Current Events > Helldivers 2 General: For Democracy!

(+) Yeah! (+)

It's really good, but requires precision aiming

the projectile travel time makes it not fun enough to use IMO

The projectile travel time takes some getting used to, but it's not generally a problem except against enemies like hunters. It seems like it wouldn't be the best weapon to use against the bugs, but I still find myself missing that medium armor pen when I take something else and the mortar bile spewers come out to play.

how long into Helldivers before the gameplay becomes smooth? my issue with co-op games is how gameplay is purposely clunky to make you more reliant on others.

Depends on the difficulty, the map, and the terrain. I can solo 7s with ease with pretty early stratagems.

Beveren_Rabbit posted...

how long into Helldivers before the gameplay becomes smooth? my issue with co-op games is how gameplay is purposely clunky to make you more reliant on others.

I mean it always felt pretty smooth to me. The difficulty and what makes co-op the most appealing is that you just can't carry all the answers you need for the sheer volume of enemies at higher difficulties. The only particularly cruddy early part is when you have almost no req and don't know what stratagems are worth getting, so you can screw up and waste it.

The biggest potential barrier is that you don't have a good way to deal with heavies early on, but heavies don't show up regularly until difficulty 5+.

I find Lv20 is where it gets comfy in that you can run with primary for lights, support for mediums, and have an oh shit button for heavies in the form of railcannon. But if you're running with a group you can instead use recoilless for heavies and be comfortable earlier. You just won't be as singularly effective on either lights or mediums (based on which your primary is better against). Then you can bridge that gap with stratagems like eagle cluster, etc.

Latest patch should resolve most of the crashing issues.

Touch posted...

So what's the verdict on the Dominator post buff? Almost got enough to buy it

I just picked it up and I dig it.

Looks like bots are back on the menu boys! Apparently they can't get enough democracy.

Touch posted...

So what's the verdict on the Dominator post buff? Almost got enough to buy it

It's my go to gun for bots now. Makes mince meat out of those shield guys.

Getting close to the medal cap and wanting to keep medals for the new warbond has been a little hectic as I get closer to finishing the last premium bundle. Really want that groundbreaker helmet.

JMPzero posted...

Getting close to the medal cap and wanting to keep medals for the new warbond has been a little hectic as I get closer to finishing the last premium bundle. Really want that groundbreaker helmet.

Yeah, I forgot I was at the medal cap and when I logged on today, it backfilled two major orders and I got no medals from either of them because of it.

Also, the new defense mission is very good

Damn I didn't know there was a cap on shit until today. I maxed out on 50k credits and found out the hard way. Good to know there's a medal limit as well, I have around 150 and growing for the new warbond.

voldothegr8 posted...

Damn I didn't know there was a cap on shit until today. I maxed out on 50k credits and found out the hard way. Good to know there's a medal limit as well, I have around 150 and growing for the new warbond.

500 common samples
250 rare samples
100 super samples

Only currency with no cap is super credits lol

250 medals, 50k req slips, 500 common, 250 rare, 100 supers are all the caps iirc. I haven't been playing for rares or supers much once I got the current final ship upgrade. Buddy wants to run harder difficulties to get his ship upgraded early Thursday so I'll have fun with that.

Yeah I've been maxed out on currency for a bit. Just been playing for fun's sake

I don't think this MO is getting accomplished lol

We'll be lucky to get 4, but it's to open up another 20-25 planets depending on what gets defended.

I have so few common samples, not sure if I'm doing something wrong or the rate is just that low. My next difficulty is hard. Just did a mission where we were supposed to defend until 8 rockets were launched, but we failed :(

Shah138 posted...

I have so few common samples, not sure if I'm doing something wrong or the rate is just that low. My next difficulty is hard. Just did a mission where we were supposed to defend until 8 rockets were launched, but we failed :(

Sometimes that's just how it be. And it won't always be your fault. Sometimes you're in a lobby full of "good" players but the strategems don't mesh well or you get bad RNG with mobs or someone just teamkills too often. I was scared to raise levels too at first but just remember the game is a marathon full of death and you just gotta be at peace with that.

I think thats the first operation that I've outright failed. I'm assuming all 3 need to be successes to get the next difficulty?

Correct, don't do defense planets (planets with timers) if you're trying to unlock difficulties. Run through liberate planets (no timer, just liberate percentage) if you want to unlock difficulties or wait for the weekend and I'll be able to run you through everything.

JMPzero posted...

Correct, don't do defense planets (planets with timers) if you're trying to unlock difficulties. Run through liberate planets (no timer, just liberate percentage) if you want to unlock difficulties or wait for the weekend and I'll be able to run you through everything.

I might be interested in this, if there is space available :P

As of today, the new Democratic Detonation warbond has dropped. I'm hearing the most praise for the second page's bolt action rifle, but not sure how deep people have gone to try out the third page stuff. Grenade and first page AR seem underwhelming by opinions I see. I won't be able to play until tonight to see for myself.

Along with that, they also snuck in tier 4 ship module upgrades. Hope you've got samples to burn because these take a lot. You're looking at over 100 each common and rare, 15-20 super, and 20k+ req to boot. For each one.

The eagle upgrade doesn't mean you get another use, it just drops an extra payload.

Example: If airstrikes drops 4 bombs per use, it now drops 5.

explosive bolt action is kind of crap. Decent power for a primary but the painfully slow rate of fire is going to get you overwhelmed at any higher difficulty. Just gonna stick to the devastator for my medium armor penetrating needs.

Kai_Laguna posted...

explosive bolt action is kind of crap. Decent power for a primary but the painfully slow rate of fire is going to get you overwhelmed at any higher difficulty. Just gonna stick to the devastator for my medium armor penetrating needs.

People were saying it's a primary that can work on heavies (and destroys holes/fabs), so it's best if you lug it around for that purpose when using a support that deals with smaller things.

Dalthine posted...

People were saying it's a primary that can work on heavies (and destroys holes/fabs), so it's best if you lug it around for that purpose when using a support that deals with smaller things.

It can destroy fabricators but as for heavies, I guess it depends on what you classify as heavy. Worked great on devastators but a hulk just shrugged off a face shot before killing me.

Also, those new upgrades are going to take FOREVER to grind enough commons to unlock.

Superior Packing Methodolgy - 150c/150r/15s/20k req - Resupply boxes refill support weapon ammo to the max.
Atmospheric Monitoring - 200c/150r/15s/25k req - Reduces spread of Orbital 380/120 barrage by 15%
XXL Weapons Bay - 150c/150r/15s/25k req - Eagle Strikes that drop multiple bombs (airstrike, cluster bomb, napalm strike, smoke strike) will drop one additional bomb during the strike.
Enhanced Combustion - 200/150/15/25k - Fire damage from flamethrower, incendiary mines, napalm strike increased by 25%
Circuit Expansion - 200/150/20/20k - Lightning arcs, fired from arc thrower and tesla tower jump to one additional enemy.
Blast Absorption - 150/150/20/25k - Sentries take 50% less damage from explosives.

Need 290 warbonds from start to finish to unlock the grenade pistol lol

I'll be looking forward to the extra airstrike bomb first since I don't run support weapons with backpacks. Going from empty recoilless/autocannon to full off one box sounds awesome though.

Kai_Laguna posted...

explosive bolt action is kind of crap. Decent power for a primary but the painfully slow rate of fire is going to get you overwhelmed at any higher difficulty. Just gonna stick to the devastator for my medium armor penetrating needs.

Every primary (or secondary) option that gives me a tool against the armored heavies, is an option that makes the "less powerful" support weapons more valid.

As long as EAT, Recoilless and similar big guns are "necessary" to quickly take out chargers and hulks, it won't be possible to justify the machine guns.

And in the case of the grenade pistol, the other grenades may get more use too.

So, yeah, I'm happy about every new option, no matter how disappointing it looks at first.

JMPzero posted...

Correct, don't do defense planets (planets with timers) if you're trying to unlock difficulties. Run through liberate planets (no timer, just liberate percentage) if you want to unlock difficulties or wait for the weekend and I'll be able to run you through everything.

Gotcha, thanks!

Karovorak posted...

Every primary (or secondary) option that gives me a tool against the armored heavies, is an option that makes the "less powerful" support weapons more valid.

As long as EAT, Recoilless and similar big guns are "necessary" to quickly take out chargers and hulks, it won't be possible to justify the machine guns.

Stalwart and the other machine guns will always be viable for crowd control. Some players intentionally run Stalwart with EAT-ITs to cover both cc and anti-armor

Kai_Laguna posted...

It can destroy fabricators but as for heavies, I guess it depends on what you classify as heavy. Worked great on devastators but a hulk just shrugged off a face shot before killing me.

Hulks, tanks, chargers, and titans count as heavies to me. Devastators would be mediums. From what I saw people were saying you still have to hit weak spots but it works. Like I said though, can't try it out myself just yet.

I'd have to try it out and would want to get one far enough away I could land multiple shots to confirm. Autocannon doesn't stagger hulks with a head shot either, but it will still kill them. Autocannon fires much faster though which is where the bolt action struggles more with a hulk running you down.

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]

You need to complete the whole set of missions in an operation and Emergency Evacuation is pretty much always present in defense missions. Enemy spawn rates are raised to the point the evacuation area for civilians will get overrun from the constant reinforcements showing up. People are now intentionally drawing aggro as far away as possible while one diver loops around and does the objective with little to no opposition since the other divers are causing so much commotion.

Generally, you want a combination of the following: ICBM, Retrieve Valuable Data, Eradicate, Enable E-710 Extraction (Terminids), Sabotage Air Base (Automatons). I see a fair share of wanted help/SOS beacons with Blitz: Search and Destroys since they are running out of time, Emergency Evacuation and Geological Surveys since they weren't pacing the forced alarms and trying to get the objective done while being overwhelmed.

JMPzero posted...

People are now intentionally drawing aggro as far away as possible while one diver loops around and does the objective with little to no opposition since the other divers are causing so much commotion.

Not sure if the devs intended this, but that seems like a smart move on the players part.

Shah138 posted...

Not sure if the devs intended this, but that seems like a smart move on the players part.

At higher difficulties, it's the only move on the players' part. It simply isn't possible to complete the objective otherwise.

Also, I was looking forward to the Adjudicator because I love battle rifles and DMRs, but I took one look at its stats and decided I'm not even going to bother equipping it.

Eruptor or the new explosive bolt action is a lot of fun with the stalwart. Running a buddy through 7s on a defense planet was a lot of fun.

Got home and unlocked the first two primary weapons in Democratic Detonation, then ran a few low difficulty missions to try them out.

Adjudicator feels bad. It just doesn't have the damage to keep up with much of anything, and the medium armor penetration doesn't really mean a whole lot as a result. Sure, you can damage a devastator through the chest plating, but you still need to shoot them an absurd amount of times to take them down. And it takes two precise headshots for them when the gun's accuracy and handling isn't all that great at a distance.

Eruptor, on the other hand, feels great. I wasn't sure what to expect but the gun is basically a frag grenade rifle. It deals with mediums just fine (it was even one-shotting devastators and berserkers in the right spots) and can clean up lights pretty readily by shooting at the feet of crowds. Was pretty common for me to take out 4+ automaton troopers in a single shot. Obviously bugs may be an issue with the splash. Since it was low difficulty I couldn't try heavies.

I'll probably go for the crossbow next. Grenade pistol seems pretty self explanatory.

Dalthine posted...

Adjudicator feels bad

I'm not even sure why they added it.

Pulled Eruptor into higher difficulty missions (against bots). Still feels great for the most part, but it does somewhat struggle when you have enemies that want to get in your face and don't go down quickly or risk being killed close by. Jetpack troopers were a problem and I imagine it gets way riskier on bugs if you're not running a support that can handle close range. It doesn't seem to work against heavies either, at least not from the front. I just got the bounce icon against hulks. I'll probably keep using it for a while and see how it plays out.

Unlocked the Exploding Crossbow and tried it out in a low level mission as my last for the night. It feels like a sidegrade, worse Eruptor. Faster rate of fire and the bolts explode on impact every time (Eruptor shots may bounce), but it's harder to aim with the gravity drop and seems to do less damage than the Eruptor despite having a higher damage rating. Gravity drop kicks in real fast too; it's not a long range weapon. It also doesn't seem to be able to destroy fabricators and can't open container doors.

Atmospheric Monitoring - 200c/150r/15s/25k req - Reduces spread of Orbital 380/120 barrage by 15%

This one is great, they're much more effective against bug hives and bot factories now. Absolutely clutch for when you wanna solo outposts while the main group does objectives

I'll just stick with my eagle airstrikes and precision strike for outposts until I get the grenade pistol to do it.

Yeah I can't wait until I get the grenade pistol, too. I'm digging the new sniper rifle so far, but I've yet to try it with bugs.

I should just buy this game and play it.

But I still gotta finish this dang guide.

JMPzero posted...

I'll just stick with my eagle airstrikes and precision strike for outposts until I get the grenade pistol to do it.

I just got eagle airstrike, its so much better than the previous eagle stratagem lol

I gave you a list in the discord lol