First Strike - MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries Guide - IGN (2024)

This is a walkthrough for First Strike, a campaign story mission of MechWarrior 5. For other missions, please see the Walkthrough page on the IGN wiki.

First Strike is the fourth campaign story mission of Act 2 and eighth overall. Despite showing the same difficulty rating as the the previous story mission, it features a sharp practical difficulty spike due to the specific defense you will be facing. While it's likely the first seven missions were not terribly difficult and could be run through one after another, First Strike will be your first serious test as a MechWarrior and requires you to plan accordingly. Not only do you need to form a lance that hits hard, but it needs to be able to take a lot of abuse as well. Consider making a manual save before accepting the contract just in case you need to roll back and change your strategy.

With the tonnage limit increased to 250 for this mission, it's advised to grind enough side contracts to get three heavy mechs that have missile options and long-range options. If you're skilled at heat management, a good choice of mech is the Grasshopper, often available from industrial hubs in the House Marik (purple) territory, which weighs 70 tons each. Boasting five lasers (including a large laser slot) and two missile options, it can do the job. You'll want to maximize your armor for all three heavy mechs, even if that means stripping away a weapon or two. The fourth mech will be restricted to medium size and needs a good range of short- and mid-range options, such as Firestarter armed half with flamers and half with M Lasers. If possible, maximize the armor for that one as well. A PPC may be a good alternative to an L Laser for you, but let the AI have conventional lasers otherwise.

Beyond the mechs, you'll want to look for good pilots and get their skill points up. While bigger numbers are always better, don't settle for going into this mission with any pilot at less than 4 points in every relevant category. Again, grind side missions if you need to while giving your weaker pilots some experience. You'll need all the help you can get with this one. Please see the How to Manage Pilot Skills page on the wiki for more information. You'll also take serious damage regardless of your setup, so consider maximizing your damage insurance when negotiating the contract.

Note that unlike some of the walkthrough pages of this wiki, this one requires some use of cardinal directions. By default, your minimap will rotate with your view. North will have a white mark on it regardless which way the minimap is rotated.

As soon as the mission starts, accelerate out of your DropShip at maximum speed and turn north (90 degrees left). Don't worry if you leave the lance behind; they'll catch up. A small settlement will be under attack from a large wave of airborne units, and even at 64 kmph it may be down to 55% health by the time you get there. Use all your weapons to shred the VTOL bombers first, then the helicopters.

Once it seems clear, order your lance to stay in the center of the settlement or the north end by pointing where you want them, then pressing F1 followed by F3. Once they're on their way, you need to turn around and head to the south end while looking west. Three tanks will spawn in and roll toward the south end of the settlement, but if you move quickly enough you can cut them off before they get within attacking range. They're light tanks, so don't waste your missiles unless you brought several hundred rounds.

Once the three light tanks are destroyed, another wave of aircraft will spawn in on the north side. Your lance will likely be firing on it as you return to them. Again, focus fire on the VTOL bombers first, then the helicopters. Once the enemy air force is destroyed, three more light tanks will spawn in from the north side. Destroy them however you wish.

After the tanks are destroyed, the settlement leader will radio his thanks, and the health bar for the settlement will disappear. Further damage to the settlement will not count, so any accidental collateral damage after that won't be held against you. Form the lance on you by pressing F1 followed by F2, then face east.

From the settlement, head east slowly. Don't walk more than 40 kmph. Two heavy tanks will spawn in and roll at you from the valley. Quickly take them out, then throw on your brakes. Three VTOL bombers will spawn in the complex beyond you, and if you keep running forward, they will all focus fire on you. Even heavy mechs will take solid damage and you've got a long way to go. You may even want to consider ordering the lance to move forward in front of you to the next clearing. Doing so will usually split the VTOL bombers' attention and not put a single lance member at risk. Either way, destroy the VTOLs as quickly as possible.

As soon as the VTOLs are destroyed, two tanks and a mech will spawn in the distance. The mech has a PCC and tends to target you no matter where you are. As soon as it spawns and you can target it, do so and double-tap F1 to order the lance to attack it. While they're doing so, a few helicopters will spawn in from further east and fly toward you. Let the lance deal with the mech while you run support and take down the helicopters.

With the helicopters and mech down, you'll have a breather. Reform the lance on you, then look east toward the top of the hill. A large wall will before you with a gap you can easily walkthrough. However, don't charge directly through it because two laser turrets are positioned just inside the gap, and they'll take free shots at you if you move too quickly. Instead, blow the walls apart from halfway up the hill to expose the turrets and take them out before they have a chance to fire.

With the turrets gone and the walls crumbled, you'll be able to walk into the complex without an ambush in your face.

After entering the complex, turn south. VTOL bombers and tanks will spawn in from the south. They spawn far enough away that you should be able to reach them with L Lasers before they are close enough to fire. You could use lance orders here to help focus fire, but it may do more harm than good. You do not want the lance, or especially just a single member of it, to charge too far south. Most of the tanks are medium sized with heavier lasers than the light tanks, and there are some medium-strength turrets as well.

Make your way through the complex until you exit out the south gap in the wall. A small complex just south of that is the first of three fuel depots you need to destroy. Your lance tends to be enthusiastic here and may destroy the depot before you have a chance to even see it, which is fine. Destroy it either way, then continue down the path.

The path will open up into a large city. Some fuel depots are here, and it will be defended by a half-dozen turrets and some tanks. A few helicopters will arrive too, but you've seen the last of the VTOL bombers. No special strategies are needed here beyond advancing slowly. Limit yourself to 40 kmph so you don't overrun targets or stray too far into an area defended by turrets. Let the lance operate on its own, and your AI teammates will likely destroy the fuel depots without your intervention.

Continue to support them by using your L Laser or other long-range options to destroy any turrets you see. Remember that you have to be within about 300 meters before they can reach you, so you should be able to destroy them without putting yourself at risk.

Hopefully by the time you destroy all of Site Bravo's fuel dumps, all of your mechs are still in the green. If you advanced slowly enough, your own lance's armor should be no worse than orange in any specific part. A DropShip will arrive on the north side of down and release a four-mech lance comprised of a couple light mechs and a couple medium ones. They won't have any attacks you haven't seen before, but one medium mech in particular will have a PCC. Consider focus-firing on that one first before dealing with the others.

If you cleared away the turrets during the initial siege into the city, you shouldn't have to deal with any resistance aside from the four mechs. If you lead the charge however and get yourself trapped between buildings, the enemy will take some serious shots at you, and you need to conserve as much armor as you can during this fight. If you can maneuver well, weave between the buildings to make sure you have some cover and don't have to face more than one or two mechs at a time. Your lance tends not to maneuver themselves, but that means the enemy lance will try to flank them, allowing you to out-maneuver them and attack them from the rear. Either way, try to destroy the medium mechs first due to how hard they hit.

Hopefully after the first lance is dealt with, all your mechs are at least at 70% health and you haven't lost anyone. Continue around the south and west sides of the city to find more fuel depots. Once they're all destroyed, hurry to the south side of the city and take the lance with you.

Another DropShip will arrive with a second Inferno lance, and this one is the main threat. Luckily, you won't have any distractions at this point: no other enemies will spawn and all the city's turrets should be destroyed. The enemy lance is still no joke though, and its biggest threat is a heavy mech that has nearly a dozen weapons including two PPCs. Its indicator will be an arrow with two pips. The moment you see it, order the lance to focus fire on it and hit it with everything you've got. If you're accurate, aim for the arms first to shred its weapons.

Even if the other three members of the enemy lance harass you, try to ignore them while you hit their heavy mech. The worst thing you can do is to be drawn away to chase one of the smaller mechs. You should still use the buildings as cover and maneuver if possible so you're not taking damage from multiple directions, but shredding the arms of their heavy mech should still be your first priority. Especially once their heavy loses its missiles and PPCs, you'll be in much better shape. Finish it off as quickly as possible.

With the largest threat destroyed, if you still have all four members of your lance, you should be in good shape even if some or all of them are crippled. As with the first lance, try to target the remaining mechs from largest to smallest. If a small mech harasses you after their heavy is gone, chasing it should be relatively safe as long as you're accurate with your shots and your armor holds up. Once all four mechs are destroyed, Ryana will radio her congratulations and automatically extract you from the field.

The next mission of the campaign is Distress Call. For other missions, please see the Walkthrough page of the wiki.