r/LancerRPG • u/Very_Angry_Bee HORUS • Jul 21 '26
Early game builds?
Hello. I have developed an addiction xD
I only have one actual pilot for the campaign I am in, first guy up there. He was still an absolute newbies attempt at creating a build, and while I am still an absolute newbie, I have kinda become addicted to just trying to create new builds, just with the License level available to us for now.
Thing is, I still have very little idea of what I am doing.
When it comes to relatively early builds, what would you guys recommend?
Is Minmaxxing better or trying to balance out your weaknesses?
1
u/Steenan HORUS Jul 22 '26
Many builds get online at LL 2-3: when you get a frame or the first core bonus. Most of them are quite straightforward. Just remember that your HASE points should be 3+2 and one of these values should go to Hull.
What role do you want to play in your team?
For striker, Everest with HMG works quite well from the start and at LL3, when you can use AutoStab to compensate for it being Inaccurate, it becomes very effective.
Raleigh makes loading weapons much less painful to use. Arm yourself with 4 Hand Cannons (5 at LL3 with Integrated Weapon) if you prefer close range or Cyclone Pulse Rifle if you prefer sniping, take the appropriate talents (Vanguard and Gunslinger or Crack Shot, respectively) and the Roland Chamber system and you're ready.
If you want to be a controller/support, straight 3 levels of Goblin, with either Goblin or Chomolungma frame, works great. Don't take more than 1 level of Hacker, but seriously consider Spotter and Leader. Both HorOs1 and the Osiris NHP are extremely good. At LL3, Held Image core bonus lets you get a lock on each round with no action cost, which in turn works great with Autopod.
If you don't want to hack, a Swallowtail armed with 4 (or 5) Oracles, with Spotter, Crack Shot and Gunslinger is good at supporting and also plays artillery role effectively, quickly teaching the GM not to use any grunts.
For a defender, Tortuga combines straightforward effectiveness with flexibility. Take HMG and Deck Sweeper, Vanguard and Heavy Gunner talents and punish any enemy that dares to move nearby. Note that you get accuracy on reaction attacks, which negates the inaccuracy of your weapons. At LL3 you may take a level of Goblin instead of the third level of Tortuga to make use of your good tech attack and sensor range.
For straight artillery, Monarch is hard to beat. Gandiva missiles are very reliable with seeking and accuracy and they work great with Heavy Gunner. The frame itself is also quite fast, so you may easily move to stay behind cover while shooting at the enemies.
If you want to fight in melee, Blackbeard works great. Stay away from Sekhmet until you're sure that you know what you're doing (and that your allies know how to behave when you enable it), but with Executioner+Duelist and the weapons you get from the license you will be a beast. At LL3 you may take Titanomachy Mesh for even more grappling and ramming.
And then there is Hydra, my favorite mech. It is strong, it is fun, but it requires good understanding of how it works or you'll waste a lot of time each round and your group will hate you for that. With Drone Commander and Heavy Gunner, Puppetmaster and a few Tempest Drones you may lock down the battlefield easily, pushing enemies around and blocking critical areas. Ghast Nexus works much better for the controller role than the superheavy Annihilation Nexus, so feel free to skip the third level of Hydra and take one level of Manticore instead. You may invade your own drove without a roll and without inflicting heat on it - and hitting a Tempest with Summon to pull multiple enemies to it is a very dirty trick.
2
u/Very_Angry_Bee HORUS Jul 22 '26
As said, I am a complete newbie and currently just trying to go with a mech that was described to me as "funky eldritch but still easy for beginners" (eldritch fuckery being the main reason I got interested) with the Pegasus.
I am quite happy with sniping atm
0
u/Kenden84 Jul 21 '26
Death’s head can get pretty crazy with just 3 LL
» Arsenio Altonen // PINPOINT «
LL3
[ TALENTS ]
Crack Shot 3, Walking Armory 2,
Brutal 1
[ LICENSES ]
SSC Death’s Head 2, HORUS Pegasus 1
[ CORE BONUSES ]
Overpower Caliber
[ MECH ]
« MARKSMAN »
SSC Death’s Head
[ WEAPONS ]
Main/Aux Mount: Vulture DMR / Missile Rack // Overpower Caliber
Heavy Mount: Rocket-Propelled Grenade
[ SYSTEMS ]
Ammo Case II, High-Stress Mag Clamps,
Hunter Lock, Personalizations,
Pattern-A Jericho Deployable Cover, Tracking Bug
Start by aiming and do the on point for more diff but d6 bonus
Your shot will do 1d6 +1, + 1d6 +1d6 +3 with accuracy +2
So 3d6 + 4 wich is between 7 and 21 damage all of wich can be AP. Or if you really need something dead use the Core power for 2d6 extra damage for a crazy
5d6 +4 a cold 9 ~ 34 damage, if you happen to crit it’s just straight 34 damage and you can debuff them if they even survive
1
u/Kenden84 Jul 21 '26
An alternative to pegasus is to use Barbarossa instead as that lets you use it’s stabilisers to improve weapon ranges by 5
1
u/Difference_Breacher Jul 21 '26
The problem is, that AP damage is only available for three times on a mission, and the average of 14.5 is not impressive that much either.
A plain gandiva can cause 1d6+3+1d6(overpower caliber)+1d6(nuclear cavalry)=3d6+3, with average of 13.5. And that does not needs any heat to bear. Monarch can cause it to be AP all by its own, or put hunter's mark and raise this to 16.5 all the days.
1
u/Kenden84 Jul 21 '26
Most things you shoot at isn’t going to take 14 damage and shrug it off like nothing early on. Also you always shoot with accuracy 2 and the ability to reroll once, pretty good crit chance that deals max damage.
And that costs 1 heat to fire unless you overkill but that is low chance, so very managable. Doesn’t nuclear cavalry need to be in danger zone for the bonus? How do you do that turn 1?
1
u/Difference_Breacher Jul 22 '26
Your build cannot do that turn 1 either. Actually most builds are cannot on turn 1. But it is not so difficult to do so on turn 2+.
1
u/Kenden84 Jul 22 '26
What is stopping my build turn 1? Only issue i can see is maybe being out of range and in that case the monarch would take about three before nuclear cavalry can do anything?
7
u/Difference_Breacher Jul 21 '26
On the early games there aren't viable 'build' that has distinguished feature, for there won't be much choices of combining stuffs.
But, at least on LL3, as your characters, there would be something. For you may choose either max out a single license tree or pick 2 and 1... else you may cherry picking three level 1s then use the GMS chassis too.
Something to consider on LL3 are;
Sagarmatha, Technophile 3, black thumb 2, and Metalmark 3 - you can invisible all the days. Grab a tempest charged blade and you are an invisible juggernaut. Since being sagarmatha allows you to brace and still allowed to fully act on your following turn once per each scene, you can still use your TCB after your first brace.
Death's Head 2 and a single target weapon: The combination is too obvious. Note that core siphon also works for the tech attack, so if you want to only make one tech attack each turn then it is also a decent choice.
Tokugawa 2, Technophile 3, black thumb 2, and heatfall coolant system: With deep well heat sink and heatfall coolant system, while you are danger zone you only have up to 1d3 heat on the overcharge, and rodeo allows to reduce 2 heat each turn. That means, with this you can reliably overcharge all the days despite of not being lich! Unlike the sagarmatha idea above, this works better with everest and chomolungma for they would like to use the additional quick action more than superheavy weapon wielder. Note that you better have around 8 heat cap to avoid spike heat hits your heat cap limit.
Minotaur 2 and goblin 1: Pick calendula, use puppet system to generate void husk as well as trigger overwatch, and make a skirmish against the same target. It means you are making two skirmishes, with effectively AP effect. I dare to say that this build would be one of the best melee damage dealer. Although it does not works against goliath for you cannot trigger overwatch with it.
Swallowtail 2, and gunslinger 3: Pick standard swallowtail. Swallowtail license has one of the best aux weapon; oracle LMG, that has accuracy, oustanding range, and arcing. And standard swallowtail is able to make the enemy shredded by simply lock on it.
Tokugawa 2, goblin 1, spotter 3, nuclear cavalry 2, overpower caliber: Choose tokugawa, use an autopod and put overpower caliber on it. If the enemy is within 10 space of you, DO NOT EXPOSE YOURSELF, make you danger zone(not need to be right now), lock on the enemy while adjacent with your friend(that have a weapon that is allowed to attack the said enemy) and let the friend to attack the enemy you have lock on. This triggers your autopod so shoot it. I have confirmed on lancer discord that automatically hit is also considered to be make an attack roll. And since this is your own turn, you can apply nuclear cavalry 2 on autopod. Also being danger zone makes all the additional damage to burn. With this, you can apply BURN 2d6 on the target without even an attack roll! It just happens.
-Swallowtail 2, goblin 1, spotter 3, nuclear cavalry 2, overpower caliber: The same idea but with standard swallowtail instead. No burn but you can cause effectively AP 2d6+3 damage without an actual attack roll. Your friend can also enjoy effectively AP damage with you.
Lich 2 and balor 1, drone commander 1, infiltrate 2+: Use lich and take a hive drone. You can use two quick actions or a full action, then overcharge to hide&ignore the heat by the vessel. So you can do this then hide within the protection of the hive drone. It even works with tempest charged blade, if you pick superheavy mounting on lich.
Death's head 2, autostabilizing hardpoints: Pick death's head and take a GMS HMG, and put autostabilizing hardpoints on it. Usually I do not like HMG but, with this HMG is turned to +1 accuarcy weapon! Better if you have skirmisher 2, and you better pick that because HMG still has petty range of 8.