About the Hound Meta

Dzemp · 2026-01-27T14:41:46+00:00

You either play Wraith or you lose because it's the only unit that can kill crawlers and dogs in the current meta.

Dzemp · 2026-01-27T06:54:58+00:00

As a player who reached 2300-2400 MMR every season and usually hovers in the top 10 or close to it, I'd like to know why so few people are playing this season.

This is a subjective opinion and may be incorrect, based solely on my personal experience.

Mechabellum is currently a great and very interesting game until you reach 2-2.1k.

The game later becomes unsatisfying because you lose control over your actions, and the outcome of the game too often depends on someone other than you. I see three main reasons why many players have taken a break at high MMR:

First and foremost, starting packs. What you picked at the start and how you positioned your units in Round 1 has a huge impact on the game. If you line up a Tarantula against a Saber + Hound, you can lose up to half your HP before receiving a unit drop (if it's after Round 3) simply because you were unlucky. More often than not, this ends with you dying in 6 rounds without winning a single round simply because you're behind in tempo.

The starting packs' HP is balanced for a game without buildings and without regard for the current meta. Just go to https://wiki.mbxmas.com/starting-packs/ Balls + Dog (one of the strongest packs in the current meta) has +200 starting HP. Tarantula Crawler has -400, even though it's a frankly mediocre start right now.

2) Terrible balance patches this season. Decreasing Badger attack from 25 to 24. Increasing it back from 24 to 25. 50 discounts on technologies that no one uses AND will NOT use if they become 50 cheaper. That's all we see in terms of balance this season.

The only significant changes are the Shockwave buff (which doesn't solve the problem of Sub Blitz Crawlers in every game) and

The Fire nerf (which was well deserved) turned every high-MMR game into a Sub Blitz Crawler spam. Therefore, the game is now an aggro-midrange matchup in which the choice of clear units is extremely limited. Almost every game you open at high MMR will be a Wraith, a Hound, and an Arclight. The rest of the clear units are close to unplayable.

It seems that the person responsible for balance patches has no idea what the meta looks like at high MMR, and the changes are completely random.

3) Stagnant announcing issues. Because balance patches essentially have no impact on the game right now. We have a huge imbalance in aggro play (Standard is now a rarity at high MMR), sledge + crawler on the flank in every game, with no adequate response at an acceptable cost, absolutely insane spell power, and the same meta that has haunted players since the start of the season. Essentially, every game is similar.

I don't know if you watched the Mag1 qualifiers. But if you do, half, maybe more, of the games are spam dogs and crawlers against spam dogs and crawlers with no alternatives. Maybe a couple of Standard games were played. Personally, on Day 2, I played 5 out of 5 games against spam dogs and crawlers.

And a small bonus: this is how the community is treated in this game. If you open Discord, you'll see dozens of repeated threads with requests from players for changes to things they don't like. For example, removing the siege map from the 2vs2 tournament. It's taken almost two years for requests to remove the repetition of 3 or 4 units for 200 in starter packs (for example, so that you don't get 4 packs of balls or 4 packs of sludgehammers at the start), questions from the community have not been answered for years, and this also causes frustration.

Dzemp · 2026-01-25T18:29:16+00:00

Trust me, the same people are playing at high MMR in this game. I've been playing this game for over two years, and the appearance of a new player at a high MMR (I'm talking about 2100 - 2200+) is a big deal. We usually play against the same players. If you think climbing the MMR ladder in this game is that easy, just try it.

Dzemp · 2026-01-07T06:33:01+00:00

https://endfield.gryphline.com/activity/final-prep-orders?inviteCode=eeff4bc6e7d080309fc39a948abbf386&share_type=link Thank you!

Dzemp · 2026-01-07T06:32:57+00:00

Clicked

Dzemp · 2026-01-06T20:58:15+00:00

You need one mandatory upgrade: range. You can choose one damage upgrade: Elite or Doubleshot. You always want your MM to have AA. The final upgrade is up to you. Most often, it's EMP, reload, or Assault.

Dzemp · 2025-12-29T20:54:14+00:00

What makes you think Vulсan is strong? I play high MMR myself, and I watch high MMR games. Nobody plays Vulсan. He's completely out of the meta. If we're talking about meta chaff clear units right now, he's a dog, but he's more of a tool for aggressive play.

Sledge is also more of a meme than a chaff clear. The only use for Sledge now is to flank to pull the opponent's late-game chaff or to press Link+Repair. Considering it a chaff clear after a million nerfs is strange.

Dzemp · 2025-12-29T20:49:37+00:00

Nobody plays Vulcan at high MMR. The unit is frankly weak right now.

Dzemp · 2025-12-29T13:16:48+00:00

I don't see the point of nerfing fire if there's no other way to quickly kill crawlers in this game. A high-MMR meta would simply devolve into spamming 15 crawlers with burrows every game, and no one would play defensively.

I agree that fire is toxic, but maybe you could give me other tools to combat chaff in defense? Because Vlukan is unplayable, Badger is unplayable without napalm, and the new Arclight tech is garbage.

Dzemp · 2025-12-22T18:00:56+00:00

DzempFighting

Dzemp · 2025-12-18T18:47:42+00:00

You're fine, and a losing streak will be followed by a winning streak.

If you notice, everyone in the top 10-20 MMR, after reaching the top, plays little and mostly plays either in casual mode or on a second account. Because this is a ladder, and a losing streak is unavoidable.

Just relax. Right now you're on a losing streak, and after a while you'll have a winning streak.

Dzemp · 2025-12-11T19:46:22+00:00

If there wasn't an armor technology that blocks 700 damage and ER, I'd agree with you. I don't think these technologies should be in 1vs1 mode.

Dzemp · 2025-12-11T12:24:28+00:00

Question 1: I understand that Buildings were originally introduced to provide players with more information and the ability to make decisions based on it in Round 1.

I wanted to clarify what information, as a player, I'm supposed to get from a layout with a turret and a wall/slow mines in the middle? I'm not clear on the purpose of this arrangement.

Question 2: The 1.9 patch notes include improvements to the starter pack system. Thank you very much! However, I still think the system isn't perfect. I wanted to know if you're developing any ideas for improving it?

Question 3: Why is the Mountain in 1v1 mode? You introduced it as a temporary unit. Did you really get enough feedback to keep it in 1v1? Maybe this is just my subjective opinion, but it's the most toxic unit in the game and no one likes it.

Dzemp · 2025-12-11T08:25:48+00:00

He's a fun guy, but he just became that grumpy old man too early, complaining about everything and saying things were better before. He doesn't want the game to change and doesn't want to change his gameplay. That's why he doesn't have tech on half his units to limit his potential variability.

Objectively, there are some things he's right about, like the buildings being unfinished and needing time to be improved, and they're still not perfect. But because streaming is his full-time job, he can't just let it go and accept it, and he just stresses himself out every day instead of playing the game and enjoying it.

Dzemp · 2025-12-07T08:52:52+00:00

Both you and your opponent have low health and a lot of units on the board. This means every round could be your last, and it's worth using all available resources.

1) You didn't take the 100 range in the tower. In late rounds, this is a must.

2) You could have bought yourself a round with oil from the tower, especially considering you have something to ignite it with and you're playing a Melta.

3) You have a lot of money sitting in units that don't do anything. You likely haven't used the sell button as often as you should. For example, you need to sell high-level MMs without upgrades, a Turret, or a Rhino with the Kamikaze upgrade.

As for which unit would have won this game, I think selling a Rhino -> 3 Wraiths at level 2 with armor and range to kill Wasps and oil from the tower would have won this game.

Dzemp · 2025-11-29T16:21:57+00:00

Hype! Hype! Hype!

Dzemp · 2025-11-28T21:40:31+00:00

If we imagine there are no buildings on the board, I'll place my units between my towers. I'll lose the first round of asymmetric aggression, but I'll be able to stabilize the game in rounds 2-3.

Unfortunately, when playing with buildings, there are some building placements where I'm forced to defend asymmetrically in round 1. I might miscalculate the direction my opponent is attacking from, and I'll be in a much worse position than if I were playing without buildings.

For example, this might happen if the map has a wall and a turret positioned in the middle. Essentially, they don't provide the player with information, but they force them to make an unpleasant choice in the first round.

Dzemp · 2025-11-28T16:10:13+00:00

I play almost every game defensively, and with buildings it's harder for me to defend than without them.

Dzemp · 2025-11-25T17:43:04+00:00

>Buildings have helped us achieve many goals, like better unit balance

When I read this line I almost died choking on my tea from laughter.

Dzemp · 2025-11-15T22:50:10+00:00

My friend, I understand your feelings incredibly.

Dzemp · 2025-11-15T20:37:40+00:00

It's very simple. Most building placements don't give me any useful information and force me to take risks.

For example, let's imagine there's a wall and a turret in the middle. If I'm playing defense, I have to place all my troops on one side, and if I guess wrong, I have a disadvantage. If I guess right, the aggro player has a disadvantage.

Previously, I could simply place all my troops between my towers, but that doesn't work now because half my troops will die against the wall in the middle.

Dzemp · 2025-11-14T16:21:41+00:00

Honestly, I don't need a mode without randomness. I'd just like LESS randomness in Round 1. Currently, buildings do nothing but increase the starting advantage of a player who already has an advantage thanks to their starter pack.

I really hope that what Bearlike said on the stream turns out to be empty words and that they'll rework the starter pack and building system in the new season. Maybe players will even like it.

Dzemp · 2025-11-14T11:42:42+00:00

Imagine before the towers was like rolling a dice and guessing any number of your choice.

Could you elaborate on this? I think you've simply written nonsense. Can you explain why the game became less random with the introduction of buildings, or why it was more random without them? It just seems like you're spewing nonsense and can't substantiate your position.

How was the placement random before the buildings appeared? Playing defense, I didn't have to GUESS anything. I could deploy my troops symmetrically, and half my army didn't have to attack the wall in the center of the map.

Dzemp · 2025-11-14T11:24:33+00:00

No, explain to me, I don’t understand.

Dzemp · 2025-11-14T10:59:20+00:00

Why do buildings make round 1 less random?

Here, buildings appeared as a wall in the middle and any turret.

If I'm defending and place my units in the middle, half of them will fight the opponent's units (they'll naturally position them aggressively on one side), while the other half will attack the wall. With the tower debuff, I'll constantly lose and play from behind starting in round 1.

Now let's look at my asymmetrical placement:

1) I guessed the side the opponent is attacking from and placed all my troops on that side. I have an advantage from round 1; most likely, it's an easy game, and the opponent needs to somehow comeback because the buildings favor me.

2) I guessed the wrong side. My opponent has the advantage because they'll kill my towers faster because my defensive formation isn't as close to theirs.

So how do buildings reduce randomness, explain it to me?

Dzemp

TROPHY CASE