Howdy everyone and welcome back to Mech Overview! This week we are taking a look at everyone’s favorite EWAR bird friend, the Raven. The Raven is a weedy little dorkus from early BattleTech, notable as one of the first mechs to use ECM and Active Probes back in the 80s. It has a pretty distinctive look and is the ultimate scout mech, meaning that it interacts with a section of optional/narrative rules that aren’t used in most pick up games. It really isn’t built for direct combat but we will, in fact, be reviewing it based on its performance in direct combat games where active probes do basically nothing. Just heading off any arguments about not looking at the mech in its context, because its context just isn’t at all relevant to most pick up games.
Chassis
The Raven is a 35 ton scout mech with a theoretical focus on avoiding fights if it can. We will get into why this isn’t really an option for Mr. Raven. Most variants carry ECM and other electronic components, though there are a few exceptions. It looks kinda fragile and is, indeed, kinda fragile. This really is not a mech built for straight up fights, so let’s see what it can actually do.
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).
1X
The OG Raven from the Succ Wars, and the one you get in HBS BattleTech, the 1X is a miserable little light mech. For 639 BV you get 5/8/0 movement, pathetically thin armor, and an actually reasonable weapon load of an SRM-6 with 2 medium lasers. The centerpiece is the EW Equipment, which functions as a combination ECM and active probe. Considering that I usually joke about how probes do nothing, and ECM is only really useful in a small section of games, this is not worth it. Add on to that that the EW equipment is a primitive version with reduced range, and you are getting even less than normal out of this. 639 BV is cheap but you would be much better off with a Commando, Valkyrie, or any other high damage light mech in that price range.
RATING: D-
2X
This is far more interesting. At 887 BV the 2X is competing with the Panther, and I actually think it has some merit. You get nearly twice the armor compared to the 1X, and trade the EW equipment out for a large laser. A 5/8/0 Panther with a large laser instead of a PPC and way better close range backup weapons is a good thing to get. The EW equipment was functionally worthless on this mech for a variety of reasons, but this is a decent enough cheap battleline piece in comparison. A pretty solid Succession Wars light mech that can fight lower-end medium mechs competently.
RATING: C+
3X
The 3X is identical to the 1X but carries experimental TSM. This gives the same doubled kick damage as regular TSM, but doesn’t boost speed and your opponent can load a special SRM type that melts your mech because of it. This is for narrative play in the very specific case that you are using it in specifically the 4th succ war. I guess as a pick up game piece this is strictly better than a 1X due to this. Generally you pick custom ammo after seeing the enemy list, so you can’t keep it from getting blown up by magic missiles. I’d love to see someone who is willing to accept the risk of getting gas missiled, but I haven’t yet.
RATING: D-
3L
The base variant according to Sarna, the 3L is the Raven that has all of the actual ECM and Active Probes instead of the EW gear. It costs 708 BV and uses an XL engine and the much lighter new EW tech to boost to 6/9, gain quite a bit of armor (less than the 2X though), and carry a slightly improved weapon load. It carries 2 medium lasers, an SRM-6, a TAG, and a Narc beacon. No matter what fire support weapons or LRM loads that you want to use, this has an option to support it and make it more accurate. For the price this is not a bad weapon load, ECM is sometimes good, and the weapons are ok for the price. Being 6/9/0 instead of 5/8/0 is really nice, and you blow up anyway if you get shot so the XL engine is fine.
RATING: C
3M
The 3M is an interesting light mech. Rather than being a mech built entirely to support friendly missile units, the 3M uses 659 BV to become a light missile support unit that is capable of supporting other missile units. It trades all the equipment out for 2 small lasers, a small pulse laser, a Narc, and an LRM-15 with 2 tons of ammo. It can go forwards to tag things with its Narc and then pull back to fling missiles, or it could just fling missiles for cheap. 659 is really cheap for an LRM-15, and this is otherwise internally the same as a 3L. Big fan of things that turn non-missile units into missile units, like that one Axman with the 2 LRM-15s that I can’t remember the name of. Expensive LRM units are a bit of waste of BV in my opinion due to how far away they need to be anyway to get the best use out of their weapon, so I really like the idea of using one of these as the leader for a lance of Valkyries and Duan Gung’s. Use more Duan Gung’s by the way, hideous little mech.
RATING: C+
4L
The 4L is a pretty linear upgrade of the 3L. It comes in at 873 BV, which is still reasonable for a light mech. You gain more armor, more or less matching the 2X, and upgrade to double heat sinks, stealth armor, and ER medium lasers. It is otherwise internally the same as the 3L, and does the same job better for a pretty mild increase in price. Highly recommend upgrading to this variant if it is within your budget.
RATING: Low B-/ high C+
4LC
The 4LC costs 871 and is designed for C3 lances. It trades the active prove for a C3 slave and an ER small laser. This is an extremely good trade, and the 4LC is a solid C3 spotter. It is cheap, it has decent weapons, it has ECM so it can ECCM to counter enemy ECM so that you can keep your C3 network up. I am a massive fan of this for a C3 force, and it is roughly interchangeable with the 4L even outside of C3 because of how little the active probe does in this game.
RATING: Low B-/ high C+. B+ in a C3 force.
4Lr
The 4Lr is a pretty easy to understand variation. At 943 BV it drops the SRM-6 and the Narc for an MML-7 and an extra medium laser. This is an adequate trade if you are good at managing heat with stealth armor and want a more combat capable Raven variant, but 943 BV is very close to actual BattleMech grade BV, something you do not want from an Inner Sphere light mech. Still decent, but starting to get a bit too expensive for what it is.
RATING: C+
4X
The 4X is a variant of the 1X that trades the EW equipment (which weighs seven and a half tons by the way) for more armor than any other Raven we have looked at so far, 2 medium lasers, 2 machine guns, an SRM-6, and a 5/8/5 movement profile. This is an interesting mech within its succ war context, 5/8/5 isn’t horrible movement for a light mech at the time, and this competes reasonably with the 2X as a fighty, cheap, low tech light mech. 820 BV seems fair for this mech, and it’ll fight crap medium mechs ok for cheap.
RATING: C
5L
A weird IlClan variant, the 5L mixes a whole bunch of traits from a bunch of other variants. We have a similar weapon load to the 3L, the boosted armor of the 2X, stealth armor like the 4L, and a few unique traits of its own. First of all, it costs 1035 BV, which is a fucking lot for an IS light mech. The speed has been boosted to 8/12/0, which is awesome, and the weapons are traded out for 3 one shot SRM-2s, which are exactly what they sound like, 2 ER medium lasers, a TAG, and an improved narc launcher. It also upgrades the ECM to Angel ECM and drops the active probe. Angel ECM is significantly better than regular ECM, almost to the point of justifying this quite expensive mech just to bring it on a fast chassis. Turning off streak is a very valuable trait when you are going up against the streak LRMs that are pretty popular in IlClan. Overall just a weird alternate version of the L series Ravens. If you want/need the Angel ECM, this is a good pick, and the boosted speed is a big deal for survivability.
RATING: C+
SR “Shattered Raven”
Near as I can tell this is a variant of the 3L. It costs 601 BV and trades the gear out for an SRM/6m NARC, ECM, active probe, and 4 machine guns linked into a machine gun array. It is cheap, but there are better cheap mechs. There are even better cheap Ravens, you don’t have to go far to get something better.
RATING: D
SS “Shattered Raven”
Boaty Mc Boat Mech here costs 904 BV and is also a variant on the 3L, this time carrying the ECM, Probe, and TAG, but trading the weapons for 4 medium lasers, a small laser, and a streak SRM-6. This is fine but too expensive for what it is. The mech only has 12 single heat sinks so heat is a big issue for this mech, and I don’t like it for the price.
RATING: D
X
The X is certainly a Raven. It costs 1021 BV, well over actual mech BV, and carries some weird shit. It has the same 6/9/0 speed that is standard on Ravens, and downgrades to composite structure, which doubles damage to internals and means that this mech will almost certainly die the instant a shot goes internal. For gear it has 2 medium X pulse lasers, an MRM-20 with Apollo, a bloodhound probe, Angel ECM, and a laser AMS. These pieces of equipment are all, in isolation, fine to good. They do not combine into a good mech though, with the composite structure and poor speed completely killing any utility that it might have had. This is an overly expensive fire magnet that will die the moment anything with a pulse laser shoots at it.
RATING: D
Raven II RVN-5X
Technically cheating as the Raven II is a completely different mech, there is only one variant and it is numbered in sequence with the other variants of the Standard Raven, so I figure it is appropriate to bring it up now. The Raven 2 is a 40 ton rebuild of the Raven that brings the speed up to 7/11/0 and makes the armor a bit thicker. For equipment it has a bloodhound probe and an Angel ECM, so no real surprises there. For weapons it has 2 ER medium lasers, an MML-5, and a TSEMP Cannon. The TSEMP can, unreliably, shut down enemy mechs. I really do want to stress unreliably, I have never had a TSEMP mech perform well. The speed on the Raven II does mean that it can afford to run people down and debuff them with the +1 to hit that a non-shutdown hit from a TSEMP inflicts, which is theoretically cool. The issue with the Raven II, much like all TSEMP mechs, is price. This jumped-up Cicada costs 1858 BV, and for a mech that has all of 2 ER medium lasers and an MML-5 to actually do damage to the enemy, fuck no. That is deeply not worth it.
TSEMPs are extremely expensive in BV because when you win the lottery and that rare chance of a shutdown goes off, it more or less instantly kills the mech because your whole team can reposition to land shots into a mech with a -4 to hit bonus. The issue is that they go off so rarely that you can never rely on them, and the devs have spiked their BV so high that they are nowhere close to worth it if they aren’t triggering that shutdown effect on something good at least once a game. I genuinely hate TSEMP mechs and always wish that they just had a regular ass gun instead.
RATING: F, theoretically capable but come the fuck on, you can get certain Clan Heavy Omni-Mechs for this price.
Conclusion
In conclusion, most Ravens are mediocre, a few are quite good, and a few more than that are pretty bad. There are functional variants if you really like the mech, like I do, and in Narrative Play the Raven is the king of scouting. Stick with a 2X or 3M for fighting, and a 4L/LC for scouting. I do wish that we had a scout variant that was a bit faster without being as expensive as a 5L though, an 8/12/0 variant of this mech with the ECM gear for less than 800 would be a steal, though at that point you have just made a fat Locust. The big issue that the Raven has on most variants is speed, it can’t escape from light mech hunters and even a lot of faster battle-line mediums can chase it down and kill it. I really wish I could recommend it more, but it is kinda just fine on its own merits. Getting used to how NARC works can get you a lot more value though, NARC carrying mechs are at a premium and the Raven is IIRC your cheapest option to carry one into a game, so if you are leaning super hard on a NARC strategy you are going to like this mech a lot more than most.
Turns out I don’t have any really concise thoughts about the Raven. It’s just a nice looking scout mech that can be good except when it is bad, but such is life.
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