The Flea is the epitome of high risk, high reward gameplay! 1000+ damage await those who choose to master the craft of Fleaing. This will be geared mainly towards quick play.

With all my time in the Flea, I’ve learned a lot, and I'm still continuing to realize new things! Some of this guide is general knowledge and applies to other mechs as well. Either way, I hope this helps someone become a better Flea pilot! Some of it will be brief notes, tidbits of good-to-know info. And if you don't Flea, try to protect your Flea battle buddies on the field! They can help immensely if they know what they're doing.

My Flea YouTube Channel

ECM

If you’re in a Flea 20 with ECM and ECM skill nodes, remember these ranges (these distances vary depending on the targeting/sensor range of the mech trying to target you):

• > 255m (256m and beyond) gives you stealth (enemies cannot target you and reveal you to their entire team)
  
• < 120m (119m and within) gives you jamming (enemies cannot lock on with missiles and cannot share targeting data with the rest of their team). Keep in mind enemies will know you're in the vicinity from seeing "low signal" on their mini map!
  
• It’s also good to keep these in mind if you’re in a non-ECM Flea and you encounter an ECM mech!

Use ECM counter mode (disrupt is default, press J to toggle) when you need your team to target an ECM mech you have targeted (turns off disrupt so you will no longer have stealth or jamming by disrupting enemy targeting). If you use stealth armor (not a big fan of it), press M to toggle it, and remember to reactivate it if it gets deactivated from a PPC hit!

If a situation arises where you need to be extra stealthy, remember that targeting enemies by pressing R will alert them that someone has targeted them if they have radar deprivation skill nodes.

Weapon Ranges

These aren’t weapons used by Fleas, but as a Flea pilot, you must know about enemy mechs you may come across. If you see a mech with primarily these weapons, take advantage and charge in for the kill!

• Inner Sphere LRM does no damage within 180m
  
• Clan LRM has exponential damage fall within 180m
  
• ATM does no damage within 60m
  
• PPC has exponential damage fall within 90m
  
• Heavy PPC does no damage within 90m

Dangerous Weapons

If you see anything that does high pinpoint damage or certain missiles, like IS AC20s, SRMs, Streaks, PPCs, Gauss, be extra cautious (don't peek, reposition, etc)! Rotaries, UACs, and some clan autocannons, are a bit easier to deal with (more Flea friendly lol). If you see a RAC mech, just keep peeking, as they need time to spin up!

Small Lasers And Their Ranges

As a Flea pilot, you’ll be using a lot of small lasers. So it’s important to get familiar with their ranges (use these as approximations, as some range skill nodes may change these). You won't be able to fire within optimal range all the time, so it's good to have in mind what the max "practically" effective range is from the middle of optimal to max range.

• Small pulse laser: 145m optimal - 291 max (218m to do 50% damage)
  
• Small laser: 172m optimal - 345m max (258m to do 50% damage)
  
• ER small laser: 216m optimal - 432m max (324m to do 50% damage)

So effective range is around 200m and 300m with ER small lasers in this example. Of course, the same goes for other lasers as well, so get familiar with them too

Loadouts And Skilltrees

Coming soon

This is really important in a Flea with so little armor, to prevent turning a wrong corner, getting hit from an unseen enemy, or to find opportunities to strike. Over time, you will begin to feel the “heat” of the battlefield with your intuition and instinct. When no enemies are spotted and nobody is firing or getting hit, there is no “heat”, which is also the most dangerous time for a Flea. On the other hand, when activity is high (teammates calling for help, constant sound of mechs getting hit left and right, and just chaos in general) the Flea shines, as distracted enemies are sure kills!

When you attack, only attack if you can commit, because running away usually results in a Viper or Piranha chasing to leg you, getting shot in the back, or taking unnecessary damage. If there are too many mechs, wait for team support. To assess, assume their whole team could come to your position of attack, because remember once an enemy mech targets you, their whole team can see you, so do you have enough teammates around backing you up? If not, don't attack. If there are two away from the group, only attack if you have a plan and prioritize your targets (for example, one is a LRM boat and one is a Locust, so prioritize the Locust).

Keep your eye on the mini-map and try to feel the higher level perspective of what’s going on all around you. Flea pilots rely on the team more than most other mechs! Also, keep a habit of zooming in and out frequently, because forgetting to zoom out could mean not seeing a mech that’s about to kill you, and it’s really hard to fight close range when zoomed in. Remember to treat armor as a consumable just like ammo! Conserve it as much as you can, but know when to use it (when it's max heat, or when you're going in for a kill)!

• The Flea's speed makes it a great flanker and backstabber. The only time you'd want to fire at an enemy mech facing you, is when they're under fire from friendly mechs, or busy shooting friendly mechs.
  
  
• In general, always press R to target what you’re about to attack! And always pick a specific component to focus on! Even in tier 1, I see some players who don’t do this. Also take a quick glance at the loadout if you can. When using lasers, hold the beam on the component as best as you can until it finishes burning (otherwise the damage is spread). When using SRMs/MRMs, lead the shot when the target is moving. Use arm lock if you’re mainly long range and have weapon groups mixed with arms and torso for extra concentration of damage, otherwise keep it off for better aiming flexibility, and quicker torso turning in close range.
  
  
• Peeking is very effective and a relatively safe way to attack when compared to charging in to brawl, and you can quickly rack up damage done. Peeking in and of itself is something to be mastered. When peeking, make sure to expose the min amount of yourself for the shortest time possible (minimize exposure time, so peek, alpha strike, MASC in!), and peek from a different spot, or simply switch up your peeking rhythm when the enemy notices you. Sometimes it's ok to peek the same spot over and over! If you find a good spot, capitalize on it (farm) and keep using it until you shouldn't.
  
  Not only do you want to minimize exposure time, but you also want to not go back behind cover too much (just enough to be fully concealed behind cover) so you can get the next follow up shot out as soon as your weapons finish their cooldown. The contrast is a less experienced player needlessly walking back too much, running all the way back to peek again, long after their weapons have already finished their cooldown, wasting valuable time. Also get familiar with your weapon cooldown rhythm, so you peek right at the moment you're ready for a full alpha strike; if you mix medium pulse with small lasers, make sure to wait until you hear that second beep before your next peek/shot!
  
  There are two types of peeking: horizontal peeks around the corner, and vertical peeks with elevation differences (an enemy coming up over an incline, or an enemy exposing its top below you). Peeking over hills is usually riskier as you may suddenly expose to multiple mechs. Reverse peeking is when you back out of cover, to be able to go forward into cover quicker.
  
  When you get more comfortable with peeking, get used to attempting to "juke" (bait) your opponent's shots with a quick half peek where you don't shoot, so you can then do a real peek to fire (works best on laser vomit opponents). Similar to the juke, you can do it to quickly scan the corner, so that if there are multiple undistracted mechs looking in your direction, you can decide to peek from another place.
  
  Before peeking, it's best to identify which component you're going to shoot, and if the enemy is peeking too, consider focusing on the side that first appears from when they peek (great for wide opponents).
  
  
• Hit and run is useful when you see an instant kill or a weak component. It’s also useful when you need to keep moving and attacking at the same time. In a Flea, be sure to use MASC to allow you to fire as frequently as possible (run 90 degrees to the enemies FOV and fire with a turned torso, then MASC U-turn to fire again, and repeat to keep firing and moving within the same area).
  
  
• Circling is the most common but there are some tips to keep in mind! Most players fire constantly as they circle (which is fine with machine guns), but as a Flea pilot, you need to be as effective as possible, so time your fire at components you target (e.g. rear CT), and save your MASC for a short burst when you’re within the enemy’s FOV, then let it recharge while giving you more time for a shot to the rear CT. You want to keep the radius of the circle as tight as you can, because the bigger the radius, the slower you appear to go to the enemy, and the longer it takes for you to make one full circle.
  
  
• Rear CT/ST is probably the most efficient way for kills in a Flea with limited firepower and extreme agility. This is best performed on lone mechs that are slow, or distracted mechs/mechs under fire! Here are some tips:
  
  
  • You want to stay completely out of sight of the enemy! So keep using bursts of MASC to maneuver and stay behind the mech. Imagine instant death if you end up in the enemy’s sights. It’s important to remember that the closer you are to your target, the faster you can maneuver around it, so close the distance quickly, and keep it tight!
    
    
  • When shooting the CT, aim for dead center, as you may be damaging the side torso instead (unless the mech has one torso left or has a dangerous torso you’d like to destroy, then go for the torso!) and if you can’t get a good shot on it, aim for the center of the butt, which also counts as rear CT damage!
    
    
  • Even at an angle, or when the enemy is attempting to back up towards a wall (coward lol), angled shots towards the rear CT/butt also work. When you see a mech trying to back against a wall, go behind them so they end up backing into you instead of the wall. If you’re shooting at an angle, and the mech is going backwards, be sure you have your legs positioned to be able to follow them back, otherwise you’ll lost sight of their rear and will soon be facing the mech head on.
    
    
  • This attack is not only reserved for slow mechs! Linebackers, Shadow Cats, and lights are also juicy targets. When a light is running away, they are easy kills in Fleas that can keep up. They often don’t expect another mech to keep up, so they keep running, giving you plenty of rear shots.
    
    
  • Don’t stop moving! It’s tempting to stay still to keep firing, but don’t do it. Go back and forth, forward forward back back, etc.
  
  
• Another attack that the Flea is great for is the torso attack. This works great against laser vomit builds or AC2/UAC2 builds, especially if the opponent has bad aim. Even on a fresh mech, pick a front torso to focus on, blow it off while strafing sideways when they fire, then get the other side from the rear. It's easier to understand when you see it in action, so I'll add a video soon.

• The best armor is not to get hit! Play as if your CT is already open red, because it's just one mistake away from it truly being so. Or just imagine every mech you come across has dual heavy guass. Assume the worst to maximize the best result. There is a time to use your armor though, so learn to identify when to Flea or flee. There is an optimal fine balance where trying to stay alive is marginally higher than your desire to dealing damage.
  
  
• Situational awareness! As mentioned earlier, situational awareness is key to survival. One important note to add is to always keep in mind that if an enemy spots you, their whole team also sees you, since targeting data is distributed among the team! But this can also be used to your advantage if your goal is to distract the enemy team, or lure them into friendly firing lines. If you have radar deprivation skill nodes, watch and listen for a flash and beep signaling that an enemy has targeted you. Use your little Flea antennas to sense danger! Fleas must develop a strong instinct (Fleanstinct).
  
  
• Use cover! Avoid open areas if you can and MASC from cover to cover, always be ready to instantly get behind cover; make it an instinct!
  
  
• Heat management If you're using a hot loadout, remember that standing still helps you cool down faster, and it helps to get familiar with what percentage the heat bar is at for you to alpha without going past 100%, since Fleas are fragile and cannot take much overheat damage!
  
  
• Keep moving forward and don’t stop moving! Fleas rely on evasion more than armor for defense, so one of the worst things you could do is to stay still when the battlefield is hot, even for a brief second, because that’s all it takes for you to be instantly killed. One of the most common mistakes I see, are pilots going backwards. Going straight back is the worst, because you stay within the enemy’s FOV, and it does absolutely nothing good for you. You’d rather back up 90 degrees, or sideways, to the enemy’s FOV, but why go backwards when you can go forward? Lights are fast, and speed is your greatest advantage, but when you reverse, you go slow, not to mention the brief moment where you’re basically standing still every time you back up then decide to go forward again! The only time you should back up is to maintain a rear CT shot, or strafing sideways with MASC back and forth when focusing on firing at a component, or when backing up to cover.
  
  
• MASC
  
  • Some pilots haven’t realized that the greatest advantage to MASC isn’t the speed, but the 50% turn rate boost for agility, and the boost in acceleration/deceleration! So make it a habit using MASC to turn and to quickly change direction! This comes in extra handy when trying to stay behind a mech for a rear CT kill, or when trying to dodge and evade shots.
    
  • MASC is limited, so use them in bursts! Skilled Flea pilots are able to consistently use MASC, even near the redline, but using it in short bursts and relying on the sound as an indication of how much more they can apply. Also, remember to let it cool down whenever you're in the air!
    
  • MASC messes up your aim, so practice firing after aim has settled. It’s easy to have this happen when using MASC to peek and hide quickly, so practice!
    
  • Use MASC when peeking! As mentioned before, you want to peek and go back to cover as fast as you can. Peek out of cover just enough to land your shot, followed by a MASC burst back to cover.
  
  
• Evasion
  
  • Best done 90 degrees to enemy mech’s FOV, with erratic unpredictable patterns, when closing the distance or retreating. Combine with moving the torso (torso twisting) to spread laser damage or to protect critical components. Use MASC every time you turn and turn often! While doing all of this, also turn your head so your rear isn't exposed to the enemies behind!
    
  • Keep in mind that the acceleration burst from a MASC burst is what will most likely dodge a shot. Combine MASC bursts with a change in direction for greater effect.
    
  • When fleeing, be mindful of running into unknown territory and into possibly more enemy mechs! This is extremely important as it is one of the most common mistakes I personally make after reviewing my match videos, because panic sets in and you tend to run like a chicken with its head cut off. It's usually safer to go back through where you came from or a last known area without enemies.
    
  • When scouting, or closing the distance, use the low grounds and cover as concealment.
  
  
• Legs
  
  • If you’re legged or a leg is weak, use cover to your advantage (peeking up over hills to force them to shoot upper part of your mech).
    
  • Shield your weak leg with your strong leg. So if left leg is weak, circle enemies clockwise and strafe sideways with legs pointed left, and vice versa.
    
  • To better shield a leg when legged, stand still with the dead leg facing the enemy, because moving forward or backwards will expose your last leg. You can still use MASC to help speed up the rotation, even when legged.
  
  
• LRMs
  
  • Always be aware of what direction LRMs are coming from. You can check for a trail of smoke left behind from the missiles if you missed where it was coming from at first. If there’s no cover around the best thing to do is to run full speed perpendicular from where the missiles are coming from.

Flea play is extremely instinctual, so it requires a good feel for what's going on and what tends to happen, and being familiar with low level trivial things. It's good to mentally hype yourself up before Fleaing, because you want to maximize your tempo (like the refresh rate in HZ on your monitor) for a constant and instant feedback loop of input and output, and fast decision making. Your Flea's MASC is useless if you don't activate your MASC! Fleas operate on the highest tempo there is in the game, and should constantly be busy. Watch top 1% play and pay attention to this "tempo" next time, and you'll see what I mean. Fleaing is not for the brain dead or faint of heart! Because of this, it's usually best to take short stints in the Flea if you recognize you're slowing down and can't keep up with the Flea. Other mechs require you to drive them, but Fleas drive you lol.

Use the Flea's speed to flank! In the early stage of a match, this means moving ahead of your team to find the enemy team. Scouting when done wrong will get you killed fast. To scout properly, peek every unknown corner and angle (horizontally and vertically) quickly and carefully, watch the mini map, always assess the situation before scouting into deeper territory, and know when to turn back and flee (know when to Flea or flee lol). Conserve your MASC as much as possible so you can flee if necessary (this is probably the only time you should conserve MASC), but do MASC across open areas or going from cover to cover!

It's important to get familiar with where enemies tend to go on different maps. For example, if mechs are at A, and we shoot them from B, they tend to go to C. Or if the enemy team sees your team at A, they tend to go to B, etc. Map knowledge is a must in a Flea.

You want to check if the enemy team is doing a NASCAR (assume their team is making the mistake in order to exploit it), which usually means you should NASCAR (rotate CCW) in the early stage of a match, going as wide as necessary to remain undetected. Yes, it's actually ok to NASCAR in a Flea! What's not cool is when the whole team does it. However, if there are good players on the other team, it's likely they will do a counter NASCAR, so be prepared to reposition accordingly!

The goal is to look for 1v1 encounters (choose targets wisely), and to provide targets for your team. Always try to cripple or kill a mech! Your impact as a Flea is multiplied when you focus on targets one at a time instead of spreading the damage across multiple mechs. When flanking, try to pincer the enemy team against your team. So if you rotate CCW and their team is doing a counter-NASCAR, reposition so that you don't face the enemies head on (do a hard and wide flank). Always be aware of where the main force of the enemy and your team are heading, so you can approach from the best angles, and remember to time flanks so that your team can engage on time.

If your team is very passive, or if you want to play on the safe side, another option is to simply stick with team until you have some idea of where to attack. Scouting for enemies on a passive team is an option as well, but success will only follow if your team capitalizes on the information you give them and if they can gain firing lines in time, or if you have a fast buddy who can backstab with you.

As a Flea, it's also important to know the status of your team and the battlefield, which is why the points below are outlined, so you can identify and act on some of the most common situations that win or lose matches.

Team Strategy

• Map Control And Dominance - This is the name of the game in MechWarrior Online! Establishing firing lines and holding key positions wins matches. The opposite would be to run away and essentially forfeit the position (basically admitting defeat).
  
• The Breakout - When your team is getting surrounded, pincered from multiple angles, it's important to quickly identify the weakest path to push through as a team. On the other side to this, is the general strategy of enveloping your enemy (flanking, backstabbing, pincer/anvil effect).
  
• The Chokepoint - Do not go through narrow areas watched by enemy firing lines. If your team absolutely must go through, go through fast so that everyone can fan out and establish a firing line.
  
• Sticking Together - This doesn't mean the entire team should be lumped into one murder ball (although there is a time for that). This simply means to share firing lines with teammates (an enemy has to face two or more of you, while two or more of you can fire at the enemy). There should always be some level of cohesion and coordination among your team.
  
• No Skill Rush Or Overextending - Pushing too far too fast together before knowing where the enemies are which usually results in getting into a bad spot where the enemy can attack from multiple angles. NASCAR is essentially this. Tell your team to stop, turn around, and shoot the enemy instead of continuing to run away!
  
• Passivity - This is when your team just sits in a spot and hides, usually in the low grounds, essentially waiting to be attacked from multiple angles and die.
  
• The Stomp - The match just started and your team is already up a few mechs. This is a good time for a Flea to get aggressive and start doing some damage! If you don't, be prepared for the match to end quickly without you doing much damage.

Also find people to practice 1v1 with! I am always down to 1v1 in Flea so feel free to hit me up (King Samu, or Flea King). Aim is king in this game, along with movement skills. It improves your micro play (and therefore your higher level macro play). Get so familiar that you don't even need to think about your movement and shooting, so you can focus on your macro play and what's going around you. Simplify higher level strategies with a simple lower level example to easily make sense of them (think of blobs of friendly and enemy forces as simply two mechs attacking each other).