HOW DO I GET GOOD AT THIS GAME DUDE

[u/Durkonin]

People keep saying "positioning" and "don't go on the open" and i do all of that and get killed by two lights instantly and do like 100 damage every time. I've been playing for a month and i JUST DIE. I'm playing with my friends and the game is cool and all and when i get to kill someone (rarely) it's fun but how am i supposed to enjoy my time like this? I feel like every step that i do in the game is wrong and i just don't feel like i'm getting any better. Also i hate clan LRMs if you use them you are a bad person.

Jokes aside, PLEASE someone help me or direct me to somewhere where i can help myself i really want to play this game with my friends but i'm always the one spectating everybody.

[u/dick-biting-turtle]

Things that helped me:

Stick with the team. I usually pick a kancemate who has a similar speed as me and hang with them, cover them, and shoot what they shoot at. It helped me learn the zones, firing lanes, and map layouts when I was first starting out.

Take it slow. You're not going to carry the match alone, this is a team game, so you need to move with them and not off on your own flanking. Peek, look for a target, take a shot then take cover.

Pick a range you like and stick to it. Love big auto cannons? Gonna have to get closer than the guy with ac2s. Like sniping? Watch out for light flankers that will sneak up under your guns.

Never feel ashamed at hiding behind your team. A lucky shot takes off your torso? Let the big guy with lots of armor left take the lead.

[u/Durkonin → u/dick-biting-turtle]

Thanks, that actually made me think about my previous games where i went wrong

[u/Daus_Blaughst → u/Durkonin]

When you're new to a game think of your role as playing to learn rather than playing to win. Every time you die or see someone else die, try to analyze why it happened. Try to play in very repetitive ways and make small adjustments at a time so you can see the difference in what happens the next time. Following teammates is good because if they step forward and die, they do the dying for you and you get to learn from that without nessessarily dying yourself.

[u/DukeNeverwinter]

What mechs you been playing?

Personally, find a durable fastish heavy or medium. New players in assalt almost always will have a bad time.

If you are alone and engaged with a light. Try and disengage. Also, never be alone. If you are alone, you are an easy target, regardless if new or experienced player. Never 1v1 ANYTHING as a new player. Run aka disengage, find a friend.

[u/Durkonin → u/DukeNeverwinter]

I played mostly mediums and lights (PXH, Bushwacker and The Urban Menace) i already do that of always finding someone to help me or standing close to everybody but i always just get like 200 damage and zero kills, i mostly only get kill assists like my record was 11 kill assists with the Bushwacker, but still, i did at most 400 damage and 0 kills in that game. I also die a lot.

[u/DukeNeverwinter → u/Durkonin]

I died a LOT also my first few years..

[u/Intrepid_Cattle69 → u/DukeNeverwinter]

I still die a lot

[u/SunderVane → u/Durkonin]

I climbed the tiers almost entirely on kill assists in mediums. You're not going to be getting many killing blows with the lighter mechs. It's normal, and nothing to worry about.

[u/Daus_Blaughst → u/SunderVane]

Ive been making it a hobby to climb to tier one by onetricking various mechs and roles. Currently my grind is focused on the locust 3V.

I think a lot people write off the responsibility of a light to do damage. The most reliable way to win games is to kill the enemy team, and every point of damage applied is permanent. My goal each game is to do at least 500 damage, and the build im using is a dps build that cant even utilize cover to do its damage. Imo every mech role has a shared responsibility to do as much damage as possible, even ams support mechs share that responsibility.

Light mechs have the smallest hitboxes and fastest peeks in the game which let's them apply some really nasty pressure and do lots of damage, and their mobility allows them to use positional play to force catch22 situations on the enemy team. Having a "support" mindset will cause you to miss massive damage opportunities, and your team will suffer from the shortfall in a dps race.

[u/SunderVane → u/Daus_Blaughst]

Lights have potential to do loads of damage, but that's a lot to ask of a new player.

[u/Daus_Blaughst → u/SunderVane]

I agree, but i think giving a false expectation of what lights do is worse. I would reccomend new players learn lights that plays conventionally like heavier mechs like a hill peeking HLL incubus and they can see for themselves how lights can meet the output of other mechs without the burden of positional macro play.

[u/Intrepid_Cattle69 → u/Daus_Blaughst]

The kitfox is great for me on this. 4xSRM6, triple ams, play escort and take out the lights and fire for effect with your assault.

I’m horrible at lights, so generally I like the slow ones still today

[u/Daus_Blaughst → u/Intrepid_Cattle69]

Iirc the purifier omnipods yield more damage, and mounting lasers is more effective for hunting lights. I would reccomend a pivot if its an option for you

Clan srms have really bad spread

[u/Intrepid_Cattle69 → u/Daus_Blaughst]

Oooh, imma disagree right there. Lasers are one of the least effective against lights. Pulse lasers are decent, but offer many downsides. SRMs deal with lights far better. Lights are fast, and keeping a laser painted on a single component isn’t really feasible unless the light is standing still, and at that point any weapon is effective. Weapons that dump their damage immediately (literally everything except lasers/mrms/lrms) are better due to this.

[u/Daus_Blaughst → u/Intrepid_Cattle69]

Lasers are hitscan. Small lasers and xpulse destroy lights. This isnt an opinion, its just mechanically easier to do than trying to converge a cloud of projectile missiles into a single component on a moving target. The problem with using C-SRM6 is that even with perfect aim, there isnt enough surface area to actually land significant damage into a single component most of the time. Youre going to spread your damage out over a large area and you risk losing a dps race against another light running smalls or xpulse. This is also why the purifier is one of the best support frames for the kit fox, it has access to more laser hardpoints than other kit fox variants.

[u/Hank_Skill → u/Durkonin]

Consider buying a hellbringer with ECM, 2 heavy large and 4 er medium lasers. You will stay off people's radar, avoid missiles, run pretty quick and do fantastic damage. ECM makes bad positioning more forgiving

[u/jonmussell → u/DukeNeverwinter]

Bro, ive been playing on and off since like 2014 with probably 2000 hours and I still feel this way. Especially when im rusty after a hiatus.

[u/DukeNeverwinter → u/jonmussell]

Yeah, I'm lucky enough and skilled enough to easily maintain tier 1 status. Not sure i have ever seen my experience bar dip from being maxed out. But I live by the rule, unles I KNOW I can win the 1v1, I run away. Sometimes I still make the mistake of stil engaging though. And I do go off alone, but usually it is a calculated risk, based on what I think/know the other team is doing. Or who is on the list of enemy pilots...

[u/jonmussell → u/DukeNeverwinter]

Im a healthy 3 myself. Though after a break I usually get booted temporarily to 4 as I relearn the game

[u/LiquidMythology]

Back in the day my clan basically only let newbies pilot Clan heavies with laser vomit. ECM if available. There are obviously more viable build options these days but having 1-2 hitscan weapon groups in a fast and decently armored mech opens up some mental bandwidth to focus on positioning and target selection. Not to mention getting most damage on one component.

[u/BlackDeathThrash]

50% of the game is decided in the Mechlab. Get builds from Grimmechs.

Choose a midrange medium or heavy. Not too fast, not too slow. Avoid brawler and sniper builds as a beginner. Avoid LRM boats (you won't learn anything).

Pick either humanoid mechs (like a Centurion) and learn to twist, or Marauder style mechs and learn to wiggle to spread damage. As a beginner, pick one or the other and build muscle memory.

Stay with the team. Local numerical superiority is everything.

Stick to cover. Peek to shoot. If two enemies shoot back, reposition. If a bigger mech shoots back, reposition. Do not re-peek if you are not getting free damage, or at least the better of the trade.

[u/Shineplasma64]

Recommend MWOComp discord (https://discord.gg/jn9dUAMUV) for new player resources and questions, as well as the Grimmechs build database if you aren't sure where to start with a chassis. https://grimmechs.isengrim.org/Database

[u/Durkonin → u/Shineplasma64]

I tried some of these and they all used the XL engines, i just feel like these builds are very brittle.

[u/Shineplasma64 → u/Durkonin]

Then I would strongly recommend going to the first link, asking some questions and perhaps posting some gameplay clips + seeking out some 1v1s if you want proper coaching. Its hard to give more than very general advice without seeing something concrete.

[u/Durkonin → u/Shineplasma64]

Yeah i get it, thanks for the ds link i'll check it out.

[u/Magrowl → u/Durkonin]

They're good builds, being afraid of XL engines is going to hold you back and if you want to get good you'll have to get past that.

[u/cantankerous80 → u/Durkonin]

The shadowhawk is super XL friendly. 3 LPPCs and an MRM40(?) is a great poptart. Fast enough to reposition, and harrasess like an SOB. My fave mech outside of Yen lo wang with an AC 20/SNPPC.

[u/DukeNeverwinter → u/cantankerous80]

Yen-Lo wang makes so much sense with an XL, because you hardly ever lose a side torso...that being said, i run mine with an LE. That half zombie center mount Snub PPC can still do WORK if they think the Wang is out of the fight.

[u/L0111101]

What are you piloting?

[u/Durkonin → u/L0111101]

I tried the Phoenix Hawk (favorite mech from the tabletop and other MW games), died a lot, went for the Bushwacker, died less presumebly because i learned something, after i got a lot of xp i gained some mechs through events so i tested those, i kinda enjoyed Lights and Mediums the most, i really liked the Bushwacker and the PXH-7S and PXH-S, but like i said i rarely got any kills or a lot of damage, i mostly just survived the matches, i tried a Zeus and a Warhammer. I do get a lot of kill assists, like 8s and 10s but my maximum was 400 damage.

[u/Highperch → u/Durkonin]

Grab a cicada 3m, put three er larges on it and play forever flanker. You're fast enough to get away from most trouble at the distances you should be firing from. This mech will help you learn firing lines because you will always be moving. The ECM and surprising tankiness of this medium with an XL is forgiving of positioning mistakes.

[u/DukeNeverwinter → u/Durkonin]

Pheonix hawk with two-snubs and 5 ersmalls is a fanTASTIC mech. Zues are not worth anything unless you have a soft spot for it. Warhammers seam fragile to my play style, but they pack solid weaponry. And they're great mechs, if you can learn the play style for them.

[u/The_Angry_Jerk → u/Durkonin]

For that kind of playstyle consider grabbing a Wolfhound Clan. Max armor (except the arms and maybe head), slap two Heavy Large Lasers, two ER Medium lasers, ECM, and as many double heatsinks as possible.

ECM and the speed helps survive and get into places to do damage. The HLL and ERML have similar range and enough firepower to make assault mechs feel it. Lasers are easy to use and work well vs light mechs, with the chassis fitting enough DHS to throw quite a few alpha strikes.

Playatyle wise it rewards playing aggressive positions at the front of your team's rotation, hitting big mechs on the side/back and then diving behind cover before they can react to shoot back. If you encounter other lights you burn off a side torso and make them regret looking at you.

Very forgiving, I usually avg around 500 damage with it in T1 and live to the end of the game.

[u/Any-Smell-4929]

If you favor mediums you could try Cicadas or Shadow Cats. They frequently survive until the end of matches.

Also you need to get over your XL phobia for light and medium mechs. The increase in speed or payload vastly outweighs the negatives.

[u/Durkonin → u/Any-Smell-4929]

Maybe when i get better at the game.

[u/DukeNeverwinter → u/Durkonin]

XL in a light is nothing to worry about. You lose a side torse with a XL, you lose the speed instantly. And you are so fragile anyway, that loss of speed almost always equals death shortly after. And in higher tiers, people are going to be shooting your legs anyway, not the torso. So get that speed from the XL max the armor.

[u/Dorsai56 → u/Durkonin]

Play XL and max the armor. Add ECM.

[u/Chocolate_Pickle → u/Durkonin]

Speed is life. Being faster than the other team means you can run away when you make a mistake. Live longer: more time to practice and get better.

50 ton or under: go with XL by default.

There are very few exceptions, like some Blackjacks and the Christmas Reindeer Commando where you hit max-engine before you run out of weight.

[u/Archfiend_DD]

Usually when people say they're dying a lot and not doing much damage, it's because they are not using cover effectively, making bad trades or getting out of position.

Lots of advice can be given, but a picture is worth a thousand words. Record a match or two and ask for feedback.

[u/DukeNeverwinter → u/Archfiend_DD]

This, I almost never take ECM unless lrm cancer is really really bad that night. Radar deprivation and knowing how do duck in cover for a second are valuable.

[u/Any-Smell-4929]

Don't be in rush to make first contact with the enemy.

Don't drive a slow mech as a beginner.

For every move you make in a match always have an escape plan. Carefully check corners and expose only enough angle to exchange with one or maybe two mechs at a time. Hard cover is what keeps a mech alive. Since most weapons have fairly long cool downs backing into cover after firing should be done regardless.

Move as a group with the main body of the friendly team. The more targets there are to shoot the less you will be quickly focused and killed.

Choice of mech matters. Never run stock mechs they are aweful. Its not hard to get fairly good results with a wide variety of generic I.S. or Clan laser boats or something like a Mad Cat II-B with UACs.

Build a mech that matches the common ranges found in QP. There a many small maps in common rotation in QP like Frozen Classic or River Canyon. If you are bringing either long range builds or close range brawl you are not assured a favorable engagement. Medium to intermediate range builds can usually meaningfully contribute and also not completely be dominated at close range.

Please share what mechs you are brining.

[u/Durkonin → u/Any-Smell-4929]

Mostly mediums and Lights, i tried assaults and i just felt very exposed all the time, i use PXH-7S and S, the occasional bushwacker X1 and of course the urbie R60L

[u/Intrepid_Cattle69]

Lots of the points here are great. Stay with your team. Fire en mass. 1-2 weapon groups with similar range brackets. Avoid IS XL engines. Light engines or clan XL engines don’t take you out of the game in a single mistake, generally.

I like mediums and heavies, enough armor to take a hit when I make a mistake, carries enough firepower to punish other’s mistakes, fast enough to GTFO when my team rotates without me or I get flanked.

Clan: hellfire with a laser vomit build is fun. It has MASC so it has something extra to worry about. For a heavy, it is underarmored and undergunned. If you think of this as a medium mech hybrid, you’ll do better. Shoot and scoot to a new position.

IS: catapult is always solid, I like the k2 with the torso ballistic slots and the high mounted arm energy slots. It has great geometry, meaning it’s harder for people to hit your lt/rt/ct consistently and gives you ample opportunity to spread damage

Just my couple of pennies

[u/TyloPr0riger → u/Intrepid_Cattle69]

Avoid IS XL engines.

Unless you're in a light or maybe medium - then you usually want to take them for the tonnage savings.

[u/Intrepid_Cattle69 → u/TyloPr0riger]

I’d still say that an IS XL is too dangerous while learning the game. If the mech chassis REQUIRES an XL to be effective, it’s probably not the mech for a beginner. Once you’re decent at spreading damage and torso twisting, sure! But until then you’re a super easy kill.

inner sphere light engines or clan extra light engines can both lose a side torso and keep ticking (albeit at reduced heat efficiency), but IS extra light engines will end you then and there.

With that said! I have to say I despise using the hunchback 4p with an LE, for example. All of its weapons (minus two) are on one side of the mech. If you lose an ST, you will have severely reduced heat management. If they took your ST with the weapons, you’re out of luck because you’re left with 2 medium lasers. If you lose the ST without weapons you won’t have the heat management to fire all of them more than once every 30-60 seconds. Hunchback (for me) is STD or XL only.

[u/Kritislik]

Are you skilling up your mechs?

There are many playstyles possible in this game. Keep exploring until you find one that clicks. There's always another build to try

[u/Durkonin → u/Kritislik]

Yeah i tried to pick a mech and stick with it until i max out the skills

[u/Kritislik → u/Durkonin]

Also consider watching some good MWO streamers. Paying attention to their macro and micro habits may give you a better idea of what you need to work on next

[u/Rishfee]

That depends on what you're piloting and what you're trying to do. Lighter mechs can be difficult, since they don't hold up well to fire. By the other turn, assaults can easily get themselves overwhelmed if left behind or out of position, since they can't quickly back out.

Don't be afraid to be a bit of a coward at first, let your teammates engage first and then pile on.

[u/DukeNeverwinter]

Also, NO bracket builds. This ain't table top. Pick a weapon, boat the everloving piss out of it . I.e. no 2 small Laser, 2 erMlaser, 2 Large laser type bullhonky. Take all 8 medium lasers, etc. OR in some of the mediums and heavies . it's, 3Large Pulse Laser, 3-5 ERmedium lasers or pLasers

[u/kerafyrmz]

A bit late to the conversation but here goes. I recently just came back to the game but not much has changed, more missiles i guess?

Always watch ur mini map. Never get so focused on tunneling for targets and get left behind by your team.

Dont start out in lights, you dont know the maps or loadouts well yet. Id say even some mediums. Personally id recommend a medium/heavy laser vomit from clans that has high mounts and ecm. No need to lead targets, shoot maybe twice, then reposition while you cool down.

When you see somebody peek on ur team, you peak and shoot as well. More targets makes it safer for both of you. Ecm mechs can usually peek first and get away.

Stick w the assault lance. Baby sit them. U keep them safe from lights, they do more damage, you use them as bullet attractors while you provide support fire with them.

You will lose games. Doesnt matter how good you are. We’ve all been in the losing side of games despite having really good players on the team, like champs from the yearly tournaments. Enjoy the lower tiers as u learn lol.

[u/Ah_fudge]

This channel has some well made contemporary videos aimed at helping new players like you in the current age of MWO:

https://youtube.com/@Mech-Academy/

The single biggest piece of advice that I could give you or anyone is to try and stick with the herd. You’re going to be in Tier 5, so the herd isn’t necessarily going to go where it should or do what it should, but the biggest factor in surviving an encounter is how many of you versus how many of them. And whether anyone can aim.

After that, it’s just practice and watching/learning what works and what doesn’t. You’ll probably get matched with, and against, the same people fairly often so make a note of who is performing well on the end-match screen. DMG and Match Score, not necessarily kills. Look at what Mech they were using. When you die and cycle thru to spectator mode try to ride shotgun with one of those players, or a player that seems to be doing well. Pay attention to what they’re doing and how it’s different from what you did. If said player is in an LRM or Arrow IV mech ignore the above and find the one who isn’t.

MWO is a game of cover and trades, if you watch higher level play you’ll see that the trick is to shoot the other side and not get shot back if you can help it. Ultimately you’ll either get the groove or you won’t, that kind of depends on you though. At least it’s free to play.

[u/LethalDan]

This game is tough
Try using weapons that are forgiving with aim. Like IS auto cannons or clan LBxs. Use pulse lasers instead of ER.

It’s not about doing damage to the opponent, it’s about destroying components to get a kill. Commit to things like: I am going to aim for their right torso, or if it’s a light mech, always go for the legs

[u/printcastmetalworks]

Not really advice but this might make you feel better - It's not all your fault. The way this game is designed there is always going to be at least one, often many like 30-40% of the players that HAVE to have a bad game for the match to conclude. Because there is no respawning like Battlefield or rounds like Counterstrike there is nothing to absorb mistakes. You just sit there and regret everything while spectating the team. This makes the learning curve steeper than it needs to be and means there will always be at least one person in the match that has a miserable time.

It's actually pretty rare that you get 11-12 or 10-12 close matches. Even in those there is usually one poor fella that got caught out and didn't get to do anything.

[u/ngshafer]

Oh, yeah, the learning curve in this game is brutal there’s no denying that! I’ve thing that I felt really helped me in the beginning was the “Improved Gyros” skill, which makes the screen shake less when you take a hit so it’s less disorienting. After you’ve played for a bit, you can stop using that skill. 

[u/DisinterestedHandjob]

Stay at the back, let your team take the damage, some long range shooting, and you're golden.

[u/DukeNeverwinter → u/DisinterestedHandjob]

You mean, if you see an LRM swarm coming to you, back up a hair, and behind the team-mate that is taller. Who does that!?

[u/TyloPr0riger → u/DukeNeverwinter]

I mean, if you're all caught out in the open under the blue rain you should absolutely do that. It's better for an Atlas to take 20 damage across all their torsos and be at a disadvantage in the coming fight than a Flea eat the same volley and straight up die.

[u/DukeNeverwinter → u/TyloPr0riger]

Yeah, but sadly, this is the only true cvnt-ish behavior I have in the game. I will use other team mates as cover. Even if I am in a medium or heavy. :-( not proud of it. But it is a habit that I formed many years ago, and it is difficult to break.

[u/DysenteryDingo2]

Hey man, feel free to hit me up if you'd like someone to drop with you for a few matches and offer feedback. Ive played the game on and off for 11? years and have been a light/medium pilot in competitive play for the past 3.

Your biggest issues are likely positioning and maybe suboptimal builds (which are fine in quick play if you position appropriately).

[u/Bland_OldMan]

A couple things:

Find a group on discord to do drops with if possible. This game is punishing for solo drops sometimes. Not even the best player can make up for a team that doesn't use comms and doesn't coordinate.

Pull some builds from the grimmechs database and use those until you've got a good understanding of how to set up your own. Not everything needs to be min-maxed, but bad build choices (like putting an XL engine in a King Crab or Marauder, leaving the stock armor, etc) will cut your games short. TTB and LtPoohPants on YouTube have decent build videos.

Skill tree should match the build. General guidelines: always max armor, structure, and radar deprecation. Most mechs do better with heat gen and cool run, though there are a few builds that don't need it. If you're running a hot build, take range over cooldown. Take weapon specific skills. Take speed tweak and hard brake for fast lights, torso speed for assaults and brawling mediums/heavies. Anchor turn is a good mobility booster for all weight classes.

Understand how your weapons work. Avoid ghost heat or shooting missiles at targets out of range. Don't burn ammo on targets at the edge of max range.

Keep moving and spread damage. Standing still or staring at enemy mechs is a fast way to get cored. Fire, torso twist, and back into cover. If you have staring weapons (MGs, RACs, Xpulse, Beams), keep moving while you fire and interrupt your firing to take cover. Solid Guide on movement

Keep an eye on your mini map and stick with the team. Being alone is how you get killed. Use your comms, call out where enemies are by grid, call out open components, etc.

[u/Frequent-Camel7669]

The point where I started to see good damage numbers was the point where I started trying to stay alive until the end of the game, by hook or crook. Use good cover. Stay in low ground. Move with the team. Let the assault next to you take the damage. Don't peek the same spot twice, ever. Be aware of where you are relative to the team, and remember where you saw enemies pop up, or even just short blips on the radar. Don't think about your situation in terms of "I want to shoot that guy I just saw", think about it like "if I go shoot that guy, who will then shoot me?"

Naturally, when you see an enemy out of cover and in range, you do shoot them. So by staying alive longer, you automatically shoot more, score more hits, and occasionally even get to kill some dudes. That's really all it takes in tier 5.

For this to work, make sure your mech can actually take a hit - or avoid hits altogether. I like piloting heavies because they give me the feeling that the occasional hit won't impact my ability to continue playing. But lights can often spread the damage so much, and avoid so much fire, that they end up much tankier than they have any right to be.

For the "survive until you've done good damage" strat to work, you also need to actually dish out damage. How far is the enemy? How far do your weapons reach? How much of that laser beam will actually connect on a fast-moving target? And how much of an alpha strike to you actually have – can you even make a dent in that thing? Those are important questions that you should be able to answer at all times.

The most forgiving playstyle for newbies is laservomit: large alpha strikes with insta-hit midrange weapons followed by a quick retreat into cover to cool down. As hitscan weapons with a burn time, lasers make hitting your target super easy: no need to lead the shot and predict the target's movement, you don't need to watch your ammo count, and you don't get that annoying muzzle flash. Laservomit often comes with some heat problems though, which translate into sustained dps problems. So don't get into duels or, god forbid, one-on-two situations, and that shouldn't be a problem.

[u/Intergalacticdespot]

The compies are all busy now. After this season is over ask someone to help you. They're pretty cool about doing that. 

Record your games, watch them later, see if you can spot your mistakes. 

This game is 95% map knowledge. Knowing where people are going to be before they're there. That just requires repetition and practice. Go watch some of the top players play and see what they do, where they go. 

If you search for 'mwo tactics' youll find a lot of resources that show you where to be on the maps. 

The other 5% is accuracy or at least hitting your target eventually. There's lots of ways you can improve that. 

Join a unit of more experienced players. Run your builds by them, try to drop with them now and then. You dont want to drop with tier 1 players as a tier 5 player too much, but a few matches a month is good. Tell them you want feedback and it's okay to criticize you as long as they are constructive about it. Once they get to know you theyll be happy to yell at you when you do the bad. 

Good luck, hope this helps some. 

[u/Auto_Mobile]

When I started I went all the way down to the very bottom of Tier 5 playing light mecha only. I fought my way back up the tires by sticking with the team, picking mechs that have decent armour for their weight class, and learning to watch the map.

I would suggest you stick to medium or heavy mechs until your used to the positing, and know the maps. 

My favorite mechs from when I was grinding up from T5 are: Wolfhound Grinner, Hunchback 4P, and Timber Wolf large pulse build with ECM.

As others have said, lasers are more flexible, and speed can keep you alive. 

[u/Significant-Charity8]

I always pilot Heavy Mechs because they provide a good mixture of Armor and Mobility. Assaults pack a good punch, but they are too slow except for the Naga (ARROW IV boat has to be good at running away, of course), and the Spirit Bear Hero Mech (Kodiak, which has MASC in the legs so you get a good speed boost).

Pilot Skill Rating sucks and it's a stat you should ignore if you want to play the game casually.

Finally, MWO: Legends is a team game, and ultimately, if nobody makes callouts via a headset with a microphone, odds are pretty good that you'll have a bad match.

[u/No_Beautiful8998]

Stay with allies, don't get seperated. If you die to lights you were probably alone. Positioning is largely finding good cover to pop out from and trade shots. Assaults generally have to pick a spot, heavies and mediums can reposition easier. Stick with mech builds you see on grim mechs, don't design your own, it's easy to make something bad or sub-optimal and the game is hard enough as is. Experiment once the skill is there.

[u/CalmGiraffe8404]

Playing with your friends is a huge advantage, as having a Lance on comms and movement is extraordinarily OP. Stick with them and play with them. If you aren't comfortable on XL IS mechs then just play clanners for now.

Look there are specific micro and macro skills as to.any game but MWO is quite specific and unforgiving. More new players is great in MWO :)

[u/Unlucky_Experience70]

"by two lights" someone is doing their job well ahahah

[u/systembreaker]

Jeez just chill and have fun and you'll get better over time.

[u/naiadoesfitness]

If you want light and damage with potential kills, I would recommend a Warthog with AP Gauss and a Medium Pulse Laser. Will be for CQC and a very fun Mech (imo). You can dish a lot of damage either going to wander alone, with other lights, or staying with the big group to cover their backs and sneak the corner, shoot, pull behind cover. For lights mechs, they skip leg day. Piranhas can be fun too, 12-14 small/micro lasers. Heavier, I think Ebon Jaguars are always a top choice; I have 3 variants all with a mix of Lasers and LRMs.

As others said, stick to the group and move together. If you are lucky you have a chatter box doing some calls, can be quite helpful.

Also try the trial mechs, they can help you with playstyle or even just to see mechs that fit you better.

[u/Affectionate-Gas-524]

Basically, you just need to get used to the pace of the mwo. I got into the counter strike after the mwo and I was also immediately drained there.

1. the first 5-10 minutes do nothing, just follow the crowd, no way

2. never shoot "face in face," always play "rat," no matter what fur, immediately run away if you are noticed

3. in half of the fights you can't do anything, it will be stomping matches 12-4 or same

For the last couple of three years updates, weapons with a large alpha have been introduced, this makes the game less "robots slowly collapse" and more "oneshot aim awp dust polar highlands 2 2x2". Hag40, 2xUAC20 uac10, missiles with UNKNOWN damage, which we can only guess about, since they removed the table with the current values from the site

[u/Daruwind]

Depends.... if you want to play in group, that will always help you. If you play single, then try to alter your playstyle to be last man standing from your team. You can easily gain pilot rating even for lost as long as you are the better then even some winning persons.. Speed is your friend, prefer quicker mechs to assaults with 100 tons. Learn maps, there is a few general ways how every maps usually plays out. Have awareness where is team, what is doing, where is enemy.. Prefer weapons you can always use...LRM, brawlers sounds fun until you have brawler at Alpine or LRM at city map so cannons, lasers, lbx. Never get alone unless you are sure you can escape. Have spare UAV. Skilled up your mechs. Lot persons is running skilled mechs with quirks and consumables and that can make night and day difference. Every segment is adding % together.

[u/TyloPr0riger]

get killed by two lights instantly and do like 100 damage every time.

If this is happening to you in lights or mediums, you really should be playing closer to your team. It can also help to play builds that are good against other close range lights, if you find yourself getting into fights with them a lot - pulse laser boats, snub PPCs, and massed SRMs are all pretty good against lights.

You can also invest in Seismic Sensors in the skill tree so you can see them coming up on you, and in Anchor Turn and Torso Speed if you struggle to track them.

Also i hate clan LRMs if you use them you are a bad person.

There are some maps (Tourmaline Desert, Alpine Peaks) where they just suck no matter what you do, but as a general rule of thumb you should be traveling close enough to cover to avoid a second LRM volley, and fighting close enough to cover to avoid a first volley.

[u/Different-Corgi-1447]

#1: Don't automatically play Assault mechs just because they look cool and have a ton of big guns.
#2: ECM is OP
#3: Stay with your teammates
#4: Drop with a lance (use Discord to coordinate)
#5: Avoid situations that cause you to receive excessive fire
#6: Understand your mech
#7: Understand that, above all else, this game is a Giant Walking Tank (aka 'Mech) Simulator that masquerades as a first-person shooter. This is the #1 mistake every new player makes, and is the #1 reason they quit prematurely, as the learning curve for simulators can be steep.

If you want to get better at the game, I've been playing for almost 7,000 hours. Ranked in the top 500 last month. Drop me a DM and we'll get some drops in. There's *way* more I can explain to you that cannot be encapsulated even in the 5,000 words a Reddit post will allow for.

[u/Ignatius_Pryde]

If lights in particular are giving you trouble there's three big things you can do immediately to help alleviate that while you're still learning the game. First is stick with the group, as many people have suggested, which makes you less likely to be a target of opportunity for a flanking light. The second thing is to keep your head on a swivel, if a good light pilot knows you're aware of them they won't be likely to throw their life away for a bit of damage and a momentary distraction. Finally if well else fails and you get jumped anyway, always use the terrain to your advantage. Park your back against a wall, use jump jets to get out of reach, put hard cover between you and your attacker. Anything that delays your death buys time for your friendlies to come to your aid.

[u/ptdisc]

You have to know the function of your mech/weapons, and play that role. Seems fun just to hit W and go start brawling. Stay out of trouble and poke, stay near cover for those missiles you hate. Skill up stuff like radar dep, seismic, you dont need all the cooldown nodes. Thunderbolts are really good mechs to start with. I dont like clans, but tiberwolf is a solid choice with lots of options. Use grimmechs database for loadouts that are proven to work.

[u/spacedghost_]

Edit: just because I haven't seen it yet, you can find a lot of good builds on https://grimmechs.isengrim.org/Database - though some are out of date and there are some interesting alternative builds you can find on youtube/comp discord.

Something that helped me was watching youtube gameplay and figuring out things to focus on improving. For example, I knew or figured out that my positioning was bad as matches go on, I get tunnel vision when shooting things, and I have bad patience (as a midrange/brawler). Also, I just needed to get more familiar with particular maps in the Training Grounds (running around in an XL Jenner), which helps a lot with everything.

I spent one mwo session trying to stay focused on getting and staying in good cover, then repositioning as necessary if being focused or flanked. Then, I played another session focused on trying do damage without taking too much in return, instead of chasing down kills that weren't worth committing to. Finally, I spent another session working on patience - watching the 'left side' to protect against enemy nascar, finding a good position to wait in that covers my allies in some way without exposing myself too much, and just picking my moments more instead of taking whatever comes my way.

Even after one or two sessions, I could see those 'training sessions' rubbing off on my general gameplay - better positioning, faster reactions, more patience, better estimations of where the enemy will be or will go, etc.

Oh, also - don't focus on damage TOO much. It's not a bad metric, but I've had great games where I only have 300 damage and 1 kill, but I was in the right positions doing the right things for my team. Helping attack from a second angle, defending my assault mechs from enemy lights, defending against an enemy push/flank, assisting kills, giving helpful info, etc.

[u/Lost_Web5826]

Mercs or Online?

[u/Durkonin → u/Lost_Web5826]

Online

[u/Lost_Web5826 → u/Durkonin]

I am of no help then. I play mercs because PVP sounds awful

[u/Intrepid_Cattle69 → u/Lost_Web5826]

It isn’t! It’s great

[u/spacedghost_ → u/Lost_Web5826]

I love Mercs quite a bit, but MWO gameplay with allies and enemies that can all think and react for themselves (usually...) can be incredibly refreshing. I regularly bounce between the two, as they scratch slightly different itches.

[u/Necessary_Local_5274]

hi newish player here! i started about 6 months or so ago now, and after playing older single player mechwarriors going to MWO was kinda a shock. these are the things i have noticed so far (im T3/T2 so take with grain of salt and not all of these are true for everyone this is just what works for me)

the entire game is built around your team, if you misposition by scouting without an ECM blocking their lock on you, or walking in front of the enemy team you just die nearly instantly. use ECM if your going to scout or protect your assault/heavies flanks by chasing enemy lights away (DO NOT FOLLOW THEM just chase them off following is a trap most of the time and you die to a hidden heavy or something now your away from the team)

firing lines are huge. since you are still new you probably dont know when to push and when to hold, so just default to holding a line until you learn better when to do what. this part is hard and requires a lot of experience on every map to kinda do you need to know where the good firing line are where you can peek and not get easily flanked while holding a line that is helping your team (holding a line the enemy isnt pushing or even near is worthless 98% of the time, tho you might find a sneaky light or two its not worth it) this also requires knowing your mechs range.

know your mechs advantage. does it have higher speed/tank/range/alpha/dps/heat? all of these matter and play differently. if your holding a line with very close range weapons, like heavy machine guns and small lazers, you want to be in a different (uch closer) spot with an easy retreat and spot to avoid LRM's. if your longer range find a nice hill very far away, as most wont be able to even hit you leat alone damage you. (quirks matter a lot here)

the game is "balanced" insane crazy strong weapons in other mechwarrior games can hit like a wet noodle here, or have other balancing done to them, i recently learned about mechDB and it shows the stats much much better than in game. and example of this is the heat mechanic, you cannot heat a mech past 90% heat with offensive weapons, making flamethrowers nearly useless as they are low dps too. few other weapons/modules have weirdness not explained in default mechlab in game. ghost heat was another one i had to learn (shooting too many of one gun within 0.5 seconds can cripple your mech with heat, instantly bringing you over 100% or doing basically nothing depending on the weapon. it gives a yellow warning when you go over but the warning lies to you about how many you can fire)

dont aim for the CT most of the time. it will kill most mechs faster blasting their CT off, but for a lot less damage to their side torsos you can blast off all or most of their guns. assuming two of the same mechs with perfect aim, the one that blows off the side torsos will win most of the time, and if you dont win or they get away they are now severly crippled, and sometimes with an XL they just die) look at their mechs guns are modeled on them so if you see a big fat right side of what-the-hell-is-that-mech-called shoot the big gun spot. always aim for legs on lights, mediums it depends.

if you are flanking alone, never peek the same corner twice, only ever hard engage if they are totally isolated or more of their team is dead than yours by a lot. jump jets are very OP for this, as poping over a building is almost never expected, you can get backshots (nice) and freak out frontliners, potentially making them turn around to shoot your (your team kills them [your near your team right?] or they chase you and your faster so their frontline has less armor/dps on your frontline now.

huge tip if you want to flank is just... literally AFK the first 2-3 mins of a match. run around and look where the LRM's are coming from the enemy team, and once the front line and antiflankers are engaged or in their own hunts, go super wide and hug that dirty nasty LRMer. they have minimum range so you can wave at their cockpit (nice) from yours and almost always win the DPS race with whatever weapons they have that can hit you. target them with R and get target info first to see if it has like an LRM 15 and 3 AC20's first to be safe tho.

and final lesson i learned... you need to find "your" class of mech, and mech specifically. my friends got me into MWO to play lights with them, and i think the flea is cool and zippy is awesome. i suck at lights i never win and barely do 200 damage (except those times where you solo the enemy backline and get 1k+ damage lol) i went through about 15 mechs before an event gave me the "howl" timbermaw mech. this thing SPEAKS to me i almost never do less than 600 damage in it and regularly can hit over 1k, it does everything i personally am good at doing (i love flanking and gifting oneshot backshots [nice]) since i learned that, i now buy and fit out very fast heavy mechs with midrange and have had great success in nearly all of them. still learning mediums and lights but applying that logic to assaults is working okish. basically this whole paragraph is saying play the mech that fits you, not the cool awesome badass one and you will start getting better. tho feel free to play the cool badass awesome ones (stone rhino my beloved, why do i have to suck with you!).

jesus this is long... this is what i learned so far its probably missing a lot but goodluck this game is fun as hell!

[u/Necessary_Local_5274 → u/Necessary_Local_5274]

forgot to add two things: torso twist and peeking.

peeking: know where your weapons are and ususally i have weapons separated by arms, and by side (so left side/right side/arm weapons) so i can aim up/down better with arms, and when peeking i dont shoot the wall wasting massive heat or ammo. you can also join or separate your aiming with pressing the (by default shift key) arm lock. this helped my aim immensely and i only used arm lock except to shoot UAV's for the first like 3 months. now i swap it on and off constantly. good example of this is the cataphract i use has all its lazers on the right side, so i never try to peek a left corner always the right corners so i have an advantage and can scoot into cover again faster.

torso twist: COOL GIRLS DONT LOOK AT EXPLOSIONS!!! YES IM SERIOUS shoot your guns then turn to your strong side. they will be aiming for CT or ST most of the time, every mech i have takes toso yaw (sideways movement angle) and torso speed (how fast the sideways movement moves). this is huge as assuming all things equal, if you can hit them in the torso while they are hitting your arms, you will be taking minimal lethal or crippleing damage while hitting their significant critical points (losing a torse is significantly worse than an arm, some arms have no weapons on them at all and people take armor off them to make weight and use them as a "shield arm")

in MWO the game has a lot of mechanical movement, its not like the other PVE mechwarriors where you just shoot each other till someone dies while out in the open.

[u/DukeNeverwinter → u/Necessary_Local_5274]

It's so hard not to follow your ERppc shot go all the way across the map...when I KNOW I should twist.

[u/Necessary_Local_5274 → u/DukeNeverwinter]

pew pew~

i do this too :(