Last Updated: 1-Sep-2016

The Kodiak is the largest bear species, but historically the largest known bear (and indeed, the largest land carnivore) was the South American short-faced bear.

Overview

The Kodiak is a dream-machine, which lots of people have wanted in the game for a long, long time. Some people wanted the mech because they had fond memories of it from previous titles, some wanted it because it looks badass, and some (like me) wanted it because its loadouts on Sarna implied some devastating potential in MWO. I don’t think any of us were disappointed on any count, with the Kodiak quickly establishing itself as the strongest mech in the game – not just because of the great builds, but also due to the weapon locations, speed, and customization options.

The KDK-3 stands head and shoulders above the rest of the variants, with the ability to run a half dozen unique builds that can all carry a match with ease. Second up is the Spirit Bear – a MASC-equipped brawler that rivals the Atlas for short-range domination. And to master your chassis, the best option is the KDK-2 due to its ability to equip jumpjets without sacrificing much in terms of quirks or hardpoints from the other variants. While I do highly endorse the Spirit Bear, I recognize that it is expensive as hell, and you shouldn’t feel that you need to get it. Instead, consider picking up the KDK-4, which has some good asymmetric options available, or the KDK-5 which has the most energy hardpoints of any of the variants at 11. The KDK-1 doesn’t really do anything particularly special when compared to the other variants (I’m actually going to combine it with the KDK-5), but it can still run some decent builds.

Chassis-Wide Information

Strengths

As a 100-ton Clan nonmnimech, the Kodiak has loads of room to fit massive guns. Its raw firepower is only rivaled by the Dire Wolf, whose extra hardpoints do allow it to fit slightly more guns on.

The engine cap of 400 means that you don’t have to sacrifice speed to run these devastating builds; a problem which plagues the Dire Wolf.

The side torso ballistic mounts (particularly the top one on the KDK-3 and KDK-4) range from high to very high, and even the arm-mounted energy weapons are relatively high on the body.

Hitboxes are…not bad. There certainly are vulnerabilities to them, but the arms do provide pretty decent coverage to let you shield, and damage seems to naturally spread as long as you don’t just stare at the enemy all game.

The quirks aren’t going to blow anyone away, but their existence is a noticeable bonus to the chassis’ quality of life (though there are no weapon quirks).

Weaknesses

The Kodiak is pretty big. You may notice that you’re getting shot in the shoulders when you can’t see an enemy mech because they are quite a bit higher up than your cockpit and are broad as hell to boot.

This isn’t an intrinsic weakness, but the Kodiak tends to get focused quite hard, and the quirks don’t exactly make you tanky.

It’s not perfect. There are a few places where I would like to get an extra hardpoint, or move one around. This isn’t really a weakness, but…there’s potential for something better, at least. Just not much better.

Generic Tips

It’s a great mech, but you’re not a god. You still have to focus on getting favorable trades and staying with your team – it’s much more agile than a Dire Wolf, but it’s important that you don’t get too comfortable because you can get flanked hard.

Make sure your shoulders and arms are fully covered between pokes. It sometimes feels like you should be in solid cover and then you’ll get your gauss crit, so err on the side of caution and back a liiittle further down that ridge.

Builds

The Master Guides for mechs like the Kodiak follow the format of the IS Guides rather than the Clans, as they don’t use omnipods (might have to re-orient my vernacular around omni-status rather than tech base). Each variant gets its own section and within that section I try to include at least two main builds, each with a few variations on the core principle (if applicable).

Each build has one paragraph about the build itself – going over anything I feel is relevant to understanding it such as quirks, tonnage issues, how it fits the meta, my general feeling about it…just whatever. And then there’s a paragraph about using the build, going over tactics, tips, and whatever I feel is relevant to that, including links to L2P guides, on occasion.

I may miss a build that you like, or my builds may differ slightly from what you find works best for you because our philosophies may differ – I strongly encourage that you experiment for yourself to see what works best for you.

The modules are listed in order of which one is most important and the consumables I’ve listed are the ones that are generally the best, but while leveling the mech you may want to swap the less important consumable out for a UAV. That is, if you can afford to use consumables at all (they aren’t necessary, just nice, and if you’re low on C-Bills they’re not necessarily worth it).

On with it!

KDK-3

This is the best variant, focusing on its four high ballistic mounts. Its quirks are limited to slight CT, arm, and leg structure buffs, but it doesn’t need anything more.

Build 1:

Dakka

The dakka Kodiak has ruled the field since it came out, and this is the version which I currently believe to be your best bet. It isn’t quite at maximum power levels, but it makes up for that with its great ease of use and maneuverability. The burst is pretty swell, but the DPS is where this build really shines, and it can apply that DPS relatively safely with its high mounts.

Hill-humping is ridiculous in this thing. You can hump a ridge, stay up, and just dakka down a single target (assuming you’re not poking against a line) without giving him much of a chance to respond. Try to aim for the cockpit if possible – not only do you have a shot of getting a good crit, but you can practically blind them with a steady stream of slugs. I’d say 500 meters is pretty optimal, but you can keep up with DPS pretty much down to brawling range (though you should try to avoid SRMs) and your double-taps can trade effectively at long range too.

Mech Modules: Radar Deprivation, Seismic Sensor

Weapon Modules: UAC/10 Cooldown, UAC/5 Cooldown

Consumables: Cool Shot, Air Strike

Quad 10s Version

This is the original dakka Kodiak, which fell out of favor when UAC/10 ghost heat was cranked up to insanity. Now, it is riskier to run if you can’t manage the double-tap timing near-perfectly, but it’s still better than many give it credit for. However, the need to manage more factors in your mind does lead me to prefer the version with 10s and 5s.

Weapon Modules: UAC/10 Cooldown, UAC/10 Range

Dakka & PPC

This is a decent mimic of the quad 10 build, which picks up a good bit of range but gets even hotter and has to use a lower mount. Still, no risk of triggering ghost heat.

Weapon Modules: UAC/10 Cooldown, UAC/5 Cooldown

Build 2:

Gauss & Peeps

This build wasn’t quite as devastatingly awesome as the dakka build, but it is no less viable – particularly since the nerf to UAC/10 ghost heat. The pinpoint damage is nothing new (the Dire Wolf ran basically the same build), but the super-high mounts and speed just bring a whole new dimension to it, letting you brutalize enemy mechs with impunity.

This build has lots of options for (relatively) safe trading. The most reliable and aggressive way to do it is to peek around corners, using your somewhat asym build to crush flanks. If you need to be more careful, you can also do pure hill-humping where only your Gauss Rifles peak over a ridge. If you pre-charge, you can limit your exposure time and profile, making it difficult to get shot back unless the enemy is pre-aiming. You can also do more aggressive hill-humping, where you expose your PPCs as well. This definitely has a higher risk of getting shot back, but you can still oftentimes get away with it since the PPCs are quite high. At long range and against fast-moving targets, you will often want to split up your Gauss and PPCs due to the velocity difference, but usually you can fire them together and keep it pinpoint. For more on this style, check out the PPFLD guide.

Mech Modules: Radar Deprivation, Seismic Sensor

Weapon Modules: Gauss Cooldown, ERPPC Cooldown

Consumables: Cool Shot, Air Strike

MG-less Version

I’ve found that losing those super-high mounts doesn’t actually tend to hurt you that much. The safety of your hill-humps is diminished, but most of the time you’re at least exposing your PPCs anyways. And this lets you pick up a heat sink.

Quad Gauss Version

This is pretty self-explanatory. I find it to be quite a bit weaker due to the need for a STD engine and the inability to fire all four Gauss at once, but I couldn’t not bring it up.

Weapon Modules: Gauss Cooldown, Gauss Range

Other Builds

10s & Gauss

I love the way this build works – the super-high Gauss Rifles let you poke efficiently, while the UAC/10s give you the fantastic DPS. But I usually end up just staring at the enemy and spamming LMB and holding RMB down (occasionally releasing only to hold it down again).

Mech Modules: Radar Deprivation, Seismic Sensor

Weapon Modules: Gauss Cooldown, UAC/10 Cooldown

Consumables: Cool Shot, Air Strike

LBX10s

This build isn’t a great alternative to dakka, but it’s pretty good and it’s really fun. You don’t get to double-tap, but there’s no ghost heat and the spread isn’t actually all that bad.

Mech Modules: Radar Deprivation, Seismic Sensor

Weapon Modules: LB10X Cooldown, LB10X Range (lol)

Consumables: Air Strike, UAV

Gauss Vomit

This is a pretty traditional style; great alpha, great range, manageable heat, just solid all-around. But you have to expose your whole mech, and the PPC versions are just so great.

Mech Modules: Radar Deprivation, Seismic Sensor

Weapon Modules: Gauss Cooldown, ERML Range

Consumables: Cool Shot, Air Strike

Spirit Bear

This is much less of an all-rounder (no wall of builds here), but it does one thing very well: brawl. And to this end, it gets some decent structure and agility quirks.

Build 1:

Brawler

It’s a fantasy come to life. Not only do you get the ultimate brawling combo (AC/20 and 4 SRM6s), you get max engine, MASC, loads of heat sinks, plenty of ammo… I just wish that the weapons were IS tech, but that’s not an option (with a cXL) and other than that it’s perfect.

Once you get in range, you are a monster, but getting in range ain’t exactly easy. The armor and MASC certainly help, but you’ve gotta be just a bit sneaky. Try to get relatively close without taking much damage, then attack a flank with your full alpha. As long as you’re in range, you don’t need to commit right away, but if your team’s on the same page…might as well hit that MASC and just go nuts.

Mech Modules: Radar Deprivation, Seismic Sensor

Weapon Modules: SRM6 Cooldown, LB20X Cooldown

Consumables: Cool Shot, Air Strike

Gauss Version

This picks up some legitimate long-range weapons while keeping the high speed and some of the SRM power of the original. It’s just an inferior option, but as far as bracket builds go…

Weapon Modules: Gauss Cooldown, SRM4 Cooldown

Build 2:

LRMs

Nnno.

Mech Modules: Target Decay, Radar Deprivation

Weapon Modules: LRM10 Cooldown, LPL Range

Consumables: Cool Shot, Air Strike

KDK-2

I had really high hopes for this jumpjet variant, and if anything about this chassis really disappointed me, it’s that the KDK-3 is just too much better. But it does get some of the best structure and agility quirks, so that’s nice.

Build 1:

Gauss Vomit

It’s a good build, with good alpha, good range…just a lot of good stuff. But none of it is great. Still, you can keep up in trades, and the “jump”jets add quite a bit of mobility.

You’re gonna want to keep your distance with this build – 500 meters is a good spot for your cERMLs to do good damage, but that’s really the closest I would recommend getting. You should be able to out-trade most enemy mechs at around 600 meters, and past that you can still do great damage. At such long ranges, you might want to stick to right-sided corner-peeks, but as long as you think your cERMLs will still be relevant, go for a full expose. Stick to the Gauss and cLPL if you get hot, and for more about Gauss Vomit, check out the guide.

Mech Modules: Radar Deprivation, Seismic Sensor

Weapon Modules: Gauss Cooldown, ERML Range

Consumables: Cool Shot, Air Strike

Poptart Version

This drops the cLPLs to focus on PPFLD, and does a pretty decent job of it. Alternatively you can use 3 cERPPCs, but that’s a bit harder to manage.

Med Pulse Version

I’ve always been a cMPL fan, and I think this takes advantage of the weapon pretty well. The low duration, high speed, and heatsinks all make it a pretty nice, well-rounded build.

Weapon Modules: Gauss Cooldown, MPL Range

Large Pulse Boat

I’m not super enthusiastic about this set-up, but it works well enough. Your heat, range, and DPS are pretty great for a laser boat, but you don’t really get to alpha strike due to ghost heat.

Weapon Modules: cLPL Range, cLPL Cooldown

ER Large Boat

Oh man. This build isn’t great and it’s super niche, but I love it for some reason. And I generally don’t like ER Larges. Maybe try it out, but make sure you keep half a second between each of the three weapon groups.

Weapon Modules: ER Large Range, ER Large Cooldown

Build 2:

Brawler

This is probably my favorite build on the variant. It’s not nearly as reliable as the others, but the DPS is absolutely nuts and it just focuses components down so well at short range. Seriously, it absolutely drills through anything that gets close to it.

As with any brawler, your focus is to get close to the enemy without taking any damage. In that sense, it plays fairly normally, though maybe you can get off a cheeky double-tap with the UAC/20 at around 400 meters if you end up being in the open. Once you do get close, you can just spam your weapons constantly, focusing down specific components as much as possible – one of the strengths of the build is that the projectile weapon and low-duration beams make it easy to keep your damage tight. Between shots and during jams, you should be trying to shield, but even without your UAC/20 you can do good damage.

Mech Modules: Radar Deprivation, Seismic Sensor

Weapon Modules: UAC/20 Cooldown, cSPL Range

Consumables: Cool Shot, Air Strike

KDK-4

If you don’t get the Spirit Bear, this should be your third variant for mastery purposes. Even if you do get it, I wouldn’t blame you for just buying loads of Kodiaks. The quirks are pretty good on this, and it’s worth noting that this is the only variant without hand actuators (how hype is that!)

Build 1:

Gauss & Peeps

This is basically a dupe of the KDK-3 build, but uses a smaller STD engine to fit both Gauss Rifles in the same side torso. Which is insanely risky and just a worse option really, but I think it’s really fun. And you do get better quirks on this variant, in addition to not having to deal with dumb hand actuators.

This does end up playing pretty similarly to the KDK-3 version. And you still can do some hill-humping with those Gauss Rifles, but there is a much heavier focus on corner-peeking, which is pretty much what the build was made to do. Just find a corner and own it, shutting down anybody that exposes themselves to you. For more on this sort of build, check out the PPFLD guide.

Mech Modules: Radar Deprivation, Seismic Sensor

Weapon Modules: Gauss Cooldown, ERPPC Cooldown

Consumables: Cool Shot, Air Strike

Build 2:

Skirmisher

I really like the range bracket of this build – it’s a fantastic performer at that ~400 meter mid-range spot with great DPS and even a decent alpha. But just look at all those heatsinks that it takes to keep it going, and it can still get hot.

While your biggest damage comes into play at around 400 meters, you don’t need to get that close. In standoff-ish matches, you’ll often be better served by just dakka’ing dudes with right-sided corner-peeks, and throwing in your MPLs if they’ll do more than a couple points of damage (so, when inside 500 meters or so). But if you get the chance to move in closer and get a good flank going, you can just obliterate dudes from 300-400 meters away. Just remember to shield with your left side if you’re getting pressured, and if you’re losing trades early on, find something to do besides trading.

Mech Modules: Radar Deprivation, Seismic Sensor

Weapon Modules: UAC/10 Cooldown, MPL Range

Consumables: Cool Shot, Air Strike

KDK-5 & KDK-1

For the most part, these variants run the same builds. A lot of them have slightly better asym options on the KDK-5, but they’re almost all identical in terms of actual weapons. For that reason, I’ll supply two Smurfy’s when you can’t run the same build on both. In terms of quirks, these variants got shafted, with only a bit of extra CT structure. Which is (a small) part of why they’re the worst.

Build 1:

Gauss Vomit (KDK-5)

Gauss Vomit (KDK-1)

These builds basically focus on maximizing alpha strike without giving up on speed. And they do a pretty good job of that…but damn are they hot. Can’t-fire-twice-without-overheating hot. You could do it with a cool shot for sure, but generally the alpha strike is an opener and that’s it.

You can poke with these builds from very long range if you stick to the Gauss and LPLs, and you will definitely want to try to do some of that as long as you’re not getting out-traded. The mech is too hot and the Gauss is too risky to take it close before you have to, but that’s not an excuse to camp a spot if you’re not getting any shots. Constantly work on angles, and once you do end up around 500 meters away, start whipping out big alphas and watch mechs melt. But if your heat bar is over about 40%, stick to the LPLs. For more on this sort of build, check out the Gauss Vomit guide.

Mech Modules: Radar Deprivation, Seismic Sensor

Weapon Modules: Gauss Cooldown, ERML Range

Consumables: Cool Shot, Air Strike

Asym Version (KDK-5)

This drops a couple of the lasers to get a larger TC, a bigger engine, and a fully asymmetric build! That last part could help a lot, but your alphas aren’t nearly as dumb.

Slow Version

This one drops the endo and an ERML and lowers the engine in order to cram in a few extra heatsinks. I don’t think it’s worth it, but if you can’t take the heat

Laser Vomit (KDK-5)

Laser Vomit (KDK-1)

These builds drop the Gauss Rifle instead of lasers/engine rating, and get a bunch of heatsinks for it.

Weapon Modules: ERML Range, LPL Range

KDK-5 Unique Build:

Laser Vomit

I want to include builds that one of the variants can do and the other can’t, and this is a pretty cool option. Obviously, ER Larges and MPLs don’t exactly go well together, but the tonnage fits particularly well and the way the durations work out, if you fire your left side (including the CT laser) and then the right side about half a second later, your full duration of the MPLs will finish at about the same time as the ER Large. Which I just think is super neat!

This build focuses on a similar range bracket as the KDK-4 skirmisher build, where you limit your full-engage range to about 400 meters. Past that, you’ll generally want to keep to cover, but if the enemy isn’t shooting at you, you might as well touch ‘em with your ER Large. When you close, you won’t be able to shoot that much with all your weapons, but just firing a single arm isn’t too rough on the ol’ heatsinks.

Mech Modules: Radar Deprivation, Seismic Sensor

Weapon Modules: MPL Range, ER Large Cooldown

Consumables: Cool Shot, Air Strike

KDK-1 Unique Build:

Bracket Build

The idea behind this build is that you get a full-on Gauss + double ER PPC alpha which is great, and then there’s some LRMs on top of all that. Obviously it’s not a great build, but there’s a lot of better builds that are unique to the KDK-1.

About 90% of what you do is going to be corner-peeking with your Gauss & PPCs, only exposing your right side (and CT). This is actually quite a bit of firepower – not overwhelming, but enough to kill things quickly enough and it has lots of range to boot. But since one of the vulnerabilities of Gauss is…well, exploding, this build takes an ER PPC in the CT and the LRMs in the LT, which is a decent enough loadout for when you’re really beat up.

Mech Modules: Radar Deprivation, Seismic Sensor

Weapon Modules: Gauss Cooldown, LRM15 Cooldown

Consumables: Cool Shot, Air Strike

Pilot Skills

I’ve figured that this is the best skill order for pretty much any mech, and so I’m just going to customize it for mechs that have to emphasize unusual pilot skills.

Basics: Cool Run – Heat Containment – Hard Brake – Kinetic Burst – Twist Speed – Twist X – Anchor Turn – Arm Reflex

Elites: Speed Tweak – Fast Fire – Quick Ignition – Pinpoint

Then just master it. The KDK-3 is obviously vital, and the Spirit Bear too if you bought it, but other than those, just master whatever you enjoyed.

_________

And that’s that. I hope you enjoy your mech, let me know if you have any questions, and as always glhf

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