Me, guiding my low-level buddies on a level 3 hatchery mission; "*ok guys now we're gonna break contact and move east to the main objective*"
My buddies; "*TONIGHT, WE DINE IN HELL!*"
Try to remember that people might run heavy armor because they don't want to die. Not having a clue about the bugged values atm.
So especially the low levels might be huffin and puffin through the map while you skate along in your Scout Armor with the Sandman Hat.
Indeed! Armor Ratings are still broken. Heavy, Medium and Light Armor all make you take the same damage.
Thus for now everyone is running around in Scout armor without any downsides.
I expect this bug might have been higher up on the priority to fix if the whole queue thing didn't take the topspot the past 2 weeks.
I mean you can still justify running some of the Mediums for that juicy +2 grenades or stims, but largely yes Lights are king rn. Makes me wonder how the game will shift once armor value works again. I hope the heavy armor actually makes you feel tanky.
The battlepass ceremonial armor with 33% chance to simply not die or whatever is elite
You will survive your teammates airstrike and fly 400 ft unscathed sometimes
My brother once made trigger this ability 4 times in a row in 10 seconds.... 3 tanks 4 hulks 1 snipertower and 1 idiot who dropped 500kg on my brother....
This one is my favorite so far lol. I bought one of the superstore armors just for the hell of it and was disappointed to see that it did nothing except slightly increase my armor and make me slow.
Took my friend til last night to finally beat it into his brain about armor. I’m really hoping the bug is making everything light armor value or at least medium.
I am going to die so much if I find out I’ve been running around with heavy stat values. Lol.
I really hate to do it, but we literally don’t have the ammo for clearing these Hard+ fights. The ones that get left behind will eventually notice the lack of firepower, and increasing enemy density, and realize they’re no longer supported and run to catch up.
Don't use it if there are people in front of you
Aim at anything
You are now a master (and yes it does hurt armored enemies, it can even break their armor)
Yeah, I noticed that yesterday. I had a random teammate running it. It was surprisingly effective against the Bug Chargers. Made me kinda rethink the weapon overall.
Edit: According to a comment below, you can also sweep with the targeting, making it hit even more targets. Big if true! Time to hope in game once I get off work today and test.
Chargers are the bane of my existence right now so anything that can be effective towards them would be a win in my book. I’d rather see a bile titan than a charger at this point
I’ll run the grenade launcher for closing holes and clearing ad waves. I’ll rodeo clown chargers in circles waiting for my buddy to pop that leg open then it’s breaker time. I’ll do the same with the bile titans.
Disposable AT is kind of entry level MVP until you get the railgun lateron.
It helps with chargers, has only a 70sec cooldown and there's two of them in the pod, so either your teammates can grab one, you can make an extra dent or you can double tap a fucker to get the point across.
Honestly, I really like the thing. It's not broken OP but has some ol' reliable vibes I can get behind.
The other support weapons like the AM etc just need to be buffed. Should be able to do the same thing with the railgun with the AM rifle for example. Then it's just a matter of playstyle.
It might not look impressive against a charger, but it appears to do some internal damage. After a couple of shots, you can see them start coughing up bug goop. At that point you might be able to just run and evade and they'll eventually internal hemmorage to death?
I love the bleed out mechanic. It's amazing, especially for medium Armour pen weapons. You think you need to unload a whole mag into an enemy and that the gun is trash, nah, couple of bursts, move on it'll fall over.
There is so much more to this game other than point and shoot.
Yes, it is very refreshing. I'm still yelling at the game with both anger and joy, "I'm already dealing with 5 chargers game. I don't need another one" etc. Then I'll chuck a resupply at one, land it directly on its shell, and collect my ammo from its dismembered corpse exclaiming "freedom.".
I'm still an enjoyer of the [insert random sucking in noise here] Bullet hit noise though, it's basically fast food v a nice rare steak dinner.
I also love how bugs can still go after you for a few seconds even without their heads. It really adds to the "when will you die?!" terror in the middle of hectic battles.
More like a chemical reaction along with bursting organs. Their guts are used as a fuel source after all, so probably volatile to high voltage.
On that note, they should buff the flamethrower and make bile combustible. Imagine staring up at a Bile titan rearing back its head and you start puffing the flamethrower and it lights up its mouth right as it shoots the bile, and it explodes in its face. Maybe not enough to kill it, but definitely stun.
Yeah, it should trigger the animation that happens when they spot you at least, where they stop and stand up.
I also think it should create smoke if there's foliage in the terrain you're burning.
I've found the flamethrower to be a good support weapon (at the middle difficulties). Torch the ground surrounding a temporary bug hole, it'll leave the terrain burning and damage the bugs. The little ones tend to not make it through and the medium sized ones are softened up enough to be caught up in the shotgun spray going towards the large bugs.
The explosive weapons would be good too. Imagine if the spewer explodes if you land a burst shot on the side from the explosive assault rifle or shotgun. Would be good for crowd control, and would be hilarious if they were in a group of 5 and blew each other up one by one.
Arc throwers are amazing against chargers personally. Now, it takes a few extra shots, but it is effective from any angle and can chain through multiple chargers.
I've come to love and appreciate this weapon so much in the past weekend.
Oh man. I took out a bile titan and a charger at the same time with it while defending an objective solo.
I didn't even have to worry about the ads, cause they all died from the electricity.
Granted, it took a little longer, and I think a lot of it was bleed damage. But they died.
If you happen to have a stratagem slot you find yourself either not using as often as you'd like, or perhaps running out of uses too fast since some are limited, perhaps try thr orbital railcannon? One-shots chargers, it in combo with a 500kg bomb is almost guaranteed to murder a titan, and it has infinite uses per mission (just a cooldown per shot, couple minutes like the 500kg does)
You can bait them into charging a rock and then running away from them breaking line of sight. Chargers are very low on target priority list, they are basically harmless as long as you keep an eye on them
It even destroys Titan lateral body armor, but it needs many hits.
It shines specially against small to medium target, anything smaller than a Charger will get killed in 1 or 3 zaps.
It’s not as great as the Railgoon, but if your team already has a couple theres no point having a third.
It has a range of like 100m, and grabs the nearest target and zaps 3-4 others too.
This thing is a MUST for bugs. You can stop a breach in 3 zaps by taking out a whole patrol
You can drag your mouse over other enemies, and the lighting will jump to the new targets. I haven't had a chance to test this yet in the game. I just read it on a comment. So I'll be playing around with it tonight.
Yo, what? You can sweep it? I need to test this.
I still probably wont like it over the railgun or recoilless, but hey I can give it a tenth shot at least
Also would add you dont need to fully charge it to get a shot off. It seems to give the same amount of damage regardless of amount charged. So hold it for 1.5 second or so then let it rip. Keep doing that. Only reason to fully charge is when enemies are coming around a corner or from a breach and you want to have the shot ready to go.
If you're aiming down sights with it, the reticle shows what charge it's at.
The first charge takes a while to build up. After that, it charges quickly, letting you get consecutive shots off quickly.
It doesn’t.
I tested against medium targets and if you quick zap u can kill a target in 2-3 hits. If you hold it for idk 2-3 seconds it will kill it in 1 hit.
It is kinda confusing cuz it doesn’t have a heat meter or anything. Still quick consecutives hits are more effective.
Interesting good to know. Yeah if there was some feedback when it hit the enemies it would be cool. For example maybe a fully charged shot keeps the enemy electrocuted and slows them doing damage over time vs shorter charges that just deal fast damage when you are being swarmed.
There's a rhythm to the charging. You want to release when there's little glow and pop sound around the gun. Aiming is also wonky but try to aim at their head. If shots aren't hitting try adjusting your aim slightly above next to their silhouette and the lightning should arc down and hit them (same thing if youre attacking someone from a lower elevation and the lightning keeps hitting the dirt or feet).
You also have to be careful. 1. The arc will get caught on debris and flora. Aim as stated above or move to a more open location. 2. If an allied nameplate is anywhere near your reticle when firing, youll probably one-tap kill your squad mate. Shots will also arc off of enemies into others ( including your squad) so best practice is to switch weapons or hold fire if youre in close quarters to your squad.
What's the upside to such a finicky weapon? 1. It's effective against everything. Anything will die if you just keep zapping (including titans, chargers, etc). 2. Unlimited ammo. 3. Horde clearing. Shots will arc through enemies and hit multiple (if youre getting the charging rhythm down correctly) effectively killing/staggering 3+ small weapons in a shot, and entirely clearing horses In a handful more. it's also just really cool.
I absolutely love it, it's such a great weapon. I've been using it paired with the jet pack to get the high ground or to jet backwards. If things get too close. I'm pairing it with the EMS orbital strike and the gas, both of which have a 72nd cooldown and you are absolutely the master of breaches. I've even killed multiple crushers stuck in the EMS field
I've been using it with a shield and it's totally changed the game. I can always get a shot off without being interrupted and can completely trivialize stalkers/hunters and chain sword bots
After the first charge, it does full damage on a half charge
DO NOT USE if teammates are withing 20 yards of your aim circle unless you like killing friends.
Strafe, dive, shoot while diving.
Congratulations you did it!
Common misconception, you *can* use it if people are in front of you, just ABSOLUTELY NOT if your teammates are remotely behind the enemy you are shooting.
For the most part the gun shoots where you point it and as long as you don’t aim at people it won’t zap them directly. *However,* once it hits something, all bets are off and the chain lightning will seek out your teammates without fail.
The lightning only chains *away* from you though, so as long as your teammates are not behind the enemy you’re shooting then they’re safe. (If they are then you will 100% kill them.)
“Away from you” is loosely defined here, lol.
It won’t arc back towards you, but it will absolutely jump off to the left or right instead of straight through and target something (enemy or ally)
I love the weapon, but you have to learn to long range it, and if things start to close, flank around and thin the herd/target stragglers while the group kills the front
Yeah, I've been using it a lot lately and the buddy I play with (mostly duos) has been experiencing a lot of those left/right arcs. Thankfully we laugh about it, but I can imagine randoms not taking it in stride so well.
It's a mid to long range weapon, not a shotgun. The arc grows as it travels and can hit many enemies at once. If you swing your mouse while it's firing, the beam will also zap anything you swing it over. So it can clear a swarm in a couple zaps.
pretty sure sweeping your mouse does nothing.
EDIT: Can confirm, sweeping your gun does absolutely nothing for the Arc Thrower. It just strikes a single target and then potentially jumps from there.
Zaps whatever’s in front of you* make sure it’s just enemies and you are perfectly fine :) also has infinite ammo so it’s great if you want to take a “heavier” primary like the Dominator and bring that as your actual “primary” weapon
Protip: aim up, like a whole head above the enemies. I’ve noticed the arc can get stuck on carcasses or geometry in front of you so if you aim up it should properly arc to the enemies you want.
Yes it does. It kills mediums very quickly. It DOES kill heavies, but not as fast as a railgun. 10ish shots to a charger. 20+ to a titan.
I generally take Arc Thrower if 2+ of my team is using the railgun. 2-3 rails is plenty to deal with the chargers / hulks / titans. The Arc Thrower is absolutely unmatched in its ability to take care of large groups of medium to small enemies.
6 bile spewers marching at you? Easy. Several zaps of the Arcy boy will take them all out.
16 hunters coming your way in the distance? No problem. Zap zap zap.
A large group of scout walkers on the horizon? Did you know metal conducts electricity very well?
If nobody on my team has the tools to deal with hulks / titans, I still take railgun. Given how popular the rail is, though, I find myself playing elemental shaman more often than not. I've loved this gun more than anything else since the first time I found it on the ground randomly in a mission.
Also the thing is basically a fucking sniper rifle. Massive range. It DOES suffer from some shitty invisible terrain issues where you'll fire and nothing happens fairly often, though. Just take a few steps to the side and it usually works just fine.
I was amazed at the range! The arc guns in HD1 were nearly useless, just bad shotguns. So I was expecting it to only work at point blank. But then I shot a bug at 5m and was like "waiiiiit". So I tried 10m, then 20m, and I need to keep experimenting with it but that's vastly more than I though!
I use it when my friend and I two-man Suicide Mission difficulty.
He uses Railgun, Backpack Shield, 500 kg, and Orbital Laser.
I use Arc, Orbital Rail, Airstrike, and Tesla Tower.
Unless they don't and instead provide a distraction the whole time . I did a mission yesterday on 8 where I did literally every objective side or otherwise except plugging nests and found the super samples while my team maintained a 25 minute fight in the middle. It was kinda peaceful.
I got kicked because I was off getting samples (we all need) I was on my way back to extract and asked them to wait for a minute they just typed F in chat and kicked me.
I honestly would have laughed if I wasn't so pissed. Iv had people do it for me basically just solo while it seemed we just did nothing it's incredible. I was with a group last night and halfway through I had a thought about what if super earth is wrong and the bots just want to help and my teammates gunned me down then brought me back when we all stopped laughing it was so funny.
Spread the word smalldikproblems43 and wafflestomper69 are traitors to democracy and the grind. Shoot them on sight my brothers and sisters in armes. FOR FREEDOM! And don't die 😉
Lol yea I got yelled at in one match for "not helping" which cracked me up because at the time I had completed two main obj and several side obj while they had been fighting endless hordes.
"We're dying over here!!"
"Ok, so run away."
Players like that really suck. I’ve done plenty of solo missions to retrieve the team’s dropped samples before extract without a hitch. Just silly to kick someone for bringing more loot.
I feel slightly bad sometimes, but someone needs to do the objectives. If I’m playing with randoms I go with my solo build. I don’t want to spend 20 minutes and 4 lives fighting a group of chargers and never ending bugs.
So I’ll hang around for a bit, take down the threats that are right on us to give us space to retreat, but then it’s time to go. If the group wants to stay and fight, that’s cool with me. Play how you want to play, but I am going to go to the main objectives (hopefully clearing some bug holes on the way), just so if we do use up all our lives we at least got the mission done.
So far I’ve had a good experience online. No one has bitched at me for leaving them to fight. If anything they seem pretty happy that things are getting done while they get to have the chaotic fun they want
Same! There's nothing like having your sensitive nether regions piledrove by mass-spawning Annihilator Tanks, Hulks, and Rocket Raiders as you try and share the splendors of Democracy.
But in all seriousness, I feel like the only way to beat these missions on the higher difficulties is with a pair of people dedicated to shooting down dropships with a recoilless rifle while a crap ton of sentries take care of any that manage to land.
I was in one of these matches last night with a friend on (admittedly only difficulty level 4) and my friend and this random pretty much destroyed 3 out of 4 dropships that tried to come in to land by standing on the evac pad at the top of the facility. Between that and having a mortar, stun mortar, and a couple sentries placed around the facility, I don't think I ever even saw a berserker or other unit manage to get iinto the compound in one piece. It was an absolute cakewalk.
From having played these on 'Suicide' difficult, I'm very aware of how impossible they get... but I couldn't help but see this tactic of simply denying the dropships from landing and thinking that that's probably *the* most effective way to complete those missions at higher difficulties as well.
The theory-crafting I have for being able to pull off a successful difficulty 7+ evac mission is this:
Helldiver 1 runs around pushing all the buttons and focuses on cleaning up big-bads that get into the facility: Shield Generator (I know), Railgun (*I know*), Orbital Railgun, (Dealer's Choice)
Helldiver 2 is sort of a generalist but *mostly* exists to support the rifle team with precious additional ammo: Ammo Backpack, Expendable Anti-Tank, Rocket/Autocannon Sentry, (Dealer's Choice)
Helldivers 3 and 4 are the rifle team and place most of the sentries. They should be on the high-ground to have the best perspective on what dropships are coming in, and should prioritize shooting down dropships with heavies and ultra-heavies (probably a moot mention since those are pretty much every dropship on the higher difficulties).
Helldiver 3 shoots, places mortar sentries, and has extra ammo for the reloader when he runs empty: Ammo Backpack, Recoilless Rifle, EMS Mortar, Mortar
Helldiver 4 reloads, places a Gatling/Autocannon/EMS sentry to cover the pair and (hopefully) a facility entrance, and places a Rocket/Autocannon sentry somewhere where it should also try and shoot down dropships. Recoilless Rifle Backpack, Expendable Anti-Tank, EMS/Autocannon/Gatling Sentry, Rocket/Autocannon Sentry
I've yet to have 4 people that would want to play these kinds of missions on 7+ difficulty with this kind of loadout... but if/when I do I'll try and come back here and update this post to say how successful (or utterly unsuccessful lol) it was.
I have a strat that works on diff 8. It still gets hectic but the strategy that’s always worked the most consistently for me is this:
- 2 trash cleanup loadouts (GL/supply pack is awesome)
- 2 heavy cleanup loadouts (rail/shield pack for example). These guys stay near the doors and slam the buttons every time they reappear
- 4 mortar sentries, stagger 2 and 2 so there’s always 2 up between cooldowns.
- 4 orbital laser or railcannons for emergencies
GL users run around clearing out squads as they drop and are still clustered together. Supply pack will keep this spam going indefinitely and you can pop nades safely from cover.
Mark all hulks and tanks immediately so the railguns can focus them down
Tanks can also be taken out with 2 g-16 impact grenades directly to the turret (doesn’t have to be the vent side).
If a cluster of tanks or hulks happens take turns orbital lasering so there’s always one off cooldown. Only use this for emergencies (waves getting out of control)
Reinforce IMMEDIATELY and preferably on the corpse so the dead can recover their weapons ASAP. Don’t let any lapse in reinforcement happen because that means several seconds of a job not being done.
Tanks and hulks MUST be taken out fast before they become trouble. If you leave them running free too long they can easily murder the GLs and make it hard to recover their weapons. This is usually the error that causes a domino effect
Keep the middle clear so the mortars aren’t TK’ing you or scientists. Watch the radar to see where drops or large squads are incoming. GLs are full time on killing groups. Remember to cycle mortars. This strategy made everything go super smooth when everyone executed correctly. One person failing at their duty or sleeping on any of the jobs will cost the run. As soon as the middle gets swarmed it’s over. Obviously the higher the difficulty the less room for mistakes there is.
I'm honestly dreading the bug version of those missions. The fog from the bile nursery, the bile spewer artillery shots, 4-5 bile titan running around. Dozens of chargers, fucking swarm of hunters.
It's gonna be horrible.
The spawn rate outpaces everyone's ammo pool and strata cooldown. Plus there are no real defenses. The "kill the bots" defense is a fortress. All the other missions are wide open.
Some of the high level bot nests start feeling this way with the multiple MG and mortar and artillery emplacements all firing on you as you are charging across a field
Did the same thing during a helldiver mission but they were actually pretty grateful since in like 15 minutes we had almost all main and side objectives done.
It's actually pretty chill doing the objectives while others distract since you normally don't get breaches. Just be a bit stealthy, bring a kit that's a bit self reliant so the others can call resupplies on them and you're good to go.
Just did this. Marksman rifle and railgun and smoke grenades. Cleared the whole map just taking out the outposts and objectives with minimal enemy pushback. So satisfying
I was forced to attempt this on difficulty 8 cos I couldn't matchmake. It turned out to be a hell of a lot more fun than I expected. I just wish the second AMR was silenced now
Prefer being a scalpel. I always take rocket pods and railcannon.
Also wish the counter sniper was a bit better. For the slower turn speed I feel like it should penetrate medium armour or have a silencer.
It actually does penetrate medium armor, even though it doesn’t say it does. But the reticle drag makes it so much harder to hit targets, and the regular diligence does enough damage on its own when hitting weak points that the counter sniper just doesn’t really have a place.
I’ve been both during an egg extermination mission on tier 7. What started as being the base wiper with no bug responsibility quickly turned into a 3 bile titan, 3 charger and endless bug conga line.
If not for grenade launchers and 500KG I would’ve died forsure.
That’s what happened with me today lol.
3 lower-leveled Helldivers kept fighting enemies. I kept asking them to move.
I completed 2 out of 3 objectives while they stuck at one place fighting. I died at the 3rd objective; I was the last one to die.
They kicked me immediately out of the lobby after the game ended lol.
PS — It is not even like I completely left them to deal with the enemies. I still ended up with the most kills.
funny, because it can be very beneficial for a team to do that as a strategy, and an INCREDIBLY viable one at that, there can only be one enemy call in at a time, so you can strike bases and objectives when they start and never risk more enemies
I did a difficulty 6 and had a level 3 and 6. I dont think they noticed I was finishing the mission while they just held down a single spot. Gotta love light armor.
Nothing feels better than finding a natural choke point that enemies funnel through.
A solid position can change the tide of a battle so fast it's not even funny
I think part of the problem is that the objectives themselves are usually pretty boring across all games. Fighting and dying in the meat grinder chokepoint may not win me the game, but it's a hell of a lot more fun.
I was on Vanu Matherson. SOE had to change the rules to stop us from dominating Matherson because we teamworked so hard the Enclave and whatever was happening with the NC just couldn't stop us. the Enclave would drop three hundred alt-right dorks on one facility while ten VS platoons went in every direction capturing everything. We were the reason they implemented Lattice. And, I think this is hilarious, after whining about us for months Buzz and all the Enclave assholes got bored with lattice and gave up on the game pretty quickly. Fuckers.
My knowledge is mostly Planetside 1, where gameplay was more hectic and hacking was more proactive and hilarious (like corrupting an enemy heavy vehicle spawner and manning a tank or bangbus right inside the base).
I played PS2 a bit at launch until they messed up balance into pay2win, and had other games to play co-op when it was fixed...
Hacking was a lot of fun. PS1 had a bunch of weird systems that led to all kinds of chaos. i remember spending long periods of time just spamming lashers down staircases until the TR could get enough maxes to push through us.
SOE really messed up by paywalling/timewalling some of the core anti-vehicle weapons.
I mean the real issue I'm seeing at level 10 is that the amount of people that have no clue how to use a terminal or do basic objectives is shockingly bad. That's why they all play defense missions because they're utterly useless when they have to do something.
Reminds me of destiny 2 where a shocking amount of people don’t know to throw a giant glowing red ball into a giant glowing red hole or match two of the same symbol
If it were my low level teammates that were new it wouldn't be so annoying, but when a level 23 doesn't know how to use a terminal to complete a mission, something is seriously wrong.
Not when you're out of respawns and your teammate drops a barrage on the terminal, killing you and the other 2 useful guys. He tried to line up the satellite 3 times before just giving up and fucking us over.
Had a level 50 the other day just staring at the terminal screen for 2 minutes while 3 of us held off hordes of bugs. I ran up to see what was going on and he never seen the pipes puzzle minigame before and had no idea what to do.
Bruh it’s one of the most basic puzzles in the history of puzzles connect the pipes in a way that allows flow from one end to the other.
How stupid do you have to be to not immediately and intuitively understand the problem.
Idk, I've seen quite a few people not realize that you have to just press up on some of the screens or move the crosshair to the grid coordinates on the other screens.
It's a symptom of getting carried because higher levels just baby lower level players and do terminals for them.
I didn't get to do an ICBM Terminal until I was level 10 because level 20+ dudes would always rush ahead and do it.
In my experience in pubs, if I'm not doing the objective, no-one is. Hopefully things get a bit better as time passes and the playerbase settles, but based on my experience in other games that could take a while. For now you just gotta bring an all-rounder loadout and do what you can while randoms compete for the breach stacking gold medal.
And then there's idiots who insist on doing every single outpost on a map at higher difficulties, even if we have sub 20 minutes left. And enemies really start ramping up.
You get 1 exp and 10 requisition per % of time left, 2 minutes is 5% on a standard 40 minute mission, so if you take more than 2 minutes to run to, and take out a small outpost, you're literally just wasting time and exp.
Same with 4 minutes for medium, and 6 minutes for large outposts.
The only real reason to go out of your way to take out outposts (opposed to just taking out ones that are in your path) is if you're really grinding for samples, as outposts very commonly have them.
Level 40 here (playing organically, no Extermination farm). That's one of the reasons why, in the current state of the game balance-wise, I don't think is fun to play diff 8-9. I like the power fantasy of me and my squad being able to deal with at least most of the enemies the game throws at us. Eventually we fuck up and the need to retreat arises, but on diff 8-9 there are TOO MANY heavily armored enemies for all of our AT and strikes combined, so it becomes a game of just rushing through objectives and running away from enemies, which IMO, is not as fun. This MIGHT change if the devs grant buffs to some of the AT weapons, but as it is, there is no fun being swarmed with Titans/Chargers/Hulks/Tanks and having no viable way to deal with at least half of them in a time effective manner.
No, no, just as there are priority citizens, there are priority objectives! Liberating that ICBM is doing much more to defend managed democracy than shooting the bugs coming out of a breach!
My friend and I were playing with 2 randoms and after clearing an objective, the other 2 just stayed there trying to kill the never ending hordes of bots they were being dropped in. Despite my friend and I constantly telling them to move, they just didn't listen. We eventually had to leave them but they wasted all of the reinforcements by dying and respawning each other at the same place.
If it gets really bad and they're just burning through our lives I'll beat the other lollygagger to the respawn. Might lose some samples they had but that'll happen anyway if they don't leave enough lives to extract.
It's fun to shoot things, though
I've basically lost interest in the game now that I'm doing 8+ missions because every mission is just our group running away from the action to do the objectives and then immediately extract. I had way more fun at lower levels when we fought everything
I've been digging 7s on bugs, but it already feels like I have all the super samples I need while I'm farming up the rares and commons now.
I've been dropping the difficulty some these last few days since I like doing quickplay but feel like on 7+ I end up running the same setup constantly since I want to be self sufficient when playing with randoms.
So here's how I'm doing.
When I want to upgrade something, I go for 7. If I wanna use the flame thrower, I go for 5.
There isn't enough difference in rewards to stop you from doing easier one for the fun factor.
I'm with you. I like playing lvls 5-7 because I get to play with different stratas and I get the power fantasy feeling. Having to run away from a never ending stream of enemies and just throwing stratas behind myself is kinda against the spirit of the game (if it becomes the core loop like it is in higher levels, it's fine in moderation).
Ultimately, please remember - it's a PvE game, play the way that makes it fun for you.
I have only played a few missions in total, but reading this thread is disappointing. As you have called out, it sounds like it turns into running simulator as you go up in difficulty.
That doesn't sound fun.
Not necessarily, but you do have to pick your fights if you want to map clear reliably. Fighting reinforcements for 15 mins in the middle of nowhere accomplishes nothing. Fighting reinforcements for 15 mins after clearing a large outpost so you can grab the samples inside it is usually worth it
Because all the players at the highest difficulty are more likely to want to map clear
Its a game, you can still choose to just play it how you want if you arent with randos. If it isnt fun dont do it
we do full clears on 9 in ours, we clear every breach and bot drop, it a rare case if we \*always\* retreating on a mission (usually the dreaded eye of sauron detector tower causes it, screw that thing and its un-hellbombable platform), we use specialised loadouts to clear them as immediately as we can, we frequently use "bad" weapons and stratagems because they do these particular things really well, shake up what you do and try stuff, because the community currently severely misunderstands items right now, and tierlists are flat out wrong in many regards because of this, so people stack up items that simply cant deal with what that difficulty throws at them (a far too common example being teams running 4 shield gens, 4 railguns, and being shocked when they are overwhelmed, and out of ammo)
We have a sort of combat mantra in the Marine Corps, something that's drilled into our heads, short and simple and easy to remember even in the chaos of battle:
**Shoot, move, communicate.**
So long as everyone is doing all three of those things, the battle will go about as smoothly as it can. As soon as anyone starts getting tunnel vision and stops doing any one of those three things, shit is going to go downhill fast.
**Shoot:** Self explanatory. You can't win if you're not shooting back. If all you do is take cover and try to avoid dying, well, you're gonna die. Worse, your squad mates may get killed because nobody is watching their back. (Yes, from a Marine’s perspective, that’s worse than dying ourselves.)
**Move:** Exactly like you said. Don't stay in one place. Always be on the move. The longer you remain in the same location, the more likely that location is to be overrun. As soon as you have an opportunity to shift your position, do it.
**Communicate:** Tell your squamates what you see and where you see it. It helps everyone's situational awareness and battlefield cognition. People tend to get tunnel vision on whatever they're fighting. They're aiming down sights and shooting at what's in front of them, so they're not looking left and right and behind. Hearing you call out what kinds of enemies are where will help them remain aware of the entire battlefield so they can know when and where to move, or where to redirect their fire if a greater threat presents itself.
This might be the first game I've ever played where this is actually applicable. Most video games are just too scripted and don't really require you to use real world combat tactics. I think it's a credit to Arrowhead that they actually made a game where no shit USMC combat training is genuinely applicable and practical in the game. Games like COD have certainly never pulled that off.
I've never been in the military but I did want to confirm how amazing the game is when you follow those tenants. When I joined a random group a few days ago and used push-to-talk to inform how I'd have a supply pack, point out optional stuff, etc. it made the entire experience with them incredibly fun.
This is also the only game I've played that actually allows you to use diversionary tactics. I've noticed that in most games, the AI is programmed to make a beeline for whatever NPC you're protecting in an escort mission. In HD2 however, it's completely viable to have three helldivers stay on the outskirts and attract enemy attention while the fourth one stays in stealth and moves the engineers to the safety zone. It's so great.
Yeah seriously..I see too many think they can sit there and just clear the bug breaches...on easier difficulties..maybe..but on harder..you gotta keep moving...you WILL run out of ammo before you kill them all.
Two things that tend to get people moving though are:
- Chargers
- Bile Titans
Yea my #1 cause of failure so far has been getting bogged down by those damnable Detector Towers. The only way I know to kill them for sure is a Hellbomb but it's pretty impossible to get close to them if you and your team of randoms doesn't realize exactly what's happening very quickly. Advice on dealing with them other than just getting as far away as possible would be appreciated, since I live in fear of the objective being within their gaze.
Even the tiniest bit of situational awareness lets you realize your squad has moved on to objectives. I've been there, up to my eyeballs in combat when I looked around and everyone's gone. :)
Along with this, on the evacuate citizens missions, send ONE person in quiet while the rest make a shit ton of noise fighting enemies in other areas of the map. So much easier as it draws all the aggro away from the objective.
You can outrun just about any herd of enemies, especially if you’re proactive about making space. Worst case you kite them to a more advantageous position.
I think the worst play is almost always digging in, it’s just not really possible at higher difficulties
see, i'll admit i agree for the most part, but i'll add a stipulation.
don't stay in a huge fight if youre hemorrhaging reinforcements and you can escape
basically know when to fight and when to just
but if youre having a good time, i can't speak for 8 or 9 difficulty but at 6 you 100% have enough people to have a 10 minute firefight and have enough reinforcements to lose people.
extraction is 100% optional btw so as long as the objective gets done you win
Clear. The. Big. Ones. If you see three chargers spawn on level 7 and you just run and abandon your teammate you're failing democracy. At least if you're gonna run communicate. Use pings, talk, something. On diff 7 we still have the ordinance to clear the things that can outrun us. Also fun fact chargers die in two railgun shots and 5 breaker shots to a leg. The leg is the weak spot. You too can solo a charger in under ten seconds.
Well, its usually better to defend on higher difficulties… Enemies spawned by a breach can’t call for additional reinforcements if you kill them fast enough and will eventually run out. HOWEVER, that patrol that was automatically alerted when you ran through its area while being chased CAN, as well as every other enemy that you encounter that gets automatically aggroed while you run for the objective.
It’s better to retreat to a defensible point then to run heater skelter across the map spawning a thousand bugs. Or hell, divide and conquer, 3 people deal with the alerted enemies while one sneaks away
>Enemies spawned by a breach can’t call for additional reinforcements if you kill them fast enough and will eventually run out.
What difficulty do you refer to? On a tier nine you might have two titans popping out of a breach in the first few moments. There's really no such thing as a defensible position when there's 8+ chargers and titans on the field. You move or you die.
Plz, this right here. I get OP to an extent but there is a point where you have to turn and start clearing out what's chasing you..
And yes you can clear off a large attack by closing those beaches when they happen.. it's when people are doing as OP AND not culling stuff that I tend to get overran in a mission and we die out.
There's nothing worse than one guy bolting all over the place opening up breaches and getting chased by patrols and not killing any of the bugs.. that leaves the other squadmates with Charger after Charger after them or a bunch of stalker bugs out of nowhere... Double whammy when they're doing this and want to call you in solo just to run off before you even land.
Plus, the extermination of the bug menace is managed democracy at it's finest... Just know when to move out.
Had a group last night where these 2 guys did not get that. So me and the other guy just ran around doing the main and side objectives.
We surprisingly stayed together for quite a few games just cause it was working.
Agree, was running with 2 randoms on diff 4, just for some quick rounds, of course both run no AT.
Had to clear 4 bot outposts myself, because they were busy fighting the bot patrols on the other side of the map.
Happens way too often, man. We finish an objective or poi, they decide to sit around and play tea time with the enemies. I wonder if they think killing enemies gives reward or something. Would be nice if the low effort content creators could make video on this topic.
Move. Don't stay and fight unless you have to. Move while you're calling in strategems and reinforcements, you gotta learn how to walk/run and type that shit in.
ABM! ALWAYS BE MOVIN
I had some people at work ask what the difference is between their level missions (4-6) vs that of mine (8-9) and my explanation is they can fire fight all they want and likely survive. At level 8 and 9, you are clearing objectives and tactically retreating/on the move constantly. This is so apparent when you run automaton missions because they will flare gun and spawn drop ships endlessly.
We aren't retreating, we're just running to spread democracy in a place that's not right here with these bastards
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Advancing toward a more reasonable objective.
Forward, Helldivers!
Me, guiding my low-level buddies on a level 3 hatchery mission; "*ok guys now we're gonna break contact and move east to the main objective*" My buddies; "*TONIGHT, WE DINE IN HELL!*"
Try to remember that people might run heavy armor because they don't want to die. Not having a clue about the bugged values atm. So especially the low levels might be huffin and puffin through the map while you skate along in your Scout Armor with the Sandman Hat.
Wait, armor is bugged?
Indeed! Armor Ratings are still broken. Heavy, Medium and Light Armor all make you take the same damage. Thus for now everyone is running around in Scout armor without any downsides. I expect this bug might have been higher up on the priority to fix if the whole queue thing didn't take the topspot the past 2 weeks.
I mean you can still justify running some of the Mediums for that juicy +2 grenades or stims, but largely yes Lights are king rn. Makes me wonder how the game will shift once armor value works again. I hope the heavy armor actually makes you feel tanky.
The battlepass ceremonial armor with 33% chance to simply not die or whatever is elite You will survive your teammates airstrike and fly 400 ft unscathed sometimes
It's actually 50% I believe
You are correct
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Sometimes you get double lucky and survive the impacts! It happens!!’
so what your saying is if liberty and luck really like me i can be immortal?
Speedrunning ops BotW-style when?
My brother once made trigger this ability 4 times in a row in 10 seconds.... 3 tanks 4 hulks 1 snipertower and 1 idiot who dropped 500kg on my brother....
This one is my favorite so far lol. I bought one of the superstore armors just for the hell of it and was disappointed to see that it did nothing except slightly increase my armor and make me slow.
I have plenty of light armor that gives +nades or +stims by this point.
Took my friend til last night to finally beat it into his brain about armor. I’m really hoping the bug is making everything light armor value or at least medium. I am going to die so much if I find out I’ve been running around with heavy stat values. Lol.
I really hate to do it, but we literally don’t have the ammo for clearing these Hard+ fights. The ones that get left behind will eventually notice the lack of firepower, and increasing enemy density, and realize they’re no longer supported and run to catch up.
*laughs in infinite arc thrower ammo and horde clear*
I cannot figure out how to use this weapon properly. Edit: thank you for all the responses and feedback. have some homework and testing tonight.
Don't use it if there are people in front of you Aim at anything You are now a master (and yes it does hurt armored enemies, it can even break their armor)
Yeah, I noticed that yesterday. I had a random teammate running it. It was surprisingly effective against the Bug Chargers. Made me kinda rethink the weapon overall. Edit: According to a comment below, you can also sweep with the targeting, making it hit even more targets. Big if true! Time to hope in game once I get off work today and test.
Chargers are the bane of my existence right now so anything that can be effective towards them would be a win in my book. I’d rather see a bile titan than a charger at this point
disposable AT, railgun etc, shoot at one leg to make it go all orange. Then empty your primary weapon into that leg. Dead charger.
I used to dread facing Chargers before learning the “secret sauce”. Now, I actively go after them.
*yelling at charger in the distance*: "WHERE YA GOIN' PRETTY GURL!!"
Just thinking of that Dead Space video (YOU’RE THE MONSTER, YOU DON’T GET TO RUN AWAY! COME BACK HERE AND SCARE ME!!)
I’ll run the grenade launcher for closing holes and clearing ad waves. I’ll rodeo clown chargers in circles waiting for my buddy to pop that leg open then it’s breaker time. I’ll do the same with the bile titans.
It's like talking to my dog. "Show me your little paw... Good boy". And it's dead.
Me seeing a charger at the beginning of the game: *im in danger* Me seeing a charger now as a lvl 20+: *looks like meat is back on the menu boys*
This is the way, I started using the EAT last night and it made light work of chargers.
Disposable AT is kind of entry level MVP until you get the railgun lateron. It helps with chargers, has only a 70sec cooldown and there's two of them in the pod, so either your teammates can grab one, you can make an extra dent or you can double tap a fucker to get the point across. Honestly, I really like the thing. It's not broken OP but has some ol' reliable vibes I can get behind.
it just sucks that you basicaly have to carry a railgun at all times when facing high densitys of chargers.
The other support weapons like the AM etc just need to be buffed. Should be able to do the same thing with the railgun with the AM rifle for example. Then it's just a matter of playstyle.
It might not look impressive against a charger, but it appears to do some internal damage. After a couple of shots, you can see them start coughing up bug goop. At that point you might be able to just run and evade and they'll eventually internal hemmorage to death?
I love the bleed out mechanic. It's amazing, especially for medium Armour pen weapons. You think you need to unload a whole mag into an enemy and that the gun is trash, nah, couple of bursts, move on it'll fall over. There is so much more to this game other than point and shoot.
It's great cause it actually makes things feel alive instead of a blob of arbitrary hit points.
Yes, it is very refreshing. I'm still yelling at the game with both anger and joy, "I'm already dealing with 5 chargers game. I don't need another one" etc. Then I'll chuck a resupply at one, land it directly on its shell, and collect my ammo from its dismembered corpse exclaiming "freedom.". I'm still an enjoyer of the [insert random sucking in noise here] Bullet hit noise though, it's basically fast food v a nice rare steak dinner.
I also love how bugs can still go after you for a few seconds even without their heads. It really adds to the "when will you die?!" terror in the middle of hectic battles.
More like a chemical reaction along with bursting organs. Their guts are used as a fuel source after all, so probably volatile to high voltage. On that note, they should buff the flamethrower and make bile combustible. Imagine staring up at a Bile titan rearing back its head and you start puffing the flamethrower and it lights up its mouth right as it shoots the bile, and it explodes in its face. Maybe not enough to kill it, but definitely stun.
I just want to see bugs afraid of fire like... You know... Wild animals are afraid of fire? Flamethrower is asscheeks
Yeah, it should trigger the animation that happens when they spot you at least, where they stop and stand up. I also think it should create smoke if there's foliage in the terrain you're burning.
I've found the flamethrower to be a good support weapon (at the middle difficulties). Torch the ground surrounding a temporary bug hole, it'll leave the terrain burning and damage the bugs. The little ones tend to not make it through and the medium sized ones are softened up enough to be caught up in the shotgun spray going towards the large bugs.
I really like the idea of the flamethrower being a 'bile parry' for the spewers & titans lol
The explosive weapons would be good too. Imagine if the spewer explodes if you land a burst shot on the side from the explosive assault rifle or shotgun. Would be good for crowd control, and would be hilarious if they were in a group of 5 and blew each other up one by one.
That'd be neat. And chain exploding bile spewers would lead to a lot of funny friendly fire incidents.
That happens when you blow up their tails
Railgun, two shots to either of the front legs will remove the armor, half a mag of your primary to the leg after that will drop it in seconds
Arc throwers are amazing against chargers personally. Now, it takes a few extra shots, but it is effective from any angle and can chain through multiple chargers. I've come to love and appreciate this weapon so much in the past weekend.
Oh man. I took out a bile titan and a charger at the same time with it while defending an objective solo. I didn't even have to worry about the ads, cause they all died from the electricity. Granted, it took a little longer, and I think a lot of it was bleed damage. But they died.
If you happen to have a stratagem slot you find yourself either not using as often as you'd like, or perhaps running out of uses too fast since some are limited, perhaps try thr orbital railcannon? One-shots chargers, it in combo with a 500kg bomb is almost guaranteed to murder a titan, and it has infinite uses per mission (just a cooldown per shot, couple minutes like the 500kg does)
You can bait them into charging a rock and then running away from them breaking line of sight. Chargers are very low on target priority list, they are basically harmless as long as you keep an eye on them
It even destroys Titan lateral body armor, but it needs many hits. It shines specially against small to medium target, anything smaller than a Charger will get killed in 1 or 3 zaps. It’s not as great as the Railgoon, but if your team already has a couple theres no point having a third.
It has a range of like 100m, and grabs the nearest target and zaps 3-4 others too. This thing is a MUST for bugs. You can stop a breach in 3 zaps by taking out a whole patrol
Am newb, what do you mean by sweep?
You can drag your mouse over other enemies, and the lighting will jump to the new targets. I haven't had a chance to test this yet in the game. I just read it on a comment. So I'll be playing around with it tonight.
Yo, what? You can sweep it? I need to test this. I still probably wont like it over the railgun or recoilless, but hey I can give it a tenth shot at least
Also would add you dont need to fully charge it to get a shot off. It seems to give the same amount of damage regardless of amount charged. So hold it for 1.5 second or so then let it rip. Keep doing that. Only reason to fully charge is when enemies are coming around a corner or from a breach and you want to have the shot ready to go.
If you're aiming down sights with it, the reticle shows what charge it's at. The first charge takes a while to build up. After that, it charges quickly, letting you get consecutive shots off quickly.
Same with the flamethrower. First shot takes a bit to get going. Once the tip is on fire pulling the trigger is immediate napalm.
It doesn’t. I tested against medium targets and if you quick zap u can kill a target in 2-3 hits. If you hold it for idk 2-3 seconds it will kill it in 1 hit. It is kinda confusing cuz it doesn’t have a heat meter or anything. Still quick consecutives hits are more effective.
Interesting good to know. Yeah if there was some feedback when it hit the enemies it would be cool. For example maybe a fully charged shot keeps the enemy electrocuted and slows them doing damage over time vs shorter charges that just deal fast damage when you are being swarmed.
I think fully charged shots have a longer range, perhaps jump to more enemies than a fast charge.
Also aim above the enemies. It's an Arc Thrower, it travels in an Arc.
There's a rhythm to the charging. You want to release when there's little glow and pop sound around the gun. Aiming is also wonky but try to aim at their head. If shots aren't hitting try adjusting your aim slightly above next to their silhouette and the lightning should arc down and hit them (same thing if youre attacking someone from a lower elevation and the lightning keeps hitting the dirt or feet). You also have to be careful. 1. The arc will get caught on debris and flora. Aim as stated above or move to a more open location. 2. If an allied nameplate is anywhere near your reticle when firing, youll probably one-tap kill your squad mate. Shots will also arc off of enemies into others ( including your squad) so best practice is to switch weapons or hold fire if youre in close quarters to your squad. What's the upside to such a finicky weapon? 1. It's effective against everything. Anything will die if you just keep zapping (including titans, chargers, etc). 2. Unlimited ammo. 3. Horde clearing. Shots will arc through enemies and hit multiple (if youre getting the charging rhythm down correctly) effectively killing/staggering 3+ small weapons in a shot, and entirely clearing horses In a handful more. it's also just really cool.
I absolutely love it, it's such a great weapon. I've been using it paired with the jet pack to get the high ground or to jet backwards. If things get too close. I'm pairing it with the EMS orbital strike and the gas, both of which have a 72nd cooldown and you are absolutely the master of breaches. I've even killed multiple crushers stuck in the EMS field
I've been using it with a shield and it's totally changed the game. I can always get a shot off without being interrupted and can completely trivialize stalkers/hunters and chain sword bots
After the first charge, it does full damage on a half charge DO NOT USE if teammates are withing 20 yards of your aim circle unless you like killing friends. Strafe, dive, shoot while diving. Congratulations you did it!
Common misconception, you *can* use it if people are in front of you, just ABSOLUTELY NOT if your teammates are remotely behind the enemy you are shooting. For the most part the gun shoots where you point it and as long as you don’t aim at people it won’t zap them directly. *However,* once it hits something, all bets are off and the chain lightning will seek out your teammates without fail. The lightning only chains *away* from you though, so as long as your teammates are not behind the enemy you’re shooting then they’re safe. (If they are then you will 100% kill them.)
“Away from you” is loosely defined here, lol. It won’t arc back towards you, but it will absolutely jump off to the left or right instead of straight through and target something (enemy or ally) I love the weapon, but you have to learn to long range it, and if things start to close, flank around and thin the herd/target stragglers while the group kills the front
Yeah, I've been using it a lot lately and the buddy I play with (mostly duos) has been experiencing a lot of those left/right arcs. Thankfully we laugh about it, but I can imagine randoms not taking it in stride so well.
It's a mid to long range weapon, not a shotgun. The arc grows as it travels and can hit many enemies at once. If you swing your mouse while it's firing, the beam will also zap anything you swing it over. So it can clear a swarm in a couple zaps.
You can sweep it?? Waaaaaaaat
pretty sure sweeping your mouse does nothing. EDIT: Can confirm, sweeping your gun does absolutely nothing for the Arc Thrower. It just strikes a single target and then potentially jumps from there.
Uhhh?
It zaps your friends.
Zaps whatever’s in front of you* make sure it’s just enemies and you are perfectly fine :) also has infinite ammo so it’s great if you want to take a “heavier” primary like the Dominator and bring that as your actual “primary” weapon
It’s a fantastic weapon… if your friends aren’t near the enemies.
Protip: aim up, like a whole head above the enemies. I’ve noticed the arc can get stuck on carcasses or geometry in front of you so if you aim up it should properly arc to the enemies you want.
Does it kill armored enemies too?
Yes it does. It kills mediums very quickly. It DOES kill heavies, but not as fast as a railgun. 10ish shots to a charger. 20+ to a titan. I generally take Arc Thrower if 2+ of my team is using the railgun. 2-3 rails is plenty to deal with the chargers / hulks / titans. The Arc Thrower is absolutely unmatched in its ability to take care of large groups of medium to small enemies. 6 bile spewers marching at you? Easy. Several zaps of the Arcy boy will take them all out. 16 hunters coming your way in the distance? No problem. Zap zap zap. A large group of scout walkers on the horizon? Did you know metal conducts electricity very well? If nobody on my team has the tools to deal with hulks / titans, I still take railgun. Given how popular the rail is, though, I find myself playing elemental shaman more often than not. I've loved this gun more than anything else since the first time I found it on the ground randomly in a mission. Also the thing is basically a fucking sniper rifle. Massive range. It DOES suffer from some shitty invisible terrain issues where you'll fire and nothing happens fairly often, though. Just take a few steps to the side and it usually works just fine.
I was amazed at the range! The arc guns in HD1 were nearly useless, just bad shotguns. So I was expecting it to only work at point blank. But then I shot a bug at 5m and was like "waiiiiit". So I tried 10m, then 20m, and I need to keep experimenting with it but that's vastly more than I though!
I use it when my friend and I two-man Suicide Mission difficulty. He uses Railgun, Backpack Shield, 500 kg, and Orbital Laser. I use Arc, Orbital Rail, Airstrike, and Tesla Tower.
Unless they don't and instead provide a distraction the whole time . I did a mission yesterday on 8 where I did literally every objective side or otherwise except plugging nests and found the super samples while my team maintained a 25 minute fight in the middle. It was kinda peaceful.
I got kicked because I was off getting samples (we all need) I was on my way back to extract and asked them to wait for a minute they just typed F in chat and kicked me.
Well F them! I'd love if someone was on my team grabbing samples while I handled other shit.
I honestly would have laughed if I wasn't so pissed. Iv had people do it for me basically just solo while it seemed we just did nothing it's incredible. I was with a group last night and halfway through I had a thought about what if super earth is wrong and the bots just want to help and my teammates gunned me down then brought me back when we all stopped laughing it was so funny.
Those fools will soon learn the error of their ways when they realize samples and medals are the real grind.
Spread the word smalldikproblems43 and wafflestomper69 are traitors to democracy and the grind. Shoot them on sight my brothers and sisters in armes. FOR FREEDOM! And don't die 😉
Lol yea I got yelled at in one match for "not helping" which cracked me up because at the time I had completed two main obj and several side obj while they had been fighting endless hordes. "We're dying over here!!" "Ok, so run away."
Players like that really suck. I’ve done plenty of solo missions to retrieve the team’s dropped samples before extract without a hitch. Just silly to kick someone for bringing more loot.
I feel slightly bad sometimes, but someone needs to do the objectives. If I’m playing with randoms I go with my solo build. I don’t want to spend 20 minutes and 4 lives fighting a group of chargers and never ending bugs. So I’ll hang around for a bit, take down the threats that are right on us to give us space to retreat, but then it’s time to go. If the group wants to stay and fight, that’s cool with me. Play how you want to play, but I am going to go to the main objectives (hopefully clearing some bug holes on the way), just so if we do use up all our lives we at least got the mission done. So far I’ve had a good experience online. No one has bitched at me for leaving them to fight. If anything they seem pretty happy that things are getting done while they get to have the chaotic fun they want
Yes, this game is all about hitting hard and fast, which is why the escort missions are the absolute worst.
Wdym i love having my shit kicked in by 10 hulks and 30 berserkers and having the scientists get spawn camped
Don't forget the 8 dropships that sync up and drop one right after the other.
Same! There's nothing like having your sensitive nether regions piledrove by mass-spawning Annihilator Tanks, Hulks, and Rocket Raiders as you try and share the splendors of Democracy. But in all seriousness, I feel like the only way to beat these missions on the higher difficulties is with a pair of people dedicated to shooting down dropships with a recoilless rifle while a crap ton of sentries take care of any that manage to land. I was in one of these matches last night with a friend on (admittedly only difficulty level 4) and my friend and this random pretty much destroyed 3 out of 4 dropships that tried to come in to land by standing on the evac pad at the top of the facility. Between that and having a mortar, stun mortar, and a couple sentries placed around the facility, I don't think I ever even saw a berserker or other unit manage to get iinto the compound in one piece. It was an absolute cakewalk. From having played these on 'Suicide' difficult, I'm very aware of how impossible they get... but I couldn't help but see this tactic of simply denying the dropships from landing and thinking that that's probably *the* most effective way to complete those missions at higher difficulties as well. The theory-crafting I have for being able to pull off a successful difficulty 7+ evac mission is this: Helldiver 1 runs around pushing all the buttons and focuses on cleaning up big-bads that get into the facility: Shield Generator (I know), Railgun (*I know*), Orbital Railgun, (Dealer's Choice) Helldiver 2 is sort of a generalist but *mostly* exists to support the rifle team with precious additional ammo: Ammo Backpack, Expendable Anti-Tank, Rocket/Autocannon Sentry, (Dealer's Choice) Helldivers 3 and 4 are the rifle team and place most of the sentries. They should be on the high-ground to have the best perspective on what dropships are coming in, and should prioritize shooting down dropships with heavies and ultra-heavies (probably a moot mention since those are pretty much every dropship on the higher difficulties). Helldiver 3 shoots, places mortar sentries, and has extra ammo for the reloader when he runs empty: Ammo Backpack, Recoilless Rifle, EMS Mortar, Mortar Helldiver 4 reloads, places a Gatling/Autocannon/EMS sentry to cover the pair and (hopefully) a facility entrance, and places a Rocket/Autocannon sentry somewhere where it should also try and shoot down dropships. Recoilless Rifle Backpack, Expendable Anti-Tank, EMS/Autocannon/Gatling Sentry, Rocket/Autocannon Sentry I've yet to have 4 people that would want to play these kinds of missions on 7+ difficulty with this kind of loadout... but if/when I do I'll try and come back here and update this post to say how successful (or utterly unsuccessful lol) it was.
I have a strat that works on diff 8. It still gets hectic but the strategy that’s always worked the most consistently for me is this: - 2 trash cleanup loadouts (GL/supply pack is awesome) - 2 heavy cleanup loadouts (rail/shield pack for example). These guys stay near the doors and slam the buttons every time they reappear - 4 mortar sentries, stagger 2 and 2 so there’s always 2 up between cooldowns. - 4 orbital laser or railcannons for emergencies GL users run around clearing out squads as they drop and are still clustered together. Supply pack will keep this spam going indefinitely and you can pop nades safely from cover. Mark all hulks and tanks immediately so the railguns can focus them down Tanks can also be taken out with 2 g-16 impact grenades directly to the turret (doesn’t have to be the vent side). If a cluster of tanks or hulks happens take turns orbital lasering so there’s always one off cooldown. Only use this for emergencies (waves getting out of control) Reinforce IMMEDIATELY and preferably on the corpse so the dead can recover their weapons ASAP. Don’t let any lapse in reinforcement happen because that means several seconds of a job not being done. Tanks and hulks MUST be taken out fast before they become trouble. If you leave them running free too long they can easily murder the GLs and make it hard to recover their weapons. This is usually the error that causes a domino effect Keep the middle clear so the mortars aren’t TK’ing you or scientists. Watch the radar to see where drops or large squads are incoming. GLs are full time on killing groups. Remember to cycle mortars. This strategy made everything go super smooth when everyone executed correctly. One person failing at their duty or sleeping on any of the jobs will cost the run. As soon as the middle gets swarmed it’s over. Obviously the higher the difficulty the less room for mistakes there is.
I'm honestly dreading the bug version of those missions. The fog from the bile nursery, the bile spewer artillery shots, 4-5 bile titan running around. Dozens of chargers, fucking swarm of hunters. It's gonna be horrible.
The spawn rate outpaces everyone's ammo pool and strata cooldown. Plus there are no real defenses. The "kill the bots" defense is a fortress. All the other missions are wide open.
The heavy bot nests with the trench networks look like WW1 bases from Hell, we need earth force bases and setups for defense campaign maps
I would love a WW1-type mission, with procedural maps that are just trench hells with patches of no-man's-land.
Some of the high level bot nests start feeling this way with the multiple MG and mortar and artillery emplacements all firing on you as you are charging across a field
It's amazing how quickly you become best friends with a small piece of random concrete wall on the ground.
i want barbed-wire back
Worst part is if they do that and you decide ti use them as a distraction and do the objectives some people get unreasonably salty.
Did the same thing during a helldiver mission but they were actually pretty grateful since in like 15 minutes we had almost all main and side objectives done. It's actually pretty chill doing the objectives while others distract since you normally don't get breaches. Just be a bit stealthy, bring a kit that's a bit self reliant so the others can call resupplies on them and you're good to go.
Just did this. Marksman rifle and railgun and smoke grenades. Cleared the whole map just taking out the outposts and objectives with minimal enemy pushback. So satisfying
I was forced to attempt this on difficulty 8 cos I couldn't matchmake. It turned out to be a hell of a lot more fun than I expected. I just wish the second AMR was silenced now
Prefer being a scalpel. I always take rocket pods and railcannon. Also wish the counter sniper was a bit better. For the slower turn speed I feel like it should penetrate medium armour or have a silencer.
It actually does penetrate medium armor, even though it doesn’t say it does. But the reticle drag makes it so much harder to hit targets, and the regular diligence does enough damage on its own when hitting weak points that the counter sniper just doesn’t really have a place.
I’ve been both during an egg extermination mission on tier 7. What started as being the base wiper with no bug responsibility quickly turned into a 3 bile titan, 3 charger and endless bug conga line. If not for grenade launchers and 500KG I would’ve died forsure.
That’s what happened with me today lol. 3 lower-leveled Helldivers kept fighting enemies. I kept asking them to move. I completed 2 out of 3 objectives while they stuck at one place fighting. I died at the 3rd objective; I was the last one to die. They kicked me immediately out of the lobby after the game ended lol. PS — It is not even like I completely left them to deal with the enemies. I still ended up with the most kills.
funny, because it can be very beneficial for a team to do that as a strategy, and an INCREDIBLY viable one at that, there can only be one enemy call in at a time, so you can strike bases and objectives when they start and never risk more enemies
I did a difficulty 6 and had a level 3 and 6. I dont think they noticed I was finishing the mission while they just held down a single spot. Gotta love light armor.
Got called a dung water for just that.
Or at least retreat to a more defensible position like natural killboxes or airstrike alleys.
Nothing feels better than finding a natural choke point that enemies funnel through. A solid position can change the tide of a battle so fast it's not even funny
Nothing quite like storming an Automaton base and then using their own fortifications to repel their reinforcements
Years of Battlefield have taught me one thing and one thing only. **P**lay **T**he **F**ucking **O**bjective
Meanwhile 50 out of the 64 players are in a meat grinder chokepoint
I think part of the problem is that the objectives themselves are usually pretty boring across all games. Fighting and dying in the meat grinder chokepoint may not win me the game, but it's a hell of a lot more fun.
7 v 7? I like those odds. :)
Metro flashbacks
Years of Planetside, group of cheeky infils turn the tide.
Ghost cappers always win
I was on Vanu Matherson. SOE had to change the rules to stop us from dominating Matherson because we teamworked so hard the Enclave and whatever was happening with the NC just couldn't stop us. the Enclave would drop three hundred alt-right dorks on one facility while ten VS platoons went in every direction capturing everything. We were the reason they implemented Lattice. And, I think this is hilarious, after whining about us for months Buzz and all the Enclave assholes got bored with lattice and gave up on the game pretty quickly. Fuckers.
My knowledge is mostly Planetside 1, where gameplay was more hectic and hacking was more proactive and hilarious (like corrupting an enemy heavy vehicle spawner and manning a tank or bangbus right inside the base). I played PS2 a bit at launch until they messed up balance into pay2win, and had other games to play co-op when it was fixed...
Hacking was a lot of fun. PS1 had a bunch of weird systems that led to all kinds of chaos. i remember spending long periods of time just spamming lashers down staircases until the TR could get enough maxes to push through us. SOE really messed up by paywalling/timewalling some of the core anti-vehicle weapons.
I mean the real issue I'm seeing at level 10 is that the amount of people that have no clue how to use a terminal or do basic objectives is shockingly bad. That's why they all play defense missions because they're utterly useless when they have to do something.
Reminds me of destiny 2 where a shocking amount of people don’t know to throw a giant glowing red ball into a giant glowing red hole or match two of the same symbol
Or fire all their rockets at a boss's immunity shield even though they are getting 'IMMUNE' text popping up instead of damage numbers lol
That drove me insane during the era of bottomless mags with Lunafactions/Rally barricades. I understand the monkey brain going brr, but come on!
If it were my low level teammates that were new it wouldn't be so annoying, but when a level 23 doesn't know how to use a terminal to complete a mission, something is seriously wrong.
That's because they spammed the "kill 150 enemies" mission over and over again to get to level 23, they haven't actually played the game yet.
you can melee people off terminals and do it yourself if needed.
Not when you're out of respawns and your teammate drops a barrage on the terminal, killing you and the other 2 useful guys. He tried to line up the satellite 3 times before just giving up and fucking us over.
I am sorry brother.
Had a level 50 the other day just staring at the terminal screen for 2 minutes while 3 of us held off hordes of bugs. I ran up to see what was going on and he never seen the pipes puzzle minigame before and had no idea what to do.
Bruh it’s one of the most basic puzzles in the history of puzzles connect the pipes in a way that allows flow from one end to the other. How stupid do you have to be to not immediately and intuitively understand the problem.
Idk, I've seen quite a few people not realize that you have to just press up on some of the screens or move the crosshair to the grid coordinates on the other screens.
It's a symptom of getting carried because higher levels just baby lower level players and do terminals for them. I didn't get to do an ICBM Terminal until I was level 10 because level 20+ dudes would always rush ahead and do it.
In my experience in pubs, if I'm not doing the objective, no-one is. Hopefully things get a bit better as time passes and the playerbase settles, but based on my experience in other games that could take a while. For now you just gotta bring an all-rounder loadout and do what you can while randoms compete for the breach stacking gold medal.
And then there's idiots who insist on doing every single outpost on a map at higher difficulties, even if we have sub 20 minutes left. And enemies really start ramping up. You get 1 exp and 10 requisition per % of time left, 2 minutes is 5% on a standard 40 minute mission, so if you take more than 2 minutes to run to, and take out a small outpost, you're literally just wasting time and exp. Same with 4 minutes for medium, and 6 minutes for large outposts. The only real reason to go out of your way to take out outposts (opposed to just taking out ones that are in your path) is if you're really grinding for samples, as outposts very commonly have them.
[удалено]
Level 40 here (playing organically, no Extermination farm). That's one of the reasons why, in the current state of the game balance-wise, I don't think is fun to play diff 8-9. I like the power fantasy of me and my squad being able to deal with at least most of the enemies the game throws at us. Eventually we fuck up and the need to retreat arises, but on diff 8-9 there are TOO MANY heavily armored enemies for all of our AT and strikes combined, so it becomes a game of just rushing through objectives and running away from enemies, which IMO, is not as fun. This MIGHT change if the devs grant buffs to some of the AT weapons, but as it is, there is no fun being swarmed with Titans/Chargers/Hulks/Tanks and having no viable way to deal with at least half of them in a time effective manner.
and they use up all their stratagems instead of on objectives, optionals and nests...
Eagle airstrike can do anything in the game, it’s the most flexible stratagem IMO - I can’t wait to get the 3rd upgrade for it
They be spamming strats like its abilities in wow lol
The CDs are comparable, if not faster than some wow abilities. If it's not on CD, why even bring it in the first place?
They can spam to their delight as long as I'm far away from their clusterbombs and mortar turrets :D
I notice myself doing this by accident. I just enjoy the combat too much.
You're suggesting we should not eradicate the enemies of democracy?! Reported. Freedom camp awaits you.
No, no, just as there are priority citizens, there are priority objectives! Liberating that ICBM is doing much more to defend managed democracy than shooting the bugs coming out of a breach!
My friend and I were playing with 2 randoms and after clearing an objective, the other 2 just stayed there trying to kill the never ending hordes of bots they were being dropped in. Despite my friend and I constantly telling them to move, they just didn't listen. We eventually had to leave them but they wasted all of the reinforcements by dying and respawning each other at the same place.
If it gets really bad and they're just burning through our lives I'll beat the other lollygagger to the respawn. Might lose some samples they had but that'll happen anyway if they don't leave enough lives to extract.
It's fun to shoot things, though I've basically lost interest in the game now that I'm doing 8+ missions because every mission is just our group running away from the action to do the objectives and then immediately extract. I had way more fun at lower levels when we fought everything
6-7 is the sweet spot
7 is definitely the sweet spot for me. Difficult enough to reap good rewards and samples while not being impossible to complete without coordination.
I've been digging 7s on bugs, but it already feels like I have all the super samples I need while I'm farming up the rares and commons now. I've been dropping the difficulty some these last few days since I like doing quickplay but feel like on 7+ I end up running the same setup constantly since I want to be self sufficient when playing with randoms.
So here's how I'm doing. When I want to upgrade something, I go for 7. If I wanna use the flame thrower, I go for 5. There isn't enough difference in rewards to stop you from doing easier one for the fun factor.
I'm with you. I like playing lvls 5-7 because I get to play with different stratas and I get the power fantasy feeling. Having to run away from a never ending stream of enemies and just throwing stratas behind myself is kinda against the spirit of the game (if it becomes the core loop like it is in higher levels, it's fine in moderation). Ultimately, please remember - it's a PvE game, play the way that makes it fun for you.
I have only played a few missions in total, but reading this thread is disappointing. As you have called out, it sounds like it turns into running simulator as you go up in difficulty. That doesn't sound fun.
Not necessarily, but you do have to pick your fights if you want to map clear reliably. Fighting reinforcements for 15 mins in the middle of nowhere accomplishes nothing. Fighting reinforcements for 15 mins after clearing a large outpost so you can grab the samples inside it is usually worth it
Because all the players at the highest difficulty are more likely to want to map clear Its a game, you can still choose to just play it how you want if you arent with randos. If it isnt fun dont do it
we do full clears on 9 in ours, we clear every breach and bot drop, it a rare case if we \*always\* retreating on a mission (usually the dreaded eye of sauron detector tower causes it, screw that thing and its un-hellbombable platform), we use specialised loadouts to clear them as immediately as we can, we frequently use "bad" weapons and stratagems because they do these particular things really well, shake up what you do and try stuff, because the community currently severely misunderstands items right now, and tierlists are flat out wrong in many regards because of this, so people stack up items that simply cant deal with what that difficulty throws at them (a far too common example being teams running 4 shield gens, 4 railguns, and being shocked when they are overwhelmed, and out of ammo)
We have a sort of combat mantra in the Marine Corps, something that's drilled into our heads, short and simple and easy to remember even in the chaos of battle: **Shoot, move, communicate.** So long as everyone is doing all three of those things, the battle will go about as smoothly as it can. As soon as anyone starts getting tunnel vision and stops doing any one of those three things, shit is going to go downhill fast. **Shoot:** Self explanatory. You can't win if you're not shooting back. If all you do is take cover and try to avoid dying, well, you're gonna die. Worse, your squad mates may get killed because nobody is watching their back. (Yes, from a Marine’s perspective, that’s worse than dying ourselves.) **Move:** Exactly like you said. Don't stay in one place. Always be on the move. The longer you remain in the same location, the more likely that location is to be overrun. As soon as you have an opportunity to shift your position, do it. **Communicate:** Tell your squamates what you see and where you see it. It helps everyone's situational awareness and battlefield cognition. People tend to get tunnel vision on whatever they're fighting. They're aiming down sights and shooting at what's in front of them, so they're not looking left and right and behind. Hearing you call out what kinds of enemies are where will help them remain aware of the entire battlefield so they can know when and where to move, or where to redirect their fire if a greater threat presents itself. This might be the first game I've ever played where this is actually applicable. Most video games are just too scripted and don't really require you to use real world combat tactics. I think it's a credit to Arrowhead that they actually made a game where no shit USMC combat training is genuinely applicable and practical in the game. Games like COD have certainly never pulled that off.
I've never been in the military but I did want to confirm how amazing the game is when you follow those tenants. When I joined a random group a few days ago and used push-to-talk to inform how I'd have a supply pack, point out optional stuff, etc. it made the entire experience with them incredibly fun. This is also the only game I've played that actually allows you to use diversionary tactics. I've noticed that in most games, the AI is programmed to make a beeline for whatever NPC you're protecting in an escort mission. In HD2 however, it's completely viable to have three helldivers stay on the outskirts and attract enemy attention while the fourth one stays in stealth and moves the engineers to the safety zone. It's so great.
Upvote for democracy! ✊🏼
I actually had someone tell me it was a bad idea to run, I was like wat
Yeah seriously..I see too many think they can sit there and just clear the bug breaches...on easier difficulties..maybe..but on harder..you gotta keep moving...you WILL run out of ammo before you kill them all. Two things that tend to get people moving though are: - Chargers - Bile Titans
Yea my #1 cause of failure so far has been getting bogged down by those damnable Detector Towers. The only way I know to kill them for sure is a Hellbomb but it's pretty impossible to get close to them if you and your team of randoms doesn't realize exactly what's happening very quickly. Advice on dealing with them other than just getting as far away as possible would be appreciated, since I live in fear of the objective being within their gaze.
I know, but when the frenzy hits you, it hits you hard.
Once I taste oil, there is no going back. My life for Super Earth.
Just an addendum if the objective isn't far enough from a wave/breach to break aggro with the wave you can't just ignore that problem.
Even the tiniest bit of situational awareness lets you realize your squad has moved on to objectives. I've been there, up to my eyeballs in combat when I looked around and everyone's gone. :)
Along with this, on the evacuate citizens missions, send ONE person in quiet while the rest make a shit ton of noise fighting enemies in other areas of the map. So much easier as it draws all the aggro away from the objective.
for those love of democracy, PTFO!!! Thank you. 😁
You can outrun just about any herd of enemies, especially if you’re proactive about making space. Worst case you kite them to a more advantageous position. I think the worst play is almost always digging in, it’s just not really possible at higher difficulties
see, i'll admit i agree for the most part, but i'll add a stipulation. don't stay in a huge fight if youre hemorrhaging reinforcements and you can escape basically know when to fight and when to just but if youre having a good time, i can't speak for 8 or 9 difficulty but at 6 you 100% have enough people to have a 10 minute firefight and have enough reinforcements to lose people. extraction is 100% optional btw so as long as the objective gets done you win
Clear. The. Big. Ones. If you see three chargers spawn on level 7 and you just run and abandon your teammate you're failing democracy. At least if you're gonna run communicate. Use pings, talk, something. On diff 7 we still have the ordinance to clear the things that can outrun us. Also fun fact chargers die in two railgun shots and 5 breaker shots to a leg. The leg is the weak spot. You too can solo a charger in under ten seconds.
Buddy. Sometimes its just plain fun to lay down sweet liberty on the bugs. I understand that its not optimal, but its hell-a-fun.
Well, its usually better to defend on higher difficulties… Enemies spawned by a breach can’t call for additional reinforcements if you kill them fast enough and will eventually run out. HOWEVER, that patrol that was automatically alerted when you ran through its area while being chased CAN, as well as every other enemy that you encounter that gets automatically aggroed while you run for the objective. It’s better to retreat to a defensible point then to run heater skelter across the map spawning a thousand bugs. Or hell, divide and conquer, 3 people deal with the alerted enemies while one sneaks away
>Enemies spawned by a breach can’t call for additional reinforcements if you kill them fast enough and will eventually run out. What difficulty do you refer to? On a tier nine you might have two titans popping out of a breach in the first few moments. There's really no such thing as a defensible position when there's 8+ chargers and titans on the field. You move or you die.
Plz, this right here. I get OP to an extent but there is a point where you have to turn and start clearing out what's chasing you.. And yes you can clear off a large attack by closing those beaches when they happen.. it's when people are doing as OP AND not culling stuff that I tend to get overran in a mission and we die out. There's nothing worse than one guy bolting all over the place opening up breaches and getting chased by patrols and not killing any of the bugs.. that leaves the other squadmates with Charger after Charger after them or a bunch of stalker bugs out of nowhere... Double whammy when they're doing this and want to call you in solo just to run off before you even land. Plus, the extermination of the bug menace is managed democracy at it's finest... Just know when to move out.
Turrets can and should be used for a retreat like this while throwing offensive stratagems, infact its almost necessary on 7+
dropping an EMP turret + auto cannon is my favorite getaway. emp locks enemies down, auto cannon blows em to bits.
Had a group last night where these 2 guys did not get that. So me and the other guy just ran around doing the main and side objectives. We surprisingly stayed together for quite a few games just cause it was working.
The only battle drill you need in this game is break contact lol
Agree, was running with 2 randoms on diff 4, just for some quick rounds, of course both run no AT. Had to clear 4 bot outposts myself, because they were busy fighting the bot patrols on the other side of the map.
People follow people. You move first
Happens way too often, man. We finish an objective or poi, they decide to sit around and play tea time with the enemies. I wonder if they think killing enemies gives reward or something. Would be nice if the low effort content creators could make video on this topic.
Move. Don't stay and fight unless you have to. Move while you're calling in strategems and reinforcements, you gotta learn how to walk/run and type that shit in. ABM! ALWAYS BE MOVIN
Playing high difficulties fixes that problem. If seeing 3 Bile Titans spawn next to each other doesn't get you to move, nothing will.
us helldivers are being paid per mission not per kill MOVE YOUR ASSES SOLDIERS!!!!
I had some people at work ask what the difference is between their level missions (4-6) vs that of mine (8-9) and my explanation is they can fire fight all they want and likely survive. At level 8 and 9, you are clearing objectives and tactically retreating/on the move constantly. This is so apparent when you run automaton missions because they will flare gun and spawn drop ships endlessly.
As a support player, i like watching your ammo icon get red in these fights, so i can be your ordinance sugar momma. But yeah, keep moving.