I like the Centurion. All about basics here, no jump jets, MASC, or ECM. Big gun in one arm, decent heat and mobility, shield arm for twisting. If I'm having a bad streak of losses I'll jump in to a Centurion and reset myself, so to speak.
All the posters advocating lrm boats for new players to stand back with and spam makes me cry. I enjoy lrming in my Archers but will regularly wade in with medium lasers while maintaining LOS for best lrm usage. Standing away from the fight and sending 1,000 lrms into rock walls teaches nothing to new players.
my fav archer builds are 3 lrm5's and 6 MPL or 4MPL/2SRM4. LRMs are there for suppression and to keep me sane while waiting for my chance to close into knife fighting range.
Tempest Hero Archer with 2 LRM15+Artemis and 6 Medium Lasers. Standard Archer (can't remember the base model #) with 2 LRM20+Artemis, TAG, BAP and 4 Medium Lasers. There is nothing like Tagging that fast moving light and having him be obliterated by 40 LRMs.
i would highly recommend the linebacker for new players. its combination of speed and durability makes it more forgiving of your positioning than any other mech i can think of. it has a decent amount of loadout flexibility, and most builds are pretty straightforward and easy to use. another great mech to start out with would be the hunchback 4SP. there isn't a lot of build variation, but it's very mobile and tanky, with some good offensive quirks as well. it also has the benefit of not requiring an XL engine, so it's relatively cheap to kit out.
I actually did a catapult PPC layout And one of the riflemen's 2c when my not over stepping the front line lol! BIG BIG THANKS to your channel I haven't played MW for at least ten years if it wasn't for this channel I wouldn't even knew that MW is still a thing thank you!!!
My first pickup was the HBK-4P. Love the hunchies, first set to master after getting a 4SP and 4G. Hunchbacks really teach you about protecting important components on your mech.
I think the IS Hunchback is a great starter mech; a wide variety of variants, and the need to learn how to torso twist effectively. My first mech in MWO, over 4 years ago, was the Commando. I saw it fit because it was first mech you have in Mechwarrior 2: Mercenaries, my first Mechwarrior game.
I'm a Huge fan of my first mech, the Hunchback-IIC, especially the A variant. 2 ER-Large Lasers in each side torso make for great hill humping. With an 275XL and speed tweak, you're looking at about 96kph and you've got jump jets too. woohoo!
My first was a Raven, however if it came out at the time, I seriously would recommend the Bushwacker as your first, it's basically the universal mech and is somewhat forgiving once you give it a light engine.
Great video for new players, Mr. Metal. My first mech purchase was the Shadow Hawk and I fell in love with it from day one (then I discovered your channel and your love for Shadow Hawks and it made me happy). It is so versatile and I honestly think that all the skills you need to be an effective MWO player, you can learn in a Shadow Hawk: - High shoulder mounts will teach hill cresting and corner peeking - Jump Jets will make you learn poptaring and doing quick turns - Excellent mobility and speed will teach positioning and map knowledge - Relatively good durability (especially on a STD engine) makes it a little more forgiving than, say a Huntsman or Hunchback IIC - Good arms for shielding will teach effective torso twisting (especially once a new player ventures into XL engine builds) - Excellent versatility will keep you playing around in the mech lab to find builds that will eventually lead you to discover your preferred play style - You are not a priority target for the enemy, especially if you stay with your team (which is the main problem I find in the Timberwolf. Yes, it's a great mech, but you're a higher-priority target exactly because of that reason). The problem with the Enforcer I think is that nearly all the hardpoints are low-mounted, plus there is really only one "good" (versatile) Enforcer variant, which is the ENF-4R. Therefore, I would probably recommend the Hunchback over the Enforcer. I would probably lean more towards the Warhammer or Jagermech instead of the Thunderbolts, just because the Thunderbolt's cockpit is so skewed to the left side that new players (and pilots new to the Thunderbolt Chassis) might get confused or disoriented in-game.
Personally, I got a HBK-4SP on recommendation and I love it! 4 Medium lasers, one small laser, and two MRM 10s. Plays at medium range and I stay with my assault mechs. I may not do a lot of damage, but I contribute and stay alive.
I wish I saw this video three months ago when I started. I went with some bad choices, spent lots of c-bills, hurt my confidence. Phoenix Hawk (trial) helped me a lot with its 6xml and ecm.
Starting with the game 3 years after this vid I wished I had found it earlier. Ny own thoughts ran a different part, which obviously put me on a hard way: I went over the lights, because I thought I am damaging my team too much by taking a heavier mech: I can not bring the firepower into the gameplay efficiently and I will be out quite early, so basically I'm a double liability. The result is of course as pointed out, I get very little playtime, as lights suffer even more from bad positioning, I have less damage potential, it's harder to take aim and hit in a fast mover, so I seldom inflict much damage in a game. Still I try to be useful to the team to the best of my abilities, favoring contribution over personal glory or ranking up. But I will set out now to earn enough CB to switch over to one of the recommended mechs and make use of the suggestions made out of experience. 👍
Hey Baradul! First off: nice video as always! I appreciate that you are helping the beginners of MWO. In general I agree with your points and criterias, but those choices missed an - in my eyes - very important points for beginners: affordability. Having the Enforcer with a XL engine first costs a lot of C-Bills on top of the mech, weapons, Endo, as well as DHS and second makes the "durability" criteria obsolete due to ST death. I would rather recommend, as other youtubers did or people in the comments on this video, the Hunchbacks. All viable STD-builds and already coming with the weapons you want. Also, when you want to show the versatility of Clan omnipods, I would suggest not to show all 3 Clan mechs with the same loadout (UAC-5s and ERMLs) ;-) On a side note: Quirks do indicate that the mech is sub-par in other terms, e.g. hitboxes, viability, hardpoint location etc. So choosing a heavily quirked mech means you are taking a bad mech. Still, great video and thank you for everything you are doing for the community.
I agree with the Thunderbolt, very tanky and agile if you want. Cicade is also a good option for fast medium that plays like a light mech but has more armour and super responsive.
My first mech was an adder. I got it thinking about the brutal LBX20/PPC brawler in mechwarrior 4. I was severely disappointed (until I figured out the LRM 30 and SRM24 builds) and then my unit told me to get a nova. I hated it in almost every way. Then I got a timber and realized how fun the game could be. I followed that up with an ebon jag, which is basically a timber for people who want more guns, and finally pulled the trigger on the huntsman, which I now think is absolutely the most versatile beginner mech in the game. Timbers are great but can be focus fired. Enforcer is just not fun either, with its awful slow speed without an XL engine, and terribly low hard points I think the huntsman has the idea setup. Fast, brawley, tankey, with side torso mounts that let it play poptart, LRM, a 6 SRM 93 alpha splat, or anything in between. its only weakness is no ECM option, but I think ECM would have made it too strong. With my splat build I regularly break 800 damage, and I'm not very good. Urbanmech is a great joke, until you realize that it really is invisible and can do a boatload of damage with 4 MG and 2 medium pulse lasers. It teaches you a lot about mechwarrior, and for how cheap it is, really is worth buying.
Definitely agree with the Hellbringer suggestion. For newer players ECM is _extremely_ good (always take it if available), and the Hellbringer ends up providing a decent mix of builds. Hit my 1000th match last night and my Hellbringer was 2nd most played out of all my 'mechs (the 1st most played being Thunderbolt-9S, another of your suggestions).
I second the Hunchback IIC. It's got very high mounts and can be played nicely in different ways - I found it to be a lot of fun with UACs (prime), PPCs (A), and even 2z10+20 LRMs+NARC (B).
Best brawler too, when I used to play I 1v2'd and came out alive (though a little worse for wear), I used to run MGs and Medium Lasers I think (4mg, 2ml, if I remember rightly).
Catapult-K2 is worth considering as a first mech. Mine has been a PPC-sniper, laser-sniper, long-range dakka & AC20 brawler over the years. Reasonably mobile, good hitboxes, & looks cool. Will fill it with the new weapons in the summer. ;)
I cannot be more serious with my seconding of this opinion. the Catapult K2 is a great beginner mech, even its stock loadout is solid. I have two of them, one with er ppcs and ac 5s. the other with 4 er med lasers and dual light Gauss.
Ahhhh bro, I downloaded MWO two weeks ago, found your channel, and immediately searched for "beginners guide." I found nothing and just bought whatever I thought was best. Nowww you make this video, lol. I ended up getting 3 rifleman varients (all with c-bills, and all now mastered), one catapult (c-bills), and the locust mastery pack. I know now that rifleman is scorned in the meta, but I don't care because I loved it as a kid and I'm rocking it hard. :)
Hey MM, I just played a game with “Molten Metal”, but to my disappointment he had an American accent! (Only remembered afterwards you are Baradul in MWO). I asked this question, “what mech should I start with?” a few years ago, and now I have gotten some experience under my belt I would say that your mech choice really needs to take your play style into account, and that is what people giving advice won’t know. However, I can suggest the mechs I have had the best experiences with... New players won’t understand the value of the physical shape of mechs and the hardpoint placement, but my picks take it into account. 1) Roughneck. Good all rounder and very good brawler. Two LBX10s and machine guns can score 500 damage per game reliably, and it can make kills against mechs of all classes. Fairly resilient. 2) Ebon Jaguar. The lack of AMS and ECM must balance this mech, because if you had either it would arguably be “over powered”. Omni mech so you can try many load outs, plus the side torso mounts are nice and high. Punches above its weight and can be very dominant. 3) Mad Cat II. Available for C Bills now. A forgiving mech due to the armour and jump jets which can help with mobility. A low Alpha but high damage per second load out can score over 1000 points of damage in a game, and you are almost guaranteed to contribute to the team effort, with good play anchoring a victory. You can also have builds with Alpha strikes likely to kill lighter opponents in one or two well placed salvos, but I think new players should stick with rapid fire builds and plenty of heatsinks/ammo. You could make a name for yourself in a Mad Cat. 4) Shadowcat is a fan favourite and too light to really dangerous, plus it has fixed engines and jumpjets, but if you love the look and it has sentimental appeal it is adequate... but only if you are a cautious player by nature. 5) Griffin. I have the loyalty variant as my first Griffin and was surprised by how good it was for the limited tonnage. Nice and mobile with effective firepower, it is fun to play with and get earn satisfying kills against heavier opponents. The version with missile hardpoints on each shoulder must be very dangerous. I would choose MRMs or streaks over LRMs. Generally, I think light and medium mechs are harder to play/master and new players will do better in heavy and assault mechs. Hardpoints that are physically high on the mech have an advantage. ECM and/or Jumpjets are preferable but not essential. Look for an evenly spread number of hardpoints across the mech. I think direct fire weapons should be preferred... see a target and opportunity, take the shot immediately... you don’t get that with LRMs or even streaks. Machine guns are surprisingly useful and effective for close range brawling. Mono boating is generally easier and more effective simply due to ease of use. Most mechs can be ok with enough time and effort, but some definitely lend themselves to being effective MORE OFTEN. I will try a Huntsman after watching this video! I suppose Jaegermeister is “Huntmaster” and not named for the liquer?! I think the Thunderbolt energy build is too hot and slow for beginners, even though it gets a lot of recommendations.
My first mechs were Cataphracts back when the game was still pretty new. Went with the ILYA and melted face with my 3xUAC5s and chainsaw macro... good times :)
SHD-2K is my recommendation for best beginner mech. It's good for the reasons stated in the video, but the 2K is unique in that it doesn't cultivate bad habits. It has 2 weaponless shield arms, which will teach you to torso twist in either directions. Sword and board builds are fine once you learn the game, but at the start, beginners should learn to be ambidextrous. The HBK and CN9 promotes over reliance of twisting in one direction only. The hard points are ALL high mounted and clustered, so you don't have to deal with low slung arms and weapons convergence. You can play SRM/MRM brawler with backup lasers, or jump sniper build with 2xHPPCs. As well as try out some other different missile/laser builds.
I started with the Stormcrow. It is still one of my favorite mechs! Top speed of 97 and very maneuverable without any quirks in the skill tree. Amazing hitboxes with decent armor for a 55-tonner, just don't get focused... or you're dead REAL quick. It has very versatile builds (Laser vomit, dakka, sniper, srm splat boat, etc.) with the firepower of a Heavy. It can be a great support mech, or second line skirmisher, or even a deadly hit and run flanker due to its high mobility. Good for Quick play, Faction play, or even Solaris (with the right build). The only weakness is it lack of jump jets, but I never seem to find it a problem :)
I used to be a firm believer in the Hunchback P as a good starter mech, 98Kph with a standard engine with a lot of energy weapons. Of course that didn't fit your criteria as being versatile, but you can try three large lasers, 6 medium pulse, 9 small pulse, 8 medium lasers, great deal. Now I'm recommending the Warhammer chassis to beginners. One of the variants is for trial with a standard engine, so beginners can try that out while still earning xp on the mech, which they can use to unlock skills when they buy it. But each variant is so unique to different playstyles, ballistic/ppc, missle, and pure energy boating. It's tanky, it has good arms for torso twisting, and it's not very heavy, so noobs can bring three of them to community warfare when they want to earn more mech bays. Great for Xl and standard engines, a little slower for your standard, the trial runs at 70 kph (without speed tweak), but because it's a heavy, it has enough armor to be forgiving, when the noob takes a wrong turn.
It's also similar to the hunchback chasiss, because each variant is made for each of the three weapon types. Good experimental mechs for noobs to find their favorite weapons. : )
When I started I went straight for the King Crabs. Talk about a learning curve. But I love them. And it forced me to learn techniques to avoid missiles which work with all the mechs. Lights are still a pain but not impossible to defend against. I think I gravitated to all the hardest mechs to play. It wasn't until I had been playing for nearly 6 months before I found you, M4J35T1C and a few others to learn some excellent tips. I now have a decent collection of mechs, not too many but enough to get out there and try different tactics.
Centurion. Multiple weapon types, Meta and Non-Meta options, zombie capability so when someone alphas out your side torsos you can still do something and have fun, and if you run it for a few matches in 3rd person mode you REALLY start to understand shielding with its shield arm. Shadowhawk was a good alternative to the centurion though, I would buy them both as a starting new player - one teaches you peaking, pop-tarting, and more high mounted peaking strategies, one teaches you more brawler mix-it-up style, or both can be adapted to a variety of other non-meta roles (I love my gauss centurion, don't hate) Huntsman is too hot for new players imo, it has a lot of critical slots invested for you, and you have to know a bit about mech building to find the balance between heat and damage.
I tried the Enforcer, based on your recommendation, and I have mixed experiences with it. At first, the mech seemed to fall short in every department: armour, weaponry, speed, agility etc. The skill tree changed that around completely.. but it might be interesting to note for new players that the start can be a little bumpy. I recommend going for radar deprivation first, mostly to prevent from being taken out early on by lame-r-thems. Then cool run because it requires so few points to up your offense. Then the armour and mobility to strengthen your role and flexibility, and finally the firepower to get the damage numbers. After that, it becomes a very solid mech that performs almost like a heavy but I find myself still pushed to a support role because it lacks that agility to deal with light mechs and the armour to push the offensve. I'll be trying the other mechs soon! I really appreciate videos like these, because the official site makes it hard to know where to begin.
Dieter valid input I think. The skill tree priorities are important as well and for new players I simply suggest ignoring the firepower tree on their first much. Bara should do a video for skill tree priorities for new pkayers if he hasn't already. As you indicate radar dep is critical. I find th4 enforcer a fantastic chassis even without skills (I have had them since they appeared with resistancr pack but JUST got ghilllie on sale last week) but I find most success as a front line support piece. I won't be first into enemy line of sight: allow somebody else the honor of eating alphas. But the enforcer near th3le front can punish enemies on cool down. Anyway I urge new players to start the game in an IS medium chassis (I recommend centurion, hunchback, enforcer, wolverine, grif and shadowhawk) once they earn the cbills. Start learning maps. Start skilling the mech (again 0 firepower skills on this first purchase). Start learning about other chassis. As you build towards mastery play in free rotation mechs to sample what's out there, then after mastery invest your savings into an omni that works for the playstyle you've developed. Master a coupe clan m echs then with far more knowledge start looking at IS quirks for next build
For recommended first mechs, I'd consider anything with high mounts or medium mounts and good quirks. The Hunchback, Griffin, Shadowhawk, Rifleman, and Catapult would be my top 5 IS suggestions. All of them give good variety of playstyles while no variant is really terrible. For Clan, I'd consider Arctic Cheetah, Nova, Hunchback, Ebon Jag, and Timberwolf. The Marauder IIC could make the list, however the extra cost on the big engines it needs for many builds makes it less new player friendly. Same goes for the Jenner IIC.
Good choices there. It's nice to see the versatility of the Huntsman gets it a place on your list, it's one mech I keep on finding new ways to play it & to load it out. Thanks for the info, invaluable to the newer players.
Personally, when it comes to jump jets on larger mechs, I like them for softening falls. Makes it much easier to hop off of walls, or canyon sides. Also, to jump short gaps. Mobility is nice.
The Panther. Lots of ideas, tactical flexibility, lots of range, teaches you to aim, good armor, decent speed, good firepower in its default build, and jump jets. Survivable too. You can hit and hide, provide fire support, run from pos to pos, dealing damage while learning the ropes. It's versatile to a degree too, allowing for some customization. You can play with it. I also like the Marauder. Simple. You can't go wrong with it. It's tough, durable, can be upgraded with a few tweaks, and can deliver a serious punch in the right position. Not super fast, but very well-armed and armored. You can fit any AC you choose onto it, but its default build is reasonable if you want to rack up c-bills and hold out for better weapons, or a better mech. For delivering damage it has few equals.
Good choices. I lean heavily towards omnimechs for new players. The versatility is just incredible, and lets a new player try out many things. Personally, I would add in the *Stormcrow* for the incredible free tonnage and speed, as an alternative to the Huntsman. This would depend on the player, of course, and I would ask if he would like to trade jumpjets for speed, and explain that, while nice, they aren't necessary or even that gamechanging depending on map.
Interesting options... My first of all was the raven 3L - unforgiving but it taught me about positioning the hard way. Not something I'd recommend for newer players not ready for unforgiving gameplay. My second was the Bushwacker (X1). The X1 is a beauty, but I'd give any new player the P2. You can build some missiles, some dakka or some energy with a *very* forgiving mix of armour and mobility. Very easy to splash enemy damage across your front and just get in their faces. Or, if you take a wrong turn and find the whole enemy team, you can still get out of there in one piece. Only downside? Needs an LFE 250 or 300 if you're not ready for the sacrifice to tankiness that comes from an XL.
My first mech was one of the Jenner variants, cant remember which, I still enjoy playing them. They are great for hit and run, they carry ok amount of firepower. It isnt the best mech, but I like it, suits my play style. I tired to get into mediums and heavies, but I try to play them too much like I play lights so Cicada is the only one Ive been moderately succesful on.
I bought an ACH-Prime for my first mech and promptly made it into a light 2 ERLL sniper, which turned out being a poor way to learn and cost me a month of poor match scores. Should have gone with something moore brawl oriented. Eventually I bought a linebacker and crawled my way into better tactics. This is a good video. Wish I bought a hellbringer instead. I freaking love my virago now.
This is a video from a while ago now, but as an actual new player I think the two biggest things are Omnimech and ECM, so Hellbringer out of those. Also had some fun with the Arctic Wolf as an LRM boat. Having both a Clan Mech and a IS mech which can take all 3 types of weapons also seems good from a point of view of completing the monthly missions for the freebies (but as a new player only seen two months worth of that). As you said the ECM helps so much for surviability, especially LRM protection and the Omnimech for trying different weapons out.
just recently got back into playing MechWarrior Online (anticipating MW5) and recently got a Cougar Prime. I'm mostly Fire Support, or Hybrid as being a Brawler feels very restrictive for me and I don't feel like i'm contributing much to the team effort. The Cougar Prime I feel is a nice starting Clan Light mech if you want to play mobile fire support that can still pack a punch with 2 C-LRM 10s giving you that reach and 2 C-Large Pulse Lasers giving you that punch when you need to provide cover fire or support your heavies and assaults during a push or to fight off a light. and if you want to forgo the complete chassis bonus quirks you can swap out the head piece and replace a few weapon systems to get ECM coverage. the draw back is that it's not a speed demon with a starting speed of 60kph and speed tweaking only taking it up to about 70 if you go the full tree, so it's not meant for hit and run like most other lights, but I still enjoy it.
I'd recommend the Shadowhawk 2D2 over the 2H. Newer players will probably get more mileage out of the second energy hardpoint and fourth missile hardpoint than they will out of running a second or third ballistic.
fully agree on the huntsman, the thunderbolt and the timberwulf, i would add the warhammer and the centurion. for light i would go spider or arctic cheetah, assaults would be kodiak, marauder IIC and banshee. although i think most new players cant really afford clan mechs... my first mech was the cathaphract and shortly after the rifleman... little did i know... but on the other hand that really got me into medium-medium- long range support...
I definitely feel like your first mech should always be an omnimech. New players want to be flexible and try out a whole bunch of different builds to see what they like, and no battlemech will have the same flexibility as an omni. Buy a Huntsman, a Timber, and an Arctic Cheetah (I'd recommend that order, specifically), and you could effectively play almost any build/role in the game. Also want to add that you shouldn't commit to the rule of three until you know you like the mech, since the mastery benefits are very minor at the beginning, and are only really noticeable once you start fighting better players. Of course, I may just be a dirty, dirty Clanner trying to tempt newbies to the dark side.
I wanted to go for a Timber Wolf first, but thanks to the videos of MoltenMetal, TTB and Kanajashi I took a Hellbringer as my choice. Not at all as brittle as the Tabletop-Version and ready to satisfy any wish for a loadout. The only real problem in MW:O are the scandalous prices for Engines and XL-Engines.
Awesome video! Personal favorites for beginners, at least the ones I share with my friends, are the wolfhound and the hunchback line. I love the tankiness and the laser vomit from the wolfhound and the reliability of the hunchies.
Loved the action montage at the end, might have been nice to see more right after introducing each mech. Really spice up the more static explaining mode with short burst of added action scenes.
My first mech was the Marauder 3R as well, and I agree it's a bit slow for what you want to do to learn. The mech that really taught me the game was the Hunchback, starting with a 4SP and into a G. Great mech, good speed, STD engine medium makes you really tanky. I do love your Shadow Hawk as a competitor to the hunchy, but I'll take that 1v1 any day of the week.
SCR Prime. One of the few stock builds that doesn't suck hard so you can jump into matches with it immediately. Comes with Endo and FF and cXL and is 5 tons shy of being a heavy mech so you get all the upgrades and run almost 100KPH. You can use clan ballistics, lasers and missiles with the SCR so you have everything covered. The HBR is a great recommendation but unlike the SCR you need to up the armor by 40 points or it'll be paper. The stock loadout is terrible and all over the place with ballistics, missiles, and various energy weapons. So you will need to buy weapons and change the loadout before you take it into battle. Almost all good builds strip an arm of armor and a new player wont know that immediately. TBR is amazing but again the base loadouts are trash and need to be changed to something else. Innersphere mechs like the Shadowhawk don't come with Endo/FF and their XL engine is expensive and the mechanics of it dying to torso loss is going to really hurt new players. Back when Clan wasn't in the game I'd have recommended an SHD but these days the upgrade costs and the weapon costs just give a new player way to many ways to screw up their build. Same with the TDR vs the SHD, knowing how to use the quirks, when to bring and XL and upgrading to DHS and Endo make this not as new player friendly. One of the things that needs to be considered is the amount of different weapons mounted on a stock build. Having 3 different types of lasers, one or two ballistics and a missile weapon all need to be bound to different keys and a new player may only have a three button mouse. Not all gamers are packing 8 buttons and macros. Another thing is heat, the most heat efficient builds will be the easiest for a new player to handle. The SCR prime is 43% on Smurfy and has a DPS of 4 which is just fine for a new player.
Went with the Timberwolf for my first mech. The prime is good for beginers. Just hang back and fire your missiles until you run out of ammo. Then move in with your lasers and machine guns.
Excellent video. I would probably suggest the Crab over the Enforcer for a beginner, since it's super tanky and a lower profile (specifically the 27SL). Also, Hunchback IIC as a streak / LRM boat and the Shadowcat as a sniper.
This was very useful, but I'd also add the Bushwacker as a good beginner mech. While I didn't choose one of the mechs in here, I ended up choosing a Bushwhacker, which was good fun, and let me play with Missles (SRMs, LRMs, MRMs), and balistic weapons. I had the BSH-2X which was 55 Tons, about 81 kph, and pretty tanky.
3x LPL Thunderbolt with a LFE would be what i would recommend for learning to torso twist at least. being able to deadside push into a flank is fun as hell. the reason i say run the LFE is that you will lose the right torso (if you're twisting correctly, and you should be) and as the Thunderbolt doesn't really have any CT weapons, losing anything else is going to be death anyways.
My first mech was the Cicada, (whichever variant has the 4 ballistic hardpoints and the amaaaazing er ppc quirks) the 2 builds I run with it is ac2 with 2 machine guns and er ppc, and ac 5 with er ppc. Going almost 80 kph I think. Not sure if I'd reccomend it haha, but it worked out for me (eventually)
I run it with a modified sniper build: 2 er large lasers and 1 med. pulse laser and ecm. It can actually survive in a brawl. I can still remember killing a medium and a heavy mech while being the only one alive from my team with this build.
I would take out the huntsman for the ryoken, it is sturdier and allows for more mistakes than the huntsman. Though i would say to avoid light mechs in general, i started with a commando 5 years ago, the pain...
Maybe you should've mentioned how much each mech costs. The TBR is pretty expensive at 16mio to 17mio cbills, so i guess beginners will have to play a lot to get their first TBR. Otherwise, good calls, i love your vids, weiter so!
I was actually thinking about putting the cost into the video but I decided against it. I wanted to keep the video short and focused on the benefits the different chassis have. I think the cost is a weaker factor compared to the other ones.
Can't remember what I have started with, aside of Firestarters, Pantheras and Ravens. All of them are quite nice but just aren't enough to make reasonable impact in hands of a newbro. Came up with two adders, dual PPC sniper and SSRM20 boat, still think I've lost too much effort trying to squeeze anything good of others. Adders are forgiving and no doubt powerful, they are relatively cheap, and even if you screw it up totally - cmon, that's just a light fire support after all, it definitely cannot carry ALL the game alone, so it is nice to have one by your side, but losing it is not that of tragedy and definitely won't ruin the whole game. So I'd rather recommend sticking to any light, given they are cheap, playing them wrong or even losing them usually does not have huge impact on team's performance, and on top of that most of them are damn fast, which means you can explore those maps and even survive just by pressing "W" furiously in case of trouble. I'd recommend ADR-Prime as a clan starter and RVN-3L as a spheroid one.
For a first mech, assuming you've played the trial mechs and gotten enough cbills, I'd say that you want to go for a clan omnimech. Inner sphere mechs aren't good mechs to start out with imo. Fewer weapon choices, fixed hardpoints, expensive heatsink upgrades, expensive crappy xl engines, I could go on for a while. Now don't get me wrong, There are several great IS mechs, but I feel it takes more knowledge of the game to properly fit out a battlemech than it does an omnimech. Whilst I prefer battlemechs myself, the omnimech has the versatility you'd want in a first purchase. For heavies, I'd recommend the Ebon Jag and the Night Gyr. Both of them have a good amount of versatility in them. For mediums, I'd recommend the Huntsman and the Shadowcat. The Huntsman is the best medium mech imo and the Shadowcat is just all around awesome. If you found that you like to play light mechs the best out of all the trial mechs, I'd recommend the arctic cheetah. Who wouldn't? As for an assault, I really wouldn't recommend that you grab one of these for a first mech. There are no good assault omnimechs imo. The Direwolf is too slow. The Gargoyle is too limited by it's huge engine to really tinker with. The Warhawk is almost the the size of the Direwolf and all of it's good weapon hardpoints are too low. And finally, while the Executioner with it's MASC can be excellent I wouldn't recommend it for new players. I would have to recommend a Marauder IIC or even a Kodiak with the weapon hardpoints you'd prefer.
I would not recommend clan tech to someone just learning the game, primarily because of the unforgiving heat spikes and burn durations which if not managed properly will lead to constant overheating with minimal impact on the enemy, but additionally because omnimechs are significantly more expensive than battlemechs, not to mention clan omnis. Additionally I would not recommend a heavy mech, as the last thing you want to do as a new player is make things harder on yourself. Sure you might be able to survive slightly longer as a 75 tonner than you might a 55 toner, maybe 1-2 volleys more, but by using a heavy not only do you prevent a potentially more veteran heavy pilot from joining your team but also potentially introduce a more veteran heavy pilot onto the enemy team. So learn in a Medium, the lessons learned will readily translate to most heavies. As such a nice Medium IS mech with generous and varied hardpoints is best, doubly so if they have multiple AMS or ECM. Most notably the Bushwacker S2 or the the Griffin 2N with their dual AMS or ECM respectively fit this role best, though most Centurions, Uziels, Bushwackers, and Shadowhawks could serve well enough as a learning platform, or even the Trebuchet 7K or Wolverine 6R/7D, the latter of which will even teach the new player how MASC works.
Hunchback 4G was my first, but back then you didn´t have that much of a choice (no clanners)....i think medium mechs are a nice choice to start cos they are just for support... nice way to learn the game..Lights/heavys/assaults have roles in the battlefield and you only learn those trough gametime.
Those are good recommendations, i especially like that you chose mechs without far to the side weapon hardpoint. Such mechs tend to cause friendly fire because a green pilot does not realize he shoots through teammates. And once the new player has more experience with building he can make the mechs faster and better suited for specialized tactics if they wish (except for the omnis). Will you do the "What is META" vid i proposed before now?
Oh I can remember multiple occasions where Jägermeister was included. And I am very sure that I can't remember some of them as well. But Jägermeister literally translates into "Huntsmaster" which I found funny.
Well that actually makes sense . . . but I prefer to think that your Huntsman has a secret story to tell. He's a conflicted hero with a mysterious past; a rogue receiving, but never seeking, redemption.
Wow perfect timing! after recently enjoying a bunch of your videos I decided to finally give MWO a go and downloaded it yesterday (I initially signed up with an account 3-4 years ago but never played it til now). I'll need to go with some mech2 nostalgia so probably will lean towards a Hellbringer out of these 6. Would a Mad Dog or Summoner work?
I just started playing a few weeks ago and the Shadow Hawk 2H was my first Mech (I would have bought The Grey Death, but I wanted to know If I enjoy the game before I spend real money), in fact I just saved up C-bills and bought the 5M. I will buy The Grey Death to master the chassis later on. I will have to get it, and the Pirates Bane Locust too for, reasons. It's a shame they don't have Greyson Carlyle's Marauder as well :P But I suppose 2 GDL Mechs in one game is enough.
This video randomly popped up in my recommendations, so I thought I would update my comment from a year ago. That Shadowhawk 2H I started with remains one of my favourite and most played mechs along with my Griffin 5M(L), and my Enforcer Ghillie. My Shadowhawk 5M doesn't get lots of play but I still like using it, I did buy The Grey Death recently, but I haven't used it much yet (I'm short of C-bills right now, because I decided to go with XL Engines on most of my Mediums and all my Lights. It cost a fortune converting them all). I think the Shadowhawk 2H is a fantastic mech and it worked well for me when I started and still works now. The Enforcer is great too, I only have the Hero but as you said in the video it does fire support brilliantly and I have found that it can brawl a little too if the situation calls for it.
This was actually my first Mech ever for the same reason. I sold it after some weeks later and bought a Jagermech for more Dakka. Good old Beta times....*sigh*
I got the marauder first because I love the design also its lowkey a macross mecha and im a big fan of that anime. its actually pretty strong too. though the IIC basically overshadows it in most respects
I was considering the Marauder as well but I felt that it was too slow for the list. Usually I run a STD300 in mine. I wanted to stick around 75-80-ish kph because I think mobility is one of the key factors for beginner pilots. When you get a feeling how to position yourself within the team and which Mech is good for which role you can branch into other speed/weight classes.
Agreed. On top of that, when you got enough mobility, it allows you to make mistakes with positioning and survive, wich I would consider important for new players aswell. If you'll find yourself in bad spot with slow mech, you are dead meat...
Blackjack 1X seems like a good pick too, and if you get that and the BJ-1 and BJ-3 you have a good combination of playstyles with just one chassis and you can master all three too maybe
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Pick a 50 or 55 tonner - plenty of choices, lots of flexibility.
Or just buy a Timber Wolf, lol.
I like the Centurion. All about basics here, no jump jets, MASC, or ECM. Big gun in one arm, decent heat and mobility, shield arm for twisting. If I'm having a bad streak of losses I'll jump in to a Centurion and reset myself, so to speak.
All the posters advocating lrm boats for new players to stand back with and spam makes me cry. I enjoy lrming in my Archers but will regularly wade in with medium lasers while maintaining LOS for best lrm usage. Standing away from the fight and sending 1,000 lrms into rock walls teaches nothing to new players.
my fav archer builds are 3 lrm5's and 6 MPL or 4MPL/2SRM4. LRMs are there for suppression and to keep me sane while waiting for my chance to close into knife fighting range.
Tempest Hero Archer with 2 LRM15+Artemis and 6 Medium Lasers.
Standard Archer (can't remember the base model #) with 2 LRM20+Artemis, TAG, BAP and 4 Medium Lasers. There is nothing like Tagging that fast moving light and having him be obliterated by 40 LRMs.
Good call. Plus the fact that an unskilled Lurmer will just receive assault level tonnage of angry messages in chat....
THANK YOU, for being one of the very few who realize being killed over and over, right at the start of the match you wont learn anything
i would highly recommend the linebacker for new players. its combination of speed and durability makes it more forgiving of your positioning than any other mech i can think of. it has a decent amount of loadout flexibility, and most builds are pretty straightforward and easy to use.
another great mech to start out with would be the hunchback 4SP. there isn't a lot of build variation, but it's very mobile and tanky, with some good offensive quirks as well. it also has the benefit of not requiring an XL engine, so it's relatively cheap to kit out.
I actually did a catapult PPC layout And one of the riflemen's 2c when my not over stepping the front line lol! BIG BIG THANKS to your channel I haven't played MW for at least ten years if it wasn't for this channel I wouldn't even knew that MW is still a thing thank you!!!
My first pickup was the HBK-4P. Love the hunchies, first set to master after getting a 4SP and 4G. Hunchbacks really teach you about protecting important components on your mech.
I think the IS Hunchback is a great starter mech; a wide variety of variants, and the need to learn how to torso twist effectively.
My first mech in MWO, over 4 years ago, was the Commando. I saw it fit because it was first mech you have in Mechwarrior 2: Mercenaries, my first Mechwarrior game.
My first mech was the Atlas. Thank you founder's package! =P
How very Steiner of you lol
I'm a Huge fan of my first mech, the Hunchback-IIC, especially the A variant. 2 ER-Large Lasers in each side torso make for great hill humping. With an 275XL and speed tweak, you're looking at about 96kph and you've got jump jets too. woohoo!
My first was a Raven, however if it came out at the time, I seriously would recommend the Bushwacker as your first, it's basically the universal mech and is somewhat forgiving once you give it a light engine.
The Bushwacker is even the starter Mech in 3.
Great video for new players, Mr. Metal. My first mech purchase was the Shadow Hawk and I fell in love with it from day one (then I discovered your channel and your love for Shadow Hawks and it made me happy). It is so versatile and I honestly think that all the skills you need to be an effective MWO player, you can learn in a Shadow Hawk:
- High shoulder mounts will teach hill cresting and corner peeking
- Jump Jets will make you learn poptaring and doing quick turns
- Excellent mobility and speed will teach positioning and map knowledge
- Relatively good durability (especially on a STD engine) makes it a little more forgiving than, say a Huntsman or Hunchback IIC
- Good arms for shielding will teach effective torso twisting (especially once a new player ventures into XL engine builds)
- Excellent versatility will keep you playing around in the mech lab to find builds that will eventually lead you to discover your preferred play style
- You are not a priority target for the enemy, especially if you stay with your team (which is the main problem I find in the Timberwolf. Yes, it's a great mech, but you're a higher-priority target exactly because of that reason).
The problem with the Enforcer I think is that nearly all the hardpoints are low-mounted, plus there is really only one "good" (versatile) Enforcer variant, which is the ENF-4R. Therefore, I would probably recommend the Hunchback over the Enforcer.
I would probably lean more towards the Warhammer or Jagermech instead of the Thunderbolts, just because the Thunderbolt's cockpit is so skewed to the left side that new players (and pilots new to the Thunderbolt Chassis) might get confused or disoriented in-game.
Personally, I got a HBK-4SP on recommendation and I love it! 4 Medium lasers, one small laser, and two MRM 10s. Plays at medium range and I stay with my assault mechs. I may not do a lot of damage, but I contribute and stay alive.
I wish I saw this video three months ago when I started. I went with some bad choices, spent lots of c-bills, hurt my confidence. Phoenix Hawk (trial) helped me a lot with its 6xml and ecm.
Adem Kollari I liked that trial mech so much I bought it. I've only been playing a few days but it's all I run.
Starting with the game 3 years after this vid I wished I had found it earlier. Ny own thoughts ran a different part, which obviously put me on a hard way: I went over the lights, because I thought I am damaging my team too much by taking a heavier mech: I can not bring the firepower into the gameplay efficiently and I will be out quite early, so basically I'm a double liability. The result is of course as pointed out, I get very little playtime, as lights suffer even more from bad positioning, I have less damage potential, it's harder to take aim and hit in a fast mover, so I seldom inflict much damage in a game. Still I try to be useful to the team to the best of my abilities, favoring contribution over personal glory or ranking up. But I will set out now to earn enough CB to switch over to one of the recommended mechs and make use of the suggestions made out of experience. 👍
Hey Baradul! First off: nice video as always! I appreciate that you are helping the beginners of MWO.
In general I agree with your points and criterias, but those choices missed an - in my eyes - very important points for beginners: affordability. Having the Enforcer with a XL engine first costs a lot of C-Bills on top of the mech, weapons, Endo, as well as DHS and second makes the "durability" criteria obsolete due to ST death.
I would rather recommend, as other youtubers did or people in the comments on this video, the Hunchbacks. All viable STD-builds and already coming with the weapons you want.
Also, when you want to show the versatility of Clan omnipods, I would suggest not to show all 3 Clan mechs with the same loadout (UAC-5s and ERMLs) ;-)
On a side note: Quirks do indicate that the mech is sub-par in other terms, e.g. hitboxes, viability, hardpoint location etc. So choosing a heavily quirked mech means you are taking a bad mech.
Still, great video and thank you for everything you are doing for the community.
In open Beta my first mech was the hunchback, still love using that mech even today
I agree with the Thunderbolt, very tanky and agile if you want. Cicade is also a good option for fast medium that plays like a light mech but has more armour and super responsive.
My first mech was an adder. I got it thinking about the brutal LBX20/PPC brawler in mechwarrior 4. I was severely disappointed (until I figured out the LRM 30 and SRM24 builds) and then my unit told me to get a nova. I hated it in almost every way.
Then I got a timber and realized how fun the game could be. I followed that up with an ebon jag, which is basically a timber for people who want more guns, and finally pulled the trigger on the huntsman, which I now think is absolutely the most versatile beginner mech in the game. Timbers are great but can be focus fired. Enforcer is just not fun either, with its awful slow speed without an XL engine, and terribly low hard points
I think the huntsman has the idea setup. Fast, brawley, tankey, with side torso mounts that let it play poptart, LRM, a 6 SRM 93 alpha splat, or anything in between. its only weakness is no ECM option, but I think ECM would have made it too strong. With my splat build I regularly break 800 damage, and I'm not very good.
Urbanmech is a great joke, until you realize that it really is invisible and can do a boatload of damage with 4 MG and 2 medium pulse lasers. It teaches you a lot about mechwarrior, and for how cheap it is, really is worth buying.
Definitely agree with the Hellbringer suggestion. For newer players ECM is _extremely_ good (always take it if available), and the Hellbringer ends up providing a decent mix of builds.
Hit my 1000th match last night and my Hellbringer was 2nd most played out of all my 'mechs (the 1st most played being Thunderbolt-9S, another of your suggestions).
I second the Hunchback IIC. It's got very high mounts and can be played nicely in different ways - I found it to be a lot of fun with UACs (prime), PPCs (A), and even 2z10+20 LRMs+NARC (B).
There is only ONE true mech : the Urbanmech.
Best brawler too, when I used to play I 1v2'd and came out alive (though a little worse for wear), I used to run MGs and Medium Lasers I think (4mg, 2ml, if I remember rightly).
Urbie POWER!
I have a Marauder 2c with quad ppc first build.
All hail our Urbanmech overlord!!!
Sébastien Marchand Baribeau urbanmech with mask system. Lol.
Become the TRASHMAN!
Really appreciated this video. I just started tonight and was advised to watch your content to learn the game. I see why. Thanks!
Catapult-K2 is worth considering as a first mech. Mine has been a PPC-sniper, laser-sniper, long-range dakka & AC20 brawler over the years. Reasonably mobile, good hitboxes, & looks cool. Will fill it with the new weapons in the summer. ;)
I cannot be more serious with my seconding of this opinion. the Catapult K2 is a great beginner mech, even its stock loadout is solid. I have two of them, one with er ppcs and ac 5s. the other with 4 er med lasers and dual light Gauss.
Mine was the Spider and I loved it. 5K(C), 5D, and Anansi to Master it. 5K with LPL and 2MG's fully quirked and maxed out for speed is nuts fun!
5K: mwo.smurfy-net.de/mechlab#i=104&l=431be161db89951b3b29d2b9121e40de1cc95e7f
5D: mwo.smurfy-net.de/mechlab#i=52&l=1a97ffd841000bd238544b96a1c405139fdfc647
A: mwo.smurfy-net.de/mechlab#i=203&l=5c456099c1da88327a24bf7eef6805c9a53ee932
Ahhhh bro, I downloaded MWO two weeks ago, found your channel, and immediately searched for "beginners guide." I found nothing and just bought whatever I thought was best. Nowww you make this video, lol. I ended up getting 3 rifleman varients (all with c-bills, and all now mastered), one catapult (c-bills), and the locust mastery pack. I know now that rifleman is scorned in the meta, but I don't care because I loved it as a kid and I'm rocking it hard. :)
Hey MM,
I just played a game with “Molten Metal”, but to my disappointment he had an American accent! (Only remembered afterwards you are Baradul in MWO).
I asked this question, “what mech should I start with?” a few years ago, and now I have gotten some experience under my belt I would say that your mech choice really needs to take your play style into account, and that is what people giving advice won’t know. However, I can suggest the mechs I have had the best experiences with...
New players won’t understand the value of the physical shape of mechs and the hardpoint placement, but my picks take it into account.
1) Roughneck. Good all rounder and very good brawler. Two LBX10s and machine guns can score 500 damage per game reliably, and it can make kills against mechs of all classes. Fairly resilient.
2) Ebon Jaguar. The lack of AMS and ECM must balance this mech, because if you had either it would arguably be “over powered”. Omni mech so you can try many load outs, plus the side torso mounts are nice and high. Punches above its weight and can be very dominant.
3) Mad Cat II. Available for C Bills now. A forgiving mech due to the armour and jump jets which can help with mobility. A low Alpha but high damage per second load out can score over 1000 points of damage in a game, and you are almost guaranteed to contribute to the team effort, with good play anchoring a victory. You can also have builds with Alpha strikes likely to kill lighter opponents in one or two well placed salvos, but I think new players should stick with rapid fire builds and plenty of heatsinks/ammo. You could make a name for yourself in a Mad Cat.
4) Shadowcat is a fan favourite and too light to really dangerous, plus it has fixed engines and jumpjets, but if you love the look and it has sentimental appeal it is adequate... but only if you are a cautious player by nature.
5) Griffin. I have the loyalty variant as my first Griffin and was surprised by how good it was for the limited tonnage. Nice and mobile with effective firepower, it is fun to play with and get earn satisfying kills against heavier opponents. The version with missile hardpoints on each shoulder must be very dangerous. I would choose MRMs or streaks over LRMs.
Generally, I think light and medium mechs are harder to play/master and new players will do better in heavy and assault mechs. Hardpoints that are physically high on the mech have an advantage. ECM and/or Jumpjets are preferable but not essential. Look for an evenly spread number of hardpoints across the mech. I think direct fire weapons should be preferred... see a target and opportunity, take the shot immediately... you don’t get that with LRMs or even streaks. Machine guns are surprisingly useful and effective for close range brawling. Mono boating is generally easier and more effective simply due to ease of use.
Most mechs can be ok with enough time and effort, but some definitely lend themselves to being effective MORE OFTEN.
I will try a Huntsman after watching this video! I suppose Jaegermeister is “Huntmaster” and not named for the liquer?!
I think the Thunderbolt energy build is too hot and slow for beginners, even though it gets a lot of recommendations.
My first mechs were Cataphracts back when the game was still pretty new.
Went with the ILYA and melted face with my 3xUAC5s and chainsaw macro... good times :)
same, the 1X is still a great mech :)
SHD-2K is my recommendation for best beginner mech. It's good for the reasons stated in the video, but the 2K is unique in that it doesn't cultivate bad habits. It has 2 weaponless shield arms, which will teach you to torso twist in either directions. Sword and board builds are fine once you learn the game, but at the start, beginners should learn to be ambidextrous. The HBK and CN9 promotes over reliance of twisting in one direction only.
The hard points are ALL high mounted and clustered, so you don't have to deal with low slung arms and weapons convergence.
You can play SRM/MRM brawler with backup lasers, or jump sniper build with 2xHPPCs. As well as try out some other different missile/laser builds.
I started with the Stormcrow. It is still one of my favorite mechs! Top speed of 97 and very maneuverable without any quirks in the skill tree. Amazing hitboxes with decent armor for a 55-tonner, just don't get focused... or you're dead REAL quick. It has very versatile builds (Laser vomit, dakka, sniper, srm splat boat, etc.) with the firepower of a Heavy. It can be a great support mech, or second line skirmisher, or even a deadly hit and run flanker due to its high mobility. Good for Quick play, Faction play, or even Solaris (with the right build). The only weakness is it lack of jump jets, but I never seem to find it a problem :)
I used to be a firm believer in the Hunchback P as a good starter mech, 98Kph with a standard engine with a lot of energy weapons. Of course that didn't fit your criteria as being versatile, but you can try three large lasers, 6 medium pulse, 9 small pulse, 8 medium lasers, great deal. Now I'm recommending the Warhammer chassis to beginners. One of the variants is for trial with a standard engine, so beginners can try that out while still earning xp on the mech, which they can use to unlock skills when they buy it. But each variant is so unique to different playstyles, ballistic/ppc, missle, and pure energy boating. It's tanky, it has good arms for torso twisting, and it's not very heavy, so noobs can bring three of them to community warfare when they want to earn more mech bays. Great for Xl and standard engines, a little slower for your standard, the trial runs at 70 kph (without speed tweak), but because it's a heavy, it has enough armor to be forgiving, when the noob takes a wrong turn.
It's also similar to the hunchback chasiss, because each variant is made for each of the three weapon types. Good experimental mechs for noobs to find their favorite weapons. : )
When I started I went straight for the King Crabs. Talk about a learning curve. But I love them. And it forced me to learn techniques to avoid missiles which work with all the mechs. Lights are still a pain but not impossible to defend against. I think I gravitated to all the hardest mechs to play. It wasn't until I had been playing for nearly 6 months before I found you, M4J35T1C and a few others to learn some excellent tips. I now have a decent collection of mechs, not too many but enough to get out there and try different tactics.
Centurion. Multiple weapon types, Meta and Non-Meta options, zombie capability so when someone alphas out your side torsos you can still do something and have fun, and if you run it for a few matches in 3rd person mode you REALLY start to understand shielding with its shield arm. Shadowhawk was a good alternative to the centurion though, I would buy them both as a starting new player - one teaches you peaking, pop-tarting, and more high mounted peaking strategies, one teaches you more brawler mix-it-up style, or both can be adapted to a variety of other non-meta roles (I love my gauss centurion, don't hate)
Huntsman is too hot for new players imo, it has a lot of critical slots invested for you, and you have to know a bit about mech building to find the balance between heat and damage.
I tried the Enforcer, based on your recommendation, and I have mixed experiences with it. At first, the mech seemed to fall short in every department: armour, weaponry, speed, agility etc. The skill tree changed that around completely.. but it might be interesting to note for new players that the start can be a little bumpy.
I recommend going for radar deprivation first, mostly to prevent from being taken out early on by lame-r-thems. Then cool run because it requires so few points to up your offense. Then the armour and mobility to strengthen your role and flexibility, and finally the firepower to get the damage numbers. After that, it becomes a very solid mech that performs almost like a heavy but I find myself still pushed to a support role because it lacks that agility to deal with light mechs and the armour to push the offensve.
I'll be trying the other mechs soon! I really appreciate videos like these, because the official site makes it hard to know where to begin.
Dieter valid input I think. The skill tree priorities are important as well and for new players I simply suggest ignoring the firepower tree on their first much. Bara should do a video for skill tree priorities for new pkayers if he hasn't already. As you indicate radar dep is critical. I find th4 enforcer a fantastic chassis even without skills (I have had them since they appeared with resistancr pack but JUST got ghilllie on sale last week) but I find most success as a front line support piece. I won't be first into enemy line of sight: allow somebody else the honor of eating alphas. But the enforcer near th3le front can punish enemies on cool down. Anyway I urge new players to start the game in an IS medium chassis (I recommend centurion, hunchback, enforcer, wolverine, grif and shadowhawk) once they earn the cbills. Start learning maps. Start skilling the mech (again 0 firepower skills on this first purchase). Start learning about other chassis. As you build towards mastery play in free rotation mechs to sample what's out there, then after mastery invest your savings into an omni that works for the playstyle you've developed. Master a coupe clan m echs then with far more knowledge start looking at IS quirks for next build
My first mech was the Vindicator 1X... Second was a Locust (pre-2016 when it was still huge) and it was the first I ever mastered.
For recommended first mechs, I'd consider anything with high mounts or medium mounts and good quirks. The Hunchback, Griffin, Shadowhawk, Rifleman, and Catapult would be my top 5 IS suggestions. All of them give good variety of playstyles while no variant is really terrible.
For Clan, I'd consider Arctic Cheetah, Nova, Hunchback, Ebon Jag, and Timberwolf. The Marauder IIC could make the list, however the extra cost on the big engines it needs for many builds makes it less new player friendly. Same goes for the Jenner IIC.
And don't forget that the price for a mech bay is the same no matter the weight of the mech stored in it.
Good choices there. It's nice to see the versatility of the Huntsman gets it a place on your list, it's one mech I keep on finding new ways to play it & to load it out. Thanks for the info, invaluable to the newer players.
Personally, when it comes to jump jets on larger mechs, I like them for softening falls. Makes it much easier to hop off of walls, or canyon sides. Also, to jump short gaps. Mobility is nice.
The Panther. Lots of ideas, tactical flexibility, lots of range, teaches you to aim, good armor, decent speed, good firepower in its default build, and jump jets. Survivable too. You can hit and hide, provide fire support, run from pos to pos, dealing damage while learning the ropes. It's versatile to a degree too, allowing for some customization. You can play with it.
I also like the Marauder. Simple. You can't go wrong with it. It's tough, durable, can be upgraded with a few tweaks, and can deliver a serious punch in the right position. Not super fast, but very well-armed and armored. You can fit any AC you choose onto it, but its default build is reasonable if you want to rack up c-bills and hold out for better weapons, or a better mech. For delivering damage it has few equals.
Good choices. I lean heavily towards omnimechs for new players. The versatility is just incredible, and lets a new player try out many things. Personally, I would add in the *Stormcrow* for the incredible free tonnage and speed, as an alternative to the Huntsman.
This would depend on the player, of course, and I would ask if he would like to trade jumpjets for speed, and explain that, while nice, they aren't necessary or even that gamechanging depending on map.
Good point. I overlooked the Stormcrow completely. +1 for that!
Interesting options...
My first of all was the raven 3L - unforgiving but it taught me about positioning the hard way. Not something I'd recommend for newer players not ready for unforgiving gameplay.
My second was the Bushwacker (X1). The X1 is a beauty, but I'd give any new player the P2. You can build some missiles, some dakka or some energy with a *very* forgiving mix of armour and mobility. Very easy to splash enemy damage across your front and just get in their faces. Or, if you take a wrong turn and find the whole enemy team, you can still get out of there in one piece.
Only downside? Needs an LFE 250 or 300 if you're not ready for the sacrifice to tankiness that comes from an XL.
Shadowhawk is a solid choice. I also enjoy the Bushwacker as a first time mech.
My first mech was one of the Jenner variants, cant remember which, I still enjoy playing them. They are great for hit and run, they carry ok amount of firepower. It isnt the best mech, but I like it, suits my play style. I tired to get into mediums and heavies, but I try to play them too much like I play lights so Cicada is the only one Ive been moderately succesful on.
I bought an ACH-Prime for my first mech and promptly made it into a light 2 ERLL sniper, which turned out being a poor way to learn and cost me a month of poor match scores. Should have gone with something moore brawl oriented. Eventually I bought a linebacker and crawled my way into better tactics.
This is a good video. Wish I bought a hellbringer instead. I freaking love my virago now.
This is a video from a while ago now, but as an actual new player I think the two biggest things are Omnimech and ECM, so Hellbringer out of those. Also had some fun with the Arctic Wolf as an LRM boat. Having both a Clan Mech and a IS mech which can take all 3 types of weapons also seems good from a point of view of completing the monthly missions for the freebies (but as a new player only seen two months worth of that).
As you said the ECM helps so much for surviability, especially LRM protection and the Omnimech for trying different weapons out.
just recently got back into playing MechWarrior Online (anticipating MW5) and recently got a Cougar Prime. I'm mostly Fire Support, or Hybrid as being a Brawler feels very restrictive for me and I don't feel like i'm contributing much to the team effort. The Cougar Prime I feel is a nice starting Clan Light mech if you want to play mobile fire support that can still pack a punch with 2 C-LRM 10s giving you that reach and 2 C-Large Pulse Lasers giving you that punch when you need to provide cover fire or support your heavies and assaults during a push or to fight off a light. and if you want to forgo the complete chassis bonus quirks you can swap out the head piece and replace a few weapon systems to get ECM coverage. the draw back is that it's not a speed demon with a starting speed of 60kph and speed tweaking only taking it up to about 70 if you go the full tree, so it's not meant for hit and run like most other lights, but I still enjoy it.
I'd recommend the Shadowhawk 2D2 over the 2H. Newer players will probably get more mileage out of the second energy hardpoint and fourth missile hardpoint than they will out of running a second or third ballistic.
fully agree on the huntsman, the thunderbolt and the timberwulf, i would add the warhammer and the centurion.
for light i would go spider or arctic cheetah, assaults would be kodiak, marauder IIC and banshee.
although i think most new players cant really afford clan mechs... my first mech was the cathaphract and shortly after the rifleman... little did i know...
but on the other hand that really got me into medium-medium- long range support...
I definitely feel like your first mech should always be an omnimech. New players want to be flexible and try out a whole bunch of different builds to see what they like, and no battlemech will have the same flexibility as an omni. Buy a Huntsman, a Timber, and an Arctic Cheetah (I'd recommend that order, specifically), and you could effectively play almost any build/role in the game. Also want to add that you shouldn't commit to the rule of three until you know you like the mech, since the mastery benefits are very minor at the beginning, and are only really noticeable once you start fighting better players.
Of course, I may just be a dirty, dirty Clanner trying to tempt newbies to the dark side.
My first; Catapult K2
I wanted to go for a Timber Wolf first, but thanks to the videos of MoltenMetal, TTB and Kanajashi I took a Hellbringer as my choice.
Not at all as brittle as the Tabletop-Version and ready to satisfy any wish for a loadout.
The only real problem in MW:O are the scandalous prices for Engines and XL-Engines.
Awesome video! Personal favorites for beginners, at least the ones I share with my friends, are the wolfhound and the hunchback line. I love the tankiness and the laser vomit from the wolfhound and the reliability of the hunchies.
Also wanna say both the timber wolf and the bell ringer are excellent mechs!
Loved the action montage at the end, might have been nice to see more right after introducing each mech. Really spice up the more static explaining mode with short burst of added action scenes.
The hunchback, both the middle and last builds
My first mech was the Marauder 3R as well, and I agree it's a bit slow for what you want to do to learn. The mech that really taught me the game was the Hunchback, starting with a 4SP and into a G. Great mech, good speed, STD engine medium makes you really tanky. I do love your Shadow Hawk as a competitor to the hunchy, but I'll take that 1v1 any day of the week.
SCR Prime. One of the few stock builds that doesn't suck hard so you can jump into matches with it immediately. Comes with Endo and FF and cXL and is 5 tons shy of being a heavy mech so you get all the upgrades and run almost 100KPH. You can use clan ballistics, lasers and missiles with the SCR so you have everything covered.
The HBR is a great recommendation but unlike the SCR you need to up the armor by 40 points or it'll be paper. The stock loadout is terrible and all over the place with ballistics, missiles, and various energy weapons. So you will need to buy weapons and change the loadout before you take it into battle. Almost all good builds strip an arm of armor and a new player wont know that immediately.
TBR is amazing but again the base loadouts are trash and need to be changed to something else.
Innersphere mechs like the Shadowhawk don't come with Endo/FF and their XL engine is expensive and the mechanics of it dying to torso loss is going to really hurt new players. Back when Clan wasn't in the game I'd have recommended an SHD but these days the upgrade costs and the weapon costs just give a new player way to many ways to screw up their build.
Same with the TDR vs the SHD, knowing how to use the quirks, when to bring and XL and upgrading to DHS and Endo make this not as new player friendly.
One of the things that needs to be considered is the amount of different weapons mounted on a stock build. Having 3 different types of lasers, one or two ballistics and a missile weapon all need to be bound to different keys and a new player may only have a three button mouse. Not all gamers are packing 8 buttons and macros. Another thing is heat, the most heat efficient builds will be the easiest for a new player to handle. The SCR prime is 43% on Smurfy and has a DPS of 4 which is just fine for a new player.
Went with the Timberwolf for my first mech. The prime is good for beginers. Just hang back and fire your missiles until you run out of ammo. Then move in with your lasers and machine guns.
Excellent video.
I would probably suggest the Crab over the Enforcer for a beginner, since it's super tanky and a lower profile (specifically the 27SL).
Also, Hunchback IIC as a streak / LRM boat and the Shadowcat as a sniper.
a really fun and cool vid even if your not beginning love watching the mech hangar action and stats with narration nice work .
My first was an urbie. And it's still my main mech. You even came across it a few streams ago, the flashing white one. I was way out of position. :3
This was very useful, but I'd also add the Bushwacker as a good beginner mech. While I didn't choose one of the mechs in here, I ended up choosing a Bushwhacker, which was good fun, and let me play with Missles (SRMs, LRMs, MRMs), and balistic weapons. I had the BSH-2X which was 55 Tons, about 81 kph, and pretty tanky.
Love my enforcer 4R. Those 3 Large lasers are great for lobbing off arms and side torsos.
3x LPL Thunderbolt with a LFE would be what i would recommend for learning to torso twist at least. being able to deadside push into a flank is fun as hell. the reason i say run the LFE is that you will lose the right torso (if you're twisting correctly, and you should be) and as the Thunderbolt doesn't really have any CT weapons, losing anything else is going to be death anyways.
Stormcrows?!Their super versatile and the armour and speed are pretty good for a Medium.
My first mech was the Cicada, (whichever variant has the 4 ballistic hardpoints and the amaaaazing er ppc quirks)
the 2 builds I run with it is ac2 with 2 machine guns and er ppc, and ac 5 with er ppc. Going almost 80 kph I think. Not sure if I'd reccomend it haha, but it worked out for me (eventually)
my first mech was raven 3l.
A good choice. I think it's chosen mostly by silent/sniper-game players and because of the low price. But the fun by sniping doesn't last long.
I run it with a modified sniper build: 2 er large lasers and 1 med. pulse laser and ecm. It can actually survive in a brawl. I can still remember killing a medium and a heavy mech while being the only one alive from my team with this build.
Вася Пупкин yes, it can work miracles.
I would take out the huntsman for the ryoken, it is sturdier and allows for more mistakes than the huntsman. Though i would say to avoid light mechs in general, i started with a commando 5 years ago, the pain...
Maybe you should've mentioned how much each mech costs. The TBR is pretty expensive at 16mio to 17mio cbills, so i guess beginners will have to play a lot to get their first TBR. Otherwise, good calls, i love your vids, weiter so!
I was actually thinking about putting the cost into the video but I decided against it. I wanted to keep the video short and focused on the benefits the different chassis have. I think the cost is a weaker factor compared to the other ones.
Can't remember what I have started with, aside of Firestarters, Pantheras and Ravens. All of them are quite nice but just aren't enough to make reasonable impact in hands of a newbro. Came up with two adders, dual PPC sniper and SSRM20 boat, still think I've lost too much effort trying to squeeze anything good of others. Adders are forgiving and no doubt powerful, they are relatively cheap, and even if you screw it up totally - cmon, that's just a light fire support after all, it definitely cannot carry ALL the game alone, so it is nice to have one by your side, but losing it is not that of tragedy and definitely won't ruin the whole game.
So I'd rather recommend sticking to any light, given they are cheap, playing them wrong or even losing them usually does not have huge impact on team's performance, and on top of that most of them are damn fast, which means you can explore those maps and even survive just by pressing "W" furiously in case of trouble.
I'd recommend ADR-Prime as a clan starter and RVN-3L as a spheroid one.
Hay, could you do a up to date version on this?
My first mech was a Hunchback. Then I wound up buying a Hellbringer bundle. Then I farmed for Cheetahs.
For a first mech, assuming you've played the trial mechs and gotten enough cbills, I'd say that you want to go for a clan omnimech. Inner sphere mechs aren't good mechs to start out with imo. Fewer weapon choices, fixed hardpoints, expensive heatsink upgrades, expensive crappy xl engines, I could go on for a while.
Now don't get me wrong, There are several great IS mechs, but I feel it takes more knowledge of the game to properly fit out a battlemech than it does an omnimech. Whilst I prefer battlemechs myself, the omnimech has the versatility you'd want in a first purchase.
For heavies, I'd recommend the Ebon Jag and the Night Gyr. Both of them have a good amount of versatility in them.
For mediums, I'd recommend the Huntsman and the Shadowcat. The Huntsman is the best medium mech imo and the Shadowcat is just all around awesome.
If you found that you like to play light mechs the best out of all the trial mechs, I'd recommend the arctic cheetah. Who wouldn't?
As for an assault, I really wouldn't recommend that you grab one of these for a first mech. There are no good assault omnimechs imo. The Direwolf is too slow. The Gargoyle is too limited by it's huge engine to really tinker with. The Warhawk is almost the the size of the Direwolf and all of it's good weapon hardpoints are too low. And finally, while the Executioner with it's MASC can be excellent I wouldn't recommend it for new players. I would have to recommend a Marauder IIC or even a Kodiak with the weapon hardpoints you'd prefer.
I would not recommend clan tech to someone just learning the game, primarily because of the unforgiving heat spikes and burn durations which if not managed properly will lead to constant overheating with minimal impact on the enemy, but additionally because omnimechs are significantly more expensive than battlemechs, not to mention clan omnis.
Additionally I would not recommend a heavy mech, as the last thing you want to do as a new player is make things harder on yourself. Sure you might be able to survive slightly longer as a 75 tonner than you might a 55 toner, maybe 1-2 volleys more, but by using a heavy not only do you prevent a potentially more veteran heavy pilot from joining your team but also potentially introduce a more veteran heavy pilot onto the enemy team. So learn in a Medium, the lessons learned will readily translate to most heavies.
As such a nice Medium IS mech with generous and varied hardpoints is best, doubly so if they have multiple AMS or ECM. Most notably the Bushwacker S2 or the the Griffin 2N with their dual AMS or ECM respectively fit this role best, though most Centurions, Uziels, Bushwackers, and Shadowhawks could serve well enough as a learning platform, or even the Trebuchet 7K or Wolverine 6R/7D, the latter of which will even teach the new player how MASC works.
I cant confirm the Timberwolf, i feel like top priority target with that!
I succeed much better in Hellbringer!
Hunchback 4G was my first, but back then you didn´t have that much of a choice (no clanners)....i think medium mechs are a nice choice to start cos they are just for support... nice way to learn the game..Lights/heavys/assaults have roles in the battlefield and you only learn those trough gametime.
I went for the catapult K-2 or the stalker 3H..not sure which was first or why those versions but i love them =)
For a first mech in the medium class the clan shadow cat is great. If you can afford a heavy mech go for the Timber wolf
The answer to any question beginning with "which mech" is Urbie
Those are good recommendations, i especially like that you chose mechs without far to the side weapon hardpoint.
Such mechs tend to cause friendly fire because a green pilot does not realize he shoots through teammates.
And once the new player has more experience with building he can make the mechs faster and better suited for specialized tactics if they wish (except for the omnis).
Will you do the "What is META" vid i proposed before now?
Rifleman 3c was my first Mech that i bought with C-Bills.
Mist Lynx. Everything else seems easy afterwards. ;)
#mistlynx4life
The trials of war are a harsh mistress for the mlx....that and dont let anyone sneeze near your arms.
my first one was a hunchback because there was only 1 medium back in closed beta :D
Good video MM. Very informative. Thanks!
ARe you going to make an updated guide?
You named your Huntsman "Jagermeister?" I feel like there is a story about a younger Baradul in an inebriated stupor here.
Oh I can remember multiple occasions where Jägermeister was included. And I am very sure that I can't remember some of them as well. But Jägermeister literally translates into "Huntsmaster" which I found funny.
Well that actually makes sense . . . but I prefer to think that your Huntsman has a secret story to tell. He's a conflicted hero with a mysterious past; a rogue receiving, but never seeking, redemption.
Great Video! Great Advice! Thank You!
Locust somethingE. the 6 laser version. Small pulses, XL. Buy two so you can run one when the first one dies to a heavy gauss
Wow perfect timing! after recently enjoying a bunch of your videos I decided to finally give MWO a go and downloaded it yesterday (I initially signed up with an account 3-4 years ago but never played it til now). I'll need to go with some mech2 nostalgia so probably will lean towards a Hellbringer out of these 6. Would a Mad Dog or Summoner work?
Yes they would work!
I just started playing a few weeks ago and the Shadow Hawk 2H was my first Mech (I would have bought The Grey Death, but I wanted to know If I enjoy the game before I spend real money), in fact I just saved up C-bills and bought the 5M. I will buy The Grey Death to master the chassis later on. I will have to get it, and the Pirates Bane Locust too for, reasons. It's a shame they don't have Greyson Carlyle's Marauder as well :P But I suppose 2 GDL Mechs in one game is enough.
This video randomly popped up in my recommendations, so I thought I would update my comment from a year ago. That Shadowhawk 2H I started with remains one of my favourite and most played mechs along with my Griffin 5M(L), and my Enforcer Ghillie. My Shadowhawk 5M doesn't get lots of play but I still like using it, I did buy The Grey Death recently, but I haven't used it much yet (I'm short of C-bills right now, because I decided to go with XL Engines on most of my Mediums and all my Lights. It cost a fortune converting them all).
I think the Shadowhawk 2H is a fantastic mech and it worked well for me when I started and still works now. The Enforcer is great too, I only have the Hero but as you said in the video it does fire support brilliantly and I have found that it can brawl a little too if the situation calls for it.
Extra points for the highlight reel and music in the end :D
I'm a full believer in old school, that is I think the hunkback is the way to go.
This was actually my first Mech ever for the same reason. I sold it after some weeks later and bought a Jagermech for more Dakka. Good old Beta times....*sigh*
I still own mine, love the big bore ac of the G varient and my lrm variant is a blast as well
I got the marauder first because I love the design also its lowkey a macross mecha and im a big fan of that anime. its actually pretty strong too. though the IIC basically overshadows it in most respects
I was considering the Marauder as well but I felt that it was too slow for the list. Usually I run a STD300 in mine. I wanted to stick around 75-80-ish kph because I think mobility is one of the key factors for beginner pilots. When you get a feeling how to position yourself within the team and which Mech is good for which role you can branch into other speed/weight classes.
Agreed.
On top of that, when you got enough mobility, it allows you to make mistakes with positioning and survive, wich I would consider important for new players aswell.
If you'll find yourself in bad spot with slow mech, you are dead meat...
Blackjack 1X seems like a good pick too, and if you get that and the BJ-1 and BJ-3 you have a good combination of playstyles with just one chassis and you can master all three too maybe
i started with Thunderbolts. i like the music
I highly recommend marauder IIc and hunchback IIc-a
FOREVER REMEMBERED REST IN PIECES QUIRKS...
2017
Might be a bit late to the party but I was wondering what skills to use with that ac/20 shadowhawk there :P
my best suggestion is a 65 ton heavy both IS and clan have very good 65 tonners
would you recommend IS or clan?
Urbanmech should've been included since is so flexible for builds
I love your TBR painjob. What's the camo on it?
That is actually the basic camo with orange and blue applied.
i got a marauder as my first mech and i find it though difficult a fairly fun one to use.. i may switch back to ppcs though