Competetive Spider SDR-5D (ECM)

Spiders are very prominent Mechs in random matches and the competitive scene. Ever wanted to be that annoying bugger that zooms around the battlefield, shooting everyone, spotting everywhere while the enemy team is working their bottoms off to catch you? This is one of those Light Mech builds. A Spider 5D build (the variant with ECM) sporting lasers, AMS, ECM, and Jump Jets.

There are several types of Light Mech builds. The two most important broad categories are builds, which can kill other Light Mechs and the ones which are adjusted to fulfill other tasks. This Spider 5D build is one of the latter. You should avoid fights with other Light Mechs and instead support your team, for example, by harassing LRM boats, spotting, and providing ECM/AMS cover.

• Never stand still. Use your superior movement speed to not get hit. If you stand still you die.
• Never ever overheat. An overheated Light Mech will be destroyed instantly, and your team will flame you and they will be right to do so!
• Do not engage other Light Mechs. This build is not meant to fight other Light Mechs. Disengage and flee to your team’s other Mediums and Lights.
• Do not fire while turning with your keyboard. Instead, adjust your Mech first, then use your mouse to place precise shots.
• The above rules are absolute and without exceptions. Folllow them at all times, and you will be a great Light Mech pilot instead of just an average nuisance.
• Always soften your falls with Jump Jets in order to avoid unnecessary damage to your legs. A legged Light Mech is easy prey.

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Shadowhawk 2H (Project Phoenix Hero Mech) Juggernaut/Brawler Build

It seems that, in terms of actual combat effectiveness, the Shadowhawk is pulling ahead of the other Project Phoenix Mechs. This might change over time, as more and more builds are being figured out. However, at the moment Shadowhawks are destroying PUG matches on a regular basis. The Shadowhawk is the Project Phoenix’s Medium Mech weighing 55 tons. It has multiple hardpoints for every weapon type making it a very versatile Mech. Add Jump Jets to the mix, and you got a deadly and agile ninja, pacing around the battlefield, dishing out sick damage numbers. The damage is usually so high that a skilled Shadowhawk pilot with the right build must not fear a comparison with other Heavy and Assault pilots! This post will provide you with a rough outline of an allrounder build for the Shadowhawk 2H, the Project Phoenix Hero Mech variant.

Pay close attention to the armor distribution and emulate it to the point. Once you have some experience with the build you might want to adjust a couple points to your liking, but this allocation is already very polished and prooved its worthiness in a lot of battles. If you don’t have the engine lying around, you can also make this build work using an XL-300 (drop one UltraAC/5 ammo and increase armor on legs and left arm).

• Use your right arm as a shield. If you have incoming damage (especially ballistics or missiles of any kind), turn your upper torso quickly. Your shield arm has no armor on it, but it will still reduce the incoming damage greatly.
• At the beginning of matches and during long range stand-offs, use your UltraAC/5 to harass over great distances. It will wear down your opponent and, more importantly, scare him into cover.
• Your ER Large Laser should be constantly firing. Whenever you see a target popping up somewhere: shoot it! This will amount to high damage numbers at the end of the round and is very easy to do.
• The ammo distribution in this load-out puts a clear emphasis on extended use of the UltraAC/5. If you find yourself running out of StreakSRM2 ammo multiple times, exchange one ton of ballistics ammo for a second ton of StreakSRM2 ammo.
• This build is not considered to be an effective brawler. If you are entangled in close quarter fights, move a bit further away. Do not stop, do not engage. Keep firing your ER Large Laser and StreakSRM2s and get the hell out. You can dish out insane amounts of damage, but you can not take a lot.
• Weapon grouping advice: 1) UltraAC/5 2) ER Large Laser 3) Both StreakSRM2s 4) All weapons (optional)
• For modules use any combination of the following (in order of usefulness for random public games): Adv Seismic Sensor, Adv Sensor Range, Cool Shot 9 by 9, Faster Target Info Gathering, Artillery Strike.

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Battlemaster 1G (Phoenix Hero Variant) Pubstomper Guide

Project Phoenix has arrived, and people have already come up with decent builds for Shadowhawks and Locusts. However, good Battlemaster builds are much harder to come by. The build presented here is a big mile stone in the development of the Battlemaster. It has everything you need: Long range high pinpoint damage, close quarter punch, and above average survivability. Two AC/5s and a single PPC provide excellent sniping and fire support capabilities. Six (6!) Medium Lasers allow you to dish out insane damage at close range. You can also continue to fire your double AC/5s while brawling. Finally, the Battlemaster is an Assault Mech and this build utilises a standard engine making it very durable. Let’s take a look at the build.

There are a few minor adjustments possible, depending on your preferred play style. For example, if you are more comfortable having all sniper weapons on your arms for increased precision, you can swap the PPC to your right arm and move the Medium Laser to the torso. While this is more comfortable, it is also less effective. Sniping around corners becomes more difficult and you will lose more important weapons when using your right arm as a shield arm. Addition of AMS is also possible, just remove any of the Medium Lasers, AC/5 ammo, or DHS to free up the tonnage. However, do not remove armor from your head. The cockpit is really easy to hit at the moment and you need every point of armor on it.

• PPCs have a minimum range of 90ms. Do not fire them beyond that range ever. You will overheat and die miserably.
• In high heat situations stop firing your PPCs immediately. You will always do more damage, if you do not overheat and use your AC/5s exclusively.
• AC/5s reload much faster than PPCs. Try working in at least one additional AC/5s salvo in between PPC recycle times when engaged at longer ranges.
• Use your right arm as a shield. One of your most vulnerable spots is you center torso. Try to protect it at all times.
• The Battlermaster’s upper torso twisting angle is very crappy. Keep this in mind when crossing through open spaces. Try to back up against a wall when engaged in close quarters.
• If you are playing in an organised group it is highly recommended allocating almost every point of armor in the front. If you are playing random games without a group, 10-25 rear armor are probably the better choice.
• Weapon grouping advice: 1) PPC and both AC/5s 2) All Medium Lasers 3) Both AC/5s only
• For modules use Cool Shot 9 by 9, Advanced Sensor Range, and Advanced Seismic Sensor. You can play around with the Advanced Zoom Module in exchange for the Advanced Seismic Sensor.

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Death’s Knell (Commando Hero Mech) Scout/Harasser Build

Time for another submission by the community. Today, we’ll take a look at the Trollmando. A Commando Hero Mech harass-build sent in by e-mail. The Death’s Knell build utilises all four energy hard points which are specific to this Hero Mech. It is not the strongest against other Lights, because it lacks the usual missiles and ECM. This build is more of a harasser aka pain in the a*s. For more information on how to play this build, check the Hints-Playstyle section below.

The above build has a BAP built-in for additional support while brawling and harassing. If you don’t think you need the Beagle Active Probe, go for the second build. It uses the additional tons to use a larger engine. This will make you slightly faster and improve your heat efficiency due to the extra engine heat sinks. Adding an AMS is also possible but you would end up with spare tons and less cooling.

• It is highly recommended turning arm-lock off. All your weapons are in the arms, and one would waste agility in leaving it enabled.
• If you have incoming missiles, run away. You are fast enough to get into cover easily, and you should because the Death’s Knell lacks ECM and AMS.
• Try to draw heavier Mechs away from the main fight. Ideally, they spend a lot of time chasing you down, at which point you make your escape.
• Be mindful of enemy Light and Medium ‘Mechs. A Raven with ECM and StreakSRM2s will destroy you. If you are entangled with enemy Light Mechs, flee and group up with other Lights from your team.
• Use your superior speed to bounce between the battles. Try to shoot enemy heavies and assaults in the back. Once they notice you, back off and look for another place to harass.

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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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Hunchback 4G/4H AC/20 Working Brawler Guide

The Hunchback is a very cool chassis. However, many people don’t like it (or struggle while playing), because the hunch, the Hunchback’s signature side torso is such a vulnerable part. The hunch usually holds most of the important weapons and will always be focused down by enemies. This Hunchback brawler guide will show you how to make your hunch less vulnerable enabling a skilled pilot to dish out unseen amounts of damage. The build is centered around an AC/20 and is complemented by lasers. The Hunchback brawler load-out is brought to you by Reslin and was posted in the mwo-builds.net looking-for-builds thread in the official forums. Reslin also wrote a more in-depth guide about several Hunchback variants. Check them out and give him a thumbs up.

Because it is one of the most crucial things about this Hunchback brawler build, I want to point it out first: Pay close attention to the armor allocation on the builds! The hunch has only 2 rear armor and everything else on the front side. Such a distribution will greatly increase your effectiveness on the battlefield. The hunch’s rear torso will almost never get hit, thus, most points of armor should be at the front.

A similar load-out can be done with the HBK-4H, as well. This particular version of the Hunchback brawler build utilises the additional energy slots in the hunch. If you don’t like the reduced range of the small lasers, just go with the 4G build above. However, the small lasers increase the maximum possible alpha strike slightly.

• Pay close attention to the armor allocation on the load-outs. If you are off by only a few points, it will greatly diminish your survivability on the battlefield.
• Always stay in motion. If you stand still or overheat, you are toast.
• If you are eating damage and can’t easily return fire, turn your upper torso to protect it and head for cover.
• Your AC/20 is your main weapon. Try to always hit perfect shots on cooldown. If you are unsure that you can place your shot, don’t shoot.
• Try to focus all lasers on the same component to incapacitate and down enemies fast.
• Weapon grouping hints for first load-out: 1) AC/20 2) All Lasers.
• Weapon grouping hints for second load-out: 1) AC/20 2) All Medium Lasers 3) All Lasers.
• Do not use arm-lock with this build. It might help newer players to optimise pinpoint damage, but you are wasting a lot of the Hunchbacks’s excellent agility and run-by abilities.

 

The builds in this Hunchback guide were kindly provided by Reslin. He also wrote a more in-depth guide about the Hunchback chassis. Check it out and drop him a like.

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Misery (Stalker Hero Mech) Sniper/Fire Support Hybrid Guide

In my long search for finding a good Misery all-round build, I suffered many setbacks. After consulting with several high-level players from the Hell’s Black Aces merc-corp, I finally developed a build which is worthy of this web page. A sniper/fire support hybrid build utilizing a pair of Large Lasers, a single ERPPC, and a Gauss Rifle. All of this while still being reasonably heat efficient and using a standard engine. The only downside, in comparison to other Stalker builds, is its relatively low movement speed. This guide will showcase several variations of the same build. Each build has a slightly different focus. Choose the one whichever suits your play-style and needs best.

The first version of the Misery sniper hybrid build trades leg armor and heat efficiency for more utility. ER Large Lasers replace the regular Large Lasers for additional range. The increased effective range will greatly improve your damage dealt values. ER Large Lasers also received a buff in the recent patch. The original version uses two tons of Gauss Rifle ammo. If you are engaged in drawn out fights (which is more likely since 12 vs 12 hit the servers), 20 shots will be expended very quickly. This version uses the additional space and tonnage to fit in a third ton of ammo. The addition of an AMS rounds the package. This version runs very hot, and you will most likely not be able to carry a cool-shot consumable since the Stalker chassis only allows for two module slots (which are most likely taken by Adv Seismic Sensor and Increased Sensor Range).

The following load-out reflects the original version of the build. It has a lesser range, fewer ammo, and no AMS. However, it runs significantly cooler, allowing a skilled pilot to continuously fire for a long time. This version is recommended for more experienced as it requires more skill to dish out the same amounts of damage of the course of a battle. However, it has the potential to be more deadly in the long run.

• Since you are not very fast and lack jump-jets, positioning is key. Only expose yourself from cover to fire one alpha strike. If enemies have spotted you and are returning fire, double back behind cover and find a different spot to peak out from.
• Weapon grouping advice: 1] Gauss Rifle + ERPPC 2] Both (ER) Large Lasers. Be sure to bind the Gauss Rifle and ERPPC to a single weapon group as well. There are situations when you’ll want to fire only one of them.
• Try to stay on target while firing the Large Lasers. If you manage to hit the same component for the majority of the duration, you will notice a significant increase in efficiency. Large Lasers do a lot of damage, but over a duration. Remember: Lasers in MWO are no light sabres!
• Enabling Arm-Lock is not recommended for this build. However, whenever you can, try to match both crosshairs before firing a sniper shoot (ERPPC + Gauss Rifle) for maximum pin-point damage.
• If you are running on high heat, get behind cover and cool down for a few seconds. If that is not possible, place one or two well aimed shots with your Gauss Rifle. Then finish the exposed target with an alpha strike.

Here are some end-of-round screenshots. They are not the best, but I wanted to include some 12vs12 action!

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Atlas RS/RS(C) Classic Brawler Mini-Guide

This is just a minimalistic guide to quickly present another guide which is based on a suggestion in the current MWO forum’s build guide thread. If you have an excellent build yourself, post it in there and we will have a look at it! We read through all guides and post the best ones here. This load-out was originally proposed by DiePrimateDie in said thread. It is an Atlas-RS-build with a heavy emphasis on close range damage. Since the AS7-RS and the AS7-RS(C) have the same hardpoints, you can use this load-out on both variants. An AC/20 and two SRM6s make you an excellent brawler. Add to this four Medium Lasers and enough ammo and heat sinks to fire all of this at a constant rate, you can deal a crap-ton of damage at 270m range. If it is within range, it is dead. You alpha strike will rip through enemy Assaults and Heavies in seconds.

This build works with the RS and the Champion Mech variant RS(C). If you prefer the D-DC, check out this similar Atlas D-DC brawler builds overview.

•  This build is very heat efficient and carries a lot of ammo. Do not fear firing your weapons at all times. However, do not spam aimlessly. Especially the AC/20 hits should be targeted on critical parts of the enemy.
• If you encounter other heavy brawlers, focus fire their center torsos. Turn your upper body sideways, whenever you are not firing. You will be able to down an enemy Atlas without sustaining more than 20% armor.
• Move the larger chunk of your torso armor to the front parts. The stock distribution places too much emphasis on the rear. See the values in the Smurfy-link to get a rough idea of how these numbers should look like. Approximately 20 armor for the rear side torsos is enough. Center torso can even go as far as 100 upfront and 24 in the back.
• Weapon grouping advice: Weapon groups are completely up to you, but the following can serve as a field-proven starting point: 1) AC/20 2) All Medium Lasers 3) Both SRM6s 4) Alpha Strike aka all weapons you have (or bind alpha strike to a more accessible hotkey).
  

  I am not getting any money from PGI for showing their advertisements. I just didn’t find a better RS picture, yet :) However, Champion ‘Mechs are pretty good deals usually (bang for buck wise).

This build is based on a load-out proposed by DiePrimateDie in the official forums. Thanks again for that one.

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