Mechabellum Mustang Guide
All units Mustang
Mustang
Used against
Fang
Phoenix
Wasp
Crawler
Countered by
Arclight
Sledgehammer
Stormcaller
Vulcan
Fortress
Rhino
Fire Badger
Typhoon
Tarantula
How to play Mustang
Mustangs are a solid all-around unit that can be teched to fit many different purposes. You can certainly use them as your army's main damage dealer. Early on they are excellent against fangs and ok against crawlers and provide protection against early air. Later on when they get levels and are equipped with a damage item, they kill everything. Their high speed allows you to deploy them to cover your flanks even when you are pushing with other units. When approaching late game, be careful not to build too many of them, as they require support when enemy starts building their counters. Once you have 3-4 packs of them, it's best to keep investing into supporting units.
Mustangs biggest enemies are armor technologies, big units and shields. Pair them with hackers, fortresses, steel balls or rhinos.
Mechabellum Mustang counter
There's lots of ways to counter the mustangs. In the early game it's usually convenient to build Arclights or Sledgehammers since they will do a double role of clearing chaff also. Stormcallers are also very good if the enemy has paired the mustangs with fangs or other slow units.
In the mid and late game you should look to pin down the enemy Mustangs with Armor technologies or giant units. I usually go Armored Sledges or Fortresses with barrier to lock them down. After they have already targeted your bigger units, your smaller units (what the mustangs where deployed to counter) like wasps or crawlers can do some work without dying.
If you are approaching late game and the enemy has leveled and itemized their mustangs, consider something like a Vulcan with incendiary bomb and melting point + EMP to clear the shields for the fire to land.
Mustang Builds
Listed below are all some highlighted Mustang builds.
Surrey's Mustang build
Mustangs were very very strong in previous patches, but have become a little bit of a liability for me lately. I really don't want to use them since if I choose to counter for example enemy wasps or fangs with them, they are really critical for the success of the round. Then they get pinned down with armor techs and can't fulfill their role and I lose the game. Range is usually my only technology on them. High-Explosive Ammo is used against crawlers, Aerial spec if the enemy is going multiple Overlords or Mass Wasps and Missile intercept if I don't have levels on my mustangs to counter Storm fire.
Mustang Technologies
Listed below are all available technologies for Mustang, their viability and how to use them.
High Explosive Ammo
Increases splash damage range by 7m, but reduces ATK by 40%
200
Does a lot against fangs, crawler and wasps. You should consider teching this if you see enemy leaning into crawler. Against fangs and wasp, range is better first. If you already have a bunch of mustangs, teching HE for them is a good answer vs crawlers but If you are not in Mustangs already, countering crawlers with another unit type (like wraith) is better.
Armor-Piercing Bullets
Increases ATK by 50%
300
Late game technology for the high level carry Mustangs. Great vs barrier shields, Sledgehammers, Overlord, Armor upgraded units etc. Always buy range before this tech. Keep in mind buffs are additive. So if you f.e. have a high level mustangs with Advanced Firepower Control System (+200% dmg), investing into this technology will bump it up to +250% so it's bad value with other buffs in play.
Aerial Specialization
ATK increases by 90% to aerial units, increases range by 30 when attacking aerial units
300
A must have tech for the inevitable air battles. Don't upgrade this too early though, as mustangs without any upgrades are pretty good a handling wasps and phoenixes early on. The main benefit of this technology is the range. With enough range, your mustangs will stay far back from Vulcans, fires, etc. and keep bringing down enemy air units. Use this when the enemy has 3+ Overlords/Wasps or has already invested in a tech on their Air units.
Missile Intercept
Mustang will attempt to intercept enemy missiles within 150m (battlefield skills cannot be intercepted) and continuous interception over a long time decreases the success rate of interceptions
200
Very powerful tech. It's a way to fight the Stormcallers. Keep in mind that mustangs will use all their shots to the missiles, rendering your other (already bought, expensive) technologies useless. And lev 3 mustangs shoots down as many missiles as a lev 1 mustang (so there's no need to upgrade your mustangs). You need roughly 1 mustang group for 1 Stormcaller group to intercept the missiles. One mustang pack is about enough to interrupt one Stormcaller pack. Very niche technology. If you press this at the wrong time you might lose the game since your mustangs will fire at the missiles instead of enemy units.
Range Enhancement
Increases attack range by 40m
300
This is what makes mustangs tick. Early on good especially vs Fangs. But also vs everything else. On later rounds when your mustangs are being countered by incendiary fire. The range makes them stay way back and possibly avoid standing in the fire. You need this technology almost always. The mustangs will level faster if they don't die and this prevents them from dying.
