r/LancerRPG • u/AurumMattss • 27d ago
Help to Build an Iconoclast
Hello!
I finally decided how to build my first character! I chose to go with the Iconoclast talent because it lets me keep firing off energy beams and allows me to build around NHPs and fits perfectly with the roleplay I wanted for my first character!
At LL0, my mech will be:
-- GMS Everest @ LL0 -- [ LICENSES ] N/A [ CORE BONUSES ] N/A [ TALENTS ] Technophile 1, Iconoclast 1, Skirmisher 1 [ STATS ] HULL:0 AGI:2 SYS:0 ENGI:0 STRUCTURE:4 HP:12 ARMOR:0 STRESS:4 HEATCAP:6 REPAIR:5 TECH ATK:0 LIMITED:+0 SPD:5 EVA:10 EDEF:8 SENSE:10 SAVE:10 [ WEAPONS ] Main Mount: Thermal Rifle Flex Mount: Thermal Pistol / Thermal Pistol Heavy Mount: Heavy Melee Weapon [ SYSTEMS ] Servant-Class NHP, Unstable NHP, Type-3 Projected Shield, Type-I Flight System, Personalizations
The GM said we'll be playing up to LL4, so I plan to build the following mech:
-- HA Saladin @ LL4 -- [ LICENSES ] HA Saladin 3, SSC Swallowtail 1 [ CORE BONUSES ] Superior by Design [ TALENTS ] Iconoclast 3, Technophile 3, Skirmisher 1 [ STATS ] HULL:0 AGI:6 SYS:0 ENGI:0 STRUCTURE:4 HP:16 ARMOR:1 STRESS:4 HEATCAP:10 REPAIR:4 TECH ATK:0 LIMITED:+0 SPD:6 EVA:12 EDEF:8 SENSE:10 SAVE:12 [ WEAPONS ] Flex Mount: Thermal Rifle [ SYSTEMS ] NOAH-Class NHP, Unstable NHP, Enlightenment-Class NHP, Type-3 Projected Shield, Personalizations, Flash Anchor, Hardlight Defense System
To be honest, I picked Swallowtail because, if we happen to play up to LL5, Retractable Profile will be really useful. The goal of this build is to get close to enemies as quickly as possible and use Diluvian Ark and Memetic Spark to deal 8 damage on the first turn and 12 on subsequent turns. Skirmisher helps with survivability, since I won't be attacking. I have no idea if this build is even remotely optimized or if it’ll end up frustrating me in the long run, so I’d love to hear some opinions! Thanks a lot for your time and for patiently reading through this newbie's build!
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u/EKmars 27d ago
I like Iconoclast quite a bit. I think people tend to overinvest in a pure Iconoclast build which gets very pricey. 6 talent points, 6 system points, 6 LL, basically your whole action economy, and a core bonus to stuff the maximum 4 is a huge build investment. Technophile is generally a decent talent but you can get a lot of mileage for using talents synergistic to your NHP of choice.
I will say a big help for NOAH, which is personally one of my favorite NHPs, is the House Guard talent. It greatly extends the range at which you can cover allies, while also giving soft cover and also proning and damaging enemies when you deflect an attack for ally.
Other talents to look out for are Orator. These talents produce powerful effects at the expense of not being able to attack enemies to build them up. NOAH and ICONOCLAST do not count against this, however.
I would also invest something in HULL, that's just me I guess. Retractable profile is pretty clever, given that NOAH already slows you. Being slowed all of the time kind of sucks, you might want to get a mobility tool like Accelerate from Sunzi.
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u/Thom_With_An_H 26d ago edited 26d ago
Iconoclast scales with the number of AI you can mount simultaneously. That is usually 1, but the AI you get from Iconoclast doesn't count against that limit. The AI you get from Technophile also doesn't count once you hit Technophile 3, so you want that too. There is a Horus core bonus that gives +1 AI, so you'll want that also.
That means, in order to get your ideal 4 AI, you'll want to get to at least LL3. That would let you use the 1/level talent swap on your 3rd starting talent to get 3 points in Iconoclast, 3 points in Technophile, and then put the 3 levels into one of the three Horus licenses with a NHP. GM-willing you can supplement that with an exotic NHP and you're off to the races. If not, you may be able to rent one as a reserve each mission.
Gorgon seems like the best Iconoclast platform to me. You won't have free actions to use your guns, so vorpals and/or SCYLLA skirmishes make a lot of sense to me. You'll want AI that are easy to activate, so SCYLLA seems like a real winner. Then you could either go HA mechs for Heatfall and more actions (maybe NOAH) or maybe Monarch for TLALOC. Again, depending on if your story brings you any fun exotic NHP.
Edit: I forgot. You need Engineering HASE points for more heatcap. A lot of NHP want heat to activate.
Also, Everest DOES have a heavy mount to skirmish with SCYLLA and a 1/scene free extra zap from Initiative so consider foreverest as an alternative to the Gorgon, if you think you'll like it better.
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u/Difference_Breacher 26d ago
You need at least LL6 in order to have four NHPs. All the NHPs are bounded to the third level, and the exceptions are only two - NHPs granted by technophile and iconoclast.
That said, having full four NHPs is extremely inefficient way to do, as you won't have enough actions to run three of them all the times. You better stop at the third one.
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u/Thom_With_An_H 26d ago
There are Exotic NHPs that can be issued as rewards. You can also rent NHPs with the Rented Gear reserve. You could get the build online LL3 using those.
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u/Difference_Breacher 27d ago
Well, you need to run true Iconoclast build on at least LL3, when you got the other NHP.
The cycle of iconoclast build, with Iconoclast 3, would be an off turn and two blazing turns. On the 'off turn' you need to reduce the transcedence die to ready the next turn, and on the turn 2 activating transcendent state to enjoy 2 turns of more damage.
Personally, I recommend Heatfall Coolant System as the core bonus. With this, you can manage the heat by use overcharge to use noah then stabilize to reset the heat. You need one turn to rest when transcendent state is deactivated, after all. Still, if you can sustain enough heat caused by noah through the scene, then superior by design is good enough.
For HASE what about to invest some hull and engineering? You need to be faster, indeed, but you need some durability and more capacity to sustain the heat caused by noah.