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Do You Play other Games, too?
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The Best Shadowhawk 2D2 Brawler
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Competetive Spider 5D Build
7 Nov 2013
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Shadowhawk 2H (P) Damage Dealer
23 Oct 2013
Category Ballistic Weapons (ACs, Gauss, …)
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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One of the most viewed build on this blog is the Atlas D-DC all-round brawler build by Strawberry5. He and myself have played this build countless times and have proven its worth in PUG games. Mechwarrior Online has evolved since then, and strategies have changed. This Atlas brawler build has been adjusted slightly to better fit 2013 meta-game requirements. If you don’t like PPCs and want to look really good on the score board (damage dealt, kills, match score, etc) give this build a try. You will not be disappointed.
If you need AMS in this Atlas build, try swapping it for the Beagle Active Probe. Do not remove ammunition in exchange for the AMS since it is already carrying the absolute minimum for extended fights.
In comparison to the old Atlas brawler build, the new version trades the AMS, ammunition and movement speed for range, a BAP and burst damage.
- Use the high max range of your double Ultra AC/5 to lay down suppressing fire and chip away at enemies during the first minutes of the match. Enemy LRM-boats and other long range builds will duck back behind cover, and potential future enemies will have their starting armor reduced.
- Fire your Ultra AC/5s by single clicking at all times (1.1sec). Restrain yourself from holding down the key as they will most likely jam very fast and your actual damage output will decline. Only gamble on your weapons not jamming when being faced with certain death.
- Keep in mind that your ECM will not protect you from LRM barrages while it is set to counter mode.
- Although you have a BAP, it might be useful to counter an enemy ECM at times. The default hotkey for switching ECM modes is J.
- If you are engaged in an all-out close quarters fight, do not overheat due to alpha striking all the time. It will mean certain death. Instead, refrain from using the lasers and keep using your missiles and ballistic weapons only.
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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!| Follow @mwobuildsnet |
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It has been a few weeks since the Jagermech made its splash in the MWO scene. Sporting easily some of the best ballistic hardpoint setups available, it has quickly become a very beloved (and hated) chassis. Especially the Jagermech dual AC 20 builds have risen in popularity due to their ability to quickly kill people in PUG matches. This guide works with every variant of the Jagermech. The last patch nerfed dual AC/20 builds alpha strike potential. However, your overall damage per second is still the same. More on this in section Playstyle below. To see which variant is best for you (apart from building a dual AC 20), check out the following list:
- JM6-S : The most versatile of all the variants. Used in tournament play.
- JM6-DD : Offers the most ballistic slots. Fun chassis for ballistic weapon freaks (dakkadakka!).
- JM6-A : Has missile hardpoints, which the other chassis don´t.
- JM6-Firebrand : Hero Mech. If you don´t mind the MC price, this will be a comfortable tool to farm huge amounts of c-bills in no time at all.
As mentioned above, this build works with every variant. If you want more armor/lasers, tune down the engine to an XL 260.
- Be aware of the latest MWO patch! You will overheat instantly when attempting to fire both AC/20s at the same time. Set them to chain fire (default hotkey BACKSPACE) and click twice slowly. If you overheat, you have clicked too quickly. This will reduce your pinpoint damage, but overall damage output will still be the same.
- Aiming is key! You will deal a lot of damage by just firing randomly at your enemies, but you will kill them in seconds if you aim for the right parts.
- You are very fast and agile (for your weight class and armament). Use this to quickly flank, flee, engage or whatever it needs to get into a good firing position.
- Shoulders, rear Center Torso and Legs should be your primary targets. If your enemy is holding still, aim for the cockpit.
- Do not try to hit enemies further away than a couple hundred meters. If your ammo is expended or you overheat, you are a worthless to your team.
Get Connected!
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!| Follow @mwobuildsnet |
People who read this guide also read:
One of my best friends, Strawberry5, has great success with an Atlas Brawler build, almost always topping the scoreboard and blowing scrubs to bits and pieces. This guide is the result of hours of grinding and experimenting and represents the, in my opinion, currently best load-out if you want to go toe to toe with your foes as an Atlas pilot. Be sure to drop by his profile and leave him a thumbs-up (link at the end of the guide).
- Atlas AS7-D-DC
- Standard Engine 350
- Max armor on all torso partitions, reduce both legs to ~41 and both arms to ~52
- 2x UltraAC/5 (7x ammo)
- 2x Medium Laser
- 3x StreakSRM2 (3x ammo)
- 1x C.A.S.E. (3x SSRM2 ammo and 2x UAC/5 ammo in left torso)
- Anti-Missile System (1x ammo)
- Guardian ECM (place in right leg to avoid early destruction)
- Always move at max speed (>62kph with upgrades) if possible. This will make your worst enemies (SRM6s, AC/20s, Gauss Rifles) miss your mech more often.
- Use the high max range of your double UltraAC/5 to lay down suppressing fire and chip away at enemies during the first minutes of the match. Enemy LRM-boats and other long range builds will duck back behind cover and potential future enemies will have their starting armor reduced.
- Always try to entangle your enemies in close quarters combat as soon as possible. You are one of the most fearsome brawlers on the battlefield; make your enemies brawl as well whether they want to or not.
- Fire your UltraAC/5s by single clicking at all times (1.1sec). Restrain yourself from holding down the key as they will most likely jam very fast and your actual damage output will decline. Only gamble on your weapons not jamming when being faced with certain death.
- If your ECM gets blocked (mostly by light mechs), switch to counter (hotkey J). Afterwards, find the ECM bearing mech and dispose of it with your triple SSRM2s and lasers.
- Keep in mind that your ECM will not protect you from LRM barrages while it is set to counter mode.
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Please note: This guide may still be viable, but is very old.
You will probably find better ones or will need to tweak a few things. In addition, some or all meta game information and play style/hints may include outdated information. As soon as an updated version is available, it will be shown here. If you have up-to-date information on how to improve this build, please leave a comment below. Thank you.
I am happy to provide you with a final guide for the regular Cataphract variants. A guy named Wrench from the official forums was kind enough to allow me to use the guide here. Be sure to check out his profile and the original thread in the official forums to drop him a like and thumbs up. Enjoy:
The Cataphract has been a staple of House Davion Lances since it’s construction. A dependable heavy mech that could be relied upon, and The Gershom, a -3D variant piloted by loyalist Nicholas Reffin was no exception. With a pair of fearsome AC10s, four medium lasers and an experimental XL290 engine, The Gershom was a classic design that saw it’s share of battles and always comported itself well on the field, bringing victory and honour to its pilot .But a mechwarrior is never completely satisfied.
While The Gershom was successful, Nicholas was always irritated by its limitations. The mech shouldered the vulnerability of the XL engine, but still moved at a mediocre speed. This sluggishness made close range confrontations unpleasant when the fighting moved in, especially against highly manoeuvrable mechs. This was only compounded by the mech’s inability to quickly dissipate heat. Temperature ratings rested in acceptable tolerances when lobbing shells at range, perhaps with sporadic use of the MLAS. But frequent firing of all four MLAS in a brawl situation had a tendency to build an uncomfortable amount of heat.Still, with limited resources, it was hard to justify any changes on a successful – if imperfect – mech. The Gershom was ran as a powerful, but conventional heavy support unit for some time. But in a changing time of war, more flexibility is desired from a heavy chassis. Flush with an unexpected source of income, Reffin demanded a complete overhaul of some of his older configurations from his engineering team. First among these refits was a project to expand the tactical flexibility of the Gershom.
After much deliberation and several rejected designs, the Gershom was completely striped and rebuilt over a matter of weeks. While unpopular with some, the decision was made to actually reduce the armament on the mech, replacing the dual AC10s with a pair of UAC5s. The argument was made that despite the drop in single shot punch, the rapid firing rate of the combined UAC5s, provided it was properly managed, could bring the total destructive power of the cannons to near parity with the AC10s; and in some use-cases actually exceed them. This fire power could be maintain while projecting a more suppressive effect on the battlefield, laying down a threatening barrage of shells rather than the sporadic hammering of the AC10s. This was though to be more in line with the Gershom’s expanded role as a more active direct fire support unit.
The lighter and more space efficient cannons made way for the upgraded XL320 engine. Capable of moving the large Cataphract at the more impressive speed of 74kph, the engine was further augmented by an additional heatsink over the old design, helping to alleviate what minor heat issues the Gershom had without losing any of the four medium lasers.
However, the most extensive augmentation to the mech’s design was the rebuilding of the internal structural using the new weight efficient Endo-Steel technology and addition of 4 class-III jump jets. While bulky, the new lighter frame brought the mech just in line with the proper tonnage to thrust ratio needed to make the jets worth while.
While the Gershom will never exactly soar over the battlefield, the jump jets give the mech a decent amount of vertical and horizontal movement. This aerial mobility combined with the mech’s higher top speed allow for a much greater range of tactical options. Whether using the jets to reach a high vantage point to fire a storm of UAC5 rounds down on an enemy, to escape an unfavourable engagement, or to short-cut and overtake a fleeing enemy, the jump-jets are a constant surprise to the Gershom’s foes in the field.
The Gershom’s remaining limitations mostly centre around it’s shallow ammunition stores, 100 UAC5 rounds can be used up quickly in an engagement of even moderate length. The XL engine is a constant source of vexation and due concern in the broad chested Cataphract, requiring constant awareness of the mech’s torso condition.
- Cataphract CTF-3D
- XL Engine 320
- Maxed Armor
- 2x UltraAC/5 (4x ammo, best placed in legs)
- 4x Medium Laser
- 4x Jumpjets
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This build provides a short description of a nice CTF-2X brawler build with relatively high damage output (whooping 50 alpha strike) while still maintaining a very nice heat efficiency to fight for extended periods of time. Long range combat is not recommended but you will still be able to harass over long distances with an Ultra AC/5.
CTF-2X SRM6 Brawler
- Cataphract CTF-2X
- XL Engine 255
- Max Armor except legs (~51 each)
- 3x Medium Laser
- 1x Ultra AC/5 (~2x ammo)
- 2x SRM 6 (~3x ammo)
- 1x Anti-Missile-System (1x ammo)
- Despite being a heavy and having a considerable amount of armor: play save, do not lead the charge. Use the increased speed from the engine to outmaneuver your opponents.
- You will be an easy victim for LRM boats despite having an AMS and driving a heavy chassis. Try to avoid open spaces at all times.
- If you spot enemies at the horizon, use heat vision (hotkey H) and zoom (hotkey Z) and place some single UltraAC/5 hits. Most enemies will duck behind cover and cease to or not even open fire.
- If you are not proficient with SRMs, yet, set your SRM6s weapon group to chain fire (hotkey BACKSPACE) and fire single bursts. If you want to fire both missiles at the same time, double tap the weapon group´s hotkey.
- Remember that you can use your mouse cursor (yellow circle) to aim your SRM6s.
Average round as CTF-2X SRM6
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Please note: This guide may still be viable, but is very old.
You will probably find better ones or will need to tweak a few things. In addition, some or all meta game information and play style/hints may include outdated information. As soon as an updated version is available, it will be shown here. If you have up-to-date information on how to improve this build, please leave a comment below. Thank you.
The Cataphract CTF-1x offers 5 energy slots (and one ballistic slot). It will occur to most people to use some mixture of a smaller ballistic weapon (UAC5, AC5, AC10, LB10X) and multiple Large Lasers. However, if you don´t need the range and just want to dish out loads of damage with ease, a Medium Laser centered build usually brings nicer results in regards to the endgame screen. This build provides a successfully tested allround build with an emphasis on high damage dealt utilizing Medium Lasers and a complementary Gauss Rifle as a heat efficient secondary weapon.
CTF-1X Build Overview
- Cataphract CTF-1X
- XL Engine 255
- Max Armor except legs (~39 each) and cockpit (~10)
- 5x Medium Laser
- 1x Gauss Rifle (~4x ammo)
- 1x Anti-Missile-System (1x ammo)
- Despite being a heavy and having a considerable amount of armor: play save, do not lead the charge. Use the increased speed from the engine to outmaneuver your opponents.
- If you find your Gauss Rifle destroyed a lot before you can use up all the ammo, remove 1-3 ammo and replace them with heat sinks.
- If you are at high heat levels, do NOT fire your lasers again and overheat. Instead, fire your Gauss Rifle which produces almost no heat.
- If you overheat and face a strong but slow opponent (Atlas, Stalker, other heavys oder assaults), do the following: override shutdown immediately (hotkey “o”), do not fire, and run for it. Take the fight back to them if you are behind something solid and recovered.
People who read this guide also read:
Please note: This guide may still be viable, but is very old.
You will probably find better ones or will need to tweak a few things. In addition, some or all meta game information and play style/hints may include outdated information. As soon as an updated version is available, it will be shown here. If you have up-to-date information on how to improve this build, please leave a comment below. Thank you.
With the latest patch from November 20th a new heavy mech has been deployed to the field: the Cataphract! One of the most appealing variants is the CTF-4X due to its four (4(!)) ballistic slots. Now lets see what one can do with this:
The Build:
Cataphract CTF-4X
- Standard Engine 210
- Endo Steel Structure
- Double Heat Sinks (~13)
- Maxed Armor
Armament:
- 4x AC/2 Autocannon
- 2x Medium Laser
- 8x AC/2 ammo (put 4 in legs and 4 in torso protected with CASE)
Playstyle and Tips:
- The ammo is very expensive so try to work with auto 75% rearm (turn auto-ream off and launch into new match).
- Do not brawl first row. If you get caught in a melee fight with an Atlas you will likely lose. Try to stay in the 2nd row or keep at least 200+ distance.
- If you find a Gausspult (Catapult armed with 2x Gauss Rifles) fire at it! The screen shaking from 4x AC/2 will ensure that the Gausscat cannot aim properly and will be rendered useless.
- Only fire your lasers when encountering light mechs or when you have run out of ammo.
- Set weapons to alternating (by pressing BACKSPACE) to maximize fun for yourself and screenshaking for your foes.
- If you find yourself overheating a lot, try to fire in short bursts rather than holding down the trigger.
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