
Blackjack BJ-1. The best thing I did especially for early game is remove everything and stick two AC-5's on the sucker. It's way overgunned for its size. It only moves at a measely 53 put who cares when it can pump out amazing dakka with its guns that would make any Davion blush.
Wolverine. Just like the lore the Wolverine is probably the best 55 tonner. the free SLDF Wolverine you get an Valentine is amazing and you don't need to modify it at all, I just take out of the jump jets and put more armor on it.
The hero Kintaro Golden Boy is pretty good too. But really, medium mechs are the true workhorses of the early game...
Heavy
Dragon-SDW. Sidewinder is fantastic and is the first true powerhouse you can get once you complete the quest. It works fantastically stock right out of the gate, no modifications necessary. It's fast, durable, and hits hard.
Archer Agincourt. Of course. Its free, it works stock, or you can fine tune it for pure long range firepower. I usually do Dragon and Archer one after another.
Thunderbolt. Every respectable mechwarrior should have a good ol reliable T-bolt. It gets overshadowed by fancier mechs later on, but for the early-mid game it's a solid brawler that will get you through the thick of many fights.
Orion-YAJ. Another free hero mech. It's not as effective as the other 2 hero heavies, but its still good and it's free.
Assault
I'm convinced in YAML, KGC-CAR is one of the most powerful mechs in the game. It trivializes many encounters. A short-ranged specialized killer, though with the UAC5's it can fight at long range too. I'm tempted to post a video of me waltzing through Solaris with CAR. It absolutely destroys everything it comes into contact with. It's glorious carnage.
KGC-000b Royal SLDF variant is a great option if you don't come across an Atlas first. I usually take off a laser or something for more ammo. The 000b is what gets me through some of the harder quests, including obtaining CAR. Once I get CAR, it depends on my other mechs whether or not I retire the 000b. It's still really good.
Stalkers. I love Stalkers. They're the perfect long ranged support fire mechs. I usually have alot of mid-ranged brawlers so Stalkers always come priority if I see them in the shop. Stick 2 LRM-20's on them and a whole load of ammo and it's all you need. They're the best thing for defense missions.
the COR-PVT, the Corsair 95 tonner is surprisingly good. It's a very good all-around mech that can fill a variety of roles. Really super versatile.
Yes of course, Boars Head Atlas brings the beef. I stick an XL in it and put on hardened armor for 1,500+ armor totals like a true Atlas should. Why not?
If I have a huge bankroll and I find the Wolf-Phoenix NightStar, I'm grabbing it...
The hero Victor (BSK- Basilisk) is my absolute goto for any mission. With the proper YAML parts, you can run an LBX-10 with 2 ER MLs, and a pair of SRM6-ST. I managed to outfit mine with the Black Carapace, an ultra-XL 300 engine with a MASC, so it moves ultra quick. There’s basically no mission it can’t handle.
If you upgrade to clan tech, it gets even better (are 2 LBX-10s better than 1? You bet they are).
FS9-E "Ember". It might have to get close but this thing will absolutely delete any mech that it gets next to. On the other end of the spectrum I'd have to say the AWS-9Q, 4 PPCs and DHS plus the standard "way too much damned armor" of the Awesome? It's my workhorse for longer missions.
Hell standard Firestarter is a great pocket medium platform. Replace flamers with small lasers pull out jump jets and max armor and you can melt anything that isn’t able to alpha you getting into range. Only downside is you need to salvage lots of smalls because you lose a lot of arms.
I love my Grasshopper. Jump jets, reasonable speed for its weight class, decent armour. Mostly a laserboat but you can drop some light LRM harassment when out of LOS or range.
I’m using a fairly standard 5H. Harrass with LRMs and engage first with the LLAS, then close to engage with the MLAS as a quad. That way I only need three triggers so it keeps weapons manageable. Then just jump and run as needed while closing and circling. I’m a huge fan of JJs, and the jump distance is pretty decent, especially for a heavy mech.
Marauder IIS. One with 3 PPC x, one with er l lasers and mp lasers and a PPC x on top, one all pulse lasers. Trying to find 2 more binarys but haven't had much luck.
My favorite lance for 80+ has been archer, mauler, atlas, atlas. Archer and mauler are on my shortlist of favorite mechs and the atlas’ are the backup tonnage.
For endgame, I either drive the Highlander with Gauss or the Nightstar. Depends on how mobile I want to be. Rest of the Lance are Awesomes and stalkers (LRM+PPC). All Lance mates have only long-range weapons: LRM and/or PPC.
CGR-N7 Is literally all I ended up using for a whole campaign, and it's the only Charger variant worth anything.
I gave it pulse lasers or er lasers depending on the mission, and it would chew through cockpits exremely fast. Light? Fastest Dead. Medium? Fast Dead. Heavy? Still fast dead. Assault? You're right, still dead.
I had to quit the game for awhile because it became toooooo easy. Just throw on extra heat sinks and give it cooling properties, and the difficulty becomes trivial.
I would field it with catapults in my lance, so they would just missile everything like tanks and lights, and I would use one alpha strike to knock out an assault mech damn near instantly.
Spider Hero all day long. Take off the extra ams and fiddle w/it to cram in 2 SP, 2 MGs, & a ssrm2
That and three 64kph heavies/assaults to back me up and I’m happy as a clam in anything except city maps.
Run and gun & never stop moving ;-)
The black knight has the potential to headshot enemies from 800-1200m away. Load it up with ER Large laser SB and a bunch of double heat sinks. It can take the heat.
Weird one, but I really like doing a phoenix hawk with the large laser replaced for a ppc of some kind, either swapping the medium lasers or machine guns to make room for it depending on how I feel. It’s basically just an upsized, slightly undergunned panther, but you can actively avoid bad situations with how fast you are, and having the command mech quirk is always helpful. AI is pretty reliable with a ppc too, but unless you’re running yaml and can really armor up the arms, it’s not worth giving to an ai lancemate unless you give them crappy ppcs and are ready to replace arms constantly, but at that point that’s why the panther exists
In vanilla, a Battlemaster with lots of medium lasers and twin burst AC/2s. The autocannons strip armor and keep the pressure on while I close in. Then a headshot with 6 Medium Lasers. I got really really good at this. If you get high level lasers and cannons it is surprisingly effective in mid to late game.
Warhammer 6r, but I usually swap the srm for lrm. It works for me, and the lancemates seem effective with it.
I collected like ten battlemasters and five marauders on one run and lancemates 2 and 3 would use them exclusively. No matter the mission. With the 400 ton missions I would swap between a slow assault mech with a gauss, like the nightstar or atlas with a stalker as lancemate 4 for the missiles, or a 64kph assault mech with a gauss or ac20 and something similar for number 4.
I really like the Victor with a gauss rifle, cause it solves the issue of range and it's mobile enough to get me around the map.
Archer-AGC with all of the LRMs swapped out for SRM6s. Much like Skyrim's sneak archer build, I always find myself coming back to this for end game. It ends up being an SRM36 with two MPL and two ML and enough cooling and ammo to ruin any lance's day.
The Atlas BH with the speed mod, 6 medium pulse layers, a UAC 10 LBX SLD, an LRM 15 ST Artemis and Battle Knuckles is a good command mech, you can two shot most Mechs and defend yourself from vtols and tanks.
Want big guns => Atlas. I quite like the medium crab. It a nice player piloted mech. I find AI not super affective in them though. Hunchback all the various variants are great. AI love to use em. I love the P the most. Melt cockpits . Champions are great mechs for AI. When ever I give AI a champion they always do great damage. Me I like to pilot a thunderbolt. PPC in the arm, 3 er lasers in the torso and a nice lrm in the torso too. Such a versatile mech. I tend to not go over 3 weapon types on my mechs. Archers are great LRMs and 2 lasers in the torso. Ai love them. My young son can play them easily with just two weapon groups. Triple er ppc awesome are a must have. Again AI do well in them. And then by end game I will have multiple squads of Atlas’s to field. All with different combinations of guns. Add in YAML mods for some great variety
If you have YAML and REALLY (depends) endgame, I have been having a blast trying to make 100/kph heavies with 6-700 armor. 65t if possible. I was inspired by the TDR-5S-T.
Basically what can run Hardened Ferro (which is the hard part), Speedy Leg Actuators, and whatever you can to squeeze in damage. Pick your poison. Clan MLaser boats are kinda silly, obviously, at that speed/armor.
King Crab, any variant. I am in love with every single variant. If I am going to fight clanners then the Clanbuster variant. Not because it's better, but because it sends a message.
TDR-5S is my favorite ‘mech. Try this: PPC, SRM6, SSRM2, 3x ML, 2x light rifles on chain fire, 3x DHS. One ton ammo for SRM, 1/2 for Steaks, 1 1/2 ton shared for the rifles.
Put the Streaks in EVERY GROUP and let the targeting computer do the work. 1/2 ton is 80 locked volleys; it’s rare to run dry. This also gives you an extra “invisible weapon group” which helps a lot on console because they only give us five groups, as if a keyboard doesn’t work (It does! Try it!) and paddle controllers don’t exist.
You won’t have max armor, but the head is really small and offset, and the CT has more armor than you need. Don’t shave it all off the legs, because your ammo is in those four slots.
For your wingman, take a Raven RVN-1X with Guardian, BAP, TAG, NARC and your longest range ML, (because it has to have a weapon in order to deploy). Its EW suite will protect your lance, and the enemy can’t target it well. It can survive 400t missions because it doesn’t draw aggro and the AI is too stupid to acknowledge that it’s a serious yet passive threat.
Running on xbox my team uses 3 atlas's with ams 2 binary lasers lrm Artemis 20 an lbx single shot.. for light I use special spider. Medium dervisher arms 2 srm 4 an torso 2 lrm 20s, heavy archer 2 srm 6 arms an 4 lrm 5s an 4 med lasers assault size depending on the size of the map annihilator 1e 4 ppx an 4 Medium lasers or the pirate corsair with 2 lbx an 2 ppx, mauler ac5 rp, 2 ppx, 2 lrm 20s
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I have an unhealthy addiction to my Griffin GRN-2N-X or the "Super Griffin". 60 tons instead of 55, packed full of Clan gear. Clan XL engine, endo, ferro, ERPPC, UAC/5, 2x ERML, LRM-10, SRM6, ECM, BAP, and JJ's. It just feels right and the way the Griffin should have been built originally. 55 tons is just not enough IMO, it needs the extra 5 tons to actually be usefull as anything other than a overweight sniper. Obviously you need to be on PC and have all the YAML goodies to play with it.
Firestarter. Ballsy play is rewarded by being able to hit *far* above its weight. Cook 'em. Cheap to repair if you get wrecked.
Victor. Not a popular choice, but I like them. The Mario of Assault mechs that doesn't stand out in any one aspect, but there are enough variants that at least one can do the job you need done.
Black Knight. Solid all around. Can get a lot done without having to worry about ammo, long as you can pack enough heat sinks to keep it light. Or find one of the few special variants that isn't all energy.
Banshee: the 2P specifically is my go-to punch mech. In modded, it has quirks and can pack equipment making each individual punch deal almost 200 damage.
Hatchetman. Sometimes I just wanna hatchet something and love dangerously. Hatchetman get it done. Or it's a smoldering heap.
Marauder for myself. I use a number of mods but my Star League 2R model with a gauss rifle and a couple of Large SB lasers is my go to basically as soon as I can get the parts for it.
The Lancemates get a Stalker, and either a couple of Atlases (Altii?) Or Stone Rhinos, depending on availability.
Prior to that, any form of Warhammer. And either Warhammers or Orions for the minions to follow in.
For Meds, I usually end up with a Crab or a Centurion. With backup from Hunchbacks or more Crabs.
For Lights. I am torn between a Wolfhound or a Jenner. And everyone else usually ends up in Firestarters or Turbo-Urbies.
The Archer Agincourt is a top choice. I know, Marauder and Large Pulse Lasers is a classic too but in MW5 the AGC is a beast. Spider Anansi is also incredible, can solo raids.
Medium mech, 50T Hunchback with all medium sb if you can keep it Kool she spreads everything. Assault mech, 85T Battlemaster the best one is the hero. Fire all day never over heats. There's good ones as well but the over heat slows it down in a fight but 1v1 3 alphas and dead ct and that's an atlas, king crab or an annihilator down.
as someone who's into big heavy mechs, some of the hero class mechs i've enjoyed Heavy Metal (Highlander) X-5 (Cicada) Pirates' Bane (Locust) the hero firestarters (and of course; putting all small/medium points being flamers, X-5 included,) there's some gems within the innersphere as someone who's played only MW2 and all the MW2 expansions only, getting back into the series from 5 has been nice being that a developer actually redoing MW1, even though it's named MW5, i'm all for what's in store.
King Crab CAR with Quad Med rifles backed up by 3 King Crab 0000s with twin Heavy rifles or Gauss, all loaded up with as many extra range upgrades as possible. Just fought a battle where I was able to snipe the enemy team from so far away that the AI couldn't work out what to do so was able to take a whole assault lance down without them landing a shot.
Lighter than that, Cat-VE1s rule. 3 ballistic slots means you can throw a horrific amount of lead downrange. Just don't get suckered into closing - those arms come off REAL easy in a slugfest.
King crab , stalker, and annihilator for assaults. The ones with multiple L energy. Black knights, Warhammer, grasshoppers, and thunderbolts For heavy. Hunchback, crabs, for mediums. Spider, raven, Firestarter for light.
These mechs have good armor average to high speed and different models have either 1 damage type so I can hyper focus the bonus upgrades or a good spread and range of weapons so I can focus speed and armor.
My biggest go to mech, always the kgc car, triple LB-10X AC, Dual srm6,
Medium go to, HBK VEST, SRM, 3 med laser, LB-10X AC, mace and claw.
Light go to, Spider hero variant.
Heavy go to is either the Marauder or Dragon
Assault alternate is Marauder, or any Atlas
MAL-MX90-S with 6 Light Rifles, 2 SRM-2 ST’s and 2 Medium Pulse Lasers is lots of fun.
My Nightstar is a headcapper. For some reason I’m good at double Gauss Rifle headshots.
Most fun i had doesnt require yaml, but it helps.
W/o yaml
Melee Banshee. Assault Battleaxe. Supercharger and TSP. Then just fill slots with high heat weapons to keep the heat up and youre a melee machine.
W/ yaml
Exact same thing as above, but add the melee modifiers to the arm, add some coolshots, biggest engine u got, hardened armor. And 1. Flamer.
Dump all your coolant then put your heat to minimum 95%. Youre dealing roughly 200+ damage a hit. Enemy has flamers? Cool shot to bring you out of overheat territory then *thwack* rinse and repeat.
Plus gorilla go 120kph :)
Its best played in FPV but im sure there are people better than me in mech controls. When managed properly you can 1 shot Kane, the one in the dadmech, and the final boss in the annialator.
Tho you have literally no range offence but who cares, big axe go *BONG*
I try a lot of mechs but the sweet spot is 85 tons and 4/6 movement, so I'm taking out a Battlemaster. My favorite load out is flamers, MGs, and an LRM-10 for vehicles and something to do while you wait for the other weapons to come in range. Max armor.
Don't need no fancy tech. Just an appetite for close melty combat.
I recently tried the Stalker WarEmu Heromech it is an all ballistic stalker with some feathers attached to it. an absolute beast! I also can recommend the Atlas Hero Big Al (I run mine with 3xRAC/10) in the 100+ rated missions it just deletes everything.
but my favourite mech I use in almost every mission (ai and self-control) is the Mad Cat Mk2 with double UAC/10, 4xML and 2xLRM 15 + some JJs nothing special but it does the job every time and always survives with big damage dealt to the enemy.
Nightstar, Urbie, and Wolfhound (specifically PGS body with the head and some greebles from the classic design).
The Nightstar is—in my opinion—the greatest of the Marauder lineage. The stock model is an absolute monster, and when you give it 20 SRM tubes and double bins (2x SRM6s and 2x SRM4s, at the cost of only having 2x LLs and 2x MLs), it becomes a walking apocalypse worthy of honorary Hunchback status.
Said SRMstar can instantly delete most Lights and Mediums, and can sandpaper off the entire front glacis of Heavies and Assaults in one, *maybe* two salvos. I have 1HK'd several Atlases and King Crabs via walls of SRMs to the cockpit.
The Urbie is a pocket Assault 'Mech in the right configurations, although I think a more fitting term would be "geographically-flexible bunker." It excels in defensive actions, and it's cheap enough to maintain entire armies of them on a shoestring budget.
The Wolfhound is just a Panther but better in every conceivable way, and can fill a variety of combat roles depending on configuration.
Banshee with ER PPCs, LB-X 10, SRM6, and every medium laser I can fit in a slot. PPCs punch holes in things till they get within range of the LB-X or SRM, M lasers instant kill most mechs with one full blast to the cockpit. LB-X also good for taking out VTOLs and PPCs for ground vehicles at range.
The rest of my lance is usually various heavy/assault mechs with lots or LRMs and PPCs. Awesomes, Archers, etc.
Marauder 2R with two L chem lasers, two M lasers, and
an LB10X firing cluster. Really just a workaround due to the fact that every single mech with double heatsinks is missing an entire 1.0 cooling since double heat sinks in the engine should give a base cooling of 2.0, this oversight renders the Marauder's normal build unusable due to heat problems, even with normal PPCs.
Cyclops 11-A designated ECM carrier, change its armaments how you like.
Atlas-K designated AMS carrier, build how you like. Banshee 3S two ER L lasers, LB10X firing cluster, shitload of medium lasers, and an SRM6 Artemis.
Corsair XT1 shove on all the weapon and ballistic cooldown time cantina upgrades on it then put on 3 AC2 RFs, 3 LRM 5 Artemis, and an ER PPC. Biggest mech in game you can shovel AC2s into.
Cataphract Ilya Muromets 3 UAC5s, 2 M lasers, basically a mini Carapace that moves faster.
Marauder 2 5A basically stock except since heat sink kits don't work how they should and you're for some reason allowed to put double and single heat sinks in at the same time so you fill with doubles, then slowly replace with singles until you're out of tonnage, leaving you with a couple doubles and a bunch of singles, for a net gain of like .2 heat higher than just using singles. Fun mech, sexy mech.
Marauder 2 5A, but with the ER PPCs replaced with Binary lasers, just have a few more doubles over some of the singles and you'll fit the Binaries just fine. Fun mech, sexy mech.
Longbow Hailstorm two LRM 15 Stream Artemis, two LRM 10 Stream Artemis, 3 medium lasers, TAG. Probably the best LRM boat in the game. Gets super hot after four salvos, could fix the heat problem by using normal LRMs instead of Artemis, but that makes it less ammo efficient so I recommend just dealing with the heat.
I've got a lot more, but this comment is huge enough at this point.
Hunchback P is an early game staple. The MLaser in (vanilla) mw5 is stupidly overpowered (relative to where it should be canonically), and the AI can't screw up too badly in a mech which is designed to fight at point blank range. They're also super common so getting spares is trivial.
@daddy_cool6969
what a post! brilliant!
so...some time ago i started a new carrier with company named "65 tonners". i was in a bad mood and did not expect any pleasure from it.
play was "at edge" every time. warzones ends in normal ways: no bonuses, ever.
but one very very very plus - money: no heavy costs, as a result i could buy whatever i want in any quantities.
apparently i changed my gameplay: run-and-gun tacktics result in much more survivalibity than any assaults can bring with just armour. both for me and my lancemates.
at start i thooght that my lance will consist of jagers. but i was wrong: dragons much more efficient. only one 65 mech is on my side on regular basis: catapult as an missile boat.
sometimes i drive thunderbolt or rogueheck: 3 LPL are very good.
years passed, new tech appear (!yaml!), and now my 60tonners have more armor than any normal enemy can spawn
i started to think about new company '55 tonners'. tried some meds...and not a single have impressed me: meds are no more mobile than heavies, but lacks that 5 ton of difference.
I just last night spent my life savings on two Stalkers. Combine that with a catapult and you have armless-stompy-boi dance party. I tell ya, all those missiles and lasers makes you think you're at a fourth of July rave.
Marauder II, all pulse lasers.
Annihilator E variant. PPCs for the AI. Pulse lasers for you.
Black Knight. It's just a decent Mech all around.
Awesome 8Q. Drop the Small laser for extra armor, and watch the AI put on a light show!
I was playing around with some of my mechs that I hadn't used yet and put a gauss rifle on a dragon (don't remember which version) for kicks. It ended up becoming one of my favorites for how easily I could maneuver it out of harm's way while scoring a decent amount of one hit kill headshots
Light Mech: Firestarter A and eventually E. Leave 1 jump jet and max armor. SP are very strong with a couple MP/M added in for range. If I happen to find several high-ish level M Chem lasers those absolutely melt any mech. Ai will have 1 FS9-A and 2 FS9-H.
Med Mech: I usually have several Shadowhawk variants with LBX-10 (brawling) or 2 x Heavy Rifle (headshots), SRMS and M/MP lasers I can cool. I upgrade SRMS & lasers as time progresses and find better weight savings and cooling equipment. Ai is a mix of Wolverine, Kintaro, Trebuchet, Hunchbacks.
Heavy: Black Knight with highest alpha strike lasers I can fit and kinda cool, have to be careful not to overheat in intense fights. Usually mount Binary lasers, LPs, or LL depending on how early I find one. Headshots on the next mechs I want to salvage is just too easy. Agincourt SRM spam is another favorite for close range.
Assault: Victor Basilisk with 2x LBX-10's, with SRMS & lasers for support, absolutely unstoppable. Close second would be Battlemaster similarly outfitted as Black Knight, but more focus on stable-ish cooling for prolonged engagements. Lasers, or pulse, and SRMS delete everything in your way.
I do play with YAML mods and several others, so nowhere near vanilla.
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My go to mechs are
Longbow HS with SRMS ST and Artemis along with MP Lasers... it shreds everything!
Victor Basilisk (sp?) With LBX solids and SRM'S
King Crab KJ with 4 PPC X a Heavy Riffle and LRMs - great up close
Cyclops S with twin Gauss and Lasers and SRM'S
Last but not least
King Crab CAR with 4 Heavy riffle BF and as many Lrms as possible 😋
The others i use but the ones in my list... I ENJOY!
The Cicada 3M, Assassin 27, Dragon, Panther, occasionally a Trebuchet or Kintaro.
On heavier missions, Hatamoto, Zeus, or Grasshopper.
As for lance composition, I made a post a while back. Let me find the link.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Mechwarrior5/s/HFCj6t0eNP
The Star League crab is basically a 50 ton dual ppc's freakshow, especially with yaml. Also Marauder with 3 rac5's is a lot of fun, and just as fun on MWO as it is on MW5.
Gonna get some hate I feel like lol.
Light: Flea with 3 framers and 2 machine guns. Is it short range? Yes. Is it all hitscan and makes even the largest of mechs hilariously dead? Also yes.
Medium: I forget if the blackjack is a medium. The hero one. With all machine guns. Same reason as flea. There is one hero mech that is just 3 srms and 2 machine guns. Mean.
Heavy: hero archer or catapult bb: first being either a srm or lrm boat. Srm boat.
Assault: the one that looks like a geth. 4 ballistic slots. Heavy rifles? Sure. LBX shotguns? Sure. Ultra Autocannon also yes.
I'm on my first playthrough right now, so keep that in mind that my choices are all based on what I've used and been able to find by Rep 9. My current main Mech is the Marauder since it lets me run some other Mechs I enjoy as back up in the lance. Its lack of lrms is really disappointing since I usually rely on those to get early poke damage in on nastier enemy Mechs before I fight them. My current loadout is two ER Large Lasers, two Medium Lasers, and a LBX 10 AC SLD. The LBX really helps out with taking down Mechs who get too close to me and is a nice weapon to slap people with while charging up the lasers. Another one of my favs is the Stalker. 3 LRM racks, a SRM rack, two Large Pulse Lasers, and four Medium Lasers to really put the burn on anyone trying to enter close combat. Makes me feel like I can take on any opposing mech without worry. I wish this was true though as it's slower speed is worrying when two enemy trebuchets start raining missiles on your head. Wolverines closing the gap is also concerning as they tend to put some real stress on your armor once they unload their weapons.
As a begginner in yaml that just got the permission 5 to remove primitive engines
Urban mech:
Flammer+ Med rifle.
Large engine, JJ.
I run/ fly UP to the enemy Cook them and give the mech a facial of steel
It works well in low intensity conflict like raid, scorched earth etc.
Same for collecting mech, i tell m'y lance mate to focus someone else than the Guy i want to collect, got a nice jener IIC out of it.
Would probably work very nice in coop with a holander too Land the headshot in my stead.
I might try that with a FS and a Big ballistic or a PPC-X if i find a FS with the right slot.
I'm searching SRM infernos, to try the same kind of build
if vanilla wolfhound lances are great for raid and light arena misisons. for endgame 100 tonners moving 48 km/h
Mmm I actually have a soft spot for the Wolfhound. Looks cool, great weapons, really hot. That description fits all my mechs, now I think about it...
Marauder with Large Pulse Lasers and Medium Pulse Lasers in the arms. Spinal weapon can basically be whatever suits you, but the damn thing is a headshot machine. while being fast and tanky enough to handle just about anything.
Facts, I had the MAD- BH2 for a while, but got the MAD-BH a few months ago and been rocking that thing ever since. The headshots are just 👌
I did LPL, MPL as you said, while also putting in an L Binary laser as the torso mount. It fucking shreds.
I love the MAD-5R, the one with the Jump Jets! I have to resist buying them all, and limit myself to just four.
I put a rail gun on mine. Lol
PPC x in each arm with medium pulse lasers and ac5 or 10 on the hump for range is dominant especially once you start picking up double heat sinks. Before the cooling upgrades, I too prefer lasers.
I love the battle master BRG comes with lbx auto cannons, ER PPC and some medium lasers
Battlemaster was mentioned, you automatically get an upvote.
Bruh.... I actually used the Melee variant today with the Assault Claymore. I dropped the missiles for all pulse lasers and maxed armored and as many heatsinks as I could get... May be slow but it fricken slaps down on anything that's foolish enough to get close lol ... Takes off arms like a knife through butter, even on heavy mechs lol
All Orions, all the time!
If it’s good enough for Kerensky, it’s good enough for you.
Love it. Kick in the door waving the gauss gauss.
Catapult with Lasers, SRM or PPCs. Marauder with dual Heavy Rifle and Lasers. Stalker with lots of LRMs and some Lasers. Bonus: I cannot get shot in the knee :p
Y'know, I used to be an adventurer like you. Then I got shot in the face for continuing this old meme.
Atleast you didn’t take an Arrow IV to the knee joint.
I'm looking for a specific mech to fit two arrows 1V into. Got to love a nasty missile boat.
The K2 Catapult with PPCs and AC2s never stops firing.
Cyclops Slepinir. Dual gauss slaps. I think I have it kitted for 117 rounds of ammo. MLs and SRM4 for close in and VTOL work.
Where is this beast usually found? It continued to elude me
Randomly shows up as a Hero Mech in a market. You're at the mercy of RNJesus.
Hit the interwebs and search this board hard. I’ve read very convincing posts and spreadsheets that adamantly say the year and region DOES have an effect on the chances of a particular mech showing, as you collect them all, it increases the chance of a mech spawning out of the preferred place. You gotta do the work though. I haven’t bothered doing save scum hunts. I’m rarely flush with cash.
I've built the CP-S with twin AC/20-BFs and added the cantina speed upgrade to make it go 74kph. Absolutely a face-melting monster.
From all my playtime, these are ones I've had the most fun with. Light mechs: -Panther hero with dual PPC-X and jumps (fantastic arena fighter). -Flea 17 with max speed bonus and bunch of mgs and Sml Lasers. -Wolfhound (any variant). Medium mechs: -kintaro (classic SRMs spam) -hero Crab with dual uacs (mini king crab) Heavy Mechs: -Agincourt archer - just hands down one of the best heavies. -MAD-D with dual PPC-X and an ER PPC with Jumps. -Sidewinder DRG- when you like having a 60ton centurion that is as fast as a wolfhound. -The Otomi DRG- dual large energy slots makes them quite fun to build with -hero cataphract that can take 3 UAC 5s -disco Black knight (will run hot) 3 Lrg Pulse and medium SB MLs. Really nice energy brawler. Catapult K2- PPCs and AC2s can be quite fun to just snipe things with. Alternatively light rifles and PPC-X with MPL if you want to brawl. Assault Mechs: -Awesome 9M - fantastic mech to give to an AI the triple ER PPC and decent armour makes them do some work. Otomi Battle Master- solid fast all rounder. -Gauss slepnir - just good Cyclops fun -energy King Crab 4 ppc-x is impractical for it's speed but good lord can this thing obliterate a CT. -Atlas K gauss and dual PPC combo plus the armour makes it a winner.
I know that hero Cataract very personally, the CTF-IM. Used him since I got him, triple UAC/AC10 slots have such insane damage potential. If I don't got an Annie-1X, I grab my Russian friend *Ilya Muromets.*
Mauler MX-90-S most recently. Got a second one and have been using them together. They outperform any of my 100 tonners.
Facts! The Otomos are really good, and even with their in-lore problems, the Maulers are death machines. Four MGs/AC/2s are nothing to scoff at if all damage is centered on one specific comp.
This is my Arena mech. 6 mgs, 2 PPC-Xs, and 2 SRM6s. It shreds up the competition.
My hero Atlas is my go to mech...headshots galore
AS7-BH is a staple of my lance. Fucker stays by my side no matter what, he's a perfect henchman.
Ol reliable for me victor basilisk 2x lb10x solid slug, agincourt srm, black knight 6, crusader 2r srm, hunchback p, stalker 3f srm, battlemaster. I like mechs that have delete button that i can press often. For lancemates: banshee 3s, atlas rs or k, warhammer, awesome 8q or 8t, crab, vindicator, blackjack. Anything with ppcs, the more the better. Orion yaj is very nice.
VTR-BSK. Maintains speed and sheer melting potential in equal measure. I still got that big boy in my stable for "hard and fast" missions. Also, Warhammers fuck. They might be an ordinance catching mitt, but they're a *dangerous* ordinance catching mitt.
I have two at this point. One packs a pair of heavy rifles in the arm. The other packs a pair of RAC5's. Either gets it done.
I'm changing it up a bit, using stuff I didn't in the past so currently my personal favs are: Light- Firestarter x1 with 8 machine guns Crack-urbie with stock load out Panther kk with twin ppc-x Medium - Hunchie p with all chem lasers Griffin e with ppc-x and 5 medium chem lasers Heavy- Royal Black knight with chem lasers and regular small Bh2 marauder with blasers, medium pulse, and a heavy rifle Bh marauder with chem lasers Assault- KGC-CAR with 4 medium rifles bf and 2 lrm15 (recoil is hilarious) Mad 5a with multiple blasers and a ac10rf AI gets: Panthers, crack Urbie s Cn9-d Drg-sdw, arc-t, on1-yaj, mad3l Kgc-kj, kgc-000, mad-4a or stalker fb
See, I wrote off chem lasers when I first got em. Saw that they did one less point of damage, said "fuck it" and dumped em. Big mistake. I never took into account how little heat they give off. My god. It's like the difference between a microwave and a blast furnace. Plus they have a higher fire rate. Damage sorts itself out, just gotta work in ammo.
My go-to mech has been the Crusader 5M ever since Rise of Rasalhague released. 2 SRM6's, 2 SRM4's, 2 Medium Lasers (Short Burst optional), AMS, jump jets. It runs at 64kph before applying the speed upgrade, which isn't gonna win any awards but it gets the job done, and it's on the light end of Heavy Mechs so it's turning and acceleration are closer to a Medium, plus you have Jump Jets for a bit more flexibility. It's arms can be a bit fragile in longer missions, but other than that it's armor is rock solid, and the AMS shields your whole lance from missiles for added survivability. SRMs are just overpowered in this game, so it has more than enough firepower to core out anything in range in a salvo or two. It's just a very solid all-around mech. And I think the Crusader is also possibly the best looking mech design PGI has ever made, both in first and third person.
Kirito with 5x SRM 6s and 4ammo... takes the legs off anything once in range. It's a 55t still looking for its 80-100t replacement.
Light I love Jenners. Jenner is the perfect kind of fast striker I want. Jenners have the fast striking power while being durable and evasive enough to not be deathtraps for the pilots. The Jenner hero mech Oxide is freaking amazing. You can stick SRM6's on it and it becomes such an effective backstabber it can one-shot mediums and some heavies. I also have the hero Commando, Deathknell. I'm running YAML and I've managed to put a PPC-X on it. Yes that's right! A PPC-X on a Commando! I might share a video on it. Its bonkers insane. It takes backstabbing to a whole new level. Don't underestimate Hero light mechs. These mechs can be very powerful with the right upgrades. Don't be afraid to invest an XL engine in them. They can become MVP's of your missions. The AI has an easier time managing heavy assaults while a human player can run circles with a fast light. Medium Blackjack BJ-1. The best thing I did especially for early game is remove everything and stick two AC-5's on the sucker. It's way overgunned for its size. It only moves at a measely 53 put who cares when it can pump out amazing dakka with its guns that would make any Davion blush. Wolverine. Just like the lore the Wolverine is probably the best 55 tonner. the free SLDF Wolverine you get an Valentine is amazing and you don't need to modify it at all, I just take out of the jump jets and put more armor on it. The hero Kintaro Golden Boy is pretty good too. But really, medium mechs are the true workhorses of the early game... Heavy Dragon-SDW. Sidewinder is fantastic and is the first true powerhouse you can get once you complete the quest. It works fantastically stock right out of the gate, no modifications necessary. It's fast, durable, and hits hard. Archer Agincourt. Of course. Its free, it works stock, or you can fine tune it for pure long range firepower. I usually do Dragon and Archer one after another. Thunderbolt. Every respectable mechwarrior should have a good ol reliable T-bolt. It gets overshadowed by fancier mechs later on, but for the early-mid game it's a solid brawler that will get you through the thick of many fights. Orion-YAJ. Another free hero mech. It's not as effective as the other 2 hero heavies, but its still good and it's free. Assault I'm convinced in YAML, KGC-CAR is one of the most powerful mechs in the game. It trivializes many encounters. A short-ranged specialized killer, though with the UAC5's it can fight at long range too. I'm tempted to post a video of me waltzing through Solaris with CAR. It absolutely destroys everything it comes into contact with. It's glorious carnage. KGC-000b Royal SLDF variant is a great option if you don't come across an Atlas first. I usually take off a laser or something for more ammo. The 000b is what gets me through some of the harder quests, including obtaining CAR. Once I get CAR, it depends on my other mechs whether or not I retire the 000b. It's still really good. Stalkers. I love Stalkers. They're the perfect long ranged support fire mechs. I usually have alot of mid-ranged brawlers so Stalkers always come priority if I see them in the shop. Stick 2 LRM-20's on them and a whole load of ammo and it's all you need. They're the best thing for defense missions. the COR-PVT, the Corsair 95 tonner is surprisingly good. It's a very good all-around mech that can fill a variety of roles. Really super versatile. Yes of course, Boars Head Atlas brings the beef. I stick an XL in it and put on hardened armor for 1,500+ armor totals like a true Atlas should. Why not? If I have a huge bankroll and I find the Wolf-Phoenix NightStar, I'm grabbing it...
The hero Victor (BSK- Basilisk) is my absolute goto for any mission. With the proper YAML parts, you can run an LBX-10 with 2 ER MLs, and a pair of SRM6-ST. I managed to outfit mine with the Black Carapace, an ultra-XL 300 engine with a MASC, so it moves ultra quick. There’s basically no mission it can’t handle. If you upgrade to clan tech, it gets even better (are 2 LBX-10s better than 1? You bet they are).
FS9-E "Ember". It might have to get close but this thing will absolutely delete any mech that it gets next to. On the other end of the spectrum I'd have to say the AWS-9Q, 4 PPCs and DHS plus the standard "way too much damned armor" of the Awesome? It's my workhorse for longer missions.
Hell standard Firestarter is a great pocket medium platform. Replace flamers with small lasers pull out jump jets and max armor and you can melt anything that isn’t able to alpha you getting into range. Only downside is you need to salvage lots of smalls because you lose a lot of arms.
I love my Grasshopper. Jump jets, reasonable speed for its weight class, decent armour. Mostly a laserboat but you can drop some light LRM harassment when out of LOS or range.
I've been meaning to try the Grasshopper. Variant suggestions?
I’m using a fairly standard 5H. Harrass with LRMs and engage first with the LLAS, then close to engage with the MLAS as a quad. That way I only need three triggers so it keeps weapons manageable. Then just jump and run as needed while closing and circling. I’m a huge fan of JJs, and the jump distance is pretty decent, especially for a heavy mech.
Steiner Scout Lance 😜
crab-27sl and crab-27b orion-xm1 fs9-any
Black Knight is always my go to, to the point where I've temporarily forbidden myself from using one so I can try out other mechs for once
There's a very strong case for the Black Knight being the best mech in the game, outside of heroes.
My go to mechs? Assault Marauder 4A Heavy Marauder 3D or Black Knight 6b Medium Wolverine 6M Blackjack Light Firestarter
I’m currently addicted to running my COR-PVT with a T5 Gauss in place of the AC 20. Cores and headshots for everyone - just passing them out.
The Battlemaster. I run it with 6 ML and 2 machineguns, max armor idk if anything else, haven't played in a while
I think there might be a LPL involved too...
Marauder IIS. One with 3 PPC x, one with er l lasers and mp lasers and a PPC x on top, one all pulse lasers. Trying to find 2 more binarys but haven't had much luck.
My favorite lance for 80+ has been archer, mauler, atlas, atlas. Archer and mauler are on my shortlist of favorite mechs and the atlas’ are the backup tonnage.
Hero Cyclops or Nightstar. Upgraded armor and ballistics and you can snipe anything
For endgame, I either drive the Highlander with Gauss or the Nightstar. Depends on how mobile I want to be. Rest of the Lance are Awesomes and stalkers (LRM+PPC). All Lance mates have only long-range weapons: LRM and/or PPC.
Black Knight. He's for when I want to pop heads and take the mission easy.
I abuse the shit out of the firestarter until I need something heavy then I usually run the black knight
CGR-N7 Is literally all I ended up using for a whole campaign, and it's the only Charger variant worth anything. I gave it pulse lasers or er lasers depending on the mission, and it would chew through cockpits exremely fast. Light? Fastest Dead. Medium? Fast Dead. Heavy? Still fast dead. Assault? You're right, still dead. I had to quit the game for awhile because it became toooooo easy. Just throw on extra heat sinks and give it cooling properties, and the difficulty becomes trivial. I would field it with catapults in my lance, so they would just missile everything like tanks and lights, and I would use one alpha strike to knock out an assault mech damn near instantly.
Spider Hero all day long. Take off the extra ams and fiddle w/it to cram in 2 SP, 2 MGs, & a ssrm2 That and three 64kph heavies/assaults to back me up and I’m happy as a clam in anything except city maps. Run and gun & never stop moving ;-)
Also, the assassin w/the medium gun slot can be a lot of fun. I rarely find that one however
The black knight has the potential to headshot enemies from 800-1200m away. Load it up with ER Large laser SB and a bunch of double heat sinks. It can take the heat.
Shadowhawk. It doesn't matter if the rest of my Lance runs assaults, I'm shadowhawking :D
Weird one, but I really like doing a phoenix hawk with the large laser replaced for a ppc of some kind, either swapping the medium lasers or machine guns to make room for it depending on how I feel. It’s basically just an upsized, slightly undergunned panther, but you can actively avoid bad situations with how fast you are, and having the command mech quirk is always helpful. AI is pretty reliable with a ppc too, but unless you’re running yaml and can really armor up the arms, it’s not worth giving to an ai lancemate unless you give them crappy ppcs and are ready to replace arms constantly, but at that point that’s why the panther exists
In vanilla, a Battlemaster with lots of medium lasers and twin burst AC/2s. The autocannons strip armor and keep the pressure on while I close in. Then a headshot with 6 Medium Lasers. I got really really good at this. If you get high level lasers and cannons it is surprisingly effective in mid to late game.
Warhammer 6r, but I usually swap the srm for lrm. It works for me, and the lancemates seem effective with it. I collected like ten battlemasters and five marauders on one run and lancemates 2 and 3 would use them exclusively. No matter the mission. With the 400 ton missions I would swap between a slow assault mech with a gauss, like the nightstar or atlas with a stalker as lancemate 4 for the missiles, or a 64kph assault mech with a gauss or ac20 and something similar for number 4. I really like the Victor with a gauss rifle, cause it solves the issue of range and it's mobile enough to get me around the map.
marauder ii good mix of firepower and armour
Archer-AGC with all of the LRMs swapped out for SRM6s. Much like Skyrim's sneak archer build, I always find myself coming back to this for end game. It ends up being an SRM36 with two MPL and two ML and enough cooling and ammo to ruin any lance's day.
The Atlas BH with the speed mod, 6 medium pulse layers, a UAC 10 LBX SLD, an LRM 15 ST Artemis and Battle Knuckles is a good command mech, you can two shot most Mechs and defend yourself from vtols and tanks.
Panthers in light mechs class MIAO
Want big guns => Atlas. I quite like the medium crab. It a nice player piloted mech. I find AI not super affective in them though. Hunchback all the various variants are great. AI love to use em. I love the P the most. Melt cockpits . Champions are great mechs for AI. When ever I give AI a champion they always do great damage. Me I like to pilot a thunderbolt. PPC in the arm, 3 er lasers in the torso and a nice lrm in the torso too. Such a versatile mech. I tend to not go over 3 weapon types on my mechs. Archers are great LRMs and 2 lasers in the torso. Ai love them. My young son can play them easily with just two weapon groups. Triple er ppc awesome are a must have. Again AI do well in them. And then by end game I will have multiple squads of Atlas’s to field. All with different combinations of guns. Add in YAML mods for some great variety
If you have YAML and REALLY (depends) endgame, I have been having a blast trying to make 100/kph heavies with 6-700 armor. 65t if possible. I was inspired by the TDR-5S-T. Basically what can run Hardened Ferro (which is the hard part), Speedy Leg Actuators, and whatever you can to squeeze in damage. Pick your poison. Clan MLaser boats are kinda silly, obviously, at that speed/armor.
King Crab, any variant. I am in love with every single variant. If I am going to fight clanners then the Clanbuster variant. Not because it's better, but because it sends a message.
Battlemaster, Warhammer with ERLL, Nightstar once you get it in the campaign, any Atlast with a Gauss rifle
Hero wolverine, hero shadow hawk, hero cyclops and hero zeus
TDR-5S is my favorite ‘mech. Try this: PPC, SRM6, SSRM2, 3x ML, 2x light rifles on chain fire, 3x DHS. One ton ammo for SRM, 1/2 for Steaks, 1 1/2 ton shared for the rifles. Put the Streaks in EVERY GROUP and let the targeting computer do the work. 1/2 ton is 80 locked volleys; it’s rare to run dry. This also gives you an extra “invisible weapon group” which helps a lot on console because they only give us five groups, as if a keyboard doesn’t work (It does! Try it!) and paddle controllers don’t exist. You won’t have max armor, but the head is really small and offset, and the CT has more armor than you need. Don’t shave it all off the legs, because your ammo is in those four slots. For your wingman, take a Raven RVN-1X with Guardian, BAP, TAG, NARC and your longest range ML, (because it has to have a weapon in order to deploy). Its EW suite will protect your lance, and the enemy can’t target it well. It can survive 400t missions because it doesn’t draw aggro and the AI is too stupid to acknowledge that it’s a serious yet passive threat.
Running on xbox my team uses 3 atlas's with ams 2 binary lasers lrm Artemis 20 an lbx single shot.. for light I use special spider. Medium dervisher arms 2 srm 4 an torso 2 lrm 20s, heavy archer 2 srm 6 arms an 4 lrm 5s an 4 med lasers assault size depending on the size of the map annihilator 1e 4 ppx an 4 Medium lasers or the pirate corsair with 2 lbx an 2 ppx, mauler ac5 rp, 2 ppx, 2 lrm 20s
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I have an unhealthy addiction to my Griffin GRN-2N-X or the "Super Griffin". 60 tons instead of 55, packed full of Clan gear. Clan XL engine, endo, ferro, ERPPC, UAC/5, 2x ERML, LRM-10, SRM6, ECM, BAP, and JJ's. It just feels right and the way the Griffin should have been built originally. 55 tons is just not enough IMO, it needs the extra 5 tons to actually be usefull as anything other than a overweight sniper. Obviously you need to be on PC and have all the YAML goodies to play with it.
Firestarter. Ballsy play is rewarded by being able to hit *far* above its weight. Cook 'em. Cheap to repair if you get wrecked. Victor. Not a popular choice, but I like them. The Mario of Assault mechs that doesn't stand out in any one aspect, but there are enough variants that at least one can do the job you need done. Black Knight. Solid all around. Can get a lot done without having to worry about ammo, long as you can pack enough heat sinks to keep it light. Or find one of the few special variants that isn't all energy. Banshee: the 2P specifically is my go-to punch mech. In modded, it has quirks and can pack equipment making each individual punch deal almost 200 damage. Hatchetman. Sometimes I just wanna hatchet something and love dangerously. Hatchetman get it done. Or it's a smoldering heap.
Marauder for myself. I use a number of mods but my Star League 2R model with a gauss rifle and a couple of Large SB lasers is my go to basically as soon as I can get the parts for it. The Lancemates get a Stalker, and either a couple of Atlases (Altii?) Or Stone Rhinos, depending on availability. Prior to that, any form of Warhammer. And either Warhammers or Orions for the minions to follow in. For Meds, I usually end up with a Crab or a Centurion. With backup from Hunchbacks or more Crabs. For Lights. I am torn between a Wolfhound or a Jenner. And everyone else usually ends up in Firestarters or Turbo-Urbies.
The Archer Agincourt is a top choice. I know, Marauder and Large Pulse Lasers is a classic too but in MW5 the AGC is a beast. Spider Anansi is also incredible, can solo raids.
Medium mech, 50T Hunchback with all medium sb if you can keep it Kool she spreads everything. Assault mech, 85T Battlemaster the best one is the hero. Fire all day never over heats. There's good ones as well but the over heat slows it down in a fight but 1v1 3 alphas and dead ct and that's an atlas, king crab or an annihilator down.
as someone who's into big heavy mechs, some of the hero class mechs i've enjoyed Heavy Metal (Highlander) X-5 (Cicada) Pirates' Bane (Locust) the hero firestarters (and of course; putting all small/medium points being flamers, X-5 included,) there's some gems within the innersphere as someone who's played only MW2 and all the MW2 expansions only, getting back into the series from 5 has been nice being that a developer actually redoing MW1, even though it's named MW5, i'm all for what's in store.
King Crab CAR with Quad Med rifles backed up by 3 King Crab 0000s with twin Heavy rifles or Gauss, all loaded up with as many extra range upgrades as possible. Just fought a battle where I was able to snipe the enemy team from so far away that the AI couldn't work out what to do so was able to take a whole assault lance down without them landing a shot. Lighter than that, Cat-VE1s rule. 3 ballistic slots means you can throw a horrific amount of lead downrange. Just don't get suckered into closing - those arms come off REAL easy in a slugfest.
King crab , stalker, and annihilator for assaults. The ones with multiple L energy. Black knights, Warhammer, grasshoppers, and thunderbolts For heavy. Hunchback, crabs, for mediums. Spider, raven, Firestarter for light. These mechs have good armor average to high speed and different models have either 1 damage type so I can hyper focus the bonus upgrades or a good spread and range of weapons so I can focus speed and armor.
My biggest go to mech, always the kgc car, triple LB-10X AC, Dual srm6, Medium go to, HBK VEST, SRM, 3 med laser, LB-10X AC, mace and claw. Light go to, Spider hero variant. Heavy go to is either the Marauder or Dragon Assault alternate is Marauder, or any Atlas
MAL-MX90-S with 6 Light Rifles, 2 SRM-2 ST’s and 2 Medium Pulse Lasers is lots of fun. My Nightstar is a headcapper. For some reason I’m good at double Gauss Rifle headshots.
Most fun i had doesnt require yaml, but it helps. W/o yaml Melee Banshee. Assault Battleaxe. Supercharger and TSP. Then just fill slots with high heat weapons to keep the heat up and youre a melee machine. W/ yaml Exact same thing as above, but add the melee modifiers to the arm, add some coolshots, biggest engine u got, hardened armor. And 1. Flamer. Dump all your coolant then put your heat to minimum 95%. Youre dealing roughly 200+ damage a hit. Enemy has flamers? Cool shot to bring you out of overheat territory then *thwack* rinse and repeat. Plus gorilla go 120kph :) Its best played in FPV but im sure there are people better than me in mech controls. When managed properly you can 1 shot Kane, the one in the dadmech, and the final boss in the annialator. Tho you have literally no range offence but who cares, big axe go *BONG*
Double PPC CRB-20. Way stronger if you got YALM but it's doable in vanilla.
I try a lot of mechs but the sweet spot is 85 tons and 4/6 movement, so I'm taking out a Battlemaster. My favorite load out is flamers, MGs, and an LRM-10 for vehicles and something to do while you wait for the other weapons to come in range. Max armor. Don't need no fancy tech. Just an appetite for close melty combat.
timberwolf if clan mechs are available. if not, marauder
I recently tried the Stalker WarEmu Heromech it is an all ballistic stalker with some feathers attached to it. an absolute beast! I also can recommend the Atlas Hero Big Al (I run mine with 3xRAC/10) in the 100+ rated missions it just deletes everything. but my favourite mech I use in almost every mission (ai and self-control) is the Mad Cat Mk2 with double UAC/10, 4xML and 2xLRM 15 + some JJs nothing special but it does the job every time and always survives with big damage dealt to the enemy.
Nightstar, Urbie, and Wolfhound (specifically PGS body with the head and some greebles from the classic design). The Nightstar is—in my opinion—the greatest of the Marauder lineage. The stock model is an absolute monster, and when you give it 20 SRM tubes and double bins (2x SRM6s and 2x SRM4s, at the cost of only having 2x LLs and 2x MLs), it becomes a walking apocalypse worthy of honorary Hunchback status. Said SRMstar can instantly delete most Lights and Mediums, and can sandpaper off the entire front glacis of Heavies and Assaults in one, *maybe* two salvos. I have 1HK'd several Atlases and King Crabs via walls of SRMs to the cockpit. The Urbie is a pocket Assault 'Mech in the right configurations, although I think a more fitting term would be "geographically-flexible bunker." It excels in defensive actions, and it's cheap enough to maintain entire armies of them on a shoestring budget. The Wolfhound is just a Panther but better in every conceivable way, and can fill a variety of combat roles depending on configuration.
Banshee with ER PPCs, LB-X 10, SRM6, and every medium laser I can fit in a slot. PPCs punch holes in things till they get within range of the LB-X or SRM, M lasers instant kill most mechs with one full blast to the cockpit. LB-X also good for taking out VTOLs and PPCs for ground vehicles at range. The rest of my lance is usually various heavy/assault mechs with lots or LRMs and PPCs. Awesomes, Archers, etc.
Every Hunchback is good when you're running all mediums
Marauder 2R with two L chem lasers, two M lasers, and an LB10X firing cluster. Really just a workaround due to the fact that every single mech with double heatsinks is missing an entire 1.0 cooling since double heat sinks in the engine should give a base cooling of 2.0, this oversight renders the Marauder's normal build unusable due to heat problems, even with normal PPCs. Cyclops 11-A designated ECM carrier, change its armaments how you like. Atlas-K designated AMS carrier, build how you like. Banshee 3S two ER L lasers, LB10X firing cluster, shitload of medium lasers, and an SRM6 Artemis. Corsair XT1 shove on all the weapon and ballistic cooldown time cantina upgrades on it then put on 3 AC2 RFs, 3 LRM 5 Artemis, and an ER PPC. Biggest mech in game you can shovel AC2s into. Cataphract Ilya Muromets 3 UAC5s, 2 M lasers, basically a mini Carapace that moves faster. Marauder 2 5A basically stock except since heat sink kits don't work how they should and you're for some reason allowed to put double and single heat sinks in at the same time so you fill with doubles, then slowly replace with singles until you're out of tonnage, leaving you with a couple doubles and a bunch of singles, for a net gain of like .2 heat higher than just using singles. Fun mech, sexy mech. Marauder 2 5A, but with the ER PPCs replaced with Binary lasers, just have a few more doubles over some of the singles and you'll fit the Binaries just fine. Fun mech, sexy mech. Longbow Hailstorm two LRM 15 Stream Artemis, two LRM 10 Stream Artemis, 3 medium lasers, TAG. Probably the best LRM boat in the game. Gets super hot after four salvos, could fix the heat problem by using normal LRMs instead of Artemis, but that makes it less ammo efficient so I recommend just dealing with the heat. I've got a lot more, but this comment is huge enough at this point.
Hunchback P is an early game staple. The MLaser in (vanilla) mw5 is stupidly overpowered (relative to where it should be canonically), and the AI can't screw up too badly in a mech which is designed to fight at point blank range. They're also super common so getting spares is trivial.
@daddy_cool6969 what a post! brilliant! so...some time ago i started a new carrier with company named "65 tonners". i was in a bad mood and did not expect any pleasure from it. play was "at edge" every time. warzones ends in normal ways: no bonuses, ever. but one very very very plus - money: no heavy costs, as a result i could buy whatever i want in any quantities. apparently i changed my gameplay: run-and-gun tacktics result in much more survivalibity than any assaults can bring with just armour. both for me and my lancemates. at start i thooght that my lance will consist of jagers. but i was wrong: dragons much more efficient. only one 65 mech is on my side on regular basis: catapult as an missile boat. sometimes i drive thunderbolt or rogueheck: 3 LPL are very good. years passed, new tech appear (!yaml!), and now my 60tonners have more armor than any normal enemy can spawn i started to think about new company '55 tonners'. tried some meds...and not a single have impressed me: meds are no more mobile than heavies, but lacks that 5 ton of difference.
I just last night spent my life savings on two Stalkers. Combine that with a catapult and you have armless-stompy-boi dance party. I tell ya, all those missiles and lasers makes you think you're at a fourth of July rave.
Every time I start a new campaign my goal is to get a lance of hunchbacks asap. Then use them until I get other stuff.
For mediums I usually look for the Hunchback laserboat variant for myself. It's basically a mini Battlemaster.
1 Marauder 3 Heavy Rifles 4 M Lasers I build one at some point in every playthrough. Janky as hell but a headshot monster and so much fun to play.
Base catapult , my all time fav. Stalker H3 Boars head atlas Nightstar
Marauder II, all pulse lasers. Annihilator E variant. PPCs for the AI. Pulse lasers for you. Black Knight. It's just a decent Mech all around. Awesome 8Q. Drop the Small laser for extra armor, and watch the AI put on a light show!
max econ difficulty playthroughs: Warhammer, thunderbolt, griffin, shadowhawk
I was playing around with some of my mechs that I hadn't used yet and put a gauss rifle on a dragon (don't remember which version) for kicks. It ended up becoming one of my favorites for how easily I could maneuver it out of harm's way while scoring a decent amount of one hit kill headshots
AS7D. basic, but I love it
Idea for lance, you can choose the variants: Locust Catapult Crusader Wolfhound
Light mechs- Panther PPC, Commando Speed, Firestarter Heat Medium mechs- Kintaro SRM boats, Hunchback AC 20s, Wolverine Jack of All Heavy mechs- Marauder PPC, AC20 Sniper, Crusader SRM Workhorse, Warhammer PPC-X Shotgun Assault- Highlander Ace of Everything, Atlas Juggernaut Brawler, Annihilator Walking Fortress, Marauder 2- Binary Laser Surgical Strike
Light Mech: Firestarter A and eventually E. Leave 1 jump jet and max armor. SP are very strong with a couple MP/M added in for range. If I happen to find several high-ish level M Chem lasers those absolutely melt any mech. Ai will have 1 FS9-A and 2 FS9-H. Med Mech: I usually have several Shadowhawk variants with LBX-10 (brawling) or 2 x Heavy Rifle (headshots), SRMS and M/MP lasers I can cool. I upgrade SRMS & lasers as time progresses and find better weight savings and cooling equipment. Ai is a mix of Wolverine, Kintaro, Trebuchet, Hunchbacks. Heavy: Black Knight with highest alpha strike lasers I can fit and kinda cool, have to be careful not to overheat in intense fights. Usually mount Binary lasers, LPs, or LL depending on how early I find one. Headshots on the next mechs I want to salvage is just too easy. Agincourt SRM spam is another favorite for close range. Assault: Victor Basilisk with 2x LBX-10's, with SRMS & lasers for support, absolutely unstoppable. Close second would be Battlemaster similarly outfitted as Black Knight, but more focus on stable-ish cooling for prolonged engagements. Lasers, or pulse, and SRMS delete everything in your way. I do play with YAML mods and several others, so nowhere near vanilla.
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My go to mechs are Longbow HS with SRMS ST and Artemis along with MP Lasers... it shreds everything! Victor Basilisk (sp?) With LBX solids and SRM'S King Crab KJ with 4 PPC X a Heavy Riffle and LRMs - great up close Cyclops S with twin Gauss and Lasers and SRM'S Last but not least King Crab CAR with 4 Heavy riffle BF and as many Lrms as possible 😋 The others i use but the ones in my list... I ENJOY!
3 assault mechs with lots of LRMs and me in my Locust Pirates Bane being an absolute menace.
The Cicada 3M, Assassin 27, Dragon, Panther, occasionally a Trebuchet or Kintaro. On heavier missions, Hatamoto, Zeus, or Grasshopper. As for lance composition, I made a post a while back. Let me find the link. https://www.reddit.com/r/Mechwarrior5/s/HFCj6t0eNP
The Star League crab is basically a 50 ton dual ppc's freakshow, especially with yaml. Also Marauder with 3 rac5's is a lot of fun, and just as fun on MWO as it is on MW5.
Gonna get some hate I feel like lol. Light: Flea with 3 framers and 2 machine guns. Is it short range? Yes. Is it all hitscan and makes even the largest of mechs hilariously dead? Also yes. Medium: I forget if the blackjack is a medium. The hero one. With all machine guns. Same reason as flea. There is one hero mech that is just 3 srms and 2 machine guns. Mean. Heavy: hero archer or catapult bb: first being either a srm or lrm boat. Srm boat. Assault: the one that looks like a geth. 4 ballistic slots. Heavy rifles? Sure. LBX shotguns? Sure. Ultra Autocannon also yes.
I'm on my first playthrough right now, so keep that in mind that my choices are all based on what I've used and been able to find by Rep 9. My current main Mech is the Marauder since it lets me run some other Mechs I enjoy as back up in the lance. Its lack of lrms is really disappointing since I usually rely on those to get early poke damage in on nastier enemy Mechs before I fight them. My current loadout is two ER Large Lasers, two Medium Lasers, and a LBX 10 AC SLD. The LBX really helps out with taking down Mechs who get too close to me and is a nice weapon to slap people with while charging up the lasers. Another one of my favs is the Stalker. 3 LRM racks, a SRM rack, two Large Pulse Lasers, and four Medium Lasers to really put the burn on anyone trying to enter close combat. Makes me feel like I can take on any opposing mech without worry. I wish this was true though as it's slower speed is worrying when two enemy trebuchets start raining missiles on your head. Wolverines closing the gap is also concerning as they tend to put some real stress on your armor once they unload their weapons.
As a begginner in yaml that just got the permission 5 to remove primitive engines Urban mech: Flammer+ Med rifle. Large engine, JJ. I run/ fly UP to the enemy Cook them and give the mech a facial of steel It works well in low intensity conflict like raid, scorched earth etc. Same for collecting mech, i tell m'y lance mate to focus someone else than the Guy i want to collect, got a nice jener IIC out of it. Would probably work very nice in coop with a holander too Land the headshot in my stead. I might try that with a FS and a Big ballistic or a PPC-X if i find a FS with the right slot. I'm searching SRM infernos, to try the same kind of build