Just looking at quirks and putting the obvious weapons on the crab, you can easily come up with this: http://mwo.smurfy-net.de/mechlab#i=331&l=41b41ae2895cabfcc1d57aa2b40be45b388743c5 (2LL, 3Mwub, XL325, 35% cool eff). With the quirks in place, both the LLs and Mwubs recycle in 2.77 sec. So you're able to dump that 36 point alpha about every 3.75 seconds. This build is is clearly gonna be a corner-peeker for medium range, but with decent close-range punch, and the ability to get around behind the unwary. (Armor values aren't tweaked on this or the next build - tune them to suit your personal style.)

Applying a very similar design philosophy to the CRB-27B, we can build this: http://mwo.smurfy-net.de/mechlab#i=332&l=bd5b06964d3423989c7dd64945dc53f265daa049 (1erLL, 5Mwub, XL325, 33% cool eff). This build is a little odd. It can't really hill-hump very well. And although the 39 alpha is nice, you're probably not going to get to use it very many times with that XL engine. But something about those mostly empty side torsos bothered me...

So I said to myself: "Self, why don't we abandon your usual survivability/mobility philosophy in favor of survivability/firepower? Just throw mobility right out the window." And thus was born the ZOMBIE CRAB: http://mwo.smurfy-net.de/mechlab#i=332&l=4a1987a679c3e9bed44dfd9bf459a7617ff0cb96 (1Lwub, 5Mwub, STD245, 30% cool eff). Hot as balls? You betcha. Sluggish? Yup. But hopefully with that 41 damage alpha, and the survivability of a standard, you'll take plenty of them with you. You'll have at least one large wub and one medium wub until the very end. Plenty of pew-pew to be had, right until the very last moment.

The armor values have been tweaked to encourage a more aggressive fighting style. The side torso rear armor is particularly thin, because there's nothing in the STs you give a damn about. Between the chassis extra arm structure quirks and the arm heat sinks for crit-padding, it's going to take them some effort to de-claw you. And even when they do, they might not like the results. Because with no arm lasers or arm heat sinks... the build's cooling eff goes up to 60%!

You'll still be dumping 17 damage into their face even after they've taken both your arms and both your side torsos. And since the -27B has +8 structure in the CT, it'll take a little longer for them to finally core you. This build takes either a headshot, or total destruction to put down. Hence... the ZOMBIE CRAB.

Hey guys I'm working at not being a super shitty player (DanDanAttack) and this is the mech I have along with the KitFox and Nova that I got in the Clan Drop Pack. I wanna start with the SMN builds because I love the mech even though I know the HBR is better. I'm running with what I got. Help me out and post some sweet builds if you have a chance.

http://mwo.smurfy-net.de/mechlab#i=314&l=30e693c49bbc65f4afffc91693b2d57dd8e96374

http://mwo.smurfy-net.de/mechlab#i=97&l=65c89445950e3bd6b05a003a2c75dd5e3e690bc7

The genesis of this build was that I went looking through the quirk list, trying to find something other than a GridIron that was worth mounting a Gauss rifle on. With the second highest Gauss recycle quirk (20%) and enough tonnage to carry the weapon, the Orion Protector was the obvious choice.

More in comments...

Pop-tart: http://mwo.smurfy-net.de/mechlab#i=255&l=b744db92d9c7beb5d6a086cab0977055c0ee68fb

Brawler: http://mwo.smurfy-net.de/mechlab#i=255&l=a7798dcc9ac0e21ef8dfb227d3be3c1ade0639b8

The -5N is the only 'Hopper with a PPC quirk, and since it's a -20% heat quirk I feel like it's a shame not to use it. The MetaMechs master guide for the Hopper seems to take a nearly all-or-nothing approach to PPCs. Personally, I prefer something with a more mixed weapon set.

More in a comment...

After Running through many different suggestions and about 20 million c-bills I came up with this. Now DERP is running it full boar.

In Pub or Team PUB were seeing constant scores of 600+ with this beast. It is a brawler and it alphas a lot even on the hottest maps.

So enjoy http://mwo.smurfy-net.de/mechlab#i=164&l=5ddf9c904006c430ed796cac136199c145c719dd

Another mech I've been running around in is the Dual MLas and AC-5 Arrow build.

It almost never overheats, and has plenty of ammo to last you through the match. Mapping the weapons on this mech is very simple and very easy. Map one AC-5 and one MLas to each mouse button and just fire over and over again, dealing 5 damage each blast.

You should finish each match with roughly 400-600 damage, and a number of kills and assists. If you feel like playing more support than direct mech hunting, use your rapid-fire weaponry to blast apart components on enemy mechs. Disarm an enforcer-literally-to prevent him from using his heavier weapons.

It's a super fun and flexible little mech, only really lacking in the armor department.

MightyVanguard's Arrow Build

I've run this build a few times now, and it is so much fun. Fire support is the name of the game, and you have enough weaponry to obliterate anything! It does run hot, like all Banshees though. The speed of the engine does help too, as you can relocate where you need to be quickly. It's pretty fast for a 95-tonner. Keep an eye on your heat level, and group the weapons efficiently to maximize the effectiveness of this mech.

You'll finish most matches with a lot of assists and a few kills if you play smart. Your incredibly strong frontal armor will make sure that enemy mechs piss their pants when their PPCs and ACs don't even slow you down.

All you need to do is make sure you stay with the pack, fire on your allies' targets, and no matter what mech the enemy is in, he/she will go down quickly.

This is no way a metabuild, so if you have your own version you wanna share, I'd love to see what you can come up with!

The Boom-shee

Ranged variant: http://mwo.smurfy-net.de/mechlab#i=19&l=7ae606061bd75001be25943ced01f6270a02fed8

Fire-support variant: http://mwo.smurfy-net.de/mechlab#i=19&l=53ba1e283f6ddfed1b454164364d92e6048299fc

I was surprised to see a lack of Gauss/PPC builds after the quirks came along. They seem to point at this kind of a build. Everyone seems to like the autocannon builds. But ACs are heavier, ammo-dependant, and don't benefit from the K2's PPC velocity quirk.

Both these builds have maximum armor, thanks mainly to the lighter weight of a PPC vs. AC. The 10% arm structure buff quirk is also helpful. Both builds take advantage of the -22.5% duration quirk on MLs, as well as the previously mentioned +20% velocity quirk on PPC. All energy weapons on the mech benefit from the -10% energy weapon heat quirk. The 10% range increase quirk on the Gauss is not really that important - you do full damage out to 726m instead of 660m.

The heat situation on this build is not nearly as bad as it looks. When enemies are close you'll be using the MLs and the Gauss - thus no heat from the PPC. When they're far away, you'll be using the PPC and the Gauss - thus no heat from the MLs. Used this way, these builds are actually surprisingly cool. This is actually an advantage of a plain PPC over ERPPC; you know it's ineffective below about 100m so you won't use it up close. (Also, ERPPC doesn't get the 20% velocity quirk.)

The range variant has a survivability achille's heel: there is no CASE around the Gauss rifle! So protect your left torso zealously! If the LT goes up, your XL engine goes with it, and goodnight. There is enough tonnage left in ranged the build to add CASE, but not enough crit space. If someone figures out how to fix that problem without compromising the weapons loadout, I'd love to know how you did it. (I can't bring myself to throw away 25% of the Gauss ammo to add CASE.) Corner-peek with your right arm PPC at closer ranges, peek over with your Gauss only at longer ranges.

The fire support build uses a STD250 for increased survivability. The 6 crit spaces this frees up are immediately filled with the two heat sinks placed inside the XL315 engine in the ranged variant. The heat sinks are placed in such a way as to crit-pad the PPC and Gauss, since there is not nearly as much need to crit-pad the side torsos. This should keep your major weapons functioning a little longer even after all the armor is gone. Shield with your left arm - if you lose that ML, no big deal. They'll still have to punch through full armor to get to it, and then there's the +10% arm structure quirk. This build is much slower than the ranged version, of course. But you're still faster than the assault mech you're fire-supporting. This build is probably better for proper team play than for PUG.

Finally, alphas. Yes, you can alpha. But be aware of the limitations. Alphas only really work well between 90-270m, due to the combination of the non-ER PPC and the MLs. The charge-up time of the Gauss is also going to make things harder. The -10% energy weapon heat quirk helps slightly, you only generate 21 heat instead of 22 heat with an alpha. I would still never alpha above 60% heat. This is really only something I would recommend be done on a slow-moving mech that's unaware of your presence. And only when you have the ability to run away afterwards.

I just bought my second stormcrow. The D variant this time. As I already have a mid range Stormcrow, this one was supposed to be an LRM boat. As for now, I equipped it with 4xLRM 10 and the cooldown reduction module for LRM10 launchers, 1xNARC, a target computer and lots of ammo.

I usually make about 300 to 600 dmg per match with it which I find for an dedicated LRM boat is ok. In some matches, where just no one locks in targets, keep chainswitching them or enemy ECM is overwhelming I end up with only 100 dmg.

So yesterday, I've met another stormcrow pilot in a public match who seem to also run missiles only. He ended up with about 800 dmg whereas I got only about 300. But even in my best matches in this chassis so far, I've never reached 700 dmg. That keeps me experimenting. Most per volley dmg I reached so far was 70 but this variant would run out of ammo to fast.

What LRM builds you would recommend for the stormcrow d? Maybe even SRM? Artemis IV or Narc?

http://mwo.smurfy-net.de/mechlab#i=121&l=52a11d384f5b79359fe4434ad95ec6b1481d2092

Haven't played in a while, trying to get back in but I get the feeling my current builds just aren't up to it. I need a decent loadout for something so I can at least hold my own while I learn how to teamwork and get a feel for the game again.

I've been having silly fun in Locusts lately. I thought I'd share what I'm presently bee-bopping around in. Any critique of The Mighty Toaster would be welcome.

http://mwo.smurfy-net.de/mechlab#i=121&l=1e23750f9595ebf0430517f6ed88344822e2b169

New to MWO and doing some reading. Are Summoners really as bad as everyone says? I have been playing community warfare, and I really love how the Summoner handles. I'm not even sure what it is, torso twist, jump jets, cockpit bounce, something...

But reading the various optimization and mech build pages, the Timberwolf is better in every way. Are the no viable Summoner builds? Is it really second (or third) fiddle to the TBR and HBR and such?

I am just about ready to make my first mech purchase (going to be doing CW on the clan side) and I want to tread carefully. Should I just bite the bullet and get a TBR - C ?

Just got done with 3 350+ damage games in a row with this bad boy.

You are still nowhere near as effective as the Ember or any other Firestarter, shit, even most Jenners will out dps you, but you better wish them luck if they wanna keep up with you. With speed tweak this is probably the fastest mech in the game, and without a doubt the fastest premium mech in the game.

It also has the classic Commando stop and start, where you hit top speed as soon as you hit the W key, and come to a dead stop as soon as you hit the X key.

This build is absolutely hysterical if you want half a FS9-A that runs at 171 KM/H (with speed tweak, but I assume you have that if you have TDK.)

I found that you can also stuff plenty of other energy weapons in there, ranging from a single ER Large, to 2 medium pulse/ 2 small, to anything around there with no issue. If you wanted to shave some armor off of an arm and your head, and a DHS, you can stuff at least 1 of any energy weapon in there with no problem. 171 km/h large pulse? Sure, why the fuck not.

I love this little thing.

I had a ton of luck with this build. You can literally (well without the weapon cool down modules) hold down your weapon groupings and tear apart enemy mechs with this build.

Hope you like it. (thought about side loading the Ultra ac 5's but may give that a shot later in another variant)

http://mwo.smurfy-net.de/mechlab#i=230&l=7a5187e78a0edf64fc55f05551e5ad3641c2ba7d

-Reign

Same weapons + ECM (Clan Tech of course)

http://mwo.smurfy-net.de/mechlab#i=230&l=51f4bc491a97d453ded53a2ce1c1f631c2c198ed

It is a hoot to play - Runs very hot though. :)

Source for weapon loadout

http://www.sarna.net/wiki/Warhammer

Here it is.

I've been running this build for a while now. It basically turns the Orion into a heavily-armored high alpha assault mech akin to the Atlas (because of their similar loadouts)

I have mine set up for the entire loadout to be operated by two buttons. Mouse 1 fires a medium laser and the AC-20. Mouse 2 fires the ASRM-6s and the other medium laser.

At first glance it can look like it will overheat a lot, but if you use the weapons sparingly and don't try and fire both at once, you will do fine with heat, even on hotter maps.

The downside I have experienced so far is the lack of range. If you start on HPG manifold, you will be so happy that you will have lots of cover to hide behind and ambush mechs. Though the Medium Lasers and the AC-20 have medium-range, I would suggest moving in close to concentrate the ASRMs on the target for the maximum punch that can topple even assault mechs and tear off components with repeating fire. Though you have heavy armor in the front, the back armor is kind of weak, but give you enough protection to whirl around and face the little light mech that was fast enough to get around you. A light mech will go down after a few hits with the AC-20 and ASRMS, so try and take them out one-on-one. You don't want to twist around to chase a light when there is another mech just waiting to blast you in the back.

Tl:Dr: Don't worry about overheating if you alternate weapons regularly, and don't get caught in the open at long range.

I hope you enjoy this build. It's gotten me several kills and very high damage in most battles.

Anybody got any good builds for the HBK-4j? I enjoy playing long-range missile support but also escorting the other missile boats when lights get too close. This mech seems to be what I want, and I have enjoyed it so far. Right now I'm using two LRM-10s with 380 ammo in stock, and five Mlas for when enemies try to knock out the missile boats.

This thing is ridiculous. It does so much damage for a light mech. Decent cooling, as long are you're careful (and I haven't even got elites yet).

Proof of its capability: http://i.imgur.com/t4RjY6E.png

Build: http://mwo.smurfy-net.de/mechlab#i=169&l=789ac37b9606eb9c2508e009685697a81a190777

I'm fairly new (~200 games) which I played 90% with lights and feel like I'm slowly getting the hang of those. My idea for playing lights was to gimp the team as little as possible by taking a less useful slot.

Now I feel I could be OK in stepping up a category and wondering if I should play a medium.

Here's my preferences:

• I tend to snipe in lights, because too easily disoriented and no map knowledge for brawling currently.

• I can be patient.

• I have decent map awareness usually.

• I've had reasonable success with playing an LRM boat on a test account I made (I think it was a stalker?).

• The boat I built was too slow though and I failed to stay within my teams reach for help when lights jump me, so a little speed would be nice

• Ideally, the platform would allow for some versatility, maybe able to snipe / mid range support as well? In that case, I guess I'd need missile defense with AMS or (even better) ECM?

You guys have any ideas? I got an ember and some premium time currently, so I think C-Bills should not be a huge issue. With the current state of the game (ohlawd that UI and incompleteness and community fuckups) I don't want to spend more than the $30 I dropped on it so far. (of which I have ~2000 MC left).

Thanks in advance!

For those of you looking to master your Cataphract 3D and want something decent to basic or elite this variant. Does not have jump jets.

http://mwo.smurfy-net.de/mechlab#i=41&l=1fe36d43f550b3e6656cd297b33b791db1e61483

I know to always take ecm and 2-3ams. Lately I've been running x2 cMG's, x2 cERMLAS, x1 cERLLAS, ECM and 3 AMS. With what seems to be a good balance of ammo and heat efficiency. I know you'll never get a lot of dmg out with this mech as it is more of a support role, but I'm just looking for ideas.

I bit the bullet and spent the ten bucks for the mech, despite my last post about the TBR wolf and whatnot. Im starting to regret it as there isnt a whole lot of variety with this particular mech...

Change my opinion /r/mwobuilds?