Battletech is a very easy tactical strategy game. It is easy because it allows you to one shot every type of mech in the game as long as you have the DPS to do it. There are two parts to this guide, the short version (TL:DR) and the long version. The short version is short and to the point. The long version tries to explain in detail the game mechanic on how to turn Battletech into easy mode.

Evasion is far better than damage resistant.

The higher the evasion the less chance of getting hit. Absolute Max evasion is 7 (<<<<<<<) which makes you pretty much invulnerable. However 4 (<<<<) evasion is good enough to withstand most hits.

Call shot on head or back center torso.

With enough DPS you can one shot any mechs with a call shot to the head or back center torso.

Recommend 2 x Gauss++ or 4 SRM6+++ plus two MG

Recommend mech Marauder MAD-3R (2 Gauss++) and Griffin GRF-2N (4 SRM6+++ and two MG)

Mastering call shots will turn battletech into easy mode. Any mech in the game can be one shotted by call shot. Using call shot consistently will speed up the mission and prevent any internal damage to you mech. The key is killing your enemy as fast as possible using call shots.

There are two main weaknesses to all mechs, the head and back center torso. Both of these locations do not have much armor protection. With enough DPS you can one shot any mech with a call shot on one of the two weak points.

Of the two weak points the back center torso is the easy of the two. You get consistent kills from hitting the back center torso. Any mech with enough damage can one shot the back torso with a call shot. On the other hand headshots are much harder to get. There is only one mech that excel in headshot and that is the Marauder. The extra call shot bonus the Marauder provides makes it an ideal sniper mech. In one long game I had my Marauder headshotted 5 undamaged mechs in a role.

Having high morale (Argo) will generate points (resolve) to use call shots. Having a Comms System will generate resolve points. Getting kills will generate resolve points. The more resolve points you have the more call shot you can make per turn.

Evasion is dodging hits. If it doesn’t hit you you won’t take damage. A high evasion will make your mech invulnerable to damage. The absolute max evasion is 7 or <<<<<<<. You can get max evasion in two ways, sprint or jump jet. Different mechs have different max evasion. Most light and medium mechs can reach absolute max evasion of 7. You do not need to go max evasion but it is recommended you get as much evasion as possible.

The main weakness to evasion is melee. Melee bypass evasion. So max evasion will be useless against a mech punching you in the face. This is a balance mechanic to try to prevent evasion from being totally overpower. However this balance mechanic fails to a certain point. If you have enough DPS to backstab the center torsol, then the chance of multiple enemies meleeing you is decreased. With that said getting melee is not fun. In a lot of cases it will do internal damage.

Sprint will get you max evasion but the drawback is you can’t fire your weapons. Sprinting will decrease heat build up. So it is very good in some instances where you have too much heat and want to get rid of it without getting damage or out of position in combat.

Jump Jet is by far the best way to move your mech in combat. It allows max evasion with the ability to fire your weapon on the same turn. Jump Jets gives you easy access to backstab the back center torso. Jump Jet also gets you in and out of combat fast. All mech should have max jump jets. It is too overpower not to use them. The main drawback is it adds heat.


Damage resistance looks good on paper but in reality it works against you. It is an unreliable mechanic in Battletech. The first problem is the enemy will focus fire on one of your mechs. High damage resistance will not save your mech from focus fire. Evasion will save your mech from focus fire but not damage migration.

You will lose the war of attrition if you go for damage migration. There are missions that force you to fight 16 to 32 enemies. You can see with those odds damage resistance is not going to win those battles. Damage resistance works great as a secondary defense behind evasion. In other words, jump jet into a forest to give you 20% damage resistance. Do not get into tank mode because it doesn’t work in battletech. Battletech is a 100% mobility game.

Heat is a game balance mechanic. It is designed to limit your DPS. The question is how do you maximize your DPS and movement every turn without overheating for the entire game. In other words how do you alpha strike and jump jetting every turn for the entire mission? The short answer is the weapons on your mech.

For me the two most important things to look for are mobility (jump jet) and weapon hardpoints. Everything else is fluff. The higher the mobility the better the survival. A slow low evasion mech means it's going to get hit often. It can’t get into position as fast as one would like. There are a lot of negatives associated with low mobility mechs. I try to avoid them as much as possible.

Weapon hardpoints are very important. I prefer many hard points of the same weapon type than many hardpoints of different weapon types. For example I rather have 4 missile hardpoints on a mech than 1 missile, 2 energy, and 1 ballistic hardpoint. It allows the mech to focus on doing one thing very well instead of doing everything poorly. In other words specialized mech, like a mech dedicated to sniping, mech dedicated to long range bombardment, mech dedicated to backstab/scouting, etc.

Griffin GRF-2N is the best mech in the game IMO. Griffin with 4 SRM-6 and 2 MG will consistently one shot back center torso and still have enough tonnage left to max out armor.

The Phoenix Hawk PXH-1B is very very close behind the GRF-2N. In fact you might prefer it over the Griffin. Without losing armor for more DPS, the PXH-1B can one shot all mechs but not as consistently as the Griffin against assault mechs. PXH-1B has heat problems due to its use of energy weapons. My PXH-1B weapon configuration is two SNUB PPC and 3 MG. The extra Jump Jet allows the PXH-1B to get behind the enemy much faster than GRF-2N hence many players prefer it over the GRF-2N. The PXH-1B does not have to worry about ammo which is a plus in super long missions.

Marauder MAD-3R is the third best mech in the game. The reason is it has a call shot bonus and two ballistic hardpoints. Two Gauss rifles will one shot any mech in the game. Two Gauss rifles give a better chance of getting a headshot kill. You do have to sacrifice a lot of armor for the extra Gauss rifle and ammo. That’s fine because the MAD-3R will be sniping at max range with no chance of getting attacked.

For me personally I prefer low heat weapons. It allows me to have constant damage without worrying about heat. So I rank ballistic weapons at the top of the list and energy weapons at the bottom. Ballistic weapons have drawbacks like it is much heavier than energy weapons and require ammo. Even with these negatives it is worth getting ballistic weapons over energy.

1. Gauss Rifle is by far the best weapon in the game. It is heavy and ammo is limited to 8 rounds per box. It does a lot of damage without generating too much heat. It is so good at heat that firing three Gauss rifles will not generate enough heat to be a problem.

2. SRM damage is outrageous. Its weight, damage, and heat ratio make it the best weapon for close range. 4 SRM6 can one shot the back torso of any mech. While it generates more heat then I like, the damage it does outweighs it.

3. LBX namely LBX-2. It is third on the list because it doesn’t miss. I never saw a LBX-2 miss entirely. It is great against high evasion mechs. It consistently blows limbs off. It generates low heat that multiple LBX-2 will not cause any heat problems.

4. AC namely AC-2. AC generates low heat and does a decent amount of damage.
LRM. Indirect fire. LRM damage to heat ratio is very good. A LRM boat behind covers does not need to move so heat can be managed.

5. UAC. A lot of people will disagree with this. Most people will rank it #1. I place it low because UAC misses a lot and generates more heat than AC. I try to like UAC but the constant miss shots are unacceptable to me.

6. MG is really good. Combined with another weapon system like SRM will increase the odds of getting a one shot kill on the back center torsol. This is why a lot of my backstabbers mech build have MG.

7. SNUB PPC is the only energy weapon that I like. It generates massive heat but It does really good damage at close range. Two SNUB PPC can one shot back CT of any mech. Managing the heat will be a problem tho.

8. LMR generate a lot of heat. Main advantage is indirect fire.

9. Rest are pretty much junk.

There are two types of long range lance, sniper and bombardment. Battles will take longer compared to Close Range cousins.

Long Sniper Lance consist of Marauders and at least one scout. The scout provides the line of sight. The Marauders do the sniping at max range without any threat of getting a counter attack. Sniper Marauders do not need armor. Sniper Marauders sacrifice armor for more accuracy and DPS.

My Sniper Lance consist of:
2x Marauders (2x Gauss). Having two gauss on a marauder increases the chance of getting a headshot.
1x Scout/backstabber. Phoenix Hawk is best for this role but I prefer Griffin.
1x whatever you like.

Long Range Bombardment consist of LRM boats and at least one scout. It is pure raw DPS damage. Your LRM boat is behind cover and launching missiles at max range. So there is no fear of your missile boats getting damaged. LRM boats should sacrifice armor for more ammo and DPS. Lots of ammo will be spent to inflict raw damage on enemy mechs.

My Bombardment Lance consist of:
2x Archer (2x LRM-20) and lots of ammo.
1x Scout/backstabber. Phoenix Hawk is best for this role but I prefer Griffin.
1x whatever you like.

There are two types of close range lance, pure backstabbers and sniper + backstabber. Battles will end very quick because backstabbing consistently gets 1 shot kill.

Pure backstabbers go in fast with high evasion. Jump jet behind enemy mech and target the back center torso. Fast and quick kills. The only worry is nearby enemy mechs might melee you. If you are in position tho all nearby mech will be backstab on the same turn to migrate any melee threats from the enemy.

My Pure Close Combat Lance
4x Griffin 2N (4x SRM-6 and 2 MG). This config consistently one shot any mech from behind. You can substitute other mech if you don’t griffin 2N. Just make sure you have enough DPS to one shot mech from behind.

Sniper Close Combat Lance
1x Marauders (2x Gauss). His job is to headshot mech that the backstabbers can’t get to. Or use to finish downed mechs.
2 or 3 Griffin 2N for backstabbing.

Not all the parts are upgraded in these screenshots. Upgraded weapons and equipments are better. I think we can all agree on this.

Probably the hardest mission in the game due to the fact the rules were changed. The last main mission of Flash Point, enemy mechs are super strong and cannot be headshotted. So I went with my best config 3 Griffin and 1 Phoenix Hawk.

https://youtu.be/jNx1GElsH7w


Random videos from my play through to give you ideas how to successfully win the game.

https://youtu.be/5oBZV8DaJRA

https://youtu.be/M4v5QXAYM44

https://youtu.be/oGujymm7gDw

https://youtu.be/VdjcpypVmbY

https://youtu.be/oZrQU3uxLa0

https://youtu.be/GckPlPJ8oz8

https://youtu.be/Q_lb8MM9aaA

https://youtu.be/yTHMSGwheWU

https://youtu.be/R0RSwsOPT6U

https://youtu.be/lnnHEN4Z3FE

https://youtu.be/NxUTMWJsy2E

https://youtu.be/H41G7C8Rh5U

https://youtu.be/lMKBs8PhC6I

https://youtu.be/nxus56DOOf4

https://youtu.be/ybfeVxfb7dY

https://youtu.be/6DG9RTHPMY0

https://youtu.be/GdxNqVv7PUk

Battletech is an easy game. Very easy and very simple strategy game.