Overview
This guide assumes you already have a basic understanding of the game along with its controls and concepts. It is aimed towards a relatively inexperienced player that is looking for tips for how to improve their combat performance with Light mechs, however, many of the concepts ahead are applicable to heavier weight classes as well. This is up to date as of February 19th, 2016 and I will try to keep it updated. However, any significant patches from the noted date may affect the applicability of the advice and information contained ahead within this guide.Written by Krivvan, Edited by Wingbreaker, with Additional Help by Valkyrie707
The Role of a Light Mech
Let’s begin by addressing something that is brought up frequently when Light ‘Mechs are spoken of; the claim that their purpose in MWO is largely scouting. This is an oft repeated misconception that even exists on the game’s own website. Scouting is important, let there be no doubt, but it is less important in a typical quick play match than for organized competitive leagues. To begin, the player should definitely not treat scouting as if it were the only role for a Light ‘Mech: They must pull their weight in combat, and are surprisingly efficient at doing so. Light ‘Mechs are also often the only mechs on a team which are able to engage from higher-risk flanking positions.
Light Mechs should seek out unfair fights throughout a game (just like a Jungler if you’re familiar with MOBAs). They should not be sticking around whilst outnumbered or taking fire for an extended fight. Remember that your largest strength versus a larger ‘Mech like an Assault is that you are able to disengage at a moment’s notice. Be as annoying as possible in fights. Continue poking at and harassing enemy mechs until their attention is on you and not the rest of your team. A heavier mech on your team may be swarmed and killed if it tried to poke at the side of an enemy team, but you can see a response coming and leave for safety. Make sure to continue targeting enemy mechs looking for anything damaged or otherwise vulnerable to you. Finish off mechs that you see are close to disabled and hiding.
Try to make sure that you don’t leave your team in a position where they are themselves facing an unfair fight. Remember that numbers matter greatly in MWO and even a 10 v 12 fight can quickly snowball in favor of the team with just two more ‘Mechs. Don’t shy away from a large fight, engage when your team is getting into the scrum and help them out.
Consequently, this relates to how a Light should play certain game modes. One of the biggest misconceptions many players have is that Lights only serve to capture or run objectives during the Conquest gametype. Objectives are important, but the time to pay attention to objectives is if your team already has a strong advantage or if you are not actively engaging the enemy team. If you leave your team to capture whilst they are in a fight, you are actively leaving your team without a ‘Mech.
Of course there are sometimes opportunities when it is a good option for you to focus on an objective, such as when your team is likely to lose a fight and you are closing in on an objective victory. However, try not to make it a habit to break off for these objectives as your default move. Think about your situation and remember that you are an important part of the team’s firepower, no matter how light your weight class is.
Additionally, do not give yourself the excuse that a low damage numbers is okay due to your weight. In regular quick play matches, especially in lower tier play, you have every opportunity to match scores with heavier weight classes.
Though it is sometimes necessary, a good Light ‘Mech pilot shouldn’t seek out a 1v1 fight versus another Light. Remember that your best opportunities are unfair fights in your favor. A 1v1 versus another Light is the epitome of a fair fight, and even if you do win you’ll probably be taking a good amount of damage doing so. Exceptions come in spades, such as when another Light is heavily damaged, if you have an opportunity to outnumber enemy Light ‘Mechs, if you see an opportunity to bait the enemy Light into your team, or if you are certain that your Light mech will outright win any sort of engagement such as Oxides versus Ravens. Fair 1v1 Light duels could encompass its own guide and a lot of what works in duels would not work in realistic matches and vice versa. That said, one general piece of advice if stuck in such a fight is to calm down, stop frantically firing as much as possible, and simply go for the best aimed and most damaging shot you can manage. You can even stop moving entirely if you need to and know that the opposing Light mech is in cooldown. Most Light mechs can kill each other in just a few alpha strikes. Duels against inexperienced Light pilots can last many minutes but experienced Light pilots will end each other relatively quickly.
Finally, don’t ever fall into the trap of thinking that you should “spot” or “hold locks” for your team. That’s not what scouting means. Spotting and holding locks for other mechs simply transfers the risk of doing so from them to you, and you are in a mech that cannot take as many hits as them. Just don’t do it, it’s not your role.
Shooting: The Poke
One of the primary patterns of engagement is often referred to as the “Poke.” Poking is moving momentarily out of cover to take a shot, and immediately ducking back into it. During a poke, your ultimate goal is to deal as much damage to the enemy as possible whilst taking as little damage in return. The act of two teams poking at each other is commonly known as “trading.” As a Light ‘Mech, you ideally want to be receiving little to no damage for each poke since you have relatively little armor.
There are some simple things to keep in mind:
- Try to poke at ‘Mechs that are not currently engaged with you, and/or are otherwise engaged with or preoccupied by your team.
- Don’t be the first or only one on your team to poke. Let the rest of the team take attention while you put fire into the flanks of an enemy team.
- Limit your potential exposure to the enemy team as much as possible. You’re at your best when you are out of cover only long enough to finish your weapon duration, and when necessary even less. To this end don’t look to Chainfire as a default behavior. Fire as many weapons as possible before the enemy has a chance to respond to you, and get back to cover.
Your ability to poke and the types of pokes you can make (around a corner, over a hill, or jumping cover to cover) will depend on the type of Light ‘Mech you are piloting based on its hardpoint locations. Higher hardpoints favor hill poking, whereas a hardpoint to the left or right side of a ‘Mech makes for better corner poking. This will be expanded upon in the Build Archtypes.
Shooting: On the Move and in the Brawl
Not all your damage dealt in a game will be done while poking, and there are Light mechs that are not particularly good at poking. Sometimes the time is right to move into brawling range when your team pushes into an enemy, or you need to do some damage while constantly on the run. Maybe it’s just how you like to play your Light mech. Whatever the reason, you will likely often find yourself having to fire while moving.
Shooting on the move can be difficult at first. Leg movement and terrain will both impact your ability to aim. You can learn to compensate for leg movement to maintain a laser burn on a target whilst turning your legs, but doing so can be difficult, so do not expect to learn this skill immediately. Don’t be afraid to temporarily run straight or even stop moving in order to get a well aimed shot. It’s better to finish an enemy in good time than to spend many shots painting a ‘Mech with lasers and spreading damage, during which time you will also be taking damage.
Don’t simply circle strafe with your target. Stop. Reverse direction, pull away into cover, use the terrain, or leave and come back later. Try to learn to be unpredictable, because everyone knows where you’re going if you just run in a circle. The only time you should ever circle strafe an opponent is if you are absolutely certain that you will come out way up on top in damage, which is rare in most scenarios.
Situational awareness is one of your overall top priorities. Keep in mind where your targets are and where any other enemies and friends are in the area. Don’t stop moving to shoot right in the middle of a brawl and make yourself an easy target. At the same time, if an enemy Assault ‘Mech is entirely unaware of your presence, and you know that the enemy team is similarly in front of you and/or otherwise unaware, then you have the luxury of lining up a good shot.
A more advanced technique is to time your shots to coincide between your enemy’s volleys. This becomes more and more applicable the closer a fight is to a 1v1, but if you know an enemy is using a weapon with a long cooldown such as a Gauss, you know that you’ll have several seconds to aim for a good shot after they fire. Although if the enemy is skilled, they will be using this time to deny you a good shot by twisting or moving into cover.
If your ‘Mech has Jump Jets they can be used as a method for stabilizing shots while moving. Refer to the Jump Jet Usage section for more.
Shooting: Heat Management
Heat is an important resource. It is your “mana” that you must endeavor to not waste. When your heat is full, use that time as a natural pause to reposition yourself for another angle’s shot. It may be more helpful to instead actually think of your mech’s heat cooling ability as an important resource. Every moment your heat is at a minimum is a moment that your heat cooling ability is wasted and translates to damage that you could have been doing. Learn to balance the two, saving your heat for good shots when your heat is high and taking less optimal shots when your heat is low (remember, most weapons will still do damage up to at least twice their listed or ‘optimal’ range at a reduced rate).
There are many different techniques to manage heat without resorting to chainfire (which is unoptimal, as explained later). I and many others like to memorize the heat percentage generated by each weapon group and take special account of the heat percentage at which I am safe to alpha strike at without shutting down (reserving, preferably, a small amount for jump jet heat). Some players also time the percentages by using the heat alarm. With good heat management you should be able to consistently ride the heat cap without ever shutting down or taking damage with override toggled on.
Movement
Always move while you are either under fire or under imminent threat of being under fire. For a new and inexperienced player this is most of the time, but a more experienced player can learn to move play with a bit more purpose.
Speed is a common strength of the Light Mech, but you cannot simply rely on speed to survive. Sure, some players may have trouble hitting you while you are on the move, but you may eventually reach a point where your enemies gain several levels of competence and are able to easily end your existence no matter how fast you are moving. Your ultimate goal when under fire is to reach a position where an enemy does not have an angle on you. Any time before that goal is reached is dangerous.
Even then, do not make it easy for an enemy to kill you while you move. Do not simply present your rear to an enemy while you run. Torso twist and deny the enemy shots against components that may kill you. Try and make enemy shots hit your arms or components that still have armor. It’s better to lose an arm and a bit of your firepower than it is to lose your torso and die. Be thoughtful about how you shield. Know in advance what side of your mech you’d prefer losing. Simply twisting frantically isn’t a replacement for intelligent shielding.
Also do not run from enemies in a straight and predictable line. Turn a small amount here and there, use short jump jet bursts to make sharper turns and add another element of unpredictability.
Don’t overdo it though; remember that you’re still trying to make it to cover in a timely fashion.
Jump Jet Usage
A common use for jump jets is to access areas of maps that other mechs cannot easily access opening up more angles for you to fire from or move through. Areas include the plateaus on Virdian Bog or some buildings on Mining Collective. Jump jets can also give you access to short cuts that allow you to reach locations quicker or evade mechs that are following you. A Streak SRM Stormcrow chasing your Firestarter may be scary, but if you have the time to jump onto a small platform it will have no way to directly follow you.
Terrain that is hilly or otherwise uneven can impact your accuracy while you fire while moving. Jump jets can be used as “hover jets” giving you a consistent and smooth movement that you can accurately fire from. Try to fire only after you let go of your jump jets otherwise your shot will fire in a more random direction (although you can still “lightsaber” a laser back onto an enemy in the event that this occurs).
Do not trust your speed gauge while using Jump Jets. You will retain all the velocity you had at the start of a jump throughout your entire jump. You can take advantage of the fact that you maintain all your momentum while in the air to fire behind you in angles that you cannot reach with just your torso twist.
Jump jets are also commonly used to “poptart,” a technique that involves jumping from behind cover and firing at an enemy before falling back down into cover. You can think of it as a version of hill poking that uses jump jets instead of an incline.
Although jump jets add a lot of mobility to a mech, do not overdo your jump jet usage. Flying too high in the air or remaining floating straight for too long can you make you an easy target for enemies. Jump jets also use heat which can impact your overall DPS.
When adding jump jets to a mech build, keep in mind what you want to use your jump jets for. The hovering and manoeuvrability benefits of jump jets only require one jump jet, but accessing some high areas or poptarting may require more jump jets.
Builds
There are multiple playstyles for Light mechs that are dictated by the mech chassis and variant you are using, the location of its hardpoints, and the specific build used. A great starting resource for build ideas is Metamechs[www.metamechs.com] by GMan129 especially the in-depth build guides for specific chassis such as the Firestarter[metamechs.com], Raven[metamechs.com], or Arctic Cheetah[metamechs.com].
You’ll notice that many strong Light mech builds tend to use Lasers and, more recently, SRMs. This isn’t really a coincidence, Lasers (at the moment at least) and SRMs offer the most damage for the least tonnage and space out of all weapon types in the game. There is no Ballistic weapon that fits comfortably with many Lights (machine guns can’t do enough damage to be significant on their own), and LRMs (Long Range Missiles) aren’t effective on a mech that cannot afford to be constantly staring at an enemy to maintain locks.
You also ideally don’t want much rear armor. Only put on as much rear armor that you feel is absolutely neccessary and reduce it as soon as you are comfortable with it. Rear armor is for when you make a mistake. I personally run 2-3 rear armor on most of my mechs.
I will outline and briefly explain a few popular builds here:
The Firestarter-S variant works well with MPL (Medium Pulse Laser) builds that use the mech variant’s quirks. With Medium Pulse Lasers, the Firestarter-S is a medium-range mech that can function quite decently while both poking and brawling. The Firestarter is able to corner poke, but its hardpoints are all mounted relatively low meaning that it is inferior to many other Light mechs when it comes to hill poking and poptarting since it needs to expose so much of its body to do both. The most common Firestarter-S MPL builds use 5 MPLs, although there are two main variations of this:
Symmetrical 5xMPL Firestarter-S[mwo.smurfy-net.de]
Asymmetrical 5xMPL Firestarter-S[mwo.smurfy-net.de]
As you can see, the asymmetrical 5xMPL Firestarter-S drops the armor on one arm in order to free up extra tonnage to use, in this case, on another jump jet. At the same time, this asymmetrical build becomes more suitable to corner poking from your right as more of your weapons are stacked to the center and right of your mech. The downside of this asymmetrical build compared to the symmetrical build is that 3 out of 5 MPLs are mounted to your torso and are therefore restricted to your torso’s pitch which on the Firestarter is very limited. This means that the symmetrical 5xMPL Firestarter-S, which has 4 out of 5 MPLs on its arms, has the advantage when firing from very high or low positions. Both builds are viable so which to use is based mostly on player preference or specific situations expected.
The Raven, unlike the Firestarter, has very high mounted hardpoints that function well for both hill poking and corner poking. This defines the Raven very strongly as a poking Light (except for the Huginns Raven variant which is a brawler due entirely to its hardpoint types and quirks). The Raven-4X in particular can work very well as an extreme long range poker by taking advantage of its Laser Range and Duration quirks. ERLLs (Extended Range Large Lasers) have a long range but a normally long duration which can be problematic for a mech trying to minimize their poking exposure time. The quirks on the Raven-4X compensate for this weakness of the ERLL and adds to its advantages making for a very good Laser Sniper Light Mech:
2xERLL Raven-4X[mwo.smurfy-net.de]
With this mech you can snipe from extreme ranges on maps and you have enough speed to quickly reposition or flee from enemy mechs sent to respond to you. The addition of jump jets only expands your abilities and allows you to also poptart.
The Raven-3L is similar to the Raven-4X in that it has very high-mounted hardpoints suitable for hill and corner poking. It has been a classic for a long time, but unlike the Raven-4X it lacks suitable quirks besides a comparatively small decrease in laser duration. It trades this for an ECM which prevents it from being targeted without the ECM being countered. In my opinion it’s not a tradeoff that is worth it, but I mention this here because it is currently a trial mech build and it’s certainly good enough that you can get a feel for what a Sniper Light plays like.
2xERLL Raven-3L[mwo.smurfy-net.de]
The Oxide is a strong example of a very different Light playstyle than what you’d get with the Raven and Firestarters. You will be able to deal a truly scary amount of DPS against both Lights and Heavier mechs, but you are going to have to learn to lead shots with SRMs and be patient and assess when it is time for you to move into a fight. Unlike most other Light mechs, you shine mainly in sustained engagements, but similar to other Lights you want to play in such a way that you are not the main focus of an enemy team’s firepower. The same basics hold true. Try to engage enemies that are already busy with something else and/or get into engagements with enemies in which you hold an unfair advantage.
4xSRM4 Oxide[mwo.smurfy-net.de]
Speaking of different playstyles, the Spider has (as of writing this) started to come into prominence as a strong high DPS Light in its own right. I am admittedly not as practiced with it as some yet, but take my word that given good steady aim it can do ridiculous amounts of DPS and even take down Lights from Oxides to Cheetahs, The steady aim is part of the catch though, it’s a hard mech to use. The single LPL it has does comparable DPS to even 5 MPL on a Firestarter, but being only a single LPL it requires many shots to accomplish. Although a single laser is the best possible convergence you can get. When you add the MGs on open components your DPS skyrockets to being higher than a surprising number of other mechs. What this means in the end is that you’ll have to go crazy with getting as many LPL shots as you can throughout matches. Use the acceleration to do pokes, vary your speed, ruthlessly pour into whatever mech isn’t focused on you. Basically act like a longer range Oxide in a squisher but harder to hit body. This is in stark contrast again to higher alpha Lights that can afford to spend time away from shooting to cool off.
1xLPL 4xMG Spider-5K[mwo.smurfy-net.de]
There are a number of other strong Light mech builds, and more that will likely arise with newer patches. Wolfhounds (MPL for light duels) and Adders (pure firepower) are examples of Light mechs that actually have niches where they can do quite well in.
Go to [link] if you are looking for further build ideas.
The End
This is only a basic look at Light Mech Combat Tactics and there are all sorts of more specific and specialized topics regarding the subject. Some may disagree with some of the opinions I have written in this guide (but they’re wrong, of course :p) but these points come from the years I’ve spent playing this game while mainly focusing on Light mechs. I will update this guide with additional information as I see fit. I hope any part of this guide helps you if you’re thinking of playing Light mechs in MWO!
Other Stuff
I’m Krivvan, I sometimes put up silly videos on my https://www.youtube.com/user/Krivvan and I’m a terribly inconsistent Twitch streamer[www.twitch.tv]. I was helped greatly by both Wingbreaker[www.twitch.tv] and Valkyrie707[www.twitch.tv].