Weighing in at almost twice the inner sphere model, the Phoenix Hawk IIC is the biggest change the clans made when producing IIC versions of some original mechs. Fast for its weight, it generally occupies a point between a brawler and a skirmisher – it’s much more durable than the original with better damage output but is a little slower and never fills the role of light mech hunter that the original did. It does trend slightly towards ballistic and missile loadouts, which helps mitigate potential high BV from the movement speed.

Phoenix Hawk IIC. Credit: Rockfish

Chassis

The Phoenix Hawk IIC is an 80 ton assault mech that usually moves 5/8/5. It’s not an omni, so movement profile and armor amount does vary some, but most variants are at least 80% covered. It’s also relatively uncommon for it to carry weapons in the arms, though they are unfortunately still only 8 damage punches and won’t go internal on an undamaged head. The prevalence of torso weapons can be a slight issue on short ranged variants, as they do leave you with no response to something behind you, but that’s why you have other mechs in your force. The 5/8/5 or better movement is great for a mech of this weight, meaning that almost any variant poses some degree of threat just from existing – it can effectively contest objectives or get into kicking position if it’s not dealt with.

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).

Standard

The basic variant here is pretty simple – two machine guns, two ultra AC/10s. It’s got a little more ammo than I’d like, with 15 turns of fire at full rate. Ultra 10s are some of my favorite guns, as they’re not very expensive and put out good damage. At 2,057 BV this isn’t very expensive either, so you’re not putting a ton of resources into a solid distraction – it’s not going to be the flashiest mech in your force, but ignoring it is punishing and it takes quite a bit of fire to put down.

Jack’s rating: B

Jade Falcon Phoenix Hawk IIC. Credit: Jack Hunter

2

We’ve shot up 800 BV to 2,892 by swapping all the weapons out for four LRM 20 racks. It’s an OK fire support mech, but doesn’t actually have enough heat sinking to be effective – having to sacrifice a full quarter of your firepower to not go up 4+ movement heat isn’t a recipe for a good time. The Night Gyr D does effectively the same thing much better – you really don’t need the full 5/8/5 movement on a fire support mech.

Jack’s rating: C

3

Our first heavy laser variant rolls in with a pair of heavy large lasers, a medium pulse laser, two small pulses, a targeting computer, and enough heat sinks to only build movement heat. This is a good set of guns, as it’s got the mobility to get into large laser range and the targeting computer balances out the hit penalty. At 2,448 BV it’s a little overpriced (targeting computers tend to do that) but not so much that I’d be concerned about running it.

Jack’s rating: B-

4

Like the 2, this is another variant carrying lots of missiles, and again is running at 4+ movement heat. This time, however, it’s running four ATM 9s, giving it potentially 108 damage, and 5/8/5 is enough mobility to get there. For 2,483 BV this is terrific damage, and it’s got enough armor to survive a turn of slowing down (or jumping away) after unloading. It does unfortunately have a ton of ammo in the center torso, which seems like needless risk – it’s not an omni, so fixed crits didn’t force it there, the designer just wanted it to be symmetrical.

Jack’s rating: B+

5

This is fairly similar to the standard variant, this time using HAC/20s and AP gauss rifles instead. While I know some people don’t love HAGs as they are a little less BV efficient at delivering 5 point damage clusters than clan LRMs, I like them here – 5/8/5 gives you good ability to control range, and 8 short plays really well into LRMs, ER PPCs, and gauss riles. It’s a little vulnerable to pilot death with the AP gauss, but it’s still well armored to the point that I’m not concerned they’re going to cause it to die too early. 2,350 BV is high enough to keep this out of mechs I regularly reach for, but not so high that it’s a detriment to your force.

Jack’s rating: B

6

Our first variant with a change to the move profile, improved jump jets bump this up to 5/8/8. Weapon load is much lighter, with a pair of plasma cannons, pair of heavy medium lasers, and a targeting computer. While the concept of jumping around forcing people to overheat is funny, it massively overheats trying to fire all the weapons, and both heavy mediums need to hit to cause a PSR. This just isn’t a good use of 2,490 BV.

Jack’s rating: D

Phoenix Hawk IIC, Wolf's Dragoons, Alpha Regiment

7

Another variant with a change to the movement profile, this time we’re slowing down to 4/6/6 (again using improved jump jets for the increased jump distance). Weapon load here is a pair of LB 10-X Acs, pair of ER medium lasers, and pair of streak SRM 4s. We’re also up to 94% armor load on this, making it easily my favorite variant. It’s got good armor, good mobility, good heat management (only building movement heat, and the IJJs mean that even a full jump and alpha is max +3 – and even then, that requires both streaks to hit), and has the LBXs for swapping between chewing through armor and crit seeking. It’s only 2,219 BV, and works out as one of the more effective trooper mechs around. With the playtest mission pack having the hands is great – there’s a decent chance you’ll want some to let you move mobile objectives around.

Jack’s rating: A+

8

An XXL engine gets used here to allow a 5/8/7 movement profile while still packing a pair of ER PPCs and brace of four small pulses. At a run, the PPCs push you to +4 heat, which isn’t awful in isolation, but it does mean you can only fire one of them every other turn, a pretty awful use of BV. 5/8/7 is pushing the cost of those PPCs way up, and spending 2,881 BV for one-and-a-half ER PPCs is simply not worth it.

Jack’s rating: D-

9

Couple half a standard to half a 2 and you get a 9 – two LRM 20s, an ultra 10, and pair of machine guns. BV is also almost dead on in between the two at 2,469. I’d describe this as aggressively fine. It doesn’t have the heat problems of the 2, and has more damage than the standard, which is a decent place to be. I’m probably never seeking this out to include as it’s not doing anything interesting, and it also doesn’t have the raw power that can excuse being boring, but I’m also unlikely to complain about having it. It’s biggest problem is that it’s neither delivering multiple heavy hits to break armor or doing lots of small hits to critseek – it’s a mix of one or two 10 damage hits and some 5 damage hits.

Jack’s rating: B

Phoenix Hawk IIC 10. Credit: porble

10

Surprisingly appearing on the pirate availability list, the 10 throws a hatchet into the right arm and backs it up with six ER medium lasers and a pair of ER larges. It’s got enough heat sinking to fire all six mediums every turn, or both larges with a single medium, which is okay, but it’s a little light on the ranged damage for something costing 2,762 BV. The hatchet is a nice threat, and it has the mobility and close ranged weapons to make reasonable use of it, but lacking TSM it’s not something that’s significantly better than just kicking.

Jack’s rating: C+

Final Thoughts

The Phoenix Hawk IIC, as a base chassis, is solid. It’s not committing any sins, and also isn’t doing anything particularly special, which gives us a really wide range of effectiveness depending on the variant – the base stats aren’t going to sink a good weapon load, nor do they prop up a bad one. Most variants are at least OK to use, and won’t let you down, but they’re rarely flashy enough to be the highlight of a list – the 4 is the only one I’d consider in that position just because of how much damage ATMs do. The 7 falls into the not-flashy category, but does everything so well that it’s an easy inclusion in most lists – support it with something that hits hard to crack armor open for its crit-seekers and it’ll deliver.

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