More first impressions of the new quirks — The QKD-4H and the TBT-5J

I finally had the time to check out these two beasts yesterday night. I began with the 4H, which had its absolutely atrocious LRM10 quirks exchanged with a blanked 20% missile cooldown reduction, SRM/LRM spread quirks, really useful laser quirks and a few very welcome mobility quirks.

I used a standard 4H build with 4xML+3xSRM4 with XL325. Right out of the gate I felt that the 'Mech is much more responsive than before. The torso twist is smoother and the acceleration/deceleration is more responsive. It really felt like a medium rather than a heavy. On the weapons front, the missile spread quirk on the SRMS and LRMs are indeed noticeable. It's not a free Artemis upgrade, but with the SRM4s the missiles have a great punch overall. The combination of heat efficiency, firepower and mobility makes this 'Mech a pretty effective hit and runner.

On the other hand, this thing takes a great deal of punishment. Its out-of-whack scaling prevents it from being a good trader and you have to rely on proper timings and good positioning to ensure you won't get shot at. If PGI wants this 'Mech to be an effective skirmisher, they need to give it the Zeus treatment and gift it some extra armor. +15 armor for every single component would make this 'Mech pretty viable and fearful.

The next stop was the 5J. It gets substantial energy quirks such as 20% heat reduction, 20% duration reduction and 20% range for lasers. Especially MLs on this thing become really deadly with the duration decrease and make it a great skirmisher. I made a build with XL325 5xML and an ASRM6, and it was just amazing. I'm hoping to record my future matches with this thing and hopefully show you guys how fun this is to play.

That's it for today. Tonight I plan to check out the Cataphracts and their new hitboxes. A few matches in the 3D yesterday gave me some hope for some pretty viable STD builds. I can't wait!

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About Rak

I'm an engineer who likes to write extremely long articles about games that border simulation and mainstream.
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