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[Leonhardt]

Welcome to Leonhardt's Guide to Manguard

So you want to play Manguard huh_ Good choice. Other mechs are for ninnies and sissies!

Before we start getting into the details of the guide lets start with the fundamentals of C-class and Manguard. Anyone who has played C-class knows that they can be quite unforgiving in a few areas such as positioning and awareness. To guide you on your journey from being a lowly Vanguard pilot to a Manguard pilot I will supply you with video material for you to analyze on your own. Now that doesn't mean I am going to just give you raw video and leave you out to dry. A MANGUARD NEVER LEAVES HIS TEAMMATES OUT TO DRY! Since you are all my teammates at the moment I will help you analyze my videos pointing out my own mistakes. I will also answer questions both in here and on youtube.

If you have a question my only request is that you give me the time period and video in which the scene took place so that I can reference it. Going back through a bunch of video a million times to answer 9 different questions sucks and I am not going to do it.

I repeat if there is no time period given I will not answer your question.




Now lets get onto my guide shall we_ First up are the basics. As is the usual pattern for my guides I will give you a video that seems to have nothing to do with playing Hawken and then magically pull lessons out of it like a wizard or Babaji.


SECTION 1: THE "8 FOLD PATH OF REX KWAN DO"




#1.) Observe Rex's unwavering manliness. Even in the face of sheer idiocy Rex remains MANLY. As a Manguard pilot learn from Rex and remain manly at all times! BOW TO YOUR SENSEI!

#2.) Some little A or B class come up to take you on_ They try to sweep the leg with a pathetic movement_ SLAP THEM IN THE FACE AND MOVE ON TO THE NEXT ONE! Manguard's do not care for the weak opponents they CRUSH THEM 2-3 at a time.

#3.) Pilot comes up on you while you are healing_ Tries to grab your wrist_ SHOOT HIM IN THE FACE AND WALK AWAY (boosting is advisable here). If he follows you around the corner REPEAT UNTIL HE EXPLODES because EXPLOSIONS ARE MANLY!

#4.) Does some guy walk up and try to kick you while your back is turned_ DODGE TURN AROUND AND SMACK HIM IN THE FACE! "You will block it every time" ~The late great manly Rex

#5.) BUDDY SYSTEM - A Manguard need not an ally to take on 3-5 mechs at once, but his allies do need him. Positioning is KEY to the buddy system. Help out your teammates move with them and keep them safe. That means watching your radar for both friendlies and enemies.

#6.) DISCIPLINE YOUR IMAGE - Confidence is important to being manly and appearance is PART OF BEING MANLY. So how do I "discipline my image"_ Its simple. Step one acquire Vanguard, step two BUY A SWEET CAMO OR TWO, step three customize it into a MANGUARD! Those who use pink checkers such as myself will be praised and those who use the colors of the American flag in honor of Rex WILL DOMINATE THE BATTLEFIELD WITH OVERWHELMING CONFIDENCE!

#7.) BUY THE DAMN CAMO! Seriously nobody wants a Grenade to the face while you are wearing a sweet camo. YOUR MANLY PAINT JOB WILL STRIKE FEAR INTO THE HEARTS OF YOUR ENEMIES!

#8.) Self Respect - This is what separates the Vanguards from the Manguards (if you are a cupcake GET OUT OF HERE WE DON'T WANT SISSIES). Self respect does not mean naming your Manguard "Sturla" and pretending that its your wife. What it means is remaining calm in the face of defeat or loss. A Manguard TAKES WHAT HE NEEDS AND DESTROYS EVERYTHING ELSE! A MANGUARD SAYS "GG" AFTER EVERY GAME AND RESPECTS HIS OPPONENT, but he also knows that he can never stop growing or learning new ways of being MANLY!


Section 2: VIDEO TIME

Ok so now that the basics of being a Manguard are clearly laid out in the "8 fold patch of Rex Kwan Do" we can now start getting into the details. In this section I will give you two clips of my own game footage. These games were just a test for my video recording software for the TPG tournament, but after watching them I decided to make a video guide to being a Manguard because I am such an upstanding guy. Because I was not intending to use these for anything except a test there are voices from Vent that are not my own in the video. Pay not attention to the disembodies voices as not only are they not me they are not even playing Hawken... they are playing Titanfall. lol

Oh and also I do listen to music that loud all the time. Yes I know I can't hear enemies around me, but I don't care because I crush them WITH MY MANLINESS!


Also I want it noted that while I am using mini-flak on my Manguard I would recommend in the current patch that players use the SMC. The mini-flak is extremely unforgiving and in a lot of ways sub-par to the SMC (Sub Machine Cannon) at almost every range (mini-flak only has the advantage if you can see the whites of their eyes). Why is this_ The mini-flak overheats very quickly and has a huge range fall off issue so unless you are really good with the mini-flak positioning SMC is more realiable. In fact in a scrim or tourney match I use SMC not mini-flak (although I would rather use mini-flak because its super fun).


WHAT THE GAMES ON YOUTUBE IN 720p


GAME 1

Spoiler

Mistake 1 - So in this mistake if you watch the radar carfully you will see that my tech decided to run off and try to save someone who isn't on the AA (a dumb move by the tech, but my mistake was even dumber). I did not notice this and as a result ended up engaging in a 2v1 with an Incin Tech combo no less. As you can see I tried to kill the tech in the video reason being that after I started the engagement I knew that it was over so I tried to kill the lowest health target ASAP. Remeber EVEN IN THE FACE OF DEATH A MANGUARD STANDS FIRM AND TAKES EVERY ENEMY HE SEES WITH HIM!

Further elaboration on Mistake 1: The incin and the tech have a central position with the high ground if I were to try and run it would be out in the open. I could drop down, but then I lose any hope of getting back to the AA in time to help my team push. In this rare instance it is best for me to die, but it would have been better if I had just remained with my team and pushed with them instead of being too manly (a common mistake for me in pubs is being too manly as I like to test the boundaries).


Mistake 2 - In this situaion again I was not aware of my teams position and so I was out of position... BY A LOT. By the grace of the Hawken gods I was able to make it back to my team and I could have lived, but I did not drop down to stay safe I instead thought my team would turn on the guy pushing in and we could nuke him down before he killed me. I was wrong and it cost me. You will see later in the video that this scenario happens again and I drop down saving myself from the push. Remember #8!


Mistake 3 - Quite simply I am being too manly here. My goal is not necessarly to kill everyone there, but to keep them back enough so that my team can take up an advantagious position on the AA. Unfortunatly I stayed too long and I was unable to get back in time. If you are going to be that manly make sure you know when you have to leave. If I had left a half second earlier I would have lived and helped my team keep the AA. In all honesty I probably could have made it back if I hadn't sat under the AA healing while the Incin hit me, but I don't want you guys thinking that its ok to stay as long as I did. That is a mistake even if I would have lived because my opponents were missing me when I was out in the open.


Mistake 4 - I actually could have won that 5v2, but I don't play siege much so I tried to take full advantage of the AA forgetting that the enemy team spawns on the other half. I exposed myself on their spawn side which I should almost never do. You will see me do it throughout the video and most of the time its a judgement call based on my radar, but that time I wasn't even paying attention to that. I went into TDM and DM mode thinking that I can win with ease from that position and had the enemy not spawned behind me I would have. Point is positioning changes based on game mode so pay attention to where you are in relation to the enemy spawn. You will live a lot longer I promise.

Further elaboration - to win that 5v2 all I had to do was go back under the AA, pepper them with GL and mini flak while moving up to the top in order to gain the height advantage on the enemies coming in towards the AA since they were an Incinerator.

Game 2

Spoiler

Mistake 1 - On the surface this may seem like I was just being too manly trying to 2v1, but really what happened was I didn't pay attention to my radar and I went "all in" thinking my teammates from a second ago were right behind me (ppl tend to follow Manguards). So remember #5 THE BUDDY SYSTEM!


Mistake 2 - So as you can see I was super manly and assasinated that tech setting up my team for a really successful push into the enemy base repelling them from the AA. What was my mistake_ Again I was not aware of my surroundings and I did not notice the Scout comming up on my right side (left if facing where I killed the tech). This oversight combined with my eagerness to engage the guy coming out of the tunnel cost me dearly. If I had remained at the back of my team patiently getting healed then I would have lived to stop the counter push. My mistake was moving too quickly and not paying attention to my surroundings.


Mistake 3 - Can you guess what my mistake was here_ If you said being too manly then you are WRONG! Being manly did not get me killed here. What got me killed was once again NOT PAYING ATTENTION TO MY SURROUNDINGS. If I had payed attention then I would not have moved in for the kill I would have just beat him back with the heavy back hand of the Manguard's GL. Remember that where the enemy is and how many of their teammates are near you dicates whether you can go in for the kill. Being manly does NOT mean you should go in for the kill every time. It means playing aggressively with a clever ferocity.


Mistake 4 - Quite simply I was too manly here. I was watching my radar, I was aware of my surroundings, I even knew that someone was comming up behind me, but despite all of that I engaged multiple targets with only 199 health. That is a sure fire way to die.


Mistake 5 - If you watched the whole clip already you are proably thinking "what mistake_" since I lived through the engagement, but don't fool yourself. I won because of the other players incompetance not because of my superior skill (although that did play a factor). So if you watch closely you will see that I am admiring my mech #6 & #7 and I am not paying attention to my surroundings while healing. So I take a huge burst in the back. To win the fight I position myself below the raider making it much harder for him to hit me with a full shot of MIRV or T-32. I then TIME HIS COOLDOWNS. Yes thats right I timmed his cooldowns and baited him to fire twice. I lived because I knew when he was going to fire, but if he had made better life decisions and waited for my dodge or been manlier and came down to me he could have killed me with ease. Regardless point here is that I was not paying attention and it should have cost me a life. When confrunted with this situation do not panic just BE MANLY. I walked away because I was manlier than my opponent and thats all there is to it. He got scared and let me take control of the fight despite his clear advantage.

Build Information

So by now you are probably wondering what my build is and all of that fuzzy bunny. Below I have detailed my build, but know that this can change based on patch notes so while this may be good now if there is a change that makes it obsolete later this build will be subpar. I will try to update it as needed, but I am a bit forgetful. Regardless the build only does so much being manly wins forever!


Items: MK-2 EMP and Health orbs because healing is awesome and nobody likes an EMP to the face.

Internals: 3 slot Advanced Armor Fusor, 2 slot 20% Deflectors, and 1 slot 1% Basic Fuel Converter.

Weapon of choice_ Up to you I would suggest SMC, but in the video's I am using mini-flak because I enjoy that weapon a lot.

[Mykinius]

This guy knows what he's talking about. Was Incinerator on other team, can confirm. I especially like how you label your mistakes and how you could have avoided them (useful stuff!).

That fuel converter seems to be especially useful on Vanguard with all your corner play and close escapes. As a C-class, though, do you really think the Deflectors are worth the item slots_ I only have them on my Scout, and that's because I'm constantly boosting and dashing around every second. Also, I noticed you very rarely try to do aerial combat, instead staying on the ground. I should try that more.

At 4:30 in the first video, as the Incinerator you owned, what should I have done differently_ No worries if you don't want to answer because this is more of a Vanguard guide

At :49 of the second video, I noticed you were looping around the other side, which I'm all for (I love flanking). But why did you boost when so close to the EU tree_ I try to avoid that myself because I try to stay off enemies' radar at times like that.

How do you think the Vulcan compares to the SMC now that the SMC's damage is a little lower in the recent patch_

Why do you never ever use turret mode_

[DaPheel]

Epic guide is epic.

This is the third time I have read it at work, makes me laugh every time!

[Daronicus]

Real men use the same color for enemies and friendlies.

[Leonhardt]

Mykinius, on April 30 2014 - 06:46 PM, said:

This guy knows what he's talking about. Was Incinerator on other team, can confirm. I especially like how you label your mistakes and how you could have avoided them (useful stuff!).

That fuel converter seems to be especially useful on Vanguard with all your corner play and close escapes. As a C-class, though, do you really think the Deflectors are worth the item slots_ I only have them on my Scout, and that's because I'm constantly boosting and dashing around every second. Also, I noticed you very rarely try to do aerial combat, instead staying on the ground. I should try that more.

At 4:30 in the first video, as the Incinerator you owned, what should I have done differently_ No worries if you don't want to answer because this is more of a Vanguard guide

At :49 of the second video, I noticed you were looping around the other side, which I'm all for (I love flanking). But why did you boost when so close to the EU tree_ I try to avoid that myself because I try to stay off enemies' radar at times like that.

How do you think the Vulcan compares to the SMC now that the SMC's damage is a little lower in the recent patch_

Why do you never ever use turret mode_

#1.) As a C-class you are getting hit while boosting or dodging even more than on an A-class so the 20% deflectors is more effective on the larger chassis in my opinion. The only C-class I don't take deflectors on is my Incin.

#2.) On that particular engagement if I were you I would have left immediately when I saw the Vanguard on radar. My teammate was still alive and we were pincering you in. Best case scenario I would have started moving towards the jump pad to your base spawn while shooting the A-class. If the A-class was dumb you could kill him before I get there in time to cut you off and then you get away with a kill. Worst case scenario you just go up the jump pad and go heal or drop EU.

#3.) That was a judgment call on my part. I went that direction in the hopes of catching an A-class bringing back EU. I felt that I needed to boost in order to keep myself out of a bad position where I end up between 2-3 mechs on their way back to base. Since I was unable to see how many were on the EU branch from down below and being down there is a huge disadvantage (wide open and down hill) I felt it was best to just move through ASAP and get back to my team with knowledge of how many were on each branch.

#4.) Personally I feel the Vulcan is not as good as the SMC due to fall off issues and spin up time between forward boosting. This limits your DPS output while in combat and forces you into ranges where most mechs play corner games so its likely that to play aggressively you will have to forward boost anyway. SMC is more reliable at all ranges and doesn't have a spin up so it gives you more options in the corner game and the approach.

#5.) I only use turret mode when I feel my team can establish a proper line and hold it since turret mode leaves me very vulnerable to flanks and well placed EMP's.

[Weezl3]

Daronicus, on April 30 2014 - 07:14 PM, said:

Real men use the same color for enemies and friendlies.

No such thing as friendlies. Only people less able to shoot you in the face.

[Dorro]

this guide made me 20% more American, which is high praise, because I already own multiple pairs of cowboy boots and have a cleft chin and a beard. As a matter of fact, I'm pretty sure reading this guide has caused the cleft in my chin to slightly deepen to an even more powerful and masculine definition. 10/10 guide, would cleft again.

[TheVulong]

After reading this article..

[DieselCat]

I <3 my Cupcake ! ......

*+

[N0stalgia]

BOW TO YOUR SENSEI!

[angryhampster]

Good guide.  But, i am a hamster....

[DaPheel]

BEHOLD:


BEFORE.


AFTER:


I CAN NOW GUARANTEE THIS GUIDE IS 100% ACCURATE.
AS A VARIATION I CHOSE DETONATOR AS AN ITEM BECAUSE EXPLOSIONS, I CHOSE ADVANCED REPAIR KIT BECAUSE HEALS.

~BOWS TO SENSEI~

[ThirdEyE]

Nice writeup man, you can tell the mark of a true Vanguard pilot when he uses the exact same items/internals setup as me

I would highly recommend giving the Vulcan another shot.  The spinup isn't very bad anymore, especially when everything else has a firing delay as well, and its range and heat rate are quite good for the dps.  Plus it's far manlier than the SMC.

Another note to more average/good players, feel free to use turret mode often.  I wouldn't recommend forcing it into your playstyle, but if you find yourself in a tunnel being chased, toss a repair charge down and turret it up.  It's really quite amazing how tanky a turreted Vanguard can be, especially with orb(s) + Armor fusor.

[Leonhardt]

ThirdEyE, on April 30 2014 - 11:43 PM, said:

Nice writeup man, you can tell the mark of a true Vanguard pilot when he uses the exact same items/internals setup as me

I would highly recommend giving the Vulcan another shot.  The spinup isn't very bad anymore, especially when everything else has a firing delay as well, and its range and heat rate are quite good for the dps.  Plus it's far manlier than the SMC.

I'll give the Vulcan another shot, but I always felt that its like this weird half way point between using mini-flak which just destroys up close and SMC which keeps engagements at optimal medium ranges at all times. However, since mini-flak is currently extremely rare to run into Vulcan would be pretty undisputed up close 9 times out of 10.

DaPheel, on April 30 2014 - 10:18 PM, said:

~BOWS TO SENSEI~

The pink checkers have been praised! I dub thee a MANGUARD!

Edited by Leonhardt, May 01 2014 - 05:25 AM.

[burns1124]

10/10 would read again just for the eight fold.

[Fstroke]

You just made this post so you could say Manguard over and over again didnt you_

[Leonhardt]

Fstroke, on May 01 2014 - 06:32 AM, said:

You just made this post so you could say Manguard over and over again didnt you_

[Mykinius]

I'm about to buy many internals for most of my best mechs. Given that my mode of choice is Siege...

1) Do you think deflectors and fuel converter would be just as useful on Grenadier (for the same reasons you listed above for Vanguard)_

2) Assuming I also buy 3x repair orbs, how do you think the reconstructor compares to the armor fusor for Vanguard_ How about for Raider_ I love how the reconstructor drastically cuts down idle repair time between skirmishes, but it's possible that I've been undervaluing the 7 hp/second combat regen of the fusor.

3) Are deployable repair orbs more useful in combat / corner play or for quickly repairing out of sight_

[ThirdEyE]

1) Yes

2) Fusor is typically better because it gives you a buff that lasts throughout combat.  As a C class, you'll probably be in combat more often than not, and the Reconstructors are the least effective on C classes anyway (as a percent of max health).  If you're worried about repair time, just use Repair Charges for that.

3) They're always good, assuming you aren't getting forced off of it

[Leonhardt]

Mykinius, on May 02 2014 - 09:48 PM, said:

I'm about to buy many internals for most of my best mechs. Given that my mode of choice is Siege...

1) Do you think deflectors and fuel converter would be just as useful on Grenadier (for the same reasons you listed above for Vanguard)_

2) Assuming I also buy 3x repair orbs, how do you think the reconstructor compares to the armor fusor for Vanguard_ How about for Raider_ I love how the reconstructor drastically cuts down idle repair time between skirmishes, but it's possible that I've been undervaluing the 7 hp/second combat regen of the fusor.

3) Are deployable repair orbs more useful in combat / corner play or for quickly repairing out of sight_

1.) I use the failsafe instead of deflectors on the gren because I use the Rev-GL so the splash is almost unavoidable in CQC.

2.1) The Vanguard benefits a lot from the armor fusor because it heals you while moving and often you end up fighting people one after the other. That little bit of health makes all the difference even if you do have 3 repair orbs. If you really want to go for an all health build you can replace the deflectors with a reconstructor, but I have found that deflectors works better for being aggressive.

2.2) The Raider is an offensive mech at its very core. Its health is too low for the armor fusor to really be of help and that thing doesn't need to air dodge so I would skip out on the 3 slot internals and go for a 2,2,2 build for consistency. My current Raider build uses the replenisher (a 3,2,1 build) in order to keep my ability up as often as possible, but it suffers from being a very snowbally build (meaning that you have to be consistently winning, doing damage and killing mechs to make it effective). My other Raider build which is more consistent regardless of the match is my 2,2,2 build with a 2 slot reconstructor, deflectors, and fuel converter. On the raider I would suggest taking only 2 repair orbs since it should be doing damage constantly and healing off of the orbs of its fallen enemies (unless siege then take what you want).

3.) TBH they are just useful in general. Where their best use is will be dependent on the situation. If you are in a duel and the enemy has a health advantage you may want to plop one down and play the corner game to gain the advantage. Perhaps you are being chased and you need to heal quickly around a corner plop it down and watch them approach then come up with more health. Their most effective use depends on the situation at hand.