MechWarrior: Online - Victor Dragon Slayer Build

Image courtesy of the MechWarrior: Online Wiki

This month, is the month of the Victorious Victor!! Yes that's right I went there. Now I haven't actually bought the Dragon Slayer. But a mate of mine did. So I just "borrowed" his account and built up a pretty decent Dragon Slayer for him (and by "borrowed" I mean kicked him off his computer whilst he was in the MechLab).

Anyway, the Dragon Slayer (and all Victors) are a somewhat odd-child BattleMech. They are an 80 Ton BattleMech, hence they're classified as an Assault BattleMech. However they're only 5 Tons heavier than the Heaviest Heavy BattleMech (75 Tons). In addition, as an Assault BattleMech, they're currently the fastest, moving at 64kph Stock.

So what does this mean? Exactly as I've said in previous posts. Think of the Victor as a Heavy, Heavy BattleMech. Or rather play it like you do a Heavy BattleMech. Don't charge head on like a normal Assault. Instead play like a Heavy Striker. Brawl when you can, but be aware of the need to retreat.

I reject the current Meta and substitute... errr... something else!! Now check out this build!!

Dragon Slayer Build < MechLab Link

First thing I've noticed about the Dragon Slayer; is that many people aim for your Torsos. Many people believe that a Dragon Slayer will almost always have a XL Engine. This build lacks that XL Engine, hence making it more survivable. People will still aim at your Torsos, specifically the Right Torso. They want to get rid of the majority of your firepower.

I found that rapid fire weapons seem to be extremely weak on the Victor, especially during a brawl. You have to keep staring at the foe and you can't twist to mitigate damage. Also the Dragon Slayer is not a true Victor, it actually has a Lower Arm Actuator, which means no AC/20, the iconic weapon of a true Victor. With these 2 points in mind, the next best weapon is a Gauss Rifle.

The Gauss Rifle does add much needed range on your very close combat orientated build.

Again, Medium Lasers are the best Brawling Weapon still. You can consider Small Pulse Lasers since they've now been buffed. But I highly not recommend Small Pulse Lasers. You need the speed to be able to get in close to utilise them.

When choosing SRMs without Artemis, take into account the accuracy of each. SRM 6s have a huge spread, they're most effective when in an "in your face" environment. If SRM6s are so inaccurate, then SRM 2s are the Sniper of SRMs. SRM 4 is the middle ground and the best in my opinion. They have pretty decent accuracy up to 270m and have decent punch.

You could remove the 2 Heat Sinks for 2 SRM 6s, but you're still missing tonnage for Artemis. SRM 4s with Artemis is fun, but not really worth it.

With the current patch (July 2nd, 2013) there's major issues with movement. Steel Pebbles of Doom anyone? No really, something so tiny as a rock, can cause a massive Mech to stop. I don't mind not scaling cliffs beyond reality, but I think I can scale a 1cm rock with no issues. Apparently not. This means we need Jump Jets to scale these tiny little "Doom Bringers". A  single Jump Jet is enough to scale most things, there's not much point into taking more, unless you want to fly high enough to snipe. But even then, you can make do with 1.