Viable Dragon Builds?

[OOTN]

As the Dragon is extremely cheap right now I've been trying to make it work. Its has very high armor for its tonnage but seems to be very lacking in firepower. I picked up the 1N variant and have been trying to make it work, but I struggle to get kills or even get above 300 damage. Typically I run two AC5's and either a two ERM or one ERL with a light engine 285. Anyone know how to use a Dragon properly? I've heard of the triple UAC2 build but that seems like even more of a peashooter.

[GamerCH]

Well... yeah you already heard about the "popular" one. You'd be surprised how much damage you can do with it. Afterall you invest a huge amount of tonnage into the weaponry.

Other builds require you to be sneaky or to be next to others that are better targets for the enemy (not being taken serious is a main perk of mediums, and you kinda are one).

A viable build there is not imo. The mech is just outdated and its role is not needed in MWO. Its a great mech in the game Battletech.

Could be good on Incursion and Escort if anyone would play that. Totally outmatched by the Linebacker thou.

[OOTN]

Not viable, eh? I suspected but I wasnt really sure. Could I ask exactly what it is about it that makes it unviable? My guess is that it just doesnt have the firepower to stand up to even medium mechs it seems.

[GamerCH]

Well with the 1N you're kinda forced to have two AC5 and work with those. The cooldown quirks on those are pretty good. So it will play like that UAC2 build.

Its unviable because 60 tons is a really bad spot to be in. Too slow and big for lighter mech tasks, too big and undergunned for heavier mech tasks. I have a Hellfire and I think its also 60tons? But it comes with MASC.

MWO uses the stats from the boardgame and that had melee. With melee combat it would be a pretty amazing mech.


I fancied the other one with 2 energy hardpoints in the left torso. Figured I'd be some fast long range mech with either 2 ER Large Laser or ER PPC. Never tried it out thou.


I finally gave in and gave the Gargoyle a try, a mech very much like the Dragon. The mobility makes me play quite well with it so maybe you too should bet on the mobility. Your two AC5 cause almost no heat so try to sneak up to a... Laserboat after it fired and then wrestle it down.

You may have success with your mech and enjoy it regardless of everything one can think of. Sometimes the luck and chaos can surprise you.

[salamatmahal]

I think the Dragon DRG-5N with 3xUAC2 is a pretty reliable damage-dealer. I'm not particularly good with it and there will be people with better builds or that roll-damage or protect their arm better or aim better, etc. But it still puts up some good numbers fairly often. The dps of a uac2 is not as far below bigger weapons as you might think.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vo-C4ZWvhtQ

[GamerCH]

In that video at 5:00 you can exactly see why that mech is bad.

For 5 minutes he walks around and randomly does damage all over the place with nobody ever focusing on him. Then when he's forced to actually fight an enemy mech since his wapons work like a RAC you gotta stare the opponent down while continuously firing. You just get owned.

Hide in the fray, use your friends as shields, do a little damage all over the place. At the end be surprised that you did a whole lot of damage and got totally owned once your luck ran out.

[OOTN]

Originally posted by Ivanka 46th:

Then when he's forced to actually fight an enemy mech since his wapons work like a RAC you gotta stare the opponent down while continuously firing. You just get owned.

This has indeed been the entirety of my experience with the mech so far. It does pretty well as long as you never get into any one on one situations, but that can be said for almost any mech. Once you actually do have to fight like that though, you just get outgunned, no matter how much armor you have.

The energy variant of the mech has yet to be tried though. Two LPPC's and an AC10 might be neat, or two HPPC's and a couple pulse lasers. Im hesitant to sink any more C-bills into these mechs though, considering what I've already spent. They're on sale for only 2.5 million though... Hm. You could fit four Medium Pulse, one MRM10, and an AC5 on there with three double heat sinks. That's certainly a firepower upgrade. It's pretty tempting to try that.

[Xilo The Odd]

if you run macro firing chains, the triple UAC 2 in the arm is a fun lil bullet hose.

i also enjoy my hero Flame with a heavy gauss or a UAC 20 in the shoulder and some energy backup. there is just something about that shoulder mount... i seem to be able to hit exactly what i want with it using a heavy gauss every time and do real good damage with it.

[salamatmahal]

Yes, facing off with a scorch in a 60 ton mech is a pretty bad idea. Not particular to the Dragon specifically though.

[Chillidoge]

Hey man, my lance often runs all dragons and while I don't own the 1N (I think I have the 5N) you could easily slap an Ultra AC10 in the ballistic arm, two medium lasers and two SRM 4's in it without much trouble and slay all day.

The Dragon is one of the most heavily armoured heavy mechs in the game, to the point it could be argued it's overpowered. So, use it like a battering ram to smash red team from the left, right or behind or use it as a bulwark to prevent pushes onto blue team's left and right flanks while you use voice chat to notify your team you're about to be overwhelmed.

Hope that helps!

[Mistasandman]

Originally posted by Ivanka 46th:

In that video at 5:00 you can exactly see why that mech is bad.

For 5 minutes he walks around and randomly does damage all over the place with nobody ever focusing on him. Then when he's forced to actually fight an enemy mech since his wapons work like a RAC you gotta stare the opponent down while continuously firing. You just get owned.

I mean the issue of the mech is that you have to land your shots consistently, all into one component, otherwise you're just farming damage.

You dont have to entirely facestare, using freelook makes the arm reticle follow, allowing you to shield your weapon arm and mitigate damage to CT while you shoot them if necessary. Doable with LFE build I might add.

[Mistasandman]

Originally posted by Chillidoge:

Hey man, my lance often runs all dragons and while I don't own the 1N (I think I have the 5N) you could easily slap an Ultra AC10 in the ballistic arm, two medium lasers and two SRM 4's in it without much trouble and slay all day.

The Dragon is one of the most heavily armoured heavy mechs in the game, to the point it could be argued it's overpowered. So, use it like a battering ram to smash red team from the left, right or behind or use it as a bulwark to prevent pushes onto blue team's left and right flanks while you use voice chat to notify your team you're about to be overwhelmed.

Hope that helps!

It's not overpowered, it's easily disarmable and best played with long range loadouts to make use of its arm quirks and ballistic quirks. By all means sure, try and brawl with it, but you'll quickly find that other mechs do it better with more burst and consistent dps without needing the armor.

[GamerCH]

It has like 15 or so more armor for that big fat nose.

Armor is a good argument for IS mechs thou. Its kinda how PGI balances them, they slap a huge amount of armor on them.

[The Fifth Horseman]

Originally posted by Chillidoge:

The Dragon is one of the most heavily armoured heavy mechs in the game, to the point it could be argued it's overpowered.

I think you have it mixed up with the Roughneck.

[Xilo The Odd]

Originally posted by The Fifth Horseman:

Originally posted by Chillidoge:

The Dragon is one of the most heavily armoured heavy mechs in the game, to the point it could be argued it's overpowered.

I think you have it mixed up with the Roughneck.

i was never a fan of the chassis. but thats just personal taste. the free one they handed out a long time ago was pretty underwhelming compared to any of my dragon setups.

[Mistasandman]

Originally posted by Xilo The Odd:

i was never a fan of the chassis. but thats just personal taste. the free one they handed out a long time ago was pretty underwhelming compared to any of my dragon setups.

The powerhouse is underwhelming?