Master Technician+Sensor Lock is useful on a scout to keep enemies spotted while not getting focused on by lots of lasers. A Wolverine moves like a light mech in initiative phase, but won't get wrecked by a lucky shots the same way that a Spider does.

Ace Pilot+Evasive is great for mechs with lots of weapons and nearby LOS obstructions. Walk into the open, alpha twice, then hide again. Useful to take advantage of the lasers on an LRM carrier.

Breaching shot+Multitarget lets long range support wear down guarded enemies while still focusing down the same mech with the whole team. And sometimes the breaching AC/5 gets a 1-in-100 headshot on that Bulwarked Jagermech, and you've now turned a hatchet fight into a cakewalk.

The benefits of Bulwark cannot be overstated.



Has anyone found a good use of Juggernaut? If you could punch an assault mech with two Juggernaut-skilled pilots so that it loses its turn entirely, that would be useful but the skill doesn't work like that. And I can't think of any really good use to moving an enemy mech back by just one initiative phase. Heck, the fact that the AI doesn't reserve is an absurdly strong advantage in itself - Juggernaut works in a way that mitigates your advantage. Also, it works at cross-purposes with Bulwark - if you're in range to punch them, they're in range to punch you (and remove your mech's guarded status).

For the non-Assault mechs, I've been using it to guarantee I get two turns in a mano-y-mano battle. Works well for me with a Flamer equipped brawler. And the second punch often knocks them down so others can finish the job.

You know, I really didn't find Bulwark to be worthwhile at all. The problem I had was that it required me to stand still, thus forfeiting 5-6 chevrons of evasion. So, yeah, I took less damage per hit, but I took a lot more hits. And when you're trying to spread out the pain across the various parts of the 'Mech, it really sucks to have to stand completely still and just hope the enemy decides to walk around you and shoot you somewhere else. Plus, the difference between 5 chevrons of evasion and ending up in cover, vs Bulwark, leans heavily in favor of cover. Nah, I went full Tactics with all my pilots, because the opportunities available when you act sooner are really, really valuable.

Though, of course, your lance composition obviously changes things around hugely. I got stupidly lucky and pulled both big 'Mechs (Crusader and Quickdraw) from the early-game pirate base assault mission thanks to a headshot, so I had a LRM boat from practically the very beginning. Fighting withdrawals are super powerful when you've got 40-60 missiles per salvo coming down on the enemy as you bounce away to cover and pick them off with autocannon.

You don't have to stand completely still. You can turn in place, but you can't move to another hex. What happens is that you turn in place, losing guarded status. Then when your move is over, you didn't move to a new hex, so you gain guarded again. Since there is no interrupt system, you can't get shot while turning in place.

If you had to choose between losing a torso and guarded, Bulwark would be pretty mediocre.

Someone pointed out in another thread, that evasion is more important in the early game. But bulwark is nicer later, when your opponents have maxed out their hit chance. I've never got far enough to check for myself because I keep restarting the campaign to try a different approach.

You can also get quite high evasion just from high piloting, even without the specialization skills. By end game you should have pilots with high numbers in all four skills which means they can still get four or five evasion chevrons even in an assault mech without any piloting specializations. The benefits of evasion drop off after five chevrons with each additional chevron having a reduced effect until it hits a hard cap.