Enforcer


Last Updated: 1-June-2016

Enforcer?! I barely even know her!

 

Overview

The Enforcer has established itself as one of the best medium mechs in the game, fitting in to the meta fantastically and proving to be a just a solid choice in all situations. In general, the quirks are fairly good, but other factors such as its hardpoints and hitboxes make it an awesome mech.

Of all the variants, the clear winner in the ENF-4R thanks to its impressive quirks and energy-focused hardpoint loadout, which make it arguably the only one worth keeping. The only other really noteworthy mech is the ENF-5P, which has the ballistic quirks it needs in order to stay relevant as a dakka mech. After that, you’re looking at the ENF-4P which can mount an AC/20 and a huge XL engine, but is otherwise unremarkable, and the ENF-5D, which harbors a strange obsession with the LB-10X but does have jumpjets and decent hardpoints. The two are pretty close in terms of viability, but I do recommend the ENF-4P for its extra uniqueness.

 

 

Chassis-Wide Information

Strengths

  • It’s got good hitboxes: not the best, but the torso is slim and angled enough to make your enemies hit the wrong component fairly often. This also means that it is fairly XL safe.
  • Jumpjets and a high engine cap (on most of the variants) give you nice maneuverability to further help out your survivability.

 

Weaknesses

  • The mounts are pretty low, which makes it hard to compete with other mechs that accomplish basically the same thing but with high mounts like the Hunchback IIC and Blackjack.
  • Does not truly out-perform any existing mechs in any category, it just attempts to match them.

 

Generic Tips

  • Despite having nice hitboxes, you are a 50 tonner with 50 tonner armor and cannot afford to take hits. Don’t poke if you’re losing trades, and don’t tank for allies unless they’re damaged. Just focus on getting your damage out safely and efficiently until the end-game, where you can start mixing it up.
  • Make sure to keep in mind the jumpjet spam trick to juke shots (tap on the jets every few seconds when you’re in the open to trigger the animation). At first glance, the animation doesn’t seem too bad on the Enforcer, but you still want every edge you can get.

 

Builds

For those of you who are not familiar with the general format of these, here’s how it goes: I will go over each variant one at a time, examining at least one build for each of them and going over the details of the builds. In general, there will be two paragraphs for each build – one describing the values of the build itself, and the other about its optimal playstyle. In general, the builds will be labeled according to their armament, but occasionally I will name a build if it is particularly badass. Also – the consumables I’ve listed are the ones that are best for normal play, but while leveling the mech you may want to swap the less important one out for a UAV, if you can afford to use consumables at all (they aren’t necessary, just nice). Now then, on with it!

 

ENF-4R

The ENF-4R is the entire reason to get the Enforcer, thanks to its energy mounts and quirks. It gets 10% to energy cooldown, heat gen, and range (with an extra 10% to large laser range), 15% to laser duration, and 20% to ballistic cooldown. On top of that, it gets 50% to structure on the arms and legs, and 25% extra torso twist speed.

Build 1:

This build focuses on sort-of-long range firepower, with some medium lasers as backup. Your 3 jumpjets and XL 260 enable you to quickly get into positions to leverage your superior range and damage, while also letting you get out of such positions when your heat is pushing the limit or if you are being focused.

With this mech, you want to focus on staying out of the front of the enemy’s brain so that you can get in your harassment unmolested. Try to get good flanking maneuvers going to that end (making sure that you’re close enough to your team to run back if you get lights sent after you), and reposition if the enemy realizes what you’re doing. Your large lasers can hit out to well over 500 at full damage, and it’s still worth poking past 700 as long as you’re not taking return fire. Even at short range, you want to focus on your Large Lasers over your Meds, but don’t be afraid to throw the Meds into an alpha if you’re running cool or need to finish off a component ASAP. For more on Laser Vomit, check out the guide.

Mech Modules: Radar Deprivation, Seismic Sensor

Weapon Modules: Large Laser Range, Medium Laser Range

Consumables: Cool Shot, Air Strike

While this build requires better heat management and thus is less friendly to play (particularly if your mech is not yet double-basic’d), it is a very strong alternative. For the most part, it should be a taste preference.

Weapon Modules: Large Laser Range, Large Laser Cooldown

This forgoes the quirked Large Lasers entirely for a more modern mid-range feel. I think it’s an inferior build to the first two, but it is still a fantastic choice in general.

Weapon Modules: Large Pulse Range, Large Pulse Cooldown

 

Build 2:

This actually works out surprisingly well on the Enforcer, one of the better IS options for it. The theory is the same as on Clan Gauss Vomit, but obviously your Medium Lasers are effective at much shorter ranges.

This build plays similarly to the LL boat in that you can’t afford to have the enemy pay attention to you, but forces you to do so up close. This leads to better DPS in general, but it’s much more risky. It may not be a brawler but it can certainly perform well on the outskirts of one, putting in precision shots to open up or finish off enemy components. Obviously focus on using your Gauss Rifle whenever you can, and use your lasers whenever you have heat available. For more on Gauss Vomit, check out the guide.

Mech Modules: Radar Deprivation, Seismic Sensor

Weapon Modules: Gauss Rifle Cooldown, Medium Laser Range

Consumables: Cool Shot, Air Strike

This version of the build takes advantage of the AC/10’s lower tonnage to get better DPS and higher speed, but it does lose the range and heatlessness of the Gauss Rifle.

Weapon Modules: AC/10 Cooldown, Medium Laser Range

 

 

ENF-5P

This variant focuses on low-mounted ballistic arms, which is pretty horrible, but it does get useful quirks. Specifically, it gets a 30% reduction to UAC jam chance and 15+5% UAC/5 cooldown. On top of that, you have 5% ballistic heat gen, 30% ballistic velocity, 16 armor in each arm, and 12 structure in each leg. The agility quirks are pretty nice too, with 40% accel/decel, 10% turn rate, and 25% torso twist speed.

Build 1:

Dual UAC/5s is a surprisingly strong build on this mech, with very high DPS and the ability to get completely out of control if ignored. The problem is, lots of things hold it back. Your mounts are low which requires almost full exposure, they’re spread which messes with your convergence, it’s slow (or low on ammo if you up the engine), and it’s squishy. But I love that UAC jam chance quirk.

Most Enforcer builds require you to play cautiously, to poke out and take a shot before retreating back to cover and waiting to try again. This just has you stand out in the open and hold the trigger down. Which is pretty dumb. But sometimes you can get away with it if you keep range on your targets, make sure they’re distracted, and of course stay by hard cover just in case the enemy decides to start focusing you.

Mech Modules: Radar Deprivation, Seismic Sensor

Weapon Modules: UAC/5 Cooldown, UAC/5 Range

Consumables: Air Strike, UAV

It’s not bad, but it’s not as good. If one of the arms had no lower arm actuator, it would be amazing, but right now this is the best you can do for asym.

Weapon Modules: UAC/5 Cooldown, AC/5 Cooldown

 

Build 2:

Your weapon mounts aren’t terribly high and you don’t have many useful quirks for it, but damn it you can jump snipe asymmetrically at long range! I’m going to go ahead and call this as the best 50 ton jump sniper in the game, but when you consider that it’s not as good as the Shadowhawk and jump sniping isn’t even in vogue anymore, such accolades fall a bit short.

In order to play this mech you’re going to want to jump snipe. If you don’t know how to jump snipe, well, jump and then shoot the bad guys in mid-air. I don’t want to go over the intricacies of it here, but that’s all you really need to know to get started. You get full asymmetry on this mech, so take advantage of that by peeking out from around the left side of hard cover, and jumping from such positions as well. Keep in a position that will let you poke effectively, and avoid return fire, and you should do pretty well. For more on this style of play, check out the PPFLD guide.

Mech Modules: Radar Deprivation, Seismic Sensor

Weapon Modules: Gauss Rifle Cooldown, Gauss Rifle Range

Consumables: Cool Shot, Air Strike

 

ENF-4P

This variant’s distinguishing feature is its lack of a lower arm actuator in its right arm and a huge engine cap. It gets 10% to ballistic range and velocity, 5% to ballistic cooldown, and 10% to energy range, but the big quirks going for it are the (roughly) 45% boosts to structure. It also does get 10% to accel/decel, turn rate, and torso twist speed.

Build 1:

A couple years ago, this would have been one of the best brawlers in the game. These days, it’s mediocre at best. The XL vulnerability, high heat, and mix of weapons all hold it back, but it does put out a decent amount of very concentrated DPS.

This is best played as a quick striker, prodding enemies’ flanks for an alpha or two whenever you get the chance, while attempting to stay fresh. That last part is pretty important, and I’d recommend playing a bit cautiously at first so that you don’t just get destroyed once you finally get in range, and also because your ammo is a bit light. If and when the ranges do close, you can use your team as a big distraction and get a bit more aggressive with the pokes, but at a shorter range to optimize your damage and efficiency.

Mech Modules: Radar Deprivation, Seismic Sensor

Weapon Modules: AC/20 Cooldown, Medium Pulse Range

Consumables: Air Strike, Cool Shot

The lasers have a bit more range but higher duration, so I’m not a huge fan of the trade-off. But it may fit you a bit better.

Weapon Modules: AC/20 Cooldown, Medium Laser Range

This is a bit anemic if you ask me, but it is blazingly fast.

Weapon Modules: AC/20 Cooldown, Medium Laser Range

 

Build 2:

I just wish you could run it on the ENF-5P. Even with lesser quirks, it does work decently well – your DPS takes a solid hit, but your durability is considerably improved and the Medium Lasers make a difference. Other than that, it does get the huge bonus of having both UACs in the RA, and it can lay down the fire pretty effectively.

Mostly, you’ll just want to find a corner that you can stick your right arm out of and just spam the trigger. You can’t really stand up in trades well, but you should be able to get back behind cover easily enough, and you’ll be taking cover frequently anyways when your UACs inevitably jam. Most of the time, you will want to stay around 500 meters, but in a brawl you can get away with sitting on the outskirts and firing in with all weapons.

Mech Modules: Radar Deprivation, Seismic Sensor

Weapon Modules: UAC/5 Cooldown, Medium Laser Range

Consumables: Air Strike, Cool Shot

 

ENF-5D

This variant has similar hardpoints to the ENF-4P and similar quirks to the ENF-5P, but it has less uniqueness than either. It has 15+5% LBX cooldown, 20% ballistic range and velocity, 15% laser duration, and 10% LBX spread. It also gets 50% structure to the legs and arms, and 25% torso twist speed.

Build 1:

This is the best way I could come up with to try to use the LBX quirks. Unfortunately, the only quirk that ever makes a difference for the LBX is Cooldown, and the ENF-5D’s velocity and range quirks are utterly wasted on the weapon. Still, 20% cooldown is nice (though it’s no CN9-D), so might as well make the most of it.

This is definitely a brawler, with its weapons being pretty much useless past 300 meters. Save your armor for when the engagement closes, or if you can get a flank on them (this might be dangerous though). Shield with your left side to protect that LBX, and try to stay alive for long as possible while firing for effect.

Mech Modules: Seismic Sensor, Radar Deprivation

Weapon Modules: LB 10-X Cooldown, Medium Pulse Range

Consumables: Cool Shot, Air Strike

This gets a bit more range, and takes better advantage of the velocity and range quirks. It’s still a bit wimpy, but you’re nimble and the AC/10 gives you nice DPS.

Weapon Modules: AC/10 Cooldown, Medium Laser Range

This is a solid mid-range build, with decent range and DPS, and the quirks are pretty great for it. I highly recommend at least giving it a go.

Weapon Modules: AC/10 Cooldown, Large Laser Range

 

Build 2:

This is an alternative to the ENF-5P poptart, but it doesn’t have quite as good quirks for it. It also loses out on some jumpjets and asymmetry, which is a damn shame, but the ER PPC is nice and high mounted. It’s nothing particularly special, but it’s still probably the best option for the variant.

This will have the same exact playstyle as the ENF-5P build so you can just check out, except you’ll be playing it more vertically than horizontally because it has higher mounts and less asymmetry. This gives you the ability to use more shallow jumps and only peek the ER PPC over the hill and let that out, only risking a full pop with Gauss if you can get away with it.

Mech Modules: Radar Deprivation, Seismic Sensor

Weapon Modules: Gauss Rifle Cooldown, ER PPC Cooldown

Consumables: Cool Shot, Air Strike

 

Build 3:

Nothing much to say about it, really. It’s a lot like the ENF-4P and ENF-5P asym dakka builds, but…a bit worse. It is still one of the better options for the ENF-5D, but not better enough. You can check out the other sections for more info on playing it, since it plays mostly the same.

Mech Modules: Radar Deprivation, Seismic Sensor

Weapon Modules: AC/5 Cooldown, Medium Laser Range

Consumables: Air Strike, UAV

 

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. And the Enforcer is overwhelmingly usual.

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. Like I said earlier, the ENF-4R is your best variant and probably the only one worth mastering, but if you like another one, go for it.

_________

And that’s that. I hope you enjoy your mech, let me know if you have any questions, and as always glhf

 

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