Black Friday - Must have Heroes?

Black Friday is coming up... What do you all think are must-have Heroes if someone wanted a hero mech for a chassis they loved (spending real money or not aside)

I'd say from what I own:

Ember
Firebrand

 

I'd echo Ember, I don't use Jagers yet so can't talk about Firebrand. Misery is another good choice, and the Oxide got a nice boost with the quirks. There are no other hero mechs that I really think are must owns, but there are a lot of niche choices that can be good in specific builds and playstyles (TDK, Huginn, couple others)

 

I would add Ilya to the list since it is the only IS mech that can mount 3x LBX10, 3x AC10, or 3x Gauss, and the chainsaw build (3x UAC5) is still one of the meanest loadouts around.

Heavy Metal and Dragon Slayer used to be considered two of the best Heroes as well, but they seem to have fallen out of favour in the last year or so.

 

You want to punch me? I rage-vendored my protector a few months ago... And Orion is one of my
Battletech favorites...

 

Oh I know... I may have to rage buy it back

 

Misery and Ilya have got to be my most played mechs. TDK is a hoot, blazing around at 171 kph. The YLW was my first hero and getting more play time with the quirks.

 

I just bought a 4G since I love mediums and AC20. Despite its faults though, with an XL engine and 5 tons of ammo and quirks the Wang is extremely fun and quite rewarding.

I'll tell you about pigeon warfare sometime. 2-manning group queue and winning.

 

Embers, Firebrands, Misery. and Ilya are solid heroes that work really well. Boars Head can perform well, if supported in lance. Not a PUG mech, IMHO.

Jester is fun but outperformed by many mechs as a energyboat.

Protector, Dragon Slayer, Heavy Metal, Pretty Baby all have a little extra something that lifts them from their non-hero variants. But I don't really fear them more then their brothers.

Hellslinger is just weird, I ain't seen one yet effectively played ingame.

Hugin, Oxide and Anansi are worth respecting, though they are not on my wanted list. SRM lights are very situational, relying on CQB conditions and with random maps that can be frustrating. They can be very deadly.

TDK is just hilarious to watch and something I might pickup, fastest and most agile mech in the game. Not the deadliest mech but fun anyways.

Pirates Bane and Gray Death are too new to pass judgement on.

I really want to like Sparky and IV4 but having faced them in battle I go, "Meh...not a high fear factor."

 

What LAN said

I have all the light heros except huginn, and the Oxide / ember are just awesome. CQB though, If you want to play at medium ranges in a squirrel, the TDK is a solid choice - it's very unique and has great hit boxes, just a total troll.

The ANANSI is by far the hardest to play but can be as dangerous as the ember, but the current meta discourages close range light battles

 

It also has a superb potential tactics change - XL for speed/more ammo vs STD for zombie mode and reasonable speed. Literally the same armament - AC20 in the arm and 2 MPL in the CT. In zombie you can literally use your entire side to soak damage and protect that AC20.

The YLW was my first Hero mech and it still pulls in good performances after all this time.

 

Lights

Deaths Knell - nothing special.
Ember - as OP as it was before the quirks but now several of the Firestarters are as lethal. For any tournament requiring kills its hard to argue against. Most users exploit with the MG's.
Oxide - devastating in a rush team and fun to play - ammo is its huge weakness.
Pirate's Bane - a very effective package in the solo queue (blistering speed, ECM, Torso based armament). Only mech I've got over 500K in a match and general rewards are high as its very easy to hit and run getting multiple bonuses with a single attack.
Huginn - effective but imo outclassed by the Oxide in the same role.
Ananasi - effective but the quirks pass push you away from the best builds I've found

Out of the lights the two I'd recommend are the Ember as its superb in both teh solo and group queue and Oxide as its a great rush light. The Pirates Bane is a potential third due to the ECM but its a hard mech to play well and you need good battlefield awareness to pick targets.

Mediums
The Arrow - Big brother of the Ember but the quirks push you away from the ML/MG build and as an AC boat its just outclassed by several other mediums.
Yen Lo Wang - One of the best AC20 mediums in game. AC20 arm is very flexible and can switch between XL (+speed/ammo) and STD engines for zombie mode
X-5 - Nothing to recommend here.
Sparky - one of my go to Medium energy boats when I want to grind C-Bills (2 PPC/4 ML but you can pull off a lot of builds). Classic skirmisher with JJ. Hard point locations are great.
Grid Iron - was basically a AC20 HBK with 30% C-Bill bonus and insane torso twisting. The quirks killed it by replacing the AC20 witha single UAC5. Totally outclassed by the YLW as a ballistic medium.
Golden Boy - formerly reviled as totally outclassed by other Kintaro's but you could do a couple of good money generator builds. The rewards system ahs since changed and I've not tried it sicne the quirks so can't really comment.
Grey Death - nothing special that other Shadowhawks can't do well.
Loup de Guerre - Jump capable death bomber with SRM's. Fun but with Griffins do you really need it?
St Ives - Used to be a death trap used to the buggy hitboxes. Remedied now but the quirks were bizarely weak for this poor mech.

Only two I'd recommend are the YLW and Sparky. Both bring good options to the table and are flexible.

Heavies
Ilya Muromets - never my cup of tea but a lot of people swear by it. Most triple AC builds force significant compromises.
Jester - redeemed by some good energy based quirks. Works very well as a quad LL boat.
Fang - nice hardpoints and helped significantly by the quirks. Hits HARD with AC10's. Arms are low.
Flame - weak currently compared to most non MC Dragons. Arms are low.
Firebrand - used to be one of my four go to money earners due to its great arm mounted hardpoints and ballistics concentration. The quirks just left it totally outclassed by other free mechs.
Protector - used to be one of the best anti light mechs in the IS repertoire with dual LB10-X's, ML and Streaks. Tanks well. Not tried it since the quirks.
IV-Four - Awful. Not found a single redeeming quality for this mech.

Ilya for its triple ballistics, Fang for its heavy hitting quirked version, Jester for a good LL version.

Assaults
Boars Head - more 8 kill battles than any other mech with an AC20 and six ML. Inexplicably bad quirks for the most expensive hero mech in game... AC10/MPL.
Pretty Baby - Was infamous for being awful. Quirks look great but a bit pointless due to the hard points and totally outclassed by other c-bill Awesomes.
La Malinche - Formerly my worst mech statistically but some nice LPL/AC10 quirks turned it around.
Hellslinger - Was very poor previously. Quirks are interesting but not played it since.
Heavy Metal - Was decent before but nothing really to recommend it over other Highlanders.
Misery - Great located/mix of hardpoints meaning its a hard hitting mech. Quirks aren't great but still a solid mech. One of my former go to c-bill earners.
Dragon Slayer - The last of my former c-bill earners and still the holder of my best stats but not played since the initial quirks to kill its poptarting. The negative quirks have been removed now but the lack of quirks handicaps it.

Not sure I'd recommend any of the assaults anymore. The Misery is solid but doesn't shine anymore - if you;'re levelling Stalkers anyway its a good choice. I'm almost embarassed to suggest people take a hard look at the La Malinche, particularly as it has some good company in the non MC Banshees. Ultimately with Assaults like the AS7-S and Awesomes as competition its hard to unequivocably recommend a hero assault anymore.

 

Should have said - all of those are from personal experience.

 

Let's see,

First place - CN9-YLW:
I just got this mech but darn has it proven itself already. By far the best AC/20 medium around. The arm allows for surgical precision placed AC shots whilst moving at 100+kph

Honourable second - BJ-Arrow
1xLPL, 2xMLs and 6xMGs. nuff said. Get it for the fun, not the results

Third - LCT-PB
Essentially what Rems said. You have a cheap! fast! ECM-capable! piece of 20 ton terror.

Fourth - JR7-O
Awesome firepower on a durable and fast light. But ammo count is really low,...


The CTF-IM whilst so often lauded has not been taken on a drop by me for ages. The mech is just too circumstancial. Yes, you can fit 3 large ballistics in there, but at a high cost and those low hung hardpoints make using them in anything but a brawl really hard,... (ps. and if I want a 3xUAC/5, I'll use a JM6).

 

My personal favourites:

- Oxide: 140kph fast SRM-boat... 'nuff said
(though it has two major drawbacks compared to other Jenners: 100% ammo dependant and not jump capable)

- Arrow: I'm using it with an AC/20. I know the BJ-1 can do the same with wilder torso twist, but I like how all MLas are on the torso (less damage spread and it allows to shave armor from one arm, for MOAR AMMO!!!) Oh, yeah, and it's purple.

But am I biased? Jenners and BlackJacks are already my favourite mechs.

Other heros I enjoy are: Ember, Yen Lo Wang and Muromets.

 

I would suggest Oxide IF you have a solid light mech piloting experience, but if lights are not your things it can be terrible because it lacks JJs but still has Jenner's huge CT.

Firebrand is ok too, might be outclassed by the Jager S for dual ac20 or dual gauss, but still 2 of the best builds an hero mech can do.

I don't have other heroes, even tho I'm sure I could do good on an Ember and would still suggest it, I have a 5.16 K/D over 88 matches on the spider 5K, used with XL255, only recently I got the XL280 so same speed too, this can only be better.

 

Yay for MC bonus, but you can wait until 50% off gor the heros.

New Lights
TDK - nothing special, ok cbills grinder.
Ember - Must have.
Oxide - Deadly 4cSRM4 bomba.
Pirate's Bane - Great cbills grinder in pugs, lightest ECM. Though quirks offer only half bonus to ML.
Huginn - quite fun and effective.
Ananasi - nice, but bad quirks.

Mediums
Arrow - ok. Quirks are a bit hit and miss.
Yen Lo Wang - Great AC20 boost from quirks. But your gun can be disabled easily. But... it is THE YLW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
X5 - Sadly this sucks, hope they give it a better tube size during update.
Sparky - cbills grinder. Nice energy boat for medium, jumpy.
Grid Iron - Great torso twist, shit quirks since only dumb fucks would use UAC5 on this even with the boost. Half bonus for AC20 though.
Golden Boy - great cbills grinder, but quirk wise... just use a KTO-18.
Grey Death - Just a standard ShadowHawk for cbills griding. Function basically the same as the standard 2D/2D2.
Loup de Loop - Not as nice as it is expacted. Great paintjob.
St Ives - Disappointed.

Heavies
Ilya Muromets - Definitely a must have.
Jester - Fun and nice energy boat. Great paint job.
Fang - That quirk is nice.
Flame - Nice shoulder mounted ballistic, quirks a bit weak.
Firebrand - Used to be THE Jager. Quirks are disappointing though. But nice paint job.
Protector - It is good. Not great, but good and decent. Nothing special here.
IV-Four - It is not good.

Assaults
Boars Head - Shit quirk. ther atlas are better, really. Godly paintjob!
Pretty Baby - Weak mech, even with the quirk boost. Great Paintjob.
La Malinche - Nice quirk, like a small Atlas.
Hellslinger - Quite good really. Great Paintjob.
Heavy Metal - Nothing special here. Fun change in hardpoint, definitely.
Misery - Even with half quirk bonus this one is still good.
Dragon Slayer - It is back from the debuff, but others have quirks. It is still kinda good.