How do you spec your armor?

Before I start adding weapons and equipment, i usually spec upgrades and my armor with 2/3 - 1/3, front to back. When I think a few tons need to be shaved I'll take a few off of legs (unless it is a light or small medium).

How do you spec your armor?

 

It depends a lot on the mech, and the build...generally, I tend to frontload most of my armor, since I am a very aggressive player, and do not enjoy being forced to play on my heels. As a result, you'll see that a lot of my builds tend towards armor allocations like these:



Generally speaking, I only expose my back to mechs intentionally when I have no front armor, but can survive a hit to the back by doing a quick twist then returning fire...I need the armor on the front so I can dish out punishment as best I can before I go down. I try to follow a rule of having enough armor on each leg to at minimum equal the total armor that I can put on the CT, with amounts higher or lower depending on the build...some mechs are more vulnerable to being focused in the legs than others. For instance, that HBR rarely ever gets legged, but my Stormcrow sees more focus fire there, as do my lights (naturally). RT/LT armor follows the same convention as the CT, but the arms are...well, depends on the build. The one I linked above stripped all armor from the arms because they are bait, people shoot them when they see them crit/unarmored thinking they will strip weapons, and get nothing. If I was in a Jenner/Ember, those arms would have full armor for obvious reasons.

Play your armor to your strengths. If you are aggressive, you'll want more frontal armor to keep you alive as long as possible. If you tend to fight more like a sniper, you'll want more armor on your back in case you take shots while you relocate.

 

I think I got it right, 2/3 front, 1/3 back. I have aggressive play style, I either get killed or end up with one of top damage done.

 

If you have an aggressive playstyle then place more armor on the front. Who needs back armor anyway.
My back armor varies from 10ish points on the lights to 15ish on the assaults, never more, rest goes on front (on a Atlas it makes 6.75 points on front for one on the rear).

 

Same here, I rarely (if ever) go over 18 back armor.

 

Ful body armor, CT back is 16-21, ST back is 11-16. Less for lights, and a bit more for melee/special builds.
Head is the first armor to skim on, down to 16 or 12 depending on class, rarely below that unless lights.
Next would be armor reduction on shirld arm, and legs. usually would leave at least 11 on shield arms if not more, unless I really need the tonnage.

Leg is usually skimmed but at least 70% intact, depending on build and geo. Bigger legs would have more armor. Long range build would have less.
Always would round the armor down to nearest 0.5 tons.

 

Very little on the back - 10-16 CT (R) and 6-10 LT/RT(R). Tournaments/CW occasionally less....

 

I tend to go 10/10/10 across the back and put the rest into the front. Less with lights that have not much armour. It's enough to take a couple hits and not die.

 

<will maneuver to the back line to shoot at Falc's back>

Really, in the scheme of things, whether you have 5 or 25 back armor, that's only 4ML's to make up the difference... less than ONE focused shot from any mech in the game.

There is a reason the best mechs put out damage, not straight tank it. You'll live a whopping 5 seconds longer (excluding torso twisting/spreading damage in the prev statement; hitboxes do matter).

 

I usually go higher than that. 15-20 in mediums, heavies, and assaults. I have too much experience backstabbing with my Locust to not worry. Most of the time it's too much, but you never know when you're going to meet the light pilot who knows what they're doing.

 

This should be the approach most people use. I cringe when I see builds with 20+ back armor...because why? As someone mentioned, a single alpha from a Jenner or Firestarter will burn through that and crit you as well. So go frontal. It will teach you to notice your surroundings.

 

So falc and dur are a-ok with going full frontal. I feel I know you two better now.

 

My family IS Scottish, after all. And if there's anything you should know about the Scottish, it's that if you ask a true man what's under his kilt, he will not tell you.

He will, however, be all too happy to show you.

 

Well, Rather meaningless to have heavy back armor, it does save you from stupid friendly fire I have to say. If you like to be brawling and twisting, having around 16 or even 18 isn't bad either if it is a fast short range build on a heavy. As said, geo matters. Some mech you will get some hit on your back armor from the front/side.

What do you mean by that?

 

NNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOO! It's a trap!

 

I run 5-8 back armor up to heavies, and 9-12 on assault.

Frontload all the way. Deadly on some situations tho, but I still prefer to take the risk.

 

I got something like 10-20 points in the back so im able to take a few hits.