The Dire Wolf was designed by Clan Wolf, but Clan Smoke Jaguar seized the design in a Trial of Possession. Clan Smoke Jaguar then manufactured the design up until it was annihilated in 3060. During the Dark Age, Clan Hell’s Horses started manufacturing the OmniMech again in 3149.
Every Clan has made use of the Dire Wolf at some point, but it was most common amongst Clans Wolf and Smoke Jaguar. Following the annihilation of Clan Smoke Jaguar, Inner Sphere forces began to field salvaged Dire Wolfs as well. Following the Jihad, the design started to drop out of use amongst some factions, but some continue to field it into the Dark Age.
Read This First
- You need to pick and choose weapons in order to avoid overheating.
- You do not have the speed to control the range of most engagements, but your weapon mix is powerful at any range
- Consider special munitions for your LRM launcher if you need to adapt to a specific mission
Dire Wolf Prime
- Role: Juggernaut
- Tech Base: Clan (3010)
- Chassis: 100 tons
- Movement: 3 / 5, XL
- Armor: 304
- Heat Sinks: 22 (44)
- Weapons:
- ER Large Laser × 4
- Ultra AC/5 × 2 (ammo: 40)
- Medium Pulse Laser × 4
- LRM 10 (ammo: 12)
- Equipment:
- CASE
- Design Quirks:
- Difficult Ejection
- Improved Targeting (Long)
- Cost: 29,350,000 C-Bills
- Battle Value: 2,712
Mobility
The Dire Wolf has average mobility for its tonnage. It can walk with 3 MP or run with 5 MP. That can give it up to a +2 target movement modifier, but only when running straight in clear terrain. In most cases, a MechWarrior can make themselves harder to hit by seeking out cover rather than by trying to move evasively.
Durability
At 100 tons with nearly maximum armor, the Dire Wolf is quite durable. Its armor can absorb more than 30 points of damage to each location other than its head. The Dire Wolf Prime carries explosive ammunition in its left torso and both arms. The arms have ammo in 10% of their critical slots and the left torso in 8%. CASE protects those locations to prevent any explosion from destroying the ’Mech.
Weaponry
The Dire Wolf packs a lot of weapons into its Prime configuration. For long-range fights, it carries 4 ER large lasers, 2 ultra autocannons, and an LRM 10. Then at middle ranges, it can add 4 medium pulse lasers to that firepower. That gives it a maximum damage that is just shy of 100 points out to 12 hexes.
With abundant long-range firepower and its Improved Targeting quirk, a Dire Wolf Prime is best suited to long-range fighting. It can inflict a lot of damage all the way out to 25 hexes, and at 21 hexes can make efficient use of all of its long-range weapons. That said, it is not mobile enough to control the range of engagement. In relatively open battlefields that allow the Dire Wolf to use its long-range weapons, enemies will also be able to close with it rapidly.
With almost all of its firepower in its arms, the Dire Wolf Prime can engage enemies in any direction. Its arms can also be flipped in order to allow it to unleash all of its weapons other than its LRMs behind it.
The Dire Wolf Prime requires ammunition for both its autocannons and its LRM 10. Those weapons are secondary to its lasers in most engagements and even firing at double-rate with the autocannons, it can shoot for 10 rounds before running out of ammo. Because the LRM 10 is a secondary weapon, a MechWarrior can swap its single ton of ammo for a specialty munition without affecting their overall firepower much.
Heat Management
The Dire Wolf Prime’s numerous weapons can generate heat far in excess of its cooling capacity. Its 22 double heat sinks can dissipate 44 heat points per turn. Firing all of its weapons generates 72 heat points which means that it can overheat by 30 points in a single turn if it is running.
In order to manage heat, a MechWarrior needs to be careful about which weapons they use to get the most out of their arsenal without cooking themselves.
The four large lasers generate more heat than the Prime config can dissipate on their own. When firing them, the Dire Wolf will overheat by between 4 and 6 points, so every other round the MechWarrior should drop to only firing 3 lasers in order to cool back off. As the range of engagement drops, the Dire Wolf’s other weapons can be swapped in. The autocannons and LRMs offer low heat options that still have long range but not as much damage per hit. A MechWarrior can use them to fill out their heat budget on the turns when they are not firing all four lasers or against targets where more small hits might be more useful than a single big hit.
Once within 12 hexes of a target, the medium pulse lasers become more efficient than the large lasers. At that point, a MechWarrior should drop to only firing one or two of the large lasers and then making use of the pulse lasers and their other weapons.
Brawling
The Dire Wolf Prime can throw its weight around in a brawl, but it offers little other than its weight advantage. Both of its arms lack their lower arm and hand actuators, so its punches are less accurate and only deal 5 damage each. Each of those punches also require giving up on a tremendous amount of firepower for the round. Instead, a Dire Wolf should kick for 20 damage which is enough to do serious damage to any lighter targets that are foolish enough to get into kicking range.
OmniMech Chassis
The Dire Wolf is an OmniMech with more than half of its tonnage and abundant critical slots available for modular equipment. Seven of the double heat sinks used by the Prime are modular equipment with the base chassis only carrying 15 heat sinks.
| Capacity | 50.5 tons |
| Head | 1 slot |
| Center Torso | 2 slots |
| Right Torso | 8 slots |
| Left Torso | 8 slots |
| Right Arm | 8-10 slots |
| Left Arm | 8-10 slots |
| Right Leg | 2 slots |
| Left Leg | none |
As an OmniMech, the Dire Wolf can carry mechanized battle armor. The Prime configuration’s weapon distribution is well-suited to that role with its firepower concentrated in the arms, but it lacks the mobility to deliver the battle armor quickly or the need to close to short ranges.
Cost & Upkeep
The Dire Wolf is an expensive frontline OmniMech. It makes use of a big XL fusion engine that increases the cost, and also can go through 2-3 tons of ammunition in each engagement.
When using the Warchest Point system, these are the expected costs for the Dire Wolf Prime:
| Action | Clan Cost | Inner Sphere Cost |
| Purchase | 2,000 SP | 4,000 SP |
| Armor Repair | 100 SP | 200 SP |
| Structure Repair | 200 SP | 400 SP |
| Reload | 20-30 SP | 40-60 SP |
| Reconfigure | 25 SP | 50 SP |
Miniature
A plastic Dire Wolf Prime is included in the Clan Command Star force pack.
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