MA - Road to F2P

The CB12 is a great weapon for sure so get it when you can, but if you're seeing lots of higher level players (hopefully not too high), then focusing on your top 3 bots is a good plan. Most games are going to only use 1-3 bots anyway, so having 3 stronger ones is going to get you a higher return, not just against higher level players, but in the tournament, where you'll do more damage, get more kills and generally do better on average. This will help you get higher scores and get more a-coins faster. At least, that's how I've approached my hanger. 2-3 top mechs

I agree that focusing on just three mechs for now is a great plan. However I would prioritize taking Guardian to R5 over Zephyr. My experience was that Zeph dominated when I was running an R4 hangar but as I moved to R5 and early R6, it became less useful. Guardian, with it's higher health and more importantly, higher firepower, became the more important mech. Only when I could get and double my Arc10s did Zeph make a comeback for me but it takes a while to get there.

At R5 sniper and mortar builds seem to become a lot more necessary. I'm a big fan of investing in LA10s for f2p players, given how cheap and powerful they are. I didn't emphasize RM12s myself because I really dislike their camping play style, but I can tell they have become serious earners for a whole set of f2p players with 2200+ hangars. Both mount well on Guardians and Panthers, especially mixed with RG16 once you get that (RM12+Jav6 is also quite good on Killshot).

Agreed. I can often make it through an entire match in my mech of choice, the Shadow. Even then, I rarely use three bots in a match and when I do it’s with very little time left in a match or because the match was the “designed to fail” type.

Focusing on a three bot hanger is a respectable strategy. 

I kept the Jav’s on my Killshot right up to R5, about the time my Lancer grew into them. I never could get the hang of Jav+RM. I’ve got MR8’s on the Killy now, 

This is tough as a F2P where resources are limited… it all depends on your final decision.

If you are keeping the Zep in the top 3 to upgrade, then keep the MR 8s on it.  You can, and frankly, should, add AT 10 to the mix, with the goal of copying it and going dual, eventually, if you do.

For the KS… Javs will work for a while, yet.  But you have to start supplementing their lack of damage with very well placed dash attacks and attacks that focus on the sides and rear to get that damage boost.  I have tried the hybrid Jav + RM build and have gone against some very high leveled versions and it definitely performs.  However, I feel like KS has so much potential as an aggressive point scorer that you really have to decide how you will use it.  If you go with the stand-off, homing missile/indirect fire role… then I am not too much help.  I just don’t like it and have focused on direct attack roles for my Killy.  I will say that if you go the indirect route, double RM 12 is the ultimate aim for a maxed Killy, and I see plenty of them in squad vs squad straight owning folk.  How you use it is everything.  Plus, a max Killy’s dash is devastating… so you HAVE to incorporate that into how you play it.  Mortars for support, dash for direct kills… which means that you will often times not just be focusing on one opponent.  Frankly, my two favorite end-game builds, so far, are 2x CB 12 and 2x DL 12.  Both are very good.

As far as whether to switch focus to Guardian… MR8 is just as good on it for mid-game as it is on most mechs (Killy being the best, imo, due to the mobility and added Dash to kill anything not dead enough from 2 volleys of rockets).  So you have weapons for it already… at least for long enough to unlock and upgrade something else.  Dual RM 12s, dual CB 12s, and probably DL 12s are also good late game builds for Guardian… with RG 16 builds being the “final form”.

It’s hard to give just one path to the best hangar… so I would say really drill down on what you like to use, what you are good at, and what you will be comfortable with as you build up resources and start facing tougher opponents… then just dump resources into those items until you can start focusing on end-game.

Like many have pointed out, the MR 12 and DL 16 and Jav 8 have yet to come out, and they will shake up the META to a degree… so it’s best to not get TOO locked in, imo.

Fair enough… I’ve gotten to where I don’t use it unless I KNOW there is no immediate counter available if against Zeps, Surges, and Guardians, by reflex, nowadays, so I didn’t think to mention it.  

TBH, the only times I have “butter dash” issues with AI is if I am going against an AI Killy and they dash at the same time.  It’s a crapshoot who gets the damage from that situation.  

Against players is when I have the lag based no damage issues.  Recently, anyway… it was very bad there for a while… but I have noticeably been able to get a lot closer to what it was before… whatever… happened.  Just today I was thinking that it seems like something has either gotten better environment wise, or they patched something, because I am rarely having that issue.  And I have been using Killy a LOT more since getting the Dual DL 12s.  

Back to the lag based butter dashes… I get them the most when squadding with real players and we go up against other squads, especially if they are in other regions.  Even then, I have been accounting for that by hitting objects near the target, if at all possible. There is enough splash from the impact to hit folks when near corners or obstacles… and it’s more likely to do back/side damage, as well.  This isn’t always an option, though.  But no, I never lead with the dash, and I always keep the area behind the target in mind in case I slide right through them.  If the target is in front of an area that is wide open to crossfire from other Reds, I adjust.  Seems to have helped!

Good point, btw, needs to be mentioned in any discussion of Killshot tactics, for sure.

Take two or three mechs, and appropriate weapon sets for various tournament maps for them, as high as you can get them. The only times you'll use more than 3 without ditching a mech are losing games against impossible odds anyway.