(MA) How do you counter RM’s/Javs?

Ok, some quick tips.

- Try to remain hidden from and red line of sight. That's what that red eye on the top means. That means someone can see you, and that's how RM and JR operators target you from behind cover.
- Try to hug building. For RM, hug TALL buildings and the entire salvo will not make it over and you might get hit with maybe one or two rockets.
- Save your Sprints and when you see the warning, Sprint to the nearest cover. If you have find an over hang, even better.
- Areas that have over hanging cover are perfect against these weapons.
- Counter with indirect fire builds of your own. I know you don't want to run RMs, but it's an effective and easy counter. Won't work against seasoned players though, unless you learn how to properly run a RM build.

- Jugg, Shadow, KS and Tengu are good counters. Most other mechs, except Brickhouse and Redox should be able to sprint from the worse of the damage. Note, seasoned RM players will wait to just above 46m to launch, and at that range, it's almost impossible for any mech other than KS and Surge to get away.

In TDM games, in RM friendly maps, I try to reserve my Shadow for those camping RM players. It's a good hunter but it doesn't usually make it back to friendly territory.

Maxed Stalkers running RM12 are a PITA. Only real counter is team work.

In CPC, counter by targeting other reds and capping beacons. I've won several games like this against campers.

I've found that I don't run my RM12s often anymore, except to farm in TDM. But, I feel that as you get higher, having the option to run RM12 is important. In full squad games with high level players, they can be the difference between winning and losing.

Oh, and RM12 KS is arguably the best and most PITA RM build in the game.

Koalabear's tips were right on. I'd add a few things:

I too barely ever played RMs until I finally maxed my Killshot. I got RM12s and steadily upgraded them but I barely used them for the same reason; sitting in the back just standing seemed like a total snore. I didn't max my KS until I played around 10,000 games, so I really held out and... I shouldn't have. I would have been a lot better at dodging mortars if I had been using mine more. Running RMs can be fun and challenging, but the key to enjoying it is running a more active/dynamic mech. Even on the slow mechs, I am constantly trying to take center with my RM mech or get close in for a quicker/more accurate shot. The boring part is the hiding, the weapon is actually quite dynamic. Like running a Lancer, it interacts with a map's vertical topography a lot more and brings a new dimension to the game. There are a lot of shots you just can't make because of vertical obstacles, but you can only figure that out from running a RM yourself and learning when, where and why you miss. It also gets you to really work on paying attention to the minimap for tracking enemies and build up those skills too.

Stalker is a very good mech for running a single RM12 (only get RM12s - the 8 and 10s shoot less rockets so they aren't worth it). And it is pretty mobile. But even slower mechs like Guardian can be fun enough if you're resolved to charge instead of just hide. Running RMs effectively is tougher than it looks, this thread helped me out a lot:
war-robots-forum.freeforums.net/thread/46072/kinda-suck-rocket-mortars-advice

My other main tip is to slow it down and get zen over facing RM human players. When you're getting spammed by mortars and Javs it can be easy to lose your patience, and get bloody-minded, charging in instead of waiting for the right opportunity. Remember in many of those matches the outcome is predetermined by either the number of humans you are facing or the strength of their/your AI. If you're solo against multiple humans spamming RMs, accept your defeat and focus on dodging and getting in some good shots. If their AI then sucks enough that you actually have a shot at winning, it will become apparent. Against solo human opponents using Javs or RMs, it is all about the AI. They're relying on their teams bots to grab beacons and on your bots to be dumb enough to keep lining themselves up to be ducks in a barrel. If the AI is tilted too much in their favor they will win but often they don't realize how dependent they are on AI. I see a lot of players who are so used to killing AI with RM/Javs they don't know how to win if an opponent doesn't come to them to get blown away.

In my experience, there is an important "psychological effect" of killing campers. When I'm able to kill a RM camper with my KS in round one, in many cases they will spend a lot of the remaining time looking for revenge. Obviously that could be bad, but if you can evade most of their shots, that could play in your favor.

 
Yes, the shield follows your gaze. So looking up just before the missiles rain down on you, will make them land on the shield.

This method works best when you're facing the enemy mech straight on, at either a horizontal level or from a higher elevation than him.

On the other hand and as you've experienced, if the enemy mech is at a perpendicular angle and/or at a higher elevation, then your chances to deflect the Javs are low to nil. This is due to the increased reaction time needed to move the Ares around (towards the Jav's incoming direction) as well as the increased angle of attack (the Ares' shield can't be fully tilted, as if to form an umbrella).