Characters / Battletech Specific Mechs Clan

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Inner Sphere | Clans | Periphery | NGOs and Others | BattleMechs: Inner Sphere Light and Medium | Inner Sphere Heavy and Assault | Clan | Periphery

Tropes associated with specific BattleMechs used by the Clans in the BattleTech Universe.

Light Mechs

Adder/Puma

The Adder, or "Lesson 101 of why you don't play against Clans using Tonnage Restrictions."

Production Year: 3010
Weight Class: Light (OmniMech)
Mass: 35 tons

Originally created by Clan Star Adder in 3010 to serve the role as a test-bed OmniMech for their wargames against the Inner Sphere, the Adder leaked into the other Clans soon enough to form the spearhead of light 'Mech formations during Operation REVIVAL. Despite its creators never getting to fully use it for its intended purpose (Star Adder failed to qualify for the Clan Invasion), the Adder serves as a pointed lesson in Clan technological superiority, being a light 'Mech that can reliably go up against an Inner Sphere heavy and win.

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• Awesome, but Impractical: Yes. All joking aside, at over 2,000 BV (and 7 million C-Bills) the Adder Prime will set you back a mint and give you an alarmingly fragile 'Mech for the cost. Its weapons are also extremely heat-intensive, causing the Adder to depend on a Volley Fire strategy. Alternate loadouts of the 'Mech tend to trade away the headchopper capability for better overall sustained damage and a lower BV.
• Kill It with Fire: Unusually for an OmniMech, the Adder has a fixed-mount weapon that cannot be reconfigured using OmniPods. One Flamer.
• Lightning Gun: The Prime configuration carries two Clan ERPPCs, letting it deal 30 damage at long range when firing both with a chance at decapitating a 'Mech outright. Aside from the fixed-mount Flamer, these are the only weapons the Prime configuration carries.
• Long-Range Fighter: Pretty much all variants of the Adder fill a fire support or sniper role.
• Macross Missile Massacre: The A variant is armed with two LRM-20s, giving it the fire power to rival heavy mechs that usually carry that load out.
• Mighty Glacier: By light 'Mech standards, especially Clan ones, the Adder is slow at a 'mere' six squares of movement and lacks jump jets, but it has as much armor as an Urbanmech and most variants will out-damage an Inner Sphere heavy 'Mech.
• Pint-Sized Powerhouse: The Adder Prime totes two deadly ClanTech ERPPCs and with it the firepower of an Awesome in a 35-ton package.
• Ranged Emergency Weapon: The Adder has a flamethrower hard-bolted into its Centre Torso that isn't attached to an OmniPod, and thus always available to all versions of the 'Mech regardless of damage or ammo situation.

Cougar

Like a Puma, but meaner.

Production Year: 3058
Weight Class: Light (OmniMech)
Mass: 35 tons

Developed by Clan Jade Falcon in the wake of the Refusal War, the Cougar was designed as an upgrade to the classic Adder light OmniMech, sacrificing speed and a bit of armor for increased firepower. The end result was a highly-capable fire support 'Mech, albeit one that wasn't going to be breaking any land-speed records any time soon.

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• Glass Cannon: With more firepower than some Inner Sphere assault 'Mechs and only five and a half tons of armor, the Cougar can dish out hits, but it can't take them.
• Legacy Character: Probably not intentional on the in-universe developers' part (what with them being proud Crusader Clanners and all), but out-of-universe it can't be a coincidence that the 'Mech whose Inner Sphere reporting name was Puma would get a successor named Cougar.
• Long-Range Fighter: By the standards of a light 'Mech, the Cougar isn't particularly fast, and it isn't heavily armored, so it survives by plinking away at range.
• Macross Missile Massacre: Mounts a pair of LRM-10s in the torso in the Prime configuration, giving it a fairly impressive missile barrage for such a light chassis. The A configuration ups them to LRM-20s.
• Mighty Glacier: Even moreso than the Adder. Compared to its predecessor, the Cougar boasts a third again more long-ranged firepower in the Prime configuration and is more heat-efficient to boot, but its top speed is a fairly pokey 86 km/h — comparable with most 55-ton Inner Sphere mediums, several iconic Clan heavies, and the Charger and Gargoyle, which are assault 'Mechs.
• Series Mascot: Less so than 'Mechs like the Timber Wolf or BattleMaster, but a Cougar graced the cover of the 2002 video game MechAssault.
• Superior Successor: It was meant to be one to the Adder, the new Jade Falcon Khan wanting the symbolic goal of five new designs. Reception was mixed - light 'Mechs usually rely on speed to stay alive in combat, but Clan pilots came to the general consensus that with the added firepower the Cougar could generally hold its own.

Fire Moth/Dasher

For when you feel the need for speed.

Production Year: 2874
Weight Class: Light (OmniMech)
Mass: 20 tons

Intended as a carrier and support 'Mech for the deadly Clan Power Armor Elementals, the Fire Moth is a light scout 'Mech capable of incredible ground speed. As is typical for a Clan 'Mech, having over half its weight given over to a massive engine does not stop the Fire Moth from packing a surprising amount of weaponry for its weight and making it a deadly threat even to an Inner Sphere medium.

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• Abnormal Limb Rotation Range: Its strange backwards elbows were designed to accommodate removable troop transport compartments to be attached under the arms. The compartments never came into production, but the arms stayed where they were.
• Anti-Infantry: Designed to both deal with infantry and transport them. As these are Clanner infantry and thus are Powered Armor-wearing Elementals, this is more of a threat than it seems.
• Armored Coffins: The Fire Moth is fast but has very poor armor, and most normal configurations focus on short-ranged weapons, leaving the Mech at high risk of taking retaliatory fire. With infantry support being looked down upon by Clan warriors and the design's poor armor, it's often assigned to non-bloodnamed warriors who aren't old enough for solahma units yet.
• Fragile Speedster: The Fire Moth is not only a very fast 'Mech on its own (162 km/h, or 10 walking/15 running MP), it comes with Myomer Acceleration Signal Circuitry (MASC), giving it the potential to go even faster (216 km/h, or 20 MP). On the other hand, it's barely more armed or armored than most Inner Sphere light 'Mechs.
• Glass Cannon: Extremely fast. Respectably armed by Inner Sphere standards, as an Alpha Strike in the Prime configuration can lay down 34 damage, which is only slightly less than a Rifleman (which weighs three times as much) can manage. Only has two tons of ferro-fibrous armor, meaning a solid hit virtually anywhere is going to punch through and break something.
• Limit Break: MASC increases the 'Mech's already ludicrous top speed, in exchange for potentially damaging its all-important legs. MASC can inflict critical hits on the legs, and pretty much any critical hit to a leg will reduce a 'Mech's speed.
• Macross Missile Massacre: In the Prime configuration, mounts an SRM-4 and SRM-6.
• Reporting Name: Inner Sphere pilots called it the Dasher because of its unrelenting speed.
• Sketchy Successor: The Dasher II, based off the design's Inner Sphere reporting name, is a non-Omni design that is twice the weight but boasts similar speed. However, that requires a gargantuan 400 XL engine that takes up two-thirds of the Mech's weight, and with accordingly paltry weapons loadouts it manages to be even more lightly armored than the original Fire Moth.

Horned Owl/Peregrine

This is no Zaku, my boy, no Zaku!

^{Click here to see the Unseen version}

Production Year: 2835
Weight Class: Light
Mass: 35 tons

A product of Clan Goliath Scorpion engineering, the Horned Owl started life as an underwater construction 'Mech. However, it turned out to be such a sturdy and reliable little machine that the Clan decided to rebuild it as a BattleMech instead. It ended up being quite good in that role, and a combination of resilient construction, low operating requirements, and ease of modification made it into a popular and common 'Mech for centuries. It is particularly favored by light 'Mech duelists thanks to its numerous desirable handling characteristics, and even after the advent of the OmniMech, Horned Owls are still found all over Clan space, having outlived many peers and even a few successors.

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• Arm Cannon: Arm weapons (usually lasers or machine guns) are mounted in blister pods, but can hide their gunbarrels by means of sliding shutters (normally meant to keep water out) to look less threatening in civilian zones.
• Beam Spam: Primarily carries energy weapons and is able to employ them at length (though some less-common variants install missile launchers or machine guns instead).
• Boring, but Practical: The Horned Owl has no particularly standout features other than its origin as a repurposed IndustrialMech, but it is such an effective design that it has remained in service long after other 'Mechs were retired, including some OmniMechs.
• Chest Blaster: The main variant favors a reliable and accurate large pulse laser in its center torso. Another variant upgrades it all the way to a Clan ER PPC, which provides devastating head-hunting power.
• Close-Range Combatant: The mix of pulse lasers on the default Horned Owl favors getting in close to put their accuracy to work.
• Cyber Cyclops: The cockpit on the original art is unusually monocular, and this persists even through the redrawn art.
• He Who Must Not Be Seen: The original art bears a none-too-subtle resemblance to a Zaku, including the mono-optic sensor, external tubing, and the 'sneaker' style feet. Even the pose is identical to the Zaku's reference art. As such it was a 'soft' Unseen unit for a while (never explicitly banned by lawsuit but not something the publishers wanted to risk) until it was redrawn to look a bit less Zaku-esque. Ironically, the redrawn art ended up looking similar to the Death Army unit from Mobile Fighter G Gundam.
• Hunter of His Own Kind: Specifically identified as an excellent light 'Mech killer even among the Clans (meaning that this thing was expected to take on Adders and win), and certainly more than a match for any Inner Sphere light 'Mech up through 3050.
• Jack of All Stats: It's modest in all areas: reasonably nimble, acceptably armored, sufficiently armed, and pleasantly inexpensive to build or repair. It is adequate as a scout 'Mech, a light combat 'Mech, a security 'Mech, a counter-insurgency 'Mech, a light command 'Mech, and even a civilian support 'Mech. This well-rounded nature is why it has remained in service for more than two centuries.
• Jump Jet Pack: Has jump jets strapped to its legs and back, making it much more agile than its middling ground speed implies.
• Made of Indestructium: If you want to stop a Horned Owl, you had best be prepared to put in the work. It is one of a small number of Clan light 'Mechs without an extralight engine, and it has leg mounted jump jets. It also carries its primary weapon, an energy weapon that doesn't need ammo, deep in a center-torso mount. As a result, it is one of the tiniest 'zombies' in the setting—it can lose both arms, both side torsos, and a leg and still fight with about 30% efficiency.
• Mundane Utility: Because of its origins as an underwater construction unit, it still has rounded armor, articulated hands, and energy weapons (which work underwater). This means that in a pinch it can go right back to aquatic duties with no hesitation, and so it serves extra duty as a 'lifeguard' unit in case of naval emergencies. Additionally, its combination of small size, built-in jump jets, and articulated hands makes it an excellent space support unit thanks to the the pressure-resistant hull working both ways in keeping crushing pressure out when underwater and keeping pressurized bits in during zero-atmosphere work.
• Non-Indicative Name: Despite being named for a bird and having jump jets, it was actually an underwater specialist first, and continues to be usable in that role with a simple swap of jump jets for waterjet mobility pods. It's almost an Ironic Name because owls lack waterproof feathers, and horned owls in particuar are next-to-useless when wet.
• Stronger Than They Look: The Horned Owl is physically quite short and stocky, with a rounded, slightly chubby appearance that usually fails to intimidate. Those who don't know better could easily mistake it for the construction unit it once was and still greatly resembles, especially if 'shuttered' for civilian duty. Those people rarely make the same mistake twice once the arm pods open up to reveal lethal Clan tech laser weapons.
• The Workhorse: With two centuries of service and counting, the Horned Owl is a common sight in Clan second-line or garrison units because it is so easy to build, maintain, and repair.

Kit Fox/Uller

Uller he is called; Sif's son and Thor's stepson. A bowman so good, and ski-farer also, that none can keep up with him. He is also good to call upon in duels.

Production Year: 2890
Weight Class: Light (OmniMech)
Mass: 30 tons

A long-ranged light support 'Mech, the Kit Fox was designed by Clan Cloud Cobra in the Golden Century and spread to the Jade Falcons and Snow Ravens, becoming especially beloved by the Falcons as a frontline support 'Mech. Intended as slow but decently armored and armed for a light 'Mech, to contrast the Fire Moth, the Kit Fox possesses a strong long-ranged combo of lasers and long-ranged autocannons while remaining fairly agile on the ground. For these tendencies the 'Mech was given the reporting name of "Uller", after the Norse god of archery and winter, by the Lyrans when they first encountered it in battle.

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• BFG: The alternate configuration A mounts a Gauss Rifle, putting one of the biggest and heaviest ballistic weapons on one of the lightest chassis that could possibly mount it. The Inner Sphere would use the Uller as an inspiration for the Hollander.
• Glass Cannon: A considerable amount of its weight is given over to ranged weaponry, making the Uller very damaging to fight but very vulnerable to long-ranged counter-fire. The Uller B is the crown example with an Alpha Strike damage of 41, which is better than most Inner Sphere heavies, but still only having four tons of armor.
• Long-Range Fighter: Similar to the later Adder, the Uller is based on adding long-ranged firepower to a light 'Mech while downplaying speed.
• National Weapon: While not originally their design, the Uller was one of Jade Falcon's most favoured 'Mechs alongside the Summoner and Hellbringer for much of the Political Century.

Mist Lynx/Koshi

Just don't bring up the reporting name in French-speaking sections of the FedSuns.

Production Year: 2926
Weight Class: Light (OmniMech)
Mass: 25 tons

A light second-generation OmniMech designed as a workhorse scout, the Mist Lynx is a focused intelligence-gathering platform with high mobility and light weaponry (for a Clan 'Mech) that was used by all Invader Clans during the Clan Invasion. As a first-line 'Mech of the Clan war-machine, which would inevitably herald the arrival of a full assault, the Draconis Combine nicknamed the 'Mech "Koshi", or "small death".

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• Anti-Infantry: Well over half of its configurations are dedicated wholly or partially to anti-infantry support weapons. The G configuration mounts eight heavy machine guns, allowing it to massacre infantry at point-blank range.
• Arm Cannon: Its OmniPods are all mounted on its arms, meaning the Mist Lynx's weaponry are all of this kind.
• Boring, but Practical: Unusually for a Clan OmniMech, which are usually built to kick ass and take names in the Circle of Equals, the Mist Lynx is a dedicated scout and uses most of its weight on an Active Probe, jump jets and enough weaponry for quick skirmishes at best.
• Inventional Wisdom: It is exactly one jump jet short of the maximum allowed for its engine size (seven), which is also the movement length that gives an additional defense bonus when moving, which is one of the critical ways light 'Mechs stay alive. As the jump jets are hardcoded into its chassis, adding more through pods is impractical and it is very little else that half-ton could be better spent on.
• Jack of All Trades: While the chassis size and weight heavily limits just how battle-focused the Mist Lynx can become, it has a wide variety of configurations that allows it to specialize in Anti-Infantry or 'Mech hunting at a variety of ranges. The prime configuration carries weapons that allow it to fight at any range, though it is not particularly dangerous at any of them.
• Jump Jet Pack: Carries six of them that are hard-bolted into the chassis and therefore not replacable through OmniPods.
• Made of Explodium: The Prime configuration carries three different ammo-using weapons and no lasers at all, and has a nasty tendency to explode. Because it is Clan 'Mech, CASE will keep ammo explosions from fully crippling it however.
• Meaningful Name: On its own the "Koshi" was not a particularly fearsome opponent, but it tended to herald the arrival of the "Daishi" (Dire Wolf) and the two 'Mechs thus became linked in the Combine's mind.

UrbanMech IIC

Because the Clans have to get in on the Urbie memes, too.

Production Year: 2849
Weight Class: Light
Mass: 30 tons

Even the Clans could do little to improve on perfection. The UrbanMech IIC is a baseline UrbanMech, but upgraded using Clan weapons and employed as a cheap law enforcement and urban defence 'Mech for many of the weaker Home Clans. The IIC's upgrades allows it to set new records for land speed amongst Clan light 'Mechs and run out of ammunition twice as fast as the original.

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• Boring, but Practical: The Clans decided not to futz with the basic UrbanMech, just straight upgrading almost everything. It's got an Ultra AC/10 instead of a regular AC/10, an ER Small Laser instead of a small laser, 10 heat sinks (not even Doubles), one more walking/jumping and two more running movement. If this seems underwhelming compared to what the Clans could have done, well, it is. But it cleaves close to the fundamental UrbanMech design philosophy: Be reasonably effective at one thing and one thing only, and be very, very, very cheap (as cheap as the base model; insanely cheap by Clan standards). Even the weapons upgrades are more a result of the Clans simply not making regular autocannons or lasers anymore, only Ultra and LB-X autocannons and ER and Pulse lasers.
• Equipment Upgrade: It's the UrbanMech, redesigned from the ground-up with Clan technology. Because you can't fix perfection.
• More Dakka: Thanks to having an Ultra AC/10, it can potentially put out twice the damage of the basic Inner Sphere Urbie. Clan Hell's Horses took this one step further by adding their experimental HAG 20 (basically an automatic railgun) to the thing.
• Situational Sword: Much like the original Urbie, the IIC is good at city-fighting and not much else. It now has better speed... comparable to that of an assault 'Mech.

Medium Mechs

Conjurer/Hellhound

Totally Not The Wolverine IIC.

^{Click here to see the Unseen design}

^{Click here to see the Mechwarrior design}

Production Year: 2829
Weight Class: Medium
Mass: 50 tons

The Conjurer is absolutely not the Wolverine IIC. It has nothing to do with that cursed 'Mech whatsoever, and if you bring up its similarity in chassis and design specs in front of a Clanner they will, very gently, remind you that the Conjurer's all-rounder, jump-capable 50-ton chassis, bristling with Clan lasers, makes it both radically different from the Not-Named and also very capable of instantly vaporizing anyone who keeps pushing the issue. It's not a Wolverine IIC. At all.

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• Chicken Walker: Its Mechwarrior design has reversed legs. The canonical tabletop version does not, in either variant.
• Equipment Upgrade: It's essentially the "IIC" version of the Inner Sphere Wolverine medium 'Mech; the same fundamental chassis as the Wolverine, but redesigned from the ground-up using Clan equipment.
• Energy Weapon: The Conjurer is considerably more energy-based than its progenitor, trading the autocannon for a Large Pulse Laser and an additional ER Medium Laser while downgrading its SRM rack to two Streak SRM-2 launchers.
• He Who Must Not Be Seen: Unlike the earlier "Unseen" designs, it's not directly based on any previous anime designs (though its legs, shoulder and torso component bears an eerie resemblance to the RX-78), but the original concept art was done by a third party company, Victor Musical Industries and dropped as part of a general purge of out-of-house work to avoid copyright conflicts. As a result, it has had several redesigns, one for MechWarrior IV (which ironically did not resemble the Wolverine in the slightest and would never be confused as anything but an original Clan creation) and a Reseen version employed in the tabletop version (which very much resembles the Reseen Wolverine).
• The Scottish Trope: In reality, it's the Wolverine IIC. But thanks to the history of The Not-Named Clan, the Clans won't call it that, calling it the Conjurer instead. Interestingly, even the Inner Sphere doesn't call it the Wolverine IIC, refering to by the Reporting Name of Hellhound.
• Shoulder Cannon: The Mechwarrior design is notable for its use of Shoulders of Doom carrying its secondary torso weapons.

Hunchback IIC

WITNESS ME!!

Production Year: 2856

Weight Class: Medium

Mass: 50 tons

At a glance, the Hunchback IIC looks like a killer among similarly sized 'Mechs. Outfitted with a pair of Ultra Autocannon/20s, it packs a significant punch even by heavy and assault 'Mech standards, and its Inner Sphere predecessor's subpar mobility is made up for with a set of jump jets, making it punch twice as hard and be much more maneuverable than its predecessor. To achieve this, however, the Clanner designers gave it a very underwhelming 6 tons of armor, which puts it on par with the durability of a mid tier Inner Sphere Light 'Mech. This combination of low speed and low durability means its pilots are mostly disgraced warriors in a suicide mission or aging clan warriors seeking a glorious battlefield death.

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• Armored Coffins: Its main use, as most of its pilots are not expected to come back alive.
• BFG: Two of 'em, in ultra configuration.
• Close-Range Combatant: Just as much as the regular Hunchback, throwing virtually everything into the two UAC/20 autocannons. It only has two ER Medium Lasers, which together can put out a respectable 14 damage out to 15 hexes out (the maximum range of an Inner Sphere Large Laser) as backup. It's helpless beyond that range.
• Death or Glory Attack: The entire Mech is designed around this philosophy. This makes it almost utterly useless in a live combat situation where there may be more than one target to fight, but in the dueling-focused culture the Clans favor, it's ideal.
  • In the standard configuration, each autocannon has a single ton of ammo supplying it, meaning at most it will have five rounds of shots if they only fire each cannon once each turn. But those ten shots can put down just about anything.
  • The first alternate configuration swaps the autocannons out for a quartet of Heavy Large Lasers, which removes the ammunition dependency at the cost of shattering any sense of heat management.
  • The second alternate brings in a trio of 12-round Advanced Tactical Missile launchers, but virtually no ammunition for them.
  • The final Clan-designed alternate uses Rotary AC/5s that let it actually hit at long range, but still relatively little ammunition for them and increase the risk of jamming. It also improves the armor - by a single ton, meaning it's still very lightly armored.
• Dying Moment of Awesome: What any warrior assigned to one is expected to perform, as receiving it is more or less a polite invitation to not come back alive.
• Glass Cannon: Packs assault 'Mech armaments, and light 'Mech armor.
• Honorable Warrior's Death: Solahma warriors or disgraced warriors earn back their honor dying in combat or duels in this armored coffin.
• The Last Dance: It's fully expected to be a solahma warrior's last ride.
• Lethal Joke Character: Yes, it's funny that the 50 tonner has as much armor as an Urbie, but let it get close and it'll unload enough lead to kill your average assault 'Mech.
• Not the Intended Use: In universe, it became popular among young, aspiring Jade Falcon warriors, as it could be used in their Trial of Position to easily secure a quick kill before calling it quits and secure themselves a position among the Clan's warriors.
• Sketchy Successor: To the respected and venerable Hunchback design.

Mongrel/Grendel

"...a creature of darkness, exiled from happiness and accursed of God, the destroyer and devourer of our human kind."

Production Year: 3053
Weight Class: Medium (OmniMech)
Mass: 45 tons

Clan Diamond Shark's pride and joy, the Grendel is a fast moving, hard hitting, far ranging force recon 'Mech, well suited to quickly killing anything it can catch and deftly evading anything it can't destroy. Originally dubbed Mongrel, the first test batch of 'Mechs were delivered just in time to debut at the Battle of Tukayyid, where the Comstar forces who encountered them dubbed them Grendel for their remarkable firepower and ferocious speed. Out of the many disasters the Shark's suffered at Tukayyid, this new design was their only unmitigated success, and would help buoy the the fortunes of its creators for almost a century afterwards.

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• Arm Cannon: An ER Large Laser that takes up the entire right arm is the primary damage dealer in the Grendel Prime's loadout.
• Beam Spam: An ER Large, three ER Mediums, and an ER Small laser make up most of a Grendels weaponry. Thanks to this, the design is well suited to long range operations, being able to go for long periods without resupply.
• Jack of All Stats: Unusually, the Grendel is considered a well-balanced design because it's above average in many respects. Good damage output that it can maintain over a long fight, high speed for its weight class, excellent jump capability, built with ease of maintenance in mind, and it's even pretty affordable for an OmniMech at "only" 12.5 million C-Bills. Seven and a half tons of armor isn't great, but a Grendel is meant to avoid hits through its speed, not endure repeated strikes.
• Jump Jet Pack: It mounts seven, a truly impressive number for a medium 'Mech. Able to jump faster than most 'Mechs can run, a MechWarrior driving a Grendel is quite often able to dictate the terms of any engagement they run across. When it debuted, the Grendel boasted the second longest jump capacity of any 'Mech, outdone only by the Spider and Viper at eight.
• Lensman Arms Race: The Grendel is fast for a medium 'Mech, even by Clan standards. While that doesn't give it much of an edge in Clan-style combat, it helps a great deal with the large-scale mobile warfare that the Inner Sphere tends to favor. Further, the primary configuration's only ammunition-dependent weapon is a Streak SRM-6 and the 'Mech is noted to be a break from the trend of OmniMechs being hangar queens.
• Lightning Bruiser: With a top speed of 118 kph, the Grendel is able to outrun most light 'Mechs while toting an arsenal that would be respectable on a heavy. It also packs enough jump jets that it can leap 210 meters a turn over any kind of terrain.
• Reporting Name: A bizarre case of the reporting name erasing the proper designation, the Mongrel was so new when it hit the dirt on Tukayyid that the rest of the Clans were only vaguely aware of what to even call it. Following the battle, many made inquiries to the Diamond Sharks about acquiring this Grendel 'Mech that they were reading so many impressive reports from ComStar about. Masters of marketing that they are, the Sharks quickly seized upon the new name.
• Super-Persistent Predator: The design is well suited to using its speed and maneuverability to engage in extended pursuit of isolated targets or recon elements, wearing them down with long-range fire before one final burst of speed to deliver a vicious killing blow.

Nova/Black Hawk

Beam Spam on legs.

Production Year: 2870
Weight Class: Medium (OmniMech)
Mass: 50 tons

One of the first OmniMech designs, the Nova is a highly configurable design created by Clan Hell's Horses to carry a wide variety of OmniPods as well as serve as an Elemental carrier. The Inner Sphere quickly came to know its primary configuration of twelve deadly ClanTech lasers during the Clan Invasion, christening it the "Blackhawk".

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• Abnormal Limb Rotation Range: With Quirks active, the Nova used to have "No Torso Twist" before that quirk was eliminated from the rulebooks in mid-2022, limiting the fire arc of its weapons. Also, unlike most Clan OmniMechs, the Nova includes lower arm and hand actuators, preventing it from flipping its arms backwards to shoot behind it.
• Awesome, but Impractical: The Prime configuration mounts twelve ER Medium Lasers, enough Beam Spam to put serious hurt on any enemy it encounters. It has nowhere near enough Double Heat Sinks to fire all of them without getting into trouble. It can sink 36 heat a turn, while it can generate a total of sixty-five, meaning firing everything jumps you immediately one heat shy of "Automatic Shutdown."
• Beam Spam: Twelve ER Medium Lasers in the Prime Configuration.
• Death or Glory Attack: The Prime configuration's Alpha Strike will overheat the Mech to the point of nearly shutting it down, as mentioned, but it will put out an incredible amount of damage. Being designed for the Clan style of combat - rapid, decisive duels with maximum firepower - plays a large part in this. Thankfully most of the other configurations put out less insane amounts of heat...except for the "H" configuration, which can sink 40 heat while generating seventy-five thanks to leaning even harder into the Beam Spam with ten Heavy Medium Lasers.
• Jack of All Trades: Much like the Summoner, the Nova's alternate configurations give it wildly different battlefield roles. The Prime configuration is basically a midrange brawler, with alternate configurations for sniping or LRM fire support.
• Jump Jet Pack: Also like the Summoner, the Nova carries five hard-wired jump jets. This means that while it's not particularly fast for a medium 'Mech by Clan standards, it remains very maneuverable.
• Meaningful Name: The Clans call this 'Mech the Nova, because it resembles a smaller version of the earlier Supernova, and because its Prime configuration can fire a barrage of laser light comparable to one. Nova is also the name of a Clan formation consisting of a 'Mech Star and Elemental Star, and the Nova 'Mech works well in such a formation due to its loadouts having most of their weapons in their arms, allowing it to fire them while carrying a full squad or "Point" of Elementals.
• Overshadowed by Awesome: Oddly for a Clan OmniMech. While devastating by Inner Sphere standards and remarkably affordable by Clan standards, the Nova only has twenty percent of its mass available for weaponry or equipment where better-known Clan designs have a third or more.
• You Don't Look Like You: Its distinctive body plan was altered to a more conventional one for gameplay purposes in Mechwarrior Online to allow its arms and legs to move independently. This later became part of the tabletop version, along with all other ’Mechs with a similar issue, as the "No Torso Twist" quirk was eliminated from the rulebooks entirely in mid-2022.

Shadow Cat

You take what you can get, 'cause it's here, and then... gone.

Production Year: 3003
Weight Class: Medium (OmniMech)
Mass: 45 tons

Designed to be a successor to the Ice Ferret as a fast and nimble heavy scout, the Shadow Cat uses a more reasonably sized engine and jump jets to do its job. This allows it to carry more weapons and equipment, and therefore become a common favorite among many Clans. An effective combination of speed, lethality, and some degree of wicked-good-looks made it a popular 'Mech, and it was particularly iconic among Clans Nova Cat and Smoke Jaguar, as well as lesser participants such as Sea Fox/Diamond Shark and Steel Viper. It eventually went extinct on the Clan homeworlds due to matters of honor dressed up as an obsolescence program, but Sea Fox proved that they weren't about to throw away a perfectly good OmniMech over such trifles and began selling it in the Inner Sphere, preserving the design well past the Dark Age.

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• Arm Cannon: The huge right-arm weapon pod is almost always some kind of large direct-fire weapon. Normally, this is a Gauss rifle, but some variants will stuff large lasers (or the occasional missile launcher) in there instead.
• Beam Spam: Several variants, such as the D, I, and M, equip multiple lasers as part of their equipment profile. The D has five lasers, the I has four, and the M also has four.
• BFG: The Gauss rifle constitutes the bulk of the standard Shadow Cat's firepower, and at 14 tons when fully loaded with ammo, it very nearly constitutes one-third of the 'Mech's gross weight.
• Fragile Speedster: Very zippy, with a 97 kph normal top speed and a MASC-assisted top speed over 120 kph, as well as six jump jets. However, it has only 7 tons of armor—while it uses the Clans' excellent Ferro-Fibrous compound, 7 tons does not last long at this weight class.
• Glass Cannon: 7 tons of armor is barely adequate for a Clan medium 'Mech, but its potent weapons mixes guarantee that any enemy that faces it will not enjoy the encounter. Even in its most basic configuration, the Shadow Cat carries a Gauss rifle, with all the destructive potential that implies.
• Jump Jet Pack: After discovering that the Ice Ferret was getting outmaneuvered in broken terrain, the designers installed jump jets onto the Shadow Cat specifically to avoid getting outflanked and permit it to take advantage of high vantage points.
• Long-Range Fighter: Most Shadow Cats want to fight at mid to long range (mixing weapons such as extended-range lasers, long-range-missiles, and Gauss rifles) and are fast enough to keep it that way.
• Limit Break: Equipped with MASC for those instances where running 97 kph isn't enough. Wisely, the Shadow Cat fits jump jets into the legs so that, in case of some horrible MASC misfire, it has less of a chance to short out its legs and just shut down a jump jet instead.
• Macross Missile Massacre: The B and C variants are respectable missile carriers, and the B in particular can casually throw a 30-missile volley downrange, as much as some 'Mechs half-again its size.
• Magnetic Weapons: The Prime variant is infamous for its ability to tote a full-sized Gauss rifle around while jumping 180 meters or sprinting at 129 kph. The J variant goes a step further and carries a Hyper-Assaut Gauss rifle (sort of a Gauss shotgun) in one arm and six small anti-personnel Gauss rifles in the other arm.
• More Dakka: The T configuration favors an Ultra AC-10 as its primary weapon, and can quickly and effortlessly saw off over a ton of armor in a single salvo.
• National Weapon: Developed by the Nova Cats, but gained more infamy with the Smoke Jaguars as it suited their high-speed, hyper-aggressive combat style.
• Non-Indicative Name: Despite what the name might suggest, it does not employ any defensive stealth equipment such as an ECM pod or Stealth Armor.
• Overshadowed by Awesome: Though fast and effective as both a heavy scout and raider, the Shadow Cat keeps losing the spotlight to the equally fast but better armed and better armored Stormcrow.
• Reporting Name: Averted and unique in that despite being an invasion-era Clan unit, the Shadow Cat did not receive a reporting name. The reason why is because it killed every single Inner Sphere scout unit that tried to report one, a testament to the design's lethal efficiency. Inner Sphere armies eventually learned the name from captured Clan prisoners and the simple but elegant Shadow Cat name stuck.
• Superior Successor: Meant to supersede the Ice Ferret, and generally accomplishes this. Though its foot speed is slower and it has slightly less armor than the Ice Ferret, the Shadow Cat's weapons profile is massively improved and it is also jump-capable, lending it exceptional flexibility. The Shadow Cat itself has two successor designs, the II and III. The Shadow Cat II is a non-Omni design that bumped up the weight to 60 tons, while the Shadow Cat III was a OmniMech that drops the original Shadow Cat's jump jets to free up some pod space and improve the design's armoring.

Stormcrow/Ryōken

Stormcrow descending, batchalls unending. Stormcrow departing, BULLDOG is starting.

Production Year: 2930
Weight Class: Medium (OmniMech)
Mass: 50 tons

A widely-used Clan medium OmniMech, the Stormcrow is a 55-ton design originally created by Clan Hell's Horses during the twilight of the Golden Century. Falling in the centre of 'Mech weight distributions and armed with pods favouring tested-and-true Clan technology, the Stormcrow was nicknamed "Ryōken", or "hunting dog", by the Combine for its combination of speed and offensive firepower.

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• Beam Spam: The Prime configuration carries a pair of ER Large Lasers and three ER Medium Lasers and 22 Double Heatsinks, giving it decent Beam Spam capabilities without melting down on an Alpha Strike like the older Nova.
• Hit-and-Run Tactics: Designed by the Hell's Horses for this purpose, the Stormcrow depends on speed and surprise to take on targets it cannot reliably face in open combat.
• Irony: The Hell's Horses initially deployed the Stormcrow during the Battle of Tohsaka in an attempt to defend their primary 'Mech plant, a battle they lost. The Stormcrow thus became a herald of the Hell's Horses switching to a much more tank- and combined arms warfare doctrine, and as a 'Mech became much more affiliated with Clans Ghost Bear and Snow Raven.
• Jack of All Trades: The Stormcrow contains the standard medium 'Mech fusion of speed, armoring and firepower, all dialed up by ClanTech to the point that it can reliably chase many Inner Sphere light 'Mechs while matching many Inner Sphere heavies in firepower. The only thing it lacks is a configuration with jump jets; practically everything else — from knife-fighter to missile support — can be found in one of its configurations.
• Macross Missile Massacre: The Stormcrow's A and D configurations are both very missile heavy, both featuring at least one LRM-20 and several SRM racks on top of it.
• Non-Indicative Name: Despite the name Stormcrow, none of the 'Mech's configurations are jump capable, or carries PPCs.

Heavy Mechs

Ebon Jaguar/Cauldron-Born

Smoke Jaguar's "Zombie"

Production Year: 3049
Weight Class: Heavy (OmniMech)
Mass: 65 tons

Built to address perceived flaws in the Hellbringer, the Ebon Jaguar was first seen at the Battle of Luthien, where it earned its reporting name for its ability to keep fighting even after taking incredible damage, not unlike the unstoppable zombies of Irish myth. Until the annihilation of Clan Smoke Jaguar, it saw very little proliferation to other Clans, but afterwards, it proliferated rapidly and supplanted the Hellbringer in most Clans, save the Jade Falcons, Wolves, and Coyotes, all of whom continued to favor the Hellbringer.

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• BFG: Most configurations carry a large ballistic weapon of one kind or another. Even the energy-focused configurations bring at least one Clan-tech ER PPC to the fight.
• Depending on the Artist: Depictions of how low-slung or squat the 'Mech is tend to vary, as well as whether the "hips" of the 'Mech are below or on either side of the torso and cockpit. The original artwork for the mech from the sourcebook Invading Clans looks almost nothing like the illustration from Technical Readout: 3058, which all later art would follow.
• Informed Attribute: Its claimed prevalence, especially by the 3070s, is undermined by the two most visible clans, Wolf and Jade Falcon, continuing to favor its predecessor, the Hellbringer.
• Long-Range Fighter: While it's certainly no slouch at close range, most common Ebon Jaguar configurations have longer-ranged weapons. The primary configuration, for example, carries a Gauss Rifle in one arm, an LB-5X in the other, and an LRM-15 in one side torso.
• National Weapon: As one would expect, considering it was their design, but within a few years after introduction it was one of the most common heavy 'Mechs in the Smoke Jaguar touman.
• Reporting Names: Not unlike Diamond Sharks' Mongrel, the Ebon Jaguar was better known even to other Clans as the Cauldron-Born as it was so new that most of what they heard of it was from Inner Sphere sources. This is due to the mech's original listed name being the Cauldron Born, with Ebon Jaguar being added many years later (out-of-universe) via Retcon.
• Superior Successor: It was designed as one to the Hellbringer, and at the very least manages to be better protected and more focused on pure combat in most configurations, with only the B and X configurations carrying any scouting or electronic warfare hardware.

Hellbringer/Loki

If you see a Falcon not in a Summoner, Hellbringer or Kit Fox, double your caution.

Production Year: 2926
Weight Class: Heavy (OmniMech)
Mass: 65 tons

Originally a Clan Hell's Horses design, the Hellbringer was highly popular among Clan Jade Falcon due to its offensive power. Bearing a confusing mix of weapons, electronics, and equipment, the Hellbringer would be nicknamed the Loki by FedCom officer Galen Cox, who deemed the mech's loadout "an utterly mad configuration."

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• Anti-Infantry: The Prime configuration carries machine guns and mounts anti-personnel pods in the legs, which will handily reduce any infantry in the same hex as it to a fine mist. The D configuration takes it to the next level by mounting plasma cannons and pulse lasers.
• Enemy-Detecting Radar: Alongside the targeting computer and ECM suite, the Hellbringer mounts an active probe, letting it spot hidden enemies.
• Glass Cannon: The mech has a hefty 325 XL engine and an immense offensive loadout, but it only carries eight tons of armor, so it's very fragile for its weight.
• Inventional Wisdom: The Hellbringer is built on this, partially out of sheer desperation by Clan Hell's Horses in trying to create a new 'Mech for their Keshigs. The prime configuration, for instance, carries twin ER PPCs as its main weapons while all its other weaponry (barring the ECM) are intended for point blank range only. It also carries too few heat sinks to use any of them efficiently. Its Reporting Name of Loki originates from Inner Sphere officers trying to analyse the configuration and assuming it was a case of Confusion Fu.
• Mix-and-Match Critters: It has numerous similarities to the venerable Warhammer in offensive loadout, but the Hell's Horses cut down on design and production time by using the lower half of the Summoner when designing the 'Mech.
• National Weapon: Alongside the Summoner, Jade Falcon warriors were usually piloting one of these. Part of this is because the Hell's Horses promptly lost the primary production factory soon after it was introduced, and partly because the Horses then traded away most of their remaining production models for various reasons.
• Overheating: With only thirteen double heat sinks standard and most configurations not adding any extras, any Hellbringer pilot needs to either use volley fire or be prepared for the 'Mech to catastrophically overheat and possibly explode upon pulling the triggers. The Prime configuration produces twice as much heat as it can sink in a single turn, and even just firing the ERPPCs will start to spike the heat gauge. Most alternate configurations lean heavily into ballistic or missile-based weaponry to ease the burden on the cooling system.
• Overshadowed by Awesome: As with most invasion-era Clan mechs, the Hellbringer falls behind the Timber Wolf or Summoner in terms of fame. While the Hellbringer is cheaper than either one and has almost half its weight available as pod space, it carries less armor than most medium Mechs.
• Superior Successor: To the Warhammer, at least in intention. Besides the visual resemblance, the Prime configuration mounts a very similar loadout: twin PPCs, backed up by medium lasers, an SRM-6 rack, and machine guns. The Hellbringer carries a bigger engine despite being five tons lighter and can hit harder at longer range. However, the Hellbringer is far more fragile than the Warhammer is and will boil over before the Warhammer does.
• Sketchy Successor: The Jade Falcons created the Loki Mk II in the early thirty-second century, which aimed to fix some of the problems with the original design. It adds more armor and equipment space, but sacrifices speed and mounts a Small Cockpit, imposing a penalty to the pilot.

Linebacker

Hut Hut!

Production Year: 3052
Weight Class: Heavy (OmniMech)
Mass: 65 tons

Designed by the post-Clan Invasion Clan Wolf to replace the then-aging Timber Wolf, the Linebacker was designed to address the perceived lack of mobility of its predecessor. The Timber Wolf would frequently find itself being outrun by the rest of its Starmates, which limited the operational speed and effectiveness of the entire unit. Upon perceiving this issue, Clan Wolf-in-Exile comissioned the Linebacker to upgrade their Touman. Outfitted with a gigantic 390 XL engine, the Linebacker sometimes rivals light 'Mech designs in terms of speed, while being able to carry a variety of lighter, yet quite dangerous loadouts.

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• Awesome, yet Impractical: It's a heavy 'Mech that can keep up with much lighter designs, and an Omni design at that. That comes at the cost of only having 17.5 tons of pod space, which (by Clan standards) gives it very little room for offensive weaponry. As with most Clan designs, it's also absurdly expensive, emphasizing quality over quantity.
• Lightning Bruiser: Emphasis on "lightning". The Linebacker can put most medium 'Mechs to shame in terms of speed and agility, while being able carry a little over 17 tons of weaponry. That's right, by Clan standards that emphasize mobility and rapid, decisive battles, five hexes of movement for a heavy 'Mech is regarded as slow. The Linebacker's six movement points let it keep up with even light 'Mech designs easily compared to the Timber Wolf, at the cost of ten tons of pod space.
• Long-Range Fighter: Many of the variants are geared towards fighting at range. The Prime variant packs a pair of ERPPCs and an LRM-5 launcher.
• Macross Missile Massacre: Normally outfitted with short range missiles as secondary weaponry, which can deliver a hard punch while taking little room.
• Meaningful Name: It got its name from its resemblance to American football players, due to being somewhat hunched over.
• More Dakka: The I configuration packs twenty machine guns, divided up among six machine gun arrays^note Which link the machine guns together, allowing for a single roll to see if they hit or not and actually requiring more than a full ton of ammunition to keep them going.
• Superior Successor: It draws direct design cues from the Timber Wolf, especially in weapon layouts. Clan MechWarriors were a bit more divided on its superiority, praising the increase in speed but criticizing the lighter weapon loadout.

Mad Dog/Vulture

For when your Clan wants heavy firepower on a budget.

Production Year: 2963
Weight Class: Heavy (OmniMech)
Mass: 60 tons

One of the most common Clan heavy 'Mechs, the Mad Dog was developed by Clan Smoke Jaguar shortly after the debut of the Timber Wolf and named as an intended slur of the latter. The exclusivity of the Wolf, and Smoke Jaguar not bothering to maintain a monopoly of their own, saw the Mad Dog propagate rapidly through the Clans, where it became a workhorse support 'Mech that far overshadowed its would-be inspiration in sheer usage (if not in reputation). With its pronounced cockpit, hunched-over appearance and tendency to stalk battlefields from a distance, it was christened "Vulture" by the Inner Sphere during the Clan Invasion.

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• Boring, but Practical: By comparison, anyway. The Mad Dog can do almost everything the Timber Wolf does, not quite as well, but fifteen tons lighter, at less than two-thirds the price, and with production widespread throughout Clan Space. The Clans all filled their heavy Stars with this 'Mech for a reason.
• I Have Many Names: To the Clans, it's the Mad Dog. To the English-speaking Inner Sphere, it's the Vulture. To the Japanese-speaking Inner Sphere, it's the Hagetaka. . . which means "Vulture."
• Kinetic Weapons Are Just Better: In stark contrast to almost every other configuration, the Mad Dog C exclusively mounts a pair of Gauss Rifles. The E configuration goes even bigger with a pair of HAG-30s.
• Long-Range Fighter: Similar to the Timber Wolf, the Mad Dog leans heavily into shoulder-based missile systems and long-ranged lasers, ERPPCs or autocannons in its arms.
• Macross Missile Massacre: Most of its variants lean into the philosophy of "missiles are best," carrying some form of launcher or another. The A configuration brings six SRM-6 launchers, while the V variant leans the other direction with an Arrow IV missile launcher.
• Overheating: Much like both its inspirations, the Mad Dog suffers from this. While it can remain fairly heat-neutral while using its LRM racks, once its arm cannons come into play the Mad Dog will overheat quickly, and none of its variants add additional heat sinks either.
• Shoddy Knock Off Product: As much as the Clans can do anything "shoddily", the Mad Dog was developed by Clan Smoke Jaguar 16 years after Clan Wolf first deployed the Timber Wolf to show that they could make a smaller, cheaper mech that was just as powerful. This, of course, still meant that the 'Mad Dog'' was no where close to being as durable as the Timber Wolf
• Shoulders of Doom: Carries its LRM racks inside its shoulders in a way clearly inspired by the Archer.
• Superior Successor: Effectively an Archer IIC in everything but name. Twin LRM-20 racks backed by a quartet of lasers, intended to hang back on the edges of an engagement and provide fire support, albeit this time with the speed to let it have a greater say in where the fight happens. The Mad Dog also benefits heavily from Clan laser tech, since all four lasers are now Pulse versions and two are uprated to Large lasers, making it far from toothless once the ammo bins run dry.
• The Workhorse: A reliable fixture in any Clan heavy formation, the Mad Dog could be found on nearly every single battlefield of Operation Revival, though Smoke Jaguar and Ghost Bear were particularly fond of the machines. They were so common that by the Jihad, battlefield salvage ensured that the Vulture had become a regular sight among Inner Sphere militaries. Though the Vulture Mk III and Vuture Mk IV were developed as replacements by Clans Ghost Bear and Snow Fox, respectively, the original Mad Dog would remain in widespread use well into the ilClan era.

Summoner/Thor

Very, very frightening.

Production Year: 2872
Weight Class: Heavy (OmniMech)
Mass: 70 tons

The signature 'Mech of Clan Jade Falcon, the Summoner is a 70-ton OmniMech designed for jump capability and flexibility. Featuring a good mixture of armor, mobility and pod space, the Summoner is an all-purpose frontline 'Mech that was nicknamed the "Thor" by the Federated Commonwealth during the Clan Invasion, due to its LB 10-X and ClanTech ERPPC throwing both lightning and thunder at anything in its path.

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• Arm Cannon: As with most Clan Mechs, the arms are designed to hold its main weapons.
• Inventional Wisdom: The Prime configuration has an LB 10-X Autocannon, which can fire solid or cluster munitions, and an LRM-15. It only has one ton of cluster munitions for the autocannon, but two tons of LRM ammo^note This means that one of the main advantages of LB-X autocannons, the ability to swap between cluster or solid munitions, is lost. Swapping one ton of LRMs for a ton of autocannon slugs is a common fan repod.
  • A similar issue dogs the A configuration, which mounts a large pulse laser, SRM-6 launcher, and Gauss rifle. The SRM-6 launcher, arguably a secondary weapon at best, receives two tons of ammo for a total of 30 rounds of fire—more than the 'Mech could ever hope to use. On the other hand, the Gauss rifle is its main gun yet receives just one ton of ammo, for a miserly eight shots total. The reason for this highly questionable allocation? The technical readout calls this configuation a 'renowned infighter'...despite its two main guns being most respected for their long engagement ranges. Fans also often swap out a ton of SRM ammo for a ton of Gauss ammo, making things a bit more sensible.
• Fashionable Asymmetry: Unusually for a Clan 'Mech, the Summoner's torso configuration is noticeably off-center, with the missile pod on one shoulder and the head moved to the opposite shoulder. This is due to the Summoner clearly having taken design cues from the the Star League era Thunderbolt 'Mech in its construction. In an ironic moment, Clan Jade Falcon would eventually conceive of a Thunderbolt IIC second-line Battlemech design, then choose to build it using surplus Summoner parts, bringing things back around full-circle.
• Jack of All Trades: Most Clan OmniMechs (at least, at the time the Clans were introduced) tend to focus on a battlefield role, with the different OmniPod configurations being specializations within that role^note All Dashers are scout 'Mechs, with some configurations able to damage opponents or defend themselves, others designating targets for a follow-up force, others being pure get-in-look-around-get-out, etc.. The Summoner is a do-anything machine, with different configurations filling completely different roles on the battlefield.
• Jump Jet Pack: The Summoner carries five permanently-mounted jump jets, meaning that no matter what configuration it's packing at the moment, it still has excellent mobility for a heavy Mech.
• Lightning Bruiser: A 70-ton Heavy 'Mech with jump jets, the Summoner is quite nimble, has solid armor, and packs a decent punch for its weight.
• Lightning Gun: In the Prime configuration, carries a PPC in the right arm.
• Macross Missile Massacre: Many of the Summoner's configurations pack a missile launcher of some kind. Some of them carry a lot of missiles. The Prime configuration carries an LRM-15, good but not great for a heavy 'Mech. The Summoner B packs two LRM-20s, two SRM-4s, a NARC missile beacon, and an Anti-Missile system because dammit, it's the only one allowed to invoke this trope. The G model brings six SRM-4s to the fight, because apparently someone thought it was funny.
  Tex Talks BattleTech: Because if you're gonna die to ammunition explosions you might as well be seen from orbit.
• Meaningful Name: The Reporting Name of "Thor" lets you know exactly what you're in for.
• Mix-and-Match Critters: Its design is largely composed of bits of other 'Mechs, most prominently the cockpit and missile pod from a Thunderbolt, a Madcat's right arm and the distinctive high-heeled feet of an Archer.
• Nonindicative Name: The Clan name of "Summoner" does little other than sound cool.
• Overshadowed by Awesome: Compare the Summoner Prime's loadout to that of the Timber Wolf prime, which is just 5 tons heavier. The Summoner lacks an Endo-Steel internal structure (the most efficient way to free up extra weight in a 'Mech's chassis) and dedicates five tons to permanently-mounted jump jets, meaning that compared to the 75-ton Timber Wolf, the 70-ton Summoner has a depressing lack of pod space tonnage with only 22.5 tons to 27.5 for the Timber Wolf. The Summoner is still quite capable as a Clan heavy 'Mech, being markedly cheaper than the Timber Wolf and running far cooler in most configurations, but will never approach the levels of ass-kickery the Timber Wolf can accomplish.
• Reporting Name: Victor Steiner-Davion codenamed the 'Mech "Thor," since with the autocannon and PPC, it hurls thunderbolts and lightning, just like the Norse god, not to mention its strong resemblance to the earlier Thunderbolt Battlemech, sharing its distinctive off-center cockpit and drum-shaped missile launcher.
• Shotguns Are Just Better: In the Prime configuration, carries an LB 10-X autocannon loaded with cluster munitions in the left arm.
• The Workhorse: Oddly for a Clan design, considering Clanners usually prefer the newest weapons they can field. The Summoner was barely a second-generation OmniMech, and while the Jade Falcons (who introduced and loved the design) had largely replaced it with the Grand Summoner in the late 31st century, the Hell's Horses picked up production, making it the oldest continuously-produced OmniMech in existence.

Timber Wolf/Mad Cat

The Clan Heavy 'Mech.

Production Year: 2945
Weight Class: Heavy (OmniMech)
Mass: 75 tons

The Series Mascot of Battletech, the Timber Wolf is the platonic ideal of a Clan OmniMech and the symbol of the Clans' technological superiority. Featuring the speed of an Inner Sphere medium 'Mech, the armor of an assault and as much firepower as an Inner Sphere lance in one combined package, the Timber Wolf was the signature weapon of Clan Wolf and rarely seen outside the hands of the Clan's bloodnamed. Its resemblance to the Inner Sphere Catapult and Marauder gave it the Inner Sphere callsign of "Mad Cat," the first Clan 'Mech to be classified by ComStar during the invasion from gun camera footage recovered from Phelan Kell's Wolfhound.

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• Arm Cannon: The arms are designed to hold the main damage-dealing weapons of whatever configuration is being used. By default, this is a ClanTech ER Large Laser (as dangerous as an Inner Sphere PPC) in each arm with an underslung ER Medium Laser, but altenative configurations mount Gauss Rifles, Ultra Autocannons, or ERPPCs.
• Awesome, but Impractical:
  • The Prime configuration especially mounts way more weapons than it can effectively use, even with Double Heat Sinks to manage their prodigious heat. Though to be fair, it is intended to use each set of weapons in varying "range brackets" (though Clan weapons tend to have no minimum ranges, making alpha striking at close targets very tempting. . . until the heat gauge spikes).
  • Like most Clan OmniMechs, the Timber Wolf is expensive. Really, really expensive. In-universe it costs almost 25 million C-bills in equipment and man-hours to construct, almost as much as four Awesomes. Out of universe, bringing the Prime configuration to your tabletop session will set you back over 2700 BV, over one-and-half times that of the Awesome.
  • In most configurations, the Timber Wolf carries a devastating array of weapons that let it engage at most ranges...and not nearly enough ammo for a prolonged engagement. Most configurations that sport the dual LRM-20 layout the design is known for only carry a single ton of ammunition for each launcher, enough for six rounds. While this gives it immense immediate firepower to bring to bear and makes sense for the short, high-intensity duels Clanners favored before coming to the Inner Sphere, most common Timber Wolf configurations are not suited for long fights.
  • As mentioned below in No Export for You, there was only a single production facility anywhere building Timber Wolves, which is great for boutique items but not so much for war machines. As a result, spare parts and spare machines were in perpetually short supply and had to be shipped along a horrendously long supply line from Clan space. This situation would only worsen thanks to the schism of Clan Wolf, the devastation of the Refusal War, the chaos of the Jihad and the cutoff from the Kerensky Cluster during the Wars of Reaving. It would take until the late 3070's for the Wolves to finally build a new factory and begin producing new Timber Wolves in the Inner Sphere, and even then, it was still just one factory.
• Badass Back: A rarity among Clan mechs, whose pilots obviously prefer fighting head on, the D configuration has two rear-facing SRM-6 launchers. While unpopular in the controlled honor duels of the Kerensky Cluster, having such a powerful option in case of an ambush proved invaluable during the open warfare conditions of the Inner Sphere.
• Chicken Walker: Much like the Marauder and Catapult that gave it its Reporting Name.
• Close-Range Combatant: Designed explicitly for urban combat, configuration S literally flies in the face of traditional Timber Wolf design philosophy by using its jump jets to leap into knife fight range, where its suite of Pulse lasers and SRM launchers rapidly shred its target. Machine guns are included just in case something manages to survive the initial blizzard of hideously accurate fire.
• Evil Counterpart: The Timber Wolf Z was exclusively used by the Society during their attempted coup. Designed to compensate for their Warriors lack of actual battlefield experience, the Z configuration was armed with twin Improved ATM-9 launchers, dual ER Large Lasers and Medium Pulse Lasers, all mated to a Clantech version of the C3 warfare suite. While very powerful and accurate, the twisted origins of the Z meant that the only Clans who encountered them would scrap them rather than use such a disgraceful weapon.
• Fountain of Expies: The classic Timber Wolf shape, with its "Attack Helicopter nose on Chicken Walker legs" design, with paired arm and shoulder weapons, quickly became a popular standard for making "mechs" in various media.
• Jack of All Trades: While certainly not possessing any serious weaknesses at closer ranges, the Wolves still felt that a more generalist configuration of the Timber Wolf wouldn't go amiss, giving rise to configuration B. Armed with a Gauss Rifle, Large and Small pulse lasers, and Artemis-IV enabled LRMs and SRMs, the Timber Wolf B is much more capable in a sustained close range fight, if a bit less remarkable at long range. This adaptability won the variant many proponents in the face of the unpredictable battlefields of Operation REVIVAL.
• Lightning Bruiser: The initial reports of the "Mad Cat" shocked the Inner Sphere. As fast as an Inner Sphere medium 'Mech, better armed than Inner Sphere assault 'Mechs, and carrying more armor than most Inner Sphere heavy 'Mechs, all in one lethal package. Compare the weapons loadout of the Atlas - the Timber Wolf mounts roughly twice the raw firepower as the archetypal Inner Sphere 100-ton assault 'Mech.
• Lightning Gun: Several configurations have at least one ER PPC, with the D configuration mounting two.
• Long-Range Fighter: Most of the Timber Wolf's prime configuration weapons have a lot of range, letting it pummel enemies long before they can return fire. Since it is an OmniMech this is of course not true of every configuration, but it rarely mounts anything with shorter range than an AC/5.
• National Weapon: It was closely associated with the Wolves, but in and out of universe, when someone thinks of a Clan 'Mech the Timber Wolf is one of the first to jump to mind. It was the first Clan design encountered "on screen" in the novels.
• No Export for You: In-universe. Clan Wolf designed it and very jealously guarded the production rights, to the point that prior to the invasion there was only a single production facility on the Clan capitol world and other Clans had only procured any through gifts, trade, and salvage. The Inner Sphere came up with a knockoff in the Rakshasa that doesn't have nearly the same capabilities due to Clan tech superiority.
  • In a grand case of irony, the derivative Mad Cat Mk. II, III and IV were deliberately designed to be sold to foreign customers by Clan Diamond Shark, whose understanding of branding led them to trade on the fearsome reputation of the original by using the Timber Wolf's Spheroid Reporting Name.
• Reporting Name: "Mad Cat." The overall silhouette is similar to both the Marauder and Catapult of the Inner Sphere, while the boxy shoulder missile launchers are straight off a Catapult. As a result, when first encountered by the Inner Sphere, the warbook programs couldn't decide if the opposing 'Mech was a Marauder (MAD) or Catapult (CAT), flipping back and forth between the two.
• Series Mascot: Has become one of, if not the most recognizable 'Mech of the franchise, and gracing the covers of many, many sourcebooks. It's as fiercely beloved and protected by BattleTech's owners as the owners of Dungeons & Dragons protect the Beholder, or Games Workshop the Adeptus Astartes (in fact, the whole Unseen debacle was kicked off by a lawsuit from FASA against Exo Squad creating a design a little too close to the Mad Cat for their liking). Because of its fame in-universe and out, it has a large number of official OmniPod configurations, as well as successor designs. The Mad Cat Mk II is a 90-ton assault 'Mech based on the Timber Wolf hull, the Mad Cat III is the design scaled-down to a medium 'Mech, and the Mad Cat Mk IV (Savage Wolf) is a "modern" remake for the Dark Ages.
• Shoulders of Doom: Quite literally: in the Prime configuration, each shoulder is an LRM-20 missile launcher, raining up to 40 points of damage on a target from ridiculous distance. Most configurations put some kind of missile launchers in the shoulders.
• Superior Successor: Designed from the ground up to replace the venerable Woodsman in Clan Wolf's arsenal, the Timber Wolf succeeded beyond all expectations. By the time of the invasion, it was already a century old design and yet was still the Wolves biggest trump card in any military consideration.

Assault Mechs

Bane/Kraken

There is no "overkill". There is only "open fire" and "I need to reload".

^{Click here to see the Unseen design}

Production Year: 2827
Weight Class: Assault
Mass: 100 tons

Based on a Star League prototype that was never manufactured in the Inner Sphere, the venerable Bane served the Clans well as assault-class fire support 'Mech until the invention of the OmniMech. During the Clan Invasion it served as a second-line garrison 'Mech especially favoured by Clan Jade Falcon, wielding its massive weaponry against Inner Sphere counterattacks.

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• Achilles' Heel: The Bane is predisposed to absolutely gargantuan ammo explosions thanks to its designers being very keen to head off the issues of supplying so many weapons at once. To their credit, most variants of the mech carry enough ammo to keep every gun on it firing constantly for several minutes, with particular note going to the sixteen tons of LRM ammo aboard the Bane 3, but even with CASE to contain any unforseen early ignitions, portions of the 'Mech will explode in a fireball visible from space. ^{In numbers} For the Battlemath fans in the crowd, if a Bane 3 suffers an ammo explosion without firing once, it immediately takes 1,920 points of damage. This is equivalent to a direct hit from multiple WarShip grade weapons, and would be sufficient to obliterate almost two lances worth of Atlases.
• Anti-Air: Carrying ten of the the second longest-ranged weapon in the game (only beaten by the LB-2X) and the ability to fill any nearby airspace with lead, the Bane Prime is a nightmare to aircraft.
• Awesome, but Impractical: The Bane Prime carries ten AC/2 autocannons, providing it near unparalleled range and Critical Hit ability while being completely heat-neutral off its engine heatsinks alone. However, an Alpha Strike of 40 damage is fairly anemic for a Clan 'Mech, and double-firing will, statistically, jam one of its guns every other turn or so^note an infamous story in the Battletech fandom tells of a player who managed to jam seven of the Bane's guns in a single round of shooting. The Bane also stands in real danger of running out of AC/2 ammo if you do so.^ExplanationAC/2 ammo has 45 shots per ton, more than enough for most engagements when firing up to three times per turn. With four tons of Ultra AC/2 ammo, 180 shots, the Bane has 9 turns of ammo; most battles tend to run about fifteen turns.
• Critical Hit Class: Depending on large volumes of low-damage hits, the Prime and 3 configurations are extremely lethal to any 'Mech whose armor has been stripped off, but the rarity of through-armor criticals means it will rarely do that much to an armored section (well, the Prime anyhow. The 3 variant, not so much).
• He Who Must Not Be Seen: Part of the "second wave" of Unseen 'Mechs designed by the Japanese company Victor Musical Industries. While not taken from existing anime (though many take design cues from series such as Gundam and Patlabor) they were dropped by FASA in the wake of the lawsuits over the earlier Unseen designs due to trepidation over using anything not developed in-house.
• Macross Missile Massacre: The Bane 3 replaces its autocannons with eight ClanTech LRM-15s, to the tune of 120 LRM missiles (or an entire ton of ammo) gone in a single Alpha Strike, comfortably out-missiling just about every 'Mech in the game and sandblasting just about anything unlucky enough to stand at the receiving end.
• More Dakka: The Bane Prime mounts ten Ultra AC/2s, making it capable of 20 shots per round. The 2 configuration replaces it with four Ultra AC/10s instead, which is still a very respectable amount of ballistic firepower (and deals twice the actual damage, albeit at less than half the range of the Prime).
  • Later variants would (naturally) get Rotary Autocannons or Hyper Assault Gauss, with the Bane 5 being capable of wielding Rotary AC/2s for 24 shots per round, and the Bane 7 wielding two HAG-40s for 80 shots per round.
• Ranged Emergency Weapon: Every configuration of the Bane carries at least one of these for point-blank fighting, with the standard being a quartet of Machine Guns for countering infantry rushes.
• Whoring: A 'Mech built around the concept, the primary Bane configurations all feature multiples of a single, primary weapon all feeding off the same ammo. It wasn't until the Jihad that Clan Jade Falcon's scientists came up with the idea of mounting multiple types of guns on the thing, creating the 4 and XR variants (though given it was pretty much a garrison 'Mech at that point, it was probably more of a desperation move than anything).
• The Workhorse: The Bane is an ancient design by Clan standards, having been introduced over two centuries prior to the Invasion and a scant five years after Operation Klondike, yet it was still in production during the early stages of the Refusal War. It has the distinction of being one of the few regular BattleMechs still in Clan use by that point, predating the invention of the Omnimech by a good half century.

Dire Wolf/Daishi

Great Death comes for you.

Production Year: 3010
Weight Class: Assault (OmniMech)
Mass: 100 tons

One of the most feared Clan assault OmniMechs, or just one of the most feared 'Mechs period, the Dire Wolf was created by Clan Wolf in the early 31st century in expectation of an invasion of the Inner Sphere, but quickly became associated with Clan Smoke Jaguar after they won manufacturing rights for the death-machine. Nicknamed "Daishi", or "Great Death", by MechWarriors of the Draconis Combine during the Clan Invasion, few things on a 31st century battlefield can be said to be more daunting than having to face any variant of this monstrosity head-on.

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• Awesome, but Impractical: Filling its 50.5 tons of pod space with weapons invariably results in a loadout that's lucky if it can shoot half of them without overheating. Striking a balance between firepower and heat efficiency within the available critical space is surprisingly challenging. It also costs a cool 29 million C-Bills and change, over three times the cost of an Atlas.
• Difficult, but Awesome: Is the Dire Wolf scary? Yes, yes it is, but, as already established, its hard to choose an appropriate weapons loadout that wont cook the pilot in a matter of minutes, add to that the fact that its very slow and very large, making it an incredibly inviting target. So, any pilot driving one should be very good at what they do, because if they aren't, they'll be driving a glorified 100 ton pressure cooker that will either catch on fire with them in it because they fired their weapons too fast, get the crap shot out of them due to being in an unfortunate position, or both.
• The Dreaded: For centuries, the denizens of the Inner Sphere thought the Atlas was the scariest BattleMech in the universe. The Dire Wolf proved them wrong.
• Follow the Leader: Downplayed. The Inner Sphere couldn't quite copy the Dire Wolf, so the Lyran Commonwealth took definite design cues from it for their Hauptmann OmniMech.
• Mighty Glacier: It's got roughly the same cruising speed and armor protection of an Atlas, so it's not setting any speed records, but God help you if it gets you in its sights.
• Names to Run Away from Really Fast: "Dire Wolf" is intimidating, yes, but the Draconis Combine warriors who faced this called it "Daishi", or "Great Death."
• No Export for You: In-Universe, Clan Smoke Jaguar beat Clan Wolf to the production rights in a Trial of Possession (which rumor has it was fought dishonorably) and jealously guarded them until Ulric Kerensky won rights for Clan Wolf to produce the 'Mech as well. Between Clan Wolf and Clan Smoke Jaguar, production rights were heavily defended, with the only Dire Wolves outside those Clans earned through salvage, gifts, or trade. The Wolf's Dragoons also managed limited production on Outreach, building enough to earn their own distinct variant designation.
• Walking Arsenal: A 100-ton OmniMech with 50.5 tons of pod space for modular weapons and equipment, every configuration is inevitably this trope. As a for instance, the Prime configuration mounts 4 ER Large Lasers, 4 Medium Pulse Lasers, 2 Ultra AC/5s, and an LRM-10. Natasha Kerensky's personal configuration featured 2 ERPPCs and 2 Large Pulse Lasers, three ER Medium Lasers, an ER Small Laser, and an Ultra AC/20.

Executioner/Gladiator

Faster than it looks, and about as mean.

Production Year: 3001
Weight Class: Assault (OmniMech)
Mass: 95 tons

Designed by Clan Ghost Bear at the tail end of the 30th century as a refinement of an older Clan Burrock design, the Executioner epithomises the clan's values, being big, mobile, scary-looking and designed for long-ranged one-on-one combat. Its sizeable engine gives it less armor or weaponry than you'd expect from something that weight class, but sheer speed and maneuverability, including jumping ability, means the Executioner can pick and choose targets at its leisure.

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• Awesome, but Impractical: The Executioner's titanic engine and jump jets leaves it somewhat undergunned, having the speed and firepower of a Clan heavy while costing more than a Dire Wolf to build. While it has an impressive strategic speed and ability to engage in Hit-and-Run Tactics, the rules of zellbrigen explicitly forbid breaking line-of-sight to one's opponent and leaves the Executioner outmatched by anything in its own weight- and price class.
• The Dreaded: In universe, this mech, the Mad Cat (Timberwolf) and the Daishi (Dire Wolf) were three Clan mechs that had the Inner Sphere in a panic. The original Technical Readout 3050 Sourcebook had this Black Comedy joke by Inner Sphere MechWarriors about the Gladiator:

  "What weights 95 tons, can run almost 100 kilometers per hour, can jump 120 meters, and carries a Gauss cannon?”

  "I don't know but I'm getting out of here.”

• Emergency Weapon: Carries a pair of Machine Guns. These will, in 99% of cases, never be used by the Executioner until its arms have been blown up: Machine Guns are strictly point-blank Anti-Infantry and the last thing an Executioner would ordinarily be doing is fighting point-blank or bothering with infantry.
• Jump Jet Pack: Has four of them, giving it a lot of options for dealing with rough terrain.
• Lightning Bruiser: Weighing 95 tons, the Executioner has a ground and jumping speed of four and can go up to five using MASC, allowing it to briefly match a Charger or Gargoyle for speed. Thirteen tons of ferro-fibrous and an Alpha Strike of thirty-five isn't breaking any records, but combined with its excellent speed and range the Executioner can start and exit fights more or less at will.
• Long-Range Fighter: Carrying a Gauss Rifle and two ER Large Lasers, the Executioner Prime is designed for long-range sniping, and has the speed to escape most things that outgun it.
  • Most of the alternative configurations are designed for close combat, mounting Ultra AC/20s or Pulse Lasers instead. These variants often end up as a jump-capable alternative to the Kodiak.
• Skull for a Head: The Executioner's head looks skull-like or at least very angry.
• Superior Successor: It's essentially a Clan Banshee, featuring the same high speed and long-ranged weaponry mounted on a skull-headed, 95-ton frame. Unlike the Banshee the Executioner is actually fairly dangerous in its base form, but it also comes with a price point to match.

Gargoyle/Man O' War

It's like the Charger except it's actually good.

Production Year: 2945
Weight Class: Assault (OmniMech)
Mass: 80 tons

Originally designed alongside the Timber Wolf to replace the aging Woodsman, the Gargoyle is an impressive feat of engineering and design. While its weaponry is somewhat anemic for an 80 ton 'Mech, it more than makes up for it by being one of the fastest assault 'Mechs ever produced.

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• Arm Cannon: Carries almost all of its armaments in its arms.
• Beam Spam: Configuration D mounts a pair of ER Large Lasers and a trio of Medium Pulse Lasers, along with the ER Small Laser in the chest. All of these are mated to a top of the line Targeting Computer, making the Gargoyle D incredibly accurate.
  • The Gargoyle A boasts a nearly complete rainbow of Clan lasers as backup for its twin ER PPCs, mounting a Large Pulse, a Medium Pulse, an ER Medium and an ER Small.
• Chest Blaster: Not a terribly convincing one, but the Gargoyle does carry an ER Small Laser in its center torso on most loadouts, with artwork often placing it dead center of the chest.
• Close-Range Combatant: While most configurations are no slouches up close, the C spec of the Gargoyle is optimized for knife fight engagements with a loadout centered around an Ultra AC/20 and backed up with six ER Medium Lasers.
• Depending on the Artist: The original artwork◊ of the Gargoyle from TRO:3050 is in the running for one of the goofiest looking 'Mech designs of the classic era thanks to its spindly arms, oversized head and sad attempt at a Rage Helm face. Artwork from the card game◊ would only exacerbate the issue by making the head even bigger and giving it awkward, stubby legs that don't even look capable of walking, let alone the blazing speed that is the 'Mech's claim to fame. Catalyst's redesign for the ilClan guides would rectify most of these, though some vestiges of the silly scowling face would persist.
• In the Back: Its primary means of dealing with heavily armored opponents, who are almost universally too slow to prevent the Gargoyle from outmaneuvering them, leaving it free to tear through their flimsy rear armor.
• Inventional Wisdom: In its Prime configuration the Gargoyle is fitted with 16 Double Heat Sinks to let it remove 32 heat a turn. Certainly enough to keep most mechs nice and cool in a protracted battle, but for the Gargoyle, that's nearly 3 times as much heat as the Mech can possibly generate in one turn, which is 12.^note 10 from weapons, 2 from running. All of these Heat Sinks contribute to the Prime's ongoing issue of limited pod space for weapons and they're all mounted in the engine, so they aren't being used to crit pad more critical systems like the ammo bins. The Heat Sinks truly come into their own when employed in one of the numerous energy-heavy alternate configurations, but the Gargoyle Prime requires a fair bit of tinkering to get it up to par.
  • Under the niche Solaris box set dueling rules, which were marked as usable for Clan Trial by single combat, the Gargoyle Prime's excess of sinks suddenly becomes more viable... because its array of smaller-caliber weapons are all able to cycle and fire four times per round instead of just once, producing considerably more heat than under standard rules.
• Lightning Bruiser: Carries a respectable amount of firepower and armor while lugging around its 80 tons at a more than decent 86.4 KPH.
• Macross Missile Massacre: Mounts twin SRM-6 launchers, giving it a nasty close range punch.
• Reporting Name: Was nicknamed "Man O' War" by the Inner Sphere pilots that had the misfortune of running into it, because, much like its terran naval counterpart, it was big, imposing, and above all, fast.
• Shotguns Are Just Better: Carries a pair of LB 5-Xs capable of firing fragmentation rounds, one in each arm.
  • Configuration G swaps them for a single LB-20X loaded with both solid slugs and fragmentation shells.
• Situational Sword: Official literature describes it as being considered quite a formidable duelist Mech or when engaging under Clan zellbrigen. Thanks to its high speed and thick armor, it can easily outmaneuver just about anything it can't outshoot while not having to worry about protecting its own rear quarter. A Gargoyle is certainly not an easy target under unrestricted warfare conditions, but it can quickly find itself outflanked in turn if the MechWarrior isn't attentive.
• Overshadowed by Awesome: It was designed alongside the Timber Wolf, so yeah, its a given.

Hellstar

Anything Awesome can do, I can do better!

Production Year: 3079
Weight Class: Assault
Mass: 95 tons

Created during the late Jihad as a collaboration between Clan Wolf-in-Exile and Clan Hell's Horses, the Hellstar embodies the pragmatism and changes in combat doctrine experienced by both Clans in the decades following the Inner Sphere invasion. Eschewing the standard Clan ideals of operational speed and swift, glorious victory by Trial, the Hellstar is an work-horse intended for long campaigns and winning battles through a combination of sheer endurance and withering volley fire from its deadly quartet of ERPPCs.

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• Boom, Headshot!: ERPPCs deal fifteen damage, enough to take a 'Mech's head off. With four of them and enough heat sinks to fire all of them every turn, it has a 1-in-9 chance each turn to land a headshot and remove any enemy 'Mech from the game.
• Boring, but Practical: It's four ERPPCs and enough Double Heat Sinks on legs. Pound an opponent with 60 long-ranged points of damage a turn until something gives. Also falls into this in-universe, as unlike most of the flashier Clan 'Mechs, the Hellstar is a standard BattleMech rather than an Omni design. This limits the radical reconfiguration potential, but also makes it much easier to build (although the amount of advanced technology in it doesn't make it any cheaper). A later variant swapped several heat sinks for a targeting computer, forcing a return to volley fire in exchange for greater accuracy. They also filled it with as many heat sinks as possible, making up over twenty percent of the total weight, meaning that even sprinting and firing all four ERPPCs every turn will barely bump the heat gauge.
• Improbable Aiming Skills: The two alternate variants both mount a targeting computer, trading heat sinks or switching to lighter weapons in exchange for even greater accuracy.
• Lensman Arms Race: A massive departure from traditional Clan 'Mech design. Rather than being made to end a fight with glorious swiftness, the Hellstar is set up to endure a long, slow, brutal slogging campaign (hence only having energy weapons, and only four of those, eliminating the need for ammo and minimizing the parts that can wear out or break down). After combat with the Inner Sphere (especially the Battle of Tukayyid), the Clans started re-evaluating how they fought war. The Hellstar was pretty much a direct response to the battlefields of the Word of Blake Jihad.
• Lightning Gun: Four ERPPCs.
• Stone Wall: Subverted, but by the standards of previous Clan 'Mechs, the Hellstar is a 95-ton design that can "only" put out 60 points of damage per turn. Its reliance on energy weapons makes it seem undergunned at first compared to other Clan assault-class designs. However, it still has four Clan ERPPCs and it can and will fire all of those all day long without the pilot even breaking a sweat, while still being very fast and very heavily armored.
• Superior Successor: It's basically a Clan Awesome. Eighteen and a half tons of armor (the maximum possible for a Mech that weight), fifteen tons heavier than the Awesome, while still being faster and carrying bigger guns, and more of them to boot.

Jade Phoenix

For eternity shall we praise him; in fifteen years we shall avenge him.

Production Year: 3148
Weight Class: Assault (OmniMech)
Mass: 85 tons

If Clan Jade Falcon has one specialty, it would be the humble jump jet. The Jade Phoenix, a totem mech that capitalizes on the legend of Aidan Pryde by (allegedly) including a milligram-sized fragment of his wrecked Timber Wolf in each chassis, is the latest phase of Jade Falcon design philosophy. Intended as a workhorse OmniMech for Clan Jade Falcon’s push to Terra, the Jade Phoenix follows in the footsteps of its predecessors such as the Flamberge and Shrike to deliver incredible firepower while setting the terms for any engagement.

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• Achilles' Heel: Enemies with Stealth Armor and Pulse Lasers will absolutely negate any advantage the Jade Phoenix gets from its jump jets. The accuracy penalties of Stealth Armor combined with the difficulty of landing shots after jumping means that nothing short of a legendary ace can reliably overcome this obstacle. Even then, an opponent with Pulse Lasers easily cancels out the penalty for hitting fast targets like the Jade Phoenix.
  • It is also inadvisable to use the Jade Phoenix in the traditional roles of an assault mech, as its thirteen tons of armor won’t stand up for very long in a pure slugging match against something else in its weight class.
• Anti-Infantry: Configuration E sports dual Plasma Rifles to boil people alive over longer ranges than any mere Flamer could accomplish.
• BFG: Besides the carrying capacity offered by an Omni design, most common configurations carry huge cannons. The Prime carries a HAG-30, the A variant an Ultra AC/20, the B dual-wields Gauss Rifles...
• Chicken Walker: In keeping with the avian design of a Jade Falcon totem mech.
• Death from Above: Encouraged by configuration C, which mounts talons on its feet.
• Irony: While the Jade Phoenix began its service as a symbol of traditionalist pushback against the Mongol Doctrine, its designers likely didn’t anticipate that a reinvented Clan Jade Falcon would need to rise from the ashes of its entire touman just a couple years later.
• Foil: To the Alpha Wolf. Both were intended as next-generation assault mechs that made use of newer technology in order to proactively avoid getting hit and thus lower the risk of being destroyed by unlucky headshots. Whereas the Alpha Wolf accomplishes this through modest speed for an assault and Stealth Armor’s reliable protection at long and medium range, the Jade Phoenix trades armor and accuracy in exchange for the more versatile protection of speed afforded by its Partial Wing.
• Jump Jet Pack: Its Partial Wing system heavily encourages jump jet configurations by granting additional thrust. It’s entirely possible to go without jump jets using configuration D if one doesn’t mind the Partial Wings taking up space.
• Lensman Arms Race: An arms race that it technically lost. It was the product of heated competition between Clans Wolf and Jade Falcon as they churned out several new designs in their scramble to be the first and best equipped to conquer Terra.
• Lightning Bruiser: Special mention goes to configuration A, which uses Improved Jump Jets to achieve faster cruising speeds than the Ryoken whilst unloading a close-range barrage from its Ultra AC/20 and Pulse Lasers.
• Made of Explodium: A notable weakness in configuration A is the two tons of AC/20 ammo stored in the central torso right next to the engine, leaving CASE unable to help with damage control. The sheer density of volatile material transforms “risky” critical hits into “instant death.”
• Meaningful Name: Uses Aidan Pryde’s title as a subtle gesture of protest from its civilian caste designers against the brutal policies of Khan Malvina Hazen. In this respect, the Jade Phoenix became a symbol through many Trials of Grievance for warriors trying to revive what they see as a nobler past.
• National Weapon: Among the handful of totem mechs that various Clans model after their namesakes as a source of inspiration on the frontlines.
• Overshadowed by Awesome: Despite how it works on paper, the Jade Phoenix ultimately failed at turning the tide against Clan Wolf during Clan Jade Falcon’s rush for Terra. Among the reasons why is that one of the (successful) design goals for Clan Wolf’s brand new Alpha Wolf was countering Jade Falcon tactics.
• Superior Successor: Behaves in a similar role to the Victor as an assault mech of respectable ground speed that relies on jump jets to engage the enemy from a superior position, albeit with greater armor tonnage, firepower, and maneuverability. It's also considered a superior successor to the Jade Falcons' previous assault mechs, the Onager and Shrike, due to being an OmniMech that has considerably more versitility than either of them and not having the taint of being associated with Malvina Hazen's Mongol Doctrine like the Shrike or the ''Onager's' anemic firepower.
• The Workhorse: Explicitly intended to be one, though the Prime configuration stands out for being able to jump and fire all of its weapons with a bare minimum of heat buildup until running out of ammo cuts its firepower in half. Other configurations generally follow a similar pattern of making an assault chassis behave like a heavy with extra armor.

Pulverizer

Clan Wolverine's ultimate achievement.

Production Year: 2823
Weight Class: Assault
Mass: 90 tons

Created by Clan Wolverine as the first truly original Clan 'Mech design in the years following the end of the Pentagon Wars, the Pulverizer was an assault-class command 'Mech designed to carry the early prototypes of what would later become the Clan standards for 'Mech weaponry. Following the Wolverines' Annihilation the 'Mech design was picked up — and produced in small numbers — by Clan Snow Raven.

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• Beam Spam: Three-quarters of the weapons are energy-based.
• Chest Blaster: Two, in fact - the ER PPC is in the right torso and the LRM-10 launcher in the left.
• Lightning Bruiser: It carries a large standard engine that makes up over a third of the design's total weight, but also makes it very fast for an assault 'Mech. Despite that limitation and only using Star League-era weapons in the original design, it has a respectable damage output.
• Lightning Gun: Its main weapon is an Enhanced PPC, an improvment over the at-the-time cutting-edge Inner Sphere ERPPC.
• Long-Range Fighter: With two Large Lasers, an Enhanced ER PPC, and an LRM-10, this 'Mech is set up to pulverize an opponent at long range.
• National Weapon: In the short time between the development of the Pulverizer and the Trial of Annhilation against Clan Wolverine, the Pulverizer became their signature 'Mech, used by their most skilled and formidable warriors, and exacting a terrible toll on Clan forces arrayed against them. Subverted as the 'Mech was salvaged and eventually reproduced by the other Clans, who politely ignored its origin with now Not-Named Clan.
• Superior Successor: Received one in the Kingfisher, a second-generation OmniMech from Clan Snow Raven.
• Super Prototype: In some ways, the first all-new 'Mech developed by the Clans (Clan Wolverine had designed other new 'Mechs previously, but they were heavily based on previous Inner Sphere designs). A formidable Command 'Mech mounting the all-new Enhanced PPC, precursor of the dreaded Clan ERPPC (the Enhanced PPC enjoys the same range advantage as the ER, and deals 12 damage as opposed to the Inner Sphere ERPPC's 10, exactly enough to make a "headchopper"). Pulverizers acquitted themselves admirably during the Wolverine Annihilation, with the other Clans rushing to salvage as many of them as they could to produce the 'Mech themselves.
• Walking Techbane: The "final" version that was entirely upgraded with Clan-spec equipment added an ECM suite.

Stone Rhino/Behemoth

From Amaris' Folly, to Smoke Jaguars' vanity project.

Production Year: 2847
Weight Class: Assault
Mass: 100 tons

During the Golden Century, in an attempt to prove there was nothing the Inner Sphere could do that the Clans couldn't do better, Clan Smoke Jaguar's scientists decided to unearth one of the Inner Sphere's biggest failures in 'Mech design and turn it into an actually functional battlemech: "Amaris' folly", the Matar. They succeeded, shaving ten tons from the failed prototype and producing a heavy but very capable assault 'Mech. The Stone Rhino has almost all the capabilities of the original, carrying pairs of Gauss Rifles and Large Pulse Lasers to destroy lesser enemies at range and near-maximum endurance for a BattleMech.

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• Awesome, but Impractical: It's a functional Matar, only faster, jump-capable and less liable to overcook itself, but it's still a 100-ton priority target, slow as a Dire Wolf, and much less scary in almost every single way. It also comes in at a solid ten million C-Bills and change (or 3001 BV points), which for a "standard" 'Mech is painfully high.
• Effective Knockoff: The Matar was an Epic Fail that symbolized Stefan Amaris's insanity and incompetence. The Smoke Jaguar scientists that reworked the design into the Stone Rhino created a functional and very effective 'Mech.
• Feeling Their Age: By the time of the Clan Invasion the Stone Rhino was 200 years out of date and still used standard hardpoints, engines and armor, components the Clans had taken out of their frontline 'Mechs a long time ago. While still scary, modern Clan OmniMechs like the Dire Wolf and Warhawk outperformed it significantly.
• He Who Must Not Be Seen: Part of the second generation unseen, the Stone Rhino's artwork was designed by a separate company for FASA, so after FASA closed and the rights to the game were bought by WizKids, they found that they couldn't use the Stone Rhino's original art and had to redesign it.
• Jump Jet Pack: Has three of them, which were not an original part of the Matar and was added by Clan Smoke Jaguar. Few people would expect a 100-ton sniper 'Mech to even need to be jump capable, much less actually be so, but the Stone Rhino has them anyway.
• No Export for You: In-Universe It was practically exclusive to Clan Smoke Jaguar, mostly because it was rarely used (and therefore rarely available for salvage); no-one else wanted the bother of having to produce more of it. After the Smoke Jaguar annihilation, Hell's Horses picked up the pieces and kept production going, but the same problems kept the 'Mech rare. Jaime Wolf managed to smuggle a single Stone Rhino into the Wolf's Dragoons (which was downgraded to match the available technology in the Inner Sphere), which was destroyed during the Battle of Misery, though the Draconis Combine never managed to identify or salvage it.
• Plagarism In Fiction: The Smoke Jaguars somehow got ahold of the Matar's blueprints and used them as the basis for the Stone Rhino. They managed to iron out a lot of the flaws in the original design, creating a 'Mech that was actually usable.
• Power Fist: Unusually for a Clan 'Mech, the Stone Rhino's arms are reinforced and carry casings that allow it to punch opponents in melee without harming its arm-mounted Large Pulse Lasers. This was likely a carryover from the original Matar.
• Superior Successor: It was one to the Matar, in that it was an actually functional BattleMech. This is not a high bar to clear, and this 'Mech does not clear it by much. After the fall of Clan Smoke Jaguar, Clans Hell's Horses and Goliath Scorpion took up the Stone Rhino torch and produced not one, not two, but eight later models that attempted to bring the 'Mech into relevance in the 31st and 32nd centuries. Clan Wolf, meanwhile, took the concept back to the drawing board entire and came back with the Crucible assault mech, which they used for garrison duties and to protect supply lines.
• Too Awesome to Use: Most Clans considered the Stone Rhino this, and avoided putting it in frontline combat: A single Stone Rhino represented an extremely resource-intensive and valuable bid, and would be near-irreplaceable if damaged.

Warhawk/Masakari

Subtle as a battleaxe.

Production Year: 2999
Weight Class: Assault (OmniMech)
Mass: 85 tons

Designed by Clan Smoke Jaguar for an expected invasion of the Inner Sphere, the Warhawk is a fast-moving and long-ranged assault OmniMech that emphasises the pounce tactics favoured by Smoke Jaguar: It quickly became a cornerstone of the brutal Clan as they waged war on their Warden opponents in the Clans and the Inner Sphere both. It was nicknamed the "Masakari", or battle-axe, by the Draconis Combine MechWarriors that ran afoul of it, and even the savaging of Smoke Jaguar by the Inner Sphere did not stop the Warhawk from being used by the Clan's traditional rivals.

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• Improbable Aiming Skills: While not fixed equipment^note because it can't be, a Targeting Computer's weight and space is dependent on the weight of direct-fire weapons the unit mounts every configuration of the Warhawk manages to mount a Targeting Computer, giving it improved accuracy with all its direct-fire weapons. Further, its Improved Targeting (Long) quirk lets it hammer distant targets with ease.
• Lightning Gun: The Prime configuration mounts four Clan ERPPCs. Unlike the much later Hellstar, its twenty double heat sinks aren't enough to cover this volume of fire (due in part to also carrying an LRM-10), so the Warhawk Prime is still set up for the quick, decisive engagements the Clans prefer.
• Long-Range Fighter: Carrying four ERPPCs and an LRM-10, the Warhawk packs devastating long-range firepower. Note that unlike their Inner Sphere counterparts, neither of these weapons have a minimum range, making the Warhawk just as deadly when its in your face.
  • Possesses the Improved Targeting (Long) quirk, which encourages Mechwarriors to lean into sniper configurations, or at least keep the enemy within its weapons outer range brackets.
• Meaningful Name: The Inner Sphere Reporting Name of "Masakari" comes from a Japanese battleaxe. Like a battleaxe, the Warhawk's Prime configuration is meant to cleave through anything in its path by sheer brute force. Some Inner Sphere troops took to calling it the "Massacre," since. . . well, its rather brutally efficient at those.
• National Weapon: The Warhawk is as strongly associated with the Smoke Jaguars as the Dire Wolf, though their fellow Crusaders in the Jade Falcons and Ghost Bears had respectable stables of the design. As of the ilClan era, the Warhawk is now one of the signature 'Mechs of the Scorpion Empire.
• No Export for You: Downplayed In-Universe. Clan Smoke Jaguar developed the 'Mech in anticipation of the invasion of the Inner Sphere, and tried to jealously guard its production rights, but the Warhawk filtered into the toumans of other Clans more readily than Clan Wolf's Timber Wolf. After the Great Refusal, Clans Fire Mandrill, Goliath Scorpion, and Diamond Shark obtained the production rights.