Ilya Muromets (Cataphract Hero Mech) 3x UAC5 Guide

With the recent buff to UltraAC5s, this build has become even more fearsome than it was before. An Ilya Muromets armed with 3x UAC5s, and 2x Medium Laser is a beast. This Cataphract destroys Assault Mechs in seconds. You will have no trouble at all melting through the center torsos of your enemies, hence the nickname “Chainsaw”. The build is reasonably heat efficient and has enough ammo to pump out more than 1,000 damage per match. The only downside is your exposed front, carrying an XL-engine.

The first version of the build is the most offensive one. This is the maximum possible amount of ammo you can carry. Kaffeangst, myself, and other friends of mine are running this version to great success. 7 kills and 800 damage are no rare sight. However, this version of the Ilya Muromets Chainsaw build is not suited for absolute beginners. If you are new to the game or ballistic heavy builds, I do not recommend this version. You have to know what you are doing at all times and a reasonable level of teamwork, reflexes, and aiming is required.

If you would like to play this build in more of a support role or a newer player, use the following version. It trades some ammo for a larger engine and the addition of AMS. The increased movement speed and the Anti-Missile-System allow you to make more mistakes and support your team, even if you are not destroying Mechs fulltime. Use this build if you see yourself more like a 2nd line of fire guy which sticks behind the large team and assists as necessary.

• Cataphract plus XL-engine is problematic. If you are eating carefully aimed sniper shoots, LRMs, or high frontal damage, you are done for. Whenever you are being hit by anything mentioned here, get to cover. Do not return fire. Also do not make the mistake to peak around the same corner a few seconds later. You will die a quick but horrible death and be no good to your team, because all that sweet ammo is smoldering in your corpse.
• Since your weapons are firing from a very low point, you must expose yourself almost completely in order to fire properly. That being sad, you should always try to flank the enemy or fire at enemies who do not or can not return fire. The two Medium Lasers are mounted a bit higher, so when in doubt, use your lasers first.
• Weapon grouping advice: 1) All three UltraAC5s 2) Both Medium Lasers. In addition, you can create weapon groups for chain firing the UAC5s, only the arm-mounted ones, or a group for left and right UACs to fire around corners without wasting ammo.
• Ammo is precious and UltraAC5 ammo weighs a lot. Make every shoot count. If you are unsure whether or not you will hit the target, do not fire or use your lasers.
• UltraAC5s are excellent weapons to scare off enemies. However, you want to kill enemies. If you can flank or sneak up on an enemy, wait until you have a clear shoot and hold that trigger down. Early hits will waste ammo and your opponent has more time to react.
• Preferred control options are disabled arm-lock and holding down the weapon group which contains all three of your UltraAC5s. Only use the lasers on colder maps or if you are unsure you can hit properly.

If you are looking for a macro which prevents your UltraAC/5s from jamming, check out our guide on how to setup Fire Control.

Here is a screenshot of what an average round can look like for you soon.

 

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Jagermech DD Ballistic Build with ACs and lots of Dakka!

Jagermechs are revered and feared for their high amount of ballistic slots. This Jagermech DD build utilises all 6 (in words “six”) ballistic hardpoints. A guide that will blow your mind, enemies, and your headset to bits. The build is a lot of fun to play and still more than effective enough to destroy PUG games. The idea for this build comes from a good friend of mine, Strawberry5. He is a decent pilot, knows how to think out of the box, and pilots his Jagermechs (including a Firebrand) with great skill.

In order to accompany all the heavy ballistic weapons in this chassis, the armor has been reduced to the bare minimum. It is also recommended that you put a high emphasis on the front side torsos and only put minimalistic amounts of armor on your rear shoulders. Downsizing the engine is not recommended, since your Mech will already move very slowly.

• Use the Jagermech’s unique geometry to expose yourself as little as possible. The ballistic weapon hardpoints are mounted on a very high position. Try to get a feeling for how far you must expose your Mech in order to fire. Never go further out than necessary.
• Try to fight at range if possible. The double Machine Guns and Small Lasers increase your close range damage a lot. However, the low movement speed and minimalistic armor values will ensure a quick death if you are caught off guard by other more heavily armored brawlers with SRMs and the like.
• If you become entangled in a fire fight which you would probably lose, retreat immediately, but also try to keep firing while doing so. The screen shaking power of four ballistic weapons will make it impossible for the enemy to aim at your properly and many players will be scared by the special effects shrouding their screens.
• There are some other games that you can practice with your friends like for example Playing Backgammon that is very funny.

 

 

The build which forms the core of this guide was invented and provided by Strawberry5.

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Cataphract 2X Brawler Build

I am a great fan of the Cataphract chassis. I bought a 4X, 2X, and 1X right when they came out. However, the CTF-3D and the Hero Mech variant “Ilya Muromets” are much more popular. While those are really fun and powerful variants, I wanted to beat something with my 2X and 1X. So this guide came to life. See how a Cataphract 2X can easily deal as much damage as the more popular variants. People will only underestimate you until you blasted the second Assault Mech in their team to bits.

This build features everything you need. The Cataphract 2X brawler build is like the whole family fun package. A Gauss Rifle for long range shots and in order to add critical pinpoint damage while brawling. It can also be used in the rare case of running on high heat. Three Medium Lasers will serve as your all-purpose weapons. Finally, double SRM6 will be your melee range blaster. The recent MWO patch buffed their damage even further. Note, that all screenshots where taken before this patch and the damage values were already insanely high. Especially when encountering Assault Mechs, the SRM6s will provide the critical damage needed to take them down quickly.

• Although your Cataphract 2X is equipped with a Gauss Rifle, the most damage can be dealt at close range. Try to engage in brawls early on for maximum output.
• This build is very heat efficient. Do not fear to fire all weapons at all times. In the rare case of running on high heat, continue firing your SRM6s and the Gauss Rifle only.
• The combination of a Cataphract chassis and an XL-engine make you very susceptible to frontal attacks. Try to hug buildings, ledges, and cliffs at all times.

Note, that the following screenshots where taken before the recent buff to SRM damage. You should be able to easily reach or even surpass those numbers.

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Quickdraw Brawler Build

The Quickdraw is the latest addition to the heavy weight class. Its hit box is not the best, but it features jump jets and a lot of energy and missile hardpoints. This guide is just a quick overview on how to build a very good Quickdraw QKD-4H. Without further a due, let’s jump into one of the best Quickdraw builds for brawling. This bad-ass comes with three SRM6 and 4 medium lasers; a firepower comparably with two AC 20s. If you master the chassis this Mech will go up to 95 kph! There are only very few Mechs which can achieve this speed while maintaing that high a firepower.

This version does not have an AMS installed. However, with speeds of up to 95kph this Quickdraw build is easily able to dodge behind cover or sometimes even outrun missiles.

• Enable Arm-Lock in the options menu. Your weapons are spread over your whole chassis. It would be a shame if the shoots go everywhere as well.
• The cooling efficiency is very good. Just group all lasers to one group and all missiles to a second.
• When facing other heavies and assaults, shoot them right in the face and then use your superior movement speed and jump jets to get behind them. While they are wondering where you went, you will blast their backs with SRMs. If everything hits that’s a wooping 47 damage.

The core layout of this build is inspired by a thread originally posted by Warchanter. Click here to check out the original thread.

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If you know of an excellent build, resource, or guide, submit it and maybe it will be featured on mwo-builds.net and seen by thousands of players. You can submit builds by sending us an e-mail, post it in the official looking-for-builds thread, or send us a private message via the official forums. You can also submit guides and builds via Facebook or Twitter (see below). Join hundreds of other Mechwarrior enthusiasts and like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter. Receive the latest guides and the best MWO builds directly to your favourite social platform!

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Endo Steel Structure is a Mech upgrade that you may purchase for roughly one million c-bills on every Mech (depending on Mech size). It will provide you with a hand full more tons (5% of the total weight) to play with but also occupy many critical slots (the lines where you put your equipment in).

Cost versus gain

Depending on your mech´s size the upgrade will roughly cost one million c-bills. Beware that undoing the upgrade will cost you roughly half that amount again! In addition,you will lose internal space to put items, called critical slots; 14 to be precise. In turn your mech´s structure will weigh only half and thus adding 5% more tonnage to play with. These 5% depend on your Mech size and can be calculated as “Maximum tonnage times .05″. Example: for an Atlas you will have 100 tons and upgrading Endo Steel Structure will yield you 5 additional tons. A Hunchback weighing only 50 tons will get a bonus of 2.5 tons.

How does it work ingame: Dynamic Structure Slots

Once you´ve purchased the Endo Steel Structure upgrade, you will notice two new kinds of items appearing in your critical slots (the lines where you equip your stuff): Dynamic Structure Slot and Structure Slot. These mark the places where the Endo Steel Structure resides within your Mech. However, they can be automatically moved to a certain extent: Dynamic Structure Slots can be treated like free slots. The Structure will be moved to another part of your Mech (where ever some space is left), and you can mount your items in Dynamic Structure Slots like in any other free slot.

Once you no longer see Dynamic Structure Slots you are out of space. If you are out of space and still have some tons left, I´d recommend maxing out armor and see if you can upgrade a weapon to something heavier without using up (much) more space e.g. Medium Laser to Medium Pulse Laser.

When to purchase Endo Steel Structure

The following list will give you a rough idea on when to consider Endo Steel and when you should think of something else. However, certain situations and builds may contradict these guidelines.

• Endo Steel Structure is  highly recommended on light and medium Mechs. Heavys often times but normally never a good idea on Assaults.
• If you need more heat sinks and/or more ammunition do not go for Endo Steel, but consider upgrading to Double Heat Sinks.
• If you are planning not to put much/anything in your arms go for Endo Steel Upgrade.
• The smaller/lighter your Mech the higher the chance Endo Steel is worth a look.
• If your Mech runs with a lot of lasers, stream srm2 and other small weapons with little/no ammo Endo Steel Structure is worth a look, too.

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