Welcome to GrimMechs!
This site is an ISENGRIM project created by Tarogato and Scuro and is supported by our community contributors - a tireless legion of trusted and proven high-tier competitive mechwarriors who live the meta and are dedicated to providing the community with curated mech builds, mech-ranking lists, and the occasional tutorial and informative guide.Join our community on Discord to provide feedback, or if you are looking for help and advice!
Visit our sister site, The Jarl's List, to see how you stack up against the Mechwarrior community and track your progress.
Check out our latest GrimMerch!
Our contributors:
- Tarogato [ISEN]
- Bows3r [EmP]
- Navid A1 [JGx]
- Krasnopesky [JGx]
- dario03 [JGx]
- Lurm God [JGx]
- Jay Z [228]
- Scout Derek [OOPS]
- KhanCipher [228]
- justcallme A S H [EmP]
Tier Lists erased, GrimMERCH available!
Submitted 28 August 2022 by Tarogato
The Tier Lists haven't been meaningfully updated since Cauldron started implementing changes. The meta has shifted significantly since then and it makes no sense to keep old misleading tier ratings on the site for now.
New ratings are a work in progress, we hope to have the new ratings start populating with the next week or two as we discuss them. Check out the Focus Week channel on our Discord server if you'd like to make suggestions!
Marcobra is an artist who worked on HBS Battletech, but he's also a member of the ISENGRIM who is responsible for most of the ISENGRIM-related graphics over the years, including GrimMechs.
If you fancy having a "Muh Jarls" mouse mat, or a "GrimMechs" mug, check out his new page on Redbubble.
The Tier Lists haven't been meaningfully updated since Cauldron started implementing changes. The meta has shifted significantly since then and it makes no sense to keep old misleading tier ratings on the site for now.
New ratings are a work in progress, we hope to have the new ratings start populating with the next week or two as we discuss them. Check out the Focus Week channel on our Discord server if you'd like to make suggestions!
Grim Merchandise!
Marcobra is an artist who worked on HBS Battletech, but he's also a member of the ISENGRIM who is responsible for most of the ISENGRIM-related graphics over the years, including GrimMechs.
If you fancy having a "Muh Jarls" mouse mat, or a "GrimMechs" mug, check out his new page on Redbubble.
FS9-S(C) builds - February free mech!
Submitted 11 February 2022 by Tarogato
Here are some builds for the (C) of this Firestarter with commentary from Tarogato.
The Firestarter family is currently the best light mech chassis in the game - it has plenty of energy hardpoints to stack weight-efficient weapons so that you can invest tonnage into mobility and cooling. Unlike the competing Wolfhound family, all Firestarters have jumpjets.
The FS9-S(C) is a Champion version of the standard FS9-S, which means it is identical in all regards except it earns bonus XP so you can level it up faster. The FS9-S is not the best Firestarter variant, the FS9-A is superior for having an extra hardpoint. However the FS9-S does have a heat quirk which brings it very close to the top.
About AMS - this variant of the Firestarter is one of the few light mechs which can run dual AMS. Normally I do not recommend ever running AMS unless a mech has at least two hardpoints, which this does. However, as a light mech, the tonnage cost of AMS significantly eats into your budget for speed, jumpjets, and heatsinks - it's a big sacrifice and you will notice the negative impact it has on your performance. In exchange, you will shoot down some missiles throughout the match. The AMS won't really protect you personally that much, but when combined with AMS from your allies it can really help reduce team-wide missile damage. It's up to you whether you are willing to make that sacrifice.
7ERML - pokey skirmish
The S is the only Firestarter with a heat quirk and more than six hardpoints, so it's the optimal variant for this build. We do have ghost heat when firing all seven lasers, but it's rather minimal so you can alpha straight through it. When you are pressed into a brawl or sustained DPS situation, you can fire just 5ERML or 6ERML to avoid the heat penalty and deal slightly higher sustained DPS.
7ERML w/AMS - pokey AMS
We lose an engine, a heatsink, and a jumpjet, but now we get AMS.
7ML w/AMS - cooler less pokey AMS
This version downgrades to shorter range lasers to get more efficiency, this way we can sacrifice heatsinks and still maintain more sustained output to the ERML build. This version has 12DHS, but you can drop one more heatsink to upgrade your engine and/or jumpjets and the sustained output will still match the ERML build.
5MPL+2ERSL - MPL skirmish alpha
This is the MPL build with larger alpha. MPLs are a hybrid weapon between poking and brawling - you really need to get quite close to your enemies to make the best of them, but you don't quite have the sustained DPS to go brawling. Focus on poking, harassing, and poptarting from moderately close ranges. The reason we have ER Small lasers is because they are very similar to MPL in terms of range and burn duration, yet cost less tonnage. You can even upgrade to a bigger 6MPL+1ERSL by dropping tonnage from a combination of your choice from engine, heatsinks, and jumpjets.
4MPL+3ERSL - MPL skirmish DPS
This is the smaller build which sacrifices alpha to have more speed and cooling. This is suited to a highly aggressive playing style.
4MPL+3ERSL w/AMS - MPL skirmish AMS
Same as the previous build, but gives up the speed and cooling advantage to have AMS instead.
Light Engine Build (4MPL+3ERSL) - MPL skirmish
Light Engine Build (7ML) - ML poke
I do not recommend running Light Engine on light mechs - there are extremely few niche applications where they are optimal. However, if you are a newer player and struggling with XL deaths and think XL engines are scary, you can play these LE builds to get used to playing the mech before upgrading to a proper XL engine that gives you all the mobility and cooling you need to perform the best.
Here are some builds for the (C) of this Firestarter with commentary from Tarogato.
The Firestarter family is currently the best light mech chassis in the game - it has plenty of energy hardpoints to stack weight-efficient weapons so that you can invest tonnage into mobility and cooling. Unlike the competing Wolfhound family, all Firestarters have jumpjets.
The FS9-S(C) is a Champion version of the standard FS9-S, which means it is identical in all regards except it earns bonus XP so you can level it up faster. The FS9-S is not the best Firestarter variant, the FS9-A is superior for having an extra hardpoint. However the FS9-S does have a heat quirk which brings it very close to the top.
About AMS - this variant of the Firestarter is one of the few light mechs which can run dual AMS. Normally I do not recommend ever running AMS unless a mech has at least two hardpoints, which this does. However, as a light mech, the tonnage cost of AMS significantly eats into your budget for speed, jumpjets, and heatsinks - it's a big sacrifice and you will notice the negative impact it has on your performance. In exchange, you will shoot down some missiles throughout the match. The AMS won't really protect you personally that much, but when combined with AMS from your allies it can really help reduce team-wide missile damage. It's up to you whether you are willing to make that sacrifice.
7ERML - pokey skirmish
The S is the only Firestarter with a heat quirk and more than six hardpoints, so it's the optimal variant for this build. We do have ghost heat when firing all seven lasers, but it's rather minimal so you can alpha straight through it. When you are pressed into a brawl or sustained DPS situation, you can fire just 5ERML or 6ERML to avoid the heat penalty and deal slightly higher sustained DPS.
7ERML w/AMS - pokey AMS
We lose an engine, a heatsink, and a jumpjet, but now we get AMS.
7ML w/AMS - cooler less pokey AMS
This version downgrades to shorter range lasers to get more efficiency, this way we can sacrifice heatsinks and still maintain more sustained output to the ERML build. This version has 12DHS, but you can drop one more heatsink to upgrade your engine and/or jumpjets and the sustained output will still match the ERML build.
5MPL+2ERSL - MPL skirmish alpha
This is the MPL build with larger alpha. MPLs are a hybrid weapon between poking and brawling - you really need to get quite close to your enemies to make the best of them, but you don't quite have the sustained DPS to go brawling. Focus on poking, harassing, and poptarting from moderately close ranges. The reason we have ER Small lasers is because they are very similar to MPL in terms of range and burn duration, yet cost less tonnage. You can even upgrade to a bigger 6MPL+1ERSL by dropping tonnage from a combination of your choice from engine, heatsinks, and jumpjets.
4MPL+3ERSL - MPL skirmish DPS
This is the smaller build which sacrifices alpha to have more speed and cooling. This is suited to a highly aggressive playing style.
4MPL+3ERSL w/AMS - MPL skirmish AMS
Same as the previous build, but gives up the speed and cooling advantage to have AMS instead.
Light Engine Build (4MPL+3ERSL) - MPL skirmish
Light Engine Build (7ML) - ML poke
I do not recommend running Light Engine on light mechs - there are extremely few niche applications where they are optimal. However, if you are a newer player and struggling with XL deaths and think XL engines are scary, you can play these LE builds to get used to playing the mech before upgrading to a proper XL engine that gives you all the mobility and cooling you need to perform the best.
Focus Week 1 - January Patch
Submitted 23 January 2022 by Tarogato
Throughout this week we'll be adding builds to our database for each of the mechs that got significant quirk updates this month - the Nova, Linebacker, Black Knight, Battlemaster, and Blood Asp.
The Nova has always been a decent mech and so has not received many quirks that augment what it is already good it - red laser spam. It has received a slight armour buff to its side torsos which is the main weakness that has held this mech back from being a top choice. Most buffs focus on benefiting stock weapons and loadouts. The stock 12ERML build was already decent, and now it's actually rather good. Many ballistic builds which were previously worthless can now be run thanks to copious ammo and DPS quirks.
The Linebacker saw similar changes to the Nova. Mostly quirks that enable it to run ballistic quirks and a light smattering of durability where it was most needed.
With the Black Knight, previously the only variant really worth playing was the BL-6B-KNT due to its heat quirk which boosts raw damage output. Other variants of the Black Knight now have much stronger offensive quirks to compete more closely. Overall, the chassis has received a significant durability boost in the form of a having its structure boosts converted to armour - they are now a bit harder to crack open, which might elevate them out of trash tier.
The Battlemaster has been a rather mediocre mech for a long time now, really only excelling at ERLL trade yet still not being a top choice in that niche. Now all variants have durability quirks to help offset this mech's large profile. Offensively, pretty much every aspect of every variant has been improved and a lot of people will be testing to see if its enough to make this mech worth playing again.
The Blood Asp is already one of the better mechs in the game, so its strongest builds have not been buffed. Omnipods which were previously useless or overlooked have received boosts in efforts to bring them up to par with the chassis' previously preferred configurations.
Throughout this week we'll be adding builds to our database for each of the mechs that got significant quirk updates this month - the Nova, Linebacker, Black Knight, Battlemaster, and Blood Asp.
The Nova has always been a decent mech and so has not received many quirks that augment what it is already good it - red laser spam. It has received a slight armour buff to its side torsos which is the main weakness that has held this mech back from being a top choice. Most buffs focus on benefiting stock weapons and loadouts. The stock 12ERML build was already decent, and now it's actually rather good. Many ballistic builds which were previously worthless can now be run thanks to copious ammo and DPS quirks.
The Linebacker saw similar changes to the Nova. Mostly quirks that enable it to run ballistic quirks and a light smattering of durability where it was most needed.
With the Black Knight, previously the only variant really worth playing was the BL-6B-KNT due to its heat quirk which boosts raw damage output. Other variants of the Black Knight now have much stronger offensive quirks to compete more closely. Overall, the chassis has received a significant durability boost in the form of a having its structure boosts converted to armour - they are now a bit harder to crack open, which might elevate them out of trash tier.
The Battlemaster has been a rather mediocre mech for a long time now, really only excelling at ERLL trade yet still not being a top choice in that niche. Now all variants have durability quirks to help offset this mech's large profile. Offensively, pretty much every aspect of every variant has been improved and a lot of people will be testing to see if its enough to make this mech worth playing again.
The Blood Asp is already one of the better mechs in the game, so its strongest builds have not been buffed. Omnipods which were previously useless or overlooked have received boosts in efforts to bring them up to par with the chassis' previously preferred configurations.
Cauldon catch up and moving forward
Submitted 6 October 2021 by Tarogato
Ever since game balance has been taken over by The Cauldron, MWO has been in a constant state of flux. While The Cauldron is not done yet, most of what they set out to initially do has made it into the game by now and had some time to settle in. As things are solidifying, it's finally time for GrimMechs to reassess the ratings on our Tier Lists and play catch up with all the new builds people are running.
In the coming week, we'll be updating the list of builds that we consider S-tier mechs for General/QP. Visit our Discord server and leave us some recommendations for builds YOU think should comprise S-tier General and we'll consider them.
While the Tier Lists have not been updated yet, we HAVE been adding builds to our Database. Check it out if you haven't recently, you can sort the table by Updated date to see what's new!
All build links on the site have now been converted to MechDB 2.0 links. Thanks to Kill2Blit for helping us with this and working on the new update to his site! MechDB 2.0 is still a work in progress, so if you have any feedback regarding the new site, drop by the MechDB Discord to share your thoughts and suggestions.
Each week we'll choose one item to focus on and devote the week to discussing it on the GrimMechs Discord. This week we're taking suggestions for General/QP S-tier mechs, so head over there and let us know what mechs you think deserve to be rated as the best! In future weeks we may choose topics such as "SPL mechs" or "LPPC mechs" or "Marauder builds" and work on flushing out our Database and Tier Lists with each topic in turn.
Ever since game balance has been taken over by The Cauldron, MWO has been in a constant state of flux. While The Cauldron is not done yet, most of what they set out to initially do has made it into the game by now and had some time to settle in. As things are solidifying, it's finally time for GrimMechs to reassess the ratings on our Tier Lists and play catch up with all the new builds people are running.
In the coming week, we'll be updating the list of builds that we consider S-tier mechs for General/QP. Visit our Discord server and leave us some recommendations for builds YOU think should comprise S-tier General and we'll consider them.
Build Database
While the Tier Lists have not been updated yet, we HAVE been adding builds to our Database. Check it out if you haven't recently, you can sort the table by Updated date to see what's new!
MechDB 2.0
All build links on the site have now been converted to MechDB 2.0 links. Thanks to Kill2Blit for helping us with this and working on the new update to his site! MechDB 2.0 is still a work in progress, so if you have any feedback regarding the new site, drop by the MechDB Discord to share your thoughts and suggestions.
GrimMechs Focus Weeks
Each week we'll choose one item to focus on and devote the week to discussing it on the GrimMechs Discord. This week we're taking suggestions for General/QP S-tier mechs, so head over there and let us know what mechs you think deserve to be rated as the best! In future weeks we may choose topics such as "SPL mechs" or "LPPC mechs" or "Marauder builds" and work on flushing out our Database and Tier Lists with each topic in turn.
2020 Update - Back in business!
Submitted 5 January 2021 by Tarogato
GrimMechs has gone a year and a half without updates. To be fair, you can say the same for Mechwarrior Online itself. But as the game's meta has evolved and settled over time, our tier list has grown more and more inaccurate.
A wonderful thank you to everyone who has continued to promoting and recommend the site. It pains me to see it popping up everywhere when it's become so inactive and out of date, so it's time to get working on it again!
- The General Tier List has been updated and will continue to be adjusted.
- Every single hero mech in the game now has at least one suggested build in the database.
- Nova Cat build guide added. Thanks to KhanCipher for submitting all the builds and doing some writing which I've appropriated.
- Incubus build guide has been live for a while now. Written by Tarogato.
- Adder build guide added. Written by Tarogato.
Most of these new entries have yet to be sorted onto the tier lists, that will happen soon!
GrimMechs has gone a year and a half without updates. To be fair, you can say the same for Mechwarrior Online itself. But as the game's meta has evolved and settled over time, our tier list has grown more and more inaccurate.
A wonderful thank you to everyone who has continued to promoting and recommend the site. It pains me to see it popping up everywhere when it's become so inactive and out of date, so it's time to get working on it again!
- The General Tier List has been updated and will continue to be adjusted.
- Every single hero mech in the game now has at least one suggested build in the database.
- Nova Cat build guide added. Thanks to KhanCipher for submitting all the builds and doing some writing which I've appropriated.
- Incubus build guide has been live for a while now. Written by Tarogato.
- Adder build guide added. Written by Tarogato.
Most of these new entries have yet to be sorted onto the tier lists, that will happen soon!
May update - new features!
Submitted 23 May 2019 by Tarogato
Three new Build Guides are up, and these chasses have been added to our Tier Lists:
- Champion
- Marauder II
- Cougar
Coming soon: Mauler, Bushwacker, Hunchback, Fafnir, Wolfhound.
We are polishing this Build Guide right now. Until it is made public, you can find our Rifleman IIC builds here.
We have some optimal builds for these mechs in our database now. Check them out here:
- CPLT-C2
- WHM-9D
- MAD-9M
- KGC-001
If you haven't checked it out recently, do visit the Database. Over the past two months, we've added our entire backlog of mech builds, so there's a decent list of mechs that goes beyond just what we have Build Guides for.
There are now buttons at the top of the Tier Lists and Database where you can filter and search by various categories. The filters are saved to the URL, so you can link other people directly to specific filtered views.
All builds now have an icon nearby where you can copy the Build Code to import directly into MWO. Some builds can be done on more than one variant of a chassis and you can choose which variant you want the code to be for. This feature is currently only supported by GrimMechs. =]
When you click on the name of a build or variant, you can copy the page URL to share a direct link with others.
So if I wanted to show you straight to this LB30 Black Widow, I can do that.
I want to sincerely thank Scuro for all his time, effort, and patience in working with me to code these new features.
I may turn the tiller, but Scuro is at the oars doing the thankless hardwork behind the scenes. So if you get a chance, thank him!
Three new Build Guides are up, and these chasses have been added to our Tier Lists:
- Champion
- Marauder II
- Cougar
Coming soon: Mauler, Bushwacker, Hunchback, Fafnir, Wolfhound.
Rifleman IIC
We are polishing this Build Guide right now. Until it is made public, you can find our Rifleman IIC builds here.
MW5 pre-order variants
We have some optimal builds for these mechs in our database now. Check them out here:
- CPLT-C2
- WHM-9D
- MAD-9M
- KGC-001
Build Database
If you haven't checked it out recently, do visit the Database. Over the past two months, we've added our entire backlog of mech builds, so there's a decent list of mechs that goes beyond just what we have Build Guides for.
Filtering!
There are now buttons at the top of the Tier Lists and Database where you can filter and search by various categories. The filters are saved to the URL, so you can link other people directly to specific filtered views.
Build Codes!!!!
All builds now have an icon nearby where you can copy the Build Code to import directly into MWO. Some builds can be done on more than one variant of a chassis and you can choose which variant you want the code to be for. This feature is currently only supported by GrimMechs. =]
Direct linking in Guides
When you click on the name of a build or variant, you can copy the page URL to share a direct link with others.
So if I wanted to show you straight to this LB30 Black Widow, I can do that.
I want to sincerely thank Scuro for all his time, effort, and patience in working with me to code these new features.
I may turn the tiller, but Scuro is at the oars doing the thankless hardwork behind the scenes. So if you get a chance, thank him!
New build guides added!
Submitted 16 April 2019 by Tarogato
The following chassis now have complete build guides available, and have been added to our tier lists. Feedback is welcome in our Discord server!
- Firestarter - mostly authored by Blaketown
- Stalker - mostly authored by Jay Z
- Corsair - mostly authored by Metachanic
- Nova - mostly authored by Krasnopesky
The following chassis now have complete build guides available, and have been added to our tier lists. Feedback is welcome in our Discord server!
- Firestarter - mostly authored by Blaketown
- Stalker - mostly authored by Jay Z
- Corsair - mostly authored by Metachanic
- Nova - mostly authored by Krasnopesky
Update #1 - Dervish theorycraft?
Submitted 29 March 2019 by Tarogato
Most of our time this month has been spent on back-end shenanigans. Content injections will pick up as we wrap up our current internal projects. Thank Thor for Scurro and his continued unyielding efforts in building our inner-workings from the ground up.
- PGI announced the Dervish, and we've made our review/theorycraft for it.
- Annihilator now has a build guide and has been ranked on the tier lists.
- Hunchback IIC now has a build guide and has been ranked on the tier lists.
- The Build Guides have been improved - more information, prettier layout.
- Minor ongoing updates to builds and tier list sorting. We'll begin posting more detailed changelogs once things have settled.
Lizzee plays for EON Synergy and is an authority and force to be reckoned with on assault mechs.
---Val--- is a veteran strategist who's played or led in many teams such as ISENGRIM, Veto, 228th Wild Ones, JGx, and more.
Most of our time this month has been spent on back-end shenanigans. Content injections will pick up as we wrap up our current internal projects. Thank Thor for Scurro and his continued unyielding efforts in building our inner-workings from the ground up.
Here's what's new this month:
- PGI announced the Dervish, and we've made our review/theorycraft for it.
- Annihilator now has a build guide and has been ranked on the tier lists.
- Hunchback IIC now has a build guide and has been ranked on the tier lists.
- The Build Guides have been improved - more information, prettier layout.
- Minor ongoing updates to builds and tier list sorting. We'll begin posting more detailed changelogs once things have settled.
New contributors added!
Lizzee plays for EON Synergy and is an authority and force to be reckoned with on assault mechs.
---Val--- is a veteran strategist who's played or led in many teams such as ISENGRIM, Veto, 228th Wild Ones, JGx, and more.
Beta launch has arrived!
Submitted 1 February 2019 by Tarogato
This is a beta launch, which means things could change somewhat drastically, such as site aesthetics, and tier list philosophy. Visit our Discord and join in on the discussion. Content is slim on launch, and that's for a reason - I expect to get bogged down with feedback. We have a bunch of build guides ready to go, pending approval, so there should be a constant stream of content being injected. Check this space for updates!
While I did most of the site design myself, Scuro did the real hard work of translating my needs and wants into all the backend code and database integration that powers this site. GrimMechs also wouldn't be possible if it weren't for the Community Contributors that I recruited to populate our build database and tier lists. Ensuring that builds and tier list placements are agreed on by a majority of Contributors is a lot of work, and I selected high-tier players from a broad range of competitive units to foster diversity and ... intense discussion.
- Marauder IIC build guide
- Warhammer build guide
- Roughneck build guide
- Vapor Eagle build guide
- General Tier List, top two tiers complete
- Specialists Tier List, top two tiers complete
- Skill Tree Guide
- Annihilator
- Mad Cat Mk II
- Cyclops
- Black Knight
- Bushwacker
- Hunchback IIC
- Hunchback
- Vulcan
- Wolfhound
- Firestarter
- Commando
- February mechpack theorycraft
- View filters on Tier Lists and Build Database
It's been over a year in the making, but we're ready to get this party started!
This is a beta launch, which means things could change somewhat drastically, such as site aesthetics, and tier list philosophy. Visit our Discord and join in on the discussion. Content is slim on launch, and that's for a reason - I expect to get bogged down with feedback. We have a bunch of build guides ready to go, pending approval, so there should be a constant stream of content being injected. Check this space for updates!
While I did most of the site design myself, Scuro did the real hard work of translating my needs and wants into all the backend code and database integration that powers this site. GrimMechs also wouldn't be possible if it weren't for the Community Contributors that I recruited to populate our build database and tier lists. Ensuring that builds and tier list placements are agreed on by a majority of Contributors is a lot of work, and I selected high-tier players from a broad range of competitive units to foster diversity and ... intense discussion.
This initial launch includes...
- Marauder IIC build guide
- Warhammer build guide
- Roughneck build guide
- Vapor Eagle build guide
- General Tier List, top two tiers complete
- Specialists Tier List, top two tiers complete
Coming soon!
- Skill Tree Guide
- Annihilator
- Mad Cat Mk II
- Cyclops
- Black Knight
- Bushwacker
- Hunchback IIC
- Hunchback
- Vulcan
- Wolfhound
- Firestarter
- Commando
- February mechpack theorycraft
- View filters on Tier Lists and Build Database