Recently I elited Catapults and Thunderbolts, and basiced one Cataphract and one Jagermech. And I was able to master my TDR-9S. How is this possible? (I thought you should elite 3 different chassis of same weight, but looks like something changed recently?)
If you've elited all your cats and all your thunderbolts you have more than the 3 heavies required to master them. You don't need to elite three variants from 3 different mechs, it actually can be the same. For example if you have 3 Catapults as your only mechs you can access elite perks as soon as you unlocked basic on all three, then access the master perk once you elited all three (you don't need to buy Jagers, Phracts or other heavies)