• Steam! Steam will now be the system Hawken will be using to be distributed. A steam account is required, and anyone already with a Hawken account will receive an email before February 11th with a CD key to activate early. Hawken will be under Early Access until full release. If you don't have a key by the 11th, send a message to Hawken support - they're very very helpful. In the meantime, new accounts cannot be made until the switch to Steam is complete.
  
  
• In November of 2013, the Wreckage patch hit, introducing a new mech, and the map wreckage. In February, a new, as yet unnamed patch will hit alongside Hawken's release on Steam. This patch will feature a new mech, the Incinerator a new map for the co-op mode, and much more!
  
  
• 4 player co-op against waves of bots!
  
  
• A new map: Wreckage
  
  
  
  
• The Vanguard is now available to all players! Players who bought the Vanguard initiative will still have exclusive access to the unique cosmetic options on their Cupcake, but the weapon loadout will be available to all players now.
  
  
• The tuning system is out! Well, kinda. The devs still can use it under the hood to balance mechs, but we no longer have direct control. This means mechs will be standardized, balance will be much better, and level 30 players no longer have a straight advantage against newbies.
  
  
• Improved visuals: The maps will look better, and things will actually run better, too.
  
  
• A revamped, cleaner HUD.
  
  
• 6v6 Matchmaking! Get a party of 6 people together, and match up against another team of 6! Test your strength in fighting some of the best players around
  

Saturnine Aberrance fucked around with this message at 16:56 on May 5, 2014

• Berserker
  The Berserker is an A class mech fitted with automatic weapons and a TOW launcher, making it good for hit and run tactics. It’s weapons, in conjunction with its Ballistic Barrage ability, can deal significant damage to enemies while still allowing you to get back out quickly.
  
• Infiltrator
  The Infiltrator is an A class mech that has a unique ability, as well as some very interesting choices for primary weapons that allow it to do some cool things on the battlefield. Its weapons used in conjunction with the Infiltrators Camouflage ability allow it to sneak up on unaware opponents and unleash an enormously powerful barrage of shots in an instant. Beware, however, experienced pilots will be watching out for the shimmer made by the Infiltrators camouflage mode, and you may well be hit, even when you thought you were hidden.
  
• Reaper
  The Reaper was the first new mech to be released following the beginning of open beta, and it fills a role as a sort of closer range precision marksman, which is in contrast to the Sharpshooters long range role. For a while following its release, few players favoured it because it was perceived to be too weak to effectively compete at higher levels. More recently, however, more players have come to realize that while Reapers have similar weapons to Sharpshooters, these weapons on the Reaper are maximally effective at medium ranges. Now, there is a fairly large contingent of people who tend to prefer playing as Reapers, and are dominating the scoreboards in the process.
  
• Scout
  The Scout is the premier A class burst mech, sporting the games' shotguns and the TOW launcher, in conjunction with an ability that allows it to move farther, and dodge for longer than any other mech, allowing it the ability to get in and out of combat better and more smoothly than any other mech in the game, provided you play it right, and you can take your opponents out before they get you.
  
• Technician
  The Tech fills a support role that had previously only been dubiously held by the Rocketeer and Bruiser. The Technician comes equipped with the Repair Torch, with which you can heal allies or equipment, or use a 'vampire beam' to suck health away from enemies. The Technician has the only debuff weapon in the game, and a light damage dealer in the form of the Ripper. Watch out for the high heat gen on this mech as well, it can quickly sneak up on you if you get caught up healing allies!
  

• CRT Recruit
  Also well known as Fred, the Recruit mech is the first mech that all players receive when they begin playing Hawken. As such, as well as because of its appearance, Fred gets a bit of a bad reputation among many players. However, that reputation is not necessarily well deserved, because even though it's the starting mech, it is still a capable all-arounder mech up through to the higher levels of play.
  
• Assault
  Well... This is the same thing as the CRT Recruit. Almost. Though you now have a new body to look at, rather than the Fred chassis! These mechs focus on mid range sustained fire, for the most part. While it is the same as the CRT in terms of weapon choice and for the ability, with the advent of the Ascension patch, the Assault is now differentiated in terms of it's base stats, and it also has entirely different options for Tuning System upgrades. So the Assault now has the capability to play very differently from the CRT!
  
• Bruiser
  For many players, the Bruiser is quite the piece of work, to put it one way. To put it another way, not many players find that the Bruiser is their favorite mech. Or that they even like it. The Bruiser has average mobility and health, like every other B class mech, though its ability does give a bit of an advantage in terms of tanking. It seems that many players find the combination of one of ‘the classic 3’ automatic weapons (AR, SMC, Vulcan) with Hellfire missiles to be difficult to use. However, people who do like the Bruiser certainly exist, and you just might be one of them.
  
• Raider
  The Raider, introduced in the March patch, completed the trifecta of Flak wielding mechs; the Scout, the Raider, and the Brawler. With its introduction, a player seeking to focus on close range burst damage had their pick from any of the three classes. The Raider also brought the introduction of several new weapons, and a class-defying ability that allows it to chase down opponents at tremendous speed. If you like going fast and being right up in your opponents’ literal and metaphorical grill, while still being able to take a bit of a punch, the Raider could be for you.
  
• Sharpshooter
  The Sharpshooter is the classic sniper class that you are used to in many other games. Great long range capability and some great damage at the expense of easy close range combat. Pretty straightforward. However, give it enough practice, and even the Sharpshooter can be a devastating force on the battlefield in close range combat. In team games like Missile Assault or Siege, the Sharpshooter can do some serious damage if it finds a good position where it can rain doom upon enemies holding an objective, or it can prevent enemies from reaching an objective in the first place.
  
• Predator
  The Predator was introduced to Hawken in the Invasion patch, and it's role on the battlefield is something like a bigger Infiltrator. It has a stronger invisibility ability than the Infiltrator that allows it to stay invisible indefinitely, however the Predator can not use fuel at any point, or it loses the cloak. The Predator has a few weapons built to fit it's name, and it's primary role is that of an ambusher, sneaking up on unsuspecting enemies or laying traps at likely avenues of approach is the name of the game for the Predator, and it can deal out massive damage if an enemy falls for a fully laid trap. Be careful not to spend all your time in hiding or laying traps though; at best you'll generally end up at the bottom of the scoreboard, at worst you end up a drag on your team. Think TF2 with spies using the cloak and dagger - it sounds great to be invisible all the time at first, but in the end you just wind up sitting around invisible, not helping your team.
  

• Brawler
  The first of the C classes that will be reviewed is not only my personal favorite, but is also likely the easiest C class to learn if you are just getting into them. The Brawler is the fat end of the trifecta of burst focused mechs that includes the Scout and the Raider. Brawlers are built for getting up in the faces of their opponents, and not letting them get further away than hugging distance until they are taken down. Brawlers have a ton of health, and can put out a ton of damage to whatever enemy gets close enough to it. Brawlers work great as guards defending the AA or Missile Silo on objective based maps, but given enough practice and experience, Brawlers (and C classes in general) can be surprisingly nimble on the battlefield.
  
• Grenadier
  The Grenadier is the King of the Grenades, and if you encounter one on the battlefield using the Rev-GL, you are unlikely to forget it. The Grenadier is focused on putting a lot of projectiles down range as quick as it can, but it leaves the question of how those projectiles are delivered up to you. There are many great options available to the discerning Grenadier pilot, and the ones that give it some practice can quickly become a menace on the battlefield. The heavy barrage the Grenadier can deliver down range can become even more powerful when used in conjunction with the Artillery turret special ability, though keep in mind that like all turret mode functionalities, you are at a disadvantage in terms of mobility.
  
• Rocketeer
  The Rocketeer has an interesting combination of weaponry in that while weapons like its Hellfires are designed to be easy to use, but using them to their full potential takes a lot of work and practice. It has been on a bit of a rocky road getting there, but in its current implementation, the Rocketeer has more or less hit a sweet spot in terms of damage dealing and ease of use, though getting into a stride with it will probably take some time. Though in some cases its weaponry is designed to be easy to use, the Rocketeer also has some options to it that make it one of the most demanding mechs skill-wise to pilot to it’s full potential, but it is well worth it to those who master it.
  
• Vanguard (Cupcake)
  The Vanguard is the C class with the heart of an A class - it desperately wants to go fast, and in some senses it succeeds. It is easily the fastest C class of the bunch; by default it moves more quickly than a Brawler can ever hope to go. It pays for that speed with comparative fragility however, as well as less bursty weapons like the mini flak.
  

• TOW Missile
  The secondary weapon on more mechs than any other is the ubiquitous TOW missile which allows for very strong play when its mid-flight explosion is used to hit enemies just out of sight, or to make hits that would otherwise have missed. Be careful, the explosive radius is fairly generous, but the 'feathering', or falloff on damage as the explosion grows farther from the target is fairly significant. Remember, using the mid air detonation capability (right mouse button, or middle mouse by default) is critical to optimal use of this weapon!
  
  
• Grenade Launcher
  The Grenade Launcher launches its grenades at a comparatively slow speed, giving its users the ability to arc shots over cover, to bounce around corners, or to use them as short-lived and well timed mines, once the user has enough experience in their use. These grenades do just a tiny bit less damage than TOWs, but also fire very slightly faster, giving the smallest edge in DPS to grenades. Note that grenades can be detonated like TOWs, by using the secondary fire button.
  
  
• Hellfire Missiles
  The Hellfire Missiles are Hawkens’ resident homing weapon. The Hellfires do a tremendous amount of damage on a full hit from all 8 missiles, though hitting with every missile will be difficult against savvy players. Upon locking on, you can fire your missiles at angles such that you can curve the missiles into your opponent and around cover for maximum damage.
  
  
• Sabot Rifle
  The Sharpshooter is the only mech equipped with a Sabot Rifle at present, and as such it is uniquely able to combine the high damage potential of the Sabot with the enormous damage boost from the Power Shot ability. The Sabot Rifles secondary ability (activated by pressing middle mouse by default) scopes in on your target, and the rifle is significantly more accurate, and does more damage when in this zoomed state.
  
  
• KE-Sabot
  The Reaper, being a sort of mid-range Sharpshooter, of course requires a mid-range Sabot Rifle. The KE is very similar to the regular Sabot Rifle, including doing more damage when scoped than when unscoped, though even its max damage damage zoomed is lesser than the Sabot Rifles unzoomed (85 unscoped and 95 scoped). The KE fires almost twice as fast as the full Sabot Rifle to make up for the reduced per shot damage, but it also has reduced effective range.
  
  
• Helix Repair Torch
  The Repair Torch heals friendly units at a rate of 50 armor per second, and when it is actively healing a friendly unit, it heals the user at a rate of 20 units per second. Like the medi-gun in TF2, if you're healing someone at full health, your own health increases at a slower rate. The healing beam has a fairly short range, and is fairly sticky, but not nearly so much as TF2's. When the alternate fire is used, the torch swaps to a different mode, where it will become a ‘Vampire Beam’ that deals some damage per second to an enemy while healing the user.
  
  
• Corsair-KLA
  The Corsair is one of the more versatile weapons in the game: by swapping the firing mode with alternate fire, you will fire different projectiles. When the ‘claw’ is in the default, vertical position, the gun fires a projectile that is a sort of hybrid between the TOW and the grenade. The projectile has a relatively flat firing curve, doing fairly significant damage on a direct hit. The horizontal claw mode fires a MIRV shot, which acts like an explosive shotgun. This fires straight ahead, but with a very hard range limit of 75 meters, at which point the shells immediately explode. There is also almost no splash on these explosives, requiring a direct hit on opponents to do damage. The MIRV shells do an extraordinary amount of damage, more than any other secondary in the game at time of writing.
  
  
• EOC Predator
  Much like the EOC Repeater, it fires explosive pucks that can either hit opponents directly for damage, or can be laid on the ground as a trap. Unlike the Repeater, however, the Predator only fires one puck at a time, though at a fairly fast pace. You can have up to 12 mines in play at a time, after which the mine that was fired first disappears with no explosion once the 13th mine is fired. The Predator's mines are also unique in that enemies can destroy them by firing at them. The Predator, though it fires more quickly than the volleys of the Repeater, has the same difficulty barrier as the Repeater, though magnified since the Predator only fires one puck at a time. It takes some getting used to, but for those who put the time in, it ends up worth the while.
  

• Assault Rifle
  The Assault Rifle is pretty simple - just point and shoot. It's heat generation is fairly high, however, and it does lose accuracy as it is fired. So fire in bursts and keep an eye on your heat generation meter.
  
  
• Sub Machine Cannon
  The SMC is very similar to the Assault Rifle, however the SMC is differentiated in that it generates less heat than the AR, and fires more quickly at the expense of dealing less damage per shot. Keep in mind that the SMC is less accurate overall, though and has earlier damage drop off at range than the Assault Rifle. You can do more damage with an SMC, you’ll just have to be closer to do it.
  
  
• Point-D Vulcan
  The Vulcan, like all miniguns, has an associated spin up time before it can begin firing. Though you cannot tap the fire button to keep the gun spun up; each click resets the spin up time. The Vulcan is extremely powerful at close ranges, but it loses damage and accuracy very quickly as the range on the target increases. Each bullet does slightly more damage than an SMC round, and fires more quickly than any other automatic weapon, though heat generation is quite high. Used at short ranges, the Vulcan can tear through your enemies, though it is always important to keep good track of the target and to watch your heat generation.
  
  
• EOC Repeater
  Though the EOC is still pretty difficult to use to its full potential, the EOC does more damage on a fully charged, completely accurate hit than any other primary weapon in the game. However, with its power of course comes complexity. The EOCs damage is derived from direct hit damage, as well as 'mine' or explosive damage. When a puck from the EOC misses it hits the environment and remains as a mine that is only detonated after a certain amount of time, or when an enemy mech trips it. Each Puck does 10 damage when it makes contact with an enemy mech, and 20 damage for the explosion.
  
  
• Rev-GL
  The Rev-GL fires smaller grenades a little faster than a grenade per second, and each grenade does 75 damage on a direct hit, giving this weapon some quite impressive DPS. The Rev-GL can be a powerful piece of artillery if you can arc your grenades behind your enemy's cover, or they can be bounced inside the AA structure to hit any mechs taking refuge within.
  
  
• Heat Cannon
  This weapon is an interesting hybrid between the hitscan and projectile weapons. The weapon can be fired either from an uncharged state, or from a fully charged state, and depending on how charged the weapon is, the projectile will travel comparatively slowly, or more quickly, depending. As a shot is charged, it does more damage and has a greater damage radius. Be warned that firing many uncharged shots in succession will cause you to quickly overheat.
  
  
• Slug Rifle
  The Slug is One of the most popular primary weapon choices on both the Reaper and Sharpshooter. The ease of use and high effective range of the Slug makes it very popular, and is capable of doling out easy, consistent damage. Very simple, but very effective.
  
  
• SA Hawkins
  The SA Hawkins is an automatic weapon that fires more slowly than other automatics, but packs more punch per hit. At present, the SA Hawkins is struggling under the weight of being sidelined on both the Brawler and the Sharpshooter in favor of the other options available. However, once this weapon is given the time to use and understand, many pilots have found that they like using the Hawkins.
  
  
• Seeker
  The Seeker, you guessed it, fires rockets that seek out opponents. The Seeker is a weapon exclusive to use on the Rocketeer. The Seeker rockets do pretty solid damage per hit, however, the Seeker rockets themselves travel pretty slowly, making them pretty hard to connect with beyond anything past close-mid range.
  
  
• Hawkins-RPR
  The lighter, fitter relative of the SA Hawkins, the Ripper acts quite similarly to the SA, but it fires more quickly, at the expense of range and damage. The Ripper has enjoyed quite a bit more popularity than the SA, and many players use it on the Technician, if they are seeking a means of direct damage. It is also an effective option on the Reaper, if you are looking for a closer range option on your Reaper.
  
  
• AM-SAR
  The AM-SAR is unique in that it is not an automatic weapon - you cannot hold down left mouse and constantly shoot, you need to click every time you want to fire, unlike most weapons. At a maximum fire rate just above 3 shots per second, that's a lot of clicking if you want to hit max potential DPS. Each shot does 30 damage, which means a potential of 90 damage per second if you can consistently click quickly enough.
  
  
• Flak Cannon
  The Flak Cannon is the quintessential shotgun you know and love from all the other FPS' you are used to playing. It does great damage at close range, but beyond that range where all of its pellets hit, the damage drops off sharply. However, the damage fall off happens more slowly with greater range than you may expect, the point at which the Flak hits its minimum damage is a deceptively long way off. At present, only the Scout and the Brawler can be equipped with the Flak, and the Flak can be extremely powerful in the right hands.
  
  
• Mini Flak Cannon
  The name says it all! The Mini Flak is a lighter, faster version of the Flak Cannon. However, that simple description may be deceiving. The mini flak fires quite quickly with pretty high damage, making it the primary weapon with the highest DPS in the game. However, damage drop off starts just a bit sooner than it does on the Flak Cannon, but it hits the minimum damage faster than the Flak does.
  
  
• Redox-O2
  The first weapon in Hawken which inflicts a debuff upon opponents when hit, the Redox offers some interesting, and powerful team options in game play. However, the Redox fires projectiles that are somewhat inaccurate, so you may have trouble hitting past close or medium range. Each hit applies a 5% armor debuff on an opponent that stacks up to 3 times to reach a 15% debuff, and each hit deals 25 damage as well. A debuffed enemy is marked by purple lightning arcing across the mechs’ frame, and the user piloting the mech can see the same lightning arcing across their view when affected. Though many users find this weapon weak, research indicated that a Tech will deal more damage in less time to an opponent if they are using the Redox than if they used the Hawkins-RPR, under ideal circumstances.
  
  
• Reflak-35
  The Reflak-35 is a Mini Flak variant exclusive to the Raider that fires a little less quickly, but does a little more damage, resulting in just a bit less overall DPS. However, what makes the Reflak unique is the fact that it’s projectiles can bounce off the terrain and into opponents. They only bounce once, but it is still a great way to do damage to opponents hiding just around a corner, in the AA, or down a hallway. Pretty simple weapon, just remember that like all shotgun style guns, you have to keep relatively close to get the most out of it. It’s maximum effective range is almost exactly the same as that of the MIRV function on the Corsair, so using the two in conjunction to keep opponents at the perfect distance may be an interesting and worthwhile tactic.
  
  
• T-32 Bolt
  The Bolt is one of the more interesting weapons in the game, even if it may not look it at first glance. The Bolt is very similar to the Flak Cannon, with a major difference, which lies in the fact that the Bolt can be charged up to change its firepower. You can fire the Bolt uncharged for 72 damage per hit, at a quick rate, resulting in a DPS that is just barely lower than the Reflak. However, you can also charge the Bolt to 3 different levels, and if fully charged, does 120 damage on hit. With each stage of the charging process (visible while charging) the gun adds two pellets to the shot. Uncharged, the Bolt fires 9 pellets that do approximately 8 damage. This allows you to pick how long you want to charge for a given amount of damage, giving you a lot of control over how much damage you do in burst vs damage done per second, once you have the practice.
  
  
• Breacher
  The Breacher is something like a cross between the Flak Cannon and the Slug Rifle. Uncharged, the Breacher fires a flak shot that does very good damage, but has somewhat worse range than a regular flak cannon. Fully charged, the 'nails' tighten up into a full spike, and fire with great accuracy at long range, dealing slightly less damage. This charged shot is also able to pierce mechs and hit anything behind them, as well as pierce shields, hence the name of the gun. The fire rate is such that the overall DPS is fairly low, and getting solid hits off can be difficult at times, though with a bit of practice you'll get used to it in no time. Don't fall into the temptation to sit back and fire the Breacher's rails at long range - the damage fall off is quite noticeable before long, and you won't be doing very much damage. Catch your opponents off guard closer up, and you'll deal great damage.
  

• Weapons Loader
  This Tuning option increases the rate of fire for both weapons by 1% per point. This will probably be more useful for mechs with weapons that fire more slowly, such as the beefier Flak Cannon variants and for the secondary weapons. This Tuning option works slightly differently for the Technician, which instead can modify the rate of reconstruction (healing) and deconstruction (vampire beam) for the Helix Repair Torch.
  
  
• Heatsinks
  Each point into the Heatsinks Tuning System will decrease the heat generation of the weapons by 1% per point. Very helpful for anyone who has trouble with overheating more often than they like, and may be particularly useful for Technicians so they may heal their teammates longer before overheating.
  
  
• Armor
  Each point into this system increases your mechs' health by 10. These points will give the best cost/benefit per point for the A class mechs (especially for the ones that start with especially low health)
  

• Air Dynamics
  To all those who simply can't break the habit of flying up into the air in encounters with enemies - rejoice! This Tuning System (especially in conjunction with the Air Compressor, and possible Air 180 internals) will make that strategy much more viable as with points into this System, you can be much more nimble in the air. Though still be cautious, as flying into the air does raise you above cover and make you a very obvious target, even if you are somewhat more difficult to get a bead on now, and flying will still very quickly drain your fuel tanks, so consider investing in the Fuel Tank and Generator options if they are also available.
  
  
• Boost Thrusters
  Very useful for those who want to get in close to their opponents to attack, or if they want to be more able to escape from confrontations that have gone south. Overall, this should be a very useful ability on all the mechs it is available on, at least for certain styles of play.
  
  
• Cooling System
  If you find yourself overheating more than you would like, and dying because you just couldn't recover in time, these are the Tuning options for you. Good for those who go all out in fights against multiple opponents, and want to get back into the fray faster than you would otherwise.
  
  
• Fuel Tank
  A lot of players tend to forget that a C class can boost just about as far as an A class can, albeit slower, just because a C class has much greater fuel capacity. Though putting points into this won't make as great a difference for C classes as it does for A classes, the increase in the size of your fuel tank will let you get much farther around the map when boosting, when flying, or when dodging around your opponents in an encounter.
  
  
• Fuel Generator
  This Tuning System will be helpful for those who want to boost into the fray more quickly, while still generating fuel back at a pace such that they can proceed to dodge and boost around their opponents without getting stuck moving slowly because their fuel ran out. Alternatively, this will be useful to mechs that increase their Air Dynamics, and want to be able to spend more time in the air (though you'll still have to land to start the fuel regeneration).
  
  
• Hydraulics
  A very common strategy is to walk, rather than to boost when moving around the map in order to conserve fuel so you are more prepared when you find yourself in a confrontation, and it also allows you to stay off the radar so your opponents don't see you before you see them. For the slower mechs in particular, putting points in here will make moving around as such much less of a slog, and it'll also be helpful in fights for whenever you are not boosting or dodging, or even if you find yourself out of fuel.
  
  
• Radar
  With points into this Tuning System, you will be able to see blips on your radar that correspond to further targets, allowing you to see enemies approaching your position sooner, as well as be more able to pinpoint where fights are occurring. Pretty simple!
  
  
• Suspensions
  More experienced players find themselves dodging in fights all the time so their opponents can't keep a bead on them, and keep control of the fight as a result. If you're a player that likes to keep on the move and stay dodging in fights, (As you should be! Never stand still in a fight.) then this will be an important System to be putting points into. Overall, if you max out this stat, you will get a total of approximately 1/4 of a second off your dodge cooldown. Depending on how often you tend to dodge, this might not make the difference for you, or you might be looking for every bit of dodge time you can get. Choice is down to your preferences and abilities.
  

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