Helldivers 2: For Managed Democracy!

[tight zephyr]

I'll have to keep trying it out, along with the primary flamethrower I can't remember the name of.

I like the Cookout, but I generally prefer the standard Punisher instead. I'd rather knock enemies down right away than inflict a DoT if I have the choice.

[unreal merlin]

Cookout works great, but especially as an anti-Shrieker tool or for efficiently killing small bugs at long ranges.

[oblique lotus]

it fires multiple bolts with "the normal" arc seeking which is to say erratic

5 bolts

multiple bolts can decide to hit the same target and will do additional damage

medium armor pen and a fairly beefy 250/175 damage

if you shove it into a stalkers head it oneshots iirc

[strange vine]

This is fake. That poster modded in the model (which was leaked months back). Actual HD2 leakers have called them out on it.

[cobalt patrol]

https://nitter.poast.org/helldivers2/status/1835664896140141004#m

Buff to the 500kg

Specifically, Raidus increaseso it's explosion mathces hte visuals

[strange vine]

Finally

[cobalt patrol]

i look foward to fragging myself and everyone around me for a long time until io get used to the visuals

and if i understand correclty, tomorrow the patch hiots and we get the notes?

I think?

[strange vine]

The patch drops tomorrow

[cobalt patrol]

https://old.reddit.com/r/Helldivers/comments/1fi3zvk/on_the_7th_day_of_buffs/

Also i like and am amused at their phrasing

[odd arch]

airburst missile buffs when

[cobalt patrol]

Well, there's a ton of buffs coming in the pathc notes tomorrow

over 30 apprenrtyl

[odd arch]

sub-sub munitions time

[cobalt patrol]

and depending on how other changes go (like chargers loosing armor etc)

[odd arch]

or shrapnel bomblets

[cobalt patrol]

Nono, what it needs to do is burst into a bunch of micor homing missiles

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yH_XvfHliTI

[quick plinth]

because the 500 radius wasn't large as is

[cobalt patrol]

It wasnt large enough

[glacial light]

If you want it to fan wider you should not be ADSing and aim above the head of the main target

Blitzer is weird still sometimes

It's odd at first to use a gun you don't actually want to have the cursor on the target to be optimal

ADSing seems to narrow the cone that Blitzer will seek targets for the 2 other arcs and it would just not fire those arcs than find targets outside the hip fire cone

[honest acorn]

Very happy about this one the mismatch was kind of hilarious

World shattering kaboom which only kills at 5 paces

[glacial light]

And aiming not on a target seems to widen the cone it seeks targets and for some reason aiming higher increases the arc slightly too. So aim like a head length above the target and the extra arcs will usually find nearby targets consistently

[hazy oriole]

Narrowing the cone can be useful against brood commanders and stalkers in my experience, but that's a goodtip! Will have to remember that if i find myself on that front

[oblique lotus]

Also hopefully the 500kg changes will make it more consistent on a direct hit

Since it has issues with not damaging enemies you've stuck with the bomb

[strange vine]

Yeah the thing with the 500kg is the radius for full damage is only 6.7 meters

And it has harsh damage falloff

[oblique lotus]

has helldivers seemed crashier to yall?

I've lost a couple of pugs to just full crashing

[keen zinc]

Tomorrow..m

[oblique lotus]

today I learned that if an impaler tentacle comes up under you it instantly kills you with no warning

also that democracy protects was doing a lot more for me than I realized

[graceful bluff]

anyone for some 7's or something? need to get some samples still <@&1206091872716595200>

[oblique hazel]

My computer's having some major cooling issues right now, so I can't promise I can actually play the game, but I'm down to try

[graceful bluff]

Thermite Grenade
Explosion damage increased from 100 to 2000

lmao

might actually replace stun grenades for me at times now

[oblique hazel]

is the patch live?

[cobalt patrol]

Notes are live at least

[oblique hazel]

yeah I'm reeading thru em now

lots of fixes

[short rune]

You folks REALLY have to check out the Autocannon buff

That thing is full automatic with a high RPM now

[oblique hazel]

huh

that might be a bug, looking at the notes rn

since the only buff mentioned for it was Can now damage heavier enemies like Chargers, Bile Titans, Impalers, Hulks

but the emancipator exosuit autocannons got an RPM buff

[short rune]

It may be a bug? It looks very surreal

[oblique hazel]

I'm guessing it probably got the RPM buff the emancipator was supposed to get

[steady flame]

It's had a full-auto mode since game launch, but.. It could have gotten an RPM buff, yes.

Raleigh Hyena (He/him) ↩️

[Reply to:](#1204832579287519292 message) That thing is full automatic with a high RPM now

[short rune]

Not my footage

[steady flame]

What in the god-damned?

[short rune]

No clue if its a bug or not.

But that is literally a GAU-20 avenger

Wait, the mag aint going empty...

Okay. That footage is fishy

[graceful bluff]

so looking at the buffs what'd be some fun weapons to try

[oblique hazel]

oh yeah I refuse to believe thats legit without more evidence

[short rune]

Yeah. I'm currently asking the person posting it.

Its either bugged or they cheat which would be more concerning.

[graceful bluff]

going with breaker railgun like it's launch day :v

[oblique hazel]

I would bet money on the latter

[short rune]

Can't replicate it. So you may be correct here.

[graceful bluff]

see an sos joinable mission "You cannot join because this lobby is private"

good to see they still haven't fixed that

ohgod the range on the tesla rifle now

[unreal merlin]

55m range, reach out and touch someone

[graceful bluff]

pretty sure that is also per jump

[odd arch]

tesla rifle?

[graceful bluff]

I always blank on its name

arc thrower

[graceful bluff]

definitely feels like there's more quad walkers now

[strange vine]

Ac has always been fully automatic

[graceful bluff]

... had someone that kept calling in almost point blank orbital napalm and tesla turrets

like literally on the extract for example

[quick plinth]

I'm surprised they didn't touch the purifier

[graceful bluff]

They were using the arc shotgun

[quick plinth]

i'm talking about the devs not buffing the purifier

its odd considering the universal meh to bad opinion of it

[honest acorn]

That is odd yeah

Unless other changes indirectly buffed it

[keen zinc]

they forgor 💀

[odd arch]

throwing knives

[glacial light]

They've heard our requests so now throwing knives gets slightly more damage. Also you can now throw Eruptor shells and melee with it. /S

[strange vine]

i assume theyll hit it on the 2nd pass

since theyve established a baseline

we're only halfway through their 60 day plan

[cobalt patrol]

People in general seem very happy

There's a bunch of stuff like the weather changes that are super neat

[ionic holly]

Cant say i am but
ah well, least others are having fun

[odd arch]

I genuinely can't tell when will I be home to test the update

if it's harder but less annoying wooo yeah

[quick plinth]

I mean

I played a couple of 10s

might just be confirmation bias because It did feel easier

but it was also all mostly lvl 100+ players

so it might just be that relatively competent teammates + big buffs to diver equipment and minor nerfs to enemies means its just that much simpler for random teams to do well

but a single like 80% railgun shot should not kill a gunship to the engine

[cobalt patrol]

80% overcharge, or ?

[glacial light]

Doesn't a few HMG shots kill a gunship engine

I didn't think they were supposed to be difficult to take down. Laser cannon iirc can take down 3 using almost a full "magazine" if it's fully cooldowned at start

[strange vine]

yeah

[strange vine]

2 AC shots, 3 AMR shots, and 2-3 seconds of laser fire killed dropship engines

killing an engine with 1 overcharged railgun shot is fine

[quick plinth]

yeah

[strange vine]

weird fucking map

[supple siren]

Well that Thermite buff is hilarious, weather changes are so cool too. But mostly YAY THE FIRE IS PRETTY AGAIN. Could have worked the same I just missed the classic look

[cobalt patrol]

Yeah, 1 railcannon shot downing GUnships seems immintely reaosnble to me, hoenstly

esp if it's 80% overcharged

[supple siren]

Engines hate having big holes blown in them

[hazy oriole]

What i'm really curious about is railgun performance vs factory striders, bile titans and chargers etc

[glacial light]

Automaton aerospace engineers hate this one simple trick!

[cobalt patrol]

Man, is that waht i've been doing wrong with my engines? They keep working when i shot them. it's hate that's missign, got it.

[supple siren]

it works well in 40k it should work here

[glacial light]

Of course I wouldn't expect anything less from the 40k prequel

[hazy oriole]

What kinda breakpoints are we lookin at?

[cobalt patrol]

Ah, it one shots chargers

And fabs.

ANd really fucks up bile titans

[glacial light]

Whoa Thermite kills chargers now?

[cobalt patrol]

It went from 100 damage

to 2000

[glacial light]

I got a new bug grenade now

[cobalt patrol]

You can only carry 3 in return though

[glacial light]

Damn that's wild

[hazy oriole]

How many does it take to kill a bt

[cobalt patrol]

I think 2?

[glacial light]

My supply pack says otherwise

[hazy oriole]

oh MAN, even with engineering kit?

[cobalt patrol]

Nono, it's 3 base

and then supply kit/engineering lets you more

Engineering is just +2

[hazy oriole]

bweghhhhh, odd numberssss....

[glacial light]

Does it still get 2 from ground grenade pickups?

[hazy oriole]

makes sense though, they made it REALLY solid now

[cobalt patrol]

I dont know on that sevens

I havent acutally played yet

this is going off reddit and patch notes etc

[glacial light]

2 would be wild but i'll still use it at 1

[cobalt patrol]

I'm stuck on what i want to play with first XD

[glacial light]

Unless they did an evil thing and make it 1.66 grenades per pickup

[ionic holly]

Happy divin' to the folk here, im probably switching to darktide or something

[supple siren]

So were you like routinely cruising through difficulty 10 this feels like an early decision but i get it i guess

[ionic holly]

Its not like im refunding the game, i'll probably try it again down the line but as it stands its just not the game i personally wanna play is all

[glacial light]

I am excited for Eruptor

[ionic holly]

Happy for those who are enjoying it though

[glacial light]

Shrapnel is back with the direct damage buff intact

[cobalt patrol]

Genuienly @ionic holly have you tried the changes yet?

Like have you actually gone and played them?

[ionic holly]

Yes?

thats the reason why im choosing to bow out in the first place

[glacial light]

helldivers not being able to be 1 shot by sharpnel is a weird nerf for a PvP game

[ionic holly]

Im not trying to doomsay, im genuinely happy other folk are having fun

[supple siren]

They can still headshot kill ya

[ionic holly]

its literally just 'hey not the game i wanted to play anymore' so im just
going elsewhere

[glacial light]

If I could aim well I wouldn't be using the eruptor

And Crisper got buffed? Nice, I already liked it before

[cobalt patrol]

Okay, just curiuous

[supple siren]

oh i meant the shrapnel can headshot

which is up to the whims of fate mostly

[glacial light]

Oh I thought it meant helldivers could not be killed by eruptor with a headshot

[cobalt patrol]

I will point out, very gently though, you've now said the same' This isnt the game i want to play" repetadly, you may not be meaning to doomsay, but it is starting to has the vibe a bit

[glacial light]

Like direct fire headshot

[supple siren]

oh i think a direct hit will definitely explode them still

[ionic holly]

Im just trying to state my intent clearly cause i was pinged.

But yes, happy diving to you all

[sweet surge]

https://x.com/helldivers2/status/1836068347911303502

HELLDIVERS™ 2 (@helldivers2) on X

MAJOR ORDER: The Ministry of Science projects imminent Terminid outbreaks. Now, Super Earth High Command has ordered an evaluation of Helldiver Force Readiness, following recent adjustments to fleetwide capabilities. In service of this evaluation, the Helldivers are ordered to

Twitter · Sep 17, 2024, 3:43 PM

[burnt vapor]

I like the idea of this major order no matter where you’re fighting you’re contributing

[glacial light]

I'd date say take it a step further if you participate in a major order but it fails you get like a participation award

I do love the memes of failing MOs but probably not fun for those that were really wanting new stratagems

[sweet surge]

Wonder how ppl are gonna blame bugdivers again if it fails lol

[stark ether]

[glacial light]

Bugdivers are the reason why I keep dying in space marines 2 when I grapple myself into a hoard accidently

[cobalt patrol]

Vote tyrannid for a better, moraler, hungier galaxy.

[glacial light]

I don't know about moraler

[supple siren]

Yeah the main sort-of-sapient Tyranid is a bit of a hater

[cobalt patrol]

Are you meaning hte Swarmlord, or the HIve Mind?

[supple siren]

Swarmlord

I guess I mean like 'sort of independent', but mostly 'enough to seem to have personality'

[cobalt patrol]

Oh, well, he keeps getting hsit on by the writers

[supple siren]

oh just in terms of morality i mean

s'a jerk

[cobalt patrol]

He's allowed to be a hater when 90% of his job is "Get killed to elevate someone else as a badass"

[glacial light]

The superman effect but not many people are cheering for them

[glacial light]

Oh I read they changed the 500kg's blast radius to match it's visuals which is uh

And gas confuses/blinds enemies which is dang it was already good

Also neat fabs now have HP/armor, you can do it the old way with vent but now you can shoot 2 commandos at it to destroy it

Also extreme heat/cold being day/night dependent on certain planets like desert ones make sense and is just neat

[cobalt patrol]

https://old.rxddit.com/r/Helldivers/comments/1fiwy7g/new_thermite_grenade/

[cobalt patrol]

So they did reduce the damage, but i like what htey've done with gas - it gives it a clear role vs fire

and from what i've seeen of hte visual it literally c auses hunters etc to run around in ap anic

which is awesome

[glacial light]

Honestly that's really neat

It isn't just green DoT cloud vs red DoT cloud

[cobalt patrol]

Yup!

That's basically been the sentiment i've seen online

even from reddit

https://old.rxddit.com/r/Helldivers/comments/1fiwh2e/gas_strikes_confuse_bugs_and_bots/

Example of it in action\

[honest acorn]

That’s good it was weirdly similar in role to fire

[cobalt patrol]

Mhmm!

I'm very happy with the cnageso n paper - everything seems to have sharper roles

but it looks like gamefeel has been improved. Time to go see myself!

Now that i've finally pried myself away from satisfactory

[glacial light]

A good trend, HD2 had like tight knit choices at release and everything had it's own distinct role for the most part and I think that's just good design in general. Assault rifles had some changes for that but I feel like that could use more

[cobalt patrol]

Time to go beat up robots with a loadout i wouldtn use

Previousyl ahve used

we'll see if it's any good!

Okay, railgun vs beserkers and gunships feels awesome now

[glacial light]

Berserkers you say? 👀

[cobalt patrol]

Yeah, it'll just blast them in half

and i took out a factory strider by force feeding it thermites

[oblique lotus]

Anyone tried the railgun against heavies?

I'm pretty concerned about that 6x durable damage increase

[cobalt patrol]

You still need to land your hits

remeber they increased heavies hp too

Right now it's great at hulks if i can get teh vent or the eye

it's great on gunships

any kind of medium enemy it butrchers

but for tanks and striders i'm preferring to stick them with thermites

(Thermits are anti-tank in a can now, it's great)

[strange vine]

berserkers are much weaker now; destroying their waist kills them really quick

shot one with like 5 verdict rounds to the waist and it died

[hazy oriole]

that's nice tbh, means my combo loadout with the commando/railgun paired together still has good use

what im really eager to try rn is how well HMG emplacement does vs chargers

because they were such a problem for it in the past i really wanna see if that's changed

if i can kill a charger from the front with it im deffo must-picking it on bugs

[odd arch]

it's funny how the patch notes said that HMG emplacement damages hulks now when it always melted them

[hazy oriole]

it may just be it can damage the armored non weakspot poitns

though i do agree that that was weird phrasing

[hazy oriole]

was my main stratagem on bots for a while before i got bored and needed to switch things up

for that and the way it shredded devs

https://www.rxddit.com/r/Helldivers/comments/1fiwbqq/bts_die_in_one_flamethrower_tank_to_the_belly/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

this is a little silly but i don't think it should be too overly easy to do

besides more flexible ways to deal with a BT is nice

[cobalt patrol]

Honestly, if it takes a full tank?

that's fine

[quick crown]

yeah

[cobalt patrol]

Like... being under a BT with a flmaethrwor was never a safe option

Ask me how i know!

[quick crown]

A full fucking tank in a swarm is going to be tough

Which is good

[cobalt patrol]

Thermites are feeling great

if you land the stick, that heavy is fucked

but you dstill have to wait

so it's not free

[hazy oriole]

yeah
Im hopeful that thisll make bts a lot less shit to fight

Since before it kinda felt lime you got one limited shot and if it missed or if the bt just shrugged it off (which the fucker would do sometimes) it sucked

[cobalt patrol]

It's a really nice risk/reward thing, you have to get close to stick the thermit

[hazy oriole]

wait railcannon got buffed...does that mean it oneshots bts now...

[cobalt patrol]

They confiremd it does!

(they being devs)

It's still rpefer ops, but if ORC is a garunteed "Delete this BT" that's a very nice thing

[strange vine]

https://fxtwitter.com/HelldiversAlert/status/1836099115987480634

[cobalt patrol]

The dagger is also feeling surpsingly great as a sidearm now

Also the increased damage players take is very noticable

like

Ow.

Lol

[glacial light]

I did see they reduced headshot damage but increased damage taken to everywhere else on a helldiver

Which is mostly where we're shrapnel is gonna hit

[cobalt patrol]

Yeah, it is very noticable we take more damage now

This is actually a harder game now

like noticably

[glacial light]

We've gotten more glass cannon

Stronger weapons but weaker divers

[cobalt patrol]

Yup!

It's interesting

I actually dont know hwot o feel about it, it's am assive shock tot he system

and hoonestly more than my chill andslightyl il lbrain can handle right now

But that's okay!

[supple siren]

We can't be easier to kill than 'armor doesn't actually do anything' release era, yeah?

[cobalt patrol]

I don;'t think we are

but we're def squishier than we were

[glacial light]

Not unless we set spawn rates to 1st week bugged Malevelon Creek defend mission days

[keen zinc]

i like the new balance

[oblique hazel]

god deleting behemoths with the RR feels so satisfying

I definitely feel squishier now, but I think thats a good thing

I was not expecting them to do this good of a job balancing everything

[strange vine]

Yeah im fairly satisfied

[oblique hazel]

I fully expected to feel overpowered getting on today, but the challenge is definitely still there, its just different

[keen zinc]

i hope this puts to rest the idea that wanting to have fun is mutually exclusive with challenge

[unreal merlin]

https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/261216581332238336/1285712009391767644/ladies-and-gentledivers-its-official-v0-b7dubj0gzdpd1.webp?ex=66eb441e&is=66e9f29e&hm=b2153d9fe1298118b2a3b26a40f96de4ef5a397ebd53936d4c48d887d7b51500&=&format=webp&width=876&height=905
The Mood Meter according to my friend-circle.

[strange vine]

new damage values for AT weapons:

Spear: 4000
Recoil: 3200
EAT: 2000
Commando: 1100
Quasar: 2000

[hazy oriole]

wait it oneshots them???

[honest acorn]

What were the old ones?

[oblique hazel]

to the head at least yeah

they didn't fix the issue where chargers will sometimes just eat the rocket and take seemingly no damage, which was especially prominent on spore charges for me today, but otherwise I was one shotting pretty much every charger I came across

I just happened to shoot all the behemoths in the head tho, so I'm not sure if you can blast em anywhere like you can normal chargers

[golden ledge]

WHAT

[tight zephyr]

I kind of like that change.

[golden ledge]

I thought the abdomen was a weak spot!

[oblique hazel]

a lot of people did lol

I think thats why it is now

[glacial light]

What

Are you saying it wasn't this entire time

But also damn 1000 HP? Berkserkers probably lost more health in this nerf than some units have health total

[oblique lotus]

Spear did 1k iirc

[honest acorn]

huh that's pretty big

[strange vine]

@golden ledge @glacial light it was technically a weakspot in the sense that the chest was had 1 armor and durable while the waist didnt have durable, but this is a good change

[cobalt patrol]

Yeah, as i understand it Weak Spot is an actual coded (thing on enemies

Usually i think it indicates an area that has lower hp and the "Fatal" tag

(i.e heads area Weak Spot)

[quick plinth]

new Diligence* CS 2shots them to the waist now

feels pretty good

[graceful bluff]

CS?

[honest acorn]

Counter Sniper I'd guess?

[cobalt patrol]

ALso the palyer count has at least hit up to 93k

which is crazy impressive

[lethal badger]

RAILGUN BUFF

I LOVE THE RAILGUN

[oblique lotus]

something's throwing an error

oh wow HDR is having issues

I swear it is not that bright on my screen

I'm not convinced the railgun is actually better with the increased enemy HP since EATs oneshot BTs and drop every minute and a half

commando twoshots BTs and you get four a drop

increasingly convinced that the blitzer is the ideal bug weapon ngl

[stone bridge]

I mean you're comparing apples to oranges, there

Railgun can be used on smaller things too

[quick plinth]

additionally it handles bascially anything on the bot front (with the exception of tanks and fac striders)

especially now that a somewhat charged shot oneshots gunships and you don't even have to aim for the eye on hulks, Twoshotting to the body with charged shots

[oblique lotus]

yeah that's fair I haven't tried it against bots

[oblique lotus]

unironically the blitzer speaks to god

medium armor pen, really high sustained damage, no downtime ever, don't need to aim

[cobalt patrol]

I think the railgun's na healthy place

Whcioh is to say: it's a swiss army tool that'll be outmsucled by dedicated anti-tank

but makes up for that by being immensly flexible and ease of use

(a 20 round mag that one or multishots everything that's not a tank, factory strider, and i assuem BT/Impaler)

I'm genuinely quite impressed by this patch

[quick plinth]

I really messed up my muscle memory by running peak physique this long, can't run any other armor anymore, everything feels so unresponsive if I do

[graceful bluff]

I really wish you could buy samples with medals

I need so many rares still and people just don't pick up samples anymore

[strange vine]

jesus railcannon strike increased to 7500 damage (from 2000)

[keen zinc]

GOOD

an orbital railcannon should delete whatever it hits

[graceful bluff]

yeah honestly it should just do Yes amounts of damage

just instakill whatever it hits

[quick plinth]

its a some kind of heavy metal rod fired from orbit at whatever unforutunate below, it shouldn't have a limit on damage indeed

[graceful bluff]

or lower the cooldown to be similar to precision strike

railcannon being single target hard to miss while precision strike being aoe would be a good balancing spot

[oblique lotus]

I'm fine with it being a consistent kill

BTs walking it off was annoying

[oblique hazel]

has anyone else noticed that devastator chests glow now?

I think they all got the weakspots zerkers got

[oblique lotus]

not sold on the laser cannon against bugs

It tears apart hive guard and brood commanders but you really need armor cracking

No recoil probably makes it really good on bots though

And I think thermites are better against bots

Interestingly strafe will kill fabs now

And impalers die to laser cannon since they're armor 4

Still don't think its very good because the burn time takes too long and it struggles with chargers but it does hurt BTs and impalers

[oblique hazel]

oh it was already pretty solid on bots for that reason

I had a dude use it for an op I ran to great effect

[oblique lotus]

Yeah I like it against bots

But against bugs "can't kill chargers from the front" is a problem

Also EATs oneshot headshot BTs which is uh a decision

[supple siren]

Yeah BTs go down so easy now if you have any antitank

[graceful bluff]

Gently placing a thermite grenade in the mouth of a BT feels real good

[hazy oriole]

Wonder if this keans it can kill gunship fabs now..

[stone bridge]

<@&1206091872716595200> Ashley and I are lookin for 2 more squaddies :)

[oblique hazel]

I can hop on!

[stone bridge]

[sage plume]

i can after i make food (10 to 20 mins)

[quick plinth]

@sage plume we got a spot

[oblique hazel]

@sage plume thou art summoned

[quick plinth]

a more beautiful sight isn't possible

[graceful bluff]

I understand why you only get 3 thermites but I still feel like it'd be fine with 4

[trail nymph]

Wear an engineer armour you can get 5 and that’s where the fun begins

[graceful bluff]

I just like having more stims so I can waste them on stamina

[tight zephyr]

Played for a couple of hours last night with my friends and the new patch whips ass.

[hexed steeple]

patch pretty fun

they buffed my crossbow even though it already slapped

[hexed steeple]

ashley allegedly joined bugs with bot loadout

[hexed steeple]

looks like autocannon can damage bile titans anywhere now?

[strange vine]

what do you mean struggles with chargers? a single thermite takes care of both behemoths and regular chargers with a single grenade now

and it can 1 shot Bile Titans to the head or 2 to the body

[graceful bluff]

and chargers I think

[hexed steeple]

yea

as i just discovered

thermite charges crazy good now

[oblique lotus]

Takes too long to detonate and too short ranged

[graceful bluff]

You just gently pat them on the head with a thermite charge and then sidestep em

[hexed steeple]

not too concerned with the range

chargers will come to you

[strange vine]

yeah chargers will literally just run up to you and being able to dismiss a charger as guaranteed dead lets you focus on other targets

it means i can take my eruptor + stalwart build on bugs without having to spec for anti-heavy for all of my remaining strats

[oblique lotus]

Sure but an EAT just kills them

[oblique lotus]

Oh this is me talking about the laser

[golden ledge]

So I tried out the spray and pray last night against both boys and bugs and I did quite well with it

[glacial light]

EATs is good, but thermites being utility means you don't have to wait like say with supply pack

You can have both at the same time so it's not like a competition

I do like thermites on bugs cause it means I can bring an ad clear support weapon and still be able to deal with chargers on my own

[uncut hatch]

The problem I have with thermites is for some reason they keep bouncing off of the chargers head instead of sticking for me :(((

[strange vine]

you have to hold it for a second before throwing so the spikes fully extend, makes it more reliable in my experience

[uncut hatch]

Wait what? Really?

[golden ledge]

Wait what

[uncut hatch]

Does it say that in the description of the grenade and I’m just dumb or?

[strange vine]

yeah the spikes extend when you take out the grenade, i find letting it fully extend before throwing makes it stick more often

[golden ledge]

That's good to know

[uncut hatch]

If you never told me that I wouldve never figured that out, i didnt even know there was spikes that extend on it

[tight zephyr]

That is so stupidly detailed but so cool.

[golden ledge]

I was wondering why the grenades were bouncing last night and now I know why

[hexed steeple]

i actually like switching to the grenades (4 by default) for thermites rather than using the quick grenade key for this reason

[strange vine]

You can hold the quick grenade key too

[glacial light]

I played the most recent patch for an extended time today and bugs are actually real nice now, I think like every support weapon can kill heavies, not all efficiently but more feasible now bugs aren't really a AT check

Autocannon and flamethrower can kill bug heavies and even though it's not quickly it's no longer, don't even try unless you want to spend all of your ammo to maybe kill it.

Although killing BT in flamethrower 1-1.5 tanks is pretty nice

Loadouts seem to have gotten a lot more open now more heavies can be hurt by more weapons and aren't like a hard barrier if you want to be able to deal with them yourself

[tight zephyr]

I like how they made us a teeny bit more fragile while making our weapons more powerful generally. It’s really good.

[stone bridge]

Yeah I'm kinda shocked things turned out this well, but props to Arrowhead

[tight zephyr]

Turns out rocket tag is more fun than bullet sponge.

[quick plinth]

the new hulks without the rockets are genuenly more scary

since the heavy laser can basically onehit you if ur wearing light armor

[stone bridge]

Medium armour hype

[oblique lotus]

Democracy protects paying dividends

[tight zephyr]

I've been using the fuck out of the Recoilless Rifle and I think Super Earth is going to take it away from me for being irresponsible.

Earlier I slapped a random Trooper with it just because.

He wasn't even calling in a ship or anything, he just had the temerity to shoot at me and I didn't bother to switch weapons after reloading it and I snap-shotted him in the face.

Just fuck this one guy in particular.

[glacial light]

It's like when the charger gets killed by a teammate and the orbital railcannon guy targets a hunter with a stratagem that probably costs more than a crew members yearly salary

Love the smell of democracy in the morning

[hazy oriole]

that feels like a nice balance between the flamethrower not doing much to them and the charger melter era

[stone bridge]

Yeah, I think it'll take time for some stuff to settle, but a lot of things are in a good place

[cobalt patrol]

Man

i am impressed at this patch

Flamethrwoer into bug 9 ws fun ash ell

very high risk, high reward

<@&1206091872716595200> Warbond's live!

[umbral temple]

the fart update is here

[cobalt patrol]

Smelly smelly

[graceful bluff]

uh oh stinky

[oblique hazel]

gotta say, I'm pretty disappointed with the warbond offerings, at least on paper

we'll see how the gas stratagems play, but getting even less stuff than the last two (ei no booster) for the same price really isn't sitting that great with me

[odd arch]

gas dog with reworked gas sounds wild

[cobalt patrol]

Gas is pretty interesting right now

<@&1206091872716595200> One more?

[quick plinth]

be there in a moment

[graceful bluff]

not entirely sure I like the ide of premium stratagems

oh that's why the stim pistol is worth having, it has almost 30 stims

kinda expected it to use your stims

[unreal merlin]

That's kinda rad tbh. Actually a usable support tool.

[graceful bluff]

if they also apply the stim speed buff it's gonna be real funny

also I give it a day before someone figures out how to shoot yourself with it

[cobalt patrol]

The sterlizer is also very much a supprot weapon

yopu wanna do a quick spray to get everything confused

then swithc off to soemthing else, Torcher seems ideal

gas grenades are actually pretty good?

Crowd control in a can, but a different style - drive shit beserk

i actually think they'd be really good vs bots

pitch em at beserkers or heavy devs and laugh

[odd arch]

gas dog: pocket sand

[odd arch]

stim pistol with supply pack

five. hundred. autoinjectors

[stone bridge]

new Thermites are goated, very good options

[graceful bluff]

Yeah, I just wish you either got 3 back for every grenade pack or you had 4 total

[stone bridge]

I'm fine with it being the worst of both worlds

They're very potent

[graceful bluff]

Yeah it just annoys me that it's not an even number :v

[glacial light]

4 total but each grenade uses 1.333 grenades instead of 1 /s

[heady halo]

instead of grenades it comes as a powder you dispence into your hand with an asbestos glove then light with a lighter and throw

the longer you hold down the button the mpre ppwder you get

more than 2 seconds damages you when you throw it, 5 seconds is your full supply and kills you as you throw it

[glacial light]

That's how I feel about most support weapons now which is great cause feeling helpless in HD2 feels bad cause it has strong power fantasy vibes. At least now if someone auto cannon or flamethrower on bugs they could kill a BT if they're alone like last reinforcement alive instead of just constantly playing chicken on extraction

[graceful bluff]

are you a deadlock dev by any chance

[glacial light]

I didn't play much as I am over PvP but it was fun, wished it was around during Overwatch 1 release

Definitely would have enjoyed it more

[graceful bluff]

it's more that there's several characters that shoot an uneven amount of bullets per shot, while having an even magazine capacity :v

[glacial light]

What about 3 round burst weapons that have an magazine that is even but not divisible by 3

[heady halo]

how about a flechette weapon with variable numbers of flechettes per bullet and a flechette count seperate to a bullet count

[glacial light]

Also hard coded so it will alway use amounts that would result in the bullet count being odd but not divisible by 5

[odd arch]

you get an ammo readout in the form of flechette count

[glacial light]

UI has been replaced with a narrator the updates your ammo count audibly in real time

[quick crown]

"Helldiver numer 2 Needs Ammo Badly"

[glacial light]

Perfect time for EDF voicelines

The bullets stopped coming out!

Have you tried changing the magazine?

Thanks that worked!

[odd arch]

ammo count narrated like a noir novel

[glacial light]

Before you hear about how much health and ammo you have in your magazine our sponsor have something o say

[quick crown]

hd2 mod that adds Kharne kill count to bottom corner of screen for lifetime of game

big blocky red numerals

[oblique lotus]

Ok I am convinced that the blitzer is the best bug primary

It covers so many bases and hits so damn hard

[unreal merlin]

Yeah it's very good at being just a wall of killing, but it does obviously suffer whenever you need to attack anything beyond Close Range.

Shriekers are annoying.

[oblique lotus]

It oneshots shriekers but you need to gauge range

[unreal merlin]

I have good memory of singlehandedly fighting my way through 20 stalkers to get to the nest and blow it up, only possible because of the stagger and not having to reload.

[oblique lotus]

Yeah

The stun effect now is nice but honestly wasnt needed

It already stagger locked enemies, the stun lets you alternate shooting stalkers and other enemies

Also it can oneshot brood commander heads

Which is...a decision

[glacial light]

I agree, blitzer very great on bugs. Struggles against shrikers but orbital gatling good against shriekers

[oblique lotus]

I think if all the bolts go into a stalker head it can oneshot stalkers too but the way they hold their claws up makes that difficult

[strange vine]

this game can be really pretty

[oblique hazel]

I bring the bushwhacker when I run the Blitzer specifically for shriekers, and it works pretty great

Last night I ended up having to fight stalkers, shriekers, and an impaler by myself, and the only reason I survived long enough to take out the stalker nest was the pocket shotgun

[strange vine]

huh, looks like you can eventually kill a shrieker nest with small arms

[odd arch]

old anime scene of a wall being sandblasted by bullets over time

[tall stone]

Yessss

[heady halo]

ghost in the shell time

cw for non secual tacticwl nudity https://youtu.be/mS3PGKUiSco?si=OnbythPFfWGw8Z6T

[keen zinc]

ah

the toggle lock autocannon

[oblique hazel]

I will say the changes have made booster selection feel a lot more important to me now

like, vitality feels pretty required, especially on bots

[oblique hazel]

man actually knowing how to stealth in this game is so satisfying

I just peppered a command bunker to death with OPSs without ever being properly detected

[sweet surge]

The new defense map is very nice

[cobalt patrol]

Which one is that?

Once thing I'm pleasantly surprised by is how all the changes have actually sharpened the role of the weapons.

I was worried about things feeling mushy, soupy - but instead you know when the flamethrower is on the field, because the chaff goes down in flames and then you see them diving out of the way of the now pissed off and on fire charger.

You know when the anti tank hits because they're ducking and weaving the hoard only to send chargers and BT's smashing to the ground, etc.

It's great stuff!

[sweet surge]

https://www.reddit.com/r/Helldivers/comments/1fjr8s2/fyi_there_is_a_new_map_for_rescue_highvalue/

[cobalt patrol]

Oh, interesting looks like they remodeld the old two maps togther

...i still dont likle thosem issions, but that's because i think "Locked in one place ror the neitre mission" doenst work with the game's hitr and run style

Also oh holy shit, Gas affects Bile titans.

[oblique hazel]

I enjoyed them when they first showed up on the bot front, but only on one of the two maps

since then I've been very solidly meh on them

[stone bridge]

gas guard dog sweep

[graceful bluff]

I like it more than the tiny ass defense missions though

those are just a clusterfuck

[cobalt patrol]

My idea to "Fix" the defend high value assets mission would be keep the same basic strucutreo f central base where the evauctions are happening

kleep the tight time limit

but have various otehr points you had to go out and hit to cut off the incoming troops etc

Or activate defences that would create a clear zone etc

(The other problem ofc was spawns being dropped right ontop of you)

[cobalt patrol]

I genuinely wanna do a Sterlizer, Gas dog, Gas strike, Torcher, some kind of punchy grenade (thermites), and probbly taking the grenade pistol.

Not sure what you fill the otehr strat slot with, probably just 500kgs?

[tall stone]

Ops?

[hearty pier]

Never out of place in a loadout

[cobalt patrol]

Yeah, i'm just not ocnvinced it's the right choice - i actually think you need something for base clearing over heavy dleting

and OPS is nice, but it's pretty so-so at base clearing

[hearty pier]

The other standby I just shove in when I don't have a clear requirement to bring these days is the 120mm barrage. It just solves so many problems while still being somewhat regularly available

[oblique lotus]

cluster's always solid

500kg are really good now

if you're going max gas you'll probably need AT

so OPS/railcannon/rockets as appropriate

or 500kg since with the extra callin upgrade you get a surprisingly large number of them

[odd arch]

livens projector let's go

[unreal merlin]

Tried the sterilizer, it's neat but the time-to-kill doesn't do it for me

Gas grenades are nice though

[odd arch]

sterilizer is probably more of a support weapon to pair with an MG or something

[oblique hazel]

yeah its DPS is pretty pitiful

iirc its like, 70 DPS including gas damage

and it doesn't leave clouds of gas on the ground or anything like the flamethrower does with its fire puddles

so I really don't see much point in taking it rn

[strange vine]

yeah my friend and i did a duo bug 7 with them having sterilizer and me having breaker-ie and MMG and we cleaned it up pretty damn well

some notable moments included them using sterlizer to keep chargers off their MG turret

[graceful bluff]

mg turret dog breath is gonna be amazing I feel

[cobalt patrol]

Gas grenades into bots is amazing

The amount of crowd control and confuision they cause

[cobalt patrol]

Yeah, it's 100% a supprot weapon - your job is to spread confusio nand set everything up for getting murked

you can confuse 8anything* up to and including BTs

and i think you probably want gas dog with it?

Or maybe gas dog with flamethrower, or it with laser dog or osmething

dunno!

[unreal merlin]

https://fxtwitter.com/HelldiversAlert/status/1836930210081476764

[cobalt patrol]

Hmm

I think my only issue with the STerlizer right now is it feels like just by taking Gas Strike and Gas Grenades you've got 90% of what it brings

with better flex

[unreal merlin]

both of them have much better range which is my issue with it (aside the low damage). the disorientation is great but you can only apply it to enemies when they're more or less already attacking you in melee

[hazy oriole]

That, and unless im mistaken the clouds from both linger a bit longer, which is great for stuff like bug breaches and just keeping enemies cc'd longer

[glacial light]

I haven't tried it but if you step into a gas cloud what does it to a helldiver besides damage?

[trail nymph]

Anyone up for some diving in about an hour?

[graceful bluff]

blurred vision I think?

[glacial light]

That makes sense, it would have been fun if it turned other helldiver's models into common enemies

[oblique hazel]

"Jen Shriver the Science Diver"

[cobalt patrol]

I have Concerns

[honest acorn]

Hahaha

[tight zephyr]

Death Korps of Krieg ass helmet.

[gritty sundial]

I was thinking Jin-Roh

[tight zephyr]

That too.

[keen zinc]

Bette krieg than we got for Darktide

Imo it's more Krieg than JinRoh with the iconic helmet covering the top of the eyes

[honest acorn]

The red lenses feel very jin roh to me

But its fair to say "kinda both" I think

[cerulean sluice]

yeah

[quick plinth]

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fmir-s3-cdn-cf.behance.net%2Fproject_modules%2F1400%2F653fff10252283.560e1dd24397a.jpg&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=36bc0f97d3c056cd9ecb7f9f8b9bf41a6464d66e9a5e24c65064212dea22ce97&ipo=images

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Ftse1.mm.bing.net%2Fth%3Fid%3DOIP.7sWx1rVTbwzaDNnLCyHhkwHaFV%26pid%3DApi&f=1&ipt=2a28119ae6fffd57d33a26402c8fc7209b1ea0efb8bdc5a50164555bda5a90f4&ipo=images

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Ftse1.mm.bing.net%2Fth%3Fid%3DOIP.gadjjHdztkF85Ol_oEgJcwHaHa%26pid%3DApi&f=1&ipt=673c2c44f80e41fc6541aee6b58a520c430c2bcad79652fdafe06e753c9d6049&ipo=images

could be either as inspiration if you ask me

hell I see a bit of (starwars) stormtrooper in there as well

[cobalt patrol]

I mean, stormtroopers are riffing off WW1 and WW2 jermany shit, so

[tight zephyr]

This is my new favorite helmet.

[cerulean sluice]

yeah at the end of the day the field chemist is a stalhelm in a game already fraught with Starship Troopers Syndrome

[tight zephyr]

Probably best not to examine this too closely.

I shot a dropship with the recoilless rifle and it broke in half and dropped the tank it was carrying on a bunch of Troopers and Scout Striders and I think I had a religious experience.

[unreal merlin]

@tight zephyr

[tight zephyr]

Glorious.

[strange vine]

in an eradicate i shot a dropship, which was blown in half and the front half hit an automaton tower, destroying it and landing right in front of me

it was so fucking cinematic

[tight zephyr]

That's the kind of shit I play this game for. I've never seen another game make you feel like you're in an action movie quite like it.

[strange vine]

there so many times it looks cinematic

[tight zephyr]

Even when I'm running around in difficulty 2 testing weapons out, I encounter cinematic moments.

[lethal badger]

https://youtu.be/WcGJmev2718?si=4Wp3HCGcOwuFQAE8

[glacial light]

EDF but more like cheesy action B movie directed by Michael Bay

Yea just this random technician no one knows can call in an airstrike every minute that's fine

Oh dang they're really good at killing bugs (because of the airstrikes), let's give them more access to airstrikes

Goes to show what you can do with the power of friendship or something

[tight zephyr]

I really wanted to like EDF, but it was way too jank for me.

[glacial light]

You know what that's fair

For me the fun of the classes outweighs the jank

It is a strong power fantasy game in every way, between level city every 10 seconds bomber, legally distinct armored core power suit guy, glassyiest cannon fly, and guy who has an assault rifle with 300 round mag that reloads in 2 seconds

[glad marsh]

EDF was cool until the reality of armor grinding set in for us

[glacial light]

Yea it has a lot of what I would say not fun design choices like armor/weapon pickups. I always get an end mission auto pickup mod cause there's no reason to like let 1 enemy live to pick up loot it adds nothing to the game

[quick plinth]

Arc thrower slows down BTs!

huge!

[glacial light]

How many arc throws does it take to kill a BT

[quick plinth]

idunno, a huge amount probably a solid minute of just arcing them

if it takes like 20 to 30 seconds depending on charger variant

but the fact it slows them to a crawl is huge, it means your friends can line up easily on it

acts kinda like lasso OC for the Lok-1 in DRG

[royal lantern]

What primary weapons do people like to pair with the Recoilless? I'm loving how consistent the AT is with it against bots but find I get jumped by berserkers something fierce

[quick plinth]

you could use the Dilegences, should kill them handily to the torso while also giving you the ability to just snipe dev heads

alternatively you could use the Dominator

[glacial light]

If you're good at aiming i'd agree, med pen means your primary can like kill every bot quick with right angle to weakspot

I haven't switched off eruptor in forever but punisher can stagger berserkers on attack and stun grenades work for stunning berserkers point blank, impacts just one shot

[quick plinth]

this simple edit (form gamerant.com) has told me more than like 3 youtube videos

[honest acorn]

That is a nice clear explanation

[tight zephyr]

The Punisher is my favorite gun.

[cobalt patrol]

If you don't mind the danger close, plasma Punisher is a fantastic botwork horse

[supple siren]

Slugger also solid, lasers surprisingly good if you're headshotty and infinite ammo..

Maybe not the best on berserkers

[graceful bluff]

what's ya'lls favourite primary now

I hear the tenderizer is absolutely amazing now but I don't have that battlepass

[cobalt patrol]

I haven't tried it again, I should. Pp remains great. Scorcher got secretly? Buffed out feels like some sort of laser blaster now or something

Still runs out of ammo fast but pew pew

[hexed steeple]

i love my exploding crossbow for bots

i killed 11 bots with one shot the other day cause the trooper i hit exploded in such a way that the velocity of its body took out the others

[odd arch]

can't believe they updated the game when I'm away from home for an indeterminate amount of time 😔

[graceful bluff]

anyone wanna tag along doing a bit of credit farmin

[tight zephyr]

I've been using it on and off and the boost to its magazine size really elevated it. It's only five more rounds, but it makes a lot of difference.

[golden ledge]

Oh by the way, Free 500kg

[graceful bluff]

...3 bunkers on the same level 1 map

[unreal merlin]

Joel says no.

[golden ledge]

Well I did find the Mythical 100SC stash last night so my bad

[unreal merlin]

Love the ol +100

[graceful bluff]

I still refuse to believe it's real

[odd arch]

I found it once

I mostly find bunkers whenever I try to farm tho

[graceful bluff]

that's why it's always best to duo it

[unreal merlin]

I've had three I think. Very nice.

[tall stone]

I have had 2

[tight zephyr]

I found one once. Coincidentally it was when I was at 900SC, so I guess Arrowhead really wanted me to get Democratic Detonation.

[lethal badger]

Did player count spike?

Due to the patch?

[tall stone]

Yes

[tight zephyr]

Yeah they put fun back in the game, so people are coming back.

[graceful bluff]

I'd say so yes

just a casual more than doubling

[keen zinc]

Can I have the Helldivers role

[steady flame]

It should be in the role bot, but it might not be.

[tall stone]

Carcino-Plague

Absolutely marvelous.

[keen zinc]

I've tried 3 times before and felt like a dingus so I thought I'd just ask

[glacial light]

In the superstate of california the carino-plague could cause cancer

[keen zinc]

4 times

You tricked me

[honest acorn]

Bot ate the roles and they’re not all back yet

[glacial light]

The automatons are rebelling

[keen zinc]

I was deceived into being a four times dingus

[steady flame]

Oh, is that one not in the bot again yet? Awh.

[keen zinc]

[strange vine]

the fucking stim pistol fires the dart at near super sonic speeds

[keen zinc]

And yet it still fails to connect to a man sized target at throwing distance

[tall stone]

Hey, it's fast, not accurate.

[glacial light]

Technically correct

If it's less accurate it means you need to use more stims and that's good for the super economy/s

[hazy oriole]

i wonder if giving the shield emplacement the ability to block melee/prevent enemies from walking in would be unbalanced
i think it'd work out fine and give it extra util on bugs

[tight zephyr]

I'm going to start saying "it's good for the Super Economy" whenever I whiff a really easy shot.

[sinful bay]

Oh! Elaborate?

[glacial light]

I'm not bad at aiming I'm good at stimulating the war machine economy

[tight zephyr]

Enemies are less bullet-spongy, so the game's fun now.

[glacial light]

My missions take 50% more ammo per enemy to complete and that makes jobs

[sinful bay]

oh god finally

[glacial light]

We are also more fragile, everyone is more glass cannon

[sinful bay]

.
wait so-
How the heavy armor is now?

[glacial light]

I think it's better in a sense

Helldiver's take less head damage but more body damage

And heavy armor negates that slightly more so like still more fragile but heavy is less fragile while light and medium are more impacted

I have no numbers to support this I always run heavy medic butcher armor but my crew who never wear heavy armor seem more prone to dying quick

But also balanced by weapons being better and enemies alive shorter to harm you and they've kind of nerfed like the "one shotters" like spewers and now rocket devs so it doesn't seem very noticable that you take more body part damage until berserkers ime

In play I don't think it's very noticeable but feels more fair imo, if I died it's likely cause I didn't kill certain enemies fast enough and left too many alive for too long. Less "random" deaths from like 3 rockets devs sending 30 rockets that ragdoll you and can't do anything until you stand up with barely any health to receive another barrage

[tall stone]

Having a grand time with the new update right now. My friend and I have been on the Bot front, but it's notably easier.

[glad marsh]

we still haven't played the game since the update, but we're glad people seem to be happy with it

[glacial light]

It feels easier to respond while having more options. Like if I died to the pack of berserkers there's now several good anti berserker options like primary snipers. And if I die to many hunters I can bring ad clear support weapons and many now can harm BTs and Chargers enough to damage them for a teammate to finish off or even yourself with time even if it's not great at killing them it's now a viable option

[glad marsh]

anyways, has someone made the "I survived launch Helldive" shirt yet

[glacial light]

Whereas like during one shot spewer prenerd horror time it's like the only way to not be one shot by a spewer shredding your entire health bar in heavy armor was to bring shield pack

[tight zephyr]

Believe me, it's way more fun this way.

[glacial light]

Or like if you wanted to kill a BT with support weapons in the past you needed Spear, RR, EATs, or Commando unless you wanted to spend all of your ammo pinging at it

[hexed steeple]

are the primary snipers any good now

[glacial light]

Diligence is great at bots

[hexed steeple]

pog i'll give it a go

[glacial light]

It's like AMR but primary and if you're good at aiming

Med pen which is good enough to kill every bot to weakspot

Also now one shots berserkers?

[sinful bay]

oh and how the toxic weapons feels?

[sinful bay]

Sounds awesome

[trim breach]

'Meh'

Sprayer is pure CC

[glacial light]

Someone would have to chime in, I just use gas strike which is fun now. The bots can shoot each other and bugs just wander randomly

[trim breach]

The downside is if you're in PUGs and nobody is there to take advantage of said CC, it's pretty useless.

[glacial light]

For a bit

[trim breach]

Gas strike and gas grenades seem like a much safer choice

Given they give you the same effect without having to get in flamethrower range.

I haven't unlocked the guard dog yet, but i think it would actually be a good investment if you're running something with a lot of AOE or rapid fire potential

[glacial light]

I've never thought to try it and don't play bugs a lot but does gas strike confusion affect chargers and BT?

[trim breach]

Yes

As long as there are other things around it for it to aggro on

[glacial light]

Oh damn I will be striking them more often I usually gas strike the ads then deal with heavies separately and never thought to throw one on them cause the damage is not huge

[trim breach]

It seems to take more or be less reliable?

But I've seen it happen

[glacial light]

Ah ok so still best to save gas for a breach

[trim breach]

Or bug clumps

[unreal merlin]

it still will make them wander off course instead of chasing you even with no nearby enemies

[trim breach]

Gas on a breach has less killing power than it used to, but it'll still basically lock it down until it dissipates.

My group, meanwhile has been happily killing eachother with napalm barrages.

[unreal merlin]

understandable, napalm barrage is very enjoyable

[tall stone]

Gas Strike is a delight now, even more so than before.

[glacial light]

Tell your team to put on yheir firefighting armor and just throw orbital napalms on your position while using torcher, crisper, flamethrower, and incendiary impacts

We're turning all planets into hellmire

Bugs on your teammates? Spray them with torcher and believe in the democratic power of super asbestos while the bugs crisp up

The friendly fire is, squad

Although what if I did bring that to bugs with shield pack and just set fire to everything including myself. I haven't tested how much damage you'd take if you threw incendiary impacts at your feet and stand in it with fire armor on

[tight zephyr]

The napalm strike is WAY bigger than I expect it to be every time.

[cobalt patrol]

Pretty much all my bug deaths have been:

-failed to dodge charger
-failed to kill warriors and 3 of them got on me at the same time
-bile titan got pissy and vomited on spore charger, killing me with the spore charger explosion

It's absolutely more fair. I haven't actually been killed by hunters yet I don't think

And it's hard to feel bad about dying when three warriors melee me all at the same time

Like yeah no shit I'm dead there

[glacial light]

A lot of deaths now do feel like, yea that was on me I could have done something different and reasonably avoid that without being an MLG instant twitch champion

[supple siren]

Turns out Spore Chargers are really great at carrying Thermites right to your friends and exploding

[glacial light]

Spore chargers idk surprisingly I haven't really seen one alive for long to deal with one. I hear spore chargers and it's dead from 3 OPS cause my crew is afraid of what it does that we don't know cause we immediately kill it

No opinion on them

Yet

[cobalt patrol]

Spore chargers are hilarious now. Their death explosion is very lethal

[glacial light]

I do be seeing those explosions and guessing I would probably not survive being close to one

[supple siren]

Tore right through a damn bubble shield

[glacial light]

Damn ok

But did you survive?

[supple siren]

Oh I was fine it ran right past me into a friend

Melted 'em

[cobalt patrol]

I melted a spore charger with the flamethrower the other day

and it took out the poorteamamte 😦

I apolgiozed immediately, they laughed ito ff thankfully

[strange vine]

its more for a CC build, it isn't as killy but youll really crowd control bugs to allow your more heavily damaging friends with MG or Flamer to mop them up really good. With the gas thrower you wanna spray it around a lot because the status builds up fast on bugs

definitely not for everyone but my friend who's despised bugs has really enjoyed bugs now that they have the sterilizer

[tall stone]

Seems like the Sterilizer would be good to pair with a doggo.

[quick plinth]

Now all I'm hoping for is that we get difficulty 12, since we were doing it in increments of 3

[cobalt patrol]

That's my thinking yeah.

My personal theory is you go Sterlizier, Torcher, and a dog of choice

probably with thermite grenades and a grenade pistol

[tight zephyr]

Man the thermite grenades fuck now.

[cobalt patrol]

I really like them, tehy seem like a really interesting choice

"Delete this heavy, but you have to land the throw ANd you have to wait for hte grenade to go off"

is a good tradeoff

[trim breach]

How does Gas work against bots? Has anybody tried it?

[strange vine]

same as bugs; makes them walk and shoot wildly

[oblique hazel]

do eradicates feel way easier to y'all post patch?

just finished one up with what felt like half the spawns it was supposed to have

[glacial light]

It does feel easier, we've just got so many ways to kill fast between stratagem and weapon buffs and enemy nerfs

Like bot drop or breach happens and we clear it instantly by dropping stratagems on them and camping the survivors if everyone takes like a quarter of the map

[stone bridge]

I mean good honestly

They were absurd before

[supple siren]

They might be overnerfed, went through one that didn't spawn enough bots until the timer actually ended

[royal lantern]

Honestly I think at higher tiers it's still reasonably difficult, at least depending on the spawns

[cobalt patrol]

It's very good

It has a bit of a smoke effect, but the chaos it causes is the real appeal

[graceful bluff]

hitting it on a hulk will just decimate the surrounding area for you

genuinely think gas is why they removed hulk rockets

[cobalt patrol]

Grgghf.,

I am very very annoyed at team mates who take Health when you ask for it

and then swithc it at the last moment

for blodoy fucking muscle reiinfrocement

You can s urvive 3 hits form a warrior with Health booster, without 2 kill you >.<

[cobalt patrol]

long drawn out sigh

Well

At least i kill bugs REAL GOOD

Also oof, 3 accidentals, i dont know how i got those

i'm guessing gas and 500kgs

which uh, wellm istakes were made

[cobalt patrol]

On a different, more postive note?

whoever said the Tenderizer was amaizng now?
Holy shit you were not kididng

it's awesome

[tight zephyr]

It’s great!

I just realized I haven’t fought the bugs at all since the new patch. I should do that, probably.

[cobalt patrol]

Well, my next mission i came out with nearly 700 kills, but this time it was al ot more equitable - my teamates werent anywhere near as killy as me, but did the heavy lifting on objectives

while i did the KILL EVERYTHING THAT LOOKS AT THEM FUNNY

Anyway, re game design, the latest patch really feels like things are ona gradient\

which is nice

Like hcargers aen toaicbly harder to kil than they used to be with the flamethrower BUT i can still take one out even when i'm being charged

[glacial light]

Tenderizer?

Wild

Have to try now

Damn I didn't realize they beefed up the base damage of it so much

Or I just never looked in the first place

[tight zephyr]

Brought along the machine gun for bots and while I still really like it, I felt naked without my beloved recoilless rifle.

I should probably get around to actually fighting bugs again. How's the primary flamethrower now?

[quick plinth]

recoilless still feels kinda clunky to me with the reload.

spear, sure, I can deal with that, but somehow the RR doesnt get that pass despite the similar solo reload timing

[graceful bluff]

Once you get used to spacing out the reloads it becomes a lot less clunky

it has what, three stages of the reload? that saves as long as you did it before canceling it

[glacial light]

Like regular machine gun, stalward, or heavy? Very different experiences

[glacial light]

Didn't they change the stages so it's less convenient to do staged reloads or did they make RR reload animation faster I forget

[tight zephyr]

Standard machine gun.

[glacial light]

RR really becomes id say the best AT if you've got 2 people using it cause you can team reload each other while being able to use your own independently and the team loaded RR has always been just the best burst AT since launch

[graceful bluff]

they made it faster

[tight zephyr]

It's good! It's really good, but I missed having the ability to blap towers.

[odd arch]

helltech: drop the RR backpack on the ground, equip jetpack, jump, pick up RR backpack mid flight, reload in the air

(probably won't work but funny thought)

[glacial light]

That's fair, I usually would only bring heavy MG cause it can just like kill every thing on bots if you're positioned right

And slap gunships

[glacial light]

Put the jump jets on your boots so you can have a backpack

Dark fluid jump jets were so good

Especially the friendly fire

[tight zephyr]

I don't like the HMG's recoil.

I find it a little too unwieldy for how I play.

Amazing all-round weapon, just not for me.

[glacial light]

I kind of say that unironically team my crew only had to be jet blasted a few times to learn, do not be around me ever just in general. And that helps with them like not walk in front of my whole shooting they're new to friendly fire and line of sight in games still

[tight zephyr]

"Line of sight games?"

[glacial light]

That's fair, I treat HMG more like a burst fire stationary AT and it's good at that but rough otherwise if you don't got recoil armor

[odd arch]

HMG tends to need so few shots on anything I need dead that the recoil doesn't have time to materialize

on bots that is

[glacial light]

Where line of sight matters like don't walk in front of someone shooting a gun cause there is friendly fire which many games there isn't so it's fine just walking close to an enemy that someone else is actively shooting and getting in the way cause their bullets will fly through you to the enmy

Yea HMG kills gunships and hulks in like 3-5 bullets so you rarely need anything more than a burst if you use it as AT

And iirc one shots light enemies to body? It's been a long while

[tall stone]

It does indeed one-shot light enemies.

[tight zephyr]

Ah, my game crashed. Cool.

I think if I'm gonna bring the MMG to bugs, I need the thermite grenades to make Chargers fuck off. Bringing gas was effective, but I already have too much crowd clearing between the MMG and Punisher.

[glacial light]

Oh bugs right yea I probably would choose MMG or Stalwart

[tight zephyr]

The bugs are less annoying now, at least.

[glacial light]

Although did they change charger armor now, so HMG can hurt chargers effectively?

I'm guessing yes for BT bellies

[sour whale]

yeah, HMGs can handle chargers pretty well if you focus a leg

[tight zephyr]

How's the primary flamethrower these days?

[glacial light]

Honestly a great change. Chargers were always a big pain point for bugs for me cause if you didn't have hard counter ATs for chargers you'd have to ping away at its butt wasting several magazines, which is ig doable until you have multiple breaches and by the time you kill 1 charger 3 have spawned

And now you don't need to change a load out for one specific common enemy

[glacial light]

Ime, it's good if you're wearing either shield pack and fire resist armor or stim armor. Although at that point why not use flamethrower the support weapon but it is a decent option if you want a different support weapon

The magazine for torcher is like 75 compared to flamethrowers 100 and for regular ads it seems to kill them just as quick

But also the dot damage still hurts a lot

[tight zephyr]

I feel like it'd synergize well with the Stalwart or MMG.

[tall stone]

I'd pick up an AT with it myself.

[glacial light]

Either forever backpedal or bring shield pack or stims to deal with setting yourself on fire which imo, is a lot of work for a primary. Id rather use something else for ad clear that doesn't need an extra option to not kill me for using it

Although it's pretty great at ad clear if you spec into using it safely. You wouldn't really need a stalwart

[tight zephyr]

The recoilless rifle uses a backpack slot, so I'd probably nix the shield pack.

[glacial light]

Range is I think pretty close to flamethrower so you can like spray it further than it seems at an arc and let the ground fire kill light bugs before they get to use very ammo efficently

That's an ideal circumstance that kind of really works on the defensive and you can wait for them to come to you at a distance but you could kill easily 50 bugs with 1 mag by like just dribbling ground fire and backpedal and letting dot tick down.

It feels good though

[tall stone]

I'd be tempted to pair it with a Quasar perhaps.

Maybe Laser Cannon?

[tight zephyr]

I don't like the Quasar, personally. But I'm also weirdly picky about charge weapons.

[tall stone]

Because of how often I go off on my own on missions to gather samples, super credits, and more, I prefer the relative self-sufficiency available thanks to the Quasar.

[glacial light]

Quasar still good but charge time is a peeve for me on bugs since they get close fast and that charge time is sort of a deal for chargers

[tight zephyr]

I rely heavily on snap-shots, so the Quasar doesn't play nice with me.

[glacial light]

RR would be ideal if I had a team loader cause damn that thing readies quick

[tall stone]

I love being able to line things up.

Also it's just cool to stand fast as the charger approaches and then nail it in the head.

[glacial light]

Reloading RR while dealing with multiple chargers or BT is a pain

[tight zephyr]

The RR has a nice point-and-click interface.

[glacial light]

I still use Commando even if EATs is normally better. I've been burned a lot by leaving my 2nd eats behind while on the move towards an objective with chargers on tail but like not far enough away from the objective where they'll leave us alone eventually

A personal pet peeve I've come into a lot oddly

[tight zephyr]

You get more longevity out of the Commando, I feel.

[stone bridge]

Tbh I think that's why the Commando is bad lol

EATs are legitimately disposable but you need to lug the Commando around in lieu of a real support weapon

[tight zephyr]

Oh?

[tall stone]

I agree there.

The Commando is nice for extra base demolition (Especially for Bots)

But it's a longer wait between those four shots.

[graceful bluff]

The commando nerf hit it a lot harder than people thought

[tall stone]

Eh, it still performs fine.

[graceful bluff]

yeah, there's just better options now

[tall stone]

I just like EATs more.

I have always liked EATs more.

[stray tide]

The EAT should be shot for shot better given that they’re basically consumables

[tall stone]

Flaming Hellpods + Eats is just glorious.

[stone bridge]

waow

:D

[keen zinc]

so like plasma guns in warhammer games

[glacial light]

I like commando more for bots, it takes the same shots to kill as EATs for most enemies so it's just more AT

Even without the 1 shot buildings

Also I saw you could hold down ping to have your helldiver say negative in response to someone's elses ping

And if you hold down ping at a satellite terminal you call out what direction the satellite goes for another person

That seems very useful in micless pub games

[glacial light]

I treat it the same as EATs, if commando is off cool down and I have 1 or 2 rockets I throw them away

And call in a new one

[tight zephyr]

Gas kind of rules.

[tight zephyr]

I really wish I'd have been able to play when Malevelon Creek was a thing. I feel like I missed out on something really special.

[glad marsh]

Is it gone from the game or can it just not be played on right now?

[tight zephyr]

It can't be played on and has been under Super Earth control since before I started playing in May.

[glacial light]

Malevelon Creek outside of the first like 2 weeks wasn't that bad once they removed the very overtuned defense mission

[tight zephyr]

I don't mean the difficulty, I just mean the whole... thing around it.

[glacial light]

But it was extremely difficult on that one defense mission at a time we we're definitely weaker with wors weapons and stratagems and armor was glitched so 0 armor

[tight zephyr]

I just mean that I feel like I missed out on the most excitement I've seen for a single event in this game.

Except maybe the time we saved the children and successfully kept AT mines out of our hands.

[glacial light]

Single event? When they did the MO that basically claimed the creek just permanently so far?

[tight zephyr]

Yeah.

Either way, I like the new changes to gas and the bugs are more managable now. I had fun on the bug front for the first time in a long time.

[unreal merlin]

I do miss the Creek environment of permanent twilight. Very cool space Vietnam

It's good that it concluded though, otherwise if it were permanently available it just wouldn't be special

[glacial light]

Don't we have jungle planets since then?

[unreal merlin]

They don't compare to the atmosphere of the creek tbh

The ever present blue night lighting dotted and streaked with orange fires and red automaton blasters.

It had a cool balance of very open unobstructed terrain and hills with occasional tropical forests instead of the current jungles which are dominated by huge numbers of trees

[glad marsh]

Big clearings with decently sized patches of forest were a blast to run through

[glacial light]

Cover, is this a concept i'm barraging too much to understand

I did love clearing a whole area from a walking barrage and having trees for cover but destroyed all the bot cover near a barrage

And back when rocket devs were like real deadly the trees taht could be destroyed by stratagem but not bots was great

[cobalt patrol]

Argh

this is driving me nuts

epopele just wont take helath b ooster

[oblique hazel]

oh god yeah

I've been so frustrated by that recently, its so important since the update

I'm at a point where I just won't join pub games with bad booster loadouts, and I'll kick people who bring shitty boosters to games I'm hosting

I just refuse to deal with people who think flexible reinforcement budget or firebomb hellpods are a good idea anymore

[quick crown]

Ya'll are like playing max difficulty right?

[odd arch]

how are the firebomb hellpods btw

[oblique hazel]

they're good at teamkilling, and imo not much else

[oblique hazel]

I play 7s and 8s pretty exclusively, so not quite max, but definitely hard enough to require some optimization

[quick crown]

I mean i play on 7 and its not like, kick worthy i feel but thats just my opinion i know

[odd arch]

is it an explosion or lingering flames? how's the radius?

[quick crown]

I feel like the only NEEDED one is space optimization

Everything else can be played around

[odd arch]

things like flexible reinforcement are like stuff I argue about all the time in like, deep rock and vermintide
it's planning for failure instead of taking something that will prevent it in the same slot

[oblique hazel]

I'm just so done with it. I'm fine with people running whatever loadouts they want, but boosters effect the whole team

[quick crown]

I dont disagree with that

But telling people to change their stuff that they bring feels like way to much

[oblique hazel]

I haven't paid too close attention, but iirc its an explosion that ignites enemies but doesn't leave any lingering flame

[quick crown]

I dont play pubs though so my opinion doesnt matter fully

[oblique hazel]

the radius is pretty big iirc, but the damage is not, which is part of the issue

they're very likely to kill a diver with both the explosion damage and the fire, and have a wide radius to do it, but otherwise they only really clear the weakest chaff

[oblique hazel]

I mean yeah if I'm loading up with people on a call that I can actually coordinate with its not a problem

but if a pub loads up to a bot mission with motivational shocks, especially someone high level, I just can't really trust that they actually know what they're doing, and I don't care enough anymore to let them stay in my games

[oblique lotus]

hilariously awful

they are basically only effective against scavengers and helldivers

[odd arch]

two biggest threats to helldivers

[quick plinth]

people taking at best 4 more reinforcements or 20 seconds off when we're about to lose anyway is just, how do you think that's better than a permanent boost to our stats???

[hazy oriole]

what';s the current mo rn?

[hearty pier]

Take more planets than we lose. Currently tied up but we have a planet that should complete tomorrow

[oblique hazel]

exactly

and like, I'm perfectly fine if someone wants to run the more niche boosters that are at least somewhat helpful, like UAV or Localization

just for the love of god please bring one thats actually gonna do something for the whole mission

[cobalt patrol]

Yeah. It's very frustrating

normalyl i used ot take health booster

but i really want Experimetnal infusions as well

and everyone can have Health, not everoyne can have EIF...

[quick plinth]

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/543283665879302144/1287732982794424372/rapidsave.com_dive_forest_dive-ew3ohzdkadqd1.mov?ex=66f29e4c&is=66f14ccc&hm=6bfe2c2004737cb0ba629ee14eee9b55b280ffc849324989acca798c690b9bc7&

[strange vine]

https://www.rxddit.com/r/Helldivers/comments/1fnd9a2/holy_shit/

[cobalt patrol]

I saw that!

It was sick as hell

@stone bridge @hexed steeple https://old.reddit.com/r/Helldivers/comments/1fneq3z/recoilles_rifle_enjoyers_attention_please/

[hexed steeple]

[odd arch]

but which falling animation looks funnier

[cobalt patrol]

I think "Snapped it in half, killing all occupents" sounds funnier

[hexed steeple]

maybe autocannon and missile turrets + 2 or so RRs is a legit exterminate bot mission strat now

[glacial light]

Oh missile turrets my beloved, I do like throwing them while heading towards an objective is pretty great at covering your tail against any mobile bot short of a factory strider

[strange vine]

Rocket turret is lowkey fantastic

Honestly it can solo a factory strider too as long as the cannon doesnt kill it

[hexed steeple]

just gotta pray it never pays attention tot he turret ig

[tall stone]

Get enough "Hey, hey! Look at me!" antics going, and that's possible.

[cobalt patrol]

Gas helps al ot here too

just throw it liberally around and you've got your CC in a can

[supple siren]

I've been enjoying Gas Grenades on bugs, great for throwing directly down during a chase

[cobalt patrol]

Gas vs bots is so funny

Thro iti nto a dev pack and watch them flip out

[glacial light]

Yea factory striders are good turret instagibbers

I don't have any turret HP upgrades though

That's fine though I usually use them to cover my tail against long ranged enemies on the move, or I am not moving then the turrets to last long enough for an objective to finish and bounce

[hazy oriole]

does this work on bigger payloads like factory striders and tanks?

[quick plinth]

would it be so difficult for arrowhead to give us a lobby browser?

[oblique hazel]

god please

[glacial light]

Immersion, it's not lore accurate for Super Earth to have hardware for lobbies you just got to eye an IFF

[glacial light]

Has Arrowhead made a game with a good public lobby system before. I never even checked if Magicka had public lobbies

I'll excuse them a bit if that's true, although payday had a great and robust lobby system with many filters in payday 2 and last I checked 3 just had super basic matchmaking for difficulty and level

[graceful bluff]

Or at least let us skip the five billion mini cutscenes you have to deal with

[tall stone]

The cutscenes are for loading.

[glacial light]

That'd be nice

[tall stone]

It's the mini cutscenes or a loading screen.

[graceful bluff]

I mean more stuff like the return to ship cutscenes etc

which they should be able to make seamless if they can make host migration seamless

[quick plinth]

my issue is the fact that if I leave or someone else leaves I'm forced to run all the way to the damn mission termnial again

additionally, the system of having to click on little bubbles on the map if you wanna join a lobby on a planet rather than matchmaking and being dropped into whatever

I don't see how it would be immersion breaking to just have a prompt that opens a lobby search screen once you are at the terminal and have selected a planet

if I had to keep one mod in my DRG list it would be the one that has allowed me to bind all the menus on the rig to the keyboard