I just bought my first Dragon on Sunday, the 1C, and I am learning to love it despite the drawbacks that it experiences. I was curious how many veteran Dragon players were out there, what kind of advice they could give me on builds/playstyles, and what are some of the worst and best Dragon chassis? It honestly looks to me like the Dragon does not suffer from Firestarter syndrome (Where only a few Variants are actually unique) and can actually do a lot. Even though the large nose does get me blown up a lot :blush: And Aylek, don't be shy buddy I want to hear your opinion too!
I used to play dragons WAY back in the day. Now they simply die too easily, whether it's legs or CT. You're much better off with a Shadowhawk unless you really dig the ballistics in a fully actuated arm, then you should get the 5N. I still have a FLAME but it's very meh.
I bought the Dragons looking for a challenge, so I know what I'm getting into regardless, I was also tired of meta, so I wanted to pilot something unique that you don't see every day.
i'm a huge fan of the dragon DRG-1C thanks to the the shoulder mounted lasers you can peek and shoot over objects wonderfull with it. So my experience with the dragon is to play as a bushwacker(the fighting style not the mech ) use your speed to get to places where no one expects you, fire your guns go back in cover change position and strike again. So i play my dragon similiar to the 2xerll raven, but i trade the ecm for a ballistic weapon and some speed for more armor so i can go in and take some fire after the fight went for a while (so the big bad alphas went down) and some of your brawlers needs someone to take the fire off them (everyone loves to shoot at dragons and thanks to your width you can charge in as a cover for a nearly cored cataphract(they have a ct magnet, too doesn't they?^^)).
I bought a dragon a long time ago, and sold it accidentally :/Finally got over it and looking into grabbing Dragons again. What would you all suggest? I'm open for grabbing a hero mech too if Fang or Flame are worth it.
Sorry mate, didn't see this thread until today. I still like Dragons, but as S7 already said, one is probably better off with SHDs these days. That said, I still occasionally pilot my Flame (Gauss, SRM4, 4x MLas, XL300), and sometimes the thing even works. Allthough Flame is usually considered to be the better of the two heros, I somehow think it might have been better for me if I bought the Fang back in the days (double arm ballistics and such). However, short of double AC5 or things like that, Fang can easily be mirrored by the 1C. I might re-buy the latter because of nostalgica sometimes, but I don't know... even a 2x PPC sniper with high shoulder mounts can be done in a SHD nowadays. Triple ballistic in the RA is a nice argument for the 5N, but this doesn't look as strong as it used to as well.
Shameless NECRO - but I am getting theese kind of questions again and again, usually after a somewhat amazing match in one of my Dragons. Some notes about the chassis and variants: 1) I don't recognise major changes in gameplay due to the hitbox changes done to the chassis in Q4/2015. For me they play like usual, but it might indeed bei true the STs are hit more easily. This wasn't a big concern for me prior to the changes, so this might just be me. 2) The AC10 quirks on the Fang are insane, and mounting it again looks good, especially considering the buff to the AC10 ammo. However, Fang never fails to elate me in the simple, but straight forward build that is XL325 + 3 LPLas. 3) The 5N's quirks for the UAC5 are strong enough to support a single one of them. You csn definitely go worse than UAC5 + 2 LLas + SRM6 on a fast heavy which will often go under the opponents' radar.
Maybe I'm alone with that, but I preferred the old hitboxes. Well, I'm not sure, but it certainly isn't dying slower. Waiting for the rescale...
For me, right now, it's Flame > Fang > 1N > 1C > 5N. Although to be honest, the 5N I have no experience with, as it is the only Dragon I do not own. The Flame is best for me because all energy hardpoints are on the arms. Not only does that make it nice for the 4xLL Blue Flame build in that all weapons track on the Circle, but it also means that if you go with a ML+LB10/Gauss build, all your lasers track together and it can simplify groupings. Fang is high because the AC/10 quirk make the Flame work with my standard Dragon Build, which usually involves UAC5, SRMs (6 or 2x4 depending on which variant) and then MLs (or MPLs in the case of the 1N). My Fang is set up with a ridiculously fast-firing AC10, a SRM6, and 3 medium lasers, and is perhaps the best version of my standard Dragon build. After that, I had previously run the 1N with UAC5, 2x SRM4, and 2x MPL. It had a very nice balance of weapons and heat generation, and was solid on DPS, even if it wasn't very tanky. The 1C I've alternated doing southpaw energy boats, balanced Dragon builds, and other things. I've gotten it working in a few different ways, but I generally preferred the 1N/FANG for my balanced builds and Flame for my energy builds. The 5N could probably do great with the UAC/5 if I got one, now that I look at the quirks.
LOVE ME SOME DRAGONS! It's Fang > 1N > Flame > 5N > 1C for me at the current state of the game. Although Fang has one of the best AC10 quirks in the game, it's even more awesome with 3 LPL. This thing is pretty brutal. AC 10 + PPC (shoulder) + 2 ML works pretty nice as well, though. 1N is still a killer with dual AC5s + various backup. I am using a single LLas (shoulder) here atm. Don't underestimate those quirked AC5s! Flame is nice with that single high ballistic mount. I absolutely dig the old 'standard' build for Dragons (1x Gauss, 4x ML, SRM 4 / 6) here for simplicity of 3 weapon groups and fully actuated MLas. 5N is surprisingly effective with a single UAC5 + double LLas, thus effectively being a counterpart to the 1N. I might have a single SRM4 here as well but need to check again when in the game. 1C is the only one I sold, mainly becaise it's more or less a Flame with a different location of the hardpoints. It was pretty awesome with quad ERLLas when it was massively overquirked for those, but those quirks were toned down quickly. Drop me a line if you want me to share my exact current builds.
Bought Flame for the first time after being a huge dragon fan since my first MWO days. Running it with Gauss in LT for peeking over hills and ER PPC / 3x ML in arms. The ER ppc is easy to follow up with after releasing Gauss on targets. I also own the 5N which I alternate between the champion Gauss / 2x ERL build and UAC5, 2x LL, 1x SRM6. Originally I used to play the Fang exclusively before they changed Gauss to be a charged weapon. I sold it back when I quit the game and now I am eyeballing it again for nostalgia and those sweet quirks.
Sounds awesome, will try this as well! Also in my list: Jagermech DD with 4/5 UAC2 (basically the same idea in a different chassis).
