Firestarter

MPLs are a staple loadout for all IS mechs with enough tonnage and hardpoints to boat them, granting decent firepower which excels at both poking and knife-fighting.

MPL and ERSL when combined act as one weapon with great synergy, having very similar range and recycle time while not triggering ghost heat. This allows you to spend less tonnage on weapons while still attaining larger alpha damage. This is the largest alpha MPL build we recommend, being 4+4, however it is also possible to go larger if you wish, running 5+3 or even the extreme 6+2 which would be roughly equivalent to running 7.5 MPL.

This build can be played on the FS9-K if you'd prefer more arm flexibility, but the FS9-A offers more insurance in the form of torso mounts since Firestarter arms are rather fragile.

MPLs are a staple loadout for all IS mechs with enough tonnage and hardpoints to boat them, granting decent firepower which excels at both poking and knife-fighting.

This is a simple version which runs MPLs only, and is the maximum you can boat before triggering ghost heat. You don't have to worry about the longer duration and shorter range of ERSL.

Building this on the FS9-A allows you to strip one arm to get an extra heatsink, which makes this build cooler than the heat-quirked FS9-S. This is a right-sided version, but you can build left- or right-sided according to your preference.

MPLs are a staple loadout for all IS mechs with enough tonnage and hardpoints to boat them, granting decent firepower which excels at both poking and knife-fighting.

This is a version which removes one laser and engine size to gain a full ton. Here the ton goes into jumpjets because having 3 jumpjets is very useful but you could also choose to put a heatsink instead and keep only 1 jumpjet.

MPLs are a staple loadout for all IS mechs with enough tonnage and hardpoints to boat them, granting decent firepower which excels at both poking and knife-fighting.

This simple build runs the minimal viable weapons so you can invest tonnage into speed, cooling, or jumpjets. If you want even more cooling or jumpjets you can drop to XL280 for another spare ton: 5x MPL skirmish (+DHS)

This is a right-sided version, but this build can also be done on the left arm instead. Whether you build left- or right-sided is personal taste.

This is ideal for fighting other lights and assassinating slower targets. If you aren't firing the SPLs as rapidly as possible, then you aren't properly leveraging the advantage of this build. Remember the Firestarter is large and easy to kill - try not to get caught by multiple enemies because you probably won't escape.

A viable candidate for Light Engine - SPLs are relatively cool enough that you can get by, however you're still giving up some of the vital speed that SPLs need to maneuver in short range, as well as some sustained brawl DPS in the form of heatsinks.

Decent firepower and decent speed allows you to continuously poke and reposition while keeping a safe distance. Avoid fighting other lights, this build is bad at knife-fighting.

Building this on the FS9-A allows you to strip the arm to get an extra heatsink, making this build run cooler than the heat-quirked variants.

This is a right-sided version, but this build can also be done on the left arm instead. Whether you build left- or right-sided is personal taste.

This is one of the few plausible candidates for Light Engine. Similar speed and cooling compared to XL builds, with acceptable firepower. Not enough heatsinks to run proper ERMLs, you get heat efficiency by running standard MLs instead, which lack the pinpoint punch of MPLs.

This is a right-sided version, but this build can also be done on the left arm instead. Whether you build left- or right-sided is personal taste.

This is a hybrid build which has seen use in competitive play.

The Firestarter lacks the nimbleness or small form factor to excel with LPPCs, and furthermore lacks the quirks to make them potent. Playing this as a ranged harasser or poptart will see you pulling low numbers and generally not being effective. The strength in this build is its ability to apply small but constant pressure at range, while having adequate brawling DPS such that it can't easily be rushed down like many other ranged harassers can. This is an effective strategy in competitive play, but in Quickplay you will be better served by treating this build as a small laser brawler with some flexibility to deal some ranged damage when a brawl is not available.

Like an IS version of the Cougar, this is a silly build which plays to the Firestarters' main weakness - being a large target. Instead of exposing to the enemy frequently and having to fire multiple times before reaching heat cap, this build instead expends all its damage and heat in one single volley, so you don't have to expose to the enemy as often to deal your peak DPS.

This is a borderline meme build - the exceedingly slow speed makes you a very vulnerable to be caught out - you can't play it like a light mech, you have to team up with heavier mechs and play such that they are always the focus of the enemies' attention before you expose yourself.

One of the strongest general purpose builds for the Firestarter simply due to having a larger alpha. You can fire all eight lasers most of the time despite the ghost heat, and then use just the penalty-free six lasers on the arms when you heatcap and need the sustained DPS.

This build can also be done on the FS9-A, but then you give up the full six mounts on articulated arms.

Decent firepower and decent speed allows you to continuously poke and reposition while keeping a safe distance. Avoid fighting other lights, this build is bad at knife-fighting.

Compared to the same build on the FS9-A, this variant offers complete arm flexibility, but it is fragile.

MPLs are a staple loadout for all IS mechs with enough tonnage and hardpoints to boat them, granting decent firepower which excels at both poking and knife-fighting.

MPL and ERSL when combined act as one weapon with great synergy, having very similar range and recycle time while not triggering ghost heat. This allows you to spend less tonnage on weapons while still attaining larger alpha damage. This is the largest alpha MPL build we recommend, being 4+4, however it is also possible to go larger if you wish, running 5+3 or even the extreme 6+2 which would be roughly equivalent to running 7.5 MPL.

This build can be played on the FS9-K if you'd prefer more arm flexibility, but the FS9-A offers more insurance in the form of torso mounts since Firestarter arms are rather fragile.

MPLs are a staple loadout for all IS mechs with enough tonnage and hardpoints to boat them, granting decent firepower which excels at both poking and knife-fighting.

This simple build runs the minimal viable weapons so you can invest tonnage into speed, cooling, or jumpjets. If you want even more cooling or jumpjets you can drop to XL280 for another spare ton: 5x MPL skirmish (+DHS)

This is a right-sided version, but this build can also be done on the left arm instead. Whether you build left- or right-sided is personal taste.

This is ideal for fighting other lights and assassinating slower targets. If you aren't firing the SPLs as rapidly as possible, then you aren't properly leveraging the advantage of this build. Remember the Firestarter is large and easy to kill - try not to get caught by multiple enemies because you probably won't escape.

This build is more popular on the FS9-A. The FS9-K gives you arm articulation which is wildly superior in knife-fighting, but outweighed by the fragility of the arms - losing just one severely gimps your damage output, so it's better to not gamble on taking this variant for this build.

Similar to the FS9-A, but this offers consistent convergence owing to mounting all LPPC on the same arm and having a much wider firing arc. This comes with the downside of more of your weapons being mounted in fragile arms and so the FS9-A is generally considered superior.

As mentioned before, this build is suitable for competitive play scenarios and tends to leave you at a slight disadvantage in Quickplay.

Equivalent to greater than 6MPL, this version sacrifices speed and cooling to run a heavier alpha.

Almost equivalent to 6MPL, this version sacrifices some firepower to have extra mobility and cooling. This is an ideal use-case of the FS9-S heat quirk to get a build with truly higher sustain than the other Firestarter variants, placing it in a much more aggressive or defensive role where it isn't entirely opposed to brawling.

This is one of the few plausible candidates for Light Engine - the heat quirk helps offset the lack of heatsinks. You still sacrifice speed and DPS, which really makes the survivability trade-off not worth it. However, if you are really struggling with dying to XL, you can give this a try until you get used to playing the mech and spreading damage.

You sacrifice a lot to bring AMS on an MPL build, but this is workable. Your damage is equivalent to 6MPL, with less flexibility to bring speed, cooling, and jumpjets. If a single JJ is not enough for you, you can drop the heatsink for two extra JJ - the build is playable with only 10DHS.

Decent firepower and decent speed allows you to continuously poke and reposition while keeping a safe distance. Avoid fighting other lights, this build is bad at knife-fighting. 7ERML does have ghost heat, but the penalty is small and you have enough cooling to ignore it. If you get stuck in a brawl or long DPS situation, just fire 5ERML or 6ERML to avoid the penalty and maximise your DPS.

It's worth noting that this is a comparable alternative to the JVN-11A.

A safe and flexible build thanks to its longer range. You can fire all 7ERML almost at all times - the ghost heat is quite small. When you find yourself in a brawl or sustained farming session you can fire only 5ERML or 6ERML to avoid the penalty and maximise your output.

6x MPL is a staple light mech build which is decent at both poking and knife-fighting. This is generally the best build, regardless of variant. The strength lies in the precision of the short MPL burn duration, and the burst potential of having all six on a fast cooldown.

The FS9-H allows you to run this build with most of your firepower in the arms, which could be seen as an advantage (or not) compared to the FS9-A and WLF-2, and you get a heat quirk compared to the FS9-K.

You really should run full 6x MPL at all times for the increased burst, however the 5x MPL version is good for hot maps and leveling up unskilled mechs. Take advantage of the extra cooling and extra speed by harassing as frequently as possible. If you are not constantly heatcapped from firing so often, then you are not properly leveraging the DPS advantage of this build.

If you want more cooling or jumpjets, you can drop to XL280 for a spare ton: 5x MPL skirmish (+DHS)

Decent firepower and decent speed allows you to continuously poke and reposition while keeping a safe distance. Avoid fighting other lights, this build is bad at knife-fighting.

This variant offers more arm mounts than the FS9-A, and offers a heat quirk that the FS9-K doesn't get. Identical to the FS9-S.

6ML isn't a terrible loadout, and the MGs add some DPS on top of it. But facetime is bad, this build somewhat encourages poor habits and it's difficult to get the most out of the two meager MGs.

A hybrid between the HMG DPS of the hero Firestarters and the SPL alpha damage of the FS9-A. This has noticeable alpha, but extra DPS, though it requires you to commit fully to brawls in order to leverage the DPS of the HMG - you shouldn't play this in the exact same way that you play the FS9-A.

A very high DPS build for dedicated brawling. This has rather meaningless alpha damage, so you must commit to brawling targets down and using your mobility to make it more difficult for opponents to land a shot on you.

Rather than a MG boat, this is more like an MPL brawler with some extra DPS and crits tacked on. Unlike most MG boats, you don't want to stare at your enemy most of the time, because that just makes the Firestarter's hitboxes easier for the enemy to isolate. Play this like any MPL build, but focus the MGs where you see open components, otherwise you won't get the most out of them.

A very high DPS build for dedicated brawling. This has rather meaningless alpha damage, so you must commit to brawling targets down and using your mobility to make it more difficult for opponents to land a shot on you.

Rather than a MG boat, this is more like an MPL brawler with some extra DPS and crits tacked on. Unlike most MG boats, you don't want to stare at your enemy most of the time, because that just makes the Firestarter's hitboxes easier for the enemy to isolate. Play this like any MPL build, but focus the MGs where you see open components, otherwise you won't get the most out of them.