And the results are in! Best weapons for Mechwarrior 5: Mercenaries (up through Chaos Reign DLC)

Some time ago I mentioned that I was creating a spreadsheat for different MW5 weapons. I wanted to see how well different weapons performed in terms of damage, damage done per tonnage of the weapon, damage done per heat produced, and damage per minute of continuous fire.

I finally finished the spreadsheet, and before Ashes and Ascension gives us new weapons, I would like to share the findings, which are kind of interesting.

One caveat here - this data is based on what I could find on Sarna and from the game itself. It does not take into account the laser burst duration which possibly affects rate of fire data given in the game and on Sarna. Until I can find reliable info about that, these tables use the default rate of fire data given for these weapons.

Categories: Best Damage (in a single strike), Best Damage per Heat produced, Best Damage per Tonnage (does not take into account tonnage of heat sinks or ammo), Best Damage per Heat produced, Best Damage per Minute, Best Damage per Heat and per Tonnage.

So without further delay, here are the findings:

Best Damage:
Gold Medal: T5 (assault) Greatsword (110.5)
Silver Medal: T4 (asasult) Greatsword (103.7)
Bronze Medal: T3 (assault) Greatsword (95.2)

Comments: It’s simply no contest. Melee weapons are the most powerful in terms of damage per single strike, and the greatsword is the best of them all.

Best Non-Melee Weapon Damage:
Gold Medal: T5 MRM40 (60)
Silver Medal: T4 MRM40 (60)
Bronze Medal: T3 MRM40 (52.8)

Comments: MRM40’s are simply the best at this time, with Clan ATM-12 being in 5th place based on damage done. LRM 20’s get the honorable mention.

Best Non-Melee, Non-Missile Weapon Damage:
Gold Medal: T5 PPC-X (32.88)
Silver Medal: Clan LB20-X AC (32.5)
Bronze Medal: Clan Ultra AC 20 bf (31.72)

Comments: The Clan LB20-X AC solid burst and T5 AC20bf are in 4th and 5th place.

Best Damage per Tonnage (excludes default fists and knuckles which have no specific tonnages listed):
Gold Medal: T5 Light Knuckles (55.0)
Silver Medal: T5 Light Hammerfist & T4 Light Knuckles (45.0)
Bronze Medal: T3 Light Knuckles (40.0)
Comments: Once again, melee weapons dominate here

Best Non-Melee Weapon Damage per Tonnage:
Gold Medal: Clan SRM6, Clan SRM 4, Clan SRM 2 (13.440)
Silver Medal: Clan ER Small Laser (13.000)
Bronze Medal: Clan Machine Gun (9.6)

Comments: Clan weaponry dominates, with damage of the clan SRM scaling well with tonnage. The Clan ER Medium Laser was in 4th place with a 9.1 damage-per-tonnage ratio.

Best Weapon Damage per Heat Produced: (excludes all melee weapons and machine guns since they produce no heat)
Gold Medal: T5 Small Chemical Laser (43.333)
Silver Medal: T4 Small Chemical Laser (35.294)
Bronze Medal: T3 Small Chemical Laser (30.556)
Fourth Place: Clan LB5-X AC (29.355)
Fifth Place: T2 Small Chemical Laser (27.632)
Sixth Place: Clan Gauss Rifle (27.097)

Comments: Again, probably no surprise, since chemical lasers are designed to be low heat weapons. But I was surprised to see Clan Gauss Rifles this low down on the list.

Best Damage per Minute Weapons:
Gold Medal: Clan Heavy Machine Gun (2400.000)
Silver Medal: T5 (assault) Greatsword (1339.371)
Bronze Medal: T5 (heavy) Hammer (1274.144)
Fourth Place: T5 (heavy) Trench Blade (1260.000)
Fifth Place: T4 (assault) Greatsword (1208.105)
Sixth Place: T5 (assault) Claymore (1185.608)
Seventh Place: ATM-12 (1136.570)

Comments: Calculated as (damage) * (rate of fire). So machine guns really do the best damage when fired continuously, compared to other weapons. This is probably as per their design. Of course, to be effective you have to be constantly pouring it on, but then again, that’s what a DPS built is, is it not? Still, I wonder if this calculation is accurate. Clan Heavy Machine Guns are listed as doing 4 damage with 600 rounds/minute, hence the 2400 figure. But is it really 4 damage per round fired?

Best Damage per Minute per Ton Weapons:
Gold Medal: Clan Heavy Machine Gun (4800.000)
Silver Medal: Clan Light Machien Gun (3840.000)
Bronze Medal: T5 (light) Knuckles (910.360)

Comments: Calculated as ((damage)*(rate of fire))/tonnage. Does not take into account weight of ammo or heat sinks. But still, heavy and light clan machine guns are clearly king here.

Best Damage per Minute per Ton per Heat Weapons:
Gold Medal: T5 Small Chemical Laser (2577.467)
Silver Medal: T4 Small Chemical Laser (1917.741)
Bronze Medal: T3 Small Chemical Laser (1597.689)

Comments: Small Chemical Lasers dominate here because they are low heat and low tonnage.

Overall, I think these findings are somewhat surprising. I favor c-ATMs, cLRM20 + Art IV, cER PPC, T5 PPC-X, clan Gauss rifles, clan medium pulse lasers, and clan ER medium laser, but none are in the top of any category.

Comments? Thoughts? Criticism?