Helldivers 2: For Managed Democracy!

[glad marsh]

This sorta reads like we're gonna have missions with more HD1 DNA in them

Which I think I approve of?

[blissful sparrow]

now they just need to finally add my beloved HD1 APC

[glad marsh]

I'd like the mechs to get their stratagem launchers back

Also lumberer please

Bastion would be nice too..

[south temple]

the new DMR is fire

with the armor and suppressor buffs you can do a lot without getting detected

[graceful bluff]

Especially once you level it up

it gets a 30 round mag later

[ionic holly]

Oh i love the censor, its exactly what i wanted

need this bad though

20 rounds works dont get me wrong, but i would love more

[south temple]

i’m really curious to see how the C4 pack feels

[strange vine]

suppressor also has mag customization

[strange vine]

from what dataminers have tried out months ago its pretty powerful, if a tad awkward with the mode switching, but given we got bindable mode switching now it should be easier

[south temple]

word

it might get me to switch off the supply pack for fun alone

[odd arch]

bit of a bummer it's a pack and weapon combo

[idle hollow]

On one hand I wish it was a grenade on the other hand EXPLOSIVES PLACED

https://tenor.com/view/deep-rock-galactic-die-death-murder-friendly-fire-gif-27571706

[cobalt patrol]

Commando missions are neat

I'm not sure bringing an exosuit qualifies as stelathy

but it worked!

[idle hollow]

it works for venom snake

it works for you

[odd arch]

I wonder if stealth armour applies to the mech

[oblique lotus]

how does the commando stuff work?

[steady flame]

Well, I have to say, it's terrifying but it's exhilarating and fun.

Interestingly, it seems that the Deploy Super Destroyer strategem is per-player.

[blissful sparrow]

well, it does say that

[steady flame]

< I thought it was once and it summoned them all because I was skimming because it goes quick.

[cobalt patrol]

You don't have acess to the super destroyer, unless you use a specific strat to call it in, and oyu only get 4 uses. This means very limited reinforcements, no resupply pod, no strats.

So it's best o bring stuff that you can maximize the useage of without the SD around - exosuits, supply pack, etc

[graceful bluff]

oh my god this has made the smoke booster go from nice to have to a must have for me

it makes smoke when you call down a hellbomb

[odd arch]

how do sentries behave in smoke pods?

doesn't the smoke blind them too?

[graceful bluff]

they fire normally iirc

[graceful bluff]

<@&1206091872716595200> Anyone up for being sneaky

[agile fable]

just tried my first commando mission

did not realize that this was a ghostdiver type thing

i won but ow

[graceful bluff]

supply pack and dynamite is incredibly good on it

being able to throw 60 second fuse grenades at objectives so you'll be no where near them when they go off is so nice

[weary granite]

Commando missions are the new stealth type missions right?

[graceful bluff]

yeah

and you get two chances to call stuff in

[weary granite]

Did they alter the detection system?

[graceful bluff]

60 seconds at the start, and once more at the time of your choosing

once

[weary granite]

Oh that is interesting. Different from a regular mission.

[graceful bluff]

you also need to go find your respawns

they buried a bunch of helldivers across the mission area

[strange vine]

Its one use per player.

[graceful bluff]

It only lets you use it too, not the entire team

[weary granite]

Sounds very interesting

[glacial light]

Expendable HMG and it'd be happy as I can be

[rapid plover]

important

[glacial light]

The democracy is stored in the

[odd arch]

I had an evil thought while looking at this

"this machine kills fascists" womb tattoo

[strange vine]

also verdict on c4 from 1 mission with it:

1. needs demo 40
2. its really fun, one shots hulks and war striders (and presumably tanks)

[verbal summit]

I should take my time today to grind the uh 550sc I need for the warbond

Oh wait no I bought some stuff from the super store

Now I need like 1k again

[unreal merlin]

Grand Errant (bugs) is the place to do it

[verbal summit]

Yea

[glacial light]

Huh thats cool, it would make a reallly nice AT option if you run like say Stalwart

[spare verge]

sounds very useful for those recording missions since your support slot is taken up by the camera

[cobalt patrol]

hMM

Not a huge fan of the Censor, isnt quite punchy enough, but seems like it'll be good o bnteh bot front for headpopping

on squid front it does have the benny of beign a very good shield popper due to it's rof

[graceful bluff]

you can bodyshot the small bots with the censor for a oneshot, seems plenty punchy to me

[lethal delta]

Wow, that's good

[south temple]

it’s so fun

i love crawling around in the jungle and popping trooper heads

[strange vine]

@spare verge It takes up both support weapon and backpack so you cant

[spare verge]

ah

[glacial light]

Oh interesting

So is the big perk of it you don't need to reload? You just chuck it from the bag

[graceful bluff]

Big perk is that it's slightly more ammo efficient only in the case where you have someone following you around with a supply backpack

over just doing dynamite+supply backpack

but dynamite+supply backpack+quasar is just so much better lmao

[glacial light]

If it takes a backpack and support id compare it to say recoiless rifle or the other backpack AT

[graceful bluff]

dynamite+supply backpack is roughly the same role though

allows you to stealthily set an entire objective to explode

[glacial light]

C4 is AT 7

It can kill heavies quite readily

But also if it's a throwable I think I found my calling of the servo arms armor.

Yeet c4 into the next zip code

[graceful bluff]

for using it as a direct combat weapon like that yeah it's fighting against the RR

But even then, the RR has one less charge, and I'm not sure c4 gets replenished with regular ammo packs like the RR?

[strange vine]

it does

[glacial light]

How much does it refill on a ground pickup

If it doesn't need to be reloaded I might just actually bring it over RR since I never do buddy reloads

Assuming pickups have good ammo economy, also I'd get enough SC to buy the war bond

[strange vine]

1 c4 per ammo pack

[glacial light]

Damn that doesnt seem like a lot

[dark plover]

It still gets full refill from upgraded resupply right?

[strange vine]

yes, and refills 3 from a resupply pack

[dark plover]

Kinda tempting to try running both C4 and dynamite and just go full demo man.

[supple siren]

Everything Explodes Now build always welcomes new options

They can't get close to you in pieces etc

[dark plover]

Eruptor, nade pistol/ultimatum, C4, dynamite

[supple siren]

Martyr Armor

[dark plover]

Now we're talkin'

[odd arch]

when I get home I'll try to devise some test setup to see if stealth armour applies to mechs

because considering how videogames are made it very well might

and might be Funny

[supple siren]

I do feel like the new missions kind of expect you to have c4

[glacial light]

Oh dont worry its just a mech walking around, I dont see a helldiver using it were good

I would not be surprised if stealth works on mechs cause enemies deprioritize mechs without helldivers in it.

And enemies normally target the helldiver inside the mech rather than the mech itself when in use

[dusty spruce]

https://www.tiktok.com/@venomousorange89/video/7598312011063135510

I think I need the C4

[odd arch]

WITH A HAIL OF HARPOONS

[glacial light]

The hellbomb catapult one shots leviathan

[verbal summit]

WHITE WHALE, HOLY GRAIL!!!

Idk the song at all I only know it from that shitty meme

It's so dumb I love it

[glacial light]

Eats encampment isn't the most useful thing to bring on illuminate but it feels great if you just one shot a leviathan and every one is so very confused at how it died so fast

[odd arch]

it's not my preferred method because it's far from one shot and the levi can blow up the encampment with minor splash damage

and stumbling out of your gaming chair instakills you apparently

I need a stratagem that lets me ram the levi with my superdestroyer

[dark plover]

WITH EVERY LAST DROP OF MY BEING

[glacial light]

Did you try using the eats encampment to yeet a portable hellbomb on it

[odd arch]

oh like that

[glacial light]

https://www.rxddit.com/r/Helldivers/comments/1kvlpm9/hellbomb_trebuchet_leviathan/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=mweb3x&utm_name=mweb3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

Probably the least convenient and most error prone way to it but you can

[odd arch]

I've experimented with flinging other things but I don't remember what my conclusions were

most equipment is flingable I guess

[cobalt patrol]

I was meaning in squids, it's not punchy enough there. Great for bots though

[glacial light]

Do they one shot fleshmobs

I might actually bring C4 for fleshmobs and leviathans along hordes and ships

My servo arm days are coming back

Once again I am impulse buying a war bond for one thing. While I like AT backpack weapons I hate stationary reloads and being slow charging up a shot

[strange vine]

yes

[unreal merlin]

C4 is 2000 explosive damage of AP7. Fleshmobs have 5000 unarmored hp, but "upper head flesh chunks" (6 total) transfer 150% damage to the main health pool so it probably pops those and it adds up

other bodyparts taking damage too and such

[glacial light]

Im not a fan of new missions as someone who often has the highest stratagem use spamming commandos and low cooldown , guess no quickplay on bot planets for me for now. I kind of just bring supply pack, quasar, mech, and not sure what to do for 4th slot besides like laser

[stone bridge]

just bring the laser yeah

you gotta take it slow and engage with the mission for what it is

its not run and gun

[glacial light]

Unfortunate I like to run and gun

Im just avoiding it, its like the opposite of what I find fun in hd2

Its also oddly quite laggy

Tanks my frames and I have a very beefy setup and usually never had fps drops

[strange vine]

its prolly the biome

[unreal merlin]

Quasar is unsurprisingly perfect for Commando missions. I actually don't like it, because the usable stratagem pool is already so slim that there's little reason not to bring an infinite ammo long-ranged fabricator-popper. Not unless you're successfully doing stealth things but my experiences with that in groups has been fairly awful.

Overall I really enjoy the missions though.

[agile fable]

finally a reason for me to get the quasarinstead of keeping the laser cannon

[unreal merlin]

Stars of the loadout menu, in no particular order:

• suppressed weapons (obviously)
• stealth armor (obviously)
• supply pack
• quasar cannon
• orbital laser (you drop in near a fortress or something and throw it immediately before the destroyer leaves)
• AT Emplacement (you drop along a convoy walk route and call it in before the destroyer leaves)
• HMG emplacement (you drop in on the extraction zone and call it in before the destroyer leaves)
• explosive weapons (crossbow, eruptor, grenade pistol, etc. for killing fabricators)
• dynamite grenade (1 minute timer, drop one each at a bunch of fabricators quietly and then leave)
• C4 (similar to dynamite but not timer, also if you're patient you can c4 the entire map at once)

AMR works good, too. Certainly some people using grenade or throw distance armors as well.

[agile fable]

i tried out the amr

not a fan

[unreal merlin]

The hardest part of playing with randoms is convincing them to not be so aggro. They still harbor the killing urge to fight everything even though they lack the usual tools.

[agile fable]

the call of democracy. these people need some humbling.

[unreal merlin]

I just let them do their thing while silently dismantling the bases with objectives for em.

[agile fable]

Model-HDM-013, Going Ghost

[verbal summit]

I still think this is my best clip ever

[strange vine]

The trick with the AMR is that its actually a really good close quarters/mid ranged heavy pen weapon

[verbal summit]

True

I'm thinking about a joke a friend made about my behaviour at extraction

[agile fable]

what was it?

[verbal summit]

Este said this about me and another friend at extraction yesterday or the day before.

https://tenor.com/view/blue-lock-blue-lock-rivals-forget-about-soccer-its-time-to-kill-eachother-blue-lock-manga-gif-7995493964329279686

I love this panel it's so stupid

[agile fable]

blue lock is so unbelievably stupid

[verbal summit]

It's just soccer oh my god it's not that deep😭

[agile fable]

it's what happens when you let maniacs on a soccer field

or, oh, sorry, "football"

[verbal summit]

And so for the rest of the session the past 1.5 hour we were just making references to that panel the entire time

"Forget about extraction..."

[agile fable]

yeahthe name makes sense but like cmon man

[agile fable]

damn

[verbal summit]

Idk I'm dutch so it's football to me

[agile fable]

how many teamkills

[verbal summit]

But I don't respect soccer enough to make a point out of it

[verbal summit]

Actually we didn't kill each other... actually... much... but

[agile fable]

fair enough but my little brother loves soccer and we're american and he calls it that so fuck himspecifically

[verbal summit]

But just making the joke

Tbf at extraction I put down all 3 of my red stratagems so a cluster strike, airburst strike and a precision strike

[agile fable]

TAXMEN GAVE US THE MONEY FOR MUNITIONS AND WE'RE GONNA USE ALL THE MUNITIONS

[verbal summit]

Fr

According to a friend if you play with me you'll get duster by an airburst.

I genuinely don't even use them that badly when I use them on enemies

It's just that sometimes I use them on friendlies 😌

[agile fable]

mood

i do the same with the gatlingbarrage

[verbal summit]

I can be trusted around friends

[agile fable]

didnt know you could quickdraw a sniper rifle

[verbal summit]

I think partially cus I have to be at the same location I start wandering around and wondering what I'm doing and then I get a little bored n start messing with my teammates

This is my masterpiece tho

I even try to friendly fire with the wasp launcher cus it's funny

[cobalt patrol]

Tip for ocmmando missions - Censor/Senator is a very real combo into bots

Censor for head popping and general stealth shennagins

Senator to blow shit up when a firefight does break out

[graceful bluff]

the gas dart is just too useful for hulks for me not to take it

pop it, then just run around and magdump its vents

enemies ignores all screaming of the hulk as long as it's gassed up

[tidal wagon]

Don't mind me, testing something about Discord

[supple siren]

Is yours also acting up? I suddenly can't message a friend

[tidal wagon]

Mhm, can't use #1208554035326484531 atm

[supple siren]

Well glad it's not just me but weird

[knotty folio]

For me, creating a group chat with that friend + someone else then removing the second person worked as a workaround

[glacial light]

If they complained about the stratagem, it didn't kill them

I would start wearing democracy protects to get in counterplays

HD2 becomes pvp with friends

[glacial light]

Gas nade and gas dog too

Gas everything

Gas nade is like a ouchy stun nade except they might kill each other in their confusion

I love seeing a desvastator or berserker just slap a trooper and they die

[unreal merlin]

I do enjoy the Re-Educator, it's not something to use all the time but being able to tell a problematic Hulk/Charger/Fleshmob to just leave you alone for a few seconds is a very useful tool.

[agile fable]

it's especially funny with chargers

shoot them mid charge

[verbal summit]

So one time I cluster striked a friend

And she survived it

Because democracy protects

Anyway SEAF hates me

[toxic socket]

clips from my recent game

[dark plover]

I am just beginning to appreciate the gloriousness that is Orbital Gas Strike.

[verbal summit]

This might be the hardest videogame I've played tbh

[graceful bluff]

I do wish they'd fix the bots just knowing where you are psychically

really annoying to have cleanly disengaged and just have two chucklefucks just travel half way across the map

[rare nymph]

Just lost a black box mission because the person carrying the black box died as they were in the middle of the animation to get on the pelican :/

[strange vine]

Always make sure the black box carrier is first on

[rare nymph]

That’s the thing

They were

It started the timer but the box fell below the ship

[glacial light]

It is very goated, super low cooldown and gas just makes them do nothing and maybe kill each other with demo force 50 on the projectile itself so you can break most objectives with it

I bring it over 500kg cause I like to bring strafing eagle and it can break the same thing 500kg can

Rogue research , detector towers, hammers, titan holes

[odd arch]

gas strike is in my "it's so good I've used it too much and now I ban myself from taking it so that literally anything else can get to shine" bag

if I pull out the gas strike I'm locking in

[graceful bluff]

Genuinely tempted to farm for the halo warbond just for the silenced pistol

Also, weapon loudness stats https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1beScm4b4nRbCTeu7CRDXXb3aiQkD7ZevCztyaCwI8qU/edit?gid=0#gid=0

the warrant and senator having less range than primaries is kinda funny

same with the epoch

[glacial light]

Hmm ultimatum is quiet you say

[graceful bluff]

It's incredibly quiet until it isn't, yes :v

[glacial light]

The quiet bushwacker

The silenced triple barrel shotgun

[graceful bluff]

but yeah running the eruptor+socom sounds increadibly nice

[graceful bluff]

Accidentally went into a regular bot mission and it was so damn easy now lmao

I think commando missions may finally have taught pubs to not engage every single patrol

[glacial light]

Not me

I am engaging every patrol

I paid for all the enemies I am fighting all the enemies.

I also tend to never stop moving, always top in movement. Don't got to kill every enemy they'll respawn but I'll take the fastest path even if it includes engaging a patrol. Take out the deadliest enemies then go onto the objective

Objectives don't respawn, I'm usually always the first one there and might be the first one out of I do it before the team gets there. Jammers I try to get done with a portable hellbomb before the team even steps foot near it, randos are always so cautious at Jammers they end up burning several reinforcements just being too slow at getting it done and then eating a one shot while making 0 progress towards getting to disable it

If you bum rush in with a portable hellbomb then at most 1 reinforcement is used

[graceful bluff]

I really wanna be able to just hold a smoke grenade while running

[glacial light]

That would be funny

Or smoke dog

[graceful bluff]

if it's good enough for mgs5 it's good enough for helldivers

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=maoWbSwJ19s

[glacial light]

I think a neat backpack would be like a flashback backpack

You press backpack and it flashbangs and stuns every enemy within LoS nearby

[graceful bluff]

Gas portable hellbomb, just a massive canister of gas for area denial

[glacial light]

Berserker about to attack? Flashpack

[graceful bluff]

keeps spewing for like a minute

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NX5X329vOqM

[glacial light]

I still want a mech with a flamethrower

And maybe grenade launcher other arm

[graceful bluff]

I just really want the vehicle bay that's been due for like a year now

[glacial light]

Yea

If they added in stratagem launcer from hd1 then mech stocks would skyrocket

[graceful bluff]

I feel bad when I'm half way through a mission and notice there's a low level that could really use samples

[glacial light]

Even a bay upgrade to just call in reinforcements and call in mission objectives in a mech would be huge

Im that person except I need rare and common samples

Everyone picks up supers to the point I am drowning in them

[unreal merlin]

The Obsidian from hd1 was pretty sick. Flamethrower on the left arm, 90mm battle cannon on the right arm

[strange vine]

yeah

[blissful sparrow]

i finished off all my upgrades the other day and i still pick up rare samples religiously. my group aren't all finished yet, but still, the habit is ingrained

[unreal merlin]

It's hard to break. I only pick up samples these days if I know someone needs them, or if I just want the rare sample to stop making so much damn noise

[strange vine]

i pick em up cause i wanna see those cleared poi markers

[blissful sparrow]

still remembering the days when i thought that a poi with nothing but ammo packs was a sad occurance
Now i just giggle as i get another 50 crossbow bolts to chunk into some fools for free

[knotty folio]

Grenade + stim PoIs my beloved, that's a free stamina refill and three more dead heavies during my sprint to the next objective

[graceful bluff]

I wish there were any grenade pois in commando missions

[unreal merlin]

I have seen like, two ever

[south temple]

truuuue! i love running away i love living

[unreal merlin]

https://youtube.com/shorts/07TFPlUneXs

[cobalt patrol]

Well

That works

[unreal merlin]

I got a good huff at the thing emerging covered in dots like it's got chicken pox.

[verbal summit]

These lasers are so hard to dodge

[glacial light]

That 2nd one where the laser was touching you that laser was dodging you

[rotund marten]

D10 ICBM solo and successful extraction

the new stealth gear is so good for solo runs

even if I do sometimes get annoyed at the patrols walking clean past me, stopping, looking "confused" for a couple of seconds and then pathing directly towards my location several times in a row

warstrider/berserker/hulk as a composition is mildly annoying but also means that you can clear bases without bot drops coming in if you're smart and lucky

[graceful bluff]

I still really do not like warstriders as an enemy and how they don't really have any non anti tank weakpoints for an enemy that spawns as often as a hulk

[blissful sparrow]

my spear ain't complaining about them

[graceful bluff]

you can kill hulks with light pen if you try hard enough, meanwhile you need at least.. ap4? for striders

[ionic holly]

listen i'm a spear lover too but it feels a wee bit off to mention it in the breath of someone venting about them not having a non AT weak point
now granted, ap4 is only heavy pen so it's not quite anti tank on that front either

[blissful sparrow]

i am quite happy that enemies with different weaknesses exist, rather than all having the exact same weakness

[ionic holly]

I agree, i'm just saying that the anti-tank option clearly isn't gonna struggle in this argument

[dark plover]

They definitely make it really hard for me to choose anything on bots other than the Recoilless Rifle.

[ionic holly]

I'll happily reccomend the epoch if you're fine using something a wee bit dangerous
still very much an AT option but wouldn't need as much precision as something like the AMR

[oblique lotus]

quasar is solid

[glacial light]

I like bots design cause there exists vents so you can do something if you're without AT, war strider not having something like that it's basically just an AT check

[knotty folio]

I wouldn't mind War Striders if it told you enemy constellations before the mission

[glacial light]

I would prefer if war striders wasn't entirely AT and spawned less

For something fully AT it spawns quite often

[knotty folio]

But since it doesn't there's no interesting build choices, you just have to bring AT always which makes the vents pointless on all the other enemies too

[supple siren]

Should be able to shoot the War Strider in the eyeball on top and make it just sort of attack whatever

[glacial light]

Yea you pretty much need AT for bots

[knotty folio]

No reason to bother with vents when you have a RR, and you can't skip the RR since you have no way of knowing if the enemies will have vents

[glacial light]

Yea not a big fan of that

I remember pre nerf bile spewers constellations, they were kinda silly tanky it restricted builds cause they were so common yet tanky if you didn't have a specific few weapons

Illuminate I'm quite a fan of design wise as you can kill every enemy with med pen so the effective build diversity can get pretty build. Much less loadout where you'll lock yourself out of being able to kill certain enemies

[supple siren]

My biggest illuminate issue is Forgetting Stingrays Exist

But even those can be taken down by a shocking amount of stuff

[glacial light]

I do dislike stingrays

[supple siren]

I like them quite much 'cept for the elevated ground bug thing

[glacial light]

They're quite annoying

[knotty folio]

I really like them designwise, it's just the missing trail and crashing into generators I dislike

[glacial light]

The bane of priority extract

[knotty folio]

And maybe being a bit too good at killing deployables

[oblique lotus]

I'm kinda fine with mandating AT, I think there needs to be some restrictions on loadout building

[glacial light]

They need to put a roof on the generators

[knotty folio]

They do a good job of forcing you to adjust your strategy and positioning and making fights generally more hectic

[glacial light]

Issue for me is AT is mostly support weapons, ultimatum or grenades you'll run out very quick and high diff throws heavies at you like it's common

[supple siren]

I'd honestly be fine with war striders needing heavier AP if they didn't just have Big Fucking Laser Cannons

that also soak hits for them

[oblique lotus]

I mean yeah, that's the point?

[glacial light]

Feels like it disincentivizes non AT support weapons

[supple siren]

They're just a bit too sturdy

[knotty folio]

I don't mind AT being mandatory per se, I just dislike that it's sometimes mandatory without having any way of knowing before dropping in

[oblique lotus]

It's a tradeoff, you're trading horde clear for the ability to take on priority targets

[supple siren]

Watching them walk off a fucking ultimatum

They're just less fun than tanks

They just are

[oblique lotus]

if you didn't have to choose why would you ever take antitank when you could have something that does both

[knotty folio]

Hulks are a good example of why, IMO

[supple siren]

To shoot through the face of the Cannon Turret looking at you

To not have to get behind the tanks

[knotty folio]

And turrets

[supple siren]

To oneshot gunships

[glacial light]

Is horde clear worth possibly not being able to deal with certain enemies at all

[supple siren]

i just love that every single war strider is going to eat half your commando or more

[oblique lotus]

I mean that's the tradeoff, right?

[knotty folio]

Like, I would probably still bring just as much AT if I knew a mission didn't have War Striders

[supple siren]

it makes me wonder why the bots make any other enemy varieties

[glacial light]

Tradeoff is currently unbalanced towards bring an AT support unless you're in a squad with VC coordinating builds

[supple siren]

and they're immune to just half the shit on offer

Stun No Gas No

[oblique lotus]

I take a lot of AT against bots because imo prio targets like tanks and striders are more threatening than chaff and my primary and cluster or whatever deal with chaff just fine

[supple siren]

Bubble shield? Grenades go through it

[oblique lotus]

and if I was more threatened by chaff I would take more antichaff

[supple siren]

it's not fun to have an enemy with One Interaction To Do

you're shooting this thing in the knee or you're wasting your effort time and resources

[oblique lotus]

I agree there, the debuff immunity is annoying

[glacial light]

Most people pretty much only do AT support weapon

The tradeoff of not bringing one isn't equal

[knotty folio]

It could be interesting if one but not both of the War Strider's weapons had a pen 2 or 3 weak spot

Like with Factory Striders

So you could reduce their threat but not kill them

(Though yes, you can kill Factory Striders with pen 3)

[supple siren]

Can't you also grenade the vent on Factory Striders

[glacial light]

All the non AT support stratagems you basically drop when you get higher diff and the tougher enemies become more common

Non AT support weapons might as well not exist for a majority of players once you get there

[supple siren]

They're especially egregious on Commando missions

it's like they expect you to already have C4

[glacial light]

I believe you can adjust things so that non AT support weapons become appealing for general usage.

And you can kill every enemy even if it is a pain

[knotty folio]

I've actually been bringing the speargun on commando missions but my relationship with support weapons is weird in general

I usually just scrounge one off the ground or skip them entirely

[glacial light]

Speargun is underrated

[supple siren]

Speargun slaps

[blissful sparrow]

same, i had so much fun these past weeks just bringing a backpack and just picking up whatever MG or something a railgun if i'm lucky which i can find on the floor. perfectably servicable for diff10s

[supple siren]

I kind of wish backpacks could be in bunkers and suchlike

[blissful sparrow]

jetpacks and supply backpacks used to be super common on the bugfront in those malfunctioning hellpods scattered across their bases, i miss those

[knotty folio]

GL and AMR are also great pickups! Or the occasion Entrenchment Tool

[blissful sparrow]

AMR is my go to on the facility defense missions as one always spawns up at the landing pad, nice and reliable

[supple siren]

I've been brought back to AMR train since they nerfed the sway on the Senator

that or railgun depending on... "???"

[glacial light]

Teammate finds just an RR
You find an RR backpack
Comradery commences

[oblique lotus]

yeah I'd be fine with fac strider levels of pain

but imo hulks are borderline too easy to kill because the frontal weakspot

same with barrage tanks

[glacial light]

I'm working towards c4 and I dread losing my previous warppack

I think that's just a lot due to power creep

[oblique lotus]

yup

[glacial light]

Factory striders when I have pyrotech grenades and eagle strafe

[supple siren]

Also unrelated but the honest defense SEAF can put up against bugs is so different to how the Illuminate run them the hell over

[glacial light]

I just need the grenades really

[supple siren]

Factory Striders make the foolish error of Being Tall and my solo silo really appreciates it

[glacial light]

Wild cause I've seen SEAF tank heavy bot camps but they just never target fabs

Convoy gives me life with solo silo's time to shine

[rare nymph]

They lack the advanced demolition training of the Helldivers

[glacial light]

As much as I love everything about the weapon it always nags in my mind like chucking 4 pyrotechs at the feet of a strider and maybe strafe would kill it.

[knotty folio]

Oh, the pen 4 eye? Yeah I can see that, I was thinking about a comparable difficulty to getting behind an angry hulk for the vents when I brought them up as a healthy comparison

[glacial light]

And teammates tend to leave nade drops for some reason

I was hoping when silo came out one remote could tie to multiple silo's so you can build them up without having to run back

But portable hellbomb calls me on bots and it usually takes the 4th slot for me

[knotty folio]

As much as it pains me to say, AT Emplacement could maybe use a nerf

[glacial light]

Me getting forcefully reeducated cause I suggested a SEAF guy do the thing where they pull the EATs trigger at a big enemy but point it against a building instead

AT emplacement feels overtuned

[knotty folio]

It's just too efficient and long-ranged compared to other stratagems, even considering the downsides it comes with

[oblique lotus]

yeah

[glacial light]

Basically any flag or defense mission is easy mode. I learned even at diff 7 if you shoot down every single dropship before they drop the director basically only spawns factory striders which also get spawn killed when taking damage from dropship dropping on them and some shots to the eye takes them out before they touch the ground

[oblique lotus]

I really like solo silo because I prefer consistent oneshots

and its pretty easy to use against fac striders even under fire

[knotty folio]

Solo Silo is extremely satisfying, and also I can wait for my friends to be near it to fire

The fact you can fire and immediately drop the designator is so nice

[glacial light]

Yes the design of the game is just peak

[dark plover]

Thoughts on Chemical Agents warbond? I'm kind of tempted to try a full gas build on bugs / squids.

[glacial light]

Gas dog is quite good against bugs

[knotty folio]

Is that the one with the gas dog? It's super nice in close ranges, like hive worlds

[glacial light]

It's my pick for bugs since it just makes them stop doing anything which include like impaler and chargers

[glacial light]

Yea and flies to the enemies to gas them

[dark plover]

Being able to gas strike and nade yourself with the armor and be fine seems nice too

[glacial light]

And quite safe as if they gas you or a teammate they got plenty of time to not get killed by the gas

Med gas armor and vitality booster negates gas damage

Combine with gas nade and you can wade in the gas

Quite good against bugs again cause if they get into melee they'll just stop and do nothing or slash their buddies and kills them

Stalkers are like, not an issue and you can laugh at chargers even more than usual

[dark plover]

Okay, I think I'm sold. Thanks folks! 😁

[glacial light]

I think about the arc team I did once. Me and 2 buddies with arc armor, arc throwers, arc dogs, and the enemy just didn't play

[knotty folio]

Plus you can hang out in gas minefields!

[glacial light]

Arc dog is wild when it comes to killing enemies and friendlies

[supple siren]

Did this like two days ago, incredibly empowering

[glacial light]

I think it's just a arc thrower shot

[supple siren]

It seems to chain better than arc

[glacial light]

Oh and using your teammates as conduits

Good you're surrounded that means if I shoot at you then everything ij the area fries even if I can't even see many of them

[supple siren]

I brought a stim pistol just for that too

'Thanks for helping' /head dart

[dark plover]

Chain stunning the entire map with an arc team sounds really fun

[oblique lotus]

I want an arc strike that's a big lightning bolt

kind of an alt-OPS where its a big single AT hit that chains medium pen to everything in a small radius

[rare nymph]

Alternatively it could be an alt-ops that can actually stun large enemies like bile titans and factory striders

[glacial light]

If it was like drops a metal rod then arc from destroyer follows suit thatd be so sick

[knotty folio]

That would be phenomenal

Imagine if it had like 3 charges and whenever you called one in it arced between the existing anchors as well

Preferably still being able to activate it afterwards to zap the extant anchors, just not deploy new ones

[glacial light]

I can only dream

[dark plover]

A tungsten rod with high demo force followed by a giant lightning bolt would be amazing

[graceful bluff]

The worst part of warstriders is that if c4 didn't require two support slots it'd be a great tool against them

[barren iron]

fit acquired

1000 super credits well spent if only for this armour set

it doesn't seem like the greatest mechanically

but this is thematically the best warbond so far for me

[wind arrow]

if only arrowhead implements transmogs

[glacial light]

Or even just the ability to recolor gear

[barren iron]

I dont mind it

I am infact not a transmog stan

I like armour that looks a certain way giving specific bonuses

[glacial light]

It's even a thing it seems as if you preview something in the superstore it makes the color pallette black and gold

[barren iron]

it keeps things sensible

[glacial light]

So like your superstore preview is not at all accurate for some equipment

Thing is it's not all that intuitive what armors give what kind of bonuses unless you remember that specific armor set bonus and appearance

I'd want the ability to change color of the armor so it can match

Even a simple helmet match armor color scheme checkmark would go a long way

[wind arrow]

fair

i guess having transmog does make it more work to discern if i should not stand next to my teammate when said teammate have a dead man's trigger wired to a c4 collar

[glacial light]

Id be very surprised if they ever did transmog

[supple siren]

The reloadspeed/extra ammo light armor is only held back by looking Not Very Good, transmog would set the imbalance too far

[glacial light]

I want the imbalance

[supple siren]

I want to see different outfits instead of folks getting one look 24/7 like every other game now

[glacial light]

I want medic armor to use more than a few helmets

[supple siren]

That just needs paint tbqh

there's like six greens and none of them match properly

[idle hollow]

bass boosted pitched down high reverb fart must play when it goes off

also that’s just a toxpack from rimworld

[graceful bluff]

Another warbond this fast?

[sweet surge]

https://youtu.be/u9E9-iGwK_4?si=64hmInZB4IzvhQTW

[quick plinth]

trident pog

also hot dang backpack gl

[rare nymph]

And what looks like a rocket-propelled ultimatum

[quick plinth]

grenade shield

halo bubble shield like

pretty stacked warbond

These armors are outfitted with the Supplementary Adrenaline passive, which allows the wearer to regain some stamina whenever they take damage, turning you into the tireless battering ram at the enemy’s wall.

armor buff sounds kinda meh

[supple siren]

Oh that's

an explosive mallet huh

[quick plinth]

pretty cool that, first melee weapon I'm kinda interested in

[supple siren]

sometimes if I have an infinite ammo primary i'll wear the sword for fashions

[quick plinth]

jump pack / warp pack + hammer, all I'm missing is being able to take the shield and I'd be knock of rein

[glad marsh]

TRIDENT MY BELOVED
YOU RETURN

[verbal summit]

Wonder what happens if you take deadsprint with that

[verbal summit]

Sometimes I go melee on bugs so an explosive hammer would be useful against chargers

Idk how well it'd do against biles

[supple siren]

with a hoverpack and a dream

maybe.. maybe

[verbal summit]

The chainsaw was never quite it against the heavier bug units

[supple siren]

chargers whole 'touch me and you implode' business doesn't make it easier

[verbal summit]

Tbf I've ridden chargers like a cowgirl so I'll be able to get on a bile too

[supple siren]

lmao my friend ended up charger rodeo yesterday

[ionic holly]

HAMMER HAMMER HAMMER

[supple siren]

just /fearful yeehaws

Every Expendable Build continues to flourish

[glad marsh]

This
This is a very good warbond

[verbal summit]

Clips won't play in my gallery so idk which is which so have all of em

Anyway ballistic shield, hammer and stunlance will go hard surely.

[ionic holly]

im a little concerned on how good the passive will actually be, admittedly

[dusty spruce]

return of the Trident?
yesssssss
I know it won't be as powerful, but still

[glad marsh]

It's trident

Therefore
It is perfect

[ionic holly]

God fucking
i need everything from this one

that shield nade is never leaving my loadout, the GMG should be a alternative option to my minigun gaming, and the fucking H A M M E R

[dusty spruce]

Oh, I completely missed that extra bit at the end of the trailer. Too hyped about the Trident returning
Sounds like the Cyborgs will be back soon.

[graceful bluff]

It's not really the trident anymore though is it

it's the sexdent

[odd arch]

trying to think up cool uses for the new armour passive

nothing really coming up

[ionic holly]

Yeah, realllly hoping its got something stronger attached to it cause it would suck to have my faovurite looking heavy armour basically be cosmetic

[knotty folio]

I wonder if Dead Sprint damage triggers it, and if so if it gives enough stamina for the combo to be useful

If it's a flat 10% stamina or suchlike I could see you just being able to sprint forever

[muted burrow]

yeah i was thinking about throwing a gas or fire grenade/strike ahead and skimming the aoe, but that means you’ll probably want to stim soon after and it just slightly extends your max run distance if you’re using stims to refresh stam

[knotty folio]

I was wondering if stim pistol hits count as damage for triggering it, but presumably same thing there where the stamina is redundant

[muted burrow]

yeah that was my first thought, then I remembered what stims do

😭

you’d want to stim if you were bleeding from the chest too….

in any case, I am super credit broke after the stealth warbond

[indigo bear]

Would be kinda neat if that laser rifle that burns you after shooting for a while activates the passive

[graceful bluff]

honestly it shoulda been something like ablative armor

like reduce a bit of damage on stronger hits and make an explosion out in that direction

[knotty folio]

Only if two Helldivers standing next to each other cause an infinite chain (until one dies)

[graceful bluff]

That's exactly why I worded it like that yes :v

[graceful bluff]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bC6KeSNax1o

Never expected knives to make a comeback

also shows why I really want the halo warbond

[unreal merlin]

Silevn does great showcasing how throwing knives can be used.

Two knives will kill a berserker, interestingly

[graceful bluff]

I just wish you could pick em back up

or if you got em back from regular ammo boxes

[glacial light]

Yooo new energy primary, explosive melee, rpg, and backpack grenade launcher, and a shield?! Everything in this sounds sick af to me except the armor

[glacial light]

ERA armor would have been perfect for this warbond

It would have made the perfect warbond

I bet the shield nade would be great with maxi gun

Doesn't matter if you're standing still if you're in a bubble

Or on encampments

[spare verge]

seems a lot more flexible than the shield emplacement stratagem

[glacial light]

Not using a stratagem slot and essentially no cooldown is pretty big, assuming you have nades you always have it when you need it

Supply pack gamers were always winning but they stay winning supply packing with shield nades you are the team's shield

[spare verge]

being smaller is also somewhat advantageous since you don't have to worry about it blocking line of fire for teammates outside the shield as much

(or turrets)

[glacial light]

Also being smaller means less unnecessary hits if you only care about yourself

[spare verge]

shield stratagem when I have it often goes unused because you have to really commit to holding that particular piece of ground or it's somewhat wasted

[glacial light]

Shield gen eats a lot of hits that wouldn't have hit you anyways

[spare verge]

and iirc hellpods landing inside it damage the shield so you need to land turrets/emplacements first

[glacial light]

Oh right yea that's rough

That would explain why it pops so fast when I used it

[supple siren]

i love the shield emplacement because i love the weapon emplacements

77 second cd is like NOTHIN

[glacial light]

Oh taking another look the siege hammer is a stratagem

[spare verge]

I guess it just feels finnicky since you have to really commit to using it and learn its quirks to feel like it's actually helping compared to other stratagems that give immediate results

[supple siren]

oh yeah 100%, but i'm always a fan of the somewhat-wonkier options

[glacial light]

Shield nades being small is a big boon I'd imagine, no one is popping your shield gen by accident throwing a resupply inside it

[supple siren]

wonder how many you get

feels like maybe a 3

[glacial light]

I wonder how long they last too

[supple siren]

lovely for hellbombs on sub-mission things though

under fire? who care

[glacial light]

That is true

It would be great for terminals under fire which happens a lot

[spare verge]

DRG gunner mains rejoicing

[glacial light]

I probably just won't ever take off shield nades if it's good. I just don't really use grenades a lot unless I have supply pack. My playstyle is skirmishing so I don't really kill everything I see if a heavy is in my way and wouldn't be a threat if I'd be 30 feet away in the next 3 seconds I kinda leave it

I'm here for the objective and I'm often first to the terminal

[steady flame]

I wonder if shield nades will be thrown or if they'll be dropped.

[dusty spruce]

As long as the shield frisbee doesn’t bounce annoyingly. Dunno if it’ll manage to make me put down the thermite, tho

[glacial light]

I hope based on the shape in the image you throw it like a Frisbee

Long distance shield your teammate at the terminal

It's a cope but it'd be perfect if it was the first Frisbee thrown thing in the game

[dusty spruce]

If you do, I sorta hope if you hit someone in the head with the frisbee it ragdolls them. Just for fun.

[glacial light]

They'll be safe as they get up it'll be fine probably

[dusty spruce]

Honestly, probably be good if it does. More likely a teammate will notice the bubble instead of just running and it being wasted.

[glacial light]

Trident I probably have no questions it'll be my new bug weapon if it's an energy shotgun. I loved the sickle, spicy sickle, and talon

EATs rpg I'm curious about but I'd wonder how it'd compare to EATs or Silo

[spare verge]

judging by the explosion I'm guessing it's more or less 500kg but in disposable launcher form

[hazy oriole]

Maaaaan
It really bums me out that this warbond has an armor passive I'd likely never use

[glacial light]

That's like the last several ones for me

[hazy oriole]

Honestly it feels like even the best warbonds have a few bits of kit that I never really get any value from, not to mention cosmtics I don't really use

[spare verge]

I'm guessing it'll have a higher cooldown to compensate for how precisely you can get it on target without being restricted by stratagem jammers or AA

[glacial light]

Silo is kind of a expendable 500kg on a stick

I'm betting the demo force won't be enough to break a jammer

Silo did for a while then got nerfed

[hazy oriole]

Yeah, and it really is starting to get to me a bit
I'm tired of wearing the same few sets but it's been forever since I've found a passive that I enjoyed playing around

[knotty folio]

Shield gen really feels like it could use a duration buff, and/or take less damage from hellpods - or at the very least, have it block grenades

[spare verge]

probably, given the complaints whenever they add a method of breaking them from outside the base

[knotty folio]

I love the concept of the shield gen but it's so consistently disappointing

[glacial light]

If shield gen didn't take damage from hell pods it'd probably be a huge improvement

[knotty folio]

I haven't been playing much recently but how is the reduced ragdolling one? It looked potentially really nice

[glacial light]

People naturally flock to them and people probably don't think about if hell pods it

[supple siren]

I like the reduced ragdoll but I'm still good at getting sniped by armored Scout Striders

[glacial light]

I didn't know but also I used shield gen for maxi gun or at emplacement so I wasn't calling in stuff anyways

[knotty folio]

Shield Gen just feels so awful into War Strider grenades, and the fact it's a nonbo with EATs is doubly painful

It's so satisfying when you can get it to work though

Setting up a hardpoint for your entire team to coordinate in

[supple siren]

it's nice for desert/tundra planets too

[hearty pier]

Treating shield gen as a reset rather than a true hard point most of the times is how I tend to get value out of it

[supple siren]

though wish it did the Personal Shield thing where you got to move normally

[knotty folio]

I'm not sure I understand?

[supple siren]

Personal Shield generator lets you ignore blizzards

[hearty pier]

As you flagged war striders mean you don't want to stick around but being able to keep projectiles out for a few seconds to get out your strats/AT calls wins a lot of messy fights

[supple siren]

and sandstorms

[glacial light]

If we ever got a vehicle bay, I would totally kill for a car side grade where you replace the gun with a shield generator

[knotty folio]

Ahhh

[knotty folio]

I usually use gas mines for that, but yeah, even a second of breathing room can be great

(Drop the mines, run past the beacon around the corner, take a second to breath while all the bots are confused by the gas)

[hearty pier]

Yeah, smoke strike also covers that niche too

[glacial light]

Inb4 war strider across the map pings you with a nade barrage

[knotty folio]

I really appreciate that there are multiple viable options for that, good job AH

[knotty folio]

None of them stop that, unfortunately :P

[supple siren]

precious jump/hover/warp pack

[hearty pier]

Does orbital EMS stop war striders?

[supple siren]

though hover into bots is a great way to get riddled with a million bullets

[knotty folio]

I thiiiiink so?

[knotty folio]

"What do they call flying soldiers? Skeet."

[hearty pier]

Might try that again then. See how it goes in that engagement control role though I expect to be unimpressed

Release the stun120 barrage!

[knotty folio]

EMS Mortar can be fun too

[supple siren]

I want to say they might be immune to it but I could be thinking gas

I just remember being frustrated at War Striders for a dozen reasons

[knotty folio]

They're immune to gas confusion, I believe? Low confidence though

[glacial light]

Cant wait to jump pack with boom hammer

That tank wasnt expecting me flying into it with explosive anti tank melee

[glacial light]

380 stun barrage

Id be surprised if they were immune to gas confusion

[knotty folio]

It would be terrible but imagine if the hammer could go off with a sufficiently-high-impact collision while it's equipped

[supple siren]

double jump..

[knotty folio]

Jump pack > clip a light post > go tumbling face first into the Factory Strider > boom

[glacial light]

I will say gas mines dont work well on war striders cause I guess the cloud doesnt reach their heads

If you speargun or gas nade into their heads it should work, same with bile titans

[knotty folio]

I really just need to do some testing, because visually Gas Strike definitely should confuse them and I'm pretty certain it doesn't

But that could be a matter of the visuals not actually being tied to the AoE

[unreal merlin]

I'm not sure war striders are affected by gas, or at least the confusion, similar to tanks/factory striders.

[strange vine]

war striders are affected by stun at least

[glacial light]

Random but I do love compliments on ship names

Proud to command the Pride of Pride, lineage that spans several hundred helldivers that goes back months ago, some say even a year.

[karmic prawn]

I'm very proud of mine

Whisper of Audacity

[sharp crater]

me when I finally remember which DAW I use

[muted burrow]

mine's been Blade of Pride/The Stars

[supple siren]

The Sword of Family Values

[agile fable]

mine used to be the hammer of justice but now it's the mother of midnight

[ionic holly]

Twilight of dawn

[oblique lotus]

Distributor of Peace

[stone bridge]

Colossus of Dawn

[cobalt patrol]

Weird, I find it a hard carry for me.

But the way I use it is quickly call in supplies, my rocket turret, then the shield Gen

And then I just go to town with the RR and my primary

I'll often drop it and a rocket turret somewhere and run off as well, makes for a great "look! Over here, robots!"

Consistently get thank yous from teammates when I cover them with it

I just treat it like what it is: cheap, disposable cover in a can

[blissful sparrow]

Shield gen has such a low cooldown i sometimes just call it in to be protected while i reload my weapon
there is never not an opportunity to just throw it out at every single moment its off cooldown and its always off cooldown.
Approaching a bot base and they spotted us? shield gen
Bot drop called in around us? shield gen
objective? shield gen
Factory strider? Shield gen
cannon turret? Shield gen
gun ships? shield gen
friend is getting run over by bots? just toss them a shield gen to breath

[agile fable]

it may only really have a use on the bot front but good motherfucking golly is it useful on that front

[stone bridge]

Now you can bring shield grenades instead :D

[oblique lotus]

oh it stands for eat all lol

[agile fable]

lower hp, smaller radius, removes your ability to deal with spawners on command if you dont dedicate another piece of your kit to explosives, harder to aim. will it have a use? definitely. will it see much use? unless it works like the shield pack and blocks melee, i doubt it.

granted it will still be fun to use

[stone bridge]

there's equipment in every slot that deals with spawners these days

[agile fable]

but like

[stone bridge]

not an issue

[agile fable]

does everyone have that equipment?

yes, everyone has the OPS

and other various explosives

but not everyone brings those

or even wants to have those

[stone bridge]

if you have democratic detonation, which is widely agreed to be the warbond you should buy first, yes - if you bought Eagle Strafing Run at level 1 for 1500 Requisition, also yes

[oblique lotus]

eagle strafe, eagle airstrike, eagle 500kg, the bigger barrages, multiple support weapons

[agile fable]

i got the one with solo silo first because demo deto wasnt vibing with me

[agile fable]

i am aware of this. i am aware i'm fighting for an edge case.

[oblique lotus]

and idk if you bring literally no explosive options...that does not sound like a game design problem imo

[agile fable]

yeah i'm aware

why am i even arguing about this?

[oblique lotus]

I still think the GP is busted as a secondary

demdet having multiple extremely high tier options feels kinda bad

[agile fable]

thats why i don't really want it

the only thing that entices me towards it is the actually good looking engineering kit armors

[glacial light]

I never use Grenade pistol, Eruptor gang

I opt for different meta

[oblique lotus]

I mean theres no point in skipping it out of contrarianism

[agile fable]

cause it has so much good stuff in it?

[oblique lotus]

also that you're only hampering yourself

[agile fable]

how so?

i am genuinely curious

[oblique lotus]

if you're refusing to take good options to avoid "the meta" you're just limiting your own gameplay options out of contrarianism

[glacial light]

I mean not everyone will have this warbond either, its kind of something you'd be fully aware of when you get shield nades

I dont use nades really at all

[agile fable]

i'm not refusing to take good options cause of meta. i'm refusing them because i have perfectly good grenades in my pocket right here and i dont really need a gun with the only gimmick being that it shoots the same nades.

[glacial light]

Alright so what if you dont need explosive grenades cause you have perfectly good primary/secondary/stragagem. More build variety is nicer

[agile fable]

...fair enough

i see the logic

eruptor primary and laser cannon support(my fav). may give it a spin to see if it does better than ol' STA-11

[glacial light]

I always usually run utility nades, stun/gas

I havent unlocked lure and smokescreen yet

Eruptor requires a lot of different mindset for play cause you got to remember to cock the gun with left mouse at times like often after reloads, cant use it up close so it helps to have a backup plan like secondary, grenade, or warp/jump/hover pack

Also fires very very slow, you have to be really methodical with every shot

[oblique lotus]

You can absolutely use the eruptor up close

dive backwards and shoot middive

[glacial light]

Yea dive and hipfire you dont take much damage if any

Weird quick is if youre running directly away and looking backwards then you tap either left/right for movement and hipfire it fires dead onto the cursor behind

If you dont itll probably fire at your feet at an angle and kill you

[oblique lotus]

Grenade choice for me depends on faction because grenades to me represent an inconsistently available fill option

so it's usually a backup in the event that I need more X rather than primary X clear

[agile fable]

ah

probably not for me then

[oblique lotus]

i.e against bots I usually run quasar/thermite because thermites give me burst AT capability when I need to drop two war striders instead of waiting out the quasar cd

the slow fire rate honestly isn't too bad with how much knockback it has

[glacial light]

Im a biggest fan of it, such a unique playstyle and oddly enough for a super long range sniper (x10 scope at 200m) it is a great skirmisher weapon

[oblique lotus]

its like the blitzer

though I also run irons+angled on the eruptor

[glacial light]

Cause your one shot probably does as much as like 2 seconds of constant fire for most other guns due to the high damage of heavy pen and sharpnel can clear crowds well

And you can run while cocking your gun

[oblique lotus]

yeah you can shoot and move

[glacial light]

Yea, I use that time to assess my surroundings completely and pick where I want my next shot

[oblique lotus]

also generally less angling for shots i.e. against heavy devs you can put two into the shoulders instead of having to look for a flank or a headshot

[glacial light]

Yea or 1 into the head does it

[oblique lotus]

but if you can't line up the headshot you can easily put two into the shoulders

[glacial light]

Also striders you dont care about firing angles even rocket ones

[oblique lotus]

whereas something like the deadeye can also oshs and fires faster and has more ammo but you have to headshot

whereas the eruptor you have choice

same thing w/ the explosive crossy

[glacial light]

Imo its a weapon you need to think a ton, ever shot has to matter since it fires so slow and reload takes a while but if you it is wild

[oblique lotus]

as a non-thinker you don't need to put that much thought into it

[glacial light]

Since it can shoot into any vent like big bot fabs, close bug holes except titan, and can break most small barriers like fences

[oblique lotus]

like shot placement matters but in 95% of cases putting it into the largest group of enemies is good enough

[glacial light]

True, but I think its very easy to shoot into a corner like not targeting berserkers pack and now theyre in melee and you need to switch from it

[oblique lotus]

though scoped eruptor is also a very different experience from irons eruptor imo

irons is very easy to use reflexively

[glacial light]

That is true

[oblique lotus]

I wish the blitzer got a touch more range

[glacial light]

I use scope cause being to see clear 200m is great for recon before you enter an area or snipe rocket devs and such, which ironically you dont need precision with eruptor as I suck at headshots the sharpnel has quite the range

[oblique lotus]

but siege breakers is a warbond I'm looking forward to

lots of stuff in there I want

[glacial light]

And its pretty accurate hipfire

[oblique lotus]

idk how much recon I actually do tbph

also how often I actually have a 200m sightline

I usually just chuck something big onto the point then mop up

[glacial light]

I do use it quite often

[oblique lotus]

at most killing tank targets at a distance with the quasar

[glacial light]

Especially jungle maps i want to see if where im going to has like a couple pixels of enemy far ahead so I know well in advance

If I had a clear line of then I dont need scope but its when I dont mosty

[oblique lotus]

I kinda wish we had more red strats

[glacial light]

380m cluster barrage

[oblique lotus]

I'm still missing a really big callin like the HD1 missile barrage or shredder

I don't like the 380mm

too slow and it misses things

[glacial light]

I usually pick walking barrage for that reason

Tighter spread and same projectile as 380

[oblique lotus]

also since its 18 OPS' you kinda need direct hits to kill big stuff and that doesn't always happen

walking barrage is a lot more consistent but even then

[glacial light]

Whats the HD1 shredder

[oblique lotus]

nuke

[glacial light]

I do love nukes' if there was basically 500kg but even bigger

500kg isnt that big in radius anyways

[oblique lotus]

the HD1 shredder was a hellbomb with increased falloff

[glacial light]

That sounds great

[oblique lotus]

you had to get an upgrade to get the warning siren

[knotty folio]

It's one of my favorite parts of the gun, irons Eruptor is honestly up there for most mobile weapons in the game since you can spend so much time sprinting without impacting your damage output

[oblique lotus]

yeah

same as the blitzer

[knotty folio]

Which isn't what you'd expect from it at first blush

[oblique lotus]

I'm considering getting force of law just for the arc dog

but also theres a bunch of stuff in siege breakers I'm interested in

[glacial light]

Arc Dog is pretty strong but you cannot use it near teammates at all

If youre the type to be away for teammates it great

[knotty folio]

I'm cautiously optimistic about the Breaching Hammer, melee is fun but almost never feels like it's actually a good choice power level wise

But assuming the Hammer has limited ammo they might be willing to let it be a bit better

[stone bridge]

arc dog is your best friend solo

but your worst nightmare anytime you're near a teammate

[glacial light]

Also it using the support slot seems like a big thing to consider

[knotty folio]

Can Arc Dog arc to you?

[glacial light]

Unless you all run arc armor

[glacial light]

Yes

[oblique lotus]

I am cluster eagle's strongest soldier

[knotty folio]

That seems potentially dangerous, considering how many times my hot dog lit me on fire tonight

[oblique lotus]

Those who carry democracy in their heart will never die

[glacial light]

You pretty much need arc armor' I think its pretty much the same as arc thrower on a murder dog

[knotty folio]

Cluster Eagle / Orbital Airburst / Tesla Tower / Arc Dog

[glacial light]

I do like Cluster eagle

[knotty folio]

The "stay on the opposite side of the map" build

[oblique lotus]

I don't like tesla tower

Too slow

[glacial light]

Absolute turns every patrol enemy reinforcements to not a threat

[knotty folio]

Same

Cluster Eagle is great though

[oblique lotus]

Cluster/Quasar/arcdog/500kg sounds about right

Maybe swap solo silo for 500kg vs bots

[glacial light]

Airburst I also love' I use it if I run another eagle which I usually do

Cause strafing is just goated

[knotty folio]

I don't know how this would work but I want an Eagle Dog so I can run all Eagles

[oblique lotus]

The draw for me is that cluster eagle consistently hits everything nearby

none of this missed 1 or 2 stuff

[knotty folio]

It's so good for softening up objectives

Hits quick, short duration, clears all the chaff, pops mines/barrels, injures elites

[oblique lotus]

And you get so many too

Five per rearm

[knotty folio]

None of this "waiting around for the stratagem to end" nonsense before you can enter the objective

[dark plover]

Can you still jetpack over the eagle cluster?

[oblique lotus]

i throw more cluster strikes than grenades most missions

[knotty folio]

Thermites are expensive! They need to be reserved for priority targets!

[oblique lotus]

Realistically 380mm you get like...four good strikes a mission tops

[knotty folio]

Clusters recharge for free and come in batches of 5!

[oblique lotus]

But eagle cluster you can throw at literally anything and its usually worth it

[knotty folio]

Same reason I love Gas Strike and Orbital Gatling

[dark plover]

I am also team short-cooldown-reds

If it's too long I feel like I am either too conservative with usage or or it's not available when I need it.

[oblique lotus]

Ye

Same reason why I like the quasar

Its always there

[dark plover]

You get to kill 1 tank every x seconds, forever

[oblique lotus]

Also you haven't lived until you've played chicken with a bile titan or charger

Though death or glorying a hulk with the senator is also up there

[blissful sparrow]

Orbital gatling is my goto short cooldown
works on all fronts against everything to just clean up a direction for a few seconds. can even take out many objectives like shrieker nests if you happen to get close to them

[dark plover]

I'm gearing up for a gas build for squids and bugs. Even easier to use the short cool down of orbital gas strike if you can just drop it on yourself

[stone bridge]

eagle strafing run the goat

[dark plover]

It comes out so quick it's basically a grenade

[glacial light]

Me spamming gatling

Strafing got amazing with heavy pen' I use it to kill hulks and tanks

[glacial light]

Quasar I could love but I hate the long chargeup I feel too slow and vulnerable during it

[oblique lotus]

Thats the best part

[glacial light]

Gas Strike is so goated with low CD and 40 demo force

[oblique lotus]

You gotta stare the charger or war strider down as your gun winds up

[glacial light]

I dont do that I use commando cause I just tap right click then hipfire running the other way

[oblique lotus]

You gotta commit, stand out of cover, expose yourself fearlessly to the strider as thr gun charges

Or charge for 2.5s in cover then stand for the last half second

If you're a coward

[glacial light]

Commando not looking at that turret cannon and using 2 taps, youre not even worth my attention when I kill you

[oblique lotus]

Its like...you ever kill a hulk with the senator?

[glacial light]

No I cant aim

[oblique lotus]

Put three in the eye-oh

[glacial light]

I just warp pack into back shot with Eruptor

[oblique lotus]

The moment where you go "fuck it I got this" and just stand in front of the scorcher getting those headshots makes up for the four times you got splattered in the leadup

Its fantastic

Death or glory

[glacial light]

Unfortunately I am a person that likes being fast

[dark plover]

I wonder if the siege hammer will be able to 1 tap a hulk from the front

[glacial light]

Light medic armor with stim booster and at times I just stim to run fast forever

[oblique lotus]

i also like being fast which is why I run the quasar

[glacial light]

Warp pack too so I am zooming

[oblique lotus]

RR forced crouch reload is bleaugh

[dark plover]

Nahhhhh combat dive and reload or bust

[glacial light]

The slow while firing gets me

Its why I like commando you throw it forward grab it and fire it all while moving fast the entire time

Although if quasar had an alt version with longer CD but you fire it right away without charge up like an EATs it would be a match made in heaven for me

[dark plover]

I think we're overdue for SOME kind of expendable energy weapon

Though maybe that defeats their whole design space purpose, I dunno

[glacial light]

Yea it kind of does

What id want is an expendable HMG

Cant reload or be refilled you use it until its gone

[dark plover]

Anything to save me from the agonizing reload of that thing

I'm trying to work in the HMG alongside scorcher / ultimatum in an attempt to get the absolute maximum possible value out of the supply pack. But boy the handling is going to take some getting used to

[unreal merlin]

I'm holding out for my single shot laser marksman rifle

I want the deadeye without needing to reload

HMG is unwieldy but I found good success in using it mostly like a DMR of all things

[dark plover]

I'm imagining a talon but with the barrel length doubled

[unreal merlin]

Single bullets to pop enemies, go prone if you really need to hose something

[glacial light]

God I am so excited for the trident

I might play bugs more again cause of laser shotgun

[karmic prawn]

maybe the heatsink turns into a (shortlived) grenade after it's maxed out or something

[graceful bluff]

supercharged laser cannon that can't stop firing once you start

[weary granite]

I have never been more hyped for the Boomstick.

I want to use the Jump Pack and the Hammer to just Market Garden a Harvester or the head of a Factory Strider.

[cobalt patrol]

But then I can't bring deadly farts in a can

More seriously, Gas grenades are a huge and evil part of my arsenal and I'm very very good at all kind of tricks with them these days that replacing them with shield in a can is iffy

And the bubble has a bunch of advantages as a strat - it tends to make your team gather up, and I've saved too many fights with it. Really, really good on stuff like defend the flag

Or even just creating a safe approach when you get shitty los from a turret

[agile fable]

New warbond is entitled “Siege breakers”. In the first game, the cyborgs had an equivalent to the hive lord known as the Siege mech. On a scale of 1-10 how fucked are we

[hexed steeple]

we'll be fine cause we'll break siege

[stone bridge]

thats right

[cobalt patrol]

We're totally fine

Honest

[rotund marten]

Very excited for grenade machine gun

I will have to put my beloved portable hellbomb down but it'll be worth it

[odd arch]

wonder what will it have over normal GL with supply pack

besides no reloads

[dusty spruce]

Some numbers for the hammer

[supple siren]

hogh.. bignumber

[dusty spruce]

Stamina from armor passive is % of damage, so Dead Sprint will not give much

[glacial light]

Dang thats similar damage to EATs

[dusty spruce]

Other nitty-gritty for the hammer includes: You have to preload the charge, and it can't be unloaded. It staggers you a little when you use the charge, and damages your right arm (dev says similar to the Variable). 30 demo force. Swings are all horizontal. Can still detonate the charge on the ground if you aim down (guessing that means be mindful of the anim or maybe you'll accidentally detonate the charge against a bit of geometry)

[ionic holly]

return to brick

[royal lantern]

Armor also has a secondary passive of higher armor values than the regular for the same weight class

But I don't think they said how much more

[ionic holly]

Okay that's certainly not a lot but it's something

probably 25 like the unflinching passive

admittedly hoping it'd the full 50 like with padding cause
yeah does it make better extra padding? only by the virtue of having an extra effect, but we only have one heavy with EP and like

5 free mediums with it

[knotty folio]

Er, I really really hope they don't start putting out strictly better versions of one of the best armours in the game in paid warbonds

That's how you get awful power creep

[ionic holly]

See i do fully agree, but the only extra padding heavy is already SC only

also i really dont think the stamina effect is gonna do that much to really make it feel all too better

(also also gonna respectfully point at desert stormer just being better acclimated even if you do technically 'lose' 10%)

[knotty folio]

Acclimated was impossible to acquire when Desert Stormer was released

[ionic holly]

Its still one perk thats just flat out better than the other since you're trading 10% for utility

[knotty folio]

So it's not strictly better, though probably better in general

[ionic holly]

sure yeah this isnt really gonna change either of our minds i think

i'd rather not annoy ya with a circle

[knotty folio]

But more importantly, Acclimated is mostly mediocre as a perk, while Extra Padding is arguably the best perk available

[knotty folio]

Fair enough

[ionic holly]

i'll double check armour calculation a bit more, maybe 25 more armour does more than im thinkin'

[knotty folio]

Could also be like +35 armor potentially

[ionic holly]

That would hurt the tism but would be appreciated /lh

[knotty folio]

25 armor is nontrivial on light and mediums IME, but not great on heavy

[ionic holly]

Aye
but theres also not a lot of heavy armour that flucuates so outside of napkin math we dont have good gauges on rations beyond 150 and 200

[knotty folio]

Light in particular gets a lot of benefit, love me the Unflinching armour for that reason

[ionic holly]

like, who knows maybe the new armour comes out at 175 and its an extremely tanky set up there with the grand juror and fortified commando

we've not had 175 so its hard to really tell

fucked and evil option: it doesnt raise the armour value and just gives you a flat extra 5%~ damage resistance, kinda like ballistic padding but full body
not particularly a fan of that option, just a funny one i thought of

[knotty folio]

A flat damage reduction like the health booster would be a nifty armour passive, though probably would be its own armour

[ionic holly]

Aye

Iunno, i guess im just really not sold on "take damage get stamina" yknow?

[knotty folio]

Yeah, I'm skeptical as well

[ionic holly]

like, even as a heavy armour conniseur my response to taking damage is cover or kill if im not in the danger zone

[knotty folio]

Though at least (as long as the numbers are reasonable) it should be a lot more usable than Dead Sprint, since it theoretically fixes the big issue that one has - it gives you extra stamina to help survive with when situations are going poorly, instead of taking your health when you're already in bad straits

[ionic holly]

Yeah, i suppose, i intend to rock the heavy armour no matter what since the fashion is like

exactly what i want

just would be nice if i noticed the passive more often than not too

[knotty folio]

It does feel like a good fit for heavy armour, since it's so easy to get bogged down with heavy

[ionic holly]

Speaking of things that are gonna be real nice for heavy armour

hi shield nade how you doing

why arent you in my inventory already

[tight zephyr]

hammber

[cobalt patrol]

Yeah, extra padding is insanely good. It's what I usually run everywhere, and you get away with so much bullshit just by having medium armor mobility while wearing heavy armor protection

One big thing is that why armor over 100 provides additional headshot damage reduction

Which can seriously cut down on random dreaths

[ionic holly]

i'll happily be wrong if 175 does more than i'm anticipating

[ionic holly]

also, the more i use it the more i enjoy the frag grenade

six little angry wasp cans is surprisingly enjoyable

[unreal merlin]

Looking forward to jetpack + hammer to kill bile titans

[ionic holly]

Real

[unreal merlin]

Helldivers are already crackhead psychos and their menacing aura only continues to grow

[knotty folio]

I do think we're approaching this from different angles - I'm extremely wary of "Extra Padding but Better" because I run light or medium all the time, where it's ludicrously strong, but it's significantly less valuable on heavy armours

[ionic holly]

And i run heavy armours constantly

cause it's The Thing i like

Worst case it comes out too weak and it (hopefully) gets a touch up like unflinching did

and epaulettes, i think those got touched up too actually

[knotty folio]

For reference, on light Extra Padding is 20% damage reduction, on medium it's 25%, on heavy it's 13%.

It's basically half as effective on heavy as medium

[ionic holly]

Aye

so yeah i'm 100% willing to say i just have a very skewed perspective of EP than everyone else

since 150 is my baseline usually

[knotty folio]

TBH maybe all the +armor passives should get an extra 25 armor on heavy

I have no idea how much the +armor passive heavy armours get used right now though

[ionic holly]

Well that's like

just fortified commander unless we count grand juror by technicality

[knotty folio]

This is just me mind palacing :p

[ionic holly]

and uh
yeah nooo

i never see it

if i see heavy armour its either one of two options

and it's either siege ready option

(this is excluding my own usage of heavy armour)

[knotty folio]

I actually do run Fortified heavy armour, but that's specifically and exclusively for Illuminate defense missions

[ionic holly]

Fortified is really good to be fair

i wouldn't say it's underrated i just think too many people get blinders for the more "meta" options

[knotty folio]

It's specifically nice for those defenses because the three things that can lose that mission all deal explosive

And in particular it lets you survive Stingrays

[ionic holly]

I'll note regarding fortified commando, it does also have a fashion issue
personally i don't mind it, giant ass bomb suit fucks, but it's very much uh
a fridge

[knotty folio]

Yeah

[ionic holly]

So yeah, realistically outside of my own uses, nah, not really seen it ever get use

but i also just
do not see heavy armour

not without reason, i know it's unpopular for a reason

i just like being a brick shithouse

[knotty folio]

I occasionally see a friend bring it with Warp Pack

[ionic holly]

and having been using medium armour again infrequently i ain't gonna lie anytime i do i miss my extra 50 armour

[ionic holly]

i run the minigun per my unofficial agreement with arrowhead that if they ever added one it'd be my main

[knotty folio]

This is why the cheese armour is best armour

[ionic holly]

so i am actively aware of my movement

But yeah, i think for a lot of folk it comes down to comfort and not wanting to dedicate a slot to compensating for the speed loss

and that's fair
but i can also eat so much more damage sometimes

i've survived the chainsaw slap form hulks atleast 5~ times in heavy wheras in medium i died immediately

[knotty folio]

I'm just a mobility addict, but I can certainly see the appeal

[ionic holly]

And i'm very much a defense addict

Honestly you know what i want?

I want a heavy armour set that pulls enemy attention in fire fights

let me draw aggro for the lil 'uns

[knotty folio]

The Grenade Battlement not to kill the user when destroyed?

[ionic holly]

P
pardon

[knotty folio]

IIRC the grenade emplacement kills the person using it when it gets destroyed

[ionic holly]

what the fuck

[knotty folio]

Which is a shame because armoured wall with GL is such a fun design

[ionic holly]

But- yeah uh
no i would love for a heavy specific set with a taunt effect

Tie it to emoting if you don't want it to be a passive thing

[knotty folio]

That would be hilarious if it worked in the car or mechs

Driving along with a trail of Voteless like the Pied Piper

[ionic holly]

Listen some of my most fun moments in diving is bringing a ballistic shield and just walking in to keep attention

But yeah knowing that we have kit with means of "hey look over here jackass" has made me desperately want an armour passive that does the same

especially with a shield nade on the horizon
draw attention, throw shield nade, rev minigun

[knotty folio]

That reminds me I still need to try the ragdoll reduction armour with the Directional Shield

[ionic holly]

It's pretty good from what i've heard, covers its biggest weakness

fuckin
god hilarious visual if they tied the aggro pull to emoting

https://tenor.com/view/skeleton-mad-skeleton-gif-10886506202898815019

[knotty folio]

Reminds me of the Lure Grenade from DRG which just projects a hologram of a dancing dwarf

[ionic holly]

Fair
but yeah, we'll know if my heavy armour is gonna be more cosmetic or effective in a lil under a week now

[odd arch]

meanwhile I would pay for ultralight armour

make me die from a mean stare but let me do flips

[knotty folio]

I honestly don't know if that would be possible to balance, mobility is so strong

But it would be fantastic to be even faster

Clearly what we need is a bike. Not a motorcycle, just a normal bicycle.

[unreal merlin]

Just a t-shirt and plate carrier

[knotty folio]

Plate carrier optional