Heavy Metal "Legion" - Medium Range (1x Gauss, 3x LLas, 5x JJ, XL330)

I have to admit I was skeptical about the Heavy Metal to begin with. I gave it a try though and I love it. Here's the long to mid range fighter that I have settled on.



The 3 LL in the arm are brutal with their coverage and relative heat efficiency. Combined with the Gauss you have an absolutely brutal 42 point strike. When heat levels get high I switch the 3 LL pack to chain fire and are more deliberate about their usage. With 40 Gauss shots you have enough ammo to take wild pot shots without concern about running out of ammo before the end of a match. Make sure to use your JJ to rotate in air and distribute damage across your legs as well as your torso.

On the downside you should avoid absolute close-range combat if possible. The Large XL engine and slow recycling weapons leave you more vulnerable than you would like in close combat.

EDIT: Video's ready! Enjoy!!



EDIT 2: Naming some old unnamed designs

 

This is a good build, first one I felt was worth the XL engine.

1st match I did I got 955 dmg 4 kills. Sadly that was my best match but consistantly in the 400-600 range unless I got primaried first.

 

I went ahead and rated this build 4 stars. It is very unique, and a direction I don't think I would have ever thought of going. The 25+ dmg from the three large lasers alone is a whole lot of fun, while having the backing of that gauss adds more than decent range. Overrall this build was fun and unique in it's own right. I wanted to love it, but ended up just liking it. To each their own! Thanks for the share Poindexter!

 

This build, or something very similar to it, was the first Heavy Metal I faced. It melted the face off of my poor Cataphract.

 

Glad you like it!

It's not for everyone. I'm an ardent follower of the KISS principle so keeping a mech to a simple 2 weapon group setup is ideal in my view. This lets me keep my focus on piloting during combat and not trying to balance multiple weapon systems.

Sorry for your face It's definitely a dangerous build and one that people seem to underestimate.

 

Bumping because the video is now ready!

 

Nice video! Well done!

 

Very nice video. I think I'll do my next one more like that - highlight reel instead of a single match. Less playtest video, more showcase, although you showed you can consistently pump out the damage.

I don't think the XL engine is as big an issue on the highlander compared with other Assaults. The side torsos aren't all that big, and I'm pretty sure once you lose an arm you generally lose a significant amount of firepower anyway.

Like you, I believe in KISS, but I would be fine with 3 sets of weapons (Guass, laser, and missiles/PPCs). That said, I don't think I've seen much else that I like for the Highlander, and I'm strongly considering this chassis as my next.

 

This is pretty much it. I run mine very similar accept with no Endo and an XL300 so I can cram even more DHS in it. This allows me to easily bounce between this build and a double ERPPC build. Both also only run 4 jump jets. Right now I'm leaning on the 3 Large Lasers being the more effective of the two.

 

I have been using this config since the HM launched and really having fun with it. The only difference is I load all the Gauss ammo in the RT to protect from the Glass Cannon explosion. I die more often from my own rifle blowing out my XL engine than from being cored.

 

Gauss ammo isn't explosive.

 

Thanks!

I've found the highlight's showcase more what the mech can do. I do separate game play commentaries to discuss how actual play occurs. I think it helps keep the video more concise. If you try it out let me know how it works for you!

Oh I can see a lot of value in that especially if in a coordinated group long range firepower is more valuable than fighting in the intermediate ranges.

Gauss Ammo isn't explosive - the Gauss Rifle itself can explode but since it's in the arm this shouldn't be an issue.

 

The Gauss Ammo is not, the Rifle is and no CASE in the arm means the massive damage of it blowing goes into the torso. The Ammo may not exploded but is can absorb damage as well as the DHS there, trying to mitigate the full inward damage hitting the XL in the torso. When the cause of death is "Gauss Ammo" being reported the only thing I can think of is the Rifle's 90% chance of exploding with horrible results. Since moving all the ammo to the RT I have lost the GR several times to continue fighting with the LL's.

 

So happy to have finally Mastered the Heavy Metal but I racked up over 180000 exp with this build since the Heavy Metal was released. Thank you very much for the build, I originally wanted a brawler highlander but found that the Heavy Metal was a better jump sniper and mid range supporter. Now I have my 733C for Brawling and I'm happy with both builds.

 

Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it! I'm really excited with the Highlanders overall. Very enjoyable mechs to use.

 

I hate not using all the slots and I've been weary of XL's but I was having a pain in the ass time of making Heavy Metal work for me like the other variants for some reason. It pulled off some pretty successful games with builds mimicking my other models but the puny 2 missile slots and arm energy hardpoints just didn't work for my preferred brawler playstyle.

I ended up within a couple days running a STD 300 version of this (similar to tabletop Clan Executioner/Gladiator) until I saw the thread and decided to just try an XL after my arms or CT were taken out long before my sides.

That really did the ticket, my survivability is just fine provided I don't try to slug it out. The added speed and max jump lets me fly around twirling about like a mad man while the direct fire weaponry brings me back to my MW4 days.

I got glitched on Frozen City last night on a building and it was 6 enemies left with me. I just told them where I was to come finish me off. Well they showed up and I thought screw it I'll shoot back... Well they were 90% missile boats and their missiles glitched into snow infront of me.

I ended up killing 4 of them before the game ended killing the poor catapaults quickly with 42 damage to their cockpits.


My build drops a DHS and something or other for AMS. Great KISS Heavy Metal.

 

Nice read, thanks.

 

+1 for this build.

None of the Heavy Metal specs really appealed to me but with the mech being on sale this past weekend and the recent changes to terrain making jump jets allot more useful I decided to take the plunge.

The current meta is dominated by PPCs and LRMs so I wanted a less common spec to change things up a bit and so far I’ve been extremely impressed.

I’m new to this site so I hope I’m not breaking any rules by posting a screenshot but here’s my 4th Heavy Metal game:





Great build

 

Hi!

Same here. I never thought I would touch the Highlander but after reading this thread (and those about other variants) I thought I'd give the Heavy Metal a go instead of the Dragon Slayer since it was on sale. And boy was I impressed!

The armament is just enough to run cool most of the time with selected shots. Though not the best brawler due to XL-Engine the survivability is not as bad as one would have thought provided using the maneuverability to spread the damage. All in all good build and nice assault mech type.


Also having fun in the 733 with the 4 SRM6 config too.


Thanks for sharing!

 

Ever since I have changed to this build a few weeks ago I have been deeply in love with my Heavy Metal. Great Build.