Last Updated: 12-Dec-2015
Holy crap I think this was the first Master Guide I wrote. And now it’s up to date again 🙂
Overview
In general, the Stormcrow is seen as an incredibly powerful and versatile medium mech, with the main (if not only) shortcoming being its lack of jumpjets, and maybe its heat issues before you get double basics. Not only does it have the firepower to match an Inner Sphere heavy mech with ease, but its hitboxes let you tank further than a 55-tonner has any right to (but don’t get cocky, your armor values haven’t actually been doubled). When you combine its slim torso sections with its skinny legs, high speed, and stupid fucking hands that can catch shots like crazy, it represents a powerful and durable addition to any mechwarrior’s stable.
There are only 3 variants, so you’ll need to buy them all in order to master it. Just for the sake of omnipods, I recommend going with the Prime (for the head and the arms), the C (for the side torsos and arms), and the D (for the missiles everywhere). The B and D only have one important hardpoint each, so it’s ok to miss out on them. On a related note, it’s really only worth upgrading one variant (the one you intend to keep) with Artemis, since you can level the other ones with the non-missile builds.
Chassis-Wide Information
Strengths
- Faster than most non-lights by a fair margin, which lets it get in and out of sticky situations very well.
- Plus its hitboxes are pretty amazing for a 55-tonner which let it survive said situations very well when combined with the speed – not only do its arms and side torsos protect the CT well, but the torso hitboxes are pretty thin and the legs are a bit spindly.
- And on top of all that, its pod space is more than that of even the Summoner and it has plenty of hardpoints to load weapons onto, giving it some pretty amazing firepower (particularly for its tonnage).
- Plus its side torso hardpoints are pretty high-mounted which can be an asset in poking engagements.
Weaknesses
- It does have the armor of a 55-tonner which means that it will die quickly if it gets shot a lot, and you really need to try hard to not be focused.
- Combination of Clan nerfs and IS health buffs have made it harder to stay relevant to the fight with its lasers.
Generic Tips
- Stick to hit-and-run tactics for the most part; you can distract the enemies very well if your allies are shooting, but try to avoid being focused by multiple enemies. Just try to turn them around and then more or less run away.
- Swing your arms around a lot to shield with them, and take the hand actuators whenever you can because they noticeably improve your shielding.
Builds
For those of you who are not familiar with the general format, here’s how it goes (and it is different from the IS ones). We’re going to be identifying build archetypes that the mech can do, and list them in order of how awesome they are (previously I’ve sorted by range, but I’m phasing that out). I tend to either label the archetype by what their weapons and playstyle is or occasionally by name.
We’ll look at a central build or builds to fit each archetype; generally either one which can be built out on all variants, or a specific one for each variant if the variants have distinct Center Torsos. Oftentimes, there will also be alternative versions of the same sort of build which function differently in some way.
In general, the variants which can run a build will be listed in order of which does it better (obviously the best one comes first). If they’re all the same, I’ll put the Prime variant first and then list the others alphabetically.
Each archetype 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 again whatever I feel is relevant to that stuff, including links to L2P guides, on occasion.
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!
This is one of the most popular type of Stormcrow build out there, and in my opinion the most powerful. It is well suited to the usual PUG ranges of engagement while still giving you something to do at long ranges. One of the coolest things about it is how varied the builds can be for it, I have 3 that I play frequently myself.
This is not quite a front-line mech, but that doesn’t mean you won’t end up there. Poke all the time – corner-peek, hill-hump, whatever it takes, just keep poking and keep mobile.
Mech Modules: Radar Deprivation, Seismic Sensor
Weapon Modules: cERML Range
Consumables: Cool Shot, Air Strike
This build is more focused on longer-range fighting and using high mounts, but it does lack a bit of the punch of the main build. You may notice the unusual choice of a TC3; if you like you can go for a regular TC1 and an extra heat sink but I like the value of the TC3 in this case.
This gets you even better range. The ghost heat can be intimidating, but it’s not that severe if you’re just poking every once in a while, and you can stagger fire if you’re poking more often.
Weapon Modules (In order of importance): cLPLÂ Range
As it stands, the Stormcrow is one of the best light-hunters in the game, and one of the very very few worth even considering. If you get a quick opportunity to pop an enemy, alpha strike those suckers to treat them to a quick 60 damage, but if you’re in a drawn-out fight fire your missiles in groups of 3 and 2 (I like to keep weapon group 1 for left side launchers and group 2 for right side launchers, with group 3 being the head laser) to avoid ghost heat. The ghost heat isn’t so bad, but it does hurt your DPS. Oh yeah, and you should use this build on your Artemis-equipped variant because that does reduce lock-on time for streaks.
In general, you want to hold off on the laser unless you’re running cool, have lost some missiles, or are looking to finish off a crit component. Unlike most builds, you want to focus your fire on light mechs whenever possible. Don’t chase them into the enemy team, and if you get the chance to hit a crit assault you need to take it, but it only takes a couple shots to absolutely ravage an enemy light. Also, if you find that you’re never running out of ammo you can drop a ton for an extra heat sink (best location for that sink would be the right torso), but I think 5 tons should be a minimum.
Mech Modules: Radar Deprivation
Weapon Modules: cSSRM6 Cooldown, cSSRM6 Range
Consumables: Cool Shot, Air Strike
While the Stormcrow is still a medium and cannot take too many hits, its maneuverability and ability to mount this devastating array of weapons makes it a superb striker. The hard stats on this build can pretty much speak for themselves – you’re looking at a 66 damage alpha strike with 18Â maximum DPS before modules, the obvious weaknesses being range and heat.
Due to said heat issues, you need to stick to your missiles when you’re in the middle of a brawl for the most part, saving your lasers for when you need to finish off components or if you’re on resting heat/have time to cool down. Even though you won’t be relying on your lasers for damage full time, putting a solid burn in when you get the chance can open someone up ridiculously fast.
Mech Modules:Â Radar Deprivation
Weapon Modules: cSRM6 Cooldown, cSPL Range
Consumables: Cool Shot, Air Strike
And this is a bit wacky. Hot as H-E-double hockey sticks, but pretty hilariously badass when it gets in range. If only we could drop ferro and add internal engine heat sinks…
Weapon Modules: cSPL Range, cSPL Cooldown
And to round it off, we have a more-or-less pure missile boat. Nothing fancy, just splat.
Weapon Modules: cSRM6 Cooldown, cSRM6 Range
This is another popular build philosophy, combining an ability to poke at medium range with a strong presence in a brawl. This version uses 6 cERMLs to hit hard at medium range, as they’re pretty much the most tonnage efficient weapon in the game. Even after the nerf, they still serve nicely at the ~500m area. And due to the prevalence of brawling these days, the SRMs can come in handy quite often.
Try to stick to medium range to reduce your damage taken for as long as possible, but don’t be afraid to mix it up on the front lines as long as you have solid support from your team. And after you do a little brawling, you can always return to the shadows if you’ve been badly wounded. For this build, you’ll need to start shielding with your right side as opposed to your left, but try to spread damage as much as possible before you start sacrificing limbs.
Mech Modules: Radar Deprivation
Weapon Modules: cERML Range, cSRM6 Cooldown
Consumables: Cool Shot, Air Strike
This is a fantastic, though less popular, build which focuses on the low end of medium range, using the higher damage and lower duration of the cMPL to put out some serious deeps at its optimal range. Obviously it doesn’t have the reach of traditional laser vomit, but it stands up better in a brawl.
Just focus on standard hit-and-run tactics at your normal range and don’t be scared of scrapping it up at short range either.
Mech Modules: Radar Deprivation, Seismic Sensor
Weapon Modules: cMPL Range
Consumables: Cool Shot, Air Strike
This version is less about brawling than corner-peeking, but has the risk of getting stripped in one go.
This build is what makes the Stormcrow the most powerful medium mech in the game for long-range engagements. There are many variations possible, but in general the main one I linked will be your best bet. The problem is that most PUG games won’t play to your optimal range in such a mech, so you may have to cross your fingers and hope for Alpine.
With this build, you’re going to want to use the Stormcrow’s exceptional speed to try to keep the enemy at around 750 meters, while peeking with the high side torso mounts to avoid taking return fire, using your third laser if you can afford to without getting traded back on. At extreme range you can even afford to suck up the ghost heat sometimes, but as it closes or if you’re focusing on DPS it’s not a good idea.
Mech Modules: Radar Deprivation
Weapon Modules: cERLL Cooldown, cERLL Range
Consumables: Cool Shot, Air Strike
This suffers from the Gauss nerf and can be lacking when it comes to DPS, even when compared to a 3xERLL build. It’s still pretty powerful at range, but generally not your best bet.
Weapon Modules: cGauss Cooldown, cERLL Range
This one doesn’t break ghost heat, but it’s also kinda wimpy at long range, functioning more like a laser vomit for all intents and purposes (particularly after the cERML range nerf). Still, it’s a more versatile build, bringing more power to a medium or short range fight than the others while maintaining some good damage at extreme range.
Weapon Modules (In order of importance): cERML Range, cERLL Cooldown
This build is not my favorite, but it’s decently effective effectiveness. The idea is that it combines the heat-efficient and powerful gauss rifle with the hot as fuck and powerful cERML. Unfortunately, these are the weapons that got shat on in the recent balance pass. As such, it’s declined severely in popularity and effectiveness, but it’s not bad.
For the most part, this plays almost identically to a typical laser vomit build. In fact, the two biggest differences are the need to handle the Gauss charge and the ability to stick to your Gauss when things heat up. Other than that, just shield with your right side for as long as possible to preserve that Gauss and keep dishing out the damage.
Mech Modules: Radar Deprivation
Weapon Modules: cGauss Cooldown, cERML Range
Consumables: Cool Shot, Air Strike
I’m including this in for any of you who are so sadistically inclined. I hate LRMs, and even putting that aside I don’t think the Stormcrow is the mech to run them on, but I’m a completionist so I’m putting it in anyways… The build is Artemis-enabled, which I highly recommend using due to tighter missile groupings and quicker lock-on times.
All I’m gonna say for this is…shield with your right side. There’s really not much to LRMing, and it plays like a typical fast LRM boat.
Mech Modules: Target Decay, Radar Deprivation
Weapon Modules: cLRM10 Cooldown
Consumables: Cool Shot, Air Strike
It doesn’t have quite the number of either weapon to be a true force, but hey it’s a Stormcrow, how bad could it be?
Weapon Modules: cERML Range
I’ve been really enjoying the UAC/20 since the patch. Without a ballistic velocity quirk it can be a real pain to use at range, but in a brawl it puts out ridiculous damage, so pairing it with SRMs is a no-brainer.
This plays a lot like the energy/missile brawler for the most part, but has slightly better poking. Be careful with your ammo, but as long as you have some nice shots you can open up from 350 meters with your UAC and do full damage.
Mech Modules: Radar Deprivation
Weapon Modules: cSRM4Â Cooldown, cUAC20 Cooldown
Consumables: Cool Shot, Air Strike
It’s a bit tighter and a bit cooler, but doesn’t have quite the DPS. Still, the crazy crits can be useful what with all the IS structure quirks.
Weapon Modules: cSRM4Â Cooldown, cLBX20Â Cooldown
It doesn’t have the ridiculous brawling power, but if it manages to keep a bit more distance it can do some crazy DPS.
Weapon Modules: cUAC20 Cooldown, cERML Range
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. If you’re interested in playing CW, I’d recommend holding on to all 3 of them, but otherwise you can just keep or sell as many as you like.
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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!