Last Updated: 12-Dec-2015

It’s time for the King.

Overview

King Crab is a long-requested chassis, with the most remarkable and unique feature being its ability to mount 2 plus-sized ballistics (AC/20 and/or Gauss), making it the first IS Assault to have that ability. But beyond that, it’s still a 100-tonner and has a plethora of hardpoints, making it resemble the Dire Wolf more than it does the Atlas.

All of the variants share a few things in common in terms of hardpoints. They all have at least one ballistic hardpoint in each arm, at least two energy hardpoints in the right torso, and at least two missile hardpoints in the left torso. This means that there are many builds that can be done by all three chassis, but since the KGC-000 boasts the best ballistic of any of the variants, those builds are usually (though not always) done best on the KGC-000. On the other hand, the KGC-0000’s numerous energy and missile hardpoints make it the best choice for boating those weapon systems (which usually implies brawling, but also there is a real place for long range as well), and the KGC-000B’s hardpoints and quirks make it an effective all-rounder. All three have their place, and you’ll have to get all of them in order to master the chassis. Since so many builds are held in common between the chassis, I’ll include the builds in the section of the chassis they are done best in and make a note of what other chassis can take the build.

Chassis-Wide Information

Strengths

Ability to mount dual Gauss or dual AC/20, as well as quad (U)AC/5s making it the first IS Assault capable of this feat.

Very high energy hardpoints in the right torso, positioned at the absolute top of the chassis.

Very good at shielding its CT with its side torsos, with bonuses to torso twist speed and elongated side torsos both playing roles in this.

Relatively good convergence between the side torsos and their corresponding arms, though not the best.

Plethora of hardpoints give you a great degree of freedom when it comes to customizing builds.

The torso wobble may disrupt enemy aiming and thus help you spread damage, but the effect is not terribly pronounced.

Weaknesses

Some of the worst arm convergence in the game between the arms due to the combination of a particularly wide torso and its arms being flanged outwards.

Low cockpit location means that you will have to expose quite a bit of your mech in order to fire the PPCs, making it easier to return fire on you when you hill hump.

Massive legs can make for attractive targets on a shielding King Crab, and are very difficult to miss.

Massive side and top profile, meaning that XL engines are not an option and strikes may end up doing more damage than usual. Front profile is rather wide too, so it’s not difficult to isolate hitboxes.

Arms are pretty tiny, so they aren’t terribly useful for shielding side torsos, but that also means they don’t get crit out often (especially thanks to their extra 17 armor).

Generic Tips

Most builds have a lot in common with other existing mechs, so keep that in mind (similar mechs include the Misery, Dire Wolf, and Atlas). It should be clear which mechs are similar due to having the same weapons.

Always be twisting; you have great torso twist perks and most builds are asymmetric, so you can choose which side you take damage on most of the time.

Builds

I want to point out for the King Crab in particular that if you find a build you like, there’s a good chance that it will work on the other variants as well. It should be clear which ones can be cross-applied, but if you have any questions ask on the forums or PM me or something. You also may find that I go a bit lighter on ammo than other people, that might just be due to how I play, and I might change the ammo quantities up a little bit we’ll see.

For those of you who are not familiar with the general format of these, here’s how it goes: I will go over each variant one at a time, examining at least one build for each of them and going over the details of the builds. In general, there will be two paragraphs for each build – one describing the values of the build itself, and the other about its optimal playstyle. In general, the builds will be labeled according to their armament, but occasionally I will name a build if it is particularly badass. Also – the consumables I’ve listed are the ones that are best for normal play, but while leveling the mech you may want to swap the less important one out for a UAV, if you can afford to use consumables at all (they aren’t necessary, just nice). Now then, on with it!

KGC-000 “Triple-Oh”

This variant is the only one with ballistic cooldown quirks which (in addition to having 3 ballistic hardpoints in each arm) makes it the best for ballistic boating, especially for AC/20s.

Build 1:

Boom

This is one of the less popular builds that still gets played, and understandably so. The ghost heat makes it a pain to get truly pinpoint damage, and if your damage is going to spread anyways AC/20s and PPCs aren’t the best. But you can get away with alpha striking a couple of times before you are forced to split them up into two or three weapon groups (though you will often want to split up your weapons left and right so that you don’t get hurt by convergence). At any rate, if you manage to get your 50 point alpha into the same spot, you will annihilate enemy mechs incredibly fast, and if not, you might as well run something different. Plus, you can run this on all variants!

This is an incredibly powerful build at the lower end of medium range, and a group of these can demolish anything they run into in one amassed alpha strike. Though the DPS of the Dire Wolf remains unsurpassed, it can’t quite punch like this. Try to keep the engagement at a bit over 300 meters so that you can focus your firepower well while keeping the enemy at arm’s length – your decent maneuverability will help you take care of that. One thing that the alpha helps it out with is taking positions to fire from, your alpha strike can core people out and make it so that one more shot will kill them, causing them to back off and cede positions to you.

Mech Modules: Radar Deprivation, Seismic Sensor

Weapon Modules: AC/20 Cooldown, AC/20 Range

Consumables: Cool Shot, Air Strike

40 Version

This build plays almost identically to the Misery, but right-sided. It’s one of the more accessibly King Crab builds in general, though it is a bit of a one-trick pony.

Monstrous Version

This is just as far as you can take it. And you can take it this far, but…not for very long.

UAC/5 Version

More oriented for the mid-range than most builds, but should have pretty brutal DPS with nice cooling efficiency.

Weapon Modules (In order of importance): UAC/5 Cooldown, PPC Cooldown

AC/40 Brawler

And this one is purely focused on the short-range, but it is damn effective at it.

Weapon Modules (In order of importance): AC/20 Cooldown, SRM6 Cooldown

Build 2:

Dakka

Great potential DPS with no heat worries and the only concern being your UACs jamming makes this build worth considering. Unfortunately, its firepower falls considerably short of the Dire Wolf, but you do get extra maneuverability on the King Crab. You can run the Dakka builds on the KGC-000B as well, just not as well.

This is one of the best firing-line mechs in the Inner Sphere and that is exactly the way to play it. If anything even thinks about poking its head over a ridge, your guns should meet it there. This does imply a passive style of play, but as long as you stick with your team and keep your guns out of the ground, that shouldn’t be a problem. Essentially though, your playstyle should be to point the guns at the enemy and spam the triggers, shielding whenever the incoming DPS exceeds the outgoing DPS (so mainly when you’re being focused or your guns are on cooldown).

Mech Modules: Radar Deprivation, Seismic Sensor

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

Consumables: Cool Shot 9×9, Improved Air Strike

Stupid Version

I mean this shit is stupid as hell, but also hilarious. Don’t run it if you expect to win or not die, but if you wanna do it just once I won’t judge you.

Regular AC Version

If UACs aren’t for you, which I completely empathize with, maybe this is. Brutal DPS while gaining even a little bit of ranged firepower.

Weapon Modules (In order of importance): AC/5 Cooldown, AC/5 Range

Less Regular AC Version

Slow as dicks and not exactly cool, but goddamn that’s a punch and a half.

Weapon Modules (In order of importance): AC/5 Cooldown, Large Laser Range

Build 3:

Sniper

The King Crab’s strength at range has suffered due to the Gauss nerf, but it’s still an option. This build is 100% focused on the extreme range, and may not enjoy shorter-range maps, but there’s not much that can stand against it at range. These builds can all be done on all variants, but is most appropriate on this thanks to its quirks.

If you can keep the enemy at around 700 meters, do it. You really don’t want to even be in viable range of Large Pulse or any other low-duration weapons. Then you can usually afford to just poke as soon as your weapons come off cooldown. If you can’t keep the enemy at long range (so, most games), focus on doing as much damage as possible and rotating with your team. You’re still an Assault mech, so don’t be scared either, just because you’re not at your optimal range doesn’t mean your weapons are useless. Stay with your team and keep calm.

Mech Modules: Radar Deprivation, Seismic Sensor

Weapon Modules: Gauss Cooldown, ERLL Range

Consumables: Cool Shot, Artillery Strike

ER PPC Version

This focuses more on the PPFLD aspect of sniping, a bit harder to use and a bit less total power, but it can be more threatening too.

Weapon Modules: Gauss Cooldown, Gauss Range

Super Snipper

Lol.

Weapon Modules: Gauss Cooldown, Gauss Range

KGC-0000 “Quad-Oh”

This variant is the best for pretty much anything where you’d want to spam missiles and/or lasers. So yeah, it’s a brawler.

Build 1:

Brawl

This is essentially the same build as on the AS7-S, but asymmetric, which can be a huge advantage or downfall, depending on the game. The asymmetric nature lets you poke and deadside better, but it also means that you’re more easily stripped than in an Atlas, and it lacks the big structure quirks. So yeah, it’s a bit worse in general, but it’s still doable.

You can play this build as a short-range Misery and just annihilate anything around the corner as long as it’s not a full firing line. In a brawl, 90% of your time should be spent shielding with your right side, only twisting to face the enemy when all ballistic and missiles are off cooldown. Sometimes you’ll have to lead a push, just don’t go without backup.

Mech Modules: Seismic Sensor, Radar Deprivation

Weapon Modules: AC/20 Cooldown, SRM6 Cooldown

Consumables: Cool Shot, Air Strike

Non-Asymm Version

This is more of a traditional brawler thing than the other build, to be more secure in case you lose your LT. Try to spread damage evenly whenever possible.

Energy Version

Yeah I don’t think this is that great, but it might be interesting. Hot, but pretty brutal still.

Weapon Modules: SRM6 Cooldown, Medium Pulse Range

Another Stupidly Stupid Version

Just because I love you guys. It’s stupid. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Build 2:

LRMs

Yeah you’ve got 4 LRM 10s with artemis. And you also have 2 ER Large Lasers which is like actual firepower with direct line of sight and they’re super high mounted. This is actually one of the most powerful LRM boats in the game (really only beaten out by the AWS-8R and MAL-1R, but it has real backup weapons too), but it is a utter waste of tonnage. So don’t run it.

There’s not a whole lot for me to say about how to play this beyond use your LRMs, but it does have 2 ER Larges too, which I’ll mainly be addressing. Use these all the time when you’ve got the chance to, especially early on. If you start getting hurt, you can pull back behind cover and stick to LRMs for a while, but whenever your spot isn’t being watched that means that you have an opportunity to break out your lasers and go nuts.

Mech Modules: Target Decay, Radar Deprivation

Weapon Modules: LRM10 Cooldown, ERLL Cooldown

Consumables: Cool Shot, Air Strike

KGC-000B “Crabby”

Get it? Crab B? I’ll see myself out… Anyways, this variant serves as a sort of a middle ground between the KGC-000 and the KGC-0000.

Build 1:

Boomier

Now, the ghost heat is definitely an issue here so your main weapon combo should be 2 PPCs and your AC/20, but when you’re on resting heat and are just poking cautiously, throwing in the full alpha strike can lead to some ridiculously favorable trades. All in all, this has the most devastating alpha strike that you can reasonably afford to stick on an asymmetric mech, bringing back memories of the HGN-732 but with more power and less jumping.

Like I said, alpha strike when you’re on resting heat and are just poking, and when either of those aren’t the case focus on your 2 PPC + AC/20 combo, with the other PPC thrown in between salvos (if you have the heat of course). Just focus on coring everything in as few shots as possible and you should be doing fine. For more information on this style of play, check out the Misery section in the Stalker Master Guide, I went into a lot of detail there.

Mech Modules (In order of importance): Radar Deprivation, Seismic Sensor

Weapon Modules (In order of importance): AC/20 Cooldown, AC/20 Range

Consumables (In order of importance): Cool Shot 9×9, Improved Air Strike

Large Pulse Version

The ghost heat limit was increased on LPLs, so this I feel is now stronger than the PPC version. Seriously, go nuts.

Weapon Modules (In order of importance): AC/20 Cooldown, LPL Cooldown

Build 2:

Gauss Vomit

This used to be the build for the King Crab (though it used to be better on the KGC-0000), but the Gauss nerf really hurt it. It’s still very workable, and probably the best build which is unique to this variant. I mean, not completely unique because the KGC-0000 can do it too, but it’s just not as good on that.

While you do have high-mounted Large Lasers, you don’t get to use them much due to how important it is that you get out your Gauss Rifles. You’ll want to mainly focus on poking out when your Gauss Rifles are off cooldown for an alpha strike for trades, or if the enemy can’t hit back you can stay outside of cover. For more Gauss Vomit info, check out the guide!

Mech Modules: Seismic Sensor, Radar Deprivation

Weapon Modules: Gauss Cooldown, Large Laser Range

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. Honestly I love them all and think they all have their place, so I wouldn’t even sell any of them.

_________

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

Reddit Discussion Thread