Rifleman IIC
The Rifleman IIC is Clan heavy that is typically very slow and carrying assault levels of firepower. It is a glass cannon - even more fragile than the Jagermech, and has little in common with the original IS Rifleman. The IIC has fairly generous hardpoints with high mounts, jumpjets, and each of the variants specialise well into each of the different weapon types.
The downside is that CT is very large and all of the firepower is in the very large and fragile arms. If you torso twist to spread damage, you'll just lose your arms, so you should be facing your front to the enemy as much as possible. The radar dish up top attracts a lot of damage when ridge-peeking, adding to the already huge CT. Strafe sideways whenever peeking to help spread damage - don't just walk straight up to ridges or you'll lose that CT.
Play at range when you can and abuse the range quirks - the Rifleman IIC's geometry makes it absolutely garbage at close range, and you should avoid brawling builds. Choose your pathing wisely because you are slow and fragile, and rely on ridge-peeking to deal damage when possible. If you are already accustomed to playing squishier assaults or other slow heavies like the Night Gyr, this mech will be a natural transition.
| Variants | LA | LT | CT | RT | RA | HD | JJs | MASC | MaxEng | Accel | Twist | Pitch |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 RFL-IIC | 3 | 3 | 1 | 3 | FALSE | 235 | 22.3 kph/s | 100o @ 86.0o/s | 20o | |||
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RFL-IIC-2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | FALSE | 315 | 22.3 kph/s | 100o @ 86.0o/s | 20o | ||||
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RFL-IIC-3 | 21 | 21 | 3 | FALSE | 235 | 22.3 kph/s | 100o @ 86.0o/s | 20o | ||||
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RFL-IIC-4 | 12 | 12 | 3 | FALSE | 235 | 22.3 kph/s | 100o @ 86.0o/s | 20o | ||||
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RFL-IIC-A | 11 | 1 | 1 | 11 | 0 | FALSE | 315 | 22.3 kph/s | 100o @ 86.0o/s | 20o | ||
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RFL-IIC-CHH | 11 | 1 | 1 | 11 | 1 | 3 | FALSE | 235 | 22.3 kph/s | 100o @ 86.0o/s | 20o |
RFL-IIC
A pure energy variant. The low engine cap gives you plenty of tonnage to stack heatsinks, leading to absurd sustained damage output for a 65-tonner. You might need to drop Ferro and sometimes even Endo to stuff in more heatsinks.
The stock loadout of this iconic variant blesses it with a heat scale quirk allowing it to fire 4x cLPL without ghost heat. You should always be abusing this - there is no reason to not alpha all four as much as possible. The alpha damage is a bit low compared to alternative builds, but the extra range is very nice and the sustained DPS is quite good despite the shortage of heatsinks.
Because the Rifleman IIC is a glass cannon, laservomit builds should focus on high alpha. This build has both good alpha, and reasonable cooling, making it a decent alternative to the standard 4LPL build if you prefer more chonk to your alpha. While you could technically do a ridiculous alpha build like 4LPL+3ERML, it gives up too much cooling and thus performance suffers.
This is an extreme range specialist that deals pinpoint damage with low exposure times compared to ERLL alternatives. This has adequate cooling, and even just one jumpjet is really nice for popping shots over ridges.
While effectively a 65-ton Warhawk, this build doesn't quite have the sustain to be played in a general midrange role, so stick to extreme range usage only.
A long range burst specialist. Carries most of a Supernova in a mech nearly a third lighter, and with actually decent mounts and range quirks. Tonnage-efficient pick for big firepower in a Faction Play deck. Find a ridge, park on it, and abuse it. You can sometimes afford to fire 3ERLL with ghost heat, rarely 4ERLL. But generally you will need to stagger 2+2+1 to fire all five in one burst. Then relax and cool off for a while.
Extreme-range specialist. Fills a role very similar to an ERLL Hellbringer, but the large TC grants considerably more reach than even the range-quirked Virago, the drawback being it is slightly hotter.
RFL-IIC-2
A pure ballistic variant with plenty of hardpoints. Although this variant has a higher engine cap, the best builds still use slow engines like the XL225 and XL235 because it is simply better to maximise firepower on the Rifleman - you can ultimately achieve some of the same builds as played on the Night Gyr and Blood Asp, after all.
AC2s run cool enough that you can fire constantly, and with quirks and skill tree you can have an optimum range over 1,000m. The only issue is convergence at extreme ranges, so prioritise targets which are large or not moving. This build consumes obscene amounts of ammo - if you aren't using at least 8 or even 9+ tons, then you simply aren't shooting enough.
Six UAC2 is a bit too hot, so you need to drop one gun and run just five guns.
A high burst midrange build, similar to what is typically done on a Night Gyr or Blood Asp, but can run somewhat toasty.
Can also be done on the RFL-IIC-3.
A specialist close-range build occasionally seen on Blood Asps, but now on a 65-tonner. The double-tap is 80-damage, jams allowing. This build has the disadvantages of a long volley duration and low velocity, and the fact that the Rifleman IIC doesn't do well in close ranges. Make the most of the ridge peeking profile and don't try to brawl in open ground.
A dakka option that runs slightly faster if you don't like the extreme slowness of the other builds. Ghost heat can be ignored, it only reduces your sustained damage output by about 6%.
One of the few builds to properly take advantage of the high engine cap. This is a straightforward shotgun brawler with jumpjets, but at the end of the day, this is still a build you can do on the HBK-IIC or the much tougher MDD-C, and the Rifleman IIC is terrible at close range. The only advantage here is high mounts and arm pitch range, but it's hardly worth the fragility of the chassis.
You're better off running the RFL-IIC-A, which can add lasers on top of this.
Triple LB10 somewhat bridges the gap between alpha-oriented dual LB20 and face-time oriented dakka. Similar to LB30 Night Gyr, but for 10 tons less, and a little faster but much more fragile. Remember to abuse the high mounts and ridge peek when possible - the Rifleman IIC is too fragile to DPS-brawl out in open ground. You must keep up the rate of fire in order for this build to perform better than dual LB20.
RFL-IIC-3
The IIC-3 has an awkward mixture of ballistic and energy, and no significant quirks to compensate, making it the weakest variant.
With the heavy laser quirks, this runs quite comfortable in terms of heat, but it simply lacks alpha damage compared to the RFL-IIC-A, and alpha damage is one of the more important stats for a Rifleman. Plenty of ammo, so be sure to be abuse your ridge peeking ability and fire as much as possible - you shouldn't always wait for your lasers to recycle to refire your gauss.
A high burst midrange build, similar to what is typically done on a Night Gyr or Blood Asp, but can run somewhat toasty.
Can also be done on the RFL-IIC-2.
A pseudo-PPFLD poptart build with poor convergence and rather poor sustain. There is very little reason to play the IIC-3, and being constrained to builds like this is a good example as to why.
RFL-IIC-4
Pure missile variant, which can fit TAG. The engine cap is too low for SRMs to be viable, so you are limited to only ATMs or LRMs, and you shouldn't mix the two. Understandably, build diversity is shit, but the builds themselves are quite strong.
Huge ATM loadout for a 65-tonner, only 6 tubes short of a Supernova. Easily capable of eviscerating even heavy mechs in one volley. Remember that the range quirk extends not only the 3-damage ATM range bracket, but also the minimum range as well, and you don't have the speed to back away from targets that get too close so you must position carefully.
High LRM tube count for the tonnage, but a little shy of the faster, higher-firepower Nova Cat for the same LRM role. Tonnage-efficient pick for FP decks, but otherwise, probably not an optimal pick.
RFL-IIC-A
A variant with a high engine cap, but lacking jumpjets. This is the only variant with both ballistics and more than two energy, which allows for some proper vomit hybrids.
This build capitalises on what makes the Rifleman IIC both good and bad. The high heat of the build means that you won't be exposing your mech to the enemy very frequently, somewhat offsetting the sheer fragility of the chassis. The high damage output and high mounts are what you come to expect from a Rifleman IIC, and such a low engine isn't out of place either.
Simple dual gaussvomit build, not dissimilar to the Hellfire, Ebon Jaguar, and Vapor Eagle. While not "fast" in the literal sense, it's fast for a Rifleman IIC.
One of few closer-ranged builds, to which the Rifleman IIC and its hitboxes are very ill-suited. Seriously, avoid brawling in this mech. But if you must... this does has higher burst than gaussvomit builds, and still good sustained output. The hero can do a similar build, but with jumpjets.
RFL-IIC-CH "CHIRONEX"
The Chironex is similar to the IIC-A, but trades an energy hardpoint to have jumpjets instead, and gets the shitty low engine cap.
Without quirks, the two measly missile hardpoints are pretty much dead weight and you really shouldn't use them.
UAC10 gets a healthy cooldown quirk, and the lasers are aided by the range quirk. Be sure to invest heavily in range in the Skill Tree to get well over 400m optimum.
The Rifleman IIC is the lightest mech that can run this loadout effectively. Although the glory days of Gauss+PPC are long gone, this mech can still handle a couple full alphas with ghost heat before you'll need to fire the gauss and PPC separately. Prioritize poptarting rather than peeking whenever you can - this way the mech's terrible CT hitbox isn't as pronounced. The Chironex's quirks provide a much-needed DPS boost and further increase your range.
Actually one of the best variants for gaussvomit, with its lasers safely tucked away in the torsos and away from the explosive arms, unlike the IIC-3, and actually having jumpjets, unlike the IIC-A.
Jumping version of the brawl RFL-IIC-A, with low engine cap. Slow speed makes it very hard to close the distance into brawl range, and once there it's still missing an energy hardpoint compared to the IIC-A. This is still a Rifleman IIC, so don't forget that it's garbage at brawling.
Longest-range gaussvomit build. While possible on other variants, the Chironex has the distinction of having both jumpjets AND some nice safe torso mounts.