This is my guide for playing Mech Warrior 5 Clans, or Lasers are magic. Is this the absolute best and most efficient guide? Nope, but it is the way I played Mech Warrior 5 Clans and it works for me, and TBH I’m a crap player with atrocious hand/eye coordination so yeah….

Upskilling Your Mech Warriors – the 1st thing you spend your points on is Evasion. Get this to 5/5 to the exclusion of everything else, don’t spend a single point of XP on anything else until you have this at 5/5 for all your pilots. Then its Energy skills for Jayden/Ezra/Yuchi etc. while for Mia its Ballistic Range/Velocity and then Ballistic Cooldown. Naomi is Missile Spread before Missile Range.

Research – ER Lasers all the way, concentrate on getting these to III to the exclusion of everything else, starting with Range, then Damage and then Heat. Then the rest of the ER Laser upgrades, remembering that you can move the Active Research topics up and down the list to prioritise them. Once ER Lasers are maxed then max Armour Damage Reduction and then max Structure Damage Reduction. Once all these are maxed move onto the missile and ballistic weapons of your choice and work on maxing them. Note: you won’t be able to max these by the time the campaign ends, which is a bit of a shame but meh.

Use spare merit points – and you will have a lot of these, see the section The Mechs for why this is the case, to upgrade your ability to collect salvage to 600 ASAP and max out your research to 2500 points per cycle as soon as possible.

Chassis Upgrades – remember to only spend points here once you have unlocked all the OmniPod set(s) that you need for each Mech. I prioritise Reverse Speed and Turn Speed before maxing everything else, I only change this for the Direwolf, where I prioritise Top Speed first, as the Direwolf is such a slow ass Mech.

Repair – By the time you have Heavy Mechs unlocked you need to have 25 Technicians available for the max number of techs per Mech. Use any spare Merit points to upgrade these Techs as required.

Piloting a Mech – Never stay still, always be moving and strafing, use cover ALWAYS, it’s there for a reason 😊. ‘Pop Tarting’ – using your jump jets to pop up from cover and fire is a very good tactic, use it often. Which is why fitting an Active Probe works as it allows target lock on to be maintained for longer when out of Line of Sight. And in a complete negation of Clan Lore always have you Star mates attack your target. But the AI is a bit, well, stoopid, and if you are not careful your Star mates will end up 5 meters away from your target running circles around them. Make liberal use of the ‘Form on me’ and ‘Guard’ commands to stop your Star from rushing headlong into close combat. I also find that where the terrain is reasonably open backing away from a target constantly draws them onto you and reduces the transversal of an enemy (making it easier for you to hit them).

The Mechs:

There are only 5 Mechs worth getting in Mech Warrior 5 Clans – The Arctic Cheetah, the Nova, the Stormcrow, the Timber Wolf and the Dire Wolf. Do not bother unlocking any of the rest, keep you merit points to max your salvage, research and repair techs. These 5 mechs are perfectly capable of carrying you through the game easily, with the next level of mech usually becoming available just before you finish one campaign arc and move onto the next.

When you unlock a Mech buy as many of them as you can and outfit your Star with as many of them as the weight limit of the mission allows for. By doing this you will maximise the Mech XP you get per mission and allow you to unlock the Omni Pod variants that you want quickly. Once you have unlocked all the Omni Pod variants required spend all the Mech XP on Chassis Upgrades.

General Setup:

ER Lasers, and especially ER Small and ER Medium, are the only weapons currently (November 2024) that are worth fitting in the game. Everything else, with the exception of Streak SRM’s and PPC’s are not worth it. However, later on in the game as you begin to skill up your Star Mates in their specialties you can fit their OminMechs to fit their skills. With that in mind my build strategy is to maximize the use of ER Small and ER Medium lasers in my builds. Note: I do use ER Large lasers in some of the later builds, but that is to use tonnage/and try and get the AI to behave itself.

Artic Cheetah – You only need to unlock one Omni Pod set – ACH-C OmniPod set. Fit the Artci Cheetah as follows:

Right Torso Prime – ER Small Laser, Active Probe, Ferro Armor Pod (1 T), Ferro Armor Pod (0.25 T)
Right Arm C – ER Small Laser, ER Small Laser, 1 Ferro Armor Pod (1 T)
Left Torso Prime – ECM Suite, ER Small Laser, Ferro Armor Pod (1 T), Ferro Armor Pod (0.25 T)
Left Arm C – ER Small Laser, ER Small Laser, Ferro Armor Pod (1 T)

The other Chassis slots ignore, you can do nothing with them anyway.

Fit your Star with 5 of these ASAP and you will absolutely slaughter every Santander mission up to the last one. Remember to order you Star Mates to switch on their ECM, even though ECM is a bit meh, every little helps when your mechs are paper thin.

Nova – you will unlock this Omni Mech just in time for the last battle on Santander. Initially you do not need any other OmniPods apart from the Prime, fit as follows:

Right Torso Prime – Four Double Heat Sinks, Standard Armor Pod (1 T)
Right Arm Prime – Six ER Small Lasers, Double Heat Sink
Left Torso Prime – Four Double Heat Sinks, Standard Armor Pod (1 T)
Left Arm Prime – Six ER Small Lasers, Double Heat Sink

No changes to any of the other OmniPods.

I usually set up two weapons groups for this, left arm and right arm. Equip as many of these as the weight limit allows per mission.

There is a version of this that you can deploy which has 2 additional ER Small Lasers and an AMS system, which requires the Right Torso B and Left Torso A to be equipped.

Stormcrow – you will unlock this during the Turtle Bay Campaign, it’s a bit of an optional Omni Mech as you cannot armour it has heavily as the Nova. Its mainly there to give your Star some additional range by equipping it with ER Medium Lasers. It’s a bit of a toasty fit so you need to keep an eye on your heat, don’t fire if your heat is above 55%. If you are piloting the Stormcrow fit the Active Probe as shown below, if one of your Star mates is piloting it, swap out the Active Probe for an additional Ferro Armor Pod (1 T).

Right Arm B – Double Heat Sink, Six ER Medium Lasers
Right Torso Prime - Three Double Heat Sinks
Left Arm A – Two Double Heat Sinks, Four ER Medium Lasers
Left Torso Prime - Three Double Heat Sinks
Head Prime – Active Probe

I usually run 2 Stormcrow and 3 Nova in my Star towards the end of the Turtle Bay campaign.

Timber Wolf – now we are talking, by this stage in the campaign your will have spare XP to start working on your MechWarrior’s individual experience specialities, so you can go with specific Timberwolf variants for them or just stick with the Lasers are magic option.

Lasers are magic version:

Right Torso N – Two Double Heat Sinks, ER Medium Laser, Ferro Armor Pod (0.5 T)
Right Arm Prime – Two Double Heat Sinks, Two ER Medium Lasers, Ferro Armor Pod (0.5 T), Ferro Armor Pod (0.25 T)
Centre Torso Prime – Ferro Armor Pod (1 T)
Left Torso A – Double Heat Sink, Three ER Large Lasers, Ferro Armor Pod (0.5 T)
Left Arm Prime - Two Double Heat Sinks, Two ER Medium Lasers, Ferro Armor Pod (0.5 T), Ferro Armor Pod (0.25 T)

ER Medium Lasers in one group, ER Large Lasers in the second. It is a little light on firepower I will admit but I find it works for me.

Yuchi/Naomi SRM Timber Wolf:

Right Torso D – Two Streak SRM 6, 2 tons Streak SRM ammunition, Ferro Armor Pod (0.5 T)
Right Arm Prime – Two Double Heat Sinks, 2 ER Medium Lasers, Ferro Armor Pod (0.5 T), Ferro Armor Pod (0.25 T)
Centre Torso Prime – Ferro Armor Pod (1 T)
Left Torso D – Two Streak SRM 6, 2 tons Streak SRM ammunition, Ferro Armor Pod (0.5 T)
Left Arm Prime – Two Double Heat Sinks, 2 ER Medium Lasers, Ferro Armor Pod (0.5 T), Ferro Armor Pod (0.25 T)

Yuchi/Naomi LRM Timber Wolf:

Right Torso Prime – LRM 15 Artemis, 2 tons LRM Artemis ammunition, Ferro Armor Pod (0.5 T)
Right Arm Prime – Two Double Heat Sinks, ER Large Laser, Ferro Armor Pod (0.25 T)
Centre Torso Prime – Active probe
Left Torso Prime – LRM 15 Artemis, 2 tons LRM Artemis ammunition, Ferro Armor Pod (0.5 T)
Left Arm Prime – Two Double Heat Sinks, ER Large Laser, Ferro Armor Pod (0.25 T)

The fitting of ER Large Lasers is to prevent the AI charging the pilot into close range combat, but again you need to use ‘Form on Me’ and ‘Guard’ Commands to enforce this.

Mia Timber Wolf:

Right Torso N – Two Double Heat Sinks, 1 ER Medium Laser, Ferro Armor Pod (1 T), One ton Ultra AC/10 ammunition
Right Arm – UAC 10, two tons Ultra AC/10 ammunition, Ferro Armor Pod (0.5 T)
Centre Torso Prime – Ferro Armor Pod (0.25 T)
Left Torso A – Double Heat Sink, Three ER Medium Lasers, Ferro Armor Pod (1 T)
Left Arm Prime - Two Double Heat Sinks, Two ER Medium Lasers, Ferro Armor Pod (0.5 T), Ferro Armor Pod (0.25 T)

Direwolf – You need a Star of five of these for the last few missions on Luthien.

Base Direwolf Setup:

Head Prime – Standard Armor Pod (1 T)
Centre Torso Prime – Two Standard Armor Pods (1 T)
Right Leg Prime – Double Heat Sink
Left Leg prime – Double Heat Sink

With this as your standard you can pop several builds onto this.

Lasers and still magic:

Right Torso S – Two Double Heat Sinks, Two ER Medium Lasers, Three Standard Armor Pods (1 T)
Right Arm Prime – Two Double Heat Sinks, Four ER Medium Lasers, Two Standard Armor Pods (1 T)
Left Torso S – Two Double Heat Sinks, Two ER Medium Lasers, Three Standard Armor Pods (1 T)
Left Arm Prime – Two Double Heat Sinks, Four ER Medium Lasers, Two Standard Armor Pods (1 T)

Mia/Alexander Direwolf1:

Right Torso S – One Double Heat Sink, Two ER Medium Lasers, Three Standard Armor Pods (1 T), Two tons Ultra UAC/20 ammo
Right Arm S – UAC/20, One tone Ultra UAC/20 ammo, Standard Armor Pod (1 T)
Left Torso S – One Double Heat Sink, Two ER Medium Lasers, Three Standard Armor Pods (1 T), Two tons Ultra UAC/20 ammo
Left Arm S – UAC/20, One tone Ultra UAC/20 ammo, Standard Armor Pod (1 T)

Mia/Alexander Direwolf2:

Right Torso S – Two Double Heat Sinks, Two ER Medium Lasers, One ton Ultra UC/20 ammunition, Standard Armor Pod (1 T), Standard Armor Pod (0.25 T)
Right Arm Prime – Four ER Medium Lasers, UAC/10, One ton Ultra UAC/10 Ammunition, Standard Armor Pod (1 T)
Left Torso S – Two Double Heat Sinks, Two ER Medium Lasers, One ton Ultra UC/20 ammunition, Standard Armor Pod (1 T), Standard Armor Pod (0.25 T)
Left Arm Prime – Four ER Medium Lasers, UAC/10, One ton Ultra UAC/10 Ammunition, Standard Armor Pod (1 T)

Yuchi/Naomi SRM Direwolf:

Right Torso S – Active Probe, Double Heat Sink, Two ER Medium Lasers, One ton Streak SSM Ammunition, Three Standard Armor Pods (1 T)
Right Arm Prime – Double Heat Sink, Four ER Medium Lasers, Two tons Streak SSM ammunition, Two Standard Armor Pods (1 T)
Left Torso A – Double Heat Sink, Two Streak SRM 6, One ton Streak SSM ammunition, Three Standard Armor Pods (1 T)
Left Arm Prime – Double Heat Sink, Four ER Medium Lasers, Two tons Streak SSM ammunition, Two Standard Armor Pods (1 T)

And yes, I know its underweight by 9.5 tons.

Yuchi/Naomi LRM Direwolf:

Right Torso Prime – Double Heat Sink, Six Tons Artemis LRM ammunition, One Standard Armor Pod (1 T)
Right Arm A – Double Heat Sink, Three ER Large Lasers, One Standard Armor Pod (0.5 T), One Standard Armor Pod (0.25 T)
Left Torso A – Double Heat Sink, Two Artemis LRM 15, Two Standard Armor Pods (1 T)
Left Arm B – Active Probe, Double Heat Sink, Three ER Large Lasers, One Standard Armor Pod (0.5 T), One Standard Armor Pod (0.25 T)

Is this the absolute best guide for every play style and missions? Nope, its far from it, but it allows for a relatively easy play through, but with the proviso that this is a Min-Max guide tailored for the current Game meta and my own particular play style and abilities.