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.
Hero and Champion Sale: From May 26 to May 31
This sale only includes the hero and champion mechs, rather than specific chassis, but it includes almost all of the hero and champion mechs. I’ll be reworking something like this into a full purchasing guide, but for now this’ll do.
Since these are MC-only mechs, keep in mind that you don’t need to get any of them, and I would recommend choosing your purchases based on which chassis you already enjoy, but I hope this informs you a bit as to whether one is worth a buy.
If you’re interested in getting a champion mech, I’d just use a Tier List for reference, but for heroes…
Chassis Sellers
These Heroes are good enough that they make buying a couple other variants worthwhile just to have the Hero mastered.
Of course it’s on here. Right now, this mech is at the point where it’s worth getting for anyone. Easily the best hero, still the best light as long as you’re not looking for gimmick (I think it’s hilarious that the JR7-IIC makes the Oxide look non-gimmicky), and it’s just very strong all-around.
This is arguably the best big hero mech in the game; the Spirit Bear is in competition with it but they are very different playstyles. Crazy good dakka, decent survivability, it’s like a mini-Mauler (actually, it has about 90% of a Mauler’s DPS).
Still Great
If you’re not interested in the chassis already I wouldn’t bother, but if you are or if you already have a couple other variants, these are fantastic additions.
One of the best IS mediums for laser vomit. It’s bigger than the BJ-3 with lower mounts and no range quirk, but it has more raw DPS and a few other build options.
It did recently get hit with the nerf-bat, but it’s still pretty good (though not amazing), and it serves as a unique playstyle from the other Catapults.
The Marauder is good, but I’m not a huge fan of how the mech feels. But if you are one of the many that disagrees, you’ll probably enjoy the BH2. It’s quite good at laser vomit, and the high-mounted ballistic gives you a couple other options.
For Chassis Enthusiasts
I wouldn’t recommend picking these up unless you already like the chassis and want to play more of it, for the C-Bill reward or for some slightly different builds.
There are maybe 2 or 3 builds that you can run on this mech better than on the other Jagermechs, but they’re some of my favorites. That being said, none of them are better than the popular JM6-DD and JM6-S builds, so I would really only grab it if you love the Jagermech’s feel in general.
The Misery’s always been a very solid mech, but has been kind of falling off lately as all of the other mechs get buffs to their PPC and AC velocities. Still, its hardpoints ensure that it will always be good, and is a fresh change of pace from the usual Stalker builds.
The Top Dog builds are very similar to the builds you’d see on other variants, but the Top Dog does them best. Crazy structure, high mounts, and decent quirks all set you up for success, as long as you’re not expecting a super-fresh experience.
It’s a super-cheap Hero and it doesn’t suck, but I doubt it’ll wow you. Worth picking up if you’re a Locust fan, or if you want to use it to smoke dive in Scouting drops (but please don’t do that).
And all the rest…
If you love the chassis enough, you will probably find pleasure in the Hero for that chassis. I mean, the Loup de Guerre is one of my favorite mechs, but it’s not on here because it’s maybe the 5th best brawler medium in the game and doesn’t offer anything unique or interesting. But if you love Trebs I’d pick it up, and the same goes for pretty much all the others.
Pretty much all of the others…
But Stay Away From These:
Pretty Baby
Widely agreed to be one of the worst mechs in the game, and the worst Hero mech. Some people love to play it for those reasons alone, but I’m sure as hell not one of them.
Heavy Metal
It’s just not a good mech, and there are 4 good Highlander variants to choose from – no need to waste a mechbay on it.
La Malinche
A lot of people think this mech’s a waste. I actually have a higher opinion of it than most people I’ve discussed it with, but I still wouldn’t recommend picking it up.
Anansi
Probably my most hated mech in the game. It splits what would be a reasonable number of hardpoints for a single weapon type over 3 hardpoint types. Ugh.
St. Ives’ Blues
One of the worst mechs in the game, easy. It’s even bad for a Vindicator.
Quarantine
I’m not sure if it’s quite bad enough to be on this never-buy list, but…it’s close enough.
Champions
I didn’t include this originally because…I don’t buy Champions and my personal rule is to not pay MC for something I can get with C-Bills, but I’ll just quickly go over the best champions here.
One of the best mechs in the game. A lot of MC, though.
Arguably the best IS Medium in the game.
Timber’ll always be sweet. I know the build linked is on the -A, but the variants are identical.
As with the BNC-3M, one of the best mechs in the game. Hot as balls, though.
Also, if you wanna grab the JR7-F(C) and sell it, it’s a decent exchange rate for MC-to-C-Bills. There are a few other mechs like that too, like the Cicada, but I’m not sure about the exact numbers.