Nova NVA-S: Modern Builds for an Old Mech - MechWarrior Online

[@LarshThatCasual]

Yo mate! I appreciate the video, since this is my mech that I submitted to PGI for last year's champion, but I think you're missing the AMS quirk that gives it 30% AMS rate of fire. It was made for first time players as a support role since LRM can be heavier in T5. I guess I'm just a goof that enjoys the support role of any game I play :P

[@BlackhawkSC]

Hey Larsh. I did mentioned that this build is helpful for new players and AMS was part of the equation :)

[@LarshThatCasual]

Hehe, I'm just busting your stones :) But, yes very good for the newbies out there

[@BljesakiOluja]

Kindof necroing this but LRMs heavier in Tier5? Hahaha xD Good one. The higher up the tiers you go the more LRM boats there are. I miss the Tier 4 and 5 days where there was less LURM boating and nascar.

[@imichael2411]

I love my Nova Mutt! It is a combination of Omipods. I put 5x ER Sml laser in the right arm, 6x ER Micro lasers in the Left, 4x Heavy Mac-guns in the Torso and 1x AMS. Fully skill up the Survivability tree to make it tankie as heck! And R.D. and Heat Man. This build has eaten the legs off of Annihilators many times!!!

[@TheFifthHorseman_]

What I did with mine is stick on -D torsos (armor buff), Prime arms (hardpoints), 6 SPL and 6 ERuL.Remaining tonnage goes into heat sinks (although a TC1 is an option).

[@byter75]

One big thing to note with the Nova S is that it is one of the best ams mechs in the game due to being able to mount effectively 3.9 ams. As you already mention the laser vomit hunchie has been a more attractive option for 50 ton laser vomit, going with laser 'and' ams gives the nova a unique niche that is pretty handy for match score events (ams earns match score, many opponents try to cheese match score with lrms).

[@BlackhawkSC]

I agree, if you really wanted to use AMS, the (C) build would be pretty good.

[@TheDashACorner]

Atm in that hell of LRM QP the 3x AMS Nova just get me more wins. Because it improves the performance of my whole team.

[@ramiroavila1869]

what I did was to change the 3 laser on the left side and I put 4 ER small laser and a ton more AMS ammo, I'm thinking that a targeting computer is also a good option.

[@rossato2109]

Hello Blackhawk, I am just starting with the game and I would like to ask you if this vídeo is still up to date. I loved playing the Nova in Mechwarrior 2. Or should I just follow your hellbringer build video?

[@BlackhawkSC]

The hellbringer is still the best beginner mech in my opinion. Try the build out but take a look at the comments.

[@rossato2109]

@@BlackhawkSC Thank you for replying so fast! I love your videos, started watching them way before trying the game.

[@sgtgoodygoodman6280]

Great vid. I have a ton of fun in my Nova. My usual build is more of close brawler with mgs and a ton of ersls. Lots of flanking and harassing. Kind of all or nothing but a blast to play.

[@BlackhawkSC]

That's also another good build type.

[@ChurchAutoTest]

I'm not much of a support build player, but I've actually found the stock build on this mech pretty enjoyable to play. Only did a few matches but they turned out pretty well and the level of AMS really does a number on ATM fire. The only caveat is that even with skill tree it runs very hot, maybe too hot for a new player.

[@BlackhawkSC]

I would at the minimum right side stack the ERMLs. You may be able to gain another heatsink from stripping the LA armor, but most importantly you can right side peek and do your entire alpha. Another possible change is to replace one of the 2 AMS STs with a PRIME ST. You get a 2.5% heatgen quirk plus more free tonnage for heatsinks.

[@BljesakiOluja]

Can I suggest x3 AMS (3t ammo), x4 Heavy Medium Laser, x8 ER Micro Lasers? It is nuts good! Is there an event for 10 500 scores? You'll get it in 15 tries. It is an absolute scorebeast and quite fine in dealing damage. You even end up with 0.9t free but no room for anything else. I mean you could go for ER Mediums instead of Heavy Mediums, cut 2 points of head armor and add another heatsink. But Heavies got the punchhhhhhh that Nova really needs, even though exposure time = death for Nova. So... play smart and win gold.

[@MrBrontos]

returning player here. i just got this free nova when logged in after 2 years break from MWO. I wondering how you manage to get 42 firepower? i I've replicated your build and skills and i only have 36.5 firepower with it. also i have 1 ton spare on it so i put l-amc on it, so i also wonder how u get exact 50 ton?

[@BlackhawkSC]

The firepower difference comes from when they changed the cMPL to 6.5 damage from 7 damage. However I think you might have also missed something else on it, like using a cSPL instead of an cMPL, which would also explain your extra free ton.

[@MrBrontos]

@@BlackhawkSC yep, figured it out already. i've put 1 cSPL by mistake. And as i fixed it firepower went up to 39, so you are totally correct :)

[@GenericInternetter]

gg wp subscribed

[@masonreppeto882]

I sold the nova. I don't like medium mechs. gotta have that armor to do peeking and mediums just don't have it.

[@BlackhawkSC]

Mediums are in general the worst class of mechs in MWO right now. They're not meant to take damage but to either sit near assaults and add firepower (fire support) or to go off to the side and distract and make the enemy team turn to another direction. Both of these roles don't produce good damage numbers most of the time.

[@Enochlesis_t]

Doing something like this in an IS medium would be impossible, so I don't see how nerfing clan tech is a bad idea.

[@BlackhawkSC]

It's not whether clan lasers need a nerf but how they decided to do it. It would unnecessarily hurt mechs like the Nova while doing nothing to the Hellbringer, Ebon Jag or Deathstrike. I felt a 5 clan medium laser would be sufficient to reduce clan alpha size while accounting for IS's better heat efficiency, duration and durability.

[@I_am_a_human_not_a_commodity]

I know this is an old video, but please credit Jinsang for the music. ;D

[@BlackhawkSC]

I take these off of a stream so I generally don't know the artist and track name. If you know this info please post it and I'll put it in the description.

[@bradmoshenko7733]

6med pulse 4 lmgs imo is the best nova build.

[@JOhnDoe-nl4wj]

This build is just begging to get disarmed in one alpha

[@BlackhawkSC]

But it doesn't if you protect it

[@DenverStarkey]

easier said than done , bro. can't stand mechs that have all their weps on one arm. it's just asking for trouble , cos it can and WILL get alpha'ed off eventually.

[@BlackhawkSC]

@@DenverStarkey so what other choice do you have? If you split it across both sides you necessarily have to expose the entire width of your mech, which is arguably worse. Say you put a couple weapons on your torsos, then if the arm gets shot off you're left with 1 or 2 lasers. Might as well be dead in that case too. Not only that, you lose the prime ST quirks. Either way you lose something important for not doing the single arm weapon mounts. So it's just better to learn to protect the arm.

[@DenverStarkey]

I finished more than a few matches with just a couple lasers and came out on top. look at the hero Centurion , that thing has just one arm canon and two middle piece lasers. many people play ti and do just fine after their arm is blown off. Me personally I like to have a nice spread of weapons across both arms and torso pieces , and if a mech has a center slot even better. Sure a mech with only a few of their guns is gonna be hard to do much with , but a good pilot can do far more with that than they can with a mech that loses ALL it's weapons from one player alpha. keep in mind many heavy and assault mechs got alpha's that would blow a nova's arm up in one shot. so yeah , I don't like putting all my chickens in one "basket". as for "exposing " this is why you use torso twist , it's not hard to figure out , you twist to spread damage so no one area takes too much more damage than the others , and all yoru weapons will last longer. with every thing on one arm it just takes a really good heavy or assault to knock your arm off even WHEN you are twisting that arm away from them. mech arms sort of stick out on most mechs , even when they are opposite side of the shooter they can be pegged.

[@BlackhawkSC]

+Denver Starkey but how much damage are you doing with those two lasers. You can do the math. People don't "do fine" with two lasers. They just don't have any other choice. If you want to spread your weapons across a mech as wide as a Nova, I guess that's your choice. But asymmetric builds have been a principle of mech builds starting from the beginning of this game. It's one of the main reasons why Nascar is prevalent in MWO throughout its history. When you do asym you start with less exposure in the first place. With a build that spreads weapons across your entire mech, it takes more time to come out of and go back to cover, which results in taking more damage. Can you torso twist? Sure, but doesn't matter which component absorbs the damage, you're closer to losing some weapons. With asym builds, torso twisting becomes more effective as your dedicated shield side absorbs the incoming damage, which as I said, should be less anyway. In reality I'd only recommend builds spread across the mech to players who don't know yet how to twist damage. Hence the Champion trial build is not that bad for new players. However once people know how to protect their important components, asym builds become a lot more powerful.

[@Rogan_Dorn]

i still swear by my 12 er sml laser/ 4hmg build

[@BlackhawkSC]

I also used to run this, minus the MGs, before switching to HSL

[@charis7854]

Is this what I'm looking for?🤣

[@BlackhawkSC]

Is it??? :D

[@yosharian]

No twin ERPPC poptart? Shame on you.

[@BlackhawkSC]

No, DPS is too low nowadays for QP

[@yosharian]

NOVA NVA-S(C) 14 matches 11 wins 3 losses 3.67 w/l ratio 10 kills 5 deaths 2.00 k/d ratio Average damage 429 seems fine to me

[@BlackhawkSC]

I'm not dismissing the build since some people will prefer it. However looking at the numbers, the cMPLs do 1.594 damage per heat accounting for quirks and the cERPPCs get 1.16 DPH with quirks. Both builds use 4 DHS so dissipation is the same. Low DPS builds will work on certain occasions, but with all the structure and armor skills people take, it takes a long match for it to do it's thing.

[@yosharian]

Your numbers aren't taking into account the range differences between the two weapons. Also, the PPC build gets to use arms as shields, while your build relies on one arm entirely and gets completely neutered if that arm is blown off. There's many advantages to the PPC build and many disadvantages to your build, so it's not as clear-cut as you make it out to be.

[@BlackhawkSC]

You can also point out that the cMPLs don't ever miss and don't create splash damage. None of that matters though when your mech can't put out enough damage in a game, which is why I'm not mentioning any of the other cMPL advantages or cERPPC advantages. If you place a second ERPPC on the ST, then you need the -C ST which makes you lose 5% energy heatgen, reducing your DPS even further. It's OK if you like the build, like I said I don't dismiss it. The comments section is here for people to post their builds and for me to respond. I just didn't list it because it's not something I'd play personally.