Last Updated: 7-June-2016
Ahh yes, we’re back – with the Jagermech.
Overview
At the time of its release, it was a highly anticipated ballistic platform, hoped to be a good substitute for more sought after Rifleman. And now, it surpasses the Rifleman in almost every way, and has been a solid addition to the meta for a long time – rarely at the center of attention, but always good enough.
There are three standard variants and one hero variant of the Jagermech. They are also all similar enough that a few core builds work very well between all variants so that you can stick with just one build the whole time if you love it (or if the alternatives you try out just aren’t knocking your socks off). But the one variant which is currently at the top is the JM6-DD, just because of its incredible dakka potential. After that, we have the JM6-S which has more impressive generic quirks but less specialization to it. The third best mech (though all of the top 3 are very close to one another) is easily the Firebrand, as it has some unique build opportunities that are legitimately good alternatives. And of course, in last place, is the JM6-A…the missile variant. It can’t really do much special, but its quirks are at least interesting.
Chassis-Wide Information
Strengths
- Some of the highest weapon mounts in the game, and can even go asym on some builds
- Large CT makes running an XL slightly less risky than normal, but the side torsos aren’t exactly small and they’re the first thing most experienced players shoot at because of how common XL Jagers are.
- Decent enough generic and specific ballistic quirks allow for some pretty good builds of various sorts.
Weaknesses
- When standing in the open, it is a massive target with easily targeted torso sections and arms too thin to shield a pancake.
- Lack of available tonnage more or less forces you to bring an XL engine for any builds with a considerable amount of firepower.
- While the weapon mounts are very high, the cockpit is considerably lower, meaning that you cannot expect to avoid all return fire, just much of it.
Generic Tips
- If you find a build that you really like, you can probably either port it over to another variant directly, or run some very similar version.
- Hill peek for days. Even if your build is short range, you don’t want to leave the safety of a ridgeline unless you have to.
- This is one of the least shieldy mechs in the game – you’ll need to change your shield side frequently throughout a fight as each component gets wrecked, so keep an eye on that paperdoll.
Builds
If you’re not familiar with my Inner Sphere Master Guides, each pretty much follows the same formula. Each variant gets its own section; within that section I try to include at least two main builds, each with a few variations on the core principle (if applicable).
Each build has one paragraph about the build itself – going over anything I feel is relevant to understanding it such as quirks, tonnage issues, how it fits the meta, my general feeling about it…just whatever. And then there’s a paragraph about using the build, going over tactics, tips, and whatever I feel is relevant to that, including links to L2P guides, on occasion.
I may miss a build that you like, or my builds may differ slightly from what you find works best for you because our philosophies may differ – I strongly encourage that you experiment for yourself to see what works best for you.
The modules are listed in order of which one is most important and the consumables I’ve listed are the ones that are generally the best, but while leveling the mech you may want to swap the less important consumable out for a UAV. That is, if you can afford to use consumables at all (they aren’t necessary, just nice, and if you’re low on C-Bills they’re not necessarily worth it).
On with it!
JM6-DD
While its generic quirks aren’t so great,its UAC5 specific quirks are. It gets 10% to ballistic cooldown and range, and laser duration, and 30% to UAC/5 jam chance. In addition, it gets 25% extra structure on the CT and 50% everywhere else.
Build 1:
This is one of my favorite dakka builds in the game at the moment. It obviously doesn’t hold up well to its bigger brothers, but it is at a really sweet spot for tonnage-efficient DPS, and it has about 90% of the DPS of a Mauler. Add in the high mounts, and it’s clearly an incredible mech.
This build is all about peeking over cover with your high mounts and just spamming the triggers until you’re forced to duck behind cover because you’re losing trades or jamming. You can get away with one UAC jamming well enough, but if you get a double or, god forbid, a triple jam, you might as well take cover while they sort themselves out.
Mech Modules: Radar Deprivation, Seismic Sensor
Weapon Modules: UAC/5 Cooldown, UAC/5 Range
Consumables: Air Strike, Cool Shot
This is a classic trolly build I made when the Jager first came out – it’s definitely not good, per se, but it can be fun as hell.
This drops a UAC/5 for 2 Large Pulses, which is a pretty decent trade. It sacrifices some of the brutal DPS, and the mounts are quite a bit lower, but the extra damage helps a bit. Worth a go.
Weapon Modules: UAC/5 Cooldown, Large Pulse Range
Honorable Mentions:
I hate this build with a passion, but I would be remiss if I didn’t mention it because it is a rather significant piece of MechWarrior history. People would take this (or a similar build) and macro the AC/2s to cause as much cockpit shake as possible. But don’t do that, it’s a dick move and it’s not even all that effective anymore (not that it ever was good, just annoying). For the most part, it plays like a typical dakka build.
Mech Modules: Radar Deprivation, Seismic Sensor
Weapon Modules: AC/2 Range
Consumables: Cool Shot, Air Strike
This is the version we saw more often (though with slight variations in armor, ammo, engine, etc.) Pretty bad today, and it wasn’t great back then, but I had flashbacks to those days just building it.
This is one of the silly builds, but it’s silly enough to mention (I actually have brought it into a comp match on Terra Therma). It functions as a brawler for the most part, entering the fray after a few mechs have been roughed up and just rolling crits all over the place.
Mech Modules: Radar Deprivation, Seismic Sensor
Weapon Modules: Large Pulse Cooldown, Machine Gun Range
Consumables: Cool Shot, Artillery Strike
Same idea, but with PPCs so you get more range. You can do it with regular PPCs too, but why bother.
Weapon Modules: ER PPC Cooldown, Machine Gun Range
JM6-S
This is the most primary Jagermech variant, with the best generics. It has 15% ballistic cooldown, 20% ballistic velocity, and 10% to energy heat gen and laser duration. It also gets the 25% CT structure bonus and 50% elsewhere.
Build 1:
Well, it’s a great build and it’s very easy to understand! This is all about the long-range pinpoint firepower, and while it has been surpassed in this area, it remains a powerful hill-humpy build. This build can be done on every Jagermech, but it goes best on the JM6-S.
Peek the tippy top of your mech over a hill, let loose with your silver slugs, and then get back down. In general, you also may want to pre-charge your rifles before cresting, particularly if you know there’s an enemy to shoot at and have a general idea of where he is. For the more advanced technique, you’ll want to hit reverse before you even crest, trying to time it so that you’re fully decelerated to zero at the point where you take the shot and are reversing immediately afterwards. For more on this style, check out the PPFLD guide.
Mech Modules: Radar Deprivation, Seismic Sensor
Weapon Modules: Gauss Rifle Cooldown, Gauss Rifle Range
Consumables: Air Strike, UAV
Build 2:
This is what the Jagermech is best known for (though not what works best), and this build was already pretty good before quirks even came in. The definition of low firepower and high DPS, this mech is the least shieldy one I know of, as it is forced to stare at the enemy for as long as it wants to do damage.
You can’t use hill humps to trade with this, as it only has a measly 14 damage alpha strike, but your best bet is to still keep most of your mech protected behind cover and to just leave your top bits out there. Hold down the triggers for as long as you can manage, and take hard cover when you start to run too hot or take too much return fire, using the opportunity to reposition.
Mech Modules: Radar Deprivation, Seismic Sensor
Weapon Modules: AC/5 Cooldown, AC/5 Range
Consumables: Cool Shot, Artillery Strike
It sacrifices a fair bit of ammo, but picks up a bit of leg armor and a lot of speed.
It has about the same DPS as the JM6-DD’s UAC build, and it goes way slower, and it has way less ammo…but the timings are more predictable and the DPS is more reliable (even if the burst isn’t as great). I’m not a huge fan, but you might be.
Similar to the UAC alternative build on the JM6-DD, this sacrifices 2 AC/2s for 2 Large Pulses (a very favorable trade if you ask me). The result has great DPS at mid-range and more concentrated fire.
Weapon Modules: AC/5 Cooldown, Large Pulse Range
Build 3:
This mini-Misery is a fantastic side-poker, and it has pretty high mounts too. It’s essentially an inverted Misery, with the PPCs in the side torso and the AC/20 in the arm. I prefer it on the right side, but it can be done on the left too. It’s worth mentioning that this build can be run on the Firebrand as well, but I like it better for the JM6-S because of its ballistic quirks.
You’re going to be either peeking as little of your mech as possible around the side of a building, or as little as possible over a ridge. Or stuff like that, yaknow? Personally, I like peeking over a hill that slopes down to the right, so I can get just the corner of my mech out. But I digress. Use cover to expose as little of yourself as possible, then shield. The lack of a STD engine hurts, but if your LT gets opened up, stop shielding with that side obviously. For more on this style, check out the PPFLD guide.
Mech Modules: Radar Deprivation, Seismic Sensor
Weapon Modules: AC/20 Cooldown, PPC Cooldown
Consumables: Cool Shot, Air Strike
This is definitely a just-for-fun build, but man it can be fun. Heat management is an utter bitch, but still it feels great to just rupture an enemy mech in one alpha, even if you can’t do it from 700 meters like a Kodiak.
This is a relatively fresh build, focusing on an insane (for a 65-tonner) alpha at short/medium range. It gets away with it pretty well too – the Large Pulses are decently high mounted and you can absolutely demolish dudes. The obvious downside is the oppressive heat, but it alphas twice in 3 seconds, which is fantastic.
Weapon Modules: Medium Laser Range, Large Pulse Cooldown
Firebrand
The Firebrand has a lot going for it, and is the most energy-centric variant. It gets 10% to energy cooldown and heat gen, laser duration, and ballistic cooldown, as well as 40% extra PPC velocity. It has 25% extra structure on the CT and 50% elsewhere, 20% turn rate, and 25% to accel/decel and torso twist.
Build 1:
This is a very meta-oriented build, and performs very well. The combination of Gauss Rifle and Large Lasers isn’t the most popular to be sure, but it’s proven itself well and has a good showing on the Jagermech, with its combination of asymmetry and high mounts. The damage isn’t overwhelming, but you can sustain fire for some time, and with great precision and range.
Your optimal engagements with this build will be peeking your top-right corner over appropriate cover that protects your left side and lower body, and staying at around 600 meters from the enemy. Obviously this doesn’t always happen, but you’re still very effective at just hill-humping or corner-peeking, and your range is similarly flexible. Just try to avoid getting jumped, and keep up the DPS as much as possible. For more on this style of build, check out the Gauss Vomit guide.
Mech Modules: Radar Deprivation, Seismic Sensor
Weapon Modules: Gauss Cooldown, Large Laser Range
Consumables: Cool Shot, Artillery Strike
This lacks a fair bit of the range, but maintains all of the other bonuses, with extra damage and lower duration.
Weapon Modules: Gauss Cooldown, Medium Laser Range
Build 2:
Gauss/PPC is dead, long live Gauss/PPC. Slightly more damage than double Gauss, about a thousand times more heat (though it’s actually not that hot thanks to the quirks), and slightly better DPS. Your downsides are heat (of course), and range. The PPCs have lower range than your Gauss Rifle, and far lower velocity which is rather more important. It’s a powerful combo, but it suffers from convergence issues that are exacerbated by the different velocities.
This plays a lot like the dual Gauss build on the JM6-S, though you’ll want to set up a bit closer to the fight in order to make sure you don’t miss out on damage from being outside your PPC optimal range. For more on this style, check out the PPFLD guide.
Mech Modules: Radar Deprivation, Seismic Sensor
Weapon Modules: Gauss Rifle Cooldown, PPC Range
Consumables: Cool Shot, Air Strike
Build 3:
In this build, I completely abandon all pretense of creativity and shove the meta into the mech. Spamming Large Pulses and Mediums gets you far in this game, and the Firebrand is no exception – it has the damage, the heatsinks, the mounts…the main things it lacks are the hitboxes and the range quirks. But even without those things, it does a pretty good job of it.
This is pretty typical laser vomit, but with extra ability to hill-hump. Basically, you want to use whatever method you like to expose your weapons to the enemy, and then just keep blasting them. You don’t want to get much closer than 400m, and stick to your Large Pulse when you’re hot. For more on Laser Vomit, check out the guide.
Mech Modules: Radar Deprivation, Seismic Sensor
Weapon Modules: Medium Laser Range, Large Pulse Range
Consumables: Cool Shot, Air Strike
This makes corner-peeking more of an option, but one of your Large Pulses is a bit lower which I don’t like. Still, pretty much the same thing.
This forgoes some of the high-alpha for extra range and a lower duration, but it also suffers from ghost heat. It’s up to you whether you want to stick with it, but you can also run all the weapons in the torso if you like. I just prefer the extra corner-peek ability and higher mounts.
Weapon Modules: Large Pulse Range, Large Pulse Cooldown
JM6-A
This is primarily the missile variant, but it does get some interesting quirks. It has 5% ballistic cooldown, 35% ballistic velocity, 20% ballistic range and missile cooldown, and 10% missile heat gen and velocity. It also gets 25% torso twist speed, but by default it has less torso twist range than the others (there is a 10° quirk but the difference is 20°). To top it off, it gets 25% extra CT structure and 50% elsewhere.
Build 1:
This is a classic build, which used to be a major balance issue for PGI. Nowadays, it’s just a decent short-range poker with a brutal pinpoint alpha strike. The pinpoint is enough to intimidate enemies right off the bat, as a couple hits can kill meds and core heavies. The build is best done on the JM6-A thanks to its velocity and range quirks, but can also be done on all of the other variants, roughly as well.
You want to move up towards the enemy under cover, and once you’re within around 400 meters, start nailing people from behind hills. When poking, you usually want to fire one AC/20 at a time (particularly at longer ranges), but you can alpha strike as long as you have the heat to spare and can cool off behind cover. You want to stick to hill-humping as long as possible, but eventually you’ll usually end up brawling, at which point you do want to fire one AC at a time.
Mech Modules: Radar Deprivation, Seismic Sensor
Weapon Modules: AC/20 Cooldown, AC/20 Range
Consumables: Cool Shot, Artillery Strike
Honorable Mentions:
It’s not full meta or anything, but I really love this build. Your AC/10s reach out pretty far, and the velocity buff makes them quite useful (your AC/10s end up going about 1300m/s). You can stick to those AC/10s for most of the game, using typical Jager hill-humping, but you can hold up really well as the range closes and it gets into the brawl. The SRM2s are super hot, but once you do push the heat threshold you can swap back to just using the AC/10s as they’re (almost) heat neutral.
Mech Modules: Radar Deprivation, Seismic Sensor
Weapon Modules: AC/10 Cooldown, AC/10 Range
Consumables: Cool Shot, Artillery Strike
It’s not a cold build, but it can be brutal. 4 SRM6s with Artemis is a nasty bunch of weapons on any mech, but the JM6-A couples that with nasty missile quirks, making it put out pretty crazy sustained DPS. The problem with heavy mech brawlers is that they are not durable, they can’t escape fights or avoid enemy fire with ease, but they still need to get close. One neat trick is that you can use your missile arms in much the same way as an AC/40 Jager would use its ballistics – peeking over cover at relatively short range. It’s just harder to do this as the missiles spread more and travel slower, making it less effective as the range increases. But other than that, you’ll want to stick back where your team is defending you and only engage when you’re sure you can make good use of your life without throwing it away.
Mech Modules: Radar Deprivation, Seismic Sensor
Weapon Modules: SRM6 Cooldown, SRM6 Range
Consumables: Cool Shot, Artillery Strike
Meh, it’s a LRM boat with TAG and BAP. Good firepower, DPS, and conversion for LRMs, and no good reason to use the Jagermech as a LRM boat instead of the Catapult. Still, it’s an option. Sit in back and LRM anything you lock. TAG if necessary.
Mech Modules: Target Decay, Seismic Sensor
Weapon Modules: LRM10 Cooldown, LRM10 Range
Consumables: Cool Shot, Artillery Strike
Pilot Skills
I’ve figured that this is the best skill order for pretty much any mech, and so I’m just going to customize it for mechs that have to emphasize unusual pilot skills.
Basics: Cool Run – Heat Containment – Hard Brake – Kinetic Burst – Twist Speed – Twist X – Anchor Turn – Arm Reflex
Elites: Speed Tweak – Fast Fire – Quick Ignition – Pinpoint
Then just master it. Honestly, the JM6-S does just about everything worth doing, but if you find yourself loving a build unique to another variant (like the UAC/5s), go for it.
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And that’s that. I hope you enjoy your mech, let me know if you have any questions, and as always glhf