This series of posts is mainly for people who make decisions on buying mechs in terms of how good they are, rather than if they adhere to a chosen playstyle, or how cool they look.
Operation Frontline Sale: From July 15 to July 19
This sale puts all mediums (including heroes and I guess champions) 35% off. There are some mediums in a really good spot right now, so this sale is pretty great. Actually, I think most medium mechs are in a good enough spot to be worth getting, but there are definitely a few winners that you should pick up.
Must-Haves
These mechs are worthy additions to any MechWarrior’s stable; definitely worth picking them up if don’t have them already.
Hunchback IIC
This is easily the best Medium in the game right now, and one of the best mechs in general. There are a buttload of options for it and they’re pretty much all good, with only its fragility as a cause for concern. And you can get the HBK-IIC-B over the HBK-IIC-C if you want a missile option instead of more ballistics, but the IIC-C is generally better.
Nova
The re-scale has made this one of the best mediums in the game, with the options to either brawl or poptart with ease. It’s definitely not as must-have as the Hunchadoozie, but it’s very powerful right now. I picked out these variants because the NVA-B has the best CT and the Prime and A have most of the good omnipods.
Second-Stringers
You shouldn’t feel bad for not having these, but if you’ve got the C-Bills to spare…
Blackjack
It’s certainly fallen off a bit, but the Blackjack is still quite a good mech. It has plenty of options at all range brackets, and the hitboxes aren’t horrible neither.
Enforcer
It’s not the sexiest mech, but it has some fantastic variants. And it’s still one of the more heavily quirked mechs, which also helps, but the ENF-4R is the only one that’s really worth getting.
Griffin
I mean, it’s the best brawler in the game. Just a great mech all-around, so long as you want to use SRMs (though the hero does have some laser options).
- Griffin GRF-3M
- Griffin GRF-2N
- Griffin Sparky
- Griffin GRF-1N (if you don’t want to spend MC)
Stormcrow
It’s fallen off even harder than the Blackjack, but it’s still a great mech with lots of good builds. I’ve picked the variants with the most useful omnipods.
Still Good
These mechs aren’t high priority, but they’re well worth a pick up if you’ve got the coin and have the mechs I’ve already gone over.
Shadow Cat
It’s a fun fast mech with a great long-range niche, but its viability in other situations is suspect at best. Still, the ECM and MASC help you open wide angles better than most other mechs in the game, and it can be a real nuisance. The SHC-Prime is the best CT, but the -A and -B are good for omnipods.
Trebuchet
There are some interesting options available on this chassis, including a couple that are competitively viable. Its squishiness and low mounts hold it back in my opinion, but remember, Treb Best Mech.
Ice Ferret
One of the more underrated mechs in the game, the Ice Ferret is essentially a tankier Cicada with better build options. It’s pretty mediocre in regular play, but it remains my mech of choice for Scouting, so there’s that.
Crab
It got pretty damaged in the re-scale, but it wasn’t an obscene nerf and it was pretty good before.
Not Not Worth It
These are far from priorities, but for anyone that already has everything else, you might as well pick up some fresh robots. Also, these are the mechs that I will get hate for not putting them higher up.
Cicada
It’s a solid mech for sure, maybe worth moving up into the “worth” group, but idk. With the re-scale, I think it’s gotten relatively stronger because its light mech competition has been nerfed, but it’s still a boxy mess.
Shadow Hawk
It’s pretty exceedingly average – there are a couple of actually interesting builds, but even those aren’t the “best” at what they do.
Wolverine
It’s still good I guess, but the more popular variants are just straight-up out-classed these days and I don’t see any reason to take it. But yeah, they don’t suck.
Hunchback
It’s not nearly as good as the Hunchadoozie, but the chassis still has some solid selections, depending on what you’re into.
And all the rest…
So right now, the only mediums that I think aren’t worth getting at all are the Kintaro, Centurion, and Vindicator (well, and probably the Phoenix Hawk but that’s not an option right now). These aren’t all horrible mechs, but they’re also not good. They all have variants that you could make an argument for, but none that I’d agree with.