A simple, durable assault OmniMech, the Kingfisher is pretty much exactly what I want if I’m bringing a clan assault mech to a game. All variants are somehow under 3,000 BV, with the prime all the way down at about 2,400, so it’s avoiding the biggest sin of many clan mechs – too many guns for their armor. During the invasion it was used by every clan, and was common enough that post-invasion it was on the general Inner Sphere availability list. It’s nothing flashy, but it is effective.
Peri: The Kingfisher is a workhorse, a genuine do everything assault mech. It is rugged, well constructed, well optimized, cheap, and full of fantastic variants. I have been using the hell out of the Kingfisher these last few months in my games, and it has rapidly rocketed to the position of my favorite Clan mech in Tabletop BattleTech. Being on both Clan and IS general on different times, literally every faction in the game has had access to it at least once, so you can easily justify including it in literally any force after the Invasion. I have genuinely used every single variant of the Kingfisher in a game or two by now, and none of them are bad.
Chassis
As a 90 ton OmniMech, all variants share the same engine, structure, and armor. It has 278 out of a maximum of 279 pips of armor – using clan ferro fibrous armor this is perfect, as that last pip would cost an entire half ton. A standard engine moves it at 4/6 – on the fast end for a 90 tonner, but that large size means fitting an extra four heat sinks into the engine without costing crit slots. The standard engine pairs well with all the armor, as this is a mech remarkably unlikely to just suddenly stop existing like something with an XL.
Peri: An interesting few notes about the Kingfisher as a Chassis. It only has 28 armor on the side torsos, which is slightly annoying as it lets 15, 10, and 5 damage weapons penetrate one shot earlier than they would if it had 30. This is legitimately the only problem with the chassis. It is a bit light on pod space at 24 tons, but with 17 hard-mounted double heat sinks it is clearly just pushing you towards using some of the Clan’s lightweight and powerful energy weapons. Having a standard engine is incredible for the Kingfisher, it survives far longer than it should assuming you are using a variant with no/limited ammo. 24 tons is an underwhelming amount of space and that could lead to some underwhelming variants, but fortunately, the Kingfisher has one of the most high quality variant lists in the entire game.
Variants
These mechs have all been reviewed based on a standard F through S scale, which you can find described on our landing page here (along with all of our other ‘mech reviews, the name of the box you can buy to get any of the mechs we have covered, and our general methodology).
Prime
A simple mech comes with a simple weapon loadout – two large pulses, two medium pulses, an LRM 10, streak SRM 6, and emotional support ER small laser. It overheats by just a touch – 36 + movement if you don’t fire the small laser, while sinking 34. As four heat comes from the SSRM 6, it can mostly just fire everything every turn – if the SSRM hits it’ll overheat, but not enough to cause any penalties – just turn the missiles off next turn to drop back to zero. One of the large pulses is in the center torso, with the other in the right arm, while all the ammo is in either the left torso or left arm. Even suffering an ammo explosion will leave the big lasers. 2,401 BV is expensive in the grand scheme of all mechs, but on the low end for a clan assault, and this is using that to do many things well and nothing wrong.
Jack’s rating: A+
Peri: I might genuinely dump the LRM-10 ammo out of this thing on turn 1. 6 extra damage on average isn’t a huge deal, and if you do this you don’t have anything explosive in the torso anymore. 2400 is an incredibly fair price for the Prime, and if you don’t know what you will need the Kingfisher to do in your list, it is probably the best pick. It is one of the best do everything mechs in the entire game.
Peri’s Rating: A+, insanely good value
A
The A is armed with a somewhat more eclectic weapon collection, with an ER PPC in the center torso, supported by an LB 10-X AC, SRM 6, ER medium laser, medium pulse laser, and an ER small laser. On one hand, the ER PPC can knock off someone’s head, on the other hand, the total damage output is a bit lower and less accurate. It’s less of an all-round mech than the prime, but has quite a bit of ability to fish for crits. At 2,261 BV I don’t think it’s enough cheaper than the prime to be a better pick, though I wouldn’t be unhappy running it.
Jack’s rating: B+
Peri: The A is somewhat eclectic and weird, with a wide scattering of random weapons. It is a bit less good than the Prime, and it is costed appropriately. This isn’t really that much worse though, and if you are expecting Helicopters it might actually be better.
Peri’s Rating: A-
B
Diving right in to being a brawler, the weapon loadout here is anchored on an ultra AC/20, ER large laser, four ER medium lasers, and an anti-missile system. 4/6 is about as slow as I want a mech running an ultra 20 to be – with the relatively short range, anything slower just can’t effectively push in to optimal range before the fight is already decided, relying on your opponent coming to you. This has enough lasers to do real damage while it closes, enough speed to close, and a massive hammer once it does. I’m happy with the 2,472 BV price tag on it – or I would be if the AMS was gone. In a vacuum, the AMS is nice to have. Cut those missile clusters down. Unfortunately, a vacuum is what the AMS ammo will turn your center torso into.
Jack’s rating: C
Peri: That AMS ammo is a big problem, but you can (and should) just dump the AMS ammo on the first turn to get rid of that issue. Once you do the B is an incredibly high quality mech, being functionally very similar to a Kodiak for a significantly lower price. It is missing half the lasers and the SRMs, but it is a lot cheaper and 4 ER MLs and a UAC/20 is a hell of a lot of damage to dump out in a short span of time. Having played the B in several games built around objectives recently, the B does an incredible job when there is something to force enemies into close combat with it, while still doing adequately when things aren’t interested due to its laser load. It also has a pretty small amount of UAC/20 ammo, only 5 shots when firing at full tilt, but that also means it empties its bins pretty quick and removes the risk of explosive death from its torso at a reasonable speed.
The B is a very high quality UAC/20 caddy, and in the right situation this is the best Kingfisher by quite a bit. It is more niche than the Prime or C, but it does some very good work in that niche.
Peri’s Rating: B+
C
So the A got a B, the B got a C, am I going to rate this one a D? Two ER PPCs, four ER medium lasers, and enough heat sinks to only build movement heat says no. This is basically a fat Warhammer IIC that’s going to live forever. No explosive components, two of the ER mediums are in the center torso, all the other weapons are in arms that can flip behind you. Yeah, it’s 2,644 BV – everything else with a pair of clan ER PPCs and real armor is at least 2,200 or so, so I’m not holding that price against it. It’s incredibly boring but undeniably effective.
Jack’s rating: A
Peri: This is my most used Kingfisher variant by a long shot. This is a dull, monotonous mech that walks forwards and destroys everything that stands in front of it. It is good at literally all ranges, it can flip most of its guns behind it so it has no blind spots at all, and while 2644 is expensive you can count on the inherent ridiculous durability of the Kingfisher chassis to keep you safe while you beat your opponents the fuck to death with the most efficient guns in the clan tech base. This is nearly a perfect assault mech. My only wish is that it dropped a few heat sinks to upgrade the ERMLs to MPLs, which would slightly cut down on heat and should just about balance out. When my only complaint is “I wish it traded one of the best weapons in the game for a slightly better best weapon in the game”, the mech is extremely good.
Having used this thing in dozens of games over the course of several months, it is an incredibly high quality juggernaut of a mech that will easily make its points back. It isn’t pretty, it isn’t nice, it is a machine of war and death with zero frills or wasted space. Use it and use it well. The combination of extreme durability and fantastic damage makes the Kingfisher C a fucking difficulty tweak for your opponents that will force an immediate change in list construction if you play it right.
Peri’s Rating: S
D
Another simple design with three ER large lasers and an ultra AC/10. I don’t like the heat profile on it – it sinks 34, but the ER lasers alone generate 36, so while you close you’ll alternate 3-2-3-2 etc, and then switch to firing two plus the autocannon. I think the AC and lasers are too close in range brackets for that to really be effective, but it’s not awful. Again though, 2,364 BV is too close to the incredibly effective prime for me to see a reason to take this one.
Jack’s rating: B
Peri: This is my least used Kingfisher, simply because of the nasty heat profile on the ERLLs. The Prime or A will usually do the same job better, but the D is merely “Fairly good” instead of “Best in class”
Peri’s Rating: B-
E
The E is filled with weapons I love – an ATM 12, large pulse, and four medium pulses. Generates 34 + movement heat, sinks 34 heat. Sure, it doesn’t feel like it’s doing a billion damage like a Blood Asp or something, but it’s a lot harder to kill and is back down at 2,443 BV.
Jack’s rating: A+
Peri: The one and only problem with the E is that it has a side torso full of ATM ammo that really, really likes to cook off and remove that side of the mech. It does good damage with great accuracy and carries the best in slot missile weapon in the ATM-12 and a full load of clan pulse lasers. This is well worth the price and, if you are willing to put up with the chance of losing a side torso to random chance, it is probably better than the Prime. In my book it is slightly worse due to the amount of them I have seen lose half their gun from ammo explosions, but I can see the argument to put this up higher.
Peri’s Rating: A
F
Basically the same concept as the B, but running a HAG/30 in place of the ultra AC/20 and one fewer medium laser. The HAG doesn’t concentrate damage as well but does hit like a ton of bricks at much better range, and even at a run it’s only building one heat. There’s an ECM suite floating around the center torso, but it’s mostly only good as a crit sink – all regular ECM will do in most games is turn off artemis, which is nice but not tremendously meaningful unless you face someone running a ton of missile boats. 2,568 BV is north of the prime but still south of the C, and barring an unlucky headshot is likely to be effective.
Jack’s rating: A
Peri: The HAG/30 is an extremely funny, if very expensive, gun. The F is a decent caddy for it and it is another idiot machine that you can just alpha strike with every turn without a single worry. It is a bit too expensive in my book when the C is right there and, in my opinion, is quite a lot better. If you really like HAGs or are expecting to shoot at Helicopters, the F is quite good.
Peri’s Rating: A-
G
Another variant in the same concept as the B, the G runs an LB 20-X AC, SRM 6, three improved heavy medium lasers, and gave the emotional support ER small laser a friend. It doesn’t have anything with meaningful range, which would be a problem on a 4/6, but a supercharger is snuck in for that 8 hex run. Still a bit short ranged for the speed, but not awfully so, this has massive damage in close and is still only 2,319 BV. Only real issue is the number of explosive components, but thick armor is likely to do adequately here.
Jack’s rating: B+
Peri: The amount of explosives inside this mech really sucks. One side torso only has explosive crits, and the other has several explosives in it. Even with that it is still pretty good and has always put in good work for me. The BV system is doing some dark alchemy here to make this thing only 2300 with that Supercharger, but I approve. Being able to hit the jets and sprint up 8 hexes makes the LB/20-X and heavy lasers way scarier, as a lot of enemy heavies and assaults won’t be able to get away. I have had several of these get disarmed or knocked unconscious by ammo explosions though, so I can’t in good faith rate it as high as some of the other Kingfishers, but if a 90 tonner moving like a 55 tonner and slinging 72 points of point blank alpha damage sounds appealing, go nuts.
Peri’s Rating: B-
H
Two heavy large lasers, four ER medium lasers, a targeting computer, and enough heat sinks that while you’re overheating you aren’t cooking yourself. It’s OK? The targeting computer counteracts the hit penalty on the heavy lasers, basically making it a shorter ranged C variant. 2,525 BV is cheaper than the C, but for my tastes not enough cheaper to deal with the reduced range and heat efficiency.
Jack’s rating: B-
Peri: The H in most ways is just a marginally worse C. It is costed like a marginally worse C, so that is fair. You are trading the ability to fire everything all the time for the ability to get +1 damage on your big guns and -1 to hit on your little ones, though you can only shoot 3 of them without building heat. It is very similar to a C, and if you are expecting a short ranged fight it isn’t really much worse. On the whole it is less flexible and reliable though, which really hurts it. If you get caught up in a sniper duel you will be consistently outranged, which always hurts. It is still quite good, but not nearly as insane as the C.
Peri’s Rating: A-
I
Two improved heavy large lasers and a gauss rifle give you three head-choppers for only 2,348 BV. I don’t think you’ll find many other mechs that do that, and certainly not with the general durability of a kingfisher. It’s boring and swingy, because you don’t have a whole lot of chances to hit, but it absolutely cannot be ignored or it’ll beat the hell out of whatever it’s looking at while taking a lot of shooting to bring down.
Jack’s rating: A
Peri: The I is hilarious and is actually really efficient on the Thunderhawk/Hellstar scale of headchopper efficiency. It is, as mentioned, incredibly swingy, and I have had games where I have just missed completely with it over and over again. But when it works, and it finds its targets, this thing beats the hell out of most other assault mechs. It does have a ton of explosive crits in it, and it lacks the CT guns that are very common on other Kingfishers, but sometimes it will just absolutely rip it with IHLLs and that is super cool. It is a bit too unreliable for me, but it is insanely fun to use and that has some value on its own.
Peri’s Rating: A-
T
Going back to a somewhat more eclectic weapon list, the T runs an improved heavy large laser, streak LRM 10, streak SRM 6, four ER medium lasers, and an improved heavy small laser (doing actual therapy, not just emotional support). All the various lasers are connected to a targeting computer, so it picks up some of the nice accuracy of the prime, but it has nowhere near enough heat sinks to fire everything. The heavy large and ER mediums all have the same range profile, so you’ll be firing them together, which even before movement maxes out your heat sinking – throw in the missiles, and assuming they hit you’re way over. For all this you pay the princely sum of 2,637 BV – very nearly as much as the C, and nowhere near as effective.
Jack’s rating: C-
Peri: The T is an odd one. The accuracy from the TComp is really nice, and building only movement heat from the lasers is also nice, but the Streak LRM-10 is somewhat pointless due to the mech not really having the heat capacity for it when it so obviously wants to be dumping lasers every turn. This is probably the least good of the Kingfishers just on raw price, it really isn’t doing anything that a Prime, E, or C wouldn’t be doing better. Even just with the lasers this is most of a H with better accuracy, so it can’t be that bad even if you ignore the missiles.
Peri’s Rating: C+/low B-
X
Far and away the most expensive Kingfisher at 2,761 BV (even if not all that high for a clan assault mech), this variant wants to have accuracy and damage, strapping on a targeting computer and Artemis V. The targeting computer drives an ER PPC, three improved heavy medium lasers, and a pair of ER medium pulses, backed up by the Artemis V LRM 15. Everything has a bonus to hit, and it’s got an OK firing pattern shooting the ER PPC, ER medium pulses, and LRMs at longer ranges, then trading the PPC out for the improved heavy lasers in close. It’s all good stuff, but it’s paying for it, and I don’t think it’s a better value than just taking a prime or an E.
Jack’s rating: B-
Peri: The X is actually really fantastic for a few reasons. The T-comp closes the gap between an ERMPL and a regular MPL, which rocks. The crit placement on this mech is also just incredible, with the explosives sitting in the arms where they are less likely to be crit (in practice, due to the way the hit chart is laid out and the uneven nature of probability on 2d6, the arms get hit significantly less often than the torsos and actually have more armor on them with the Kingfisher’s armor layout), and where they won’t rip an entire side off of the mech if they do go off. Art V LRM-15s are extremely good, the ERPPC is in the CT for maximum firepower once it loses its arms, and like, its a Kingfisher. The Kingfisher is just an absurdly tough chassis.
Other interesting notes, the X can put 3 medium improved heavies into its rear arc, as they are on the arm, with a to-hit bonus. This means that most backstabbing light mechs might not super want to stand right behind you when they are staring down 30 points of damage at a -1 bonus.
Good damage, great durability, an intelligent crit layout, ECM for utility, and a to-hit bonus combine to make the Kingfisher X a pretty effective assault mech, even if the C still has my pick for overall best Kingfisher.
Peri’s Rating: A+
Conclusion
If you want to spend a lot of BV on a mech you can do a whole lot worse than a Kingfisher. 2,261 to 2,761 BV is objectively a lot, but for it you get an incredibly hard to kill clan assault that in many ways feels more like an inner sphere assault mech, given the shift from firepower to durability. It’s best variants make use of that durability to be something that can only die from being focused down, but doesn’t quiiiiite justify being the primary target early on.
Peri: One Kingfisher is good, but I have been running these in pairs a lot of the time, usually a C combined with a G, B or a Prime. The Kingfisher is a true, honest to god zombie mech. Unless you TAC it to the CT or headcap it, there is nothing in the game that will kill one in a fair fight without it taking a long ass time. BattleTech being BattleTech, sometimes you just get blown out and lose your big expensive thing super early, but if you don’t get unlucky the Kingfisher is unkillable. I have seen entire 7000 BV lists dump their firepower into a single Kingfisher C and still take 4 turns to kill it.
The durability of this mech genuinely cannot be overstated. It is worth the BV, unlike certain Clan Assault mechs (cough Dire Wolf cough). It is mobile enough to meaningfully move during a game, it is insanely well protected, and every variant has an identity, a strong plan, and a use case. Whoever was designing sheets for this mech just cranked out banger after banger and I can’t recommend it enough.
I spent literal decades ignoring the Kingfisher. It was just that tubby, fat, unattractive weirdo in the back of TRO 3058, surrounded by far cooler Bushwackers, Avatars, and Supernovas. The Kingfisher flies under the radar but it is a fucking nuclear bomber of a mech and you should be using one as often as you can.
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