The Hecatoncheires is probably one of my favorite variant frames of the bunch, it has such a different style and role as the balor and has multiple different build paths to go down. Unlike the Balor who is slow hard to kill monster, the Hecatoncheires is a Predator who wants to strike from the shadows an remain unseen. With a +2 difficulty inside softcover and being given a free invincible hive drone that does burn damage (at the small cost of being a burst 1 instead of burst 2) means that you are essentially always under the effects of hard cover and can always hide. Speaking of Always Hiding, the Hecatonch can hide Regardless of Engagement!
If you really wanted to you could grab Blackbeard 1 for SMN, grapple an enemy and move them inside your razor swarm then Hiding. The enemy cant target you unless they have aoe because you are hidden and I dont see anything in the rules that states that hidden breaks grapple and grapple breaks hidden, normally the ENGAGED status would do so but Hecatonch doesnt care about that. But the enemy could always just win the Hull Check and drag you out into the open so its not the most solid strategy, but you could do it lol.
And for the final trait of the Hecatoch is that it's Smart weapons ignore invisibility so if the team is struggling with invisible enemies or if you know they will be some in the sitrep, just slap on the nanocomp mod if you arent using it to make invisible enemies cry.
And the Core power is very good, It is Efficient and lets you deal 4 Burn to every enemy in an area created by your drones, and this works with all drones, so drones that have a burst radius like the Sentinel Drone, Utility Drone, and of Course the Hive Drone, are all very useful tools to be able to apply large scale burn.
Overall the Hecatoncheires is a very good frame, able to control the battlefield or provide support with its drones, hack with its decent sensors and tech attack, Make excellent use of infiltrator to disable enemies, it can grapple and perform melee, its just a super versatile mech. Its more into the "Guerilla Warfare" and "Stealthy" vibe than big and tanky vibes, so you dont want to get hit in this mech. Now onto the Build:
» Hecatoncheires // HECATONCHEIRES «
LL6
[ TALENTS ]
Drone Commander 3, Infiltrator 3,
Nuclear Cavalier 3
[ LICENSES ]
HORUS Balor 2, HA Sherman 1,
HORUS Hydra 1, HA Genghis 2
[ CORE BONUSES ]
Universal Compatibility, Heatfall Coolant System
[ MECH ]
« HECATONCHEIRES »
HORUS Hecatoncheires
H:3 A:0 S:2 E:3 SIZE:0.5
STRUCTURE:4 HP:15 ARMOR:0
STRESS:4 HEAT:8 REPAIR:4
ATK BONUS:3 TECH ATK:3 LTD BONUS:1
SPD:5 EVA:10 EDEF:12 SENS:10 SAVE:13
[ WEAPONS ]
INTEGRATED MOUNT: Fuel Rod Gun
Main Mount: SOL-Pattern Laser Rifle
Heavy Mount: Krakatoa Thermobaric Flamethrower (Nanocomposite Adaptation)
[ SYSTEMS ]
Hive Drone, Hive Drone,
PUPPETMASTER, Auto-Cooler
Now with this Build makes use of Superior By Design and Autocooler to give it the actions necessary to deploy and move 3 drones at a time. While I wont be overcharging every turn having the overcharge option always available to get that action when I need it is really nice. And since I can almost always hide I can activate autocooler, move some drones around, lock on, bolster, invade with fragment signal, etc. and then hide. With the +2 difficulty on top of hiding Im willing to risk letting autocooler do its job rather than stabilizing.
Even better when I come out of hide by attacking I can flashbang and send enemies reeling on hit, to just cause further impairment and suffering. Flamethrower is for even more burn damage and the SOL rifle is for some longer range, I could go for the classic GMS assault rifle but I feel like the SOL is more thematically fitting, after all what is a Predator without a Plasma Caster? Nanocomp goes on flamehrower because its cool and thematically fitting to shoot a swarm of nanites at a mech instead of using traditional fire or plasma, and it allows me to make use of Panoptes Targeting.
2 Hive Drones gives plenty of soft cover to my allies and gives me more than enough room with my Razor Swarm to maximize my Core Power's damage, that's 43 total spaces of potential burn. And of course Puppermaster lets me control and get the drones in position much easier, and I can also move enemy drones which is always sweet.
For the Talents it was easy, drone commander for drone HP and control, and I can give my drones and allies 4 overshield and deal some damage if I line things up. Infiltrator for moving while hidden and debilitating enemies, walk adjacent, attack and send reeling, then flashbomb to blind and move away. And Nuc Cav to do more damage, might as well make use of my heatcap for more damage, give me more of a reason to overcharge!
Now I know the 3 split of HULL and ENGINEERING is Hideous, but consider this: There is No Way in Hell Im having an Odd Heatcap. Having an Odd Heatcap bothers me and I will always try to avoid it, Yeah I lose out on +2HP and +1 Repair Cap, but Im just not having an odd heatcap, plus 8 is safer than 7 if I happen to roll a 6 on the Overcharge. But its mostly the odd heatcap thing, especially if im using Nuc Cav or Deep Well Heat Sinks or anything else that makes use of the danger zone. I could sacrifice the AGILITY but I like having 10 Evasion and the extra movement speed, its nice to have some better movement and being harder to hit as a guerilla warfare mech.