Mech Spotlight: Wolverine

[RasaNova]

It's been a while since I've done a new spotlight! But the Wolverine has been coming up in the forum, so seems fitting that we give this solid medium mech some justice.

I personally confess I don't have much experience with this one, so will leave it up to others to share your loadouts, strategies, stories, screenshots, and Hugh Jackman jokes here! How do you Wolverine?

All Mech Spotlights:

Centurion
BlackJack
Thunderbolt
Quickdraw
Shadow Hawk
JagerMech
Highlander
Grasshopper
Vindicator
Wolverine
Locust
Catapult
Orion

[neil]

Hugh Jackman
Aussie
Aussie
Aussie
Oi Oi Oi

As for my wolverine (the Mech one, not the one with the sharp pointy sqwords for fingers)
I upped my AC to a ++ Stability increase model, dumped the laser and upped (or is that downed) the SRM to a 4++ which did the same effectw ith less weight.
Much more armour and a mech that lasted me a long while

[Strayed]

Can't say I've used these too much; although the builds I use for the 6R is essentially similar to a Hawk 2D / 2H - I simply opted to use the Hawks in SP because I was lucky enough to get parts for these a lot

I do have an AC20 version of the 6R but lets not go there.. its bad. CN9-A "Yen Lo Wang" is much better and lets leave it at that lol ;P

WVR-6R
3x SRM6 with 3t ammo
5x JJ
Max armour except for RRT 50, LRT 50 and CRT 50

Use: striker. Jump around and be annoying, but watch that heat. You want to shoot at flanks and rear - do not man fight. Excels in a pair with another striker; is super annoying when used in conjunction with a IDFS LRMer who has caused unsteady and the target just needs a push. It's also good to back up a DF brawler who's "tanking" the enemy and the 6R is being ignored to allow a flanking shot or a shot to the jaxxy. Like most other striker pilots, Pilot 2 is great for this build as well as guts 1. This byild is super annoying when you abuse Pilot 2 with smart use of reserve turn. Like super annoying. You'll need gunnery to hit with those SRMs so gunnery should be leveled as you level for Pilot 2 after you get guts 1 to lock out your two trees.

WVR-6K
4x MLAS
2x SLAS
1x SRM6 with 2t ammo; or you can drop 1t ammo for another HS
5x JJ
3x HS
Max armour except for RRT 30, LRT 30, CRT 45, RL 115, LL 115

Use: lasboat striker; more like a heavier Jenner. Plays like a heavy Jenner. Overheats like a Jenner. Do not man fight; use in a pair with something else, maybe another WVR or maybe a Hawk 2D/2H. Jump around and be annoying. This build will runs hot - so be careful; this is especially even more so if you MP with this build and you face someone like me who lubs flamers. You'll need good gunnery for this build. Pilot 2 and Guts 1 with smart use of reserve turn makes this build super annoying.

[C4Warr10r]

Ah, Wolverines. Best to make sure they're well and truly dead, they have a nasty habit of regenerating. Or was that something else?

In any case, they are tough mediums and fairly good at brawling just in the stock configuration. They're like a tougher Shadow Hawk with less range and more damage output. Why it was named after a small woodland creature is anyone's guess, but it can scrap well.

Among the classic trio of heavy mediums, the other two being the Hawk and the Griffon, the Wolverine is arguably the most useful thanks to the combination of mobility, armor, and in this game, hardpoints. Nor does it need to be a mech that runs hot, though it certainly can.

If the Wolverine has any glaring flaw it's that you're going to be sacrificing tonnage and range for damage in most cases, but then that's what it is meant for. Not much else to say about it.

One thing that always amused me about this design was its depiction in the 3025 Technical Readout. It's carrying a purse, which I assume is supposed to be an ammo magazine for the AC/5. So, what? It carries clips around with it? How would a Battlemech even load a clip and why would it ever need to?

[infernium2068]

I'm running one as a light fire-support unit. MLAS+, AC/5+, LRM10+. Three jump jets and armor. Runs ice cold, even on lunar maps.

[Pherdnut]

Mediums with 5 JJs are mostly the same. Only the weapons they can equip differentiates for the most part. The R version happens to be capable of packing exactly one AC/20 with two ammo and max JJs at stock armor. Bad idea for a low-experience pilot. Interesting with some accuracy/called shot bonuses.

[heronlord]

Great skirmisher build, exchangeable with my Shadowhawks. AC/5, SRM 6, 5 JJ, and as much armour as it can carry. Useful as a scout skirmisher, often bracing after jumping or going for sensorlocks, so armour is more important than damage output, but the SRM6 and AC/5 can fire 4-5 turns in a row with jumping.

[XLjedi]

I rather don't care for the WVR-6R, but love the WVR-6K completely decked out with M and S lasers and SRMs with as much damage stacked as possible. It one-shoots everything in the back with an alpha precision strike.

Took out two assaults with back surgery on the last run using this loadout:

Head: S Laser ++ +5 dmg, 25% crit <-- I'd opt for the +10 dmg S Lasers++
LT: SRM6++ 4 dmg
RA: M Laser ++ x4 <-- 4 of these things with as much damage stacked as possible
RA: S Laser ++ +5 dmg, 25% crit <-- I'd opt for the +10 dmg S Lasers if available

heatsinks x6 on torso and legs
SRM ammo x2 on legs

No JJ's at all... I just sprint it forward until it's in the face of something, and then unload on its back. It can also one-shot the middle weights like hunchbacks, griffins, centurians with a good focused precision alpha strike on the front CT. Current AI seems woefully inept at countering a sprint-into-your-face attack strategy. The Achiles Heal of this mech is that you have 5 out of 6 lasers mounted on the right arm.

The WVR-6R on the other hand, is complete garbage that I no longer bother with.

[wesnef]

Hmm. If you just have a single SRM6, you probably don't need two tons of ammo. That's 33 turns of ammo. (I usually aim for 12 'shots' worth of various ammos on my mechs, and I've rarely run out.)

[XLjedi]

Originally posted by wesnef:

Hmm. If you just have a single SRM6, you probably don't need two tons of ammo. That's 33 turns of ammo. (I usually aim for 12 'shots' worth of various ammos on my mechs, and I've rarely run out.)

Could possibly load more heatsinks, but don't really need em. I consider it backup having one on each leg, but seldomly ever get leg shot. I might consider dropping one ammo for more armor though? Alternatively, a pair of JJ's might come in handy? Hmmm...

Good call.