Adder

One of the quintessential Adder builds, this has okay alpha and range so that you can play the poke game as long as you stay within cMPL optimal, and the relatively short burn duration with good sustain means you can practically brawl with this if you need to.

The downside is that you need to keep up the rate of fire to deal good damage, which means fully exposing your entire mech very frequently to output damage. As such, it's best to operate trades closely with teammates, as you will be hard-pressed to win trades on your own.

High alpha with good range, which means you don't need to expose as often as other builds to achieve your maximum damage output. You're still very unlikely to win any direct trades, but this build has a higher chance than any.

The burn duration of the cHLL can feel a bit long, but keep in mind that even if you cut the burn off early you've still dealt about 7x cERML worth of total damage anyways.

Laservomit (+DHS) - if you don't like the heat of two HLL, this alternative runs only one HLL. However, it runs a bit too cool when fully skilled, so it's pretty much only good for hot maps, or when you're still skilling up your Adders.

As you need more than five tons of ammo, this is the most ATM tubes you can fit on the Adder. Two ATM12's doesn't fit, and Two ATM9's alone isn't quite potent enough, so we arrive by necessity at this awkward combination. It deals reasonably good damage and has plenty of speed to massage the optimal damage bracket.

The Adder lacks the hardpoints to mount more SRM tubes than this, so instead it carries a lot of ammo and it runs very cool. This is a DPS brawler - the alpha is not exactly brutal, and the Adder's geometry isn't ideal for brawling, but you can output obscene damage if ignored long enough. Don't stare while waiting for your SRMs to recycle, you need to be twisting so that you aren't giving away your CT for free.

This is a fun build that can output a lot of damage at close range, but the UAC20 can be unreliable, limiting overall effectiveness. For a proper brawl Adder, SRMs are usually preferred because they don't jam.

This is a very common build which is only included here to emphasize that it is NOT recommended. Compared to a laservomit build such as 1LPL+4ERML or 1HLL+3ERML, this achieves lower alpha, lower burst, and lower sustain. It simply has no real redeeming features - even the fact that the gauss can be fired heat-free is countered by it tending to explode the moment it is exposed, and the laservomit builds cool off so fast anyways.

This is purely an anti-light build. It lacks to power to really kill anything except the smallest light mechs, and it is not recommended for general use. This is a build you would use in competitive scenarios to deter lights when your deck can't afford to sacrifice a heavier mech to fulfilling that role.

Light mechs aren't terribly effective with LRMs, and the Adder is no different. But if you feel compelled to do it anyway, this is the optimal arrangement.

Being an iconic ERPPC mech in muhlore, the Adder-Prime has significant ERPPC quirks with its So8.

The heat quirks are substantial, allowing you keep up a high rate of fire for long period of time, although you are hamstrung by by having low mounts that require to expose your entire mech to get shots off. You will need to position carefully on flanks so that you aren't the center of attention - simply trying to ridge peek in front of enemies with these mounts will get your CT deleted in no time.

The velocity quirks help to offset the poor convergence of the arms. The convergence is still poor - leading targets against a distant backdrop will still be basically impossible, but in most other scenarios the extreme projectile speed is practically "point and click" - even snapshotting 20-tonners isn't out of question.

As you are going for torso-only mounts to reduce your exposure profile, it makes sense to go for LPLs so you can make use of their DPS through repeated exposures.

This currently gets small bonuses from So8, but you can easily run this on any variant without noticing much of a difference.

Exclusively for organised group play. This has a fairly good ridge-peeking profile with the all-torso mounts, although not as good as the Cougar, and runs hotter. This is truly a support build, meant to hang out with heavier mechs for when you can't bring one yourself, and only offers speed and a bit of durability over the Cougar.

This build currently gets a small range boost from So8, but if you don't need it then you can build this on any variant.

LB20 is a substantial chonk of damage for a light mech. Don't forget that your lasers comprise almost exactly half of your alpha, so don't fire them as a mere afterthought - they play an equal part.

Compared to the SRM build, this is basically slightly worse in every way. It's just a fun build that is also decent.

swapped to the non-loyalty variant

This is about the only viable build which uses the unique hero pods. Everything is mounted at cockpit height, but the damage output is fairly lackluster. With ammo quirks you have some spare tonnage for a flamer or laser.

A variation on the previous build which outputs more damage. Everything is still high-mounted but plagued by a lack of synergy - you'll have to fire the UAC separately from the lasers against moving targets.