1.3 Ability Theorycrafting (post-stream)

[Rabid]

I haven't been following Battletech news much recently since shortly after the 1.3 test beta released, is there a guide anywhere explaining how all of the abilities have been reworked?

I can get a vague idea based on the discussion in this thread but it would be nice to have it all written down explicitly.

Edit:

I watched the VOD mentioned in the OP and just in case anyone else was wondering the grand total of the changes are:

1. No change to gunnery skills.

2. Evasive Move is now Sure Footed - works the same as before but also gives entrenched if you do a normal move

3. Bulwark changed to give +20% damage reduction when you already have a source of damage reduction. Also cover / guarded are now both 20% stackable modifiers so you can get up to 60% if you're guarded in cover with bulwark.

4. Juggernaut is now Coolant Vent: a 4 turn cooldown ability which gives -50 heat at the end of the turn during which it is used but an additional +8 heat over the subsequent 3 turns

5. Sensor Lock also gives -2 sensors disrupted modifier to the target (reduces accuracy, the same as given by PPCs)

Obviously pure theorycraft but based on this I still expect to use Bulwark on damn near every mechwarrior. I just don't rate the other tier 1 abilities very highly, sensor lock is slightly improved so I might use that more often, and having an ability which just straight up doubles the effectiveness of cover is a huge deal.

 

[ThatGuyMontag]

I haven't been following Battletech news much recently since shortly after the 1.3 test beta released, is there a guide anywhere explaining how all of the abilities have been reworked?

I can get a vague idea based on the discussion in this thread but it would be nice to have it all written down explicitly.

Haven't seen it anywhere. Current speculation is driven by what we see on the tooltips in the Career Mode preview video.

There are basically only 4 changes from 1.2:

Cover and Guarded have now been reworked. Cover and Guarded have both been dropped to 20% DR, but they now stack to provide 40% DR.

Sensor Lock now applies a stacking +2 difficulty debuff on target's shots.

Evasive Move has been replaced with Sure Footing: This applies +1 chevron when moving/sprinting/jumping, applies Entrenched when moving and the extra chevron is applied over and above current max evasion.

Bulwark no longer gives a flat 50% damage reduction. Instead it's a passive ability which enhances defensive states, increasing Cover to 40% DR, Guarded to 40% DR and increasing stacked Cover and Guarded to 60%. It now also applies regardless of whether you move on your turn or not.

 

[Rabid]

Haven't seen it anywhere. Current speculation is driven by what we see on the tooltips in the Career Mode preview video.

There are basically only 4 changes from 1.2:

Cover and Guarded have now been reworked. Cover and Guarded have both been dropped to 20% DR, but they now stack to provide 40% DR.

Sensor Lock now applies a stacking +2 difficulty debuff on target's shots.

Evasive Move has been replaced with Sure Footing: This applies +1 chevron when moving/sprinting/jumping, applies Entrenched when moving and the extra chevron is applied over and above current max evasion.

Bulwark no longer gives a flat 50% damage reduction. Instead it's a passive ability which enhances defensive states, increasing Cover to 40% DR, Guarded to 40% DR and increasing stacked Cover and Guarded to 60%. It now also applies regardless of whether you move on your turn or not.

Thanks, you sneaked in while I was editing my post, bad timing

 

[ThatGuyMontag]

I forgot the new Coolant Vent of course, so I guess I wasn't as thorough as I thought.

 

[ThatGuyMontag]

I haven't been following Battletech news much recently since shortly after the 1.3 test beta released, is there a guide anywhere explaining how all of the abilities have been reworked?

I can get a vague idea based on the discussion in this thread but it would be nice to have it all written down explicitly.

Edit:

I watched the VOD mentioned in the OP and just in case anyone else was wondering the grand total of the changes are:

1. No change to gunnery skills.

2. Evasive Move is now Sure Footed - works the same as before but also gives entrenched if you do a normal move

3. Bulwark changed to give +20% damage reduction when you already have a source of damage reduction. Also cover / guarded are now both 20% stackable modifiers so you can get up to 60% if you're guarded in cover with bulwark.

4. Juggernaut is now Coolant Vent: a 4 turn cooldown ability which gives -50 heat at the end of the turn during which it is used but an additional +8 heat over the subsequent 3 turns

5. Sensor Lock also gives -2 sensors disrupted modifier to the target (reduces accuracy, the same as given by PPCs)

Obviously pure theorycraft but based on this I still expect to use Bulwark on damn near every mechwarrior. I just don't rate the other tier 1 abilities very highly, sensor lock is slightly improved so I might use that more often, and having an ability which just straight up doubles the effectiveness of cover is a huge deal.

Agree on your thoughts about Bulwark here. I'll only add that Sure Footing does have a couple of niches: lunar/martian biome specialists will get more out of this skill. It also gives us some legitimately useful defences for brawlers by stripping stability damage when you move into melee.

 

[Rabid]

Agree on your thoughts about Bulwark here. I'll only add that Sure Footing does have a couple of niches: lunar/martian biome specialists will get more out of this skill. It also gives us some legitimately useful defences for brawlers by stripping stability damage when you move into melee.

On the stream it explicitly excluded activating when "charging into melee" which I assume is the movement portion of a melee attack.

 

[ThatGuyMontag]

On the stream it explicitly excluded activating when "charging into melee" which I assume is the movement portion of a melee attack.

I missed that. That seems to me like a clearly missed opportunity. It's a nice little niche that isn't generally as well served as I'd like it to be and helps differentiate it a little more from Bulwark.

 

[Doctor Machete]

I'm also not a fan of heavy LRM setups because I happen to be the sort of person who *does* math out my attacks for fun and LRMs are straightforwardly useless for that: don't make the mistake of assuming your play is how everyone else plays, I can guarantee you they don't.

I strongly disagree. I also like to do the math for fun, and I've found that LRMs (+2 dmg tubes), if your goal is to core the CT, they are the best weapon with regular shots, thanks to clustering. Clearly superior superior damage to other long range weapons (non aimed) and lower than short range brawlers but only by a little if you assume a same weight mech than the typical LRMB (for example both with 60.5 tons available). And still they can do more (dmg) sometimes (again, with regular attacks to the CT) when you take into account you can usually fire them from the beginning nonstop (assuming you have a scout) due to very long range and indirect fire. You have a bias towards the CT with all weapons (highest base chance) but with the LRMs, if you land the first missile at the LT (for example) a significant percentage of the missiles will still land at the CT (due to clustering from the side torsos). So the damage spread is actually lower than other weapons.

Also I've assumed going for the CT because it's the typical case for LRM boats but it does work too when flanking, even better, although usually LRM boats are not used for flanking. All weapons get much more efficient attacking from the side but LRM boats (+2 dmg tubes) begin with a lot more maximum damage and that translates into higher percentage of the very high maximum damage (for a long range weapon) landed on fewer hit locations.

Of course Precision Shot is pretty bad with them but as support weapons they are second to none when your general strategy revolves around spending morale to aim at the CT (and not the legs or the arm, for example) with brawlers or direct long range mechs, using LRM boats as raw damage support (and not focused on stab damage) for regular attacks from hard or soft cover most of the time, or for killing vehicles/turrets at very long range without LoS. Also the same applies for Vigilance. If you like to use it a lot then the biggest disadvantage for LRMs disappear.

 

[ThatGuyMontag]

I strongly disagree. I also like to do the math for fun, and I've found that LRMs (+2 dmg tubes), if your goal is to core the CT, they are the best weapon with regular shots, thanks to clustering. Clearly superior superior damage to other long range weapons (non aimed) and lower than short range brawlers but only by a little if you assume a same weight mech than the typical LRMB (for example both with 60.5 tons available). And still they can do more (dmg) sometimes (again, with regular attacks to the CT) when you take into account you can usually fire them from the beginning nonstop (assuming you have a scout) due to very long range and indirect fire. You have a bias towards the CT with all weapons (highest base chance) but with the LRMs, if you land the first missile at the LT (for example) a significant percentage of the missiles will still land at the CT (due to clustering from the side torsos). So the damage spread is actually lower than other weapons.

Also I've assumed going for the CT because it's the typical case for LRM boats but it does work too when flanking, even better, although usually LRM boats are not used for flanking. All weapons get much more efficient attacking from the side but LRM boats (+2 dmg tubes) begin with a lot more maximum damage and that translates into higher percentage of the very high maximum damage (for a long range weapon) landed on fewer hit locations.

Of course Precision Shot is pretty bad with them but as support weapons they are second to none when your general strategy revolves around spending morale to aim at the CT (and not the legs or the arm, for example) with brawlers or direct long range mechs, using LRM boats as raw damage support (and not focused on stab damage) for regular attacks from hard or soft cover most of the time, or for killing vehicles/turrets at very long range without LoS. Also the same applies for Vigilance. If you like to use it a lot then the biggest disadvantage for LRMs disappear.

That clearly misses my point: I don't use LRMs because I can't math out the damage to only do as much as damage as I need to. It's irrelevant if they do fine in other contexts because they can't be used in the contexts that I want to use them.

 

[Doctor Machete]

That clearly misses my point: I don't use LRMs because I can't math out the damage to only do as much as damage as I need to. It's irrelevant if they do fine in other contexts because they can't be used in the contexts that I want to use them.

Fair enough, I see now I misunderstood you.

 

[JackFrost]

I just created an account to comment here.

The proposed 1.3 chance (a 20% extra defensive bonus in cover) is by far the best ability in the game. Evasive movement was a highly conditional 10% damage reduction on a single shot that could only be used in fast mechs. I'm not sure why this is nerfed (no longer applies to jump jets) while giving assaults a flat damage reduction.

One of the major problems in the game as it stands is that there's little to no incentive to run light or medium mechs, skills like bulwark that grant percentage damage reduction make this problem worse. The more that the game promotes percentage damage reduction without requiring movement, the less reason we as players have to use faster, mobile mechs.

Making special scenarios that offer reason to use lights is great, but better changes would be that the combat system organically provides justification for medium or light mechs by:

A - not providing massive percentage armor buffs to assaults through the guts line.
B - providing bonuses to side shots, and to make risky flanking moves (that require faster mechs) more rewarding.

Example change to breaching shot: all flanking shots ignore cover/bracing bonuses. Now instead of breaching shot being a buff for heavy/assault it's a buff for light/mediums that are in a good position.

I really hope the devs rethink this bonus and think about how much the skill tree overall acts largely as a buff to immobile assaults and heavies.

 

[Doctor Machete]

The proposed 1.3 chance (a 20% extra defensive bonus in cover) is by far the best ability in the game. Evasive movement was a highly conditional 10% damage reduction on a single shot that could only be used in fast mechs. I'm not sure why this is nerfed (no longer applies to jump jets) while giving assaults a flat damage reduction.

One of the major problems in the game as it stands is that there's little to no incentive to run light or medium mechs, skills like bulwark that grant percentage damage reduction make this problem worse. The more that the game promotes percentage damage reduction without requiring movement, the less reason we as players have to use faster, mobile mechs.

Sure Footing is not nerfed but a better version of Eva Movement. The extra 10% evasion does apply to jump jets and increases maximum evasion. What doesn't is the entrenched status while walking.

So actually there is a new incentive for playing with lights/meds, because from that extra max evasion assault mechs don't get much, already capped by their slow movement. Also light/meds can use both Sure Footing and Bulwark, as both skills fit better faster mechs, being easier for them going from one cover to another maintaining bonuses from both skills at the same time.

And don't forget Bulwark now is way more conditional. You can activate it by bracing or vigilance but cover depends a lot on the map.

 

[ThatGuyMontag]

I just created an account to comment here.

The proposed 1.3 chance (a 20% extra defensive bonus in cover) is by far the best ability in the game. Evasive movement was a highly conditional 10% damage reduction on a single shot that could only be used in fast mechs. I'm not sure why this is nerfed (no longer applies to jump jets) while giving assaults a flat damage reduction.

This is an old misunderstanding: Evasive Move doesn't only apply to a single shot. A mech with EM has 10% less chance to hit for each shot compared to a mech without EM until it runs out of chevrons, which is only going to happen if you're taking more than 5/6 shots a round: EM mech has 5 chevrons, non-EM 4; after first shot EM mech has 4 chevrons, non-EM 3 etc. With cover this is more than enough to make EM better at damage reduction across a round than Bulwark in most typical conditions and this is before you factor in the AI effects where the AI doesn't bother shooting more than a single laser at a 'mech with high enough evasion.

 

[JackFrost]

So actually there is a new incentive for playing with lights/meds, because from that extra max evasion assault mechs don't get much, already capped by their slow movement. Also light/meds can use both Sure Footing and Bulwark, as both skills fit better faster mechs, being easier for them going from one cover to another maintaining bonuses from both skills at the same time.

I would partially agree with this. It's extremely hard to justify not taking both for anything remotely mobile.

That said, what exactly is the purpose to bulwark other than to buff assaults/heavies? Granting them additional percentage armor buffs without requiring movement makes the most powerful mechs in the game more powerful.

In single player under 1.2, the game is deeply warped around bulwark and vigilance. Because the heaviest mechs benefit the most from percentage armor bonuses, bulwark and vigilance are de facto buffs to heavies and assaults.

In proposed 1.3, bulwark is a must have for literally all mechs as it provides a 20% damage reduction (when not in cover it should be activated via vigilance). Since all mechs should run this, the benefits are directly proportional to the armor on a mech. That means that assaults benefit the most from this ability.

• What the new bulwark does, is essentially make all pilots take guts 5 and grants all mechs a bonus 20% damage reduction.
• For movement to be worth leaving cover, you need a minimum of 4 pips of evasion (5 to actually be better), in practice, you should almost never leave cover without vigilance.
• If you can generate 2 pips of evasion by running back and forth within cover, you cannot match this with evasive movement alone as you're at effective 60% damage reduction.
• If cover is sparse, most movement will simply be move/jumping from one end of the cover zone to the other to generate pips. This movement is not strategic its simply making sure you can run back and forth in a forest to generate pips.
• The one weakness of old bulwark is that on rare occasions when you needed to rotate you had to use a vigilance charge in order to maintain damage reduction, now you don't need to do that.

I don't understand the purpose of bulwark in the game (in 1.2 or proposed 1.3), except as a buff to assaults/heavies in a game with no tonnage limits.

 

[ThatGuyMontag]

I would partially agree with this. It's extremely hard to justify not taking both for anything remotely mobile.

That said, what exactly is the purpose to bulwark other than to buff assaults/heavies? Granting them additional percentage armor buffs without requiring movement makes the most powerful mechs in the game more powerful.

In single player under 1.2, the game is deeply warped around bulwark and vigilance. Because the heaviest mechs benefit the most from percentage armor bonuses, bulwark and vigilance are de facto buffs to heavies and assaults.

In proposed 1.3, bulwark is a must have for literally all mechs as it provides a 20% damage reduction (when not in cover it should be activated via vigilance). Since all mechs should run this, the benefits are directly proportional to the armor on a mech. That means that assaults benefit the most from this ability.

• What the new bulwark does, is essentially make all pilots take guts 5 and grants all mechs a bonus 20% damage reduction.
• For movement to be worth leaving cover, you need a minimum of 4 pips of evasion (5 to actually be better), in practice, you should almost never leave cover without vigilance.
• If you can generate 2 pips of evasion by running back and forth within cover, you cannot match this with evasive movement alone as you're at effective 60% damage reduction.
• If cover is sparse, most movement will simply be move/jumping from one end of the cover zone to the other to generate pips. This movement is not strategic its simply making sure you can run back and forth in a forest to generate pips.
• The one weakness of old bulwark is that on rare occasions when you needed to rotate you had to use a vigilance charge in order to maintain damage reduction, now you don't need to do that.

I don't understand the purpose of bulwark in the game (in 1.2 or proposed 1.3), except as a buff to assaults/heavies in a game with no tonnage limits.

First off, the problem of heavier mechs being strictly better than lighter ones is a problem that's as old as Battletech. I think it's fair to say it's "baked into the cake" as it were and expecting a magic solutions to this, outside of say your GM curating light specific content/tonnage limits is... problematic.

That said, 1.2 isn't particularly warped towards Bulwark, some people just can't see past Bulwark: I'm the loudest person on the forums on this particular question, but I'm not the only person who has evasion tanked multiple Ironman playthroughs.

1.3 Bulwark is interesting though. You're right that it's now a nearly guaranteed pick, but off the numbers it looks pretty much like a hybrid between BW and EM because you no longer have to stand still to activate it and because it makes you cover bound, which is how you make evasion work in 1.2. The changes just mean that BW is now going to work just as well for a stand and deliver face-tanker as it will for my cavalry brawler frontline. This actually *opens up* the meta slightly, because now we have two defenses that stack: BW is strictly better in most scenarios than Sure Footing, but they also can be used together, which is the first time we've had a dedicated tank combo in the skills.

Just to add, 1.2 Bulwark didn't have the problem you suggest: you can change facing and still proc Bulwark. Bulwark's most egregious failing was that it was a static defence (which is what 1.3 is designed to address), followed by Bulwark pilots tending to get more injuries.

 

[JackFrost]

That said, 1.2 isn't particularly warped towards Bulwark, some people just can't see past Bulwark: I'm the loudest person on the forums on this particular question, but I'm not the only person who has evasion tanked multiple Ironman playthroughs.

I also run ironman on hardest. I also handicap by running 2 mediums late game when it's just assault spam. Honestly, just facetanking is boring. That's the problem with bulwark in 1.2 or 1.3 - it's boring and it promotes dull, static play. The change in 1.3 means that even medium or light pilots should always take it. In 1.3 you really can't justify skipping it on anyone, regardless of roles.

First off, the problem of heavier mechs being strictly better than lighter ones is a problem that's as old as Battletech.

Right. So battletech has weight preference 'baked in' - so why exactly is hairbrained adding this kind of percentage damage reduction - since all it does is buff mechs with more armor?

If we all agree that it's a problem that high tonnage mechs are incentivized, why does the mechpilot skill progression add massive percentage damage reduction bonuses that only act to further incentivize heavier mechs.

 

[JackFrost]

This is an old misunderstanding: Evasive Move doesn't only apply to a single shot. A mech with EM has 10% less chance to hit for each shot compared to a mech without EM until it runs out of chevrons, which is only going to happen if you're taking more than 5/6 shots a round: EM mech has 5 chevrons, non-EM 4; after first shot EM mech has 4 chevrons, non-EM 3 etc. With cover this is more than enough to make EM better at damage reduction across a round than Bulwark in most typical conditions and this is before you factor in the AI effects where the AI doesn't bother shooting more than a single laser at a 'mech with high enough evasion.

[Mod Edit: flamebait]

Evasive movement is at best a 10% reduction in expected damage. Bulwark in 1.3 is a 20% reduction thats far more reliable. There is no case where you should pick Evasive over bulwark even for light mechs.

 

[Rabid]

I'd argue that both Bulwark and Sure Footed have issues relative to the other two tier 1 abilities because they straight up enhance things that you already want to do.

SF makes you have just more evasion, as long as you generate any evasive chevrons.

Bulwark makes you have just more damage reduction, as long as you have any source of damage reduction.

This contrasts very strongly to the situationally useful multishot and sensor lock abilities. Now personally I'd make all of the abilities very powerful and tempting rather than nerfing down bulwark (and if you nerf just bulwark we're probably going to be having the same argument about SF instead)

Evasive movement is at best a 10% reduction in expected damage. Bulwark in 1.3 is a 20% reduction thats far more reliable. There is no case where you should pick Evasive over bulwark even for light mechs.

If your current expected chance to be hit is 40% and you gain an additional evasive chevron then your effective improvement in expected damage reduction is 25% of the damage you would have received, so this isn't quite correct. Though by the same token Bulwark represents a minimum improvement of at least 25% in the same way under any circumstances when it is active and I agree that it is definitely broadly superior.

 

[ThatGuyMontag]

@JackFrost

So I'm getting the feeling that you're not completely up to speed on the changes. Top of this page are comments by myself and @Rabid that describe all the skill changes as we know them.

Also worth highlighting that some skills have changed names. I've been careful to use the appropriate name when mentioning them in my comments.

 

[Camicon Dachass]

I just created an account to comment here.

The proposed 1.3 chance (a 20% extra defensive bonus in cover) is by far the best ability in the game. Evasive movement was a highly conditional 10% damage reduction on a single shot that could only be used in fast mechs. I'm not sure why this is nerfed (no longer applies to jump jets) while giving assaults a flat damage reduction.

One of the major problems in the game as it stands is that there's little to no incentive to run light or medium mechs, skills like bulwark that grant percentage damage reduction make this problem worse. The more that the game promotes percentage damage reduction without requiring movement, the less reason we as players have to use faster, mobile mechs.

Making special scenarios that offer reason to use lights is great, but better changes would be that the combat system organically provides justification for medium or light mechs by:

A - not providing massive percentage armor buffs to assaults through the guts line.
B - providing bonuses to side shots, and to make risky flanking moves (that require faster mechs) more rewarding.

Example change to breaching shot: all flanking shots ignore cover/bracing bonuses. Now instead of breaching shot being a buff for heavy/assault it's a buff for light/mediums that are in a good position.

I really hope the devs rethink this bonus and think about how much the skill tree overall acts largely as a buff to immobile assaults and heavies.

Here's the thing...

Light and Medium 'Mechs are not the combat equivalent to Heavy and Assault 'Mechs. Nor should they be.

Light and Medium 'Mechs need to employ smart strategies, without error, in order to survive against their larger, more heavily armed and armoured brethren. A good dash of luck doesn't hurt either. There's a reason that the story of David and Goliath is used to refer to a weaker (smaller) opponent overcoming the odds to defeat a stronger(larger) opponent.

I mean, the M4 Sherman was smaller and faster than Tiger, and the Tigers ripped them to shreds. The reality is that more armour and bigger guns count for a great deal. The Shermans being smaller and faster made them more well-rounded, and better at supporting infantry across a wider range of environments, so the Tiger wasn't an all-around better tank; however, in straight combat, you never bet on the Sherman.

That said...

If we're providing armour buffs to Lights and Mediums, but not to Heavies and Assaults, then we are taking away one of the defining differences between those weight classes. And there's really no way to justify it in-game. In what situation would Lights and Mediums receive increased damage reduction that Heavies and Assaults don't get? The increased mobility of Lights and Mediums already provides them with increased damage reduction through more evasion pips, and through just straight up moving out of the OpFor's LoS. (I might see a place for Lights and Mediums receiving a larger DR% in urban environments, as their smaller frames would allow them to hide behind buildings that Heavies and Assaults cannot)

And flanking maneuvers are already incredibly powerful. Firing into someone's side arc is like a Morale free Precision Strike and, if you're keeping one or two 'Mechs to act as an anchor, you can get the OpFor turning in circles, exposing weak points and them blasting them apart with ease. And if you can jump someone into the rear arc with enough firepower (Firestarter or Grasshopper boating SLs and MLs, for instance), then you can one-shot literally any 'Mech in the game. Like, holy crap, do you understand how incredibly powerful that is?

Imagine two lances of Assault 'Mechs, a tough fight no doubt; but, if I field a properly equipped Firestarter, and utilize it well, then that one 'Mech can take down four of those eight without taking a single hit. I can't do that with an Atlas, or a King Crab, not without the help of my lancemates. Not even if I spend every turn Precision Striking at the head with Gauss Rifles, dam+ AC10s, and AC20s.

I make a point of fielding one "backstabber" on nearly every contract I take, even in the late game (the exceptions being 4-5 skull Base Defences or Convoy Ambushes). Battles? Assassinations? I feel like taking a Light or Medium to backstab is practically a requirement, especially in the late game. They can down the most dangerous OpFor units extremely quickly, without any direct fire support, and they let the rest of my lance focus fire on targets I don't intend to backstab (or can't, like Demolishers and Shreks). Worried about that King Crab coming up the flank and blasting you apart with those AC20s? Don't. Dekker and his Firestarter are going to take him down next turn. Also that Highlander who's been lobbing LRMs at you. And that Zeus who's been sandpapering your armour for the last few turns.

In any event...

1.3 Bulwark is not a must-have for all pilots. I intend to have some pilots (and 'Mechs) specifically spec'd for Lunar and Martian biomes, where there is little to no cover and heat is a serious handicap. Bulwark isn't at all useful if you have no cover to take advantage of, and my pilots will be much better served by Surefooted on such occasions. Even maximum Morale generation doesn't let me use Vigilance on two 'Mechs every turn, so one Bulwark pilot is the most I'll ever take to Lunar and Martian contracts.

Also, 1.3 Bulwark does not encourage immobile gameplay. Quite the opposite, because it procs regardless of whether or not you move. Maximum DR is achieved by moving into and throughout cover, to generate evasion pips alongside your 40% DR, not by standing still in a forest. This actually buffs 4/6 Assaults, who (in most cases, I think) can generate 1 evasion pip by walking in cover, whereas 3/5 Assaults cannot (also, they have lighter JJs).

Evasive movement is at best a 10% reduction in expected damage. Bulwark in 1.3 is a 20% reduction thats far more reliable. There is no case where you should pick Evasive over bulwark even for light mechs.

The greatest strength of evasion pips is that they discourage the OpFor from firing at you entirely (or only firing a single weapon). They reduce damage by giving the OpFor reason to not bother firing in the first place. You've surely done the same yourself, momentarily ignoring the Locust with a bunch of evasion pips for the easier to hit Hunchback that's almost in range with its AC20?